Homemade Bread

Odlums do a brown bread mix, just add milk. Use this for lunch bread, add mixed fruit to make scones VERY easy and because you get the bread mix, a bit of cheating here! :)

Homemade Burgers with oven chips

1lb of Mince
1 x Onion
1 Tablespoon of dried chilli
Tablespoon of Chives
50g cous cous

Cover cous cous with boiling water leave for 5 mins.
Chop onion to very small pieces and add to mince, add tablespoon of chives, stir in prepared cous cous.
Mix very well then make burger shapes and place under medium grill while oven chips are cooking. Add lettuce tomato, cheese as desired.

Creamy chicken pasta - a bit hit and miss

3 chicken  fillets
Red pepper sliced and diced
Chicken / Veg stock made with 300 m/ls milk
2 pinches of mixed herbs

Cook chicken on pan on low heat
Meanwhile cook pepper on small pan then add to chicken
Then add chicken stock mix and mixed herbs to chicken and pepper saucepan.
Bring to boil while pasta is cooking reduce and stir.

If you need to thicken this sauce add cornflour (mixed with water) to the sauce.

Chicken Wraps with Spuds

Chicken fillets

Ham

Cheese

Rashers


Put 1 chicken fillet in at a time in foil and bash the bejauyus out of it till it's flat
Place rashers out flat with chicken on the top.
Putanything you wish (Cheese, ham, scallions,peppers) on top of the chicken
Roll it up
Place in the oven at 180 degrees for about 20 mins

Meanwhile Cook spuds and veg

Fish Pie - To die for...............

1 small carrot
1 small onion
1 pot of cream (250ml I think?)
Handful of grated strong cheddar cheese

150g smoked fish
150g white fish
Baby potatoes
Cherry tomatoes
Bread Crumbs



- Par boil the spuds until just about cooked. I usually have them in bite sized chunks. 
- Meanwhile finely dice the carrot & onion and soften in butter/oil over a lowish heat. 
- Add the cream to the onion & carrot and bring to a simmer. Add in grated cheese and parsley.
- Cut fish into chunks and arrange in oven dish with potatoes and cherry tomatoes. You can add in some frozen peas here too, if you wish.
- Pour over the cream mixture and make sure everything gets a good coating. 
I put bread crumbs over at this time too.- Bake in oven for about 30 mins at 180 deg. I usually take it out about half way and give it a turnaround to make sure everything is coated nicely.

 

Chicken Dippers- Homemade

Whats needed:
Chicken fillets, cut into strips
Greek Yogurt
Bread Crumbs
Oven Chips - Start cooking when preparing chicken

Put a two tablespoons of greek yogurt in a bowl
Dip in chicken strips
Roll in breadcrumbs (if you have stale bread, crumble bread crumbs and then freeze remainder)
Place in oven for 15 mins at 180 degrees, followed under the grill for 5 mins to crisp up.

Chilli Con Carne:

1 Tablespoon of Oil
1 Onion
1 Red Pepper
2 Garlic Cloves
1 Heaped teaspoon of chilli powder
1 Teaspoon Cumin
1/2 Teaspoon Papirka
1 veg stock prepared with 300mls of hot water
1 Teaspoon of Marjoram
2 Teaspoons of Tomato Purée
1 Tin of Tomatoes
1lb Mince
Rice
2 Squares of dark Chocolate:

Prepare Veg: Chop Onion, red pepper and garlic cloves
Medium heat pan, add oil, garlic, red pepper, chilli paprika stir and leave for 5 mins
Meanwhile, brown mince
Dissolve stock  and add to mince, open tin tomatoes add as well, tip in the marjoram, chocolate and salt and pepper add the prepared cooked veg.
Cover with lid simmer gently for 20mins and start cooking the rice
Drain rice and add Kidney beans to mince mix  bring to the boil again, season and replace lid and leave to stand for 10 mins
Happy Eating!

Week 1 Menu Plans

Week 1
Dinners:                                                                    Lunch:
Day 1: Sunday – Ham fillet, with spuds and veg          Ham Salad and homemade scone
Day 2: Chilli Con Carne with Rice                              Tuna Sandwich with Cheddar cheese and handful of nuts
Day 3:Chicken Dippers with oven chips                     Smoked salmon with on homemade bread
Day 4: Fish Pie with Salad                                         Chicken and Cheese sandwich with popcorn
Day 5: Chicken Wraps with Spuds                             Ham Salad sandwich
Day 6: Creamy chicken pasta
Day 7: Homemade Burgers with oven chips
Snacks:
Tucs, Cheese, Crackers, Nuts, Yougurt, Fruit, Scones,Popcorn, Noodles

Tips galore

On your shopping day
Freeze your chicken breasts in quantity of 2, this is a "just in case scenario" to limit waste. Take out the meat the night before and leave on the counter to defrost. If for some reason your schedule is interrupted and you can't be home, or won't be cooking yourself, don't defrost your meat so that way you won't have wasted your chicken/meat.Just remember you cannot refreeze your meats.
Always have reusable bags
DON'T buy bags every time you go shopping, go prepared, keep bags in the car or use boxes, there are loads in the supermarket

