Single person - can I eat for £60 a month?

Plan_for_Chaos

Yes I know, variations on this have been done to death. My story; it's looking likely I will be made redundant, I've been going through the figures, reducing bills, cutting back on this and that etc. and £60 a month is the maximun I can afford.

I've come up with this meal plan, the same thing everyday, I don't know a great deal about nutrition so would appreciate any thoughts insights etc. btw I'm an experienced batch/home cooking type of guy and like my meat so this does hurt.

Breakfast: 2 slices of white homemade bread toasted and a glass of Smartprice orange juice.

Lunch: 1 slice of white bread with either red lentil or split pea soup.

Dinner: Smartprice Tinned toms with rice, lentils and some Smartprice frozen veg eg. peas, sweetcorn and cabbage and some sultanas for pudding!

On the plus the side this is just a temporary measure I hope.

Flibsey

to be honest, making your own bread is a bit of a faff and also, factor in the cost of the energy taken to cook it. you might be better off getting some form of cheap wholemeal bread. fibre, good nutritious stuff.

and youmight get bored after a while, but it looks a fairly sound meal plan. although you don't mention dairy? if you're a woman you NEED calcium to stave off menopausal osteoporosis, and dairy is one of the best sources.... although brocolli is high in calcium too so maybe adding some of that may help? if you're dairy free, make sure the soya or whatnot you're using has added calcium. even if you're a man

spiddy100

I should think £2 a day is pretty do-able. Porridge for breakfast some days instead of the toast? You could make this up with milk powder rather than fresh milk.

I think it's hard to make a decent selection of meals for <£1 if you are making only one portion, but easy to make say 5 portions for £5. So lots of batch cooking is going to be essential. Do you have a freezer?

JBD

Why do you want to eat the same meals every day? £60/month is about £2/day, enough to have some variation.
There are hundreds of different meals that you could make within this price range.
As you like your meat, why not think of things like value/basic mincemeat [£1.20], enough for 3 or 4 portions of bolognaise, sausage meat etc. Also check out the reduced fridges at the end of the day, often they are full up with packs of meat.

nuatha

There are several old threads on here that might well be worth a read, a forumite called Weezl setting what seemed to be impossible challenges for herself and husband to live as cheaply as possible and still eat healthily. Out of this came a website cheap-family-recipes.org.uk, as a newbie I cant post a direct link, and a wordpress blog weezl.wordpress.com
Huge amount of information distilled into a very readable, useful and even inspirational format

FairyPrincessk

you might also consider eggs and potatoes. Jacket sized potatoes are 4 for 49p at A*di right now, and a tin of tuna is 59 and does enough for about two, maybe three portions with just some mayo added. Eggs would also add some protein and lots of trace vitamins to this diet, either on sandwiches or hot for various meals. Porridge (as mentioned above) is also a good idea. You can always use brown sugar and a little cinnamon to sweeten it if the budget doesn't stretch to jam or honey or whatever your used to. Value mince as someone else suggested is good--thing about things like chilli--which can be stretched with kidney beans (usually under 20p/tin) and rice.

In particular, I would suggest that you try to visit multiple shops if you can. I find A*di cheapest for things like fruit and veg, tins etc. but more expensive for porridge and a few other things here and there. Visiting the whoopsie pile can also be a good idea, don't be afraid to snap up a few things when there is a selection there and keep it in the freezer.

kezlehan

Well if it's any consolation I have the same breakfast and lunch every day, and I don't seem to mind it. I'd change up the dinner though if you could.
I make a batch of tomato sauce using 4 tins of chopped tomatoes, some onion, celery and finely sliced carrots, with a pinch of sugar, and that serves 8. So you could use it with things such as pasta, rice, couscous, some mince, or some chicken. Or even some Quorn pieces. These are on special at Asda for £1 for 6 fillets at the moment and we love them.
Another cheap dinner idea... Basmati rice cooked in veg stock, throw in some frozen peppers or peas, add some rosemary or any seasoning you like (spice it up using some paprika, chilli power or curry powder) and that makes a very filling cheap meal.

