How can I eat Healthier/Cheaper for 1

sreuk

Hi all, new to forums be gentle
I am currently on jsa with the bedroom tax and new council tax allowance looming a month before a dro is up so as you can imagine times are very tough. I am looking for ideas for shopping / meals I currently can realy only get to an aldi near me as the other store is sainsburys (dont have a gold card lol) i'm looking for more varied healthy meals than I have been eating that I can make in bulk and freeze and plan a fortnightly shop thats dead cheap I understand i'll need certain staple things in the cupboards and any help on that would be great (I get the pasta bit lol)

many thanks in advance for the advice

TheThriftyScrumpers

http://agirlcalledjack.com/category/10-a-week-food-shop-recipes/

Have a look at ths blog. The recipes look fab. Good luck

Lettuce_Wraith

We are also about to be hit with the bedroom tax hammer, even though the spare bedroom is about the size of a hamster cage. ;( - I feel your pain.

You will find many recipes in this forum if you lurk around a little, but one thing I would say is buy or borrow a vegetarian cookbook and substitute meat into recipes when you feel its necessary. Meat protien is expensive and a decent vegi cookbook will provide a means to avoid that and still provide a balanced diet.

sreuk

thanks for replies loved some of thriftys links (freezing ok ??) and ty wraith i probably dont get enough proper protien with processed crap i am eating will check on that....

speedfreek1000

The basics for me is a switch from potatoes to rice, couscous and pasta.

I bought a 10kg sack of brown organic basmati £21 delivered off Amazon.

You can get white for about £10 if lucky. Research the quality 1st as rubbish rice is rubbish!

Couscous is cheap and cheerful as well.

Both are just under a standard tea cup (not coffee mug) dry per portion. There's a lot of tea cups in a 10 kg sack of rice.

You can also flavour both with herbs and spices when making so offer quite a bit of variation.

I also stock up on dry brown pasta when it's on offer.

Then all you need is meat n veg.

Tonights tea will be grilled pork chop with couscous flavoured with olive oil, pork fat from the chop, a sweet pepper (grilled with the chop), raw onion/cucumber and a large squeeze of lemon. May be a bit of parsley or mint chucked in for good measure.

I like no fuss quick n tasty meals and all that will be prepped and ready in the time it takes the chop to cook.

marmiterulesok

Have a look at www.cheap-family-recipes.org.uk

She has some great ideas,even for singletons.

I am a great fan of porridge for breakfast,even supper sometimes.
It's cheap,nutritious,easy to make and I like it!.

I also shop a lot in my local Indian/ethnic corner shop-great prices for rice and big bags of various spices,dried beans and pulses,veg, etc.For example I have just made a big pot of black-eyed bean and mushroom curry which cost next to nothing.This will do me 12 meals,along with basmati rice.

I also make my own bread,which definitely costs less than buying it.

Foodstuffs like tahini spread on bread (crushed,pureed sesame seeds) are very nutritious and quite cheap to buy.They don't tend to have added sugars and salt like peanut butter.

Do you have lots of freezer space?

You can make a HM bolognese sauce very easily:

-a tin of chopped tomatoes
-garlic
-veg oil/olive oil
-bay leaf
-1/2 tsp salt
-1 tsp sugar
-mixed herbs

Bring to the boil and gently simmer until desired consistency.Serve chunky or blend if prefered.

You can add mushrooms or chopped veg,red split lentils/soya mince/porridge oats to bulk it out.The lentils (which will disintegrate) and soya mince will add protein).You could make a big pot and freeze portions.

Much nicer than any bolognese/pasta sauce out of a tin,I can assure you!

Lizling

I think the dried chickpeas, lentils or beans part is crucial. They're a very cheap, very healthy source of protein, which will be important if you can't buy much meat. Tinned are good too but a bit more expensive.

You can use them to make loads of different curries, falafels or burgers, put them in spicy wraps, make spreads and dips, or to stretch out things like spag bol or chilli.

I hope your Aldi dose a better selection of those than my local Lidl does! Like Marmite above, I rely on the Indian shops.

Build up a small selection of spices too, if you can and haven't already. They make most cheap meals taste a lot more interesting.

Incidentally, I made the falafels from AGirlCalledJack's blog tonight (adapted slightly for the odds and ends lurking in my fridge.) Yum!