Cheap & easy meals?? Budget Tips??

Hey All,

Well it has come time that the anuall leave that I have been getting paid has come to end and I still have 3 months till I am returning back to work part time (dont want to work at all but thats a different storey!!) and we will be attempting to live off one wage for a while (paying the mortgage out of the baby bonus) as well as pay off a car loan and pay bills so I am really looking for ways to tighten the belt!

So I am going to start doing a full gorcery shop each week for the f/night (DH gets paid f/n'ly) so I am looking for meals that I can make that are cheap and easy (hard to cook elaborate meals with a bub I find!!)
And also any good money saving tips that you may have come accross...

Also if anyone knows of any at home jobs/services that I could consider as I would much prefer staying at home full time...

I know thats a lot to ask!!

Thanks in advance...

Kate xox

Spaghetti bolognase
Fettachine Carbonara
Tuna Casserole
Chicken pasta bake
tinned salmon rice bake
Sausage casserole
marrinated chicken wings
Fried rice
Baked potatoes
Lasagna
Rissottos

jobs wise what about party plans, plenty of them some are all online and no partys.

Thanks Feeb! That has given me a heap of options and I will be able to make big qtys and freeze and have them the following weeks!

As for party plans I will look into them, thanks for the advice!!

Kate

Theres a whole heap of recipie ideas in the cooking/food section of BB - you will be amazed and overwhelmed (in a good way) with the info in there. I think there is a budget meal thread actually.

My advice is MINCE....its cheap and there are a zillion things you can do with mince. Take a squiz......

Thanks Mbear ill have a squiz now!!

If you like tuna you can do tuna pastries.

Mix canned tuna, a little chopped onion & small cubes of cheese & mayo together. Cut a pastry sheet into 4 put the tuna mix on top then make into parcels. Do as many pastry sheets as you need to go with the amount of tuna you have. I use a tiny can for one sheet & that serves 1 or could serve 2 if you had it with salad.

Cook in a hot oven.

They are yum & cheap.

The only other things I can think of have already been mentioned.

i do HEAPS of mince and mix it up with those continental packet mixes
eg meatloaf u just get mince, egg and a continental meatloaf mix
rissoles is mince egg tomatosauce and cont. rissoles mix
tuna potato pie with tuna mash potato and the mix
etc
masterfoods also do a great mexican nachos mix u just add the nacho chips mince and kidney beans yummm

the packet mixes r cheap they sometimes have specials like 3 packets for $3 and they are sooo easy usually cook mince/meat/whatever, mix in packet and oven bake or serve

then jus serve with vegies or packet pasta haha im so lazy
but its yum yum for budgeting mums hehe and soo easy

Yep we have a stickied thread about budget meals in the recipes and cooking section ;)

i agree with the mince,i go crazy when its on special for $4.95pk!!

pasta/lasagne - (dp have i make our own 'sauces'- he like all sorts of veggies in his, i prefer my bolognaise to be quite plain, so i usually buy 1kg each for pasta!)
meatballs/hamburgers
tacos

Lentils! They are so cheap and so good for you!

Lentil soup - onion, canned tomatoes, lentils, stock, any soup vegies you have. Serve with toast
Dhal - onion, garlic, curry spice, lentils/split peas. Serve with rice. Comes out around 80c per serve.

Soup and casseroles are great in winter as they stretch a long way, and there are so many variations!
Casseroles are great, especially if you have a slow cooker, as you can use chuck steak which is best slow cooked to make it nice and tender (not chewy and grissly!), and other cheap cuts like chicken drumsticks/wings.
Pasta dishes are good, sausages & vegies (although boring sausages are reasonably cheap to buy in large quantities, could also make curried sausages/sausage casserole/devilled sausages/sausages & gravy for something a bit different).

Substitute canned beans/chickpeas/lentils etc if you can stand them, instead of having meat, even if it's only one night a week. Make as much as you can from scratch! If you have the time that is, even things like pizza dough you can make yourself and is cheaper than buying takeaway pizza or plain pizza bases.