Shopping and cooking for one... over budget

One_broke_Girl

I'm sure there are plenty of post like this out there. But 2 months ago, at 24 I've finally moved out of the Grandparents house!! Yay go me!!

However.... I'm struggling with my food shopping. I'm spending way to much for one person and finding a lot of it is going off before I get to eat it.

I try to eat healthy so a lot of it is fresh fruit and veg. Last week I think I spent nearly £60. and I just don't know how!

I live with 2 other girls so freezer space is tight. I have managed to squeeze in some of the reduced meat and a couple of left over meals.

If anyone has any suggestion of cheap healthy meals or suggestions on getting my food bill down I'd very much appreciate it.

The kind of things I've been buying in habit are:

Bananas
Blueberries
Oranges/Kiwi
Almond milk - on offer at Tesco atm for a £1!!
Nuts
Raisins
Onions
Cherry tomatoes
Carrots ( I buy the big Tesco Value bag (90p or so) so they last me a couple of weeks)
Peppers
Another Vegetable
Some kind of Meat.. either reduced or on offer
Cottage cheese
Sweet treat - on offer
Pitta bread or Warburton thins
I've been buying jars of sauces too when I've seen them on offer.

I still don't find I have anything in to make for dinners, Lunch is the Cottage cheese salad. and again I feel a lot of it goes to waste.

I can be quite busy in the evenings, As I try to go for runs and boot camps, so I want to be making something quick when its getting toward 7/8 o'clock. Mostly end up having left overs or scrambled egg

Today I spent just over £50 - but I have a friend coming tomorrow so Wine so involved a a few Easter treats for friends.. A reduced fish pie mix and reduced salmon to go in the freezer..

I was looking today at the breaded Chicken Steaks on the Fresh Meat Isle. I think there were 6 in there and only about £3/£4. I might get theses next time and shove them in the freezer?

PasturesNew

Each time you want to buy something, look and see if there's something else that you could have that's cheaper. Don't buy "what you want", buy stuff that's cheaper than what you want.

e.g. those thins .... expensive way to buy bread.
e.g. some of those fruits are pricey ones, substitute for something that's cheaper

Question and query the price of everything......

Set "meal price limits" to aim for ..... and be tight with your money.

Waste nothing - if you buy it you HAVE to eat it ALL.

One_broke_Girl

PasturesNew wrote: »

Each time you want to buy something, look and see if there's something else that you could have that's cheaper. Don't buy "what you want", buy stuff that's cheaper than what you want.

e.g. those thins .... expensive way to buy bread.
e.g. some of those fruits are pricey ones, substitute for something that's cheaper

Question and query the price of everything......

Set "meal price limits" to aim for ..... and be tight with your money.

Waste nothing - if you buy it you HAVE to eat it ALL.

The thing with the Thins is they are only 100cal each and less carbs than standard bread.. I wouldn't eat a whole loaf a week and I doubt I could fit it in the freezer.. I am thinking about cutting back the Blueberries and putting raisins in my porridge instead.

Principia_2

Several possible options that might be useful,


1. Meal plan and only buy the food you need to keep to your meal plan.


2. Don't meal plan but always eat the first thing that will be out of use by date and don't buy more than a few days worth of fresh stuff. Be aware of the difference between use by and best before dates. http://www.food.gov.uk/northern-ireland/nutritionni/niyoungpeople/survivorform/bestreadbefore/usebyandbestbefore#.U1FIe-kU_IU


3. You can squeeze more into the freezer by freezing in plastic tubs, once frozen take now frozen food out of the box and into a sealable bag and then when you want to unfreeze take out the block of food from the bag and put it back in the original box - defrost in fridge overnight.

PasturesNew

One_broke_Girl wrote: »

The thing with the Thins is they are only 100cal each and less carbs than standard bread.. I wouldn't eat a whole loaf a week and I doubt I could fit it in the freezer.. I am thinking about cutting back the Blueberries and putting raisins in my porridge instead.

