Food shopping on a budget - meal ideas

[newbie1984]

Hi

Am looking for some meal ideas that are not going to break the bank. We usually do spag Bol, chilli, home made curry etc but am getting a little bored of that.

Any meal ideas that work well for you to share? Trying to keep the food shop to about £40 per week!

 

[Titch85]

Stirfry with vegetables and/or chicken. It's one of my favourites! Tesco usually have the pre-prepared veg, noodles and sauce on offer!

 

[newbie1984]

That's a good idea, we don't do enough veg so that could help! Thanks x

 

[wifeywifey]

Home made chicken nuggets and veggie fingers are loved by my kids, I make loads and freeze them.

 

[katie_lou]

Stir fry is always cheap to make xxx

 

[kat1988]

I bulk cook most things and freeze meals for the next couple of weeks as bigger packs of things are normally cheaper
for example lasagne, soups, meatballs in sauce, pasta bake, sheppards pie (put the potatoes on fresh they don't taste right after freezing!)

also switching to turkey makes most dinners a lot cheaper, and making sauces rather than buying jars

xx

 

[vinandbella]

Fish pie, you can normally get fish pie mix (the offcuts of loads of differnt bits) cheap from the fish counter in Sainsbugs. All you need then is white sauce and mash

 

[Linzie2012]

Corned beef hot pot - make a bit extra for the cold days at work too

 

[PyscoFalcon]

Home made chinese
Lasange

with those always have pleanty for both of us to last 2 days.

Also some weekend we get a small gammon joint for a fiver. I cook it then he slices it, that gives us a nice gammon and pinapple meal plus sarnies for the week!

 

[Lolly85x]

Macaroni cheese if you make from scratch it's really cheap, bit basic but yummy.
We also do a stew once a week. It's quite cheap. We get some diced steak, that's about the most expensive bit. And just chop up veggies to bulk it out. Turnip. Potatoes. Carrots. Bit of gravy.
Cottage pie is a winner too. Bit of mince and I just put carrots, gravy in and done peas on the side.
I also get my butcher meat from a local farm shop. We are £50 and it lasts about 6 weeks. And although its an outlay at the time if keeps our weekly food shopping down and much better value for money than the supermarket xxx

 

[knopk@]

Agree on stew. Doesnt have to be a lot of meat, slow cooking gets the taste out of meat. Lots of root veg which are cheap now. I also buy basic stir fry mix and couple of mushrooms, pepper etc to.make it more exciting. Cheaper than buying expensive stir fries.
Sainsburys basic chicken is the same grade chicken.just different sizes, i go for that as it tastes the same.
Frozen veg and mixes are cheap and last long in the freezer, great for bulking up meals and getting your veg in.
Butternut squash soup is a hit and yummy and cheap.

Tapatalking so cant see signatures

 

[vinandbella]

Roast a chicken on Sunday, Make chicken and mushroom pie on Tuesday and make soup out of the leftover's for lunch through the week.

 

[wifeywifey]

We buy meat in bulk at butchers and always get a good discount, much cheaper than supermarkets.
Unless your like me and only like expensive sausages toad in the hole is a cheap meal

 

[titch]

with the stir fry i discovered you can buy frozen bags of stirfry, so you could use half and save the rest, I never used up the fresh bags. Also toad in the hole is cheap if you learn how to make your own batter (really easy) and kedgeree (sp??) you can buy massive sacks of rice from lidl which last about 6 months! Buy a pack of smoked makarel and youre pretty much sorted! My other budget meal was homemade quiche. Easier than I thought it would be to make my own pastry and Id buy 1 tomato and some bacon lardons and put an onion in there, sometimes Id add spinach. Then its egg milk and cheese. So easy, so impressive too!

 

[tiaflame]

Jacket potatoes, things on toast xx

 

[tiaflame]

Omelettes xx

 

[Lolly85x]

Baked potatoes are a good idea. Even making a bit extra chilli con carne and putting it over a baked potato the next night.xxx