Living on my own

twink

the two chicken legs would do me about 5 meals lol make soup with them then strip off the meat, mix with the pasta sauce and serve on the pasta

PasturesNew

bitter-roses wrote: »

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?

It sounds like loads to me
£93 - £38 DDs = £55
£1 - card at a cheap shop or make your own
£5 - present for niece, I'd think that was enough but if not say you've ordered something online and it's out of stock .... but coming in a bit
£10 - friend leaving gift

£55 - £16 = £39

£39 for 16 days = £2.50 per day

£2.50 is more than enough. In fact, you could do it for £1/day and re-distribute the difference to the other demands.

£1/day could easily be done with:
- packs of 10p noodles, chuck in half a tin of peas and it's a meal
- bread/toast. Beans on toast with a Tesco value loaf (2p/slice) is about 15p
- make vegetable soups with cheap veggies (spuds, carrots, onions, parsnips)
- egg curry made with 2 eggs, rice, curry sauce (flour/curry powder/water) would come in at about 50p and be huge
- vegetable curry and rice
- jacket potatoes (15p each?) with beans on
- Tesco Value grated cheese in a sealed packet - £1.75, great for cheese sandwiches with that cheap loaf, or sprinkled onto a jacket spud

And that's all just easy food to knock up. You can get more complex:
- a 2 egg cheese omelette - 40p
- 2 eggs, sliced potatoes, onion, cheese, herbs, making a deep and filling omelette-style frittata - 60p but will do for two meals (great cold), could serve alone or with some of those beans.

PasturesNew

Just realised, you already have most food you already need!

BitterAndTwisted

bitter-roses wrote: »

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 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.

Oats take a REALLY long time to go off and there's only one way to find out!

You don\t need any fancy cooking-equipment to make some tasty pasta and sauce, just buy some fresh veggies: broccoli, peas and mushrooms are good in cheese sauce: courgettes, peppers and anything you might fancy are good in tomato sauce. If you don't want to start honing your cooking-skills (and I really think you should have a go, it's FUN) then you could do worse than buying THREE margarita pizzas for £3 at Lidl. When I get home late from work I sometimes just chuck some mushrooms, peppers, olives and/or chillies and a bit of extra cheese on one for dinner.

Some cauliflower cheese made with a whole, fresh cauli can be made to stretch to two evening meals with a bit of french bread or even toast. Same with macaroni cheese.

I live on my own and I also have to cook for myself so I know what it's like but making something good for yourself to eat is so confidence-boosting and really is a sort of self-worship. Doing it on a shoestring can be done and it's really not that hard once you put your mind to it.

Once, when I was living mostly on fresh air I lived on porridge and baked beans on toast or baked potatoes for weeks on end and I'm still here to tell the tale.

Stephen_Leak

There's a singletons thread on here somewhere.

KimYeovil

I find this thread very strange. The pantry is fully stocked!!!

Penelope_Penguin

bitter-roses wrote: »

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”!)

They're not the same thing though The Credit Crunch was what came about through imprudent lending from banks and other institutions; the Recession is the economy shrinking

Take a look at this older thread - Single money saver living on my own for ideas.

Penny. x

paybacktime2008

bitter-roses wrote: »

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 ...

Write a cheque. Im sure she will be inundated with lovely plastic tat (toys) Next time you visit make a point of taking her for a day out to the park/milkshake. Means so much more.

TheFrugaliser

I suggest using waste food. Freegans often salvage perfectly good food from bins, but you can also ask your local shop / cafe that if they are throwing out food could you come and pick it up. It saves them money too.

I've known people who can live well completely on waste food

falady

You could make lentil daal with the lentils? Fry some onions and add some curry powder (any kind). Once the urry powder sems to 'catch' on the bottom of the pan,add the lentils and some stock (chicken or vegetable is best) and keep stirring. cook on a low heat for 30 - 40 minutes until it is soft and mushy. Add a good sueeze of lemon juice if you've got some. Serve with rice or naan bread if you can find some on offer, or add more liuid to make a daal soup (also good for lunches at work).

Hope that helps.

Ali