Food/Household Budgeting Advice for One Person

i buy and cook for 1-3 people, it just depends on who's here (usually at short notice).


I personally wouldn't bother trying to buy things like single chops, I would buy the biggest or cheapest pack of fresh ones, when home bag them as single chops, label with item and date, squeeze the air out and freeze them. then they're there and I can defrost as many as I like for any given day.
things like mince, stewing beef, stewing pork, chicken joints I would also buy in a big pack (with carrots onions etc) make them into stew, curry, bol sauce chilli etc and portion and freeze. old marg tubs are good for this I find.
I'm quite happy to spend a day off a week or so batch cooking, this ensures I always have something I can scoff at the end of a long day, thereby avoiding the temptation of a trip to the chippy when I'm starving and late home from work.
I agree with chopping and freezing veg that's starting to droop, its perfect for soups which can be anything your imagination allows.
If I/we really want a roast i'll mostly do a chicken, not cos I'm planning on having the gas going for ages to make stock but cos I know leftover chicken is really versatile and also bagged with the air squeezed out freezes well.
If you eat a lot of toast try to buy yellow sticker bread for the freezer, it toasts straight from it and you wont realise its not perfectly fresh.


I think when it comes to the freezer its a fab thing to have but you must label stuff with what it is and the date you froze it. freezer burned food isn't as tasty and can be tough, and I cant tell you how many times I've thought 'oh its chilli i'll remember that' to have chilli shepherds pie. oh and don't mention the time I thought kulfi was a sauce and nearly poured it into pasta for a bake (luckily I smelled the cardamom)


another thing I thought, when I was on incapacity benefits years ago and very poor I used to shop with a pal, we could then share BOGOFs and the few pounds could go in wine fund!


One final thing, if you plan to cook dried beans and pulses please factor in energy costs cos unless you have a pressure cooker (I love mine) they can take a goodly while to cook so the price can rack up there. a suggestion is to cook in bulk, portion and freeze.... can you tell I love my freezer too?