eat for 30 quid a week

Gothicfairy

I would love to know what you actually spend £50 on though ? Is that all food or is there alcohol/ fast food / take outs ?

I can't imagine having that amount of money for food a week..Well I would be lucky if that was a month's worth of food.

I am not having a pop though ( it might sound like it but I don't mean it) if you have the money to spend then fair play.

allym464

Gothicfairy wrote: »

I would love to know what you actually spend £50 on though ? Is that all food or is there alcohol/ fast food / take outs ?

I can't imagine having that amount of money for food a week..Well I would be lucky if that was a month's worth of food.

I am not having a pop though ( it might sound like it but I don't mean it) if you have the money to spend then fair play.

Hovel lady and Gothicfairy - I am sitting here with my mouth open too! I am trying to rack my brain to figure out what I am spending it on... you know the bad thing... this didnt include cat food add another 30 per month for that or lunches at work as I have a lunch allowance! I am a bit horrified with myself now. New regime starts with tonight's grocery shopping. I was good and have planned this week's meals. This site has given me the swift kick up the you know what which I QUITE clearly needed.

All that is the past and bring on the money saving future :T:T:T

Dont worry Gothicfairy - I know you arent taking a pop... just giving me constructive criticism

Good grief *** quietly muttering to myself***

Hovel_lady

allym464 wrote: »

Hovel lady and Gothicfairy - I am sitting here with my mouth open too! I am trying to rack my brain to figure out what I am spending it on... you know the bad thing... this didnt include cat food add another 30 per month for that or lunches at work as I have a lunch allowance! I am a bit horrified with myself now. New regime starts with tonight's grocery shopping. I was good and have planned this week's meals. This site has given me the swift kick up the you know what which I QUITE clearly needed.

All that is the past and bring on the money saving future :T:T:T

Dont worry Gothicfairy - I know you arent taking a pop... just giving me constructive criticism

Good grief *** quietly muttering to myself***

Planning meals and doing a shopping list round that is one of the best things you can do. Get over to the OS board for some great recipes.
It's strangely satisfing when you realise the meal you've just eaten (for 2 of us) cost £1 or whatever.
But be warned - all this can get addictive

Gothicfairy

I agree that meal planning is worth doing but I also leave some wiggle room depending on what I can find in the "opps" bin.


I also do a fridge night where I try to work out how to use leftovers and scrag ends ( charming turn of phrase I have there..lol) it can be great fun and really stretches the mind...Ie what do you do with Lettuce and sausages ???

You could also get your friends and family involved and do pot luck night where everyone brings a dish and you work out who is doing what course but that is all the planning you do..I once ended up with 3 lots of potato salad and nothing else for mains but that was half the fun.

I am quite sad really but do enjoy my £1 per day kick as it gives my brain a better work out then a Nintendo game..

Sweet_Pea_2

Gothicfairy - I was intrigued by biscuits and sausage gravy so have googled, they look really nice. Could you share your recipe please as the recipes I found were all in cups etc being American. Thanks.:money:

Chimpofdoom

my girlfriend and I currently spend about £40 a week (that's food and stuff for the house). Our record buy is £29.

Although largely we eat like veggies (namely because she is, but I'm not), we don't buy much in the way of meat (maybe a pack of chicken here and there).

I reckon we could save more if we bought stuff from farm shops..

judeee

I may not get any response to this because I'm new (like on the Frugal Living thread...) but I spend about £70 a week just for three of us! The three being me, my 21 year old daughter and 11 year old son.
Just looked through my email, it went on two chickens, onion, carrots, yoghurts for kids, mushrooms, kitchen roll, tinned tuna, frozen fish, pudding rice, nutmeg, potatoes, milk, butter...etc etc. I did get a plug in air freshner for half price and a couple of shake and vac, but my biggest spend goes on pop! I only like Diet Ck (I don't drink tea or coffee), my son only likes Cherry Ck, between the two of us, plus apple juice for eldest, I'm spending about £15 a week on drinks alone, and I can't afford it but my son has Autistic spectrum disorder and won't drink anything else and doesn't like change (and he drinks a lot! And spills just as much...) and I really really need to cut my shopping spending. It stresses me out each week, when I see the amount going up and up. I've tried the big bottles of Ribena when they've been on cheap, every flavour of dilute juice, own brand cola, he doesn't like any of it

P.s I live in an old mining village, no nice markets, nowhere to buy fresh stuff, to be honest it's a bit of a ghost town and loads of shops have closed down, I have no car to travel, I kind of rely on internet shopping.

Gothicfairy

Sweet pea..My recipes are in cups I am afraid as that is how I was taught things like sausage patties and white gravy with biscuits..
If you want though I can give you my recipe in cups and change it over the next time I cook it ? cos I do it at least once a week.

A cup though is roughly about 8oz but with things like biscuits it is a very rough guide anyway as you will add more milk or more flour as needed.As long as you have the baking power to salt and flour about right it really can't go wrong and you just end up with either a flatter or dryer texture.

I love white gravy but it is not to everyone's taste as I have never had it in the UK I am guessing most here would not like it but here is mine anyway :

(This is for breakfast so you have already cooked the sausage patties in a skillet/ heavy based frying pan and they are keeping warm)

mealt 4 tblsps of butter ( I like leftover garlic butter ) in the skillet and scrape up all the stuck on bits of sausage..At this point I like to add some salt and pepper and sage or thyme, mustard works well too.
Mix 4 tblsp of flour and 1/4 cup of water in a jar and shake well to mix as you want a paste.
Pour the flour water mix into the skillet (low heat) and stir until it becomes very thick then add about 2 cups of milk until you get the texture you like.
This can be done with broken bits of sausage or bacon as well as onions if you like.
Serve over biscuits ( think they are somewhere else on this thread but I kind of make them up as I go along as that is how it is normally done, each household has their own take on it)
Roughly the biscuits are :
1 1/4 cups of all purpose flour
2 tsps baking powder
1/2 tsps salt but I use salted shortening so only add a pinch on top of that
1/4 cup of butter or shortening
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup of yoghurt ( what I normally do is just mix about 1 cup of milk/ water/ yoghurt mix as that seems about right )

Knead into a soft dough..roll out about 1 inch think and cut out the biscuits using the cutter of your choice..Cook for about 10 to 20 on a medium heat (oven)

Oh and while I think about it the sausage patties are easy

about 1 LB sausage meat or cheap sausages skinned
paprika
sage
salt and pepper
onion salt
(really that is anything you fancy, my ex use to like tomato powder as well)

Mix well and shape into patties ( whatever size you want) and fry in the frying pan / skillet. Takes about 8 to 10 minutes

so all in all about 30 minutes to a brillant cheap breakfast and that is more then enough to keep you going to supper time I find.

I have a jar that I save all my bacon fat in and just keep adding to that as it does make wonderful starter for the sausages etc

Hope that helps but if you want anymore just yell..

I am setting up my own blog as suggest otherwise I am in danger of taking over the whole thread with my cooking ..lol

Gothicfairy

Judeee

Have you checked out approved foods ? They allow you to bulk by and are so much cheaper..I am sure they had coke the other month as well.
I think you can be put onto the mailing list and they send an email with the latest offers etc so it might be worth checking as if you could get your son's pop as a bulk buy it might well save you a ton.

Do you know what it is he likes about the pop ? Is it the flavour or bubbles ? Is there any way you could cheat ?

Gothicfairy

Judeee

Hubby has just suggested writing to Coke and seeing if they might be able to supply you at cost ?

Might be worth an email..