OK so this is the outline sketch of the meal plan for week 1 of the £15 menu - if you do not remember then what I bought is in the post here. I need 21 meals for one person in total. 3 cups of tea a day within budget otherwise if I get thirsty there is always water! The days here are interchangeable and I have assumed that you have access to one freezer drawer as most people have a fridge freezer nowadays.
Day 1
Breakfast - 2 slices toast and spread
Lunch - Slice of eggy bread made with one slice of bread and 1 egg (use margarine to cook)
Lunch - Minestrone soup made from 1/4 of the tomato sauce plus small handful mixed veg and a small handful of pasta, use 1 slice of bread to make croutons
Dinner - 2 sausages with 2 scrambled eggs and 1/3 tin baked beans with 1 slice toast - OK it's a cooked breakfast but why can't I have this for dinner?
Day 3
Breakfast - 2 slices toast and spread
Lunch - 50-75g pasta in cheese sauce - make enough cheese sauce for 4 - freeze the remainder
Dinner - Lentil Dahl with homemade flatbreads
Day 4
Breakfast - 2 slices toast and spread
Lunch - cauliflower cheese using about 100 g of the cauliflower/broccoli and 1/4 of the cheese sauce
Dinner - Homemade pizza - top with 1/4 tomato sauce and 1 sliced sausage plus cheese
Day 5
Breakfast - 2 slices toast and spread
Lunch - baked bean "meatballs" in 1/4 tomato sauce with pasta - the 2/3 tin of baked beans left over from earlier in the week
Dinner -Pasta bake - 75 g pasta, 1/4 of the tomato sauce, 1 sausage sliced, handful of frozen veg, top with one slice of bread crumbled and some cheese.
Day 7
Breakfast - 2 slices toast and spread
Lunch - Cauliflower cheese with more of the leftover cheese sauce with 2 sausages on the side.
Dinner - Lentil Dahl with homemade flatbreads
I also have 3 eggs and some flour left over so I can make myself a batch of cupcakes for sweet snacks during the week!
I could also have made onion fritters (read bhajis but shallow fried) to go with my dahl.
At the end I have almost half the lentils left, some onions, some veggies, half of the pasta, half of the flour, 2 sausages, half of the garlic and most of the mixed herbs and curry powder to carry over into week 2.
and I did not resort to beans on toast or a cheese sandwich which was my worst fear at the beginning...
For my £15 a week menu I ended up using flour and beans to make a meal for one of the lunches. Not a good combo you might feel but it turned out quite tasty.
oil, butter or in the case of the £15 menu margarine to cook.
Chop the onion really fine and soften in the oil, add the garlic and cook for 1 minute more.
Add to the baked beans and mash together well. At this point if you have it add a pinch of cumin or chilli powder, alas I did not without cheating!
Take one of your flatbreads and spread with the beany mixture, top with grated cheese and put the other flatbread on top.
Heat up the frying pan, at this point you may be able to get away with no oil. Put the bean sandwich you have created in the pan and allow to heat through for a couple of minutes on each side - the aim is to get it hot all the way through and allow the cheese to melt without the wraps burning, depending on how thin your wraps are it will be quicker or slower.
I always seem to crave a wrap for lunch when I do not have one available, however you can make your own if you have plain flour, water and oil. For the £15 a week challenge week 1 I used melted margarine as I have yet to buy any oil- it still worked although the taste was rather different. These tasted great with the red lentil dhal.
Flatbread Recipe - makes 4-6 flatbreads
200 g plain flour
100 ml warm water
2 tbsp oil or butter/margarine
Bung the flour into a bowl and make a well in the centre. Gradually add the water mixing as you go with your fingers, depending on the brand of flour you may need to add some extra flour or extra water, you are aiming for a soft dough.
Knead the dough for 5 minutes - this helps the dough to be strong enough to be rolled out thin.
Divide the dough into 4 or 5 pieces and roll out using a floured rolling pin, try to get it as thin as possible.
Heat a frying pan and put a small amount of oil or margarine into the hot pan, tilt so it spreads over the surface. Cook each flatbread for 2 minutes on each side - don't worry if it puffs up slightly. Cooked flatbreads can be used like wraps or warmed before serving. They even freeze, put some greaseproof paper between each layer.
Variations:
You get a different flavour depending on whether you cook these with oil or butter. You can also use flavoured butter to cook it in to add a slight flavour.
If you want a more definite flavour to your flatbread add herbs or spices to the flour before adding the water. Try chopped coriander, garlic powder, nigella seeds, chilli powder etc depending on what you want to serve them with.
