How to survive on an absolute minimum income - Tricks I learnt :)

rev_henry

I quite agree with you marvell, especially about cheese, but for heaven's sake DON'T USE HEADPHONES WHILE CYCLING! Unless its an off road track of course. The number of people I see doing it down Oxford Road here, they must have a death wish.

Also to add to the original supermarket value list:

Fruit (but market stalls are usually cheapest), juice. Erm, can't think of any more right now!

Also, work out where the things you regularly buy are cheapest. I'm quite lucky in that I have all the supermarkets, Lidl, Aldi and the discount type stores all within a 15 min bike ride. I know where I need to go to get certain things cheapest.

Oh and buy frozen stuff from iceland or farmfoods - cheaper than supermarkets. Except frozen margarita pizzas which are marginally (30p) cheaper in a 3 pack at Aldi.

tattycath

rev_henry wrote: »

I quite agree with you marvell, especially about cheese, but for heaven's sake DON'T USE HEADPHONES WHILE CYCLING! Unless its an off road track of course. The number of people I see doing it down Oxford Road here, they must have a death wish.
Totally agree with rev_henry on this
Also to add to the original supermarket value list:

Fruit (but market stalls are usually cheapest), juice. Erm, can't think of any more right now!

Also, work out where the things you regularly buy are cheapest. I'm quite lucky in that I have all the supermarkets, Lidl, Aldi and the discount type stores all within a 15 min bike ride. I know where I need to go to get certain things cheapest.

Oh and buy frozen stuff from iceland or farmfoods - cheaper than supermarkets. Except frozen margarita pizzas which are marginally (30p) cheaper in a 3 pack at Aldi.

There are some great ideas on this thread-and i'm no longer a student. Also i buy tins with dents/dints in them-when they have been reduced as a result of the damage. some of the stores own brand can be and have been reduced to 10 or 15pence :money:
Instead of taking the car to town I sometimes go by bus, it saves on parking (although you have to pay the bus fare) it also saves on wear and tear of the car. If i take the bus it means I can't buy as many impulse buys because I have to carry everything home on the bus.

Katiepillow

I've not got a full freezer, so can't do batch freezing . But I live with my OH, so we share cooking obviously - for the same money each we eat proper meals whereas when he lived alone in his first year, he ate awful food (talking about burgers that come from more than one animal etc).

Iceland is good, shopping around really saves money obviously - we manage to get to the local supermarket and buy all our meat cheap from the reduced section, we got 3 packs of quick fry steak for £3.50, which we divided into 6 bags - so the meat for each meal is about 57p? Haven't bought full price meat for a long time. also got 2kg of pork chops for £2.20 once, lasted us 5 meals at least

Also agree with the ethnic food aisle for pulses, work out much cheaper.
Also use big bags of spices decanted into the glass pots rather than just buying another jar of the spice, much cheaper - especially if you use a lot of spices.
If you feel like mexican food, don't buy the premade packs - make your own fahita/taco mix, loads of recipes on the internet - instead of tacos we use tortilla chips, easier to eat and a lot cheaper.

On the walking everywhere idea - it'd take me over an hour to walk to university and I value my time at more than the 86p a day my bus pass breaks down to - got an annual bus pass for £315 and It's unlimited use, worth it's weight.

We also make chick pea curry - tin of chick peas, tin of tinned tomatoes and cumin, garum masala, etc.. very cheap and it's filling and nice for winter.

Also, I can't stress enough - make a packed lunch for when you're at university, I've seen people spend £5 in one shot on LUNCH, just buy a packet of part baked baguettes (our lunchtime treat) and tuna mayo. Works out at a pound (for 2), and you could do it cheaper depending on the filling.

I also agree that you shouldn't leave chilli in the oven for 3 hours - you need to take the cooking time into account when calculating whether a meal is actually cheap. The maranading idea is a good one, We cooked a curry one night, left it overnight and all the flavours had matured - delicious

rev_henry

Katiepillow wrote: »

I've not got a full freezer, so can't do batch freezing . But I live with my OH, so we share cooking obviously - for the same money each we eat proper meals whereas when he lived alone in his first year, he ate awful food (talking about burgers that come from more than one animal etc).

