Buying food for a single friend. Help please!

fly_dragon_fly

that is such a lovely idea, when i first moved into my first flat a friend and her mum came round with the essintals and a weeks worth of shopping

she bought me things like pasta , mayo, tuna, sweetcorn, ham, bread, butter, a multi pack of crisps, lots of fruit, tomatoe sauces, shower gel shampoo etc

xxdeebeexx

Material_Girl wrote: »

Do you know what your friend likes eating? I'm asking because I have friends that are quite particular about what they eat and what brands they like and I can be like that too. Perhaps you can get vouchers for her and send her those instead?

Mmm this was my concern too. I don't really know what she likes eating. I'm not even sure if she has a freezer and if so how big. If I get vouchers she will have to spend out on getting to the shop to use them. If I send a cheque it will be lost in her overdraft.

things like pasta , mayo, tuna, sweetcorn, ham, bread, butter, a multi pack of crisps, lots of fruit, tomatoe sauces, shower gel shampoo etc

Try to get more tinned style stuff, or pasta etc.. not loads of fresh stuff..

Thank you fly dragon fly and GEEGEE8 for the suggestions

I know she eats a lot of cereals as she can't be bothered to cook. I could do with a few ideas for some nice ready meals.

Thank you all for you input.

Dx

xxvickixx

You are such a lovely friend, this really touched me.

I would suggest some tinned soups and meals like chilli con carne in a tin or tinned curry. They are handy to have in the cupboard and as you don't know how much room she has in her freezer, if she's realy adverse to cooking some tinned potatos, micro rice, some tinned veg etc. I'd focus on building up her store cupboard as much as possible.

mrme

Will repeat what others have said... that's such a nice thing of you to do.

Tesco are doing a finest meal deal for 2 - think it's £9.00 and consists of a bottle of plonk, a ready meal, side & dessert. Would be a nice treat if she has someone to share with?!?

Other than that lots of I would go for stuff with a longer shelf life and not order too much fresh although if she needs perking up fruit & veg is what she needs!! As previously suggested some nice soups, pasta, some snack foods like crisps, nuts and yay to the cereal idea. I eat that when I can't be bothered to cook!! Maybe a kids variety box would do the trick. Whatever you get her I'm sure she'll be touched.

GEEGEE8

I love weight watchers ready meals £1 in asda.. might be a bit of a kick in the teeth tho lol

Otherwise, there are lots of ready meal choices, especially if you are shopping online, easy to see them all..

What about a little box of chocs too? some on special offer or just own brand.. I'd be so chuffed with them

ThursdayNext_2

What a lovely thing to do!

Some great ideas so far, so I thought I'd add a couple of thoughts...

If she's out of work and living out of tins, she's probably not going to be too fussy about top brand products, and you'll get much more for your money buying own brand.

As previously mentioned, not too much fresh stuff for her to eat before it all goes off - but how about a few things like ready-prepared stir-fry, and a punnet of 'ripen at home' plums or peaches that wouldn't go off quite so quickly?

I'm not such a fan of tinned veg (apart from sweetcorn) but tinned fruit is good - mandarin oranges especially.

Ainsley Harriot does a very tasty range of flavoured couscous sachets - just add some boiling water and leave for 5 minutes, so easy for her to prepare.

Buying packs of meat or frozen ready meals might be a bit risky if she doesn't have a big freezer, but most people would have something big enough to fit a bag of peas and some ice cream in!

Cheese and eggs both keep well. As do the non-refrigerated cartons of juice, they're cheaper too.

I'd recommend own-brand 'luxury' toilet roll (or nicer if you have enough in the budget) as the value stuff is horrible to use! Also agree with some shampoo, tea bags etc - possibly bubble bath if she has a bath?

Maybe a girlie magazine as a treat if she's into that sort of thing? Especially one with a free nail varnish or something cheerful like that.

I'm sure it's far too easy to spend £60 on an online shopping spree - and I'm also sure your friend will feel very blessed to have someone to do that for her when she needs it

BitterAndTwisted

I've decided that you and your lovely friend are both angels in disguise.

PLEASE don't tell her that you didn't spend her very generous gift on your holiday.

Being an out-of-work singleton myself albeit a non meat-eating one, some of the things I'd appreciate would be:

Dried pasta
Jars of pasta sauce
Olive oil
Sundried tomatoes/aubergines in oil
Ground coffee
Long-life cartons of orange juice
Rice
Chickpeas
Laundry detergent
Part-baked baguettes or rolls
Cheeses
Butter
Tins of Baxters soup or other nice-quality ones.
Cans of tuna/salmon/sardines
A BOTTLE OF WINE
A BAR OF CHOCOLATE

That way, with store cupboard items delivered, if she did have a pound or two to spare later she could spend them on fresh veggies and fruit

SandC

Totally agree with the others' suggestions, what a lovely thing to do!

But I wouldn't get ready meals, maybe just one treat one for the evening it gets delivered. Make sure there are staples just as the poster above says with a few treats.

The reason I wouldn't get ready meals is that she is out of work so she has time to cook.

trixietoes

I echo all the other posts, a really lovely idea.

jcr16

what a fantastic idea.

i would suggest items such as pasta , rice, eggs, cheese, butter, bread, soups, tinned fish, maybe the sachet sauces that you add water too, like beef cassrole , somerset port etc. then she could cook a nice filling wholesome meal in the oven and i prob do a couple days. one day with potatoes , another day with crusty bread or something.box of cereal.

i tho prob wouldn't send soap, shampoo etc. what i would do is make up a little pampuring hamper. filled with some nice luxurys ( can hunt around in town for some little bargins ) like shampoo's, tea light candles, bubble baths, maybe a really thick soft towel etc etc and post i to her , think it is the celebrations board that has loads of ideas for these.

you could try and find out if she has a freezer. maybe just in line of conervastion say you recently discovered freecycle how fab it is, does she have one and then that way find out if she has a freezer if not , she could maybe get one from there etc etc