I can't help with strange diets.... I'm a pie/chips/mushy peas person

If you just wanted to look at calories then I'd say look at the small pitta breads (22p in Tesco for example) ... or look at Lidl's muffins (65p for 6) which can be cut in half and toasted.

But, take your raisins - maybe you can get them cheaper elsewhere....

Just question everything and compare all prices.

One_broke_Girl

PasturesNew wrote: »

I can't help with strange diets.... I'm a pie/chips/mushy peas person

If you just wanted to look at calories then I'd say look at the small pitta breads (22p in Tesco for example) ... or look at Lidl's muffins (65p for 6) which can be cut in half and toasted.

But, take your raisins - maybe you can get them cheaper elsewhere....

Just question everything and compare all prices.

I wish I was pie person.. make things so much easier.. £3.50 for 'big' pie in Tesco that would probably get 4 servings from but just can't bring myself to that all the time!! haha

PasturesNew

One_broke_Girl wrote: »

I wish I was pie person.. make things so much easier.. £3.50 for 'big' pie in Tesco that would probably get 4 servings from but just can't bring myself to that all the time!! haha

Yes, buying big pies is better value. I don't have a freezer and yearn for buying a big pie

I'll give you an example of how I do my pie/chips/mushy peas on a budget..... I love Pukka pies and real chip shop chips and real mushy peas. If I go into a chippy that'll set me back about £2.50+ for the pie, £1.50+ for the chips and £1 for the mushy peas. £5 in total, for one meal is far too much!

Instead, as they now sell them in supermarkets I wait until I can buy one Pukka pie for £1 (not 2 for £2) .... then I'll get that and hotfoot it down to Lidl to get their 1Kg of oven chips for 67p (4 good portions). Until that time I'll also try to find Harry Ramsdens mushy peas at good price (3 for £1) and stock up.

So, when I finally find a £1 Pukka pie, I'll have the chips and half a tin of mushy peas. I'll then have pie/chips/peas (£1 + £0.17 + £0.16 = £1.33) the first day; chips/peas the second day (£0.50) and on the 3rd/4th days I'll have chips with half a can of reduced fat/salt beans (£1.45 for 4) so £0.17 + £0.18= £0.35 each day.

Four meals = £1, £0.67, £0.33, £0.35 = £2.35 and I've had my "fix".

It can be just 3x a year I do this, as I have to wait until the pie is my "buying point price".

I make chilli con carne - only I usually leave out the peppers because, while they're nice to have in it, they do add a huge amount to the dish in cost. So query every ingredient and see what's making each meal go "out of budget".

It's not easy. You do have to go without .... but £60/week on food's far too high.

geordie_joe

One_broke_Girl wrote: »

However.... I'm struggling with my food shopping. I'm spending way to much for one person and finding a lot of it is going off before I get to eat it.

You are not spending too much, you are buying too much.

If you buy food and it goes off before you eat it, you bought food you didn't need.

Try buying less in future, you will waste less and save money too.

Just look at what got thrown out last week and don't buy it this week.

geordie_joe

PasturesNew wrote: »

Waste nothing - if you buy it you HAVE to eat it ALL.

Yep, not only will you save money, you'll get fat too.

PasturesNew

geordie_joe wrote: »

Yep, not only will you save money, you'll get fat too.

I hadn't thought of that.... I meant to buy sensible quantities and eat it all ... not buy everything you like the look of and eat it all

flubberyzing

I also live alone (I'm almost 30) and had the same issues when I first moved into my own place at 23.


Fruit: Do some research about what is in-season at the mo. Berries aren't in season for a few more months yet.
The sandwich thins: I eat them as well! So I can't criticise on that one! Means I get the perfect portion and there's no wastage. Like you, I simply can't eat a whole loaf in a week.
The freezer: Learn to utilise the space you have. For instance, anything packaged you get, you might find that you can find more space if you get the item out of its packet and split it into portion-sized amounts, wrapped in clingfilm. I do this with sausages.