£8.50 for 2 weeks food

skidia

I'v recently moved into a place of my own and really need to get on top of my spending. Starting with food, starting today, starting here.

I am attempting to last to August 6th using only the money in my wallet (£8.50) and the food in my cupboards/freezer/fridge.

This is just feeding me, and I will spend a weekend away with family so that's 2 days covered, but I will need breakfast, lunch and dinner. My flatmate buys milk to share out of the house bills kitty, as well cleaning products.

I do have a fair bit in store though, and some bits in the garden. I like cooking, and have a well furnished kitchen; stove, oven, slow cooker, microwave etc. Nearest supermarket is small Waitrose, but have all main ones nearby or near work; S'bury's, Asda, Te$co, Aldi, L1dl, Iceland, Farmf00ds.

Any help with meal plans and recipes appreciated. I'm new to this, and need all the help I can get.

Below is my inventory

Fridge:
Greek yoghurt 200ml
Mozzarella (2 chunks)
Cooked red cabbage (needs eating)
1/4 manky white cabbage
Medium tomato
Milk
Lime juice
Mayonnaise medium jar
Eggs x 4

Small watermelon
2 gala melons
(both melons a bit overripe- free from a market)

Cupboard:
End of some home-made bread

Beef consomme -tin 400g
Chopped tomatoes 400g (2)
Tuna chunks tin 139g

Udon noodle packet (3)
Pasta shells 250g
Spaghetti 300g
Tagliatelle 250g
Rice 500g
Bulgar wheat 1/2 pack 250g
Popcorn maize 400g

Onions (3)
Garlic - 1 head
Shallots (5)

Corn meal 250g
Plain flour 500g

Soft brown sugar 400g
Desiccated coconut 75g
Flaked almonds 75g
Cashew nuts 45g

Quaker porridge oats sachets (10)
Peanut butter 125g
Thick cut marmalade 450g

Red wine vinegar 10ml
Soy sauce 10ml
Sriracha chilli sauce
Balsamic vinegar 200ml
Worcestershire sauce
Wholegrain mustard 225g
Vegetable bouillon
Beef stock -knorr gravy pot
Yeast - easy bake (4)

Olive oil 125ml
Olive oil spray 150ml
Ale and onion sauce packet 200g
Stir fry sauce packet- oyster and spring onion 120g (1)

Freezer:
Chicken stock, homemade, frozen 150g
Sliced leeks 750g
Pak choi x 2
Frozen peas 150g
Summer fruits 450g
Pollock fillet (3)
Raw prawns 125g
Ready meal sweet chilli chicken and rice

Garden:
Lamb's lettuce - 8 handfuls
Rocket- 5 handfuls ready in a week
Mint
Rosemary
Courgettes - 6 x finger length

Green tomatoes- ready in ????

RAS

Lunch is going to be the biggest challenge; I suggest you think pasta salads so a jar of basics mayonnaise would be a good buy. Use the garden produce to add a little greenery to the meal.

You have stacks of carbs so there is enough to fill you, but are rather light on protein. having said that, you will not fade away for the lack of protein over this timeframe.

I suggest that the yellow sticker stands in your local supermarkets deserve a little attention on the way home. Look for veggies and protein.

skidia wrote: »

Fridge:
Greek yoghurt 200ml
Mozzarella (2 chunks) - so you can add half a chunk to four pasta meals.
Cooked red cabbage (needs eating)
Medium tomato - save this for salads.
Milk
Lime juice

Cupboard:
Flat H/M bread 200g

Beef consomme -tin 400g
Chopped tomatoes 400g (2) - make one into a basic pasta sauce with some of the frozen leeks and a garlic clove. That should give you enough to lightly dress four pasta meals with some olive oil. Freeze. Add grilled courgette to one or two portions when you make the meal.

Tuna chunks tin 139g - keep this to add to the pasta salads.

Udon noodle packet (3) (is that three portions?) with third/half the oyster sauce (refridgerate the rest) and onion/shallot, 25g prawns and peas or pakchoi.

Pasta shells 250g - keep these for pasta salad lunches with the tuna, mayo, grilled courgettes, cooked peas, a lttle chopped mint added at the last minute?

Spaghetti 300g - 5 portions with tomato sauce, a bit of mozzarella add veggies as you want. Or basically "blanco" with olive oil, garlic and fried bread crumbs. Use the fresh tomato to make a side salad one day.

Tagliatelle 250g - 4 portions as above.

Rice 500g - "fried" rice using some stock plus the veggies and the rest of the prawns. Make a white sauce, having poched a polllock fillet in the milk, add the flaked fish and veggies and eat with rice. Also consider rice salads.

Bulgar wheat 1/2 pack 250g - another lunch time salad option?
Popcorn maize 400g - snacks for work and evenings?

