how much a month should it cost to feed one person

before_hollywood

hey peeps, i'm a single guy moving into own place next month

i often work late and am typically kitchen inept- any ideas how much i should be budgeting for food?

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patchwork_cat

That could be as little as a tenner a week to as much as hundred! How inept are you? What sort of disposable income do you have? Perhaps you could learn to cook - follow Mr badexample! I would say as a moderately simple cook and not skimping £20 -25 is quite manageable. Perhaps a freezer might be an idea as smaller portions of things have a higher relative cost, so say you bought a pack of chops you could freeze 3 and use 1 and it would be cheaper than just buying 4 single chops.

before_hollywood

i'm not that bad at shopping (i used to work in a supermarket so i can spot bargains), and we have a freezer (two of us in my house, me and my lodger, so we shop seperately)

i was one of those that was put off cooking as home ec at school was hell for me lol

patchwork_cat

I wasn't meaning ineptitude at shopping, more cooking! Cooking fromscratch is on the whole cheaper, more filling and more nutritious than ready meals or shop bought sauces.

FreebieRocker

I dont know what sorts of things you eat but I know that in Tesco they do 5 meals for £4 so if you're only going to be at home for 5 evening meals in the week, you're sorted there if you like what they have.. Easier than preparing it from scratch if you dislike that sort of thing.

smilelols

Depends on where and when you shop. I went to my local supermarket yesterday and picked up enough meat to make a min of 37 dinners for £17 (good quality meat was just being reduced as I walked past). I always have a good supply of freezer bags so that I can make smaller quanties up.
I also when I make something generally make more than I need to so that I can freeze it down.
Try and find a copuple of recipe books for some ideas - cooking is easy when you get over the fear factor - whats the worse that can happen!!
If you want any simple meal recipes pm me and I send you some!!

Careful_with_that_Axe

Buying stuff cheap, cooking it in bulk and then freezing it in portions is a really good way to keep food costs down. Always look at special offers and reduced items on their sell by dates. Go for the cheaper cuts of meat - things like chicken thighs are cheaper than breasts and the meat is tastier.
Don't underestimate the amount of meals you can make with mince that you can buy cheaply.
Buy as much as you can from Lidl/Aldi or even a Costco if you have one enar you and can afford the initial outlay and have the space for storing it.
Maybe you and your housemate could pool resources to bulk buy things like cleaning materials etc as well as some food items?
Schedule a couple of days a week where you have something cheap like egg or beans on toast and find a good cafe/pub where you can get a roast meal at the weekends cheaply to fill you up.
Good luck.
p.s. I can highly recommend Delia Smith's Cookery for One book - can't remember exactly what it's called. Gives recipes where the basics can be cooked up and used for different meals over a couple of days.

niksyg

There are some great books published by Good Housekeeping called things like 101 one pot meals or 101 meals for 2 (just halve it or freeze other portion!)

When I lived on my own I generally spent about £15 a week (and could have spent less easily) but I am an ok cook so bought ingredients and cooked from scratch...plus I love the challenge of having to make a meal from what's in the fridge so saved that way rather than spending lots on each day's meals.

pasta or rice is great as you can do plenty of extra and have it for lunch the next day...invest in tupperware boxes or use old ice cream tubs etc to keep leftovers in. Plus there is nothing wrong with beans on toast like 'Careful with that Axe' said...if you're hungry have 4 pieces of toast and a big tin of beans!!

richardw

niksyg wrote: »

There are some great books published by Good Housekeeping called things like 101 one pot meals or 101 meals for 2

They are by BBC Good Food and include

101 Cheap Eats http://www.find-book.co.uk/0563488417.htm

and they are excellent.

chuckley

its all relative. some can survive on less food or any kind of food. its basivcally up to what u wanna eat and manouvre around that.

due to ur working hours, id suggest makin ur meals on weekends.... more time to experiment.

namakemono

I'm a student and I shop for myself, I spend about £40 on a big online shop once a month and then £5-10 per week (usually more like £5) on fresh things like fruit etc, and things I forget/decide I want.