1 weeks food shop for 1 adult

FairyPrincessk

Hi RainbowDreamer,

This is one of my favourite economical, quick and tasty recipes. It is also pretty healthy. The original is here:http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/333614/red-lentil-chickpea-and-chilli-soup

But below I'm going to make a few suggestions for how you can make it more economical, particularly if you don't have a vast storecupboard. This soup is very filling because it is made with lentils. Adding in the yoghurt does increase the cost, but it also adds a bit of fat and a bit more protein which can help make it more satisfying. If you buy the yoghurt for your breakfasts then you shouldn't have any waste. Both the soup and the Yoghurt should be ok in a fridge that is on the blink if your careful with your handling and preparation and try to keep them fairly cool.


Ingredients
2 tsp cumin seeds (if you don't have these, then cumin powder is fine as well).
large pinch chilli flakes
1 tbsp olive oil
1 red onion , chopped (use a white or whatever is cheapest)
140g red split lentils
850ml vegetable stock or water
400g can tomatoes , whole or chopped
200g carton chickpeas or ½ a can, rinsed and drained (you can freeze leftovers, or you can leave these out all together. You can also make this soup as a double batch if you want to use a whole tin--or just chuck in the whole tin to bulk it out).
small bunch coriander , roughly chopped (save a few leaves, to serve)
4 tbsp 0% Greek yogurt , to serve

For the seasoning and the lentils, OH and I find it is much cheaper to get these at an ethnic supermarket. Both the Chinese supermarket and the halal supermarket near us have these things far cheaper than anywhere else. If you don't have olive oil, any sort of fat will do for this--butter, margarine, veg oil---none of those will be quite as healthy but there is so little in this recipe that it won't matter.

OH and I like a lot of spice, so we put about double or triple the Chili flakes, but I'd go easy at first and then add in later---I also find this soup tastes far better the next day, but it also tends to get a tiny bit spicier!

Hope this helps

FairyPrincessk

p.s. last time I checked, the standard rule on leftovers was that most things can be safely stored for about 3 days if kept at the proper temperature. A lot of things can be stored for up to a week but it is best to double check if you're uncertain. A lot of it depends on how careful you are with cross contamination and how cold your fridge is. One way to make things last longer is to make sure you always use a clean utensil to dish out of/slice off of your main dish. Keep whatever it is wrapped or covered tightly, and only reheat things once--that means if you make a big pot of soup, then dish out only what you need for each meal and heat that--don't reheat the same big pot over and over again (sorry if you know this already! I don't want to patronize, just give suggestions!)

quintwins

I just wanted to add my stew only costs £2 and does all 5 of us a dinner with lots of leftovers so easily get 5 adult meals from it, that may be because i use beef shin and a sack of spuds tho.

However if your fridge is playing up i wouldn't go down the batchcooking route, i would be stocking up on pasta a tins, normally i'd suggest making your own pasta sauce but with no where to store it (altho if you had jars you could add it to jars to last a few weeks) i'd suggest you buy the cheapest jars you can find, bulk out with mushrooms, tinned sweetcorn and peppers.

i would suggest

breakfast
porridge/toast and fruit (if you fridge is playing up you could get uht milk but i hate it on cereal)

lunch- sandwichs, value noodles (with added soy sauce peas and sweetcorn these are nice i never use the wee packets of flavoring) pasta, pittas filled with eggs or tuna

dinners- pasta, egg/beans/cheese on toast, pita pizza, stew (my granny makes stew with tinned taties, tinned carrots tinned peas and a wee bit of mince she freezes when she had abit left, not for me i prefer proper stew but still cheap)

I know thats not the healthiest approach however it is the safest in terms of your health and with lost of veg and fruit throw in won't be too bad.

Can you get a bugetting/crisis loan for a new fridge?

Boodle

Hi RainbowDreamer,

You could check out the Living Below the Line Challenge threads (also here) where a few people posted their lists of 5 days at £5 and a couple for the whole week on £7. There might be some inspiration on there.

BitterAndTwisted

I'm in the same position as the OP: freezer doesn't work and the fridge is working overtime and icing up at the back. At least this means the fridge is super-cold. I just bulk-cook enough for two or three meals at a time a couple of times a week. Mind you, I'm a veggie so I think that gives me rather more options rather than fewer on meal ideas. I'm constantly scouring the reduced-sections in my local supermarkets and do my meal-plans from what I can pick up. If there's nothing to be had, I can always make something from my store-cupboard which is groaning with stuff and I don't mind eating the same thing a couple of days in a row.

I'd also be having a look on Freecycle but I'm doubly handicapped by not having access to any transport as well as being totally skinto.

timbstoke

Also, any meat based sauce can be 'bulked out' with veg. My bolognese, for example, is probably about 60-70% veg at the moment. The difference is not using jars of ragu etc - instead used finely chopped veg and a tin of chopped tomatoes.

Of course, this can be a false economy if you don't have any use for the rest of the veg.

Ilona

I did an experiment to get my food bill down as low as I could. Over a 24 week period I worked out the average weekly spend, it was just over £11. It was tough, and you have to be very disciplined, but it can be done. I don't eat meat so I suggest you go veggie, no one needs to eat meat, I have lived without it for 25 years.

I shop in the big supermarket between 7 and 9 in the evenings, and buy up anything that is marked down to pennies, except junk and stodge. I buy loads of vegetables and have them steamed almost every night. Last night I did a sort of spagbol with two onions, one courgette, half a tin of chopped tomatoes, and spices. Most of my meals come out at about 50p.

I buy out of date food at a fraction of the price. I shop in lots of different places, cherry pick if you like, the cheapest from all the shops. I don't take a shopping list, I buy only what is cheap.
Ilona