Reasonable Food Budget for 1

Maitane

Oooh... well you can make curries really easily and if you make your favourites and pad them out with veg, lentils or chickpeas then portion and freeze. I've got millions of recipes - some faffier than others - but if you need any, just inbox me.
And perhaps pasta bakes, lovely soups with reduced veg blitzed up. It might work well for you as you're not a snacker.

By any chance Antonia, are you or have you been a Slimming World member? Certain things just make me make that assumption.

antonia1

Maitane wrote: »

By any chance Antonia, are you or have you been a Slimming World member? Certain things just make me make that assumption.

Yes, I was a slimming world member for 9 months. I'm now sticking to the bits that I think have really made a difference to my overall health, though I'm not actively trying to lose any more weight. Don't want to put it back on though!

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Try and budget for a large sack of potatoes instead of a small plastic bag - that way, they'll last for a month without going off and cost far less.

The same with onions - they may charge £2 for 3 onions, but you can get a huge bag for £3 from an ethnic foods place. Peppers are often much cheaper as well.

And kidney beans are 16p in Tesco.

adelight

beautifylife wrote: »

Adelight - what are the indexed collections? thanks

The sticky thread.



A lot of that (esp the chilli) will last you for longer than just this week, right? Shopping week to week varies sooo much when you're on your own I know, next week you might buy a lot less because you have chilli and spuds left over.
What potatoes are you buying for £2.50? It's usually £1/2.5kg value spuds.


You will have to change some of your meals, eating more cheap breakfasts like porridge and dinners based on rice/pasta/potatoes(lots of these are <50p meals).
Less berries

RAS

Go over to the workhouse thread and read Grey Queen's posts on stashing food.

You have one shelf in the fridge and one cupboard - how big a cupboard? What do you store under the bed, in the bottom of the wardrobe? I would suggest tinned stuffs.

And I would also suggest that you replace the berries with seasonal fruits at a lower cost. Buy lettuce hearts and keep them cold and they will last longer than leaf salad. Other than the salad you have no green veggies and I would suggest they would be a very good addition to your diet.

Buy dry lentils and use them to make soups and dhals - red ones need no soaking, green ones only an hour.

Maitane

antonia1 wrote: »

Yes, I was a slimming world member for 9 months. I'm now sticking to the bits that I think have really made a difference to my overall health, though I'm not actively trying to lose any more weight. Don't want to put it back on though!

Grand, I'll give you the adapted curry (and stuff) recipes then. I'm a Slimming World member too so I had to tweak them a bit, mostly removing ghee much to my displeasure :rotfl:

antonia1

adelight wrote: »

The sticky thread.
You will have to change some of your meals, eating more cheap breakfasts like porridge and dinners based on rice/pasta/potatoes(lots of these are <50p meals).
Less berries

Just been on the cheap family recipes website and got some great ideas for dinners. I agree cereals and milk are cheaper for breakfast, but they are rubbish for my weight management! Switching to frozen basics berries with basics / value oats and fat free natural yoghurt means breakfasts will cost around £4 per week, which I can live with. Starting to agree on the less berries front

RAS wrote: »

Go over to the workhouse thread and read Grey Queen's posts on stashing food.

You have one shelf in the fridge and one cupboard - how big a cupboard? What do you store under the bed, in the bottom of the wardrobe? I would suggest tinned stuffs.

And I would also suggest that you replace the berries with seasonal fruits at a lower cost. Buy lettuce hearts and keep them cold and they will last longer than leaf salad. Other than the salad you have no green veggies and I would suggest they would be a very good addition to your diet.

Buy dry lentils and use them to make soups and dhals - red ones need no soaking, green ones only an hour.

Under the bed is my linen, towels, spare duvet for when family / friends stay, suitcase and bought-early presents. Bottom of the wardrobe has shoes in. The cupboard is a standard kitchen cupboard. If I clear out some of my old baking stuff (from when I used to eat cake all the time) I should be able to free up some space in there.