1. Look, look, look ..........really have a look at the prices of your purchases, a lot of the larger retailers who often advertise as one price and when you get to the till you may not notice but you have been charged incorrectly.
2. look again.........always look at the price per kgs, it should be listed by law under the price of the product. sometimes its not cheaper to buy a larger pack. We really noticed this on eggs, where 2, 6 pack of eggs worked out cheaper then one 12pack of eggs. Similarily with deals of buy a brand of one product and get another free, where if you choose and different brand it works out cheaper
3. Don't nessarily buy pre packed fruit and veg, very often you pay extra for the convenice of being bagged for you.
4. Have a "core" food list. There are items that you buy EVERY week, like onions, peppers, I use these in a lot of my recipies
5. Buy meat from the butchers.....lots of deals to be had. If you buy 6 chicken breasts on a sat, freeze four (two per bag) for use during the week
6. Freeze any food that you can and don't throw out leftovers (I never, ever used to keep anything and threw everything away.....now I find that there is no waste in our household
7. Don't be afraid to go to different supermarkets for the best bargains. I shop in Lidl, Aldi and Tescos every week. I know exactly what I need in each of those shops.
8. Bring a List ALWAYS
9. Never shop before a meal, never ever shop when you are hungry!

This weeks shopping list

Based on prices today I've checked! Recipes and Menus in next post
T= Tescos L = Lidl
CORE ITEMS

Crackers                    €0.37 L

Juice                           €1.19 L

Onions 3 pack             €1.00 L

Cucumber                   €1.00 L

Tomatoes                    €1.00 L

Lettuce                       €0.79 L

Scallions                     €0.79 L

Carrots                       €1.00 L

Parsnips                      €1.00 L

Mixed Peppers           €1.88 L

Bananas                      €1.19 L

Apples                         €1.00 L

Pears                           €1.00 L

Rashers 2 pack          €1.99 L

Tuna                            €0.79 L

Fusili                           €0.69 L

Kidney Beans             €0.25 L

Tinned Tomatoes       €0.45 L

Haddock Fillets          €2.49 L 

Smoked Coley            €1.99 L 

Colgate 100ml            €1.25 T

Eggs 10 pack              €1.13 T

Milk x 4lts                   €1.49 T

Bread x 2                    €3.90 T

Sliced Ham

16 slices Galtee            €4.00 T

Chicken Breasts        €8.99 Butchers

Fillets 10pcs

Lean Mince 2lbs         €4.99 Butchers

Noodles x 2                 €1.75 T

Butter Flora 500g        €1.49 T

Mature Cheddar        €4.00 T

Current deal in Tescos

2 x 200g Mature Cheddar

for

Spuds                           €2.50 T

Unsmoked Ham Fillet €3.69 L

Oven Chips                      €0.79 L

Greek Yogurt               €1.00 L

Nuts                             €1.99 L

Popcorn Tesco 6pack €1.18 T

Smoked Salmon           €2.99 T

                                                                          Core Items Food Every Week €68.99

Every Two Weeks 

Mixed Dried Fruit         €0.95T

(Value pack in the baking section don’t buy ones in cartons)

Tucs                               €1.99T

(current deal buy one get one free (I only buy these when it's buy one get one free)

Tea                                 €2.19 L

Coffee                            €4.45L

Dark Choc                    €1.39L

Sure deodorant 2pack  €2.50T

Shower Gels x 2           €1.18L

Kitchen Rolls               €2.50L

Rice                              €1.10L

Toilet roll                     €2.99L

 (10 rolls)

Burger Buns                 €0.85T

                                                                                                          Every two weeks €22.09

Fresh Cream                €0 .59

Toilet Cleaner              €0.99

Blue for Toilet             €0.99

All purpose Cleaner    €1.29

Black sacks                 €1.78

Sugar                           €0.85

Odlums Brown Bread €2.35

 mix 2kg

Oats                             €1.65

Kitchen Foil                €2.19

Ketchup                      €0.99

Stock                           €1.25 

Ready brek                    €2.25

Kitchen Roll                 €2.99

                                                                                     Every three weeks €20.16

Two week and three week shop adds up to an extra €42.25 in total. If you break these down and add a few items from each to your weekly shopping bill you should be able to shop for in and around €83.07 per week. 

First Timer

I've had a few private messages on a forum asking me how to eat well for less, so rather than email everyone back I've decided to start up a blog. Obviously the food shopping list is to my personal taste, I don't eat very much red meat don't eat crisps, biscuits (my weakness is in bread) so when you are doing your shopping replace some of the things that I have listed for some of favourites of your own.  The first thing that I have found is that making things from scratch is often cheaper, less hassle and a healthier option. Now believe me I am no Gordan Ramsey and my cooking skills and time are very limited but now I'm converted, I would never ever go back to the processed meal after meal, and believe me my waist line has shrunk big time since I started eating properly. So good luck to all you foods. Please note that my shopping list is based on currently prices in various outlets, but remember DO NOT get complacent, keep an eye on your shopping bill and if one store becomes dearer than normal for you analysis your shopping bill and move your business elsewhere! Post your bargains here too! Good luck with saving money.

SSM