meal planning

Buy mince in bulk and that should see you through the week or longer. There are heaps of things you can make with it - lasagne, meatballs, burger patties, cottage pie etc.

Im sure there are heaps of ladies out there with other ideas

And sausages as well - you can do a lot with them also, and can buy quite a few for $4-5. Rice is also good, and pasta. Frozen veges are just as good as fresh, if your budget doesn't allow for it (cos they can get expensive really quick!!). There was a previous thread about budget dinners that were healthy, I will see if I can find it and bump it for you...

The mince is a good idea. You can cook up a big batch with a basic tomato sauce and use it for loads of recipes which will save you time too. other ideas are pasta bake, nachoes, baked stuffed potato's.

Also pasta and home made tomato sauce is cheap as it comes. Make a tomato sauce by simmiring a tin of tomatoes with half an onion (in one piece and remove it later) and a good knob of butter. This is a really simple and yummy sauce even though it doesn't sound it - try it :)

Also try home made pizza bases and flour tortilla's which you can have with just vege or a bit of meat.

Also soups are sooooo cheap to make and so good for you.

Lunch = toast LOL or I've been having lettuce sandwiches.

I make muffins as well to snack on cause they can be quite filling plus if you make a double batch & freeze most of it then you can get a couple out in the morning & they'll be defrosted by morning tea.

Go shopping later at night if you can & get bread on discount.

Shop around for prices on meat. Mad butcher does chicken breast really cheaply compared to supermarkets.

Just started with our meal plan (rough plan) for winter.

And this is what we are doing: One night curry (get a lot of patato curries or chickpeas ect that comes down real cheap once you have all the spices), one night stew (can make a lot and freeze), one night pasta (can make this as cheap or expensive as you need)

One night take away type meal (we make this at home) LIke pizza (use leftovers), burgers, nuggets, fish + chips, rolls ect.

One night stirfry type meals.

And then another night a caserole, pie, baked type meal (like enchiladas, cottage pie, lasagne ect)

And for nappies I buy dryups from babyonline. Buy in bulk and it lasts us quite a while.

Our budget is a bit bigger but we are 2 adults + one child and one baby (that eats quite a bit in fact) and we are very heavy on fruit. min 2 fruit per person per day.

Lunches is salad sarmies, savoury muffins, wraps, rolls, toasted sarmies, salad or left overs. Or make things like banana bread ect (I get the bananas that they mark down and then I dont even have to wait for it to go brown and black on the outside.)

And then plant some things. Even simple things like herbs in the kitchen window can change your whole menu. Or things in containers on the deck or in the garden so you can move as you have to move.

Breakfast - rolled oats and weet bix are probably the cheapest and most filling breakfast foods you will find.

Lunch - microwaved potato with baked beans or cheese or tuna, pumpkin soup (pumpkin, onion, lentils, curry powder and chicken stock), sandwhiches, home made muffins (make a batch and freeze), seasonal fruit or carrot sticks.

Dinner - mince, canned tomatoes and seasonal italian veges. Can be used as bolognese or lasagne base, or add a can of kidney beans for chilli con carne served with rice. Chicken drumsticks are often only $5kg. Beef stew with lentils, onions, carrots, pumpkin and potato is fairly cheap if you get beef on special. Sausages are cheap and filling but high fat and relatively low in protein compared to most meats. Eggs are an inexpensive source of protein, you can make ometettes and frittata using whatever fresh or leftover veges you have around. My fav is leek and leftover cooked potato.

Go to the supermarket on a monday morning and they usually have the meat from the weekend marked down, its either use that day or freeze.
Find a butcher that does some good meat packs, we have a local one who does 6 trays (bigger than the smallest supermarket trays) for $25. We can split each tray in half (you might be able to do 3rds) for DH and I. Means we get meat for ages out of them!

Soups are good as, also think about a chicken chow mein, I just got a cabbage for $1 and a frozen chicken for $4 and boil it all up and I bulked it out a bit with other veges (we used frozen) and theres HEAPS of meals in it, as long as you don't over-cook your cabbage you'll be fine! I was suprised how nice it was.. Lol...

Keep a eye out for when pastas are $1 a bag, thats when we stock up! Its super cheap, and we get pasta sauces etc on special and it makes it go a long way.

Buy lentils and stuff like that- try your local bin inn, they are usually way cheaper! It can bulk out any meal and be yummy and filling!

Try baking, it can save SO much money! I found a really old school recipe book and use that as the ingrediants are basic and cheap and its easy to do!