quick, £50 for weeks shopping for 4 of us, plus peter at the weekend.

[misdee]

need sandwich fillings, meal ideals etc. have slowcooker in use a lot at the moment, am i mad to be considering casserole type meals in summer?

need help for good filling evening meals, no colourings tho please!

what about salads. pack of new potatoes, onion, mayo, should make a big bowl of potato salad that might last 2 days if you serve with lots of other green salad/bread/meat of your choosing. chicken marinaded in honey/mustard/olive oil then grilled makes a good cold meat and much cheaper than buying cold meat from the delli. How picky are your kids?

also if you buy bigger packs of chicken breasts you save money that way, cook some and mix with mayo/salad to make sandwiches. cheese for kids, maybe peanutbutter/jam/honey for kids?

quite picky, but they prefer 'real' meat to chopped, cooked reshaped stuff.

so a couple of chickens, one roasted, then leftovers for a curry?

and cook one friday for sandwiches/salads over the weekend?

i have some mince, and pasta/rice etc all in the cupboard.

oh gawd, i am actually going to cook!!

my kids dont touch spreads at all. they are very odd.

casseroles are good - nice and filling with lots of rice!

Lentil sauce and rice?
Tuna sauce and rice (can you see a pattern..?) you only need 1 tin of tuna (or handful of lentils), plus tin of toms, 1 onion and some mushrooms and you've got a sauce for 4 - 5 easily - I do tons of rice which fills us up. Or pasta with either.

Jacket potatoes with tuna + mayo, or cottage cheese or just grated cheese? Nice and cheap and filling.

fishfingers/anything frozen + oven chips - easy meal to make and not too pricey.

Shepherds pie, bolognese?
A great big soup?

DO chilli or bolongese with the mince. Then you can have with rice, pasta or baked potatoes. Whatever you have.

Casserole fine in summer I'd say. Unless it's a real scorcher my kids would eat it!

Mince - make a spag bol! Dead easy - just throw in a tin of toms and an onion and some mushrooms -then you canhave it with your pasta so you don't need to buy spagetti.

Soup good too because you can have it for lunch when Peter's there without too much hassle.

my kids love pasta with a tin of chopped tomatos and bacon mixed very cheap and very quick

ok - no spreads means you don't have to shell out on them. mince is good for meatballs too or home-made burgers. bear in mind it's going to be 28 degrees at the weekend so you might not want to be cooking big hot meals.

whole chickens are good, have one as a roast perhaps, then with left over meat you can make strogenoff - fry onion, dip chicken in bit of paprika, add to onion, add few mushrooms, cook for a bit then add about 300 ml of stock and a dash of cream and serve with rice. perfect way to get rid of left-over chicken meat.

leak/bacon/potato soup. 12 oz leaks sliced, 12 oz potatoes, sliced, 12 oz bacon, chopped, saute for 5 mins, add 400 ml stock and simmer till potato tender, liquidize, then return to pan and add 300 ml milk, stir and bring back to boil and serve with rolls and salad. takes 30 mins max

omelettes with lots of veg in.
Jacket potatoes with selection of fillings (tuna, cheese, beans) and salad.
Pancakes
Toad in the hole
pasta bake with veg in and cheese on top.
spicy lentil soup with lots of onions and garlic
risotto

i try to make burgers from mince follow recipe to the letter but they alway break up on the grill or oven so it looks like a tray of mince with onions and egg what am i doing wrong?

sandwich fillings: tuna & mayo; ham; cheese; egg mayo. If you are really stuck - jam or honey. Tuna & egg are really good value for money because they stretch really far.
Chicken is a really good idea - you could also slow cook a gammon & then have leftovers chopped up with rice or pasta another day.
Tuna & cheesy pasta is another good cheapo filler.
What have you got in the freezer - anything we can use there?

i only spent £35, quite impressed.

i have got this weeks fruit and veg and meat. didnt go down freezer ailse, mainly fresh meats etc. have got a coupler of chickens, a small packet of good sausages, some bacon, yoghurts, block of cheese etcetc. got a big bag of spuds as well.
actually got a fair bit, am surprised.

in my freezer is some gammon which i will cook for peter and the girls at the weekend, i dont like gammon due to his saltiness, so i think i'll see if i have a lone chicken breast in there for me. also have some duck strips(i dont remember buying those), some mince, frozen veg, lots of ice, and a bag of twizzlers!!! [misdee scuttles off in shame]

have onions, carrots, sweetcorn, lettuce, bnew potatoes. loads of stuff. we are sorted for the week

the twizzlers will be binned later i think they may be past their date now anyway, and dd1 will probably react to them.

try soaking the gammon over night to remove the salt, this is what i do as you can never tell how salty they are going to be.

i also get a gammon joint soak 24hrs changing the water. boil with bayleaves, gloves and black peppercorns then roast in th oven for 30mins with orange juice and honey. When cold i slice into fairly thin slices to be used in sandwiches. I also freeze in small packets to use for sandwiches at a later date.

I still use my slow cooker and tbh i think its better as you don't have the heat coming from the oven. get chicken breast, cheap cuts of beef for a casserole, pasta/some sauces, and you can't go wrong for jacket tatties