spike7451

Yes,I do at the moment on my ESA after I've paid my bills.By shopping around you can eat quite well,For example a big 2.5kg bag of chicken portions from Sainsburys (£3.89) will last me a month,I can make chicken drumsticks,debone a thigh & use in a stir fry or have one for Sunday lunch.Sainsbury's,as do all the supermarkets,do bags of cornflakes for around 70p.Tin of baked beans & sausages is 40p ish & does me two meals.I buy 10 local farm eggs from my green grocer for a quid & Lidl's do big packs of cooking bacon for around two quid.Slice off what you want of that either for a bacon butty or thick slices for bacon,egg & chips.You can also stir fry some up with some leek & some left over mash for tea.A bag of spuds will do me about 2 weeks or more.Smart price cola from Tesco,17p & better than the branded stuff.I buy reduced bread form the Co-op at 35p a loaf.
Normally on shopping day I'll go to Sainsbury's,Lidls & Tesco as well as a couple of local stores.I bought a pack of Lidl stir fry veg on Sat (£1.49) lasts me two weeks.I also buy Asda basics coffee at 49p a jar.I eat my main meal around 2:30 pm
So far this week;

Monday-
B-Cereal & milk
D-Stir fry chicken & noodles (Deboned chicken portion,stir fry veg & one of those 17p 'supa noodle' packs
S-Toast & Marmite

Tuesday-
B-Egg on toast,1/2 tin of beans & sausages,bacon (from the Lidls Cooking Bacon)
D-Stir fry bacon,leek,onion & bubble & squeek (Iceland ready made Bubble & Squeek £1.50,I'll get 4 meals from it)
S-Weetabix (Lidl brand) & milk

Wednesday-
B-Coffee
D-Frikadellan (Lidls,£1.79 a pack of 5) & home made Bombay Potatoes
S-Dont know yet.

Thursday (Tommorow)
B-Cereal
D-Spag Bol (made with smart price spag bol sauce,mushrooms,peas,sweetcorn & 1/2 pack Sainsbury's basic minced beef £1.24)
S-Dont know yet

Friday
B-Bacon butty
D-Chicken Madras & rice (made with de-boned chicken portion,mushrooms,onion & Asda Madras sauce,bulked out,I'll get 3 meals from this)
S-Dont know

Saturday
B-Bacon & Egg on toast
D-Bratwurst & chips (Bratwurst from Tesco £1.89 pack of 6,I'll get 6 meals a pack)
S-Dont know

Sunday
B-Coffee
D-Roast chicken,roast spuds,peas,sweetcorn & gravy
S-Dont know.

I also buy a couple packs of Asda basics Rich Tea at 29p a pack & often snack on them smeared in Marmite or cheese.As you can see,a lot of the more expensive stuff,Bratwurst ect,I get more than one meal from.

Good luck & Hope you get back on your feet soon.

Plan_for_Chaos

Wow - thanks for the all the suggestions and links. I should probably have added that I'm one of these akward types, I won't eat foreign meat (can't be sure of the ethical standard), caged hen eggs or any type of mince that isn't lean (the slightest bit of gristle puts me off). I think I read somewhere that lentils and rice make a complete protein source so I'm not worried about that, but I hadn't considered calcium, (does the milk in one of my 10+ cups of tea a day count?) I just had the five a day mantra in my head so I knew to sneak that in. Special thanks to spike for the meal plan, still feeling a little brusied following today's revelations so I just scribbled something down.

Thank you for the kind words everyone.

andygb

Flibsey wrote: »

to be honest, making your own bread is a bit of a faff and also, factor in the cost of the energy taken to cook it.

It works out around 30p to make a decent sized loaf (either white, wholemeal or mixed), and it is no trouble at all. The advatage is, that you know what is going in - no additives or preservatives and less salt.
The other thing, is that I have never had a home baked loaf go mouldy - ever! They may go a little hard or dry, but there is no wastage. It would take around half an hour intitial prep on a Sunday morning, mixing the ingredients, starting the yeast. You then leave it alone for a couple of hours, then knock it back and mould it into shape on a couple of baking trays and cover. When it has reached the required size it is ready to bake.
Obviously it takes up more energy than watching television, but you are left with a smug feeling that you are eating better bread than 99% of people;)

JBD

For calcium why not have cheese? It is also a good source of protein . Cottage cheese is quite cheap, I also check the reduced fridge and always check the deli counter. They usually run promotions on one or two types of cheese, you can often get a nice big piece of cheese for under £1 in my supermarket.
I would also add milk on cereal or porridge if you like them.