Our family is 1 adult, 11, 9, 7 and 2.5 year olds We got through around 10ltr of milk a week and the older kids don't like the taste of milk powder but am thinking of getting it any way.
what are the most important things to put on the list I have flour, sugar, eggs, marge,
bedazzledjewels,
Jun 26, 4:28am
Eggs, meat, veges
fatboy6,
Jun 26, 4:31am
Thats a good idea the bacon hocks.
beaker59,
Jun 26, 4:34am
Plenty of rabbits in your area get a 22 and a crockpot.
Or check your area for a rabbiter and then ask him if he would mind gutting and chucking a few bunnies your way, most of them will gladly, offer a few beers anyway out of politeness.
biggles45,
Jun 26, 4:35am
Porridge for breakfasts, cheaper than most cereals and warming. Make with water not milk.
fatboy6,
Jun 26, 4:51am
Rabbits eww I am happy to not eat meat for 4 weeks as long as the kids get plenty but I am pretty sure rabbit wont be on the menu :)
glenleigh,
Jun 26, 4:54am
Rabbit is lovely meat.You might be glad of it after four weeks.
ruby19,
Jun 26, 5:12am
I agree soups are good and you can use what you have on hand, to make it more filling make some savoury scones,or serve with toasted sandwiches.
Spaghetti with tomato based sauces,grate or chop veggies into sauce, and add fresh herbs for extra flavour.
Will the slightly older ones eat a curry or chilli con carne and rice. Again with this you can use little or no meat and use veggies or lentils/chickpeas to bulk out. Home made burgers and wedges, home made pizzas are always a hit.
cgvl,
Jun 26, 5:23am
make a meal plan with what you already have in your cupboards. my basic shopping list is: bacon, marge, flour (5kg bag every few weeks), minimum bread, milk (cant stand milk powder), eggs, seasonal vegies, maybe some fruit (if cheap eg apples/pears), yeast (if have a bread maker or happy to make by hand), onions and potatoes. Now look for cheap cuts of meat and ration it eg a kilo of mince will give you 4 meals, 500gms gravy beef wii do a meal, 6 sausages cooked and chooped into pieces and added to either a batter (Toad in the hole) or mixed in a tomato gravy with added vege. Mince could be stir fry, spaghetti bolognase, nacho's with baked beans added or mince with lentils added or do as savoury mince and top with dumplings. Gravy beef could be as a casserole/stew again with dumplings. A whole chicken can be made into 2 or 3 meals. Hot tonight (take it off the bone first and dish it up, don't use more than half), a bit in their lunches and make a pie/casserole with the rest. Soup is great for using bits and pieces of vegies, a couple of rashers of bacon work well or bacon bones/hock or use beef shin or lamb/mutton. bacon can be used with pasta, eg creamy bacon and cheese sauce for pasta, or I sometimes just use a tin of tomatoes spiced up with onion and seasonal vegies. bacon and egg pie or quiche, make pizza dough, add a swirl of tomato sauce, mince (rolled into tiny balls) or bacon or both, cheese, pineapple if you have, capsicum. Dessert's: Jam roly poly can be good stodgy filling food especially if you are trying to stretch the budget, or if you have access to lemons, mandarins or limes a lemon delicious is nice, steamed pudding or bread and butter help make ends meet also. Hope these help.
geldof,
Jun 26, 5:33am
Good ideas, cgvl. I was just about to say it would be a good time to do something like the $21 challenge.Go through your pantry and freezer.
Risotto is also very filling and can be tasty with very few additions. (real not the packet one)
nauru,
Jun 26, 5:47am
Great ideas above. I like to bulk out mince with lentils and grated veges to make Spagetti Bolognaise, Shepherds Pie, Pies, Pasta bakes, Moussaka, Curries.You could even add it to soups and have it with garlic bread or as someone else suggested dumplings.You can pick up chicken frames very cheaply to make your soups too. Make sauseages go further by chopping each sausage into 3 and brown in pan with onions. Add chopped veges, mushrooms, stock, tomato paste and a few herbs and casserole or put into slow cooker if you have one and cook. Serve with pasta, rice, couscous or mashed potatoes. You can make fish go further by cutting it into fingers, egg & breadcrumb the pieces or batter if you prefer, fry and serve in a bun if liked with salad or coleslaw and chips or wedges.
Also look through the vegetarian thread as there are lots of great ideas and that would cut down your meat bill a little for you.
beaker59,
Jun 26, 5:48am
OK well are the Kahawai running at the river mouth!You could get some water cress and driftwood for the fire at the same time. (water cress may not be that flash this time of year but there will be some about).
When on a buget like that then you have to get inventive watch out for specials Just a few days ago Pork shoulder roasts were on sale for 4.75 a Kg I bought some then cut it up into casserole meat then turned the bones into soup. The other thing which was really cheap was cabbages they were 99c each which is a great meal spinner.
