£20 a week for food - is it possible?

emmasmith7171

For the next month, me and my bf will have to live on about £20 a week for food. I was wondering if anyone has ideas for very very cheap recipes that I could make (all vegetarian please!).

I made a shopping list which came out to £19.7 but that's assuming eating pasta with sauce and frozen pizza for dinners.

Help please? I'm not that good with ideas about cooking stuff so any very cheap recipes would be welcome! Our nearest supermarket is asda.

thank you

Kapoww

I'd try looking for blogs aimed at students etc,

http://www.which.co.uk/money/bank-accounts/guides/going-to-university-guide/student-food-and-cooking/

http://studentrecipes.com/

Things like the above link should prove useful

I'd personally say dishes that contain things like rice, pasta etc would be good, anything on toast is also usually extremely cheap!

Siouxsie32

Hi Emma

Try looking at this website https://www.agirlcalledjack.com She has some fab budget recipies and ideas!

Doom_and_Gloom

It's possible. http://www.cheap-family-recipes.org.uk/planner-option3-month1.html has some good ideas, the prices aren't the same any more but they are still cheap. For dinner the bean curry with rice is a favourite of mine, I sometimes have it with sweetcorn to add some more veg to my day. The pancakes are nice also for breakfast although porridge is cheap also.

Check for items you already have and can use up.

Vegetable fajitas are usually rather cheap to make aswell as filling.
Vegetable stir fry and noodles/rice
Vegetable curry and rice
Vegetable chilli and rice
Home made vegetable pizzas

Is the £20 just for food or does it have to cover cleaning/toiltries etc at all?

krok

if there is a greengrocer near to you stock up with some root veg and buy some chicken pieces from asda.

Then make a healthy cheap stew.

Delicious.

SailorSam

krok wrote: »

and buy some chicken pieces from asda.

Then make a healthy cheap stew.

Delicious.

I didn't know Asda sold vegetarian chicken.

VoucherMan

Definitely worth visiting The Old Style MoneySaving Board.

I think you'll find plenty of ideas there.

redfox

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Kirri

It would be useful to know:
What's in your storecupboard already, ie do you have any dried goods, pulses, flours, spices etc?? or do they have to be included in the budget?
What have you put on your £20 shopping list so far? ie there may be better options people could suggest for you if they know what sort of things you purchase/like.
How much cooking from scratch are you willing to do?

Might be worth also checking the library for some decent veggie cookbooks - the River Cottage Veg one is good for veggie food. Probably cheaper to go for majority of vegan type meals as dairy tends to add the cost.

I'd avoid the frozen pizza, they seem a bit tasteless and expensive for what they are. It's fairly easy to make a pizza base and add a few bits of roasted veg, basil pesto or whatever topping you fancy. A little veg goes a long way on a pizza.

Do you use pulses much already? They are very cheap, especially if you use the dried ones (tinned obviously more expensive). Lots of recipes with chickpeas ie curry cheap to make in a batch with whatever root type veg is cheap, various beans go in all sorts of meals and especially good in a tomato based pasta sauce and puy lentils are lovely (just add a basic dressing of oil, vinegar, mustard, honey etc) and can add in roast veg etc (I sometimes add haloumi but that may be over your budget unless you dice it small and spread it over say 4 meals). Yellow split peas can be simmered for 45-60 mins to make a dip like houmous with added garlic, cumin, oil etc. D&G has already suggested lots of meals I make - abel & cole have a great tortilla recipe on their site for fajitas.

Nikadi

SailorSam wrote: »

I didn't know Asda sold vegetarian chicken.

Asda do a frozen vegetarian 'chicken' style pieces, which is what I assume krok meant?! I prefer quorn ones over asda's ones though, bit rubbery for me, DP liken it to the textured of overcooked chicken.


I second stews and casseroles, love them! I find sweet root veg like squash, sweet potato and parsnips make a great casserole which you can throw a veggie sausage or two into as well

Homemade risotto's can be fairly cheap. Soups too. Leeks are the king of all veg imo, we manage to use them at least once a week and you can throw them into a lot of meals. Potato-based meals are cheap and filling. Do you have any dried pulses? Very cheap if you plan meals in advance with them.

You can bake small cakes and biscuits and put them in the freezer. I make little chocolate 'biscuit' type things with coconut flour (gluten free veggie!) and they freeze brilliantly and are edible straight from the freezer so that covers a sweet snacking urge

ditsykitchen

Hi Emma. We are also a 2 person veggie family. I've put together a meal plan and shopping list which will hopefully help you. This is under the assumption that you have some herbs, spices, salt and oil. If you don't have these, you may have to lay out a little more the first week. However, the shopping list also gives you more pasta than you'll use, which can be used next week

Breakfasts - Porridge & jam
Lunches - Peanut Butter & jam OR cheese sandwiches OR lentil & carrot soup
Dinners:
- Carrot Dhal & Rice
- Mac & Cheese
- Tomato pasta bake
- Mushroom (instead of mince) & kidney bean chilli with potato wedges & rice
- Mixed vegetable & potato curry, rice, naan
- Mushroom spaghetti bolognese
- Veggie Shepherds Pie (lentils, carrot, mushrooms, onion, toms, stock, cheesey mashed potato topping)
Snacks:
- Bananas
- Pears
Other:
- Tea

Shopping List (prices based on Asda's website):
2 loaves smartprice brown bread - 94p
Smartprice peanut butter - 62p
1kg smartprice long grain rice - 40p
500g smartprice penne - 32p
500g smartprice spaghetti - 32p
Smartprice strawberry jam - 29p
3 x smartprice chopped tomatoes - 93p
2 x smartprice plum tomatoes - 62p
Smartprice kidney beans - 27p
1kg smartprice porridge oats - 75p
Whitworths red lentils - £1.28
ASDA veg stock cubes - 78p
Smartprice naan bread - 38p
ASDA best for baking - 55p
4 pints ASDA semi skimmed milk - £1
Smartprice mature cheddar - £2
10 loose bananas - £1.15
3 loose carrots - 29p
Green finger chillies - 60p
Organic garlic (cheaper than non-organic) 3 pack - 70p
1kg smartprice small potatoes - 69p
750g pack smartprice mushrooms - £1.49
2kg smartprice onions - 98p
Smartprice pears - 95p
Frozen smartprice mixed vegetables - 75p
Smartprice plain flour - 45p
Smartprice tea bags - 27p
Total: £19.77

If you'd like recipes/a description of how to cook any of it, let me know.