Eat for £12 a week?

Boodle

Caterina wrote: »

Boodle I just came back this morning from the market with a loaded trolley and they were selling bowls full of aubergines (4-5 large ones) for £1! We had grilled aubergine, courgette and halloumi (total cost £2 for 3 people and that's because of the halloumi) for lunch and it was gorgeous!

I suppose that in London we are lucky to have lots of ethnic shops and markets, but possibly these are not accessible to people who live in small villages and towns.

I like aubergines as much as the next person lol. Possibly more! It was just a veg that popped into my head as an example Sadly, I'm the only one in my house who likes them so it isn't something we would buy often anyway. But good find C! We have a good greengrocers nearby. It isn't as cheap as some people quote on here for their local markets etc, but it is a bit cheaper than Asda smartprice etc. It is true that prices vary across the country but then so do the wages for equivalent jobs. I love reading the tips from everyone's different experiences

Meant to say, we use Approved Food too, Tigerfeet. I think if you didn't have access to this, or were able to pay out for this sort of bargain, yes it would make the £12 a week monotonous and tougher to acheive. We tend to have an AF order every 6 months, sometimes more, and spend about £50. Usually end up sharing my bulk buys out between mother and MIL though, which sort of defeats the point!

spartysuz

PP - Do you have your own diary/meal plan page? I really like some of your earlier meal ideas and really need to save some cash!

Fruball

:hello: spartysuz and welcome to OS

This is quite an old thread which I seem to have have missed so will have a read through!

You will find loads of ideas on the Old Style Board which will help you plan meals and save money

Fruball

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=4359603

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=4084527&page=16

I can't find the recent meal planning thread but the ones above should help.

first one is for people determined to stick to meal planning and the second one is eating for £7 a week

ariankevin

how can you eat with 12£ a week. we spend 100£ every week. everything is so expensive. we are two adults and have two kids. would love to see the menu that could cost 12£ a week. intresting.

inrainbows

My older sister lived across the road from Tesco for a few years, and her and her boyfriend ate the nicest foods at prices I was always jealous of. Trick is to go at around 8pm I think. She was getting things like huge cuts of salmon reduced 90% from £10 to just £1.
Obviously these things perish quickly, but if you're being careful with shopping anyway, why not add a few things for keeping in the freezer (e.g. normally expensive fresh soups, fresh croissants)
Now she lives near an M&S and says they eat similarly to before

Hope that helps

Sunshinemummy

ariankevin wrote: »

how can you eat with 12£ a week. we spend 100£ every week. everything is so expensive. we are two adults and have two kids. would love to see the menu that could cost 12£ a week. intresting.

Hello everyone, just found this thread.

As you will see I can talk a lot! Apologies before hand!!

It does seem amazing to be able to cover the food costs of one person for £12 a week per person, but on consideration I think I am going to have a go!

So there are 4 adults in the house, so I have £48 a week!

If I look back on the last week, I don't think I have spent much more! We had bubbs beef from Asda, large joint £7. Steak on the first night, then stew.. lasted another 3 nights, and one lunch! So with a few onions from a very very large bag from Tesco, some of the potatoes that where on offer before Xmas is Lidl or was it Aldi, and a few of the carrots Tesco's sent me a voucher for... 4 evening meals, 1 lunch for less than £8. We also had parsnip soup... for lunch... apart from a few onions, half a pint of milk and some stock... free well about 50p!

I think we will have a chicken this weekend and then chicken casserole.. should be enough for two nights! So three meals for 4 people for around a £5.

Now I need to expand the menu! and stop eating/buying rubbish/snacks!

:D:D:D:D:D

Fruball

This thread was started in 2006 and prices have shot through the roof since then!

It will be much more difficult now than then - but possible.

Sunshinemummy

Fruball wrote: »

This thread was started in 2006 and prices have shot through the roof since then!

It will be much more difficult now than then - but possible.

I have just used:

Two onions (from the big Tesco pk)
half a pack of mushrooms (55p was reduced)
two half peppers (from salads at new year.. still edible)
pk of quorn mince (reduced to 50p)
3 tins of chopped toms (£1)
1.5 pk pasta (from when it was 50p, so 75p)
1/2 pk cheese (£1.12)

This made two huge trays... I need to freeze one. I anticipate that each one will last 3 nights!!

I also made two veg slices and stuffed mushrooms with above ingredients with one pk rough puff pastry (they paid me £2 to take 6 pks away) and the mushrooms were stuffed with stilton that was reduced to 30p! ooh and 5 olives, salt and black pepper.

So actual cost is around £3.50!

I may become addicted to this...

I need some cheap broccoli... probably frozen to make stilton and broccoli soup....

Any suggestions for stilton... I bought 5 pks! and have pastry coming out of our ears!!!

I was thinking for breakfast... it will be porridge!

Butterfly_Brain

Lots of recipes for Stilton here:
http://www.stiltoncheese.co.uk/recipes/main_dishes/4/