Help needed buying and calculating food portions + budgeting for diet!

Bethibella

My OH and I have recently moved into a new house from living with parents, and we're on a tight budget, as at the moment we're both unemployed, so we're trying to budget our food shopping as much as possible - Preferably to £25 per week for both of us. We have cats too so we need to take them into account. Another thing that possibly makes things a little more complicated is that we're both overweight and want to buy healthy, low carb food, so we can't have pasta and rice etc.

Last week I attempted planning a spreadsheet full of a few meals I thought up that used the same ingredients occasionally, but because amounts weren't calculated, we've now ended up running out of ingredients and so messing the plan up!

Any tips would be greatly appreciated on how to actually calculate the nitty-gritty of each meal - Each ingredient - And still keeping within that tight a budget, and still being low carb. It feels like a lot to ask!

Desperate_Housewife_2-2

take a look at this http://www.rosemaryconley.com/ lots of free advice and I managed to lose 2 stone without that much effort, portion control, freedom to choose food you enjoy and able to cook family meals, what more can I say? Good luck

Bethibella

Thanks Desperate Housewife I'm actually on a plan myself, so I don't want to go off it, but I appreciate your post!

I mostly posted about how I could plan, calculate portions etc, so I can safely know that each shop will be it for the week, with no running out of ingredients mid-week. I'm really struggling with it Doesn't help being rubbish at maths either hehe

[Deleted User]

The love food hate waste website seem to have some guidelines :

http://www.lovefoodhatewaste.com/everyday_perfect_portions

This might help to work out how much you need for each meal to help with the planning.

Hardup_Hester

http://www.cheap-family-recipes.org.uk/planner-christmasweek.html
Lots of good advice here

Desperate_Housewife_2-2

do a weekly meal plan and make it quite strict ie breakfast, packed lunch and dinner and work out exactly how much you need. It may be quite restrictive and make you fed up especially if you have to forgo whhopsies and bogofs as they dont fit into your plan.

I work with what I have in my storecupboard and factor in reductions which makes it more flexible.

Make sure you get down to lidl/aldi if you can as they have cheap veg and fruit and you can eat lots of veg to fill up without getting fat! Dont forget to drink plenty of water especially before meals too

Bethibella

Thanks all!!! Some fantastic tips so far

mlz1413

look up Economy Gastronomy too - lots of ideas for batch cooking which will help you budget.

Not looked at rosemary conley but I would suggest one thing at a time. First and foremost your budget has be to adhered to and then secondly you are on a diet. Money only goes so far!!

Don't be scared of carbs, they are the filling part of the meal and eaten sensibly are fine especially if you are upping your exercise.

If you aren't working try walking to the local market so you arrive late and get some fresh fruit & veg bargins to walk home with - good for the arms as well as being cardio work if you get your heart rate up.

Not sure what you feed the cats but I do my own dog food which works out really cheap, maybe you could read what the ingredients are on the tins / packets and work out if you can do-it-yourself?

There is a weekly meal planners thread on this OS section which may help you organise your planning.

Also for the diet you could ask for a pair of digital scales for xmas (approx £10) as then you can weigh your meal portions and ensure your sticking to your diet.

lostinrates

Bethibella wrote: »

Thanks Desperate Housewife I'm actually on a plan myself, so I don't want to go off it, but I appreciate your post!

I mostly posted about how I could plan, calculate portions etc, so I can safely know that each shop will be it for the week, with no running out of ingredients mid-week. I'm really struggling with it Doesn't help being rubbish at maths either hehe

For keeping to a low carb plan on a budget look at the vegetarian options.

If you are ''on a plan'' are the meals scheduled? If so you need to sit down and write a shopping list that covers them. If not you need to write a meal plan. That will help the diet AND the budget. Nothing can get round sitting down and working it out I don't think.