Single Money Saver living on my own

CommitedToChange

I live on my own on a tight budget - and I find my slow cooker a godsend. I like to make something in it that I can use to ,are different meals throughout the week.

For example I cooked a ham shank with onions and carrots in stock and had that boiled potatoes. Then then it became pasta and ham in a cheese sauce, ham rissotto, a ham sandwich and tonight pea and ham soup enough variety to keep me happy

Vaila

I cook for myself too, I batch cooking something versatile like a vegan bolagnaise then freeze it in portions . The sauce can be used in lots of meals ie pasta dishes, lasagne,baked potato or just served alone with bread or salad . I also cook big pots of soup which work out very cheap and freezwe intio portions

B17c

Thanks guys, some good ideas there! Particularly like the Ham Shank idea... i love ham well in fact, i love meat full stop!
:rotfl:
I also make Hungarian Goulash which is great for me as no potato in it, tho you can serve it with mash and greens its basically casserole beef, onions, peppers, mushrooms, paprika, add a jar of dolmio or tin of chopped plum tomatoes, stock and slow cook it in the oven for about 3 hrs! yumm and that lasts days too...

I dont really like the fake pasta, i've tried it before I tried the fake bread but unfortunatley its main ingredient was potato starch and thats one of the things that makes me ill!

I really need to sit down and work out a budget, i like the "£12 a week" thread and i made black saturns fruit cobbler last night, that was yummmmmm!

Also looked into a travelcard to see if its cheaper than my oyster... its not... and looked online at all the supermarkets to see if they're hiring for P/T staff... they're not... :mad:

Oh well, gotta keep trying!! xx

Trinny

Hi there OP

Not much new to add - but like some of the posters, i do cook on a Sunday and make enough for lunches for the week.

Veg stew is cheap and filling
Casserole - already said - but you can add what you like into it
Chilli or Curry improves the day after you eat it
Soups are great - if its a chunky soup you dont need bread

If you can eat sweet potato - you could do your version of shepherds pie

Tagine - moroccan stuff is good and filling, you didnt mention couscous, but if you can eat it - its a good filler like rice!

Its definately doable- even with IBS.

Best of luck

Trin

mindy45

Partly inspired by my own experience and prompted by a thread here where someone was complaining about single people paying over the odds for food and other things I thought I'd start a thread for tips on how to save money and prevent those piles of rotting food in the bottom of the fridge.

Sometimes when you live on your own it can be tricky trying to not waste food - veg come in multipacks, meat comes in portions for families and you can end up bored of eating the same thing for days in a row. Don't get me wrong, I love a good stew from the freezer but I've limited space due to sharing and need my hit of fresh veg and salad every so often. On top of that, cooking something nice for one is, well, less inspiring than when you have someone else to cook for, so its easy to just reach for the ready meals or let food go to waste.

So I thought I'd start a thread for those of us who aren't cooking a mountain for a family and need ideas for quick easy fresh food that will keep or non stew recipies that you can freeze.

So to start off here are a couple of my tips:

Always have parmaesan and chorizo in the fridge. These things keep for ages and add massive flavour to meals - an omlette can be turned into something more interesting with a few chunks of chorizo, some fried onion and peppers and a grating of parmaesan. Similarly a plain salad with parmaesan and chorizo tastes sublime.

Instead of buying mixed salad go for baby leaf spinach. For some reason this keeps for a lot longer than the mixed stuff (perhaps because its not chopped up as much?).

Shop at you're local butcher and greengrocer. My butcher has a little chuckle at me on a Saturday morning when I go in and ask for 2 rashers of bacon and 2 sausages but its better than having to throw stuff away.

If you do buy a pack of sausages wrap them in pairs in clingfilm then when it comes to defrosting you don't have to defrost the whole pack. Same goes for any other products you are wanting to freeze - only freeze them in portion sizes then they don't go to waste.

I'll post some good recipe links when MSE will let me (new users aren't allowed to link)

There is more to add but I thought I'd open it up to the other solo cookers and anyone else with top tips!

(PS I did a search but couldn't find a similar thread so sorry if this is a repeat)

zippychick

Hi Mindy

I live on my own as well so understand how hard it can be. I think the key is to not let it be an excuse if you know what I mean! Treat yourself and make more of an effort to cook for yourself. I usually batch cook on a sunday and it lasts me though the week. I would make soup, some savoury rice and maybe some lentil dahl - of course you can only keep rice a certain amount of time....

Last night i batch cooked some quorn mince curry and pilaur rice and some in the fridge, and some has gone in the freezer. Sometimes it is as handy just to reach for toast and eggs though:p

here's some linkies i stole from Pink:j

Single moneysaver living on my own!

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

I'll add your thread to the first link later to keep the suggestions together.

Hope this helps.
Zip

ceridwen

Hi

I'm one of the peeps complaining that single people have to buy over the odds for our food - all those Sainsbugs offers of "2 for £4" - but one of whatever-it-is costs more than £2.

I do struggle with just how little food I need as a single person - and, as a woman as well, then I only need about 2,000 calories of food a day and that doesnt translate into very much food at all that I need to buy.

Getting enough variety in our diets IS harder than for couples/families - with the way that so many foods are sold in larger quantities than we require.

All ideas welcome.

rosie383

I would welcome any tips that don't involve batch cooking or anything too complicated. My Daddy is on his own now after my Mummy died last year. He had never cooked in his life, but at least my Mum was able to teach him slowly before she died. It was a long process as she had MND so she would start by asking him to hand her things she needed in the kitchen, then get him to cut things, then eventually, she would sit in the kitchen and tell him how to make things.
He is diabetic and is very good and eats pretty well but he doesn't do anything that involves what i would call 'proper' cooking. He will get fish fingers or breaded fish or maybe a wee pork chop and do them on the pan with some frozen peas or something, but if anyone has ideas that are very easy, then I can write to him with some easy ideas. My sister does cook him a stew or soup to portion up in the freezer, but he could do with more help. He is a NornIron man, so it's really meat/ fish veg and spuds for him.

LittleLauz

I live alone too, but don't really struggle with thinking I'm spending more than I should. I batch cook once a week and add this to supplies in my freezer so I'm never eating the same meal twice in one week really. My freezer is tiny but I freeze in Tupperware and then pop the little rectangles of food or of the boxes into a freezer bag. I find that I can fit probably four times as much food in this way and I don't need an endless supply of plastic boxes.
I don't eat much fresh veg though to be honest, I don't mind the frozen stuff, as fresh just gets wasted before I can eat it all, plus it's more expensive.

quintwins

when i was single i also used to freeze portioned bread cause i never used a loaf before it when mouldy, also i would buy bigger packs of rice and pasta (only if there better value than smaller ones) as these keep longer than other bits, also it's worth going shopping with a friend or neighbour so you can take advantage of hose 2 for £4 ect deals