A weeks food shopping for £20

luvchocolate

If you can check reduced items at the end of the day, my local M and S is brilliant at 5pm they do their reductions and this week got 2 packs of their chilled fish in sauce serves 2 full price £4.00...reduced to 40p!!!

maman

I'd be interested in your menu plan for the week too. If you really want to learn to look after yourself you need to be healthy.


You're obviously not vegetarian but the meat prodcuts don't sound good.

Do you have freezer space? It would help you to make up some pasta sauce or Bolognese sauce and then you could have it with pasta or jackets. A tin of tomato sauce with veg and meat would make you at least 4 portions so you need to be able to freeze it for the weeks ahead.

SailorSam

DUKE wrote: »

If you buy minced beef you can cook cottage pie, spag bol, chilli, or lasagne.

And if you're going to do things like SpagBol or Lasagne, stretch that meat out. Use lots of cheap lentils, or grated carrot, perhaps oats.
THere are some previous threads on here and someone living alone can easily live on a £10 budget for the wee..

PennyForThem_2

If you are a single and cooking your own stuff (not processed/meal ready stuff from supermarket) then a freezer is almost a must.

You can either cook for yourself and know what goes into your meal or you can go down the yellow sticker route for processed meals. Either way has advantages depending on your time and your skills and your priorities.

Yellow sticker/reduced products are just as valid for cooking for yourself. I picked up today yellow sticker celery, fine green beans, spinach, and strawberries.

Will chop and freeze the celery for using as a base for various sauces.

Will eat the strawberries over the weekend.

Will add the green beans and spinach to a lentil curry Mon thro to Wed.

SailorSam

Numerous old threads here that you'll find interesting and useful Not only about what food to buy and what to eat.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=235198

PasturesNew

Inspect closely the £/100g price of everything. What is presented to you, at eye-level, nicely displayed, will be the most expensive way to buy stuff.
Grovel around a bit, look 3' to the right and left, check the bottom shelf - you'll find alternatives that are cheaper.

Even just tomatoes, this week, in one shop, had tomatoes ranging from nearly £7/Kg down to the ones I bought that are £3. They often use trickery of packaging to make most of your choices look the same/volume ... but they're being clever with that and although two packs might say £3, one might be half the weight of another, but in an unusual shaped box.

Do you NEED two loaves? And two for £1.50? Are you THAT into that particular bread? I pay 36p/loaf at Lidl.

Question, query and check the price of everything. Compare ...

Stay away from nice looking packets.... you're paying for a nice photo that you're just going to throw in the bin.

My top tip for the jacket potatoes is: Do you really need "baking potatoes"? I tend to just buy cheaper potatoes and instead of having one, large, formal, baked potato, I'll have 2-3 medium sized regular potatoes .... saving a fortune. Compare the prices of potatoes £/100g and notice the differences of price -v- what you get.

You say you still "need to buy cakes". Really? You NEED to buy cakes? Most people don't. Cake's a treat, a fattening luxury. Bought to be savoured...
Again though, contrast and compare the price of cakes and biscuits, then make your choice. You can get more cake if it's cheaper per 100g ... so find the three cheapest cakes by price, then see which one looks more appealing to you... don't just buy the pretty looking ones, they see you coming! And if you eat too many cakes it wouldn't be hard for them to see you coming either

calleyw

PasturesNew wrote: »

You say you still "need to buy cakes". Really? You NEED to buy cakes? Most people don't. Cake's a treat, a fattening luxury. Bought to be savoured...

The op said bread cakes. I had a look on google and it seems to be a regional word for baps/bread rolls.

As it confused me.

Yours

Calley

DUKE

SailorSam wrote: »

And if you're going to do things like SpagBol or Lasagne, stretch that meat out. Use lots of cheap lentils, or grated carrot, perhaps oats.
THere are some previous threads on here and someone living alone can easily live on a £10 budget for the wee..

Baked beans is good too.

PennyForThem_2

Use your library for cookbooks as well as internet.

Use MySupermarket on web to check out prices of a commodity at various major supermarkets.

Lidl and Aldi are great for stuff - but do make sure you are actually spending less for same. Veg bought there may not last as ong as veg bought at another supermarket - and don't forget any fruit and veg market in your town either.

You can make your own pizza dough very, very easily and therefore your own pizzas!

Doshwaster

If you live alone then a freezer is absolutely essential for keeping leftovers. Frozen veg is very cheap and avoids any waste.

Also concentrate on building up a store cupboard (or even drawer or box) of basics. You don't need to get everything at once but buying one or two items a week will get you there in no time and most of the items will last for ages. Obviously what you put in it depends on your tastes but here are some suggestions:

http://www.jamieoliver.com/news-and-features/features/basic-store-cupboard-essentials-for-families/

https://realfood.tesco.com/our-food/how-to-start-a-basic-store-cupboard.html

http://www.savethestudent.org/save-money/food-drink/15-student-cupboard-essentials.html

I try never to run out of tinned tomatoes and some kind of pasta. If you have those and whatever you can find in the fridge/freezer then you always have a basic meal in an emergency.