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Housekeeping

Find cleaning advice from other Mumsnetters on our Housekeeping forum.

Back to basics

18 replies

sorrento56 · 26/08/2010 17:33

We are totally skint and making do for dinners until DH gets paid so I am reassessing my shopping habits but realise I don't have a clue where to start. What I would like help with is feeding 3 children and 2 adults a varied diet which gives the children all they need to grow and DH and I the sustinence we need to work/look after the kids. I am certain there must be foods I don't buy that are cheaper than what I do get and perfectly fine and okay for the kids, for example I have been told about Asda's smart price gammon for making sandwiches as it is less salty.

I know nothing and would appreciate any ideas please.

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CupcakesHay · 26/08/2010 18:13

I'm crap at lunchboxes, etc.

but for dinner - could you make chilli con carne - has mince, onions, peppers, kidneyt beans and tomatoes - so loads of veg, not too unhealthy (could try with turkey mince maybe) and i think it would work oiut reasonably priced. And can be froze n -so make huge batch and freeze half?

When we're skint we make veg soup - like carrot and corriander.

And another fave is jacket potatoes - again - can liven to cover food groups for kids, such as adding a bit of meat and veggies.

:) I'm not exactly nigella am i sorrento

sorrento56 · 26/08/2010 19:15

Thank you Cupcakes :). I haven't made chilli before but think the boys and dh will like it.

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stressedHEmum · 27/08/2010 12:31

You could try to plan your meals based around the carb and take it from there. 2 x rice, 2x pasta, 2 x potato, 1 x bread based meals a week in the evening. Also try to use dried beans and pulses a couple of times a week.

For instance:

mediterranean beans and rice
chicken risotto, salad (1 chicken leg, finely chopped)

chicken and mushroom pasta bake, greens (other chicken leg, finely chopped)
tomato and herb pasta with cheese, salad

bean chilli with jacket potatoes
new potato and smoked mackerel salad, crusty bread

cheese and cherry tomato bread pudding, carrots, cabbage.

USe the chicken carcass to make stock for soup at lunchtimes and the rest of the meat for lunchtime sandwiches (coronation chicken) and filo parcels (with mushrooms, onion and a little white sauce. Cook a 1lb bag of dried beans, use half for the med beans and rice and the other 1/2 mixed with a tin of kidney beans for the chilli. Buy a big baguette, eat half with the mackerel and use the other half for the bread pudding.

For sweet treats, bake some oat and raisin cookies or some drop scones. Kids can take these in packed lunches as well.

Another way of saving money is to buy and cook a roast at the start of the week, strip the meat off it and divide it between 3 or 4 meals for the week. Then, if the roast has bones, boil them for stock for lunchtime soup.

You could buy a large pork roast and then make:

macaroni cheese with pork and peas or broccoli mixed through (4oz, finely chopped is enough)
savoury rice with pork and veggies (again 4-6oz is enough)
shredded pork in barbecue sauce in rolls or tortillas with corn on the cob and coleslaw (3oz or so a person is enough for this)
pork rissoles made with 1/2lb meat, 1lb mashed potatoes and 1lb mashed veg, a couple of spoonfuls of stock or sauce to bind and then roll them in oatmeal.

Any meat still left over could go into sandwiches, pasties or couscous salads for lunch.
fill the gaps with:
lentil and potato curry
lentil loaf, wedges and salad or lentil soup with bread
smoked mackerel chowder and bread or jacket potatoes with smoked mackerel and braised leeks.

For lunch you could boost the fish oils by mashing 1/2lb smoked mackerel into a tub of philly type cheese with some lemon juice and black pepper. Use it as a sandwich spread. Another good way of getting EFAs into kids is to make a nut and seed butter for sandwiches. 400gms salted peanuts, a couple of handfuls of seeds (I use linseed and sunflower) and about 100mls sunflower oil, blitz together until smooth and spreadable.
To add a bit of variety you could make spinach frittata, or similar, chill it overnight and send wedges of that for lunch with bread and butter and perhaps cherry toms and cucumber. 6 eggs would make enough for 4.

Lentil pate is good for sandwiches or crispbreads for lunch. 1 cup red lentils, 1 large chopped onion, 2 cups veg stock, garlic and black pepper, simmer together until lentils are soft and liquid is absorbed. Beat in enough veg oil to give a spreadable consistency and kind of smooth texture.