For years my mum used to buy cheese sauce as a packet mix. It was bright orange, tasted of chemicals and used to set solid if left on a plate! She was brought up by her mum (someone who could burn water) to think that cooking was difficult and sauces the most difficult of all.
This is my super simple cheese sauce - use it on it's own with broccoli and cauliflower, add it to just pasta for a homemade (cheap) version of mac and cheese, use it in a lasagne, add it to chicken and mushrooms for a great baked potato filling - the list is endless.
Cheese sauce - enough for mac and cheese for 4
25 g butter
25 g flour
250ml milk
120 g cheddar cheese, grated
Melt the butter in a saucepan and add the flour. Stir to a smooth paste and continue stirring and cooking for 1-2 minutes, it should go slightly yellow if it goes completely brown start again! Do not miss this stage as it "cooks" the flour and gets rid of the gluey taste. Add the milk a dribble at a time, stirring all the time to avoid lumps; I use a balloon whisk but you can also use a wooden spoon.
Once all the milk has been added keep stirring but allow to come to the boil, this will let the sauce thicken. Stir in the grated cheese and allow to melt into the sauce.
When I was a student many many years ago I used to get together with a bunch of friends for beer and homemade pizza on a Friday night. It did not take us long to realise that it cost us less (and therefore we had more to spend on beer) if we made our own bases and also from reading the labels that pizza sauce in a jar has the primary ingredient of water! If you must use a jar then use a jar of pasta sauce - most supermarkets sell their own nowadays, but it is really easy (and cheap) to make you own and it can be used for pizza topping, pasta sauces and even freezes well.
Homemade pasta/pizza sauce - serves 4
1 onion finely, chopped
oil
1 carton value passata
1-2 tsp mixed herbs
1-2 cloves garlic
2 -3 tbsp water
Fry the onion in the oil (in the case of my £15 per person a week menu then margarine) until soft. Add the crushed garlic and fry for 1 minute more (do not be tempted to add the garlic at the beginning as it is liable to burn and be bitter).
Add the mixed herbs and the passata. Use the water (just a splash really) to get the last dregs out of the carton - after all you paid for it!
Bring to the boil - that's it ready to use - if you overdid it with the water then simmer for a few minutes to reduce down.
How to use
Pizza topping
Stir in meatballs and serve with pasta
Stir in mince and veggies and serve with pasta as spag bol
Stir in mince and veggies and serve with mashed potato on top for cottage/shepherds pie
Stir in mince and veggies and use to make lasagne
Stir into pasta and top with breadcrumbs and cheese to make pasta bake
Cooked rice, veggies and leftover meat if you have any - add cajun spices or chilli powder
Stir in beans/lentils for veggie version of spag bol.
Water down with stock and use as a base for minestrone soup or as a soup in it's own right.
Card making alongside trying out my new camera mount for the ceiling. I came across a channel called Call me {crafty} Al whilst thumbing through YouTube during a break from homeschooling last week. The lovely lady who runs the channel designs a (free!) card sketch and instructions once a month to allow you to make a batch of between 6 and 12 cards using 12 x 12 pattern paper. In an attempt to regain some of the storage in my house I pulled out this to use this month so the find was serendipitous to say the least. Of course homemade cards are a fraction of the cost of those in the shops - but only once you have bought the basic gear and also only so long as you do not disappear down that particular craft rabbit hole (guilty!). Anyway these are destined to be sold off when the COVID situation allows.
I was passed these words of wisdom from someone this week "I wear a hat indoors so I don't have to have the heating on". Given that I am on unpaid leave AGAIN - thanks to COVID, I am looking for ways to keep the costs down The number of frugal/super frugal tips and sites that have mushroomed in the wake of the biggest dip in the economy in a decade give or take is enormous, personally with Raynaulds Syndrome in the family turning down the heat too much is not an option and some of the tips may save money but we don't want complete misery in life do we?
This collided in my brain with a homework that was set by my youngest's DT teacher (he is in the middle of a Year 8 textiles module) - "Knit something". Now my SEN son does not have the patience to knit - or the interest- so we did about 8 inches of French Knitting which took about half an hour and did not drive us both to distraction; as a reward he got the half term award for the year group for this subject.
Knitting is something that is undergoing a revival thanks to YouTube teaching people how to do it - personally I learnt from my great gran followed by my mum, my grandmother being another one who did not have the patience. Those people that are in the middle in terms of generations are less likely to have had someone to learn from. These days I have the desire but not the time and none of my children are really interested...
