How can you do a weeks menu on £20 ?

sugarplumfairy83

@Cyril

This is something I'm working on myself! Having done a bit of research and being very concerned myself where the food I'm eating is coming from I would recommend you check out https://www.riverford.co.uk

You can buy a box of veg or fruit (or a mix of both) and save on average about 40% on supermarket prices. Everything is sourced from a local farm and you'll be eating seasonal produce (much healthier!). I and a number of my friends use them and I cannot recommend them highly enough. Knowing exactly what veg you'll be working with can let you plan meals ahead and work out ways to vary how you use what you're getting. Depending on your local farm, you can usually get meat and eggs too. They also provide recipes on their websites for the more unusual items they can sometimes give you!

I would hope that combining this with other peoples suggestions here such as buying non-brand supermarket produce will be helpful. Personally I tend to buy own brand from Sainsbury or Asda - they're excellent quality and cheap. Just yesterday I spent approximately £2.50 on cartons of butter beans, chickpeas and tinned tomatoes, which will contribute to at least 6 meals, therefore costing just 42p per meal! I'd also recommend investing in herbs and spices in order form bases and good quality storage jars to be filled by buying a 500g/1kg bag of dried porridge oats and quinoa: I last had to stock up 5 months ago! For a little extra expenditure over a couple of weeks, you'll save a LOT over that sort of time period by always having them in your store cupboard.

When it comes to lunches for work, maybe keep it simple with filled pitta breads (again, can be bought in bulk and frozen) or home made soups?

I hope something here will be of some use to you. Good luck!

System

Hi Cyril

I went vegan a few months ago. I've saved a fortune, lost a stone in weight without trying and have eaten some lovely meals.

I'm not trying to shove the idea down your throat but you could maybe look at cutting down meat/ dairy to offset the cost of free range eggs and decent meat?

cherryblossom_3

Hi Cyril,

I fully support the suggestions in your replies here, but I just have to mention that I live on my own and my most expensive weeks at the supermarket are about #35. Some weeks are less depending what I already have in stock, but I'm wondering what you are buying to feel the need to spend more (this is not meant to be critical).

I have started menu planning and because I live on my own I batch cook and freeze stuff which encourages me to eat a proper meal where before I'd snack when I couldn't be bothered. I never got the hang of the meal planning without cooking in bulk because I'd come in from work and couldn't be bothered to make what I'd planned. This way dinner is also really quick every night. In the main I started it to reduce how much I was throwing away, which seems to fit with your ethical principles.

To be honest, I don't buy all the lowest brands of everything so I'm sure I could reduce it further if necessary. Also I don't put alcohol on my shopping bill. Luckily I'm not a drinker, but when my ex husband was here I refused to buy it with the weekly shop as it just massively inflated the bill.

Good luck.

ceridwen

I'm not a meat-eater myself - but can I clarify what I understand by "I am not going to eat cheap meat" (when said within a context of "I don't eat battery eggs" and obviously having ethical considerations generally)

- I instantly took that as meaning "It has to be 'happy meat' - ie that hasnt been factory-farmed and would get that RSPCA seal of approval". Nothing to do with cheap TYPES of meat - all to do with how the animal has been treated throughout its life.

If I were a meat-eater and said that I personally would mean "Dont expect me to buy my meat at the supermarket - its not going to happen. I'm only getting mine from Farmers Markets and the like - somewhere where I can ask what the cows name was and what it had for dinner itself."

That's my take on what O.P. is saying.

********************************

My personal way of making sure I eat as cheaply as possible is to plan my meals based on what I have in (rather than hunting through recipe books to see what recipes I fancy). So - I have a couple of shelves in the fridge where I put food that is going to go off if not eaten pretty quickly and have a list by me of "fresh" foods I have in (ie fruit and vegetables) and check out whats there first and THEN think what to have for dinner. So - over the last couple of days for instance its been:
- "I've got some kidney beans I had to cook up in = better make bean pate for lunch"
- "There's leaves attached to that bunch of radishes = better have some sauted radish greens as my green veg with dinner tonight"
- "There's a bit of swede in the fridge now = better look up swede recipes on a vegbox scheme webpage or maybe MSE has a thread on Old Style on what to do with swedes I can copy a couple of ideas from."