To keep your costs down it is important to plan your meals and make the best use of resources, hence stripping joints and making into various meals and buying multi purpose ingredients like packs of smoked mackerel, bags of lentils and large baguettes. Doing it that way means that you don't have to go down the value ham route and that everyone's nutritional needs are met while you still get a good variety of different meals.

Try eating porridge or homemade oat and raisin bars for breakfast. Cheap, filling and full of B vitamins. Also HM pancakes with chopped bananas and a spoonful of yoghurt makes a good, cheap breakfast.

Try not to obsess over things like 5 a day, it's better to take a longer view and look at what your eating over a week or even 2 weeks. If things balance out that way, then all is well.

Hope this helps a bit. It's had feeding the family a decent diet on a small amount of money.

lostFeelings · 27/08/2010 12:52

I buy the economy fish in Sainsbury's.
it costs £2 and has 5 pieces of fish

if you defrost it, dry with a towel
sprinkle a bit of salt on each

have 3 plates ready
one with flour, one with beaten egg and one with breadcrumbs

put them in that order on the surfase
and cover in flour first, then egg and last the breadcrumbs

after you cover it with breadcrumbs just pat it to make sure all sticks to it and then shake the excess off

then fry in an oil
not too much, just enough to go half way it's thickness

turn with a wide spatula and a help of a fork when edges are turning ligh brown

or fish cutlets

mydhaba.blogspot.com/2005/11/fish-cutlet.html

yo ucan omit some spices if yo udon't have them
in fact they can only be seasoned with salt and pepper
and more potatoes than they suggest

in fact one pack of fish which is about 700 g would make 2 dinners then

just make sure you chill it on the fridge as othervise the mixture gets too wet, if too wet add some breadcrumbs to it

I am making my own breadcrumbs
collecting any leftover bread, brown or white
storing it in paper bag
and when dry crush it in the food processor
in fact it can be crushed with rolling pin too

it would be good however to separate wholemeal/brown breadcrumbs and use white for covering and brown for filling up the mince for the cutlets etc

in fact few days ago I had one quarter pounder beefburger in the fridge
added one egg to it, bulked it up with breadcrumbs, added more salt and made enough cutlets (after rolling them in breadcrumbs) for a meal for me and my 2 dc (10 b , 12 g)

have you ever made cutlets from mince meat, breadcrumbs and an egg?
(mashed potatoes can do the job of an egg, but best not to use too many of them as this replacement)

sorrento56 · 27/08/2010 15:23

These are fantastic ideas, thank you very much. I have my note pad here and are going to reread your posts again and start my shopping list/meal plan.

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stressedHEmum · 28/08/2010 08:19

Feelings, I sometimes make cutlets. They are a bit like my hedgehogs, tbh. I use some leftover cooked meat (mince or very finely chopped lamb works well,) mashed potatoes and chopped parsley. I shape them into pancake type shapes and dip them in oatmeal rather than breadcrumbs because it has more nutrients. Then I either fry them or bake them. The kids love them with baked beans Blusheven the adult ones. It must be to do with childhood memories for them.

Sorrento, another cash saving tip is to bulk cook dried beans. The you can divide them into portions and freeze the,. They are ready, that way, just to chick into stews, soups, meatloaf, burgers or whatever without any faffing around. It makes you much more likely to use them because they are convenient.

I use frozen white fish as well. Not in the way that feelings does, though. I use 2 pieces to make a white fish chowder, which my kids love, with potatoes, leeks, corn, onions, carrot and milk, thickened slightly with a flour and water paste. Then I use 2 more to make a fish and pasta bake, a fish and veg pie or fish cakes. Any stray bits that are left get cooked and added to something like kedgeree or flaked into white sauce for pouring over rice.

I think, also, that it's important to remember that we don't always have to be eating protein. People in this country actually eat much more protein, a lot of it animal based, than we need. It doesn't do any harm to have the odd meal without an obvious source of protein. Some potato and leek soup or a vegetable stew or curry is absolutely fine for dinner some nights. It's often the protein that bumps up the cost of a meal, particularly meat, and missing it out every now and again can save plenty cash.

Sorrento, there are a couple of threads on the Credit Crunch topic about cutting back on shopping bills. One's called something like Cheap and Healthy recipes and the other is about shopping for a family of 5. There are a tonne of recipes and tips on those.

