£10 a week food budget

Sunflower1227 · 4 September 2011 at 1:50AM

Check out the freebies thread there is a link for free bacon butty and cup of tea at Yates

76rosie · 4 September 2011 at 7:28AM

do you live near a morrisons. They have great fruits and veg they call seconds but are all great. you need to try diffrerent times to see whats on offer. Mine is 10.45 sunday morning. it can be like supermarket sweep though.

erasion · 4 September 2011 at 9:39AM

Visit https://www.mysupermarket.co.uk and check out the Top Offers for each supermarket in your area. This highlights the best offers and can offer some excellent ideas. Tescos and Morrisons sometimes have 3-for-1 offers so keep an eye out for those.

Need2bthrifty · 4 September 2011 at 10:06AM

Check out @ldi, they have a small chicken for £2.99, large for £3.99, that could make 3 or four good meals, plus make stock for soup with the carcass.

If you are not a mince snob, buy the beef mince its loads cheaper, just make sure to drain off the excess fat or as I have done let it go cold and skim of the fat that goes solid on the top. Many posters on the Old Style thread suggest putting some porridge oats or lentils in the mince whilst cooking, this bulks it out a bit and increases the portions.

Good luck

SailorSam · 4 September 2011 at 10:17AM

I think if you try to cut down on meat, get frozen veg then it want go to waste. I'm another that uses pulses and dried soup mixes from Morrisons, if you like fish tinned sardines and pilchards, eggs, do you have a Heron frozen foods they do bacon bits to throw in stir frys. Tesco basic onions are about £1.18 for a big bag and go in everything.
In Heron you can get bags of breaded fish about 3/4 portions for £1
You should invest in a slowcooker if you don't already have one.

pineapple · 4 September 2011 at 10:37AM

Kirri wrote: »

Buy some flour and get making your own bread.

I do this but one has to factor in the cooking cost. Plus it tastes so much nicer one is tempted to eat twice as much and use so much more butter - well I am!
That said - an easy bread without all the kneading and rising is soda bread.
Another option is to simply mix flour with water to a roll out consistency and lightly fry. Self raising flour with a dash of salt makes a tasty puffed up paratha-like bread. Plain flour gives a crisper alternative. One can sprinkle with cumin seeds, chilli etc - even chopped garlic if doing a spicy meal.
By the way I think we should all have a stock of staples anyway. Do people realise how quickly the stores could be emptied in a national emergency? In any case it is good practice given the way prices are going up.
My main staples are rice, flour, pasta, lentils/beans, oats/oatmeal, tinned toms, multivits. It would be boring but I could live off these alone for a few months.

jo58 · 4 September 2011 at 10:48AM

Try one of these websites:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3188628

pineapple · 4 September 2011 at 10:53AM

ladylouise62 wrote: »

Check out the area for places that may have fruit-producing hedges.

I'm up in the Pennines and the blackberries are just starting in my area. A neighbour gave me some apples and I have made several blackberry and apple crumbles/sponges already. When they start fruiting properly I will freeze them.

cabbage · 4 September 2011 at 11:34AM

I think your attitude is superb and you should be congratulated. Instead of why me or poor me, its roll up my sleeves and lets tackle this. I'm sure with this attitude your chances of getting another job is much higher. Good luck!

Own supermarket dried pasta is about 25 p ish. Tesco do bacon bits for 75p for a huge amount. Use lentils etc to bulk things out. I do a couple of dishes using these incredients, with one I simply dry fry the bacon. cook the pasta and then melt cheese on the top (or you could buy a tin of tomatoes and do a sauce), the other one is from an italian student that stayed with me. He cooked the bacon in oil with a little garlic, cooked spaghetti for around 7/8 mins then combined both. Next whisk 3 eggs and add to the spaghetti and bacon/garlic mix and combine until the eggs have just set and serve.

Oh and another one, chop up all your bargain veg and add a stock cube and a tin of tomatoes and cook until all veg are soft. Blend. Freeze into portions and use some for soup but a portion can be combined with a portion of pasta, grate some cheese and grill. This is a very good meal as you have lots of goodness from the veg.

Jacket spuds are very cheap. Some markets sell a big bag very cheap and if you don't need a big back you could share one with a neighbour or friend.

Some towns and villages have a food co operative that hands out food to those struggling.

Re the allotment idea, perhaps if you volunteer to do some digging for the allotment holder as a thank you then you may not feel as awkward asking

Good luck.

flippin36 · 4 September 2011 at 11:42AM

hi, I agree poundshops are a great place for discount food, but its not necessarily cheaper so beware. I recently discovered that Homebargains is a little cheaper than Poundshop (wilkinsons can also be cheaper) for the items I buy every week.

I think if I had such a small budget my preference would be a large pack of mince and value tin tomatoes. I can stretch mince a long way and is very versitile so I don't get bored. A whole chicken is very good value for money - you can make lovely filling soups with the stock, as well as sandwhiches, curries, pizza, stir fry.......

Good luck with finding your new job.

£10 a week food budget

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