Hmm. £12.55 left on food budget until April 20th. Help!

LeeSouthEast

I've been setting my food budget at £40 for the month, topped up very occasionally by bits and bobs purchased by my mother since about March 2009. This is entirely based on personal challenge, rather than a lack of funds. The less I spend on groceries, the more I can put into savings to move out!

So, my budget says I have £12.55 left to feed myself for the month. My food budget was blown out of the water this month by taking my cousin out to dinner when she came to visit (a very reasonable 2-for-1 at £15.55, including drinks, and it was very nice!). Now I could take it out of 'Food' and put it in 'Entertainment', but I wanted to see what the great Old Stylers could come up with before I consider doing that!

I have, at present:

2 tins of big soup (enough for 4 meals)
Half a loaf of wholemeal bread
2/3 packet of cooked ham
6 slices of cheese
A small amount of jam
10 microwavable porridge packets
A carton of oat milk (unopened - for the porridge)
A small tub of garlic humous
1 chicken tikka and rice microwave meal (reduced to 75p)
1 chicken korma and rice microwave meal (reduced to 75p)
1 spaghetti bolognase micro meal (reduced to 50p. Frozen)
1 lasagne micro meal (reduced to 50p. Frozen)
500g red lentils
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
1 tin of black-eyed peas.

By my calculation, this lot should last me until the end of the month.

That leaves 20 days of food to buy, with £12.55.

Besides doing the obvious, in the spirit of the challenge, what would you suggest I do to try and succeed??

tattoed_bum

bag of porridge for breakfast smart price roughly 40p
couple of loaves again smart price roughly 80p
a bag of potatoes roughly £1
some frozen veg of choice x3 roughly £3
frozen mince roughly 1.50
bag of rice 60p

total £7.30 leaves you some change

you could make some baked spuds for dinners ,veg curries ,vegetable rice,use your tomatoes with mince and lentils will make spag bol ,and savoury cottage pie,

this is just a few ideas someone who is a bit less sleep deprived than me will help soon

RAS

Lee

You may or may not want to try freeigan style?

I walked past the local starbucks last week at about 9pm. There was half a bin liner of unopened half kilo bags of coffee.

Another night it was apparent that the bin liners contained a number of unopened packets of sandwiches that had been thrown out at closing time. Yet another night people were pulling the perfectly good food out of the bin liner.

mouseymousey99

Hello Lee, Could make some suggestions, but; I'm not going to - as I'm a bit worried. It looks like you are not eating any fresh vegetables or fruit. Almost everything is processed. Tad concerned you could be making yourself ill if this is what you are really eating. Sorry. Best wishes.

rachbc

get down to aldi, lidl r your market and spend that 12 quid on fresh frut and veg, or, given that you have the money just don't want to spend it, however much it takes to make sure you get your 5 a day - dn't see the pint in making yourself poorly fr the sake of saving a few quid myself

stef240377

Could you make it to the supermarkets around closing time? Tonight for a mere £6 i have a variety of veggie sausages. falafels, fajitas, cocktail sausages, pork pies, cornish pasties, cheese and onion pasties, donuts, pancakes, 2 packs of leeks and some stock cubes.

I do have a freezer full of veggies that have been brought at these times and chopped and frozen immediately and i bought a sack of paotatoes from the farm yesterday for £5. All cos my daughter has run up two phone bills totalling £170 we have now got to budget like crazy to make it through to the next pay day as i also have a car that need insurance and mot by end of month.

LeeSouthEast

Mousey: It does appear that way, but it just happens that I don't have any left at the moment. Ordinarily my meals consist primarily of vegetables (stir-fry, etc), and usually an apple or some other fruit a day. I also take a complete multi-vit every day, just in case. Believe it or not I am a bit of a health-nut... but given the limited sampling of my cupboards at present, I can see why you'd think otherwise!!

Oh, I have 4 tomatoes in the fridge as well. Forgot those in my original list.

RAS: Dumpster-diving is not something I had considered, and despite the obvious benefits, I'm not sure it's something I'd have the balls to do, to be frank. All power to those who do though!

TB: Thanks! I think the lentils and chuck-out-cheap reduced veg from the reduced section is going to be the key for the remainder of the month.

funkymonkey849

mouseymousey99 wrote: »

Hello Lee, Could make some suggestions, but; I'm not going to - as I'm a bit worried. It looks like you are not eating any fresh vegetables or fruit. Almost everything is processed. Tad concerned you could be making yourself ill if this is what you are really eating. Sorry. Best wishes.

I agree with this, especially as OP says that it's not out of necessity. You can live on £12.55 for a month but it certainly won't be healthy. You need fresh fruit/vegetables and these alone will cost more than your budget for a whole month.

LeeSouthEast

The budget isn't for a whole month, just 18-20 days.

ceridwen

Agree with the others - your health matters more than sticking to some financial challenge.

Look round at older people you know - check out their health levels and then compare those health levels with the sort of diet they have been living on over the years. You will soon see there is a direct link. People who eat more healthily also look noticeably more attractive as well.

rachbc

LeeSouthEast wrote: »

The budget isn't for a whole month, just 18-20 days.

20th of april is 28 days away not 18?? Thats 140 portions of fruit and veg....