Cheap (Nutritious) Food please!

paskha

LOW COST - HOME MADE Healthy eating & snacks - peasant diet type on a very low budget - I mean how low ££ can you go?

how little can you spend on food - my shopping bill has gone up from £40pw for 2 adults & 2 children (4 & 10) in the 90s

to a rediculous £70+pw for 3 of us - all eating like adults (myself & 2 teenage boys)

so AVOID THE SUPERMARKETS and only buy with a limited amount of actual real money ie. CASH

want loads of suggestions & ideas (my youngest is always asking for "fish n rice" usually tin of mackerel with raw onion & "coleslaw" my own, not the slimey shop stuff - this is good & cheap!!)

DO YOU THINK THERE SHOULD BE A SEPARATE SECTION FOR FOODIE THREADS?

cos I don't know which bit to put it in - Health & Injury? or in General - as this one?

Dave The Iron Ex- Spartan

did a great fritata last night

few new potatos sliced and par boiled, half a dozen asapragus spears sliced and chucked in with the spuds for a couple of minutes.

Beat up 3 eggs, add some crumbled cheese ( I used feta). Put the spuds and asparagus in a frying pan, pour over the egg mixture and cook for 5 minutes or so. Serve with a salad.

Total cost 86p for the asparagus, as everything else was in the cupboard

[Deleted User]

grow your own herbs (although i have only succeeded with mint, but basil should be ok) then make your own pasta sauces from tin of chopped toms and herbs.

I use turkey breast instead of chicken (cheaper)

and make my own soups often from whatever veg needs eating so i don't have to chuck it.

Dave The Iron Ex- Spartan

I've got some parsley gone rampant in my herb garden if you want it Moosey

paskha

Thanks Dave - it's like the old Tortilla isnt it - do you know I just seem to have lost touch with all those sort of things

and you know why? cos of going to the supermarket

if you just try and live on what's in the cupboard - it's amazing what you come up with

ONIONS - I BELIEVE IN ONIONS

never run out of onions

[Deleted User]

Tuna Melt & salad

Oh one that we all like Gammon with pineapple rice.

Gammon steak, onion,small can of pineapple chunks in juice, 1/2stock cube, 2oz brown rice, hand full of frozen peas, red pepper, dash soy sauce, salt&pepper to taste.

Cut gammon steak into cubes dry fry with onion add pineapple and juice,stock cube and rice 1/2pt water to boil. cover and cook until rice is tender and most of liquid is absorbed (add more water if necessary). Stir in pead, pepper and soy sauce and season to taste.

Tasty. A nice after run supper too :0)

Dave The Iron Ex- Spartan

Did a great fish soup couple of weeks ago, The fishmonger let me have a huge bag of bones and off cuts for nothing, made a fish stick, strained it then added leek, onion and carrot, gentle simmer then put it thro the liquidiser, served with crusty bread

paskha

SOUPS !!! home made ofcourse

oh moosey - YES

Dave The Iron Ex- Spartan

opps meant fish stock

paskha

Thanks jammie

my ideas are already getting recharged

I always buy those frozen peppers and usually bulk out the curry with them (in the habit of buying frozen chicken breasts, but diced turkey thigh is a good one)

paskha

Dave, I was wondering what the mysterious fish stick was

Dave The Iron Ex- Spartan

got a great Jamie Oliver dish somewhere

Pasta and parsnips (honest its good)

cook some tagliatelle, then slice a couple of parsnips, I use the spud peeler to get thin strips. fry some strips of smoked streaky bacon in a little olive oil, then add the parsnips, once they are soft add the tagliatelle give it a good stir. Jamie says bung in loads of parmesan but our "little darlings" dont like it, so use grated cheddar. Then dish it up

Beanz52

tinned tomatoes, tuna, peppers, mushrooms, sweetcorn, with pasta.
red lentils added to whatever veg make a nice thick soup - and low GI and protein too.

[Deleted User]

Home made fishcakes? add a little mustard when mixing before frying serve with tomato ketchup and veggies.



............. I'm hungry now :0(

[Deleted User]

i often bulk out currys with cubed potato.

Dave The Iron Ex- Spartan

I know it's sad, but I still love corned beef hash

[Deleted User]

I think i eat really well, varied meals, fresh meat, fish and fruit and veg and the bill comes to about £30 a week for 2 of us, once in a while it's £40 but never more.

Shop at the market, veg is usally cheaper in the super market but fruit is a lot cheaper on the market, I'm not worried about using cheaper shops like Home Bargains, I go china town for 10kg sacks of rice and I don't generally buy pre packed meals.

