Budgeting food
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Ok for at least the next month I have to keep my shopping really low to like £20 a week or less.
Any suggestions for maximum food for minimum costs?
I got a bag of potatoes and going to use them as jacket potatoes and to make mash for bangers and mash.
I bought ten eggs reduced to make pancakes and boiled egg with soldiers or boiled egg just for snack or fried eggs or omelet. Anything else I could use them for?
I have rice in the cupboard. How do I make it interesting?
Any places that sell food for less?
Any suggestions for maximum food for minimum costs?
I got a bag of potatoes and going to use them as jacket potatoes and to make mash for bangers and mash.
I bought ten eggs reduced to make pancakes and boiled egg with soldiers or boiled egg just for snack or fried eggs or omelet. Anything else I could use them for?
I have rice in the cupboard. How do I make it interesting?
Any places that sell food for less?
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Comments
Mince is cheap and versatile!
Beans .... Toast
Filling and not too expensive.
Mince with beans, carrots and tinned tomatoes. All cooked together is nice. Serve with mash or boiled potatoes. Or you could use corned beef instead of mince.
Yes, lots of sauces are great for jazzing up boring carbs, and they are long-lasting and therefore economical.
Also, OP, grow your own herbs. It's easy to do, even if you don't have outside space. A few pots on a sunny windowsill do well. You don't have to grow from seeds. Just buy potted herbs from the supermarket. They are usually made up of several plants, so you only need to carefully separate them and re-pot them in separate pots. They will continue to grow if you water them occasionally, giving you a lot more bang for your buck. We do this with basil from the supermarket. One pot gives us several plants which last all summer usually.
Some of these suggestions are very useful. Can't do much about growing stuff indoors though as I would need to buy the plant pots.
Beans and noodles and Mince will go a long way for me. I've got some spices in my cupboard so just need to get some herbs for the noodles.
£15 a week sounds plausible. Considering 5 of the 20 needs to go on my cat for his food.
Depending on how many there are in your house/how big the chicken is, you will have meat for sandwiches, too.
A chicken is a great thing to buy when money is tight, as you get a lot of good meals off a chicken, if you make it your business to use it properly.
Lentils and beans are a great way of filling up for very little money. And they can be very tasty if you're clever with it and use a few different herbs and spices to make them a bit more interesting. If you're buying spices, they are always far cheaper in the Asian supermarkets than in Tesco or the like.
As it happens I have just put a chicken in the oven for later 1.8kg for £5.99 from Asda. Sure it isn't corn fed and hasn't been to Spain on holiday etc but hey, money is tight for most people.
I know of a Crawshaws near by who sell two chickens for I think £6.00. Might check there.
Left over margarine tubs / yoghurt pots / cut open juice bottles with holes stabbed in them make great pots for growing seeds, or you could make newspaper pots. Bell Pepper/Chilli seeds from supermarket veg will grow fine on a sunny windowsill in these
I know. You can't get rid of the bliddy stuff. Worse than a Christmas Turkey
Lambs liver is really cheap, delicious and nutritious.
We like chicken thighs cooked with onions, garlic, mushrooms, peppers and a tin of tomatoes. Season your thighs liberally with salt, pepper oregano and smoked paprika. Gently fry off your onions, add your garlic and then the tomatoes. Bring to the boil and then add your thighs. Cook for 20 minutes, then add your chopped peppers and cook for a further 20 minutes. Serve with rice.
I buy cheap veg from Lidl.
I always plan my meals and shop with a list. That way I virtually never throw food away. I can't abide throwing food away.
Don't buy meat, bulk meals like these out with vegetables. You'll save so much money and it'll be healthier too!
Half a pepper, half a red onion, couple of spring onions, handful of chopped mushrooms, a small carrot grated, cook in frying pan in oil and soy sauce while boiling noodles. Throw in the boiled noodles and some oyster sauce (or sweet and sour sauce).
Half a pepper, half a red onion, handful of chopped mushrooms, slices of about 1/3 of a courgette, a few chunks of aubergine done in the frying pan and then 1/3-1/2 of a jar of tomato pasta sauce, serve with whatever pasta you want.
All of these are for one so I end up eating the same thing a few times a week so that my veg doesn't go bad, that's the only problem!
That's the best option to go for. Can't get any cheaper than that.
Some meat can be very low in fat, as much as 1gm.
Scrambled egg is good for brekkie as its filling and releases energy slowly, it keeps you fuller for longer.
Plan your meals and stick to it, don't be tempted with offers or reduced stuff.
Cook a few things for the freezer if you can, we do a lasagne (bbc good food cheese and bacon lasagne, cheap and tastes great) and get 6/8 portions out of it), a chili and a spag bol - that's a good few meals sorted.
Home made soup costs next to nothing and can be frozen as well, all you need are spuds, veg (carrot, leek, whatever you can get really) and pearl barley - serve it with a warm baguette.
Veg or lentil curry, loads of recipes on line.
Egg fried rice is quick, cheap and easy - you can add any meat + a few green beans/peas to it and its a full meal.
Stir frys, do a veg one if money's tight or just pick up a small amount of chicken or beef from your local butcher - cheaper than the supermarket.
They key is to just make a menu and stick to it, write a list and stick to it - don't get distracted by special offers, if it ain't on your list you don't need it!
I've had scrambled egg and it didn't keep me full for that long. It's got no carbohydrates in them at all. The cheapest things here are pasta, rice (and sauce for them), vegetables, fruit, beans and bread. Maybe a few more things, but that's the main ones that I can think of.
You can buy stacks of plastic pots at Poundland for, um, a pound! And, of course, they are reusable. Or make your own, as suggested above. No excuse - get growing!
You don't need plant pots for growing things. Use an empty 2 litre bottle instead and convert it.
Cottage Pie
Bolognese
Chilli
With the Bolognese if your local supermarket hasn't got jars on offer then make your own. (A couple of cheap cartons of Passata, Basil to taste, Garlic about 3 cloves, Tomato Puree for thickener). Every household should have Basil & Garlic in the cupboard.
With splitting the mince into 2 portions, you can easily get 2 to 3 meals out of each portion, bung them into Tupperware containers & freeze them for a rainy day. All the above meals are cheap as hell to make & should you get low on money, then you have got a ready made meal in the freezer, but the only difference is that you know exactly what has gone into it.
Same goes for left over meat from a roast, make a curry out of it.
It is really easy to budgeting food & if you don't mind mucking about in the kitchen then you can get a lot more for your money. If you got a 99p store near you, then have a look at their food section as it is quite remarkable, stuff like sardines, mackerel, fray bentos pies, Spam, Corned beef etc etc. All household brand names along with some unknown names that taste equally as good their expensive counterparts. Add some tomatoes / lettuce etc etc & you can make some nice salads up.
In the Spring / Summer I have mainly salads during the week switching between meat & fish each day, then I have a roast on a Sunday. In the Autumn / winter months, I do more cooking, like the meals mentioned above along with curries in bulk which are normally cooked in the slow cooker.
Happy shopping.