However if you would like to knit a hat either to wear indoors or out - the choice is yours, I won't judge! - then here are a round up of FREE knitting patterns as far as I am aware.
This is the first example recipe for the £15 for one person for one week menu. Not the best tasting dhal in the world but a bog standard one that can be made with the minimum of ingredients. It is cheap, freezes well and only takes half an hour ish to cook. You can also halve the recipe and have some for today and some for tomorrow if you are a singleton and it tastes even better the next day. Win win. Adjust the amount of water to make a sauce or a soup.
Red Lentil Dhal - serves 4
oil
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 tsp curry powder
400g frozen mixed veg
1 carton of passata or tin of tomatoes
300g red lentil
1 litre of water
Fry the onion in the oil until soft (in the £15 budget I used margarine to do this - not as good but needs must) . Add the garlic and curry powder and fry for 1 minute more. Add everything except the lentils and bring to the boil, simmer for 5 minutes until half cooked. Add the lentils and continue to simmer for 20 minutes until the lentils and veggies are soft.
Serve with rice, naans, flat breads, baked potato, fresh bread or wraps depending on what starches you have to hand.
Variations:
sprinkle with fresh coriander
add coconut milk to the curry in place of some of the water
stir in a tablespoon of mango chutney
use stock instead of water
use other veg e.g. squash, aubergine, sweet potato, swede, fresh or frozen, just half cook before adding the lentils.
This cooks well in a slow cooker, start off in a frying pan and transfer all the ingredients to the slow cooker after the curry powder has spent a couple of minutes in the oil.
Make no mistake the most expensive way to budget is week by week. Combine that with a challenge that 1) has £15 total for the spending bar, 2) is just for one person so no big value packs that are less pence per 100g 3) uses nothing from stock or stores 4) has to cover three meals a day, seven days a week and include all drinks it is hard..
Why then did I spend time doing this? Well things are in a bit of a mess at the moment aren't they. We have children from low income families being given inadequate free lunches by government appointed firms who claim they are not profiteering (yeah right!) - that was supposed to be £15 per child per week. We also have massive growth in unemployment numbers thanks to COVID and also people who are on furlough which may not be 100% of their normal pay. Food banks are busier than ever before with growth in the hundreds of percent compared with just 18 months ago. We also have food prices that have spiked on some items due to Brexit - anyone else notice that one? If you look at the recipe websites and things like the BBC we have started to see cooking on a budget programmes like this one. I then had a YouTube suggestion for a video that did one weeks shopping on £10 - again from scratch (but from last autumn) so I wondered what my version would be. I could not manage £10 - although I may revisit it and try again; hats off to Nicola who did. It also proved impossible to recreate Nicola's basket post Brexit from the same supermarket chain as most of the value brands which those who are on a super low income rely on have quietly disappeared from the shelves in just 3-4 months.
It is a little artificial to use nothing from stores. The only time this really happens to us is when we first move out of home. I remember that I had a miserable month the first month I moved out after uni as I had to pay deposits/rent etc up front, was still buying necessary stuff for the house including cleaning stuff and had to buy a season ticket for travelling to my new job. I think I survived the month on bubble and squeak with no extras. Once you get to the first pay check whether it is weekly or monthly that's when it starts to turn around. My mum was in no position to help much as she wanted to as she was unemployed herself and lived in a different part of the country. The only other time that has happened to me was when we moved to Germany for work, but that was entirely different though as the company paid the rent (and therefore deposits etc) and we had some ready cash to buy the initial storecupboard. If you do not have some ready cash as a backup and are starting from zero then it is really hard and you have to make some compromises somewhere. After the first week you have some food items that you can carry over and it gets slightly better from there on; but make no mistake it is a hard way to live and I take my hat off to anyone who has to do this day in and day out - our family budget at this point is £20 per person per week and with carnivores even this is a struggle sometimes. It is also a hard situation to recover from as when you have no wriggle room at all in your budget you know you have to eat what you have cooked or go hungry; how then are you brave enough to try a new recipe. Lentil dahl is super cheap but it may not be something you have ever tried if you come from a family that is traditionally meat-and-two-veg type meals.
Going week to week with your budget is also harder. If you get paid monthly consider a budget for the month rather than week by week, that way you can buy things like oil, rice and spices at the beginning of the month and use it every week, the first week is expensive but everything gets cheaper from there on.
So here is my offering for inspiration. Hopefully this is harder than the situation you find yourself in and even if you have something like oil, herbs and spices in the storecupboard then you have already earned yourself over 10% of the budget in terms of wriggle room. This can allow you to either add more variety, buy a better value for money larger pack which will last for longer (and save more long term), or use to save an emergency buffer in terms of pennies.
