£10 to £15 for food a week?

unhappy_shopper

Material_Girl wrote: »

Basically I have £50 a week budgeted for going out which leaves me with about 20 to spend on breakfast, lunches and dinner about 4 times a week.

I am astonished that you prioritize socialising above food. :eek:
For the majority of the world population, food comes first in list of necessities.

quintwins

JulieGeorgiana wrote: »

It was inspirational

i think it turned into abit of a waffle it was well intented tho

McKneff wrote: »

My apologies to the OP, hope you have the time to do all this shopping around and cooking time, if you work it will be hard and I do really wish you well. Good luck in your endeavours.

nothing in my post couldn't be bought at full price in tesco's are prices are based around that with the exception of fruit as tesco is shockingly overpriced for fruit even if you buy value i can get it cheaper in the fancy expensive farm shop, whoopsies are fab but you can't rely on them, i don't drive in the dark unless i have to so i don't go whoopsie shopping in winter yet we still manage fine, she only needs to go shopping once week, or once a month then top up on fruit and milk every week

Ilona

Here's another one who can eat healthily on £10 - £15 a week. I am logging my food spending on my blog. I have just done eight weeks on £80. I suggest the OP read up on some Frugal Living blogs loads of information and inspiration there. I also suggest you think again about your 'wont cut down on socialising' stance, because it is exactly that which is costing you a lot of money. If you are serious about getting rid of debt, it doesn't happen by magic, the money has to come from somewhere. The choice is yours.
Ilona

JulieGeorgiana

McKneff wrote: »

Well there you are then, in my niavety I thought I was trying to help,

My apologies to the OP, hope you have the time to do all this shopping around and cooking time, if you work it will be hard and I do really wish you well. Good luck in your endeavours.

like quintwins all of mine was based on full price (I dont woopsie shop either) from 1 supermarket and all meal suggestions involve throwing in a pan and leaving. No skill required. And i have her cooking lunch twice a month, dinner once a week!

If throwing meat and veg in a pan and leaving it hard work... well all I can say is these were my 'lazy' recipies which require no more then 10 minutes prep and no cooking skill.

And they meet the OP requirements as she specified.

It's not hard work at all.

I think its commendable that the OP wants to clear her debts and is willing to work at it by making a little effort.

AdmiralX

Theoretically humans can live spending very little, depending where you live. Some cultures living in environments as gatherers, hunters. But we live in urban places wwith access to supermarkets. Sampling may not be allowed in public parks, with protected plants , and we cannot trespass large tracts of land which are private and take plants from there; we are not allowed to fish without licence. Places to find wild mushrooms need expensive journey. However, I have friends in London keeping bees on a flat roof! there are enterprise units selling bee hives in Deptford and there are nearby bee keepers with private gardens; and they sell some jars, not that great quantity. If there is a S facing patio one can grow some veges. I see young people going fishing in SE London. But not all can do this.

cleggie

Hiddenidenity wrote: »

I manage on £10 a week with 2 kids x Tbh Im managing of £10 a month until feb. It can be done

Hi Hiddenidentity,
can you PLEASE tell me how you manage this? Do you all eat healthy food? How old are your kids (i.e. how much do they eat?). I am astounded that anyone can feed themselves and their kids on just £10 a week!!

Hiddenidenity

cleggie wrote: »

Hi Hiddenidentity,
can you PLEASE tell me how you manage this? Do you all eat healthy food? How old are your kids (i.e. how much do they eat?). I am astounded that anyone can feed themselves and their kids on just £10 a week!!

My kids are 2 and 10 months (my 10 moth old eats more than my 2 year old tho :rotfl:) We ALWAYS have a meal plan, which includes at least 5 a day usually 7. I plan my meals like for instance if i buy value tesco mince it was £2.20 when I bought it last, I get 5/6 meals from that, and bulk it out with frozen value veg even if im doing say spag bol. I make everything from scratch split it up and freeze in portions. Most things is value unless offers make it cheaper however I dont really buy buy one get one free offers becuase that owuld take me over budget which I dont have iykwim I buy reduced bread and freeze in slices. My freezer is full on shopping day, yet my fridge and cupboards are bare :rotfl: I have a milkman but I get milk vouchers for the kids so this isnt in my £10 a week. Hes lovely and will leave me free eggs if he has some leftover on a sat (he doesnt deliver sundays)

Living_proof

Material Girl should be knocked out by all the help she has been offered on this site, particularly by QuinTwins, and her name suggests she has a fairly busy lifestyle and should be commended for sparing her time to help. I think living on £12 per week as a singleton is quite achievable but you could help yourself by sharing shopping with a friend, having a freezer, slow cooker and steamer so it's easy to cook in quantity when the (can't put it down) bargains are around, you haven't got time to cook and need to cook small quantities of veg. in order to be reasonably healthy.

It's up to you how you regulate your disposable income but most of us have to make sacrifices in that some will be time poor and relatively cash rich and others cash poor/time rich. Some of us are just bad managers!

Material_Girl_2

Thank you all so much for your good ideas and suggestions, much appreciated! I have made some plans to cut down and see how low I can get but still be healthy. I won't have the time to go and check out lots of different supermarkets or collect coupons as I am out most nights doing something but I can go to Lidls once a week easily and I think there is a local fruit and vegetable market nearby that I can visit at the same time. I've not been to either but that was only due to me popping into shops and buying things when I'm hungry. I have seen the error of my ways though:D

I know my predicament is due to not enjoying cooking but I like the idea to throw everything together and let it stew. Is that what a slowcooker is for? Never heard of it before.

I can't cut down on my sociable activities nor do I want to as long as I feel I get my overdraft under control it is not something I want to give up. My Overdraft is not massive but I should not have gone into it in the first place and just got carried away this year. I could take more time to pay it off but would rather cut down more for a short while and then have more money available after that but I could do it slower if the budget I have is just not working out.

I agree with everone that I must start cooking and stop taking out breakfasts and lunches and that was mainly the reason I posted.

I feel very inspired by those that feed whole families on this amount, I think you're all amazing:A

So, the plan is to look at all the threads and recipes recommended here and make myself some meal plans. If I can't do £15 I'll go higher as long as I will spend considerably less than I do now:o

JulieGeorgiana

That's exactly what a slow cooker is for, you throw it in before work, and its done when you get home.

Stews and casseroles like 6 hours and more. on a stove it takes 90 minutes. A pressure cooker 30 minutes.

A slow cooker or pressure cooker are good cheap investments. And if you want more ease you can buy your veg chopped at a slightly higher cost.

Good for you prioritising your debt, and sorting it before its a real issue.

For more cheap meal ideas visit the old style thread... that's where I learned to cut my budget.

Good luck clearing your overdraft.