Another awesome buy is 500g of dried chickpeas for 2.50 at our local you soak them overnight in water then drain the water, recover with water and cook in slow cooker until soft (about 3 hours) load them into jars with the juices which set like a jelly. Heaps of recipes on here for what to do later with them but even if you just tip half a jar into a casserole or stew then it will be delicious and go allot further kids like them done that way too. You can also add them to soups or sprinkle across salads etc google Kumara and chickpea curry mmmmmmm thats a meat free meal in itself.
fatboy6,
Jun 26, 5:53am
Wow thanks cgvl Great idea's.Thankfully it is only for a short time.I have three birthdays this month and warrant and car registration as well.
duckmoon,
Jun 26, 7:15am
head to the market for 10kg of spuds
lythande1,
Jun 26, 7:16am
Rabbit is like chicken. Stop being picky. If your were starving you'd eat rat. Bacon bone soup, heaps of veges, can tomato, swede, potato, parsnip, carrot, celery, split peas and herbs. Forget your list, sounds like an ingredient list for cakes. Make a pie, chicken (rabbit), mushroom, leeks, make a white sauce and add it in with some herbs for flavoring, you don't need to add much meat to it. make the pastry. Fried rice, a few scraps of leftover meat, a couple of beaten cooked eggs, some peas or such, stir it in, add a bit of soy sauce ($1 litre at most asian places).
gardie,
Jun 26, 7:28am
Agree.Its best to make it the night before - make up enough for the day.Once chilled its no where near as bad as I remember as a child.We only use skim milk powder these days and none of our visitors is any the wiser.Its also cheaper than whole milk powder and I don't think it has the powdery taste.$10 for 10 litres usually.
frances1266,
Jun 26, 7:32am
beaker59 - you dont need to soak chickpeas for cooking in a slow cooker or any other pulses except kidney beans that need to be hard boiled for 15 mins before cooking.All other pulses just need to be put into slow cooker, add water and cook.
lurtz,
Jun 26, 7:53am
Why notuse fresh milk and half reconstituted from powder to get them used to the new taste!As elliehen suggests, make sure the powder is properly reconstituted, and then shake it all together in a Fresh Milk container.Keep the half and halfin the Fresh Milk container in the fridge, so things look familiar.Gradually use less fresh milk, and more reconstituted, and when there are no complaints; you could come clean about what you have done.Or not:-)
kinna54,
Jun 26, 8:13am
Milk powder is damn expensive too, tho.I can get cheap milk around $2.50 *super special* to $2.99. but we only have it in tea/coffee etc. I guess on cereal and with kids you would use more. Try buying cheap brand wheat bix, add hot water and then the milk. Some suggestions to help budget are: Cheap brand breads, and make some your own if possible. Big pots of soup. We often have scones etc for Sat. lunch.home brand or Pams flour. I bake a lot withmarg, if butters not on special. Macaroni cheese, Fish pie, shepherds pie etc, are good nourishing meals and can go a long way. With the basics in the cupboard as you have listed you can do a lot. I do hope your situation improves soon.
angel404,
Jun 26, 8:56am
Ive been buying my milk straight from the farm vat for $1 per litre. My daughter drinks it in her bottle. Loves it. I also boil up the carcass from a roast chicken with some clean vege peelings and then drain and make soup from it.
nauru,
Jun 26, 9:15am
Hi Strebor1, it's a small world. We also lived on Nauru Island for a while in the 90's.
angela137,
Jun 26, 9:30am
Make sure what ever savory dishes you do make a tonne of gravy or sauce- add a packet of dried soup to stew mix and water and cornflour to thicken and have the extra gravy in the fridge - great for a filler snack when poured over a packet of 99cent budget pastaor freeze and use as part of soup base when you buy beef/chicken bones from the butcher- super cheap and a cup of soup with dinner can make 'sparse' meals more filling especially with toasted day old bread (cheap at bakeries- and if the kids like garlic butter you can put that on the toast to amp up the flavour). Enhance cheap meals with spices and sauces. Left overs canbe put into bread cases- place in muffin tins and top with grated cheese and a herbs - yummy way to use up scraps or fill them with spaggetti and topped with a little cheese.Good luck- remember if you have the chance scour the neighbourhood for over ladden fruit trees and go door knockig and offer to take any excess fruit from the ground.Look for fruit 'remenent' boxes at fruit stores to stew up and use as a base for fruit crumbles - always nice to have a hot dessert if you were sparse with the dinner.Best of luck !
angela137,
Jun 26, 9:33am
one more idea.Make a biggggg fruit crumble of you do make one so you can use the leftover for a breakfast or could be added as a topping to a hot bowl of morning porridge.
chefwilliams,
Jun 26, 9:39am
Buy in bulk when u can, rice is great 20kg bag is about 30 bucks thats about 40kgs cooked feed for a while,, cheap cuts of meat longs slow cooking,
cgvl,
Jun 26, 10:34am
Fatboy6 I use milk powder to make custards, in baking and any other milk type pudding. Wont drink it though but then I don't drink straight milk anymore and haven't since the 60's (milk in schools put me right off). I can give you more meal ideas but best if you go through your cupboards and freezer and work out what you have first. Budgets are tough but I try to remember what my mother used to do and how she could stretch a meal for 4 to feed up to 8. Usually bulked out with a pudding of some kind.
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