food and recipe ideas

WOW!! thanks so much guys that is an awesome amount of advice and when making my shopping list later, I will be sure to incorporate a whole lot of it!! The reason we are on such a budget is becuase we are currently travelling (in New Zealand at the moment) and food is pretty expensive here compared to the UK (well compared to when I was last there 2 years ago anyway!)

Great advice once again Annoying thing is though that the other half doesn't like tomatoes and I always have to think of something to substitute those tinned tomatoes for!

Thanks everyone xxx

Buy cheap! We often get some bargains on a Sunday afternoon - big bags of veg and meat. Best deals we have had were a massive bag of sprouts for 20p - made a big soup with plenty left over for roasts etc and guinea fowls at £1.25 each (we nabbed one for my tea and a few for the freezer)! Another was at a market on a Saturday afternoon - literally a carrier bag full of cherry tomatoes for £1! Most of them were roasted with garlic and herbs to make the base of many a tasty dish!

For bulk buys of staples like rice, pasta etc, check out the local Asian or other ethnic corner shop. 5 or 10kg bags of rice can be ridiculously cheap. Ditto beans, lentils, tinned chickpeas etc for bulking out those casseroles.

Use your freezer. When you get a carrier bag of toms for a quid, use them for a basic sauce and freeze the portions.

A slow cooker is a good investment. Mine is the basic Tesco one, cost a tenner.

Ah, you say you're in NZ. Grab a gun and go bag yourself a couple of possums for pie. I'm told they're regarded as vermin.