Single Money Saver living on my own

adelight

grumpyoldwoman41 wrote: »

Mrs Stressed - would love some soup receipes to be honest, I normally make chicken soup which a day later I add tomato puree and sour cream to to make it into tomato soup or mushrooms and onions and sour cream to make it into mushroom soup etc etc... as I make a massive pot of it LOL

Got a lot of cookbooks at home but when one looks at the list of ingridients - they cost way too much to make....

Got a book somewhere about feeding the whole family for so long with one pot and one fryiong pan etc (title something funny like that), got to dig it out together with the slow cooker....

Got a bread maker too, may dig it out for my brown bread but when I calculated the cost before - this was not much cheaper (ingridients, electric) than buying, unless I am missing something there?

Thanks again for all the posts...really appreciated

Can I suggest asking your bank for a visa debit card? It will be useful in other ways eventually as a lot of places are iffy about electron. Or get a prepay visa.

You will have to choose between ordering online and going to the shops, simple as that. You could walk to the shops(bus back) or only shop when you are going to town anyway for other reasons, but whoopsies and bargains aren't guaranteed and are best at inconvenient times of day like at night.

You don't have to follow a recipe to a T, just get the idea for the meal and improvise(sub cod for pollock, fresh for frozen etc). imho one of the most important things in eating cheap is being able to improvise and make a meal from the scraps you've got.

Farway

grumpyoldwoman41 wrote: »

possibly some "corner shops" abit further - no good for shopping on a budget.

My "corner shop" [Costcutters] does have a reduced for quick sale section so you may just find something similar in yours

But TBH where I am the reduced section is mainly what I would term "junk", like sausage rolls, pasties, ready made sandwiches, but sometimes has items like cheese / sliced meat so you could strike lucky if out for a walk anyway

Do you have a garden or space to grow some veg?

It takes time obviously, and hopefully you will be back in work soon, but maybe spuds / beans / toms come the spring?

Angel_Jenny

I am learning (attempting) to cook and bake but the cooking recipes especially seem to call for a lot of ingredients. I know that in the long run it could be split into meals and frozen but it is a lot to buy at once. Also I worry about if it goes wrong!

I make vegetable soup and freeze portions and then defrost them when I want one. I like it as I try to buy vegetables that are in season and that way I try all sorts - especially if I follow the offers!

PasturesNew

grumpyoldwoman41 wrote: »

Yes, I do have a slow cooker - somewhere in the cupboard as I never managed to make a decent meal in it so gave up a while ago, may dig it out again now.

Now's not the time to go experimenting with it all guns blazing. Now is the time to get it out, dust it down and spend some time finding some easy recipes that use only cheap ingredients.... build up your skill at using it. e.g. start with making a potato soup, then try leek/potato .... then try a veggie stew.... and finally risk 2 sausages in it.

Be mindful of the cost/value of what you're putting into it until you're confident it's all great, then once you're proficient and confident you can put in pricier items like sausages and meat. It'd be awful if you grabbed some "fabulous steak and wine slow cooked feast" recipe right now as it sounded good and blew £10 of ingredients on something inedible.

grumpyoldwoman41

No Costcutter, I mean really those corner sops with papers/cigarettes/tins, nothing ever cheap.

No outside space, applied for an alltmnet ages ago, somewhere on a waiting list for possibly 2025

Thanks for posting - those 3 threads that I have started yesterday in utter desperation are now keeping me sane.....

BitterAndTwisted

If a recipe calls for ingredients I don't have to hand or can't afford to buy I just substitute them or omit them altogether. This results in either something that's not perfect but quite edible or pretty acceptable and adds a bit of uncertainty into a housekeeping life which is quite dull on the whole.

BTW OP I have a mushroom soup recipe which doesn't call for cream or sour cream, just stock and milk and it's really delish. I never pay full price for those mushrooms either, I pick them up when on special offer. Also, a three or five-bean soup with tomatoes as a base with some chilli chucked in and I can make a couple of litres of soup for less than a quid. A butternut squash added when it's on offer for less than a pound transforms it into a four-litre batch.

If you can't tolerate bread made from white flour try gram (chickpea) flour in your breadmaker. Oh! How I long for a breadmaker.....

Farway

grumpyoldwoman41, do you have a bike?

I am certainly not suggesting the Norman Tebbit solution to joblessness, more cycling the five miles or so to shops when weather improves

I used my bike, with large panniers, for shopping for years, distance about 4 miles round trip, until I got my bus pass and now the trip to town is free for me the bike is relegated to garage

grumpyoldwoman41

LOl - No, do nto have a bike, would be terrified to go on a busy road on one to be honest - brave you

Farway

grumpyoldwoman41 wrote: »

No outside space, applied for an alltmnet ages ago, somewhere on a waiting list for possibly 2025

You could grow some salad type stuff indoors on your window sills, obviously not enough for a meal, more flavour & perhaps garnishing for taste?

I am thinking of cress, cut & come again salad leaves, maybe chillies, bean or similar sprouts in your airing cupboard?

The Gardening forum no doubt could give many ideas if you think this is worthwhile

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=&f=134

PasturesNew

2 eggs, in an omelette + 1 potato in wedges/sliced = 25p for a meal.
Grated cheese (it looks more/goes further) on 2 slices of toast = 10p for a meal.
Packet of cheap noodles + 1/2 a can of kidney beans in chilli sauce = 30p for a meal.

Obviously not the best nutritionally, but I've always eaten like this and I'm still alive

Make it a challenge to reduce the cost of everything you eat. e.g. chilli con carne, I never put a bell pepper in it as they're about 70p. e.g. a can of baked beans stretches to 3 meals, not 2. e.g. buy cheese based on it's £/100g price and not the packet price and you can always get it for £4-5/Kg instead of £7-9 of those at eye level.