I want to Meal Plan to save $$$

Homemade pizza....dresses up Mince in a fancy way, you can either make it as standard flat pizza or make it as a calzone. Basically make a scone dough & then roll out baked then top with mince mixture & cheese or pinch it up to make a calzone. Really filling.

I can give you proper recipes for both if you want.

Also you can make your own crackers etc. I haven't tried but have recipes.

Also made a oat cookie with raisins and choc bits this week, they lasted all week as they were so filling. And I ate a fair few!

also i use soup instead of instant sauce mixes, the other night it was chicken with broccoli and mixed veg in a tin of campbells condensed mushroom soup.

i usually get the same thing, mince, chicken, pork (but i dont buy the pork pieces cause it is just as easy to cut up schnitzel or pork steaks etc).

You could buy a box of crackers then portion them out for lunch, and have them instead of potato chips.

Pizza dough
2 cups S/R flour
pinch sald
2 TB butter/marg
enough milk to make a workable dough (around 3/4 cup)

Sift flour and salt, rub in butter, add milk gradulally mixing to soft dough.

Roll out to circle and place on oiled pizza tray or oven tray. Baked 15mins at 220o. Remove from oven and cover with topping & then rebake for about another 15 mins.

Or for a calzone, roll out to circle, put mince topping on the centre, and then pinch edges together. Bake til it's cooked. I left my til quite crunchy the other night & was delish.

Mince topping.
Garlic, spring onions, mince then add tomatos some seasonings and thicken with cornflour.

If I'm doing a pizza, Instead of tom paste on bottom I put whizzed up kidney beans for more protein, it's hidden by mince so kids have NO idea


Water crackers
2cups plain flour
1tsp sald
2 TB butter
warm water.

Combine flour & sald add warm water to make workable dough, roll out thinly and cut into squares or rounds, prick with fork, bake on very hot baking sheet for 3 mins.

Never tried that but keen too.


Or 1 sheet of commercial puff pastry, rub with cut garlic while frozen, when it comes soft enough to cut, sprinkle with poppy seeds, cut into strips and bake at 180o for 10 mins

At the warehouse in the craft section they have wee tiny zip lock clear bags that I use for mini piklets/mini muffins, crackers, grapes, biscuits, popcorn, they about 300 for $2.99 so much cheaper than the supermarket.

Also the warehouse gladwrap in the yellow box is really good/cheap and the snack snap bags $5 for 150 bags.

For lunches I freeze 1 or 2 canned pineapple rings

Mini piklets use edmonds piklet receipe and drop measuring spoon size teaspoon onto pan sandwich together when cold with butter/jam then freeze in the wee bags.

Thanks Bizzy just went & read it & thanks for the recipes girls

For those of you that bake do you find it cost effective? My reason for asking that is baking does not last long in my house with 3 boys & DH & also I don't think I really like baking that much...factor in time & money & cleaning up afterwards & then there is the temptation of eating it

I bake then freeze, so that its not eaten all at once, and we just get out what we need for lunches the night before. Or I bake 1 thing that is just for lunches for the week- the kids know that its fruit/ veges/crakers/cheese for after school snacks and not baking- so if I bake 12 cupcakes on the Monday, they will last us all week.

jazzy wrote: I need ideas for low cost meals. I really need to meal plan & shop to a plan. We have been spending way to much on food. Things I wanted to not buy were chips, biscuits, crackers & packet stuff. They seem cheaper to buy than make. We are a family of 5. Any ideas/suggestions

Have you made your personal plan? Share with us. I have the similar problem