Onions (3)
Garlic - 1 head
Shallots (5)

Corn meal 250g - make polenta, allow to go cold and then bake with tomato sauce and cheese.

Plain flour 500g

Soft brown sugar 400g
Desiccated coconut 75g
Flaked almonds 75g
Cashew nuts 45g

Quaker porridge oats sachets (10) - brekkie wi9th some ofn the summer fruits on top?
Peanut butter 125g
Thick cut marmalade 450g

Red wine vinegar 10ml
Soy sauce 10ml
Sriracha chilli sauce
Balsamic vinegar 200ml
Worcestershire sauce
Wholegrain mustard 225g
Vegetable bouillon
Beef stock -knorr gravy pot
Yeast - easy bake (4)

Olive oil 125ml
Olive oil spray 150ml
Ale and onion sauce packet 200g
Stir fry sauce packet- oyster and spring onion 120g (1)

Freezer:
Chicken stock, homemade, frozen 150g
Frozen cut leeks 750g
Frozen Pak choi x 2
Frozen peas 150g
Frozen summer fruits 450g
Pollock fillet (3)
Raw prawns 125g
Ready meal sweet chilli chicken and rice

Garden:
Lamb's lettuce - 8 handfuls
Rocket- 5 handfuls ready in a week
Mint
Rosemary
Courgettes - 6 x finger length

Pity you do not have any ordinary porridge oats as you could make some tasty flapjacks with your nuts and peanut butter.

Eggs would allow you to make pancakes or Scotch pancakes. Eat with youghurt, sumer fruits or even a little marmalade

I would buy another tin of tuna or other strongly flavoured fish and use that for the pasta salad lunches.

RHYSDAD

Eat those melons up first!

RAS

OK - you have added a few things.

Mayo - good for lunch

Eggs - pancakes as above. Use two to make a basic cake recipe, using the same weight of flour sugar and oil. Add coconut or nuts. Or make pastry with one and make a small quiche (with chopped leek or onion or even white sauce and well stewed onions (Tarte Alsace)) and some little tarts with marmalade and nut filling?

Melon - pudding but also nice added to a salad and tossed in french dressing.

Watermelon is also great in salads.

Manky cabbage make a stir fry look a priority.

Butterfly_Brain

skidia wrote: »

I'v recently moved into a place of my own and really need to get on top of my spending. Starting with food, starting today, starting here.

I am attempting to last to August 6th using only the money in my wallet (£8.50) and the food in my cupboards/freezer/fridge.

This is just feeding me, and I will spend a weekend away with family so that's 2 days covered, but I will need breakfast, lunch and dinner. My flatmate buys milk to share out of the house bills kitty, as well cleaning products.

I do have a fair bit in store though, and some bits in the garden. I like cooking, and have a well furnished kitchen; stove, oven, slow cooker, microwave etc. Nearest supermarket is small Waitrose, but have all main ones nearby or near work; S'bury's, Asda, Te$co, Aldi, L1dl, Iceland, Farmf00ds.

Any help with meal plans and recipes appreciated. I'm new to this, and need all the help I can get.

Below is my inventory

Fridge:
Greek yoghurt 200ml
Mozzarella (2 chunks)
Cooked red cabbage (needs eating)
1/4 manky white cabbage........... Can be frozen
Medium tomato
Milk
Lime juice
Mayonnaise medium jar
Eggs x 4

Small watermelon
2 gala melons
(both melons a bit overripe- free from a market)....


Cupboard:
End of some home-made bread

Beef consomme -tin 400g
Chopped tomatoes 400g (2)
Tuna chunks tin 139g

Udon noodle packet (3)
Pasta shells 250g
Spaghetti 300g
Tagliatelle 250g
Rice 500g
Bulgar wheat 1/2 pack 250g
Popcorn maize 400g

Onions (3)
Garlic - 1 head
Shallots (5)

Corn meal 250g
Plain flour 500g

Soft brown sugar 400g
Desiccated coconut 75g
Flaked almonds 75g
Cashew nuts 45g

Quaker porridge oats sachets (10) ............Breakfasts
Peanut butter 125g
Thick cut marmalade 450g

Red wine vinegar 10ml
Soy sauce 10ml
Sriracha chilli sauce
Balsamic vinegar 200ml
Worcestershire sauce
Wholegrain mustard 225g
Vegetable bouillon
Beef stock -knorr gravy pot
Yeast - easy bake (4)

Olive oil 125ml
Olive oil spray 150ml
Ale and onion sauce packet 200g
Stir fry sauce packet- oyster and spring onion 120g (1)

Freezer:
Chicken stock, homemade, frozen 150g
Sliced leeks 750g
Pak choi x 2
Frozen peas 150g
Summer fruits 450g
Pollock fillet (3)
Raw prawns 125g
Ready meal sweet chilli chicken and rice

Garden:
Lamb's lettuce - 8 handfuls
Rocket- 5 handfuls ready in a week
Mint
Rosemary
Courgettes - 6 x finger length

Green tomatoes- ready in ????

