Living on my own

bitter-roses

I’ve had a look-see at some of the other threads, but most of the ones I have seen about budgeting for one seem to date from before the beginning of the recession (I am tired of calling it the “credit crunch”!) and the increasing number of food prices rises so I’m not sure the prices there reflect reality .

Why am I asking now? Well, at the moment I have £93 in my bank account and I don’t get paid again for over a fortnight. Over that seventeen-day period there’s a Father’s Day card to buy, a present for a soon-to-be-three-year-old niece to buy, and a leaving do for a friend of mine (who’s being posted to Damascus for three years). On top of that, there’s three Direct Debits (one each for £20, £5 and £12.22) scheduled to come out of my account so you can see there’s little money left over for food.

So I’m looking for ideas on how to feed myself three meals a day for the next seventeen days that won’t break the bank.

What can you lot suggest for me?

nopot2pin

Do you have anything in the cupboard or fridge at all ??
Or anything in your freezer if you have one ??

staffie1

I'd suggest if it's a toss up between eating and buying cards and presents, you should eat first and see if there's anything left over. Get your priorities right. Make a card / present, or get a present when you can afford it.

BitterAndTwisted

A 750g bag of Special Muesli for £1.69 (lasts me a week), 500g of fusilli (pasta twists) for £0.50 but spaghetti is even cheaper and some decent pasta sauces for about a pound, all at Lidl.

Cheapest way to eat is to cook from scratch, cooking in decent-sized batches and storing in fridge/freezer, so maybe you could do that at the weekends. Make your own lunch to take to work.

bitter-roses

Just been to take a look in my cupboards, fridge and freezer, and this is what I have:

Cupboards:

500g packet of fusili
500g packet of penne
700g (1 bottle) Italian Rustica Passata [ASDA]
750g (1 bottle) Dolmio (extra onion + garlic version)
500g split red lentils
Garlic-infused olive oil
Rosemary
Sage
Sea Salt
Mixed Spice (nutmeg and cinnamon, I think, but not certain)
Sunflower Oil (almost empty)
Two kinds of cocoa: 1 mostly-empty tin of Cadbury (exp. Oct '05), 1 mostly-full tin of Green & Black's (exp. Aug '08) – I like cocoa occasionally but not very often.
1kg easy-cook basmati [Tesco]
2 cartons tomatoes-and-garlic [Tesco]
680g (1 bottle) Passata with Onion and Garlic [Waitrose]

Fridge:

1 tub dairy-free soya spread [the "Pure" kind, from Tesco]
Milk (although I suspect this has gone off as it's been there a while)
2 pieces of lamb (not quite sure what cut, it's been in the freezer a while and I can't remember what I bought)

Freezer:

250g beef mince [Tesco]
508g skinless chicken thigh fillets [ASDA]
1kg cauliflower florets [Tesco, I think]
500g soya beans
1 part-boned chicken breast [Waitrose]
2 chicken legs [Waitrose]
2 pork steaks [Waitrose]
4 pieces of lamb (see fridge contents for details)

Edit: Forgot to mention I've oats in a container on the window-sill. Can't remember how long they've been there. Do oats go off?

clutterydrawer

Make the father's day card and get something cheap/homemade for the child, she won't know the difference.
I live on my own and tend to cook up meals that say they'll serve 4, and just freeze the other three portions. that way i don't end up buying ingredients that get half-used and then thrown away.

bitter-roses

clutterydrawer wrote: »

Make the father's day card and get something cheap/homemade for the child, she won't know the difference.

Need to factor in postage costs for the wee girl's pressie (I'm in London, she's in the West Country) too.

clutterydrawer wrote: »

I live on my own and tend to cook up meals that say they'll serve 4, and just freeze the other three portions. that way i don't end up buying ingredients that get half-used and then thrown away.

I like that idea (and yeah, the savings are all in the multi-pack purchases, esp. in fruit and vegetables, and I just can’t eat everything that quickly!)

bitter-roses

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

A 750g bag of Special Muesli for £1.69 (lasts me a week), 500g of fusilli (pasta twists) for £0.50 but spaghetti is even cheaper and some decent pasta sauces for about a pound, all at Lidl.

I don’t like cereal (although porridge is nice enough; I have oats, but I don’t know how long they’ve been in the container they’re in and I don’t fancy eating gone-off oats for breakfast!) I seem to be in the habit of a can of Coke for breakfast (silly, I know, but I seem to be addicted to it.) Pasta and sauce sounds like a good

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

Cheapest way to eat is to cook from scratch, cooking in decent-sized batches and storing in fridge/freezer, so maybe you could do that at the weekends. Make your own lunch to take to work.

