New flat; food help...

ubamother

if you are lucky and have friends/family that offer a housewarming present - say yes please I'll have a set of different dried herbs please, or a selection of fruit, or pesto sauce or or or

zippychick

Hi Op congrats on the flat!

The first thing to remember is this is far from impossible. If Mbaz can feed a family of 4 on £40, you can mange 2 no problem!

When i bought my house (many moons ago) I could barely afford to eat for months - it's just one of those things. Don't think of it as a hardship - you're lucky to havea lovely boyfriend and a roof over your head

Meal planning is KEY here. You simply can't wing it and hope it lasts !

Some really good advice here so far. I would look for cheap meal ideas on Weezls thread (part one & Part 2 ) , Black saturns (can't seem to find it?) , Mbazs and the grocery challenge threads. Meal for 2 for 50p

My personal stance would be meat is a luxury you very much can't really afford ! Or if you can, make sure you streeeeeeeetch it as far as possible!

Rubber chicken might be an idea - so if you do buy a chicken, you get every last possible meal out of it, including stock and soup from the bones! (I've kept the carcass, now what) (how do i make my own cicken stock)

Try and avoid going to the shop as much as possible. Would you use powdered milk or skimmed UHT? Things like that really will make a difference in savings.

Can't think of anything else right now, but really, don't panic, get a plan and get your ingredients . You will be asbolutely fine

mustbedebtfree

Penelope_Penguin wrote: »

How about pizza, omelette, tortilla - they're all flat



Just pass mine, while you're there, please, Hester :rotfl:

I'm worse i read flat flood.......... skim reading never was my strong point!

Leanne
I am in the same boat this month too. i have also done half of this month with only a microwave and it's not easy. Now have a fridge freezer which is helping

Angelfeathers

I would second the advice for a student cookbook. I've used mine loads over the years, especially as it has loads of basic recipes with suggestions for how to vary them according to what you've got in/leftover. And definitely geared towards the cheaper meals!

janicemarian

Hi - Try making money saving like a game. When I moved into my new flat (alone) I worked out my budget and I had £30.00 per week to spend on food and household itmes bought in the supermarkets. I MANAGED TO STAY WITHIN BUDGET BY:-

Making a list and sticking to it except where really great, appropriate and do- able special offers came up. (Thanks to Martin's email newsletter to pointing some out to me)

Chose a supermarket with a loyalty points scheme and a credit card - The Co-Op do a good one and you may be able to get cheaper household and car insurance through them as they give a discount if you have other business with them.

Never waste food. Search the internet for meals to make with left overs or ask one of your Mums, an Auntie or one of the old ladies across the road. They all know some fab tasty reciepes.If they are all out or on holiday try chucking all the veggies in a pan and cooking them up. Only add meat or fish if you both like it and it is edible.

Keep looking out for money off coupons and use them well.

Speak sweetly to all friends/relatives/other commuters in the bus queque and ask get an invite to their place for a meal/cup of tea and biscuit. You will improve your personal relationships and save money on food and heating/lighting.

At least once per week switch off from your money worries and ENJOY YOUR TIME TOGETHER in your FAB NEW FLAT.

All the best - jm

EmmaUK

Hardup_Hester wrote: »

Ok, it's been a long day, but did anyone else read this & think Leanne's food had been flattened? No? OK I'll get my coat, lol.

I did too LOL :rotfl:I was feeling a bit silly until I saw your post

EmmaUK

janicemarian wrote: »

Hi - Try making money saving like a game. When I moved into my new flat (alone) I worked out my budget and I had £30.00 per week to spend on food and household itmes bought in the supermarkets. I MANAGED TO STAY WITHIN BUDGET BY:-

Making a list and sticking to it except where really great, appropriate and do- able special offers came up. (Thanks to Martin's email newsletter to pointing some out to me)

Chose a supermarket with a loyalty points scheme and a credit card - The Co-Op do a good one and you may be able to get cheaper household and car insurance through them as they give a discount if you have other business with them.

Never waste food. Search the internet for meals to make with left overs or ask one of your Mums, an Auntie or one of the old ladies across the road. They all know some fab tasty reciepes.If they are all out or on holiday try chucking all the veggies in a pan and cooking them up. Only add meat or fish if you both like it and it is edible.

Keep looking out for money off coupons and use them well.

Speak sweetly to all friends/relatives/other commuters in the bus queque and ask get an invite to their place for a meal/cup of tea and biscuit. You will improve your personal relationships and save money on food and heating/lighting.

At least once per week switch off from your money worries and ENJOY YOUR TIME TOGETHER in your FAB NEW FLAT.

All the best - jm

Thats great advice and a lovely post too x

EmmaUK

a great website for money off coupons. my voucher codes (all one word then the DOT then co then DOT then uk

Sign up for every loyalty card going. Tesco recently made theirs a much more consumer friendly 2 points to the £.

Morrisons always have excellent deals too. My favourite a couple of weeks ago was buy 1 get 2 free on pasta and sauce- I bought 6 bags of pasta and 6 jars of sauce LOL.

To stretch mince, add red lentils- you will barely notice them and they add something to the dish. Also, buy value range tinned tomatoes- really no difference to posher ones. If too sharp, add a tiny bit of sugar.

If you buy 3 or 5 kilo bags of pasta, you'll be surprised how long they last.

When adding cheese to anything, grate it first- you'll use 1/3 less.

Soup- make your own. Several recipes on the internet and you can make huge batches and then freeze in portions.

Emma

MONEYMAKINGMUM

cooking by numbers is a good site (I got from mse somewhere). You type in your ingredients and it will give you recipes. (One time it told me to take my apple and eat it on the way to the shop to buy some food!) Don't waste anything, if it's going out of date eat it, cook it or freeze it.
Good luck in your new home

Fire_Fox

I've been watching my food bills for a year now, and noticed that the things we spent the most on are meat and junk or convenience food. Buy Value/ Smartprice everything, if you don't like it don't buy it next month.

Lots of eggs, little strong cheddar, cottage or soft cheese, baked beans and kidney beans, chickpeas/ tinned tomatoes/ rice/ dried lentils from Asian supermarkets, any frozen veggies (cheaper than fresh), large bags of pasta, porridge or Value cereal for breakfast, powdered milk (cheaper than fresh), old potatoes, dried broth mix or pearl barley.

If you need to have meat then buy whole fresh chickens or frozen leg portions (Sainsburys Basics), minced turkey or pork (cheaper than beef pad out with red lentils and porridge oats), turkey drumsticks, chicken livers, fresh sprats or mackerel.

Cheap meals from the above include Spanish omelette/ vegetable quiche/ frittata, eggs and beans, eggs and wedges, egg fried rice, anything on toast, jacket potato cheese and beans, jacket potato and cottage cheese, vegetable curry, risotto, lentil or chickpea curry, any vegetable soup, brocolli cauliflower and pasta bake, cheese and tomato pasta, lasagne, chilli con carne, huevos rancheros, mixed mexican beans, cottage/ shepherds pie, chicken/ barley/ veg stew, scouse, fishcakes, falafel, mackerel pate (just fish and soft cheese!), lentil pate, chicken liver pate ....