Here is my basket in no particular order- meal plan and recipes to follow:
Clover margarine - the cheapest tub at the moment (the only item that is on offer), use as margarine for toast and in recipes but also in lieu of oil which I could not get within budget - £1.00
500 gram frozen mixed veg - cheaper than fresh and with some variety. In this case peas, carrots, sweetcorn, broccoli and red pepper. - 85p
2 x value passata - less watery than tinned tomatoes even though they are more expensive per item. (tinned tomatoes by comparison would have been 28p per tin) 2 @ 35p = 70p
1 kg onions - no I won't use all of these I would have bought 3 single onions if I could and used some of the money elsewhere- the other alternative is frozen chopped onion but that is a few pence more expensive for half the weight, some to carry over to next week - 65p
500 g red lentils - protein hit and no soaking or long cooking £1.15
800 g loaf bread white or brown are the same price, toast for breakfast here we come but put half in the freezer at the beginning of the week if you do not want to have to throw half of it away because it is blue, contains 22 slices including crusts- 49p
2 pints whole milk - I plan to water this down to make 3 pints total, since it is full fat it will then taste like semi-skimmed - 80p
500 g pasta - any shape you like, not a time to be fussy and they are all the same price, if I use 75g per meal this would be 6 meals plus some left over - 45p
head of garlic - 39p
6 eggs - the most expensive way per egg but never mind...-75p
1 kg granulated sugar - ok so this is a weird one since I do not take sugar in my tea. I wanted something sweet and figured I could use this in baking; this will last a whole month for one person I hope - 65p
500 g plain flour - not just for this week but useful for making sauces, biscuits, flatbreads, pizza bases....-45p
1 kg frozen cauli and broccoli - more frozen veg what can I say - 99p
350g white cheddar - smallest pack available and mature for more flavour - £1.89
100g curry powder - not enough in the budget to buy individual spices so a one size fits all flavour addition that will last several weeks- 65p
jar mixed herbs, again not just for this week and a mixture of flavours - 95p
8 value pork sausages- the only meat this week and not the healthiest but the cheapest, - £1
80 value tea bags - at 3 cups of tea a day this should last over 3 weeks - 55p
Total spend - £14.96
What's not on there. Well I had several things that I removed and put back and removed again. Week 2 will start with vegetable oil, potatoes, rice and 5 bananas (if I had set the budget at £20 they would have squeezed in with just over a quid to spare).
So my challenge for you is given £15 what would you buy for 21 meals for one person? I would love to see you do better!
Edited - meal plan for week 1 plus links for recipes here
Today is Pancake Day in the UK. For those that don't know it is also known as Shrove Tuesday and for Christians in the UK it is 41 days before Easter Sunday and traditionally it is when all the things that are banned during Lent are eaten up to allow for 41 days of fasting starting with Ash Wednesday (tomorrow).
Whilst Lent has become a time to try and give up a little luxury (chocolate usually being the meme...) pancakes are a cheap way of using up small amounts of fillings as the pancake itself makes up most of the meal. Contrary to popular belief you do not need to use a pancake mix- mum I'm talking to you here- as it is just a mixture of plain flour, egg and milk whisked together with a balloon whisk. Depending on how thick or thin you like them they have a greater or lesser amount of milk.
Since pancakes can be sweet or savoury they are the ultimate buffet food in our house where we prepare several "toppings" and then cook the pancakes to order. My youngest son likes his American style, thick and fluffy - this is a simple ratio of 1 cup flour, 1 cup milk and 1 egg, drizzle ladlefuls into the pan (about the diameter of a fried egg) and then serve with crispy bacon for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Any leftover mixture can be cooked and the resultant pancakes reheated in the microwave (about 20 seconds on HIGH).
Add more milk to this ratio and you get crepe style pancakes that are thin and cover the whole pan. These are the type of pancakes that British people think of automatically and since they are thin they can be rolled around a small portion of filling. Leftover spag bol sauce, chilli or curry are not traditional but it is a good way of making a filling meal for one from something that is not even lunch sized.
Pancakes can also be used to replace lasagne sheets and actually work out cheaper than the pasta - a good substitute for when I have already started the ragu sauce only to discover my older son has raided the cupboard (he likes to eat raw pasta - Autism is a peculiar thing...), so think of your favourite lasagne recipe and use that as inspiration, either stack, overlap and layer or roll your pancake round your chosen filling and then decide to leave plain, sprinkle with cheese or add a sauce on top. Pancakes can even be cooked and frozen in advance, filled or unfilled depending on the filling.