Iceland is good, shopping around really saves money obviously - we manage to get to the local supermarket and buy all our meat cheap from the reduced section, we got 3 packs of quick fry steak for £3.50, which we divided into 6 bags - so the meat for each meal is about 57p? Haven't bought full price meat for a long time. also got 2kg of pork chops for £2.20 once, lasted us 5 meals at least

Also agree with the ethnic food aisle for pulses, work out much cheaper.
Also use big bags of spices decanted into the glass pots rather than just buying another jar of the spice, much cheaper - especially if you use a lot of spices.
If you feel like mexican food, don't buy the premade packs - make your own fahita/taco mix, loads of recipes on the internet - instead of tacos we use tortilla chips, easier to eat and a lot cheaper.

On the walking everywhere idea - it'd take me over an hour to walk to university and I value my time at more than the 86p a day my bus pass breaks down to - got an annual bus pass for £315 and It's unlimited use, worth it's weight.

We also make chick pea curry - tin of chick peas, tin of tinned tomatoes and cumin, garum masala, etc.. very cheap and it's filling and nice for winter.

Also, I can't stress enough - make a packed lunch for when you're at university, I've seen people spend £5 in one shot on LUNCH, just buy a packet of part baked baguettes (our lunchtime treat) and tuna mayo. Works out at a pound (for 2), and you could do it cheaper depending on the filling.

I also agree that you shouldn't leave chilli in the oven for 3 hours - you need to take the cooking time into account when calculating whether a meal is actually cheap. The maranading idea is a good one, We cooked a curry one night, left it overnight and all the flavours had matured - delicious

Omnomnom!

Sandwich wise I tend to buy instore bakery bread, lettuce and big blocks of cheese. Probably works out cheaper than yours.

Katiepillow

I usually eat cheese too, but since there's two of us the tuna mayo doesn't work out at too much, tin of tuna is 45p, so 22.5p for that, plus mayo, say.. 7p? and then baguette is 2 for 39p - so 19.5p each - whole thing 49p, it's probably more expensive than yours but I find bakery bread goes rock solid before we manage to finish it - plus, what's life without some treats ^.^ (I realise that this sounds like it negates the purpose of the thread, but there's nothing worse than being starving because you're trying to live cheaply - these always fill me up and I'm always happy with them )
(we buy the 40p sliced bread from tesco as our main bread but that's not great for sandwiches,perfect size for the toaster though)

rev_henry

Katiepillow wrote: »

I usually eat cheese too, but since there's two of us the tuna mayo doesn't work out at too much, tin of tuna is 45p, so 22.5p for that, plus mayo, say.. 7p? and then baguette is 2 for 39p - so 19.5p each - whole thing 49p, it's probably more expensive than yours but I find bakery bread goes rock solid before we manage to finish it - plus, what's life without some treats ^.^ (I realise that this sounds like it negates the purpose of the thread, but there's nothing worse than being starving because you're trying to live cheaply - these always fill me up and I'm always happy with them )
(we buy the 40p sliced bread from tesco as our main bread but that's not great for sandwiches,perfect size for the toaster though)

Oh indeed. I really should try those part baked baguettes sometime - my mother used to get them years ago...

Another general tip to add here is keep bread in the fridge.

bedpotato_2

Your soup recipe is basically just onions and water. :eek:

Mongoose33

This thread is amazing! I wish I had followed these tips in my university years! My #1 personal money saver is shopping at thrift stores. Here in the US they have "Value Village" and it's much better than your average thrift store.

V_Chic_Chick

Definitely go to Asian supermarkets. Whilst some things can be slightly more expensive, most things (esp. spices & veggies) are significantly cheaper. We're pretty much spoiled for choice here in Manchester as we have both the Curry Mile, and Chinatown.

Also, flat meals - once a week my entire flat gets together, two people cook, and everyone else does the washing up. We've had some amazing meals like a full roast dinner for £2.50 each. It's currently being done under the auspices of a 'Come Dine With Me' competition, hence the standard of cookery is quite good!

And Sainsbury's Basics Vodka. 'Nuff said.

candygirl

Have a look on the old style index for more tips.I'm a veggie and have always ate cheaply.Indian supermarkets are the way to go:D:DMy OH is built like a brick outhouse, but loves my veggie concoctions:D:D