Lettuce hearts is a good idea, and I keep meaning or add more veg, especially if I'm cutting down on fruit. I think switching from meat to lentils / beans etc is where I'll probs make the best savings.

sophistica

I am single and I spend a ridiculous sum of money on food and I am not quite sure what it is! I do know that the cat works her way through at least £30pm of gourmet cat food and treats. However I do know that if I plan my meals in advance I eat much better and spend less money. Delia Smith has a recipe book called "One is fun" and there are lots f good ideas in there for budget meals.

Lizling

I also live in a flatshare with one cupboard, one shelf of freezer space, but a whole shelf and a half of fridge space, lol. I mainly just cook for 2 anyway, then stick the other half in the fridge or freezer for lunch another day. I also do a couple of very small shops each week instead of a main shop because that way the fruit and veg doesn't get old before I can eat it all.

My shopping list is almost identical to yours except without the meat and fish because I'm a veggie (extra eggs, beans, lentils and frozen veg instead) and there’s definitely some room for buying your current shopping list a lot more cheaply without even going elsewhere.

-berries for snacks (£3)
- frozen berries for breakfast (£2)
Got any blackberries or perhaps elderberries growing near you? Maybe you could at least supplement the shop ones with free ones. Keep an eye out for reduced ones too, if you’ll be able to eat them quickly or freeze them.
- bananas (£2)
- apples (£1)
For fruit and veg, whatever’s in season and grown locally is usually cheapest so have a look around instead of falling into the habit of always buying the same things. Long-term you might be able to grow some of your own if you’ve got a garden. Have you got a market near you or an independent grocer as an alternative to the supermarkets? Take a look at the foraging thread too, since it’s that time of year! Or for a lazier option, I also like the Sainsbury’s Basics tinned pineapple chunks in juice for 20p each

- fat free natural yoghurt (£2) – the full fat one is cheaper so maybe you could just eat less of it instead ;-) It would be less processed.
- 700g lean mince (£4) – as has been mentioned, you could pad that out with porridge oats or lentils and you won’t need so much.
- bag of peppers (£2) – Basics/Value bag of peppers is about £1.30, or frozen peppers are on offer in Sainsbury’s at 2 for £1.50, or if you’ve got a market, a bowl for £1 usually, although you’d probably need to make something with most of them and freeze it, or you won’t get through them all on your own.
- mushrooms (£1.50) – You can get cheaper even from the supermarkets, and probably most markets.
- onions (£2) – Again, you can get cheaper than this by buying class 2 instead of 1.
- tinned toms (£0.50) – 35p if you downgrade to Basics/Value, and if you’re cooking with herbs and spices and adding that tomato puree I doubt you’ll notice the difference.
- tinned kidney beans (£1) – 17p if you don’t pay for a pretty label!
- tomato puree (£1)
- salad (£1) A bag of frozen peas or green beans would go a lot further for the same money. Or if this is for lunches, could you take in HM veg soup instead?
- frylight cooking spray (£2) – Not sure about this one because I don’t do low-fat substitutes myself, but that seems expensive. Is there nothing cheaper you could use instead?
- potatoes (£2.50) – Something I rarely buy, but surely there are cheaper bags than that? Have you compared against loose prices too?
- tinned tuna (£4) – Can’t help much there! Sorry. Eggs might make a reasonable cheaper replacement in a lot of easy dishes though and are still a very good protein source.

rising_from_the_ashes

Raspberry_Swirl wrote: »

I spend anywhere between £10-20 a week with a little top-up here and there so probably average at about £80-90 a month.

:eek: That makes my budget seem ridiculous (I know it needs work). I've no idea how you do that so some serious work needed from me too!

Gingerbiscuit wrote: »

It is harder to eat cheaper for one espeically fruit/veg wise, for example you buy salad but maybe cant eat it all before goes off where as family off 4 get to us it all. And huge bags of bananas or apples are great vaule but there are only so many you can eat in one go.

I think £30 per week for one is good going!

Supermarkets have a lot to answer for with BOGOFs on fresh stuff - how are single people, pensioners etc supposed to get through them? I wish they'd do stuff 1/2 price instead as it would benefit everyone and cut down on the food waste being thrown out each year.

I have started the Grocery Challenge which is helping but have serious challenges as I'm lactose and wheat intolerant so have "special" milk" which works out at about £25/month and oat based products are a lot more expensive than bread.

Good luck Antonia - let see if we can both manage to cut down....:)