Given how versatile they are pancakes deserve more than a once-a-year outing.
Bog Standard British Pancakes - enough for 4 people to eat now or 1 to eat and freeze the rest for another day
200 g plain flour
2 eggs
350 ml milk
pinch of salt
Bung it all in a bowl. Give it a whisk with a balloon whisk to get rid of the lumps. Leave to stand if you need to, it won't hurt.
Heat a frying pan to hot. Add a spritz of oil. Using a ladle pour in some batter and tip the pan so the batter runs over the surface. Leave to cook on the first side until it looks dry. Using a fish slice sneak a peek underneath - it should be golden brown. Flip (if you are a coward just use the fish slice!). Cook the second side for about 20 seconds and then slide out of the pan. Onto the next until you have enough or all the mixture is used up. How many you get depends on how big your pan is and how much batter you pour in, using a ladle (I fill it up halfway for one pancake) means that the amount of batter is consistent and therefore the pancakes are a more even size. The reason the first one is traditionally the worst one is because the pan should be hot.
Ideas of fillings/toppings accompaniments
Sweet
lemon juice and sugar
golden syrup
chocolate sauce
banana and chocolate sauce
ice cream - any flavour
Fresh or frozen fruit
Jam
peanut butter
you get the idea.....
Savoury
Let the leftovers be unleashed...
Bacon (had to be there for DS2...)
Cheese and tomato - either fresh or tinned, if tinned heat them up first
Ratatouille
Spag bol sauce/ragu - sprinkle top with cheese once rolled up
Left over chilli - sprinkle top with cheese once rolled up
Chopped leftover sausage and baked beans - sprinkle top with cheese once rolled up
Ham and cheese
Ham, spinach and poached egg
Stir fry veggies (or veggies and meat) and black bean sauce or plum sauce
Bombay potatoes
Dhal - with our without raita
Refried beans and cheese - add avocado or salsa if you have it
Chicken and bacon or chicken and mushroom in a cheese sauce
Tuna and sweetcorn in a white sauce
Don't forget fish, I used to know someone who swore by mushy peas and fish fingers as a filling.... not one for me...
use your favourite lasagne recipe and use the pancake instead of the lasagne
use your favourite wrap recipe and use the pancake instead of the wrap - but be gentle and use a knife and fork to eat it!
use your favourite burrito/quesadilla/fajita/enchiladas recipe and use instead of the flour tortilla- but be gentle and use a knife and fork to eat it!
One of the things that I can no longer do (thank you COVID) is pop to the shops for a card. These pieces of thick paper are ridiculously priced for what they are but there are some (older) members of my family who do not get a home-made card as they do not appreciate it. It is the same people who are not "quilt worthy" to use a phrase from "Just Get It Done Quilts" on YouTube. So this week in a rare moment of calm I was looking at cardmaking videos on YouTube and a new to me channel popped up in my suggestions. "Call Me {Crafty} Al". This lovely lady has been generous enough to produce a monthly (free) pdf which gives materials, cutting instructions and a sketch which yields a minimum of 6 cards using 12 x 12 (inch) patterned paper. There is a monthly hashtag so anyone who makes a set of these uses the hashtag on blog, YouTube or Instagram and voila you have lots of inspiration for just how to use your stash to make your own assembly line set of cards. I think if you pre-made the sentiments or images then you could produce a set in under half an hour - perfect if like me you find that there just aren't enough hours in the day.
Here is the one for this month (Feb 2021) I am in the process of going through the last years worth as I am late to the party as usual.
Just one word of warning - this wonderful resource uses the standard size for US cards A2 or 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 inches. This is a result of taking a standard 8 1/2 x 11 inch piece of cardstock - cutting it in half and then folding the resultant rectangle in half to make a card base. Here in the UK we use A4 paper which is a slightly different size (approximately 8 1/4 x 11 3/4 inches) when this is cut in half and folded it gives a card base which is slightly taller and thinner than the US A2 card size
This video by CraftStash.co.uk explains the difference.
If you are in the UK (or another country that uses A4 as it's standard paper size) you will need to be careful if you use ready-made envelopes (as I do) or plan to sell the cards (as I used to when I was allowed out into the big wide world) as they do not fit into standard frames/holders etc. A2 envelopes and card bases are available in the UK but tend to be found in the "arts and crafts" section rather than the "stationary" section and therefore demand a slightly higher premium - even so still much cheaper than buying shop cards!
Can't wait for the 1st March as this will be the next sheetload. Thanks Alesha!