Have a look at the £7 a week thread it has lots of cheap and easy ideas on a very tight budget.
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4084527

joedenise

Thanks BB, that's the thread I mentioned to the OP when I suggested a new thread would be appropriate. The other one I mentioned was the £20 for a month as there were some good ideas in that as well.

Denise

ash28

I would go something like this.

Shopping list
Tesco everyday value wholemeal bread - 47p
4 loose carrots - 32p
2.5kg everyday value white potatoes - £1.18
Tesco counter Laurels Farm Red Leicester 200gms - 120p
everyday value soft cheese with garlic and herbs - 60p
everyday value pork sausages - 65p
Tesco Houmous - £1
Everyday value sweetcorn - 32p
Everyday value tomato puree - 35p
Total £6.09


Use 350gms of your flour, some olive oil, yeast etc and make a batch of pizza dough - use half of the dough for a pizza and the other half to make pitta bread....just let the dough prove and them shape into rounds about the size of a saucer...then put them on a tray and put in the oven (preheated to 225) and before you do put some boiling water in a meat time and put in the bottom of the oven. They only take 3 or so minutes to cook and will puff up....don't let them go golden brown or they will be hard.

Home made pizza - - I make the dough in a bread maker so I'm not sure of weight of ingredients to make it by hand - but their are plenty of recipes for dough.
The topping
Put a little oil in a pan, add half a tube of tomato puree, pinch salt, a little sugar, chopped up garlic clove and a little water - heat for a minute or 2.
Spread the tomato sauce on the base and top with thinly sliced tomatoes and mozzarella.

Fish Pie
Pollock fillet
Leeks
Peas
flour
Cheese
Potatoes about 300gms

Peel boil and mash potatoes, poach fish in a llttle milk, remove from milk and flake
Use the milk and extra, with flour and butter or marg to make a white sauce.
Put 75gms cheese into the sauce - you can bulk up the pie by adding some leeks and a few peas and may be a chopped hard boiled egg.Top the filling with the mashed potato and sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top - then grill.

Stir Fry
Stir fry mix, prawns, a couple of shallots, pak choy, sliced carrot, sliced white cabbage, udon noodles

Bangers and mash
Use 2 of the sausages from the pack....
Red cabbage

Pork meatballs
Skin 2 of the sausages from the pack and form into 6 or 8 small balls
chop and fry half an onion and one clove of garlic for a few minutes, add sausage meatballs and fry until browned, add mixed herbs (if you have them) and half a tin of tomatoes, 100ml of vegetable stock and 1 tablespoon of tomato puree, simmer until the sauce thickens a bit. Cook some spaghetti while the sauce is simmering.

Tuna Pasta Bake
1 tin tuna
75g of cheddar cheese, grated
150g of tinned sweetcorn, drained
100gm pasta shapes
150ml of milk
1 tbsp plain white flour
1 tsp marg/butter

Cook the pasta, make a whte sauce with the marg, flour and milk
drain the pasta
add tuna, sweetcorn and 50gm cheese to the sauce...stir
Sprinkle the rest of the cheese on top and bake in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes or until the top is golden brown.

Fish and Chips and peas... pollock fillet

Creamy pasta
Cook pasta, drain and melt a couple of spoons of soft garlic and herb cheese over it.

1 ready meal

Spanish Omelet
Diced boiled potatoes
half a chopped onion
2 or 3 eggs
salt an pepper

Put the potatoes and onions, salt and pepper into a pan with a little oil and cook until the onions are soft - whisk the eggs in a bowl an pour over the potato an onion mixture.
Cook until the mixture is brown on the bottom - top will still be soft...turn an cook the other side....slide onto a plate and slice like a pizza. Serve with salad greens from your garden....

Lunches would be home made pitta, houmous, and homemade coleslaw - white cabbage/onion/carrot/mayonnaise an salad leaves from the garden.

Sausage sandwiches made with the 2 of the remaining sausages and slices of melon after.

Pitta or pasta served with the remaining garlic and herb cream cheese.

Pasta with olive oil an black pepper

Savoury rice made with the 2 remaining sausages an onion and half a tin of tomatoes.

Peanut butter sandwiches then greek yoghurt with some frozen summer fruits

There would probably be a couple of slices of pizza left - it's large and some Spanish omelet....you can make that go further by adding a another potato and some more onion.

