Suggestions please, tight budget & storage

Dear all

I'm a little stuck on idea for meals to make being a very unimaginative soul!

At home there is just me and my 13 year old son. We are living on a tight budget (SW classes are my little treat).

We have very little in the way of chilled/freezer storage (a fridge with a freezer box at the top) so bulk cooking isn't possible.

We don't like soup or spicy type stuff (or onions and peppers etc) so I'm a little worried we are going to be stuck on meat and two veg, jacket spuds and cooked breakfasts.

Any suggestions would be gratefully received xx

Sue, have you tried doing a search, there's been lots of economical meal threads recently. The one which comes to mind & which is delicous is cowboy pie

Ingredients
baked beans (we use aldi)
cooked onions
cooked & sliced sausages
cooked potatoes mashed
cheese (optional)

mix beans, onions & sausages together & place in pyrex dish, top with mash & cheese & bake in oven until golden brown.

We also mix it up a bit & sometimes add mushrooms or whatever we fancy.

BTW it's lovely to see you on here again

Thanks for the advice Michelle

Once titch goes to bed tonight I'll have a good look round x

That cow boy pie sounds yummy! May have to knock that one up - thanks Happy Holidays!

Hi Sue
I dont know if this will help but Aldi Super 6 is always a cheap way to get your Superfree and stay on plan.
This week its

Onions
Mini Carrots
Swede
Cabbage
Tomatoes
Parsnips

39p each.
I buy them then do a search on Minimins and online for recipes.

This makes SW cheap and tasty.
Hope this helps.

They are all 39p a bag this week and they will have another 6 next week.

Try cooking your veg in a different way so it doesn't seem like meat an two veg, the one pan roast chicken and veg is great,
I like chicken thighs all skin and fat removed, with halved new potatoes, (I have red onions cut into 8 wedges and peppers but you can omit these), Butternut squash cut into chunks, Chatenay carrots halved lenthways (you could use normal carrots but would need to cut them into chunks), chuck it all in a large roasting tin, spray with frylight and sprinkle with fresh thyme (lemon thyme is lush, or you could use dried herbs), and cut a lemon into quarters lengthways, squeeze two of the quarters over the meat and veg and toss well add the two squeezed lemons to the pan, reserve the unsqueezed for a bit later.

Pop in the oven and roast for about 30 minutes or until chicken is cooked and the potatoes are brown, ten minutes before end of cooking time add the unsqueezed lemons, carefully squeeze any drops from the lemons already cook and discard the skins.
Serve with some green veg
It's blimmin lovely!

You could try freezing stuff in bags rather than tubs that way they sit flat meaning you can shove more into a smaller space. There is a cool trick here that might help with that http://www.oneroastvegetable.com/PDF Files/[Favorite%20Freezer%20Foods]%20Chopstick%20Freezer%20Bag%20Trick.pdf
Or perhaps make some homemade sauces with a blender and hide veg in it. I hate mushrooms and courgettes but I don't mind them blended into things and my 9 year old, well he hates everything but he will eat a lot of things more willingly if he doesn't know there is veg in it. Have to admit onions, peppers, peas, sweetcorn and carrots go in pretty much everything we make here so I have no idea for recipes to suggest sorry. Hugs Crystal xx

What did you eat before? Most of the time you simply cook what you had before in a better way.
If you can though watch out for freezers on freecycle as it costs to dump them, people give them away when they upgrade.

Sorry for the delay in getting back to here. Hectic few days with a capital 'H'.

Hi Shirleen, I've been keeping my eyes open on Freecycle but not having access to a vehicle nothing has been close enough for me and my lad to carry back. I might place a cheeky ad asking if anyone has one they'd be able to deliver.

You can hire vans for £15 an hour on gumtree... I dont know if thats too much? But might be worth it in the long run if you can manage it. Ive just had to hire one to get a sofa to me as neither of us can drive.

You could just put a Wanted ad up saying you need help with delivery, there are some really nice people on freecycle