Scootergrrrl · 28/08/2010 13:39

Stressed - please can I have your oat and raisin bar recipe? It sounds like something my children would love.
A good tea for my children is pasta with a tin of tuna and some sweet corn stirred through, or rainbow rice, which is rice boiled with various veggies stirred through and some bits of chicken or ham added at the end.

sorrento56 · 28/08/2010 14:22

Thanks again. I didn't even know there was a credit crunch topic so will look for that. I do feel we eat a lot of meat and not enough fish but also meat and fish free meals would be good for us. I am considering going back to having food delivered. It will stop the impulse buys but also will help with my low energy issues.
Doesn't help that DD just won't eat sweetcorn or tomatoes as that knocks out lots of potential meals and pasta sauces.

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stressedHEmum · 29/08/2010 16:33

Scootergrrrl, it's basically just flapjacks with raisins or whatever mixed in.

tons of fab flapjacks

Scuttlebutter · 29/08/2010 17:46

Have you thought about a slow cooker? They are very cheap to run, and are brilliant/low effort for making really good casseroles, especially for cheaper cuts of meat or beans/pulses that do well on long, slow cooking. Don't know if you have a Costco near you - that might be handy for bulk buying. Use Aldi or Lidl also, lots of good quality cheap items there. Also, don't say no to free food. Have you got any friends that regularly fish, or shoot? Anyone who grows veg or fruit? Generally, only too happy to offload a bag of windfalls, some trout or a couple of pheasants. Don't forget about wild food too - loads of blackberries at the mo, but could also consider nuts, berries, mushrooms and so on. Plenty of books and websites on this.

If on a budget, definitely important to menu plan and avoid impulse shopping, and your freezer is your friend - lots of bulk baking. I like doing home made veg pizza - home made pizza dough, with a little bit of veg and cheese goes a long way. Could make an individual pizza bianco for your DD?

LadyintheRadiator · 29/08/2010 17:51

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SugarMousePink · 29/08/2010 18:03

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laquitar · 29/08/2010 18:23

Carbs are cheap, so the problem is protein. Pulses and eggs are your friends, cheap protein.
Pulses: (chickpea curry, bean chilli, lentil bolognese, bean burgers)
Eggs: spanish omellette, eggs with potato and beans, chopped boiled egg mixed with herbs and veg and used for jacked potatoes or s/w, quiche.

Frozen veg are cheaper, you dont have any waste and keep all the vitamins. Frozen broccoli, spinach, cauliflower. You can make a huge curry with cauliflower, spinach, chickpeas and freeze half for another day. I used to live on this when i didnt have money. Oh and porridge (with banana or apple) for breakfast.

sweetnitanitro · 29/08/2010 18:31

I always buy reduced meat at the end of its use-by date and chuck it in the freezer, then plan the next week's meals around it.

Frozen veg is great, I also use a lot of onions to bulk meals up a bit (lentils are great for this too).

And yes, get a slow cooker, you can do a lovely beef brisket in them- a brisket only costs about a fiver and you can get 2 or 3 meals out of it.

SugarMousePink · 29/08/2010 18:41

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

sorrento56 · 29/08/2010 19:51

I have a slow cooker. I have also decided I want to make soups for my lunches.

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winnybella · 30/08/2010 15:17

I usually buy all the dry stuff in bulk like pasta, rice, lentils etc. Also tins: tomatoes, sweetcorn etc.And cleaning products, cat litter and diapers.

Then I just buy fresh produce weekly.

It is possible to not spend a lot and still eat nice food. I personally don't like to put lentils into everything, though.

Here's my dinner menu for this week:

Potato and leek soup, baguette
Apple crumble and cream

Chicken roast, chips, haricots verts
Fruit

Pasta with ham, mushrooms and peas
Chocolate cake

Chicken and wild mushrooms risotto
Chocolate cake

Cottage pie
Fruit

Ham,mushroom and onion omelette
Plum crumble

Sausages and mash, peas
Plum crumble

Then for lunches we will have leftovers or eggs or toasted sandwiches with cheese, ham and egg etc. Lots of fruit.

You will notice that a lot of ingriedients repeat themselves ie chicken or ham, potatoes etc. Wild mushrooms are frozen, perfectly fine for a risotto.Same for most of veg.

sorrento56 · 30/08/2010 15:45

I have just done an on line order and know what we are eating from tomorrow night. I will see how we go. The kids all have school dinners now as well so that is about £130 a month out of my housekeeping. Then they have a cooked tea as well at night.

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