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

mandco

porridge or weetabix would be a far better option for breakfast nutrition wise than white bread also far more filling

with a little planning there are loads of meals that can be created on a budget the biggest savings are made by reducing the amount of meat/buying cheaper cuts and padding out with veg & pulses

mince makes a cheap base for a lot of meals
a whole chicken slowcooked should give enough meat to create/addf to 6-8 single person meals

asda had 4pk thick cut bacon chops for £2 freeze 3 then slice 1 into your pasta/rice meal or stir into an omlette for something a bit different

theres plenty of veg/carbs in your plan but I'd look at increasing the protein content

LondonDreamer

Plan_for_Chaos wrote: »

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.

I get 6 free range eggs for 89p at Mr T, cheaper again at the local farmer's market (£1.20/dozen) but that's only monthly so have to restock through the month.

Someone else already suggested Wezl's site so I'm going to second the recommendation. If it's welfare and vitamins you're concerned about, the vegetarian option might be good for you. It feeds a family of 4 for £100/month, so you could possibly even save a bit from your budget yet still have variety.

jpscloud

I don't think you should give up meat if you still want it - you can always buy reduced stuff when you see it. If you invest in a slow cooker you can batch cook a week's meals (even more if it's a biggun, ooerr vicar). I am currently getting a week's worth of meals (not including weekends, just five days) out of quite a small slow cooker for less than a fiver a pot - my successful ones so far are:

turkey mince (pack from T's or sainsb, morrisn, etc.) bolognaise (add a clove of garlic, value tinned tomatoes, puree, onions softened in olive oil, stock, grated carrot, whatever else you like in bolognaise. Serve with pasta or crusty bread.

pork loin steaks (or whatever pork cuts are whoopsied/on offer), onions, value tinned tomatoes, value tinned potatoes, value tinned mushrooms, stock, red lentils (I use half amount of meat if using lentils), handful of frozen peppers. Serve with whatever vegetables you like.

Beef stew - as above but minus the peppers (just my preference).

Pea and ham - bacon/gammon, tinned tomatoes, tinned potatoes, tinned mushrooms, red lentils, onions, stock, handful of frozen peppers.

Loads and loads more on the slow cooker thread.

Skint_Catt

Porridge is cheap and doesn't have to be made with milk - my hubby only adds water.
C xx

E2006

Its definately do-able. I would say meal planning fortnightly would be easier - £30 and batch cooking will make the money go a lot further. Porridge would make a cheap and filling breakfast. 1kg of banannas is less than £1 in Al*i for a snack. A loaf of wholemeal bread is around 45p in Ald* and would be more nutritional than white. Tins of value tuna are absolutely fine - around 45/50p and would go 2 per tin days if you added some onion/sweetcorn to bulk out for a healthy sandwhich.

Dinners could be things like chilli, bolognese (bulked out with lentils) with extra portions frozen, jacket potatoes with beans (I saw today on a fruit barrow, 5x huge potatoes for £1), rubber chicken, beans on toast, curry (made with chicken, cheap tinned toms, onions, curry powder etc), HM soups.

Al*i super 6 are great - at the minute its all veg. I tend to buy things like carrots, swede & potatoes when they're on offer, then cook and mash them and freeze in individual portions that can be lifted out as and when needed.

Hope that helps and good luck.

PasturesNew

One of my favourites is beans on toast, turning it into a huuuuuge breakfast/meal by using scrambled eggs.

Loaf of bread can be obtained from cheap supermarkets for under 50p these days. Good sized/large eggs can be 10p each. Tins of beans, whatever's on offer, (e.g. this week CoOp 4 tins of Branston for £1.27 = 32p/can) and you can have two bits of toast, 2 scrambled eggs and 1/3rd of a tin of beans for 5p + 20p + 11p = 36p).

Also, yorkshire pudding filled with mash/veg/gravy is cheap and filling.

And don't forget:

Egg, chips/fried potato slices, beans
Basic spanish-style omelette of eggs, potatoes, onion, random bits of other veg (great hot or cold), 1 small pan does for 3 meals.
Curried eggs: boiled rice, with 2 boiled eggs, halved, on top - then make up some instant curry sauce and spoon over.
Veggie currry/rice: random veggies in basic curry sauce on a bed of rice
Veggie chilli works the same, just omit the meat
Instant noodles (under 20p/pack) are nice with half a tin of peas (or some frozen ones), or even just a huge pinch of grated cheese


Buy spuds based on looking at the £/100g. 4 baking spuds can work out at 3x the price per weight of a 2.5Kg bag.

Aldi's Super 6 this week includes swede/carrots http://www.aldi.co.uk/uk/html/product_range/4862.htm - sliced swede and sliced carrots, mixed together are a great veg.... in fact I've been known to make a main meal of just mashed spuds and swede/carrot with gravy.

jackyann

Skint_Catt wrote: »

Porridge is cheap and doesn't have to be made with milk - my hubby only adds water.
C xx

I really can't manage the dour Scots "water-only" porridge, but I do use dried milk to make mine, and can't tell the difference to fresh milk.
I add a handful of dried fruit to mine - an excellent start to the day.
I second using a bread-maker - the bread is so delicious that I eat it with no butter, and base a meal around it.
And I'm going to repeat my MSE mantra: use your slow-cooker to pot roast a cheap joint, and use it for several different meals. But do use herbs & spices properly to flavour the joint - grow your own herbs, and buy spices from asian food shops.

PasturesNew

P.S. And if you're a pie/chips type of person .... don't forget the frozen section quite often contains some boxes of pies that are on offer and quite cheap .... then find the cheapest oven chips (based on £/100g) and make yourself a huge pie/chips as a treat.

Other cheap desserts, if you insist on having them, are bread/butter pudding, rice pudding, jam suet pudding/roly poly and similar..... with some good instant custards costing about 24p/packet and you can make up just the amount you need and make one packet serve you 3-4x.

bupster

I'd just throw in pasta bakes - get a giant bag of penne or fusilli, then basically make a bung it with whatever you have to hand. Onions and breadcrumbs and a tin of tomatoes will make something perfectly acceptable if you're skint, if you can make sure there's plenty of salt and pepper and herbs. Add in tuna or bacon, cheese, veg, as your wallet can stretch to it or whatever's in the fridge. Good way of finishing up a couple of weeks' worth of whatever's in the fridge and cupboards.

tiredwithtwins

andygb wrote: »

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;)

I agree, you can buy decent flour - 3kg all#insons strong white bread flour for £2 in asda/morrisons. use the cheapest yeast too, does the same as the dearer one.

i also found that shopping when stuff was reduced in supermarkets helped enormously ...

my budget is way down atm cos of oh not working ... well, he does some work but is having trouble getting wages for what hes done ... but im coping cos i can shop at a place called the company shop at tankersly in sheffield - theres 50%+ off everying ... often 70-90% off if its at its use by date. but it goes in the freezer and saves me a small fortune, so if you live near anywhere similar its worth checking it out.

good luck - stick with this forum and you will save yourself a small fortune based on advice and help from all the lovely posters on here :T