£10 to £15 for food a week?

bearcub

I only came onto this forum for one particular thread (directed by Google!), but have been looking around. Can I just say that I am totally in awe of those of you who seem to thrive on the challenge of living on a very low budget. I hope this doesn't sound patronising, but just very well done to you all! :T:T:T:T

pawsies

Definitely. I'm spending about £5 a week total as I buy very reduced veg (work out when your local supermarkets reducing time is) I try and get 10-20p veg which I can eat over a few days (tbh things rarely go off after a week if kept in the fridge!) and then I use produce from the cupboards (pasta/tins etc) which are all value brands.
I'm vegetarian so eat no meat/fish so save on that. I love my lifestyle haha and on occasion I do splash out by eating out as I don't see the point in spending £30 a week when I can eat for much less.

Obviously you need to take gas/electricity prices into account so I'd say spending less on food makes it worth it

Money_maker

Material_Girl wrote: »

I won't have the time to go and check out lots of different supermarkets or collect coupons

This may give you some price ideas http://www.mysupermarket.co.uk/

Only does the bigger supermarkets (not aldi or lidl) but may give you some guidance for a budget.

Good luck.

Material_Girl_2

I think I can go vegetarian for when I eat at home and at work and have meat or fish when I go out, that sounds like a good plan. I'll look into slowcookers, they sound great! I may be able to get one in the sale in January:)

Hiddenidenity

Oh and i dont/can't shop around, I buy everything in Tesco so my prices were based on there sorry I should have said that x

Hiddenidenity

Material_Girl wrote: »

I think I can go vegetarian for when I eat at home and at work and have meat or fish when I go out, that sounds like a good plan. I'll look into slowcookers, they sound great! I may be able to get one in the sale in January:)

Dont know if it helps but I got mine from argos for £10ish x

Pentagon

Also check out if you have a food co-op near you?
http://www.sustainweb.org/foodcoops/
I spend £6 a week on all the fruit and veg for 2.

Material_Girl_2

Hiddenidenity wrote: »

Dont know if it helps but I got mine from argos for £10ish x

That does help! I'll be checking out Argos now;)

666paw

Why not try freeagle first before buying one, you may be lucky. You may save money in the process and do your bit for recycling.

666

JulieGeorgiana

Material_Girl wrote: »

I think I can go vegetarian for when I eat at home and at work and have meat or fish when I go out, that sounds like a good plan. I'll look into slowcookers, they sound great! I may be able to get one in the sale in January:)

Supermarkets often have them on offer at £9, so I'd aim to spend less then £10.

Although if sticking to vegetarian I would buy a pressure cooker instead, it would cook in 1/3rd of the time as on the hob (10 minutes). I prefer my pressure cooker.

Whichever you buy, it'll save time/money in the long run.

More Cheap Meal Ideas (you mentioned vegetarian and these are ones we use at home) and very simple:

Pizza Bagguettes (Buy the half baked Bagguettes, slice long ways and add pizzatta and cheddar and morzorella... 2 basic baguettes at 39p make 4 pizza baguettes which if eaten with chips/wedges and salad will last 4 meals. These can be made up and frozen before cooking, and then cooked from frozen. A jar of pizzatta costs 99p and 1/4 jar is needed. Morzorella is 44p and again you only need 1/4, so leftovers can be frozen. My boys love this meal with peppers/sweetcorn/onion/mushrooms)

Pesto Pasta (A jar of Pesto Sauce costs £1.19 and when mixed with pasta will feed my family of 3 for 2 days. You want to be more generous... it'l make 4 meals...! Simply mix into pasta. We often cook onions and mushrooms and mix with the pasta and sauce)

Butternut Squash Soup (This is just a really nice and filling soup)

Any Pasta Bakes are really cheap and chearful (use chicken soup as a base, or a cheese sauce)

Chips, Eggs and Beans

Frittata (Spanish Omlette full of pasta, feta and veg)

Jacket Potatoes (Great for lunches)

Mascarpone Pasta (this is Just Mascarpone and Tomatoes made into a sauce served with Pasta)