Single Money Saver living on my own

debtworrier

JackieO wrote:

I am a widow and I live alone.I can manage fairly well, but I do miss cooking for a houseful.I find it easier to have a Jacket spud with filling than bother to cook as I used to.I love it when I have visitors as it gives me a chance to cook again.I suppose I spend about £15-20 a week altogether.I do get fed up with mince though.

I know what you mean - I love cooking and it's a real wrench when I look in the freezer and realize I have to stop cooking for a while until I've eaten my HM ready meals!

janine22

I'm living on my own at the moment (during the week) and am about to give up my job/relocate (so am skint) and plan to eat:-

HM veggie soup with bread
Corned beef hash (any tinned veg to use up is good in this)
beans on toast/Jacket potato
scrambled egg on toast (with cheese nice but not as cheap)
omelette with onions/peppers/mushrooms in
pasta with tomato sauce (HM with passata & garlic/herbs)
Chilli & rice/jacket potato
Quorn sausages & veg (frozen)
Cottage cheese & jacket potato
Hope there are a couple of ideas for you there. Pasta with tom sauce is particularly cheap, as is HM veg soup (reduced veg in supermarket!)

Edited to add- I'm not going to eat all this in ONE week, I am on my own for a while! :rotfl:

tink1981_2

Hey

I know the title sounds like the first line of a dating page, but I'd hoped it might catch the eye of some peeps in a similar situation! I've had a quick browse through the pages and have seen that there are lost of threads for people with families and other halves, but not much for people who are single and live on there own.

I'm sure there will be plenty of advise to gleen from the experiensed OSers but I'd like to try and get some ideas for shopping for one (for less than £15 a week) along with a few recipes. Also any other top tips for getting by when you haven't got anybody to split the bills with and getting a lodger etc isn't an option

Looking forward to some serious saving... and getting a little closer to being debt free...

tink x

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whitevanwoman

Hi tink
another member for your club! Its tough isn't it! What makes it worse is that I'm a crap cook (really don't enjoy cooking & don't see the point of spending half hour cooking, 5 mins eating, and another half hour clearing up), and my house is like a building site (I'm trying to renovate a victorian terrace on a zero budget).
But hey, I'm young (at heart), free (except for 2 dogs, 2 cats and large mortgage), and single (dating is too expensive!).

Pink.

Hi tink,

I think generally many of the Old Style tips posted on the board can also be applied to someone living alone, but here are some older threads that might help:

What can a single person use on this board?

living on your own/cooking for one....

Saving Money On Food For a SINGLE person

Help a Single Saver

Pink

MissEyre

Thanks Pink, I will have a good read of those

I am also in this gang-my best single persons thing is having a slow cooker-it's great to be able to get home in the evening and know that my tea is waiting for me!

misscomickat

I've lived on my own for a few years and did tend to find that I bought too much food in a weekly shop and it would go off before I could use it.

Now I buy little and often.

It's good to make a lot of something at once and then eat it over the next few days, or freeze it in small portions. Eg I just made a whole large saucepan of carrot and coriander soup, very filling and cheap (I think the whole thing cost around £1.50)

Karmacat

Another single person here - I don't come onto the OS board as regularly as I should, but will be checking this out regularly, believe me.

pendine50

Fabulous soup/stew/whatever you want it to be. clear up as you go...no real cooking required...cheap tasty nourishing etc.....I love it and make it regularly
2 tins tomatoes (lidl 15p per tin)
2 tins kidney beans (lidl 15 p per tin) or any other beans you like
tomato puree to thicken and taste
chilli powder to taste
chopped onion and any other left over veg plus some water half pint or so
better with a couple of red peppers but not essential (buy the wrinkled ones from greengrocer should only be pennies)
Chuck the whole lot in a big pan and simmer for 2 hours or so for the flavours to infuse add salt and pepper to taste. You can leave this chunky or bltz it with a blender
This makes a large pot enough for 3 or 4 days. Half the quantities for a smaller amount
throw tins away wipe worktop....done! I really am a lazy cook but I have had people beg for this recipe and since it is almost all from tins I do not give it to them but remain enigmatic and pretend it was hard work.
hope you try it and enjoy

Rowan9

I used to split a trip to Lidl with a friend. Is this something you could do? We split things like their crates of lager/ beer near Christmas. other times it was splitting the BOGOFs from supermarkets.
I'm sure other threads will say about cooking and then freezing single portions. i do this for when Dh is away. It's handy to take something out for my tea which is home cooked and saves on those trips to the shop on the way home from work...you know the kind - in for 'something for tea' and coming out with £20 worth and nothing much for a meal for the next night. So...menu planning is good. It saves me loads of money.