feeding the family on the breadline

[marley2580]

I thought that with money being as tight as it is, we could share some really cheap ways of feeding our families. So post your cheap, family friendly ideas here

 

[marley2580]

I'll start.

Potato fritters

Given to me by my mum, it's a great way of only using a couple of potatoes as a side dish.

take a couple of potatoes, no more than one per person

peel them, then slice them very thinly (only slightly thicker than crisps)

Shallow fry them in a frying pan until they are brown and crisp

Eat!

 

[samsugar7]

Home made chicken and vegetable pies
Home made quiche
Home made pizza
Home made beef and onion pies
Home made chips
Home made stew
Home made beef burgers

As you can guess from above i cook a lot, well once every fortnight really and it lasts for a good 10 main meals.

 

[babyk81]

lasagne, pasta dishes , with salads/garlic bread, aways buy one get one free deals xx

 

[babyk81]

SPAGHETTI/CHILLI CON CARNE
1b of mince, (more if desired)
1 lagre onion
garlic(garlic powder works well 2, lasts ages)
tomato frito (passata)
tomato puree
kidney beans
chilli powder


cook mince, in some oil, until brown, add a large chopped onion, afew finely chopped cloves of garlic, tomato frito, and tomato puree, there you have it, just add pasta. with the rest left over, add a tin of kidney beans, and some chilli powder, to make into chilli con carne.just add rice. you can freeze this for when you fancy.

SAUSAGE CASSEROLE
pack of thick sausages
carrots
onion
gravy granules
potatos

boil potatos in water until cooked, put in a casserole dish with diced carrots, and chopped onion. pop in the oven, about 180c for 40 minutes, and add with mashed potatoes.
CHICKEN FAJITAS
fajita mix
onion chicken
peppers

fry chicken add mix, with peppers,and onion, heat the wraps.

CHICKEN N SAUCE
chicken
tin of condensed soup, choose your flavour
rice/potatos
put chicken in casserole dish, pour over soup, pop in the oven 180c, for about 45 mins. add to mashed potatos, or rice

hope these recipes help you a little
xxxxxxxxxx

 

[lauren-kate]

I've used a lot of recipes from this book; https://www.amazon.co.uk/Feed-Whole...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1270721463&sr=8-1

It's also helped me to plan meals and what to buy. Our food costs are a lot lower since I started to plan everything out.

 

[babyk81]

tuna past bake xx

 

[buttonnose82]

Bulk out meat dish's with veggies makes it go further, also I find if you home make food it is alot cheaper over all, homemade lasagna is heaps cheaper and nicer than shop brought! I stock up on meat when there are offers then cook in bulk and freeze in portions

 

[Kitten]

I use frozen veg for pretty much everything, like padding out spag bol, pasta bakes and so on. We plan meals ahead too which saves a fortune and buy ahead. At the moment I have about 30 hot cross buns in the freezer, lmao. It was packets of 9 for 45p BOGOF at Tesco before Easter so I stocked up and they're my breakfasts sorted for a month for less than a quid.

I always get bread and stuff from the reduced section and freeze it too.

At the moment my favourite is pizza. We've been buying a 30p Morissons pizza base mix and making it into a very thin 14 or so inch pizza (we have one of those pizza trays for cooking it in the oven), spreading on passata (another staple - we use it as a sauce for everything), then throw on cooked up frozen med veg (which I also use in sandwiches with pesto) and then grate cheese on top (which is always BOGOF somewhere or some brand) and voila, yummy veg pizza for about £1.

Potatoes are a good staple. At the moment Morissons are doing a 1.5kg bag of baking potatoes for 60p, so we buy 2 and that does us jacket potatoes one night, chips another night, potato wedges another night, and then we have some spare to carry over to the next week.

 

[Boothh]

steak and potato/veg pie (this is enough for 2big portions for me and OH and abit for jess but if you have more people just double quantitys we only use half the pastry)

1 tin of the smart price stewed steak - about £1.50 a can
2 medium potatos
ready roll shortcrust pastry can get asda/tesco version for about £1.20
frozen veg or tin of garden peas/sliced carrots whatever,

peel and cut up potatoes into small bitesize chunks and boil until soft
(steam frozen veg if adding)
warm up the stewed steak then add the cooked boil potatoes (and veg if using)
mix all together and warm through (i add a stock cube of a tsp of garlic paste sometimes)
pour all into a casserole dish and roll over the pastry making sure all edges are sealed stick a fork in the middle for steam holes,
(i always cook everything at 200c in my oven and do it by eye)
normally ready after about 15 minutes but it will tell you how long pastry needs on the packet,

serve with mash/chips and veg

(i use asda frozen mash, bout 50p a bag and you get 4 servings out of it so it does me and OH 2meals with that)

also i find mince really versatile i always buy extra lean steak mince mince but if your cutting back then any will do you can do loads and loads with it,

spaghetti bolognaise,
shepards pie,
mince and onion pie,
chilli,
burritos,

loads of stuff x

 

[Boothh]

sausage tomato and garlic pasta, serves 4 ( just change quantitys for more )

8 sausages
pasta (enough for 4)
1tin smartprice chopped tomatos
1 jar of cheap tomato pasta sauce
3tsp of garlic paste, (add more or less to taste)
grated cheese


grill sausages and leave to one side,
cook the pasta according to pack and drain
whilst waiting for pasta cut up the sausages into 4 or 5 pieces each,
put drained cooked pasta in the pan along with chopped sausages, add tinned chopped tomatos, pasta sauce and garlic paste,
warm through
serve and add grated cheese to the top serve with garlic bread x

 

[babycrazy1706]

great thread!