how the hell am I spending £200 a month on groceries

twirlypinky

OrkneyStar wrote: »

Just a thought, Have you thought of doing the following :
Buy some mince (any kind you want, even veggie).
Buy some chopped toms, onions, some garlic, some mushrooms, some peppers and some kidney beans.
Buy some rice and some pasta (and maybe some baked tatties or wraps).
1. Spend one day cooking mince with with onions, garlic, toms, and peppers.
2. Divide into three batches (or 6 if you have lots), to 1 (or 2) add some kidney beans and chilli powder, to 1 (or 2) add some mushrooms, leave 1 (or 2) as is.
3. Freeze these in plastic tubs (takeway ones are good). Defrost night before for use, serving option 1 with rice/wraps/baked tattie as you like. Serve option 2 with pasta/garlic bread. Serve option 3 with potato wedges/chips.

3 (or 6) meals, one lot of cooking and its ready to be taken from freezer as you need the night before!

Good luck

Sounds like a good idea, but unfortunatly means spending more than 4 minutes in the kitchen. I'm my own worst enemy. Plus, I don't have much room in the freezer until I've eated up my frozen veg. I've got four frozen salmon fillets in there that i bought on a whim, but can't get motivated to actually cook. The only time i eat properly is at bf house. From next week I'm going to make an effort to make proper food, but it's going to be really hard.

twirlypinky

Actually, just had an idea. I forgot to have dinner last night until i could smell something gross coming from the kitchen direction in the flat at about 10pm, so i popped in there, made a bowl of cereal (kellogs mini shredded wheat with raisins in if you're interested), picked up a cherry muller light and a spoon and dashed back out. Anyway, i could just have cereal for dinner every night for a while, that would probably save me loads of money.

OrkneyStar

twirlypinky wrote: »

Sounds like a good idea, but unfortunatly means spending more than 4 minutes in the kitchen. I'm my own worst enemy. Plus, I don't have much room in the freezer until I've eated up my frozen veg. I've got four frozen salmon fillets in there that i bought on a whim, but can't get motivated to actually cook. The only time i eat properly is at bf house. From next week I'm going to make an effort to make proper food, but it's going to be really hard.

Yes, well slightly more than 4 minutes, although I was a bit wrong to say a day, perhaps a few hours at most. The point I was making was to show that you can spend some time preparing and then reap the rewards for a week or so. A quick meal with the salmon (defrosted) would be a salmon pasta or salmon stir fry ? You could also make a huge pot of soup (1 hour chopping max, then just leave to cook stirring every so often) and batch freeze (once you have space!)- serve with bread, toasted rolls, croutons. Can be healthy too as you can chuck in loads of veggies. Also cheap (even cheaper if you buy reduced veggies). If you really do want ready meals for handiness remember to check out the reduced section for any use by that day, and freeze.
Anyway enough from me lol.

got-it-spend-it

Can you get a subsidised meal in a canteen at lunchtime? If so you could have your main meal then, and have cereal for your tea as you suggest. Would still probably cost you less than £200 a month.

Burlesque_Babe

twirlypinky wrote: »

Anyway, i could just have cereal for dinner every night for a while, that would probably save me loads of money.

now, that's not going to keep you healthy, now is it.......

Raychee

twirlypinky wrote: »

Actually, just had an idea. I forgot to have dinner last night until i could smell something gross coming from the kitchen direction in the flat at about 10pm, so i popped in there, made a bowl of cereal (kellogs mini shredded wheat with raisins in if you're interested), picked up a cherry muller light and a spoon and dashed back out. Anyway, i could just have cereal for dinner every night for a while, that would probably save me loads of money.

You could, but would it be good for you?

You could make a pasta meal from scratch in 15 - 20 minutes, Me and OH often call it our 'can't be a***d meal' - just add a slice of chopped up ham, a slight grating of cheese, etc - whatever you feel like. It doesn't take much time... honest. Or, buy some pittabreads, split them in half, and use them to make a quick pizza - 10 mins at the most... Why not start by cooking 2 meals a week, and then building up so that you don't have to rely on ready meals all the time?

Student kitchens CAN be nasty places, but all you need is a little motivation and inspiration, and you can get there.

Oh, and I spent £160 for 2 of us a month, including all meat bought from WAITrose. I don't know how much I used to spend, but it was horrendous - that's the problem with having a lovely supermarket as your corner shop! - must have been a good £300. Making a meal plan, writing a shopping list, keeping a spreadsheet of everything I spend has changed my habits.

Good luck.

twirlypinky

got-it-spend-it wrote: »

Can you get a subsidised meal in a canteen at lunchtime? If so you could have your main meal then, and have cereal for your tea as you suggest. Would still probably cost you less than £200 a month.

Our canteen is outrageous, and not really subsidised. I normally go to the league of friends shop and get a roll for 85p. I know this could be cheaper if i make it at home, but i don't believe by very much, it's for a good cause, and it saves me having to have fresh bread in, butter (which for me ALWAYS goes out of date before i use it) and ham etc. Yesterday I had a meeting that went over lunchtime and the league of friends was shut, so i went to the canteen and grabbed a chicken caesar wrap, a bag of crisps, a bottle of coke zero and a cadburies cream egg (really had the munchies - super boring meeting!) and it came to £4.95. No staff discount available.

twirlypinky

Raychee wrote: »

You could, but would it be good for you?

You could make a pasta meal from scratch in 15 - 20 minutes, Me and OH often call it our 'can't be a***d meal' - just add a slice of chopped up ham, a slight grating of cheese, etc - whatever you feel like. It doesn't take much time... honest. Or, buy some pittabreads, split them in half, and use them to make a quick pizza - 10 mins at the most... Why not start by cooking 2 meals a week, and then building up so that you don't have to rely on ready meals all the time?

Student kitchens CAN be nasty places, but all you need is a little motivation and inspiration, and you can get there.

Oh, and I spent £160 for 2 of us a month, including all meat bought from WAITrose. I don't know how much I used to spend, but it was horrendous - that's the problem with having a lovely supermarket as your corner shop! - must have been a good £300. Making a meal plan, writing a shopping list, keeping a spreadsheet of everything I spend has changed my habits.

Good luck.

I have tried to make dinner in that kitchen, but people come in and watch what I'm doing, or make their dinner at the same time so i feel in the way. I hate it in there. The other weekend I woke up at about midnight really needing a drink of water. I couldn't hear anybody up, so i nipped into the kitchen in a pair of PJs. I got in there and the lad from the room opposite mine had about 4 friends in there (I didn't have contacts in so 4 is a guess)! I was so embarrased, my hair was a mess, i didn't have my face on and as i discovered when i got back in my room, I had toothpaste down my top over my right boob so i looked like i'd been jizzed on. I really really hate having a communal kitchen, it sucks. I'm finding it especially hard having never had to do that before, I lived with my parents and then ex husband, so it always felt like home or my kitchen. At 27 I'm too old for this.

And I know it's probably not good for me, but it's not forever is it?

tinkerbell84

Burlesque_Babe wrote: »

I'm quite shocked to see that 7 people so far are spending more than £250 per person per month - that is a huge amount of food!!

ah, but it's not.

it's a decent amount of very high quality food.

no carby fillers or value products

(following a low carb diet)

tinkerbell84

OP -

not sure how to solve your problem if you can't/won't cook!!

And if you're living on sarnies for lunch, cereal at night won't make your diet balanced at all