Food budget £12.50 a week - help please!

skogar

Am I correct in thinking this is £12.50 / week total for both of you. Can you tell us if you have anything at all in stock even if it is something that you think is insignificant, anything is better than nothing. What are your closest shops?

Toonie

I think you may need to have a proper chat with your husband as you'll both need to make a lot of compromises on a budget that small, so eating vegetables and carbs will be necessary and pulses are the cheapest way of getting protein into your diet.

Depending on the shops you have nearby I would suggest shopping around. I make use of a market, ethnic shops, Lidl, Sainsbobs and my local corner shop (great deal on bulk herbs).

fannyadams

a girl called jack
frugal queen
and there used to be a blog called https://www.cheap-family-recipes.org.uk made by weezil of here but it's MIA right now. However, thanks to Gigervamp on another thread who found the archive of it here

hollibobs_2

What about powdered milk?.. Works out at about £1.60 for Five pints of I remember correctly.

Shop at aldi or stores like b and m, they have good offers on

Charlton_King

I keep referring others to this old thread which I remember finding invaluable:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/326929

SailorSam

If you've got a Heron near you their XL frozen fish is a good buy.
I wouldn't be buying tins of soup it's so easy to make with some frozen veg; tinned tomatoes and cheap onions.
You'll save a lot buying bread by making your own flatbreads for sandwiches.

Crisp_£_note

Soworried wrote: »

Which stores do you have near you crisp?

skogar wrote: »

Am I correct in thinking this is £12.50 / week total for both of you. Can you tell us if you have anything at all in stock even if it is something that you think is insignificant, anything is better than nothing. What are your closest shops?

Hi thanks every one forbthe advice help and positive support.

Shops we have are Tesco, Sainsburys, Coop, Lidil and there is an Asda further away and an Aldi I beleive but would need to shop online. By choiceit would be Tesco as at least can get clubcard points along the way, every little helps after all

Tink_04

It might be worth posting a SOA to see if there is any bills you can cut out

Sky TV
Mobile phones
Clubs
Petrol/ car cost
Haircuts

Looking for anything you can sell - i use a local fb selling page

Changing providers for bills, even changing bank account as some give you £££ for switching

Is there any family who can help you out maybe for a short term until you can build back up to basics?

Drop brands for everything you can, shop around, meal plan, batch cooking & freezing, having slightly smaller portions to get a "free freezer meal " out of some dinners.

Good luck!

indierocker85

Hi

In my opinion, I would strongly suggest you check reduced sections midweek in the main supermarkets, esepcially for things such as bread, meats, and even fruit and vegetables. Really pay attention to the price per unit on the points of sale, i.e price per kg etc, it helps you ensure you're getting the best deal.

Personally, I will buy reduced meats form supermarkets, and cheap veg from farmers markets etc, then plan meals in advance, for instance, I once got a 1.5k free range chicken from Sainsburys reduced to £2, so I froze it on the day, later I lifted it out, we had a roast dinner, had a slow cooked chicken stew with the leftovers meat and vegetables (if no leftover veg, just use carrots), then if there's still meat left, you can make a nice homemade chicken soup. Suddenly that one £2 chicken and some carrots etc, has made 6 meals.

Also, if you do buy reduced meat, try and batch cook if you can, For instance, if I buy stewing beef or diced pork, I will make a large stew or casserole, then freeze whatever is left in portions, and take it out at a later date and reheat it. By doing this, you realise that you can probably make your one week budget last a bit longer. Also, things like Yorkshire puddings etc, try get cheap reduced milk, reduced eggs and a cheap plain flour and make these in big batches for the freezer, they go well with most meals and are very filling.

Also, with the reduced bread etc, a couple of eggs and some cheese and tomato, you can make a tasty savoury bread and butter pudding, which can be made for as little as 70p to feed two people.

Or, if you buy say a cheap mince, you can make a big batch of bologneses, which you can freeze, to either have with spaghetti, or make a lasagne, suddenly that one pack of meat can go a long way

skogar

I see that quite a few people have posted already with some great ideas. I think Soworried's plan looks great. I thought I'd post what I would buy as it might give you a few more ideas as I've no idea what you like to eat etc. Apologies, this is certainly not low carb and is far from balanced.

Assuming that you've got absolutely nothing in I would be looking at getting a few things in to start a stock cupboard and not being hungry, but I'm afraid it's carbs carbs and more carbs, so here we go.

All priced at Tesco (I don't shop there but useful for prices) a couple of things I've sourced elsewhere - I couldn't find cooking bacon at Tesco - think they used to sell it and also the mixed herbs were much too expensive. You may well be able to find some of this stuff a bit cheaper if you shop around which would be good as every penny etc...

1kg rice 40p
15 eggs £1.35
1 kg porridge oats 75p
1 can baked beans at 24p
200g tomato puree 40p
2x 500g spaghetti at 20p each 40p (assuming 100g as 1 portion)
lard 39p
500g cooking bacon (Morrisons) 81p
flour (plain) 45p
2 x large value loaves bread 47p each 94p
4pt milk (buy full fat and water down 50/50 for porridge) £1
lemon curd 22p
carrots and onions get loose ones £1 worth total (at least 1 onion 2 if pos)
frozen mixed veg £1
225g pot frozen chicken livers 50p
mixed herbs (Sainsburys) 40p
10 Stock cubes 20p
Tinned fish (e.g sardines in tomato sauce 34p)
500g lentils £1.15
1 can tinned tomatoes 34p
1 can bolognaise sauce 20p


Total £12.48


With that you could make


Main meals
1. Egg and bacon pie, (4 eggs see delia online recipe) use approx 1/4 the bacon (make pastry with lard only instead of butter and lard) serve with mixed veg
2. Spaghetti with bolognaise type sauce made with 1/2 onion, a carrot, chicken livers, tomato puree, mixed herbs.
3. Spaghetti carbonara with 1/4 of the bacon and 2 eggs
4. Bacon and tomato pasta, tinned tomatoes, 1/4 of the bacon, 1/2 an onion (or whatever you can spare) tomato puree, mixed herbs add lentils if wanted to bulk out the sauce.
5. Fish pasta, sauce made with tomato puree, a little water, herbs, and the tinned fish
6. Risotto made with 1/4 bacon, 1/2 onion (or whatever you can spare), a carrot (both finely chopped), use stock cube for stock, poss add small amount of frozen mixed veg.
7. Spaghetti with tinned bolognaise sauce
Remember bacon fat can be used as fat for frying.


Breakfast ideas
Porridge made with 50:50 milk and water
Toast and lemon curd
boiled egg and bread
Fried egg sandwich


Lunch ideas
Left over egg and bacon pie
Omlet
Egg sandwiches
Pancakes with lemon curd
Beans on toast
Lemon curd sandwiches


At the end of the week you should still have
rice
plain flour
eggs? (depending on how many used)
porridge oats
lentils
stock cubes
mixed herbs
frozen mixed veg
lard (4oz)
lemon curd? (depending on how much used)



Sorry just seen your post saying that you don't have a Morrisons near you. Sainsbury's do sell cooking bacon but it is £1.15 for 670g (so similar price / g but more for a pack), Asda do sell cooking bacon at 81p for 500g as well.


Very basic I'm afraid but hope it helps a little. The next week as you will have a few things in stock you could maybe get a little more variety, bit more veg etc. but it will take a few weeks before things really pick up.



Do you have a food bank you could access occasionally. At this budget anything would make a difference.


Hugs.