Breakfasts - porridge, toast with marmalade or peanut butter.

Green tomatoes are quite nice sliced, dipped in flour and fried......put the flour in a poly bag - drop in a few slices of tomato and give the bag a shake.....

Butterfly_Brain

You could make a simple tomato sauce for pasta with a tin of tomatoes, olive oil, an onion, a tsp sugar, a couple of cloves of garlic and basil (you could use any herbs that you have if you don't have any basil.)

Fry the onions and garlic in olive oil add the tomatoes and basil and simmer gently until reduced down usually about half an hour with one tin of tomatoes.

Tomato and Mozzarella pasta shells

Add some cubed mozzarella to the sauce then pour sauce over cooked shells very cheap and very tasty, lovely with the stringy mozzarella.

Tuna Chilli

Add chilli sauce to taste to the basic tomato sauce then fold in any vegetables that you have, followed by the tuna chunks warm through gently and serve with rice
This is lovely with prawns instead of tuna

Don't forget that you can use LG rice in a rice pudding cook on the hob in water as normal, then add milk and put in an ovenproof dish, dot with butter and sprinkle with nutmeg pop in the oven at 160c until the milk has been absorbed

skidia

RHYSDAD wrote: »

Eat those melons up first!

Trouble is I'm not a huge fan of Gala melon; I just picked it up as it was going free. Any creative melon recipes welcome!

RAS wrote: »

OK - you have added a few things.

Yes, I had a look in the second fridge (house-share, hence 2 fridges) and realised I had some things in there

RAS wrote: »

Eggs - ... make pastry with one and make a small quiche (with chopped leek or onion or even white sauce and well stewed onions (Tarte Alsace)) and some little tarts with marmalade and nut filling?

Ooh that's a good idea. Maybe I'll get some bacon with my pennies.

RAS wrote: »

Melon - pudding but also nice added to a salad and tossed in french dressing.
Watermelon is also great in salads.

Yay for creative melon ideas!

Butterfly_Brain wrote: »

Have a look at the £7 a week thread it has lots of cheap and easy ideas on a very tight budget.

Excellent, thanks. I did search but couldn't spot it.

Butterfly_Brain

skidia just press the link in blue and it will take you straight there

skidia

ash28 wrote: »

I would go something like this.

Shopping list
Tesco everyday value wholemeal bread - 47p
4 loose carrots - 32p
2.5kg everyday value white potatoes - £1.18
Tesco counter Laurels Farm Red Leicester 200gms - 120p
everyday value soft cheese with garlic and herbs - 60p
everyday value pork sausages - 65p
Tesco Houmous - £1
Everyday value sweetcorn - 32p
Everyday value tomato puree - 35p
Total £6.09

Thanks, a great start point. I think potatoes, carrots and sausages are definitely on today's list.

ash28 wrote: »

Fish Pie
Pollock fillet
Leeks
Peas
flour
Cheese
Potatoes about 300gms

Peel boil and mash potatoes, poach fish in a llttle milk, remove from milk and flake
Use the milk and extra, with flour and butter or marg to make a white sauce.
Put 75gms cheese into the sauce - you can bulk up the pie by adding some leeks and a few peas and may be a chopped hard boiled egg.Top the filling with the mashed potato and sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top - then grill.

Thanks for the recipe. I did a fillet in white sauce the other week and added a bit of stock powder for flavour, which worked well. I might put a prawn or two in instead of the egg, as I'm not a fan of eating egg as itself.

ash28 wrote: »

Bangers and mash
Use 2 of the sausages from the pack....
Red cabbage

I think this will be tonight's dinner!

ash28 wrote: »

Spanish Omelet
Diced boiled potatoes
half a chopped onion
2 or 3 eggs
salt an pepper

Put the potatoes and onions, salt and pepper into a pan with a little oil and cook until the onions are soft - whisk the eggs in a bowl an pour over the potato an onion mixture.
Cook until the mixture is brown on the bottom - top will still be soft...turn an cook the other side....slide onto a plate and slice like a pizza. Serve with salad greens from your garden....

I really really wish I liked Spanish Omelette more than I do; such a great dish, ruined for me by being able to taste the egg.

ash28 wrote: »

Lunches would be home made pitta, houmous, and homemade coleslaw - white cabbage/onion/carrot/mayonnaise an salad leaves from the garden.

Ooh might make coleslaw tonight for tomorrow lunch

ash28 wrote: »

Green tomatoes are quite nice sliced, dipped in flour and fried......put the flour in a poly bag - drop in a few slices of tomato and give the bag a shake.....

Great tip thanks, don't know when these are every going to get around to ripening! I picked the flowers off the courgettes the other day and deep fried them stuffed with mozzarella.

Thanks so much!