Shopping & Cooking on a Low Budget

SunnyGirl

Hi Chris.

Have a look at the Grocery Challenge thread especially post 3 where all the recipes & helpful links are It's a slow process cutting down on the grocery budget in my experience so go slowly from where you are now if you can & shave off a bit each week/month. Hope this helps.

NJW69

If you eat meat then get the 3 for £10 offers in the supermarkets. You can get a whole chicken, which would make a roast dinner and then a curry or stir fry and a soup or sandwiches. Pork chops would be enough for two teas either just as grilled pork chops or one night pork chops and then another night sweet and sour pork or similiar. Get the large pack of minced steak (700g) and this again should make at least two meals, chilli, spag bol, shepherds pie etc etc. Buy large value bags of pasta, rice and potatoes. Buy whichever veg they have on offer and large bags of value carrots and onions. Stock up your freezer with woopsies and BOGOF and if you have food left over make it into a soup. Again get cleaning stuff when on offer or go to Home and Bargain type places.

Apricot

I only shop for me and two cats and I spend around £30 per fortnight (cook for my bf too about 3 times a week). The only top-ups I buy are milk (rarely more than 1 pt a week) and occasionally bread if I really fancy bread & butter (for toast I freeze a loaf in 2 slice portions and use as and when as I was throwing too much away.

Everything I cook mince, I separate it into two pans and make a chilli for the freezer. Everything that is not eaten I freeze in portions for another day. I do eat a lot of pasta and rice both of which are cheap and cheerful & can be kept for the following days lunch in work.

As for cat food have you tried feeding raw? I buy mine chicken wings in Asda (about £1.46 for 14) these are then frozen and they get one each every night for tea. You can also get cheap or even free offal for them from local butchers - head over to the pet forum for more info.

I only buy cleaning products when on offer but I do have a spray bottle which I fill up with a mixture of washing up liquid and water for wiping down kitchen surfaces (much cheaper than branded sprays & works fine)

Bella79

Im "trying" to spend £50.00 a week for me hubby and 3 yr old, i cook everything from scratch only processed foods i buy is yoghurt for daughter and basics biscuits.

Even doing all of the above some weeks i spend more if i need washing powder of run out of tom ketchup etc

But its still better than the £100 a week i used to spend :eek:
Typical meals for us is

hm chips, with either saus,fish figners
chicken dinner
left over chicken meade into a pie
stew dumplings
spag bol
other half mince made into shepards pie etc or pie
make do night either beans n toast or egg on toast

I also make hm soups from seen better days veg

SailorSam

If you're making casseroles, lasagne; shepherds pies even stir frys and curries use all sorts of different dried lentils, chick peas; butter beans; etc etc. For the base of soups start with dried vege mix and pearl barley.
All these are cheap and last for ages

Boodle

Hi Chris

Our spending varies, depending on what staples might need replacing that week, but it probably averages somewhere near £50 per week. I have in my signature our monthly running totals, how many this is for and what it covers.

I recently posted in another thread, recommending Mbaz's feeding her family for £20 thread, Black Saturn's 2 meal planners, and the meal planning thread for frugal meal ideas. Hope they help