What is the cheapest food?

BrandNewDay

OK... let's say you want to feed a family of four for a month. NOT counting sales/bogoff/whatever, what staples are the cheapest and give you the most nutrition for the buck? I say "staples" because I don't even want to consider things like frozen ready meals, although they may well be the cheapest way to keep body and soul together.

If I were really insanely hard-core about it, then I'd put cost over taste, right? So, things like monotony and blandness would not matter. Aren't there people in other countries who eat pretty much a bowl of rice with a few scraps of whatever else they can get, day in and day out? Aren't there entire cultures that live on nothing but yams, a couