Food budget £12.50 a week - help please!

Penny-Pincher!!

Hi.

The first thing I would do is write down exactly what you have and then what you can make from that. Then you need to make meals that can be padded out and cheaply. Here are a few meals that are very cheap, nutritious etc that we have:

Shepherds Pie (Freeze leftover)
Sausage Casserole (Freeze leftover cook in SC add anything)
Spagbol (freeze)
Chilli (freeze)
Curry (freeze)
Roast meat and freeze leftovers
Pasta with tomatoes and herbs
Lasagna (freeze)

Loads more meals.

Buy tinned or frozen veg, then it doesn't go off and you have what you will eat. Buy cheap bread when reduced. Milk is £1 for 4 pints and can be frozen. Cheddar can be frozen too if reduced. Tinned beans and spagetti are counted as a vegetable. Porridge for breakfast with tinned fruit. Unbranded products. Poundland for bits and bobs. Value yogurts are nice, their jam, marmalade and peanut butter.

Use coupon codes for online delivery. Always available for £15 off £60 spend and utilise with items you like and also on offer.

I used one for sainsburys yesterday but it ran out last night for £20 off a £60 spend.....so a third!

Markets end of day.

Ask for help from friends and family or on Freegle. I try and do a food parcel every 4-6 weeks with a few non perishables in it.

PP
x

Floss

Crisp_£_note wrote: »

Hi after experiencing benefit cuts recently I have just £12.50 a week to feed myself and my husband.
I prefer whenever possible to avoid carbs due to it causing weightgain and agrovates other health issues...

fatpiggy wrote: »

...we don't really know what are the circumstances that the OP finds themselves with a very small food budget...

....and OP needs to eat more carbs. You won't die of it....

The OP posted why she was on such a tight budget and why she avoids carbs in her first post. And as we don't have details of her medical condition, your comment about eating carbs could be incorrect.


OP I'm pleased to read that your friends have helped you out Maybe when you are back on your financial feet again you would consider paying those favours forward by donating to your local food bank to help others in such a difficult situation?

tgroom57

Sample £10 food shop but having said that, for one person, not two

Iceland for chicken legs and desserts loads off stuff 89p this week down from £1.
Tesco 15 eggs £1.35 - get reduced eggs if ever available - omelette makes a very good supper.
Tesco do 750g beef mince for £2.70 - divide it into 3 portions.
Have beef one week and chicken the next.
Pad out one portion (250g) with kidney beans & tinned tomatoes, an onion and make 4 good portions of chilli. A tub of chilli powder is your most useful buy.

20p Noodles with greens and/or thin-sliced carrot make a very reasonable supper or the veg part of a dinner.
Porridge - I make porridge with water and add a dash of milk at the table.

Save any usable jamjars and lidded plastic containers. Any leftovers (or in my case anything remotely edible) goes in the fridge for that day when there is nothing else. Save dripping in a cup for frying, where previously you would have bought oil.
Can you pick blackberries anywhere nearby? Crumble topping is 40p in Tesco.

Pleased you are getting some help- my daughter saves me her out-of-dates from the fridge.

bigmaz

Some unbelieveable advice on this thread!! Amazing how cheap you can feed yourself if you try.

Sorry to hear the OP's situation, must be very hard, I really hope your situation improves soon! As said before, is there anything you can cut back on? Sky subscriptions etc?

hoglet121

Lot of excellent advice on this thread, I can no way compare to it at all, but my cheapest and most filling meal is something I call free pie.

Firstly you need a couple of chicken carcasses - whether you manage to pick up couple up very cheap from a butcher, or are saved one by friends, not everyone can be bothered with them so might be worth asking around

Once a chicken carcass has had the main portions removed, there are usually little scraps of meat left, so I roast the carcasses in the oven and strip the tiny bits of meat, including on the back of it where there are some really juicy bits.

Then bones go in the pot for stock, and I make a pie filling from onion, the bits of chicken, any other scraps I have, some frozen veg, and I make a really nice thick sauce from a good spoonful of flour and stock, and lots of pepper. I use mash for the topping but I know you're looking to not use too many carbs...

Anyway, the last one I made of these made 4 dinners and 4 lunches for very little money, and makes very little meat feel like quite a meaty dish if you see what I mean.

Just a suggestion you might find useful.

kirlyg

Hi, tin tomatoes are cheap and you can make a variety of sauces for all sorts of meals - splash out on some basic herbs and spices for the store cupboard to add to them, they last for ages. Never buy full price bread or rolls, always buy after 6 on discount and freeze them. A sack of spuds around a fiver lasts ages if kept cool and dark, better than buying a kg from the supermarket. Frozen chicken and fish are relatively cheap, as is quorn mince - look out for offers too. Porridge, eggs, chorizo, onions, peppers, mushrooms all make great cheap meals - aldi's and morrisons all do cheap veg, and morrisons meat is great value, look out for deals and discounts here too and freeze. Treat yourself to real milk for goodness sake - just maybe get used to slightly darker tea and coffee.
Good luck! When hubby and I had a sparse period popping round to relatives and friends near mealtimes often ended in a free dinner too!;) awkward to admit to now but at the time it kept us going.

Ladyluck1

Hi!
Just my penneth worth
We are a family of 4 and I spend roughly £25 a week (often less!) on food.
I would suggest stocking up on cheap basics considering what you like to eat (rice, lentils, tinned toms etc) with some of the £50.
Shopping at Aldi saves us a lot as does Yellow Sticker or reduced shopping.
Try and shop Aldi super 6 or lidl weekend deals are goo too and plan around that.
With reduced I have a coop very close so I walk there around 6pm an grab whatever we will eat that'll freeze (often 75p each diced chicken breast, salmon fillets and sausages) or sometimes a whole chicken I'll cook It that night and use in dishes for a couple of days plus make a stock with carcass (you can freeze stock too). I prefer to use higher welfare meat though or we'd go veggie. That's why I use coop.
Good luck.
It's not easy when youre so stretched you dont have much for food.
But it can be done

Bettie

I use ASDA Meat Free Savoury Mince ~ 74p which makes enough base for a cottage pie for four, they do one for bolognese too but i prefer the savoury one then add some tomatoes myself. as it's dried I take out a quarter just for me and use then reseal the bag or make the whole packet up and use it for various dishes which I can freeze.
This time of year I use it to stuff marrow topped with cheese sauce ( the allotments near me sell produce and marrows are practically given away)
also I make marrow jam and marrow ratatouille (which freezes well)

lesbro

I have swapped from Tesco to Aldi and Lidl, forget the points, my expenditure has dropped amazingly and I am surprised at how much I save. Tesco still send the money off vouchers which I must admit I do use but only if they are items I would normally buy.

recovering_spendaholic

lesbro wrote: »

I have swapped from Tesco to Aldi and Lidl, forget the points, my expenditure has dropped amazingly and I am surprised at how much I save. Tesco still send the money off vouchers which I must admit I do use but only if they are items I would normally buy.

I totally agree!