New flat; food help...

RAS

xxleannexx42x wrote: »

For the 1st month we are only going to have about £40 for food etc.

leanne

Just to check £40 for the month or each week?

Irrespective of that, what can you bring to the flat from your existing homes? Even a few teabags, spices, herbs and soap help. So make a list as it all helps.

Also check your resources. Do you have a freezer or freezer box in the fridge? Do your have any kitchen equipment? if not put out an SOS round both sets of relatives and friends.

Many years ago I read a cookery book that marked some recipes for "emergency" use when budgets were tight. You could live off them but needed to vary your diet as soon as possible. Things like very basic pasta recipes, dahl and rice, noodles, etc. It also introduced me to "planned cooking" - cook properly once or twice a week and then use the items over the next few days.

For instance, a casserole, quiche or flan, baked potatoes, soup, couple of puddings and perhaps some scones all cooked together can provided 4 main meals, several snacks and if you use some of the potatoes to make a rough tortilla even last another day. This keeps your fuel costs down and your cooking time.

It rather depends where you are but check out the budget supermarkets near where you live. Also hunt out ethnic food shops, markets and check at what hours they reduce items in your local supermarkets, near home and work. Bear in mind that budget supermarkets are NOT cheapest for everything, just for some things. And few things are cheaper than the reduced items in the major supermarkets.

It is worth my while going to a large Asian supermarket the other side of town every few months because their basics are cheaper than I can get elsewhere, even if in larger packs. Their lentils will be cheaper even than Lidl or Aldi, both of which are half the price of the major supermarkets.

Your essentials:

For cooking
Plain flour
Pasta
Oil of some sort
Vinegar
Fat (lard/butter/marg of some sort)
Some mixed herbs and/or curry powder
Potatoes
Probably lentils but any sort of quick cooking pulse.
Tinned tomatoes

All as cheap as possible

Vegetables - buy at the end of the day on the market or as whoopsies. Does not matter too much which you use to make casseroles, soups or curry or pasta sauces.

Meat and other proteins - check out the whoopsies each day. You may need to cook the item quickly and then refridgerate or freeze for use later in the week.

So you need a plan but you also need to be very flexible to take advantage of whatever whoopsies you get you mitts on.

For cleaning - tear up old clothes for rags and buy white vinegar or stardrops.

xxleannexx42x

Thanks Guys you have been really helpful!! Il take all your tips on board and hopefully wont starve ha!!

Ohh and i am quite partial to 'flat food' Woops!!

x

Bogof_Babe

My two tips -

(1) shop at Iceland as their prices on most things are brilliant compared with other supermarkets, e.g. six large (and they are!) free range eggs for £1, 200g mature cheddar for £1, huge bag oven chips £1.

(2) Serve bread with every meal - a couple of slices helps fill you up so you don't need so much of the other items.

Also forget alcohol while you are economising. A big bottle of double concentrated squash lasts about a month for under £1.

sallyp84

I've become quite the expert at this as I'm also on a pretty tight budget at the moment, having just paid for a car, and moved into a new flat.

I take out £50 at the start of the month and keep it in an envelope reserved for spending on food for the month. I go food shopping once a week (if I need to) and only buy what I really need. I try to only buy value brands but have come across one or two value products that I wouldn't spend money on again I prefer fresh fruit and veg, and so I make a special trip to Aldi once a week to buy this. It is incredibly cheap and if you eat it regularly, it lasts a while too. I don't eat meat every day and will often try vegetarian options.

Shopping in the evening is also a good idea. I managed to find a pack of marinaded chicken reduced from £4 to 75p!

Enjoy having a lovely place to yourselves and look forward to the day when you can treat yourselves a bit more

timmmers

The single biggest saving I have made recently is buying bread and milk in bulk and freezing it.
If and when you have time, make bread ..it's nicer and cheaper. can be a filling meal on it's own really.

I can get 4 loaves for 2 quid, freeze all but what I need for 2 days...rinse and repeat until gone...same for milk which is also cheap in large 2 ltr containers (split them and freeze).

The actul saving isn't the products themseves...it's the times that you run out or low, pop tot he shop round the corner and come back with alsorts that caught your eye.. choccy and biccies with me. Local shops aren't cheap and best avoided unti you can afford to support them.

I treat my sweet tooth with a dose of sugarpuffs when i waken...they come in big economy boxes cheap compared to choccy snacks too.

I got a bag of haddock battered fillets from farmfoods last week...6 for 2.50. That with a few peas/broccoli and a bag of spuds is 6 meals for me for way less than a quid a day...and a nice meal too with parsley sauce. FF is good for that kind of frezer food.

Gratz on the flat. Hope you are happy there in your new home

t

rchrisp

like others have said meal planning is definately key.

if you have a slow cooker you should make a few stews and fresh curries (an average recipe will easily make six portions) and freeze them, they will usually taste better when reheated as the flavours will have had a chance to infuse.

i serve my frozen stews with tagliatelle and curries/chillies with basics rice.

lickylonglips

chog24 wrote: »

Congratulations on the new flat - I wish you many happy years

As others have said, planning's essential - knowing what you'll eat each day will help you to minimise the spend. Plus you can plan tasty but cheap meals (like pasta pesto - a jar of pesto is about £2 and will do two people for 3 or 4 meals and even with the good brands of pasta like Napolina, you can still make a meal for less than 70p per person).

Another tip is that making your own bread (if you have the time and inclination and/or a breadmaker as a housewarming present ) can be a lot cheaper than buying it. "A leading supermarket" are selling 1.5kg of Strong White Bread Flour for 68p. Even factoring in the price of the yeast and your gas or electricity bills to bake the stuff, you're still looking at less than 35p per loaf (which is often cheaper than when they reduce the bread close to its sell-by and it'll taste a lot better!)

Fruit and veg are often cheaper on market stalls and stallholders tend to reduce the price towards the end of the day, so popping along at 4.30pm can bag you a bargain. And of course, with a market stall owner, there's no reason you can't try to negotiate on the price (the worst that can happen is that they say no and you pay full price, but if you're smiley and happy with the stall-holder and ask nicely you could save quite a bit of money).

Veggies are great for soups (perfect at this time of year) and on the whole all you need to do is boil them up in a load of water and seasoning till they're soft and then liquidise or mash them until they're the right consistency. Carrot soup made with ground corriander, or Parsnip soup made with a bit of corriander and a bit of nutmeg are cheap as you like and really filling (particularly with that home made bread )

Pulses (lentils, beans, peas) are a great way to get plenty of protein without having to pay the price for meat and fish.

Home Bargains currently have jars of very good quality Filippo Berio green pesto for £1. Handy if you've got a store nearby.