cheap homemade meals for kids on a budget

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things r tight at the minute really tight waiting on a dla decision for my daughter and we r struggling, any cheap meal ideas, ?

thanks

savoury rice, anything pasta, baked potatoes, casseroles, make bulk load mince/bolognaise and use for lasagne/spag bol/shepherds pie/on jackets, omelettes, soups, toad in the hole

key staple ingredients might include some of following tinned tomatos, tuna, veg, cheese, bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, mince/sausages/whole chicken

If you want chicken buy a whole one and make at least 2 or 3 meals from it.
Roast, then rissotto, then soup for example.

they r fussy eaters and r 4 and 2, will eat bolognese and stew, going to try them with lasagne thats a gud un thanks and shepards pies

Also meatballs worth a try then.

Anything with mince. Homemade burgers go down well with mine use bread crumbs to bulk them up and I make wedges with a couple of big spuds done in the oven.
Soups are good too you they're cheap and you can hide all sorts of veggies by blending as long as the main flavour is one they like. Serve with toast or cheese on toast.
Marigold swiss vegetable boullion powder makes everything taste nice you only need a bit.

search for lucysmam 's thread- there are loads of ewcellent ideas (and recipes) on there- plenty of people similar situation at the moment. GL

I have a book full of stuff from that thread EachPeach! There was soooo much I haven't got around to trying it all yet!

Pasta bake's a good one if they'll eat pasta n sauce type things and cheese. Jacket spuds with beans, tuna mayo sarnies, fishcakes? made with tin of tuna? fish pie with tin of salmon or Asda sell a bag of about 6 frozen white fish fillets for about £1.66 n they do us 3 meals for me, oh and lo. That's if you shop at asda of course, I assume the other supermarkets would do something similar.

potato bake? similar to pasta but with spuds n cream.

stew . . . had for tea last night, loads left n very yummy. cost about 3 quid for 2 meals worth too & is so easy

Soups are dead easy and dead cheap n tasty too. My lo tries some with us when we eat, more inclined to eat something we're having sometimes.

home made biccys if you have chance are yummy and simple & I'm saving us a small fortune making rather than buying ours!

I'll keep thinking, there's loads more in book that people suggested & I've done a search for food budgeting which came up with loads of useful threads with ideas/recipes on a budget.

HTH.

Check out the vegetarian section - and get some of that dried soya mince. It's not expensive compared to 'real' mince, and my kids can't tell the difference in a bolognese. It's quick to make up, and also stores in your cupboard, so you always have a real meal to hand!

frech toast (or eggy bread) with baked beans is a good one too!

We get our eggs from a farm shop nearby who sell very small eggs for 80p for 30! You have to use more than usual but at that price who cares!

I agree TBGP, good idea. very handy to have in the cupboard esp. if you're skint!

how about bulk stuff up a bit with some lentils and freeze half so you've got some 'ready' meals for the kids. Lentil's have become my best friends over the past few weeks as money's so tight. Very useful tip off mn about using them to double up quantities!

check out reduced racks as well, I got a HUGE bag of spuds in co-op over the road for 20p last night! well, yesterday afternoon, nowt up with um, just they can't sell them past the use by date on them!

yep - we often try and shop at a time when things are being reduced and pick up lots of bargains! The other week we were passing a 'Booths' which is out of our price range really but they had made reductions and we came out with loads! Lovely big chicken kebabs with veggies on - 50p for three etc,etc. You just have to either use the stuff straightaway or be able to freeze it.

add in lentils and grated carrot and loads of onions to anything with mince. healthier and cheaper !

asda do huge bags of pasta twists for a couple of pounds.

not necessarily overly healthy but we have egg n chips with tom ketchup sometimes! quick, easy and cheap! or bangers n mash with beans? yum

thanks so much for all the great ideas yeh they love stew will try and make homemade meat balls, cheers everyone