I don’t have much by way of cooking equipment, nor do I have much by way of storage equipment (I have just started cooking my own lunches for work – same as the previous night’s dinner, most of the time). But that’s an idea for when I have some spare cash.

bitter-roses

staffie1 wrote: »

I'd suggest if it's a toss up between eating and buying cards and presents, you should eat first and see if there's anything left over. Get your priorities right. Make a card / present, or get a present when you can afford it.

Smallie's birthday is on the last Sunday of the month. Might send a card for the day itself and ask my sister if it’s okay to send her present when I get paid the Tuesday following ...

nopot2pin

bitter-roses wrote: »

Just been to take a look in my cupboards, fridge and freezer, and this is what I have:

Cupboards:

500g packet of fusili
500g packet of penne
700g (1 bottle) Italian Rustica Passata [ASDA]
750g (1 bottle) Dolmio (extra onion + garlic version)
500g split red lentils
Garlic-infused olive oil
Rosemary
Sage
Sea Salt
Mixed Spice (nutmeg and cinnamon, I think, but not certain)
Sunflower Oil (almost empty)
Two kinds of cocoa: 1 mostly-empty tin of Cadbury (exp. Oct '05), 1 mostly-full tin of Green & Black's (exp. Aug '08) – I like cocoa occasionally but not very often.
1kg easy-cook basmati [Tesco]
2 cartons tomatoes-and-garlic [Tesco]
680g (1 bottle) Passata with Onion and Garlic [Waitrose]

Fridge:

1 tub dairy-free soya spread [the "Pure" kind, from Tesco]
Milk (although I suspect this has gone off as it's been there a while)
2 pieces of lamb (not quite sure what cut, it's been in the freezer a while and I can't remember what I bought)

Freezer:

250g beef mince [Tesco]
508g skinless chicken thigh fillets [ASDA]
1kg cauliflower florets [Tesco, I think]
500g soya beans
1 part-boned chicken breast [Waitrose]
2 chicken legs [Waitrose]
2 pork steaks [Waitrose]
4 pieces of lamb (see fridge contents for details)

Edit: Forgot to mention I've oats in a container on the window-sill. Can't remember how long they've been there. Do oats go off?

You could actually get quite a few meals from this alone :T

The initial thing that strikes me, is there is quite a good few bits there that can be batch cooked and provide meals throughout the next 2 weeks.

The mince could be used to make a spag bol type thing. This can be bulked out with onions, grated carrot, grated courgette, peppers, and mushrooms.... it just depends what you like. You could also bulk it out by using some of your lentils or some of the oats.

You have quite a few tomato type things, so these would make excellent sauces for either your chicken or pork.
Or if you can buy a tub of curry powder, you could make a lamb curry, with some of the tomatoes and an onion or two.

Pick out one thing that you fancy making...
Make up at least 4 portions of it.. then freeze the other 3 portions.
If you do this a few times, you will have a good few different meals to keep you going throught the fortnight :cool:

Swindon_Baggie

Hi

I love the MSE tips that I get on the OS forum, but also from other places.

My current expenditure is about £40 per month on food. This follows the below menu obviousley with variation.

Breakfast
Porridge with Milk, and Jam (even when its hot outside!) (microwaved)

Lunch
I get a fresh bake loaf for about £1, some 2 for £3.50 beef slices and some cheese, then add the bits together at lunch, this gives a feel of a Picnic every day. I slice the bread up at the start of the week and store it in an airtight container. This is about £5 for the week.

Dinner
One pan mince (with HM sauce) on pasta, or chicken and mushrooms, fried is elmlea sauce on rice. Some micro steamed veg is nice with this. Sometimes I make a big batch of sauce and freeze it in little plastic curry tubs, this is then microwaved for a quick meal.

My cooking amounts to the microwave a couple of times a day, and maybe a bit of frying.


Fathers day will consist of a £2 bespoke bonus print card, with the £1.50 discount, so 50p, and some reduced price BBQ tools, because I was taking the mick out of him using a tea-strainer for the burgers!

My young nieces (those who would know no better), would get a low cost toy from the supermarket, fluffy dog or some such (£2 for toy and card, £2 for p&p).

With nothing in my cupboard I could finish the rest of the month on about £25.

The leaving doo is upto you, just think creatively.

It's all about your attitude.


You have £93 - £37.22 dd's give £55.78 left over.
Spend £25 as above, then you finish the month, not in debt.