Single person, London, living on £80.00 per month - possible?

valk_scot

Do your slow cooker cooking at the weekend and freeze in portions.

Can you perhaps visit a market at the weekend to stock up on fresh veg and fruit?

If you only use small mounts of bread and milk then there's not much point buying cheaper versions from the ones you really like, the savings will be minimal.

Look at things that you do use a lot and work out which ones you can make yourself more cheaply. You mention ready made pasta sauces for example? A big pan of base recipe tomato sauce will cost a fraction of the price of jars, freeze in portions and you can add different flavourings to it, like mushrooms, minced meat, roasted veg, chilli, cheese...

Toonie

gettingready wrote: »

I live in East London, between Wanstead Park and Wansted Flats - beautiful area, green quiet and lovely but - no shops.....within walking distance to pop in and get some bargains.

Question - where would be the best place to get some containers for freezing things? I am thinking the few take away size like boxes from a 99p shop?

You're right about Wanstead Park area the lack of shops is dreadful (I work nearby) and like you I don't drive. Luckily I do live near a market, so that makes it easier.

Try checking out some of the ethnic food shops in Manor Park, some of them have great deals on things like tinned tomatoes/herbs/pasta etc. Also if you can, one weekend check out Walthamstow market as you could pick up a lot of fruit and vegetables and do a batch cook and freeze (obviously need to make sure there is room in the freezer for that).

The 99p store in Leytonstone is probably your best bet for good sized containers, they are fairly robust too.

Good luck with it all, I know how tough it is

gettingready

Thanks a lot.

99 in Leytonstone is my once a month treat trip

Walthamstow Market - 40 min each way on the W19 bus that turns up whenever it wants. Pity as the market is really good, especially the Turkish shop on the bottom, used to live in Walthamstow few years ago - shopingwise it was just great.

Here - total utter nightmare.

I have to be realistic though - my main shop will have to come from Asda (delivered) but to cut on delivery charges will do it just once per month.

I need a shopping list.... (scratches head). and a meal plan (scratches head even more).

gettingready

Right now I am munching on my last night's creation....

cubed/sliced chicken breast and fried with chopped onion on olive oil (run out of normal oil) mixed with basmati rice

had it last night for dinner and now - not bad

no spices whatsoever, just plain

not keen on stock cubes

love curries or complete oposite - bland food

hmmmm

going to look at the links people kindly posted for me here - too hot to take the dog out yet

thanks again

gettingready

I am gonna have a GOOD look in the cupboards/freezer and post the detailed contents on here later in the evening, for inspiration ....perhaps?

ScarletRaven

Yes that would be a good idea, will be helpful in getting a shopping list and meal plan together if we know what basics you already have

rising_from_the_ashes

Here's one for you GR - I've just made something similar and got 5 portions - however these are very generous portions (doing fat club & the sauce is lower point value than pasta so tend to have loads!:o) so by using a bit more of things it could stretch to 10 decent sized portions and comes out at less than 55p / portion:

• Mr A Pasta sauce 77p http://groceries.asda.com/asda-estore/search/searchcontainer.jsp?trailSize=1&searchString=pasta+sauce&domainName=Products&headerVersion=v1&_requestid=151572
• Mr A SP Mushrooms £1.15 http://groceries.asda.com/asda-estore/search/searchcontainer.jsp?trailSize=1&searchString=mushrooms&domainName=Products&headerVersion=v1&_requestid=151787 (I only used 1/3 box but you could add more to bulk out or leave some for something else & adjust cost)
• Mr A SP Peppers £1.37 http://groceries.asda.com/asda-estore/search/searchcontainer.jsp?trailSize=1&searchString=peppers&domainName=Products&headerVersion=v1&_requestid=151906(I (I used 2 but you could easily stick another one in) cost for 3 = 82p
• Mr A SP tinned tomatoes 31p http://groceries.asda.com/asda-estore/search/searchcontainer.jsp?trailSize=1&searchString=tomatoes&domainName=Products&headerVersion=v1&_requestid=151996 (I used 2 but you could use 4) cost for 4 = £1.24
• Smoked sausage £1.50 (Note: I get mine from Al*di where they're only 99p but used Mr A ones as that's where you'll get your shopping from) http://groceries.asda.com/asda-estore/search/searchcontainer.jsp?trailSize=1&searchString=smoked+sausage&domainName=Products&headerVersion=v1&_requestid=152107
• Total cost = £5.48 or 54.8p each

• I chop everything quite small - it looks more! (and makes fitting it into the containers easier for freezing):
• Pan with small amount of olive oil
• Add chopped smoked sausage & heat through
• Add chopped mushrooms & chopped peppers and allow to soften
• Add tins of chopped tomatoes
• Add jar of pasta sauce
• Simmer for around 25 mins

You can get spicy smoked sausage, add herbs etc to suit your taste and sprinkle a wee bit of cheese on the top!:D HTH

ETA sorry the links only take you to the "main" page for that item .... can't seem to get a direct link to each product

Popperwell

gettingready wrote: »

Thanks

Pasta, brown rice, lentils are fine.

I have a monthly travelcard for work (which I pay for) so getting a bus is not extra cost but time/difficulty carrying heavy stuff. That is why I order online from Asda 99% of the time.

Overnight cooking - brilliant idea. Never though of it. But then - it would be too hot to put in the fridge/freezer in the morning and left outside can get spoilt.. Hmmmm Need to think about this one.

£50 per month for 2 adults and a toodler? Jessssssssssssssssssssss, you will need more than just luck for that but.. fingers crossed

Or perhaps you mean 50 per week for you and your family?

If you don't fill it so it's too heavy...a rucksack can help with some shopping trips and I use a shopping trolley and they can be used on buses...

Slow cooker if you want small portions...and save even more on energy I have just bought a smaller one for under £10. Some meals can be done much quicker than has been suggested. If you don't mind eating later set the SC away when you come in from work, do all the chores etc...and you may be able to have what you cook for supper.

furndire

I don't know if anyone has mentioned in the thread, but how about plugging your slow cooker into a timer, so that it doesn't come on until the time require to cook

Popperwell

furndire wrote: »

I don't know if anyone has mentioned in the thread, but how about plugging your slow cooker into a timer, so that it doesn't come on until the time require to cook

What a great idea!!! Now where is my timer?:)