£10 a week food budget

quintwins

£10 is doable depends on how many of you there is i would also recommend going late of for reduced, meat, veg and bread, if you can't get these then i would suggest frozen mixed veg as it will last the week and can bulk things out and cheaper in season fruit, we eat alot of bananas and apples in this house, tesco a huge tin of value pineapple which my kids love it's only about 50p and lasts 2 days with generous portions for them (me and hubby don't like pineapple so it also means theres no waste if we'd bought a full one) check lidls website as they do weekly fruit offers (or if you ahve an aldi so there i don't have one)

if it was me i'd do sheperds pie, chill and spag bol , really they all only cost £3.50 (make your own sauce and use value pasta instead of spagetti), sausage casarole is yummy or you could do sausage pie (sausages onions carrots all fried add a tin of beans and mash on top and bake) and maybe a nice stew which you could freeze any extra of, beef shin is about £1 cook it really slowly and you don't really need much in stew, 70p for value carrots (which will also help bulk out other meals) and a good handful of spuds are about 50p (i buy huge 20kg sacks so my costs for these might be abit out but you can buy big value bags)

i would suggest staying away from processed foods as there not as filling and are usually more expensive

TeenyBash

Thanks, quintwins. It's just me (well, and 1 dog and 2 guinea pigs [who need veggies]). I don't get processed food, it's full of rubbish and too expensive. So that's a plus. I used to make spag bol and chilli, but I'm not that mad on meat, so if I can find a cheaper meat alternative to the mince... beans maybe?

Castleton, do you actually find market stall fruit and veg is cheaper? I've never been sure so stayed away, as the quality doesn't seem so great. But if it's quite a bit cheaper I'll go for it.

flippin36

Quorn mince (I buy morrisons own brand) is economical and can be made to taste nice - tin toms, herbs, grated cheese. You can add value baked beans and kidney beans to it to make chilli (tescos value pita bread is ok)

xmaslolly76

Asian supermarkets are good for cheap food as well, their fresh stuff can sometimes come in at half the price of most places and there tins are very cheap as well the usual brand you will find is KTC most of the major supermarkets stock this brand as well but they put them in a seperate aisle instead of with the other tinned stuff so most people dont even know they exsist. Having tried almost all of the KTC offerings in my local they can hold their own against most top brands quality and taste wise.

Anyone who isnt on such a tight budget but loves to cook the Asian supermarkets are great for spices and herbs as well you can buy massive bags of the spices for just a bit more than what a small jar will cost in Tesco or Asda.

quintwins

bean casarole is lovely, tin of kidney beans, baked beans, split peas, lentils, onion and tinned tomatoes and just cook liek u could spag bol it's nice and filling, pity my hubby isn't keen on it

also value noodles handful of frozen peas and sweetcorn and some soy sauce and grated cheese on top is yummy

NumeroDeux

I'm planning to do something similar, in fact I've recently just started. I'm aiming to feed myself for £12 per week (or less if possible). I feel that I want to eat four meals a day, so 28 times per week, mainly eat unprocessed foods and eat meat or eggs most meals.

So far I'm looking at 1kg of chicken bits in Asda for £1.39, and I'm gonna match that with a kilo of frozen veg at £1. So for £2.39 I can make 10 meals.

I'm happy to eat porridge or value brand weetabix for breakfast, I got some of the latter in Sainburys, 24 for about 60p or 5p for two, plus the cost of the milk. 1kg of porridge is less than £1 and you only need about 50g to make breakfast, so about 5p per meal. A jar of jam is 35p on top. So if I have breakfast every day and twice on three days, that's another 10 meals I've got for just 50p for the whole week (plus milk).

That leaves me £8.66 to make 8 meals. I need milk so 90p will get me two pints of that.

I prefer wholemeal pasta to white, so that can be had for about £1 per 500g, and that will make me 6ish bowls of pasta. I could easily add some chicken, cooked and chopped up top that, which will set me back 30p per meal. Maybe half a can of tomatoes on top, another 20p. So 50p per meal.