I havent actually calculated how much I spend now - too many variables at the moment. I estimate though that my spending has come down from £35 per week to probably about £15-£20 per week (thats with only ethical eggs and with everything possible being organic and the fact that I only drink real coffee - hate instant). Also basic flour is wholemeal/basic rice is brown/basic "sweetening" is honey (not sugar). However - I am vegetarian - so dont know how much extra the cost would be if ate meat/fish - other than the fact that it would be quite a bit dearer.

So - my personal comment is "Its probably do-able at £20 per week - if you become vegetarian". The choice boils down to either turning vegetarian OR having a less healthy diet in order to eat on £20 per week. Some people wont agree with me - but, to me, one can only eat on that money by sacrificing either health or meat/fish. I think my diet would probably be £30-£35 per week if I wasnt vegetarian.

ceridwen

To sum up - check out the threads mentioned in post 9 above and then use the healthier recipes on these threads and substitute healthy/ethical/cheaper ingredients as necessary.

eg:
Swop battery eggs to freerange eggs
Swop sugar to half the quantity of honey and/or some dried fruit
Swop cheap mincemeat to "happy" mincemeat
Swop rapeseed oil to olive oil or, at least, sunflower oil
Swop canned beans to half the quantity of dried beans (soaked overnight and then cooked)
Swop Ready Brek or other instant oats cereal to proper porridge oats
etc

klw7me

I am currently trying to do the same I have bought a slow cooker from my savings for the first two weeks. Basically what I have done is get the great 3 for 10 pounds deal on meat they have in tescos and put them straight in the freezer. Then on a sunday I cook up about 4 servings of a spagetti bolognese or a chilli and then another 4 servings or so of a casserole or something like that in the slow cooker. I then also buy the 1.50 pack of soup mix from the supermarket and add a bit of cream, a tin of canned tomatoes and a bit of butter to it and put that into single servings, this normally does my lunches for the week with a single slice of bread. Then each night I cook either potatoes rice or pasta depending on what I am having an put it with one of my servings. This gives me a quick easy and yummy home cooked meal every night. Then all i have to worry about it breakfast. I am wheat intollerant so buy the substitutes which are expensive, but I have managed to do the past two weeks on 25 pounds a week.

Hope this helps

elfen

Get big bags of frozen veg as it's cheaper and just as good as normal veg.
Eat less meat and add more veg to your plate, it's really nice to have a change from constant amounts of meat.
Buy meat when it's on offer, and freeze/batch cook as much as you can to save you money.
Get a slow cooker
If you buy a chicken, try and get 3-4 meals out of it (roast, chicken in tomato sauce, soup/stew etc)
Add beans/lentils to fill you up more
Eat a proper breakfast - get some cereal and dried fruit and UHT milk if you don't use a lot - fruit helps to fill you up more.
Look at not getting prepacked snacks - no crisps/biscuits/cakes - make your own if you can, or cut them out and replace with fruit/veg
Get as much veg/fruit as you can in season and work with it.
Check aldi's super six as they have good deals - also their cold meats are good value.
Drop a brand - get the cheapest you can stand eating and stick with it.
Meal plan

Cyril

Thankyou you all for your considerable help and ideas. I have printed off the thread and will go though it at home. When I read how others have tackled the issue I know its possible.

My one area that I struggle with is that I don't have a freezer just a freeze box at the top of the fridge so can't take advantage of larger bags / items etc even thought they can be cheaper. I guess I could just cook more frequently.

I'm also quite happy to keep to my ethically sourced meat / fish / eggs but have less of them.

Again thank you all very much.

xx