For the one and only

Stevencc

Can anyone suggest some VERY cheap meals for one person only?

I have browsed this brilliant forum a lot and have seen some amazing prices for meals only to realise they are based on feeding a family of 4 plus and been out of pocket. My girlfriend and I eat different things and are in control of our own budgets and meals/shopping. Can anyone provide me with cheap meals for ONE based on ACCURATE prices for ingredients rather than saying the meal costs only £1 when in fact it costs £4. Please also assume that I have nothing in my cabinet and that I am conducting a fresh weekly shop for one person.

Thanks.

computerfixer

What I try to do is make meals that I like in bigger quantities and freeze some or alter them.

On Monday night I made a pot of mince from the half price mince we had in Scottish Lidl stores on Sunday. Used an onion a stock cube and a bit of onion gravy.

Have ate a quarter of that on Monday, could freeze two portions as mince and have the last bit on Wednesday or add a tin of tomatoes and some pasata or tomato paste and soem basil etc so make it into spag bol and or lasagne.

Could end up being 4 or maybe 5 meals if having garlic bread with the pasta dishes.

Could also turn it into chilli con carne or tacos, whatever you fancy.

I sometimes make more than one pack of mince and end up with about 12 or so different meals in freezer, say 4 mince, 4 bolognaise and 4 chilli.

I do the same with other stuff too so I always have creamy chicken pasta dishes with some bacon and mushrooms etc, curries and so on.

Its all about buying the food when on offer or buying cheaper cuts.

Aldi do 2 chicken leg quarters for 99p and one of these with potatoes and veg or stripped of meat into a pasta dish for me is a good meal and works out less than a £1 for a dinner.

Cost for mince based dishes
Mince - £1.34 (Lidl)
Onion - £0.17 (Aldi 6- 49p)
Potatoes - £0.40 (Based on having mince twice) Lidl 2.5Kg - £1
Tin Tomatoes - £0.25 (Home Bargains - 4 for £1)
Pasata - £0.17ish (half pack from lidl aldi etc 33pish)
Pasta - £0.30 (for two spagetti portions) (home bargains spaghettini (59p 500g) Cheaper own brand else where )
Herbs and stock cubes/ gravy etc must be no more than 20p i guess

Lets add this up £2.83 for 4 decent meals ( could be cut further if using cheaper pasta I guess.

Even if mince was at Lidl full price it would come to £4.18 still not bad.

Hope that one example helps you in some way.

All the best.

quintwins

i think teh real problem will be having no stock cupboard it means that you will have to buy spices ect in the first week so your meals will seem like £4 when acually the next week they will only be one

it's nearly always cheaper to buy in bulk (not always so always check price per weight) so it would help if u had acess to a freezer

dlusman

As previously , the answer is always to cook in bulk and freeze the excess. Alternatively buy yourself a big bag of lentils and have a look at something like
http://www.lentilrecipes.co.uk/

or do a google search for "lentil recipes"

Stevencc

All the replies helped, thanks everyone.

Off to Morrisons now with my budget hat on (not literally).