For bread I usually get wholemeal pitta, and fill it with jam, or scramble a couple of eggs. Wholemeal pitta are usually about 50p for 6, and I aim to pay around 17p per egg for eggs, so that meal would set me back around 45p per meal.

So if I have eggs and pitta twice, and tomato chicken pasta twice, I only need to find 4 more meals and I've still got about £6.

It doesn't always work out quite like this but you can see where I'm going.

I also like to throw liver into the mix as it's about £1 per kg, some bananas and fruit and some lentils or anything else that can be had cheaply.

TeenyBash

It's possible to eat for £10 a week, but what I'm also aiming to do is make that £10 as healthy as possible. Getting around 5 fruit and veg a day. At the same time, making it something tasty. So cheap, healthy, tasty for £10 a week. It's a tricky business.

I did a bit of research last night to find the cheapest stable items at Asda. Below is what I discovered (in price per KG order):

Rice - 49p 1kg (Asda smartprice 49p per kg)
Potatoes - £1.35 2.5kg (Asda white potatoes. 54p per kg) [On offer - 2 bags for £2]
Bread - 47p 800g (Asda smartprice white or brown. 59p per kg)
Baked Beans - 27p 410g (Asda smartprice. 65.8p per kg)
Oatmeal - 75p 1kg (Asda smartprice porridge oats. 75p per kg)
Pasta - 41p 500g (Asda smartprice 82p per kg)
Lentils - 48p 500g (Whitworths yellow split peas. 96p per kg)
Couscous - 59p 500g (Asda wholefoods. £1.18 per kg)
Lentils - 74p 500g (Whitworths red split peas. £1.48p per kg)
Noodles - 11p 65g (Asda smartprice. £1.69 per kg)
Onions - 87 1kg (Asda loose. 87p per kg)
Plain flour - 52p 1.5kg (Asda smartprice. 34.7p per kg)
Yeast - 64p 125g (Allinson dried active yeast. £5.12 per kg)
Sugar - 82p 1kg (Silver spoon. 82p per kg) [DO NOT get 500g bags, they are 28p more expensive per kg]Milk
Cooking oil - £3.98 per 3Ltr (Asda vegetable oil. 13.3p per 100ml) [DO NOT get 1Ltr bottle, it's 34p more expensive per Ltr]

Therefore, in cheapest price order first: Rice, potatoes, bread, beans and oatmeal for the base for meals are the cheapest.

Lip_Stick

TeenyBash wrote: »

Thank you all so much for your wonderful responses! I've got some brilliant ideas together now. I really appreciate you all taking time out with your suggestions.

Thank you, Cabbage! Yes, certainly. When the going gets tough, the tough get going! In a way, the challenge is quite exciting.

Also, thought I'd share with others in a similar situation a great YouTube channel I found. This lady is fantastic. Some dead cheap recipes her Mother made during the depression. I can't post a link, as I'm a newbie. But if you search for user 'DepressionCooking' on YouTube, you can find it.

Thanks again, everyone!

One thing I'll say, is that you're probably going to be eating a lot healthier than a lot of people lol. Good luck!

NumeroDeux

TeenyBash wrote: »

It's possible to eat for £10 a week, but what I'm also aiming to do is make that £10 as healthy as possible. Getting around 5 fruit and veg a day. At the same time, making it something tasty. So cheap, healthy, tasty for £10 a week. It's a tricky business.

Therefore, in cheapest price order first: Rice, potatoes, bread, beans and oatmeal for the base for meals are the cheapest.

Good work, but there's no meat there! Asda do chicken pieces (i.e. legs and thighs, not processed stuff) for £1.39 per kg, which is super cheap, or if you want breast they do that for £4 per kg I think. Also found that cooking bacon is £2 for 1kg at Sainburys.

TeenyBash

No, no meat. I was just looking at items that are used as a base/bulk of meals (for carbs) that can then have meats etc added on top.

I think I'll give those chicken peices you mention a go! I'm not a big meat eater, I could likely go without completely.