I do confess to avoiding home brands though and I always get fresh granary bread from the bakery.

[Deleted User]

tuna, tuna and more tuna.
If you use mince (better quality from the butcher) and pad out with tinned beans or tomatoes or onions.
I am not advertising but some shops have a value range. Stock up with the tinned stuff - tomatoes, beans, fruit - lasts longer, also the bread is ok and pasta passable, froz chips good too. But here is the sneeky bit, do it on line and they have to give you ar better alternative - for the same price- if they dont have any
Also get bog standard pizza tom and cheese and make your own with left overs.
(pauses for breath) and I have a great book - Student Grub - it is all about cheap basic stuff - Jane Arkless I think.
Good luck - <<goes off for food as is now hungry>>

[Deleted User]

As well as growing your own herbs you should grow your own salad too. You don't need an allotment you can grow baby lettuce, rocket, spinach and whatever in a window box or two. Tomatoes are pretty easy with a bit more space and you can do peppers, cucumbers and all sorts even in pots on a patio. The salad though- compared to bags of it (which is what we always bought from Tesco for convenience) it is much, much cheaper and nicer and you know what's been sprayed on it- nothing!

[Deleted User]

meat from butcher is often cheaper than supermarket, and fresher. Our local butcher does a chinese style pork ready marinaded with cubes of peppers and onion for about 99p a pound i think.

The most expensive things we buy tend to be snacky things, if you only buy foods your boys have to cook to eat then they are less likely to eat you out of house and home. I only ever buy value tins of tomatoes and beans because, well they aren't exactly haute cuisine to start with so i'm not missing out. Fish from our local market is dead cheap compared to supermarket, and fresh that day.

Dave The Iron Ex- Spartan

All the herbs I need grow in my garden, last night it was my own rocket and radish that went into the salad. My pea's and beans are going wild, even the garlic is doing well.

And before anyone comments, we live in a brand new town house ( we moved in 12 months ago tomorrow, when it was built) only a small garden, with just a corner used for veg / herbs

paskha

yeah I only have a backyard but you can grow lots of things in pots

this is good, as I have lived healthy & cheap in the past - my mum went to "doe" school (domestic science) and we were brought up on home-made dinners like shepherds pie, fish pie, spaghetti, tom puree & cheese, "french toast" (eggy bread with proper old dried bread) bread & butter pudding, cauliflower cheese & roast dinners and bangers, mash & beans!

as a student we used to do all sorts of experiments

talking of parsnips I now recall a

SARDINE RISOTTO
with parsnips, onions, peas, carrots & coconut (yes desicated)
lemon juice & the sardines & rice ofcourse
IT WAS DELICIOUS

but I've lost all my ideas & enthusiasm for a long time now

this thread is already bringing it all back

Dave The Iron Ex- Spartan

Don't tell her ( it's a burfday prezzie for next week) but I bought my g/f "The A to Z of Herbs" great book from Borders last night only £5 ( and no that's not all I'm buying her !)

Did you know saffron has a strong afrodisiac effect on wimmin ???? (This book says so !)

paskha

trinity1

I have made curries with various spices before, but for ages I have just been buying Pataks paste (NOT sauce) but I think what happens is it becomes BORING and that is my main problem

although I believe in variety & home-made I just need this mental boost

also you have to be quite strong not to buy snacks like crisps & snack bars - and the money runs away on stuff like that

any savoury flapjack recipes out there?

[Deleted User]

aaaaah flapjack recipe........

fat buddha

over the years I have tried to grow most veg but quite frankly some are a waste of time based on return on investment - onions for instance take up loads of space, take ages to get decent results, and are cheap to buy anyway so why bother growing them. instead devote the space to those veg where you do get a great return - such as runner beans, tomatoes, courgettes etc.......any left overs of these can be made into pickles, purees etc to see you through winter.......


and chillies are easy to grow in pots outdoors - freeze whole or dry for all round year use..........don't ask why but for some reason I am growing 20 chilli plants of 4 varieties....


and herbs are easy as well

Voods

All this talk of growing herbs and vegetables is making me think you're all turning into Tom and Barbara of the Good Life.

Next you'll be suggesting having chickens and pigs!

Dave The Iron Ex- Spartan

No chance Voodoo ! Just using up a small triangle of garden

paskha

well I have just recently read a good trilogy (only 2 books so far - for 10yrs upwards) where there is an oil crisis in the background (and a few troops in towns as the lack of transport causes lack of food supplies = panic = looting!!)
sobering thought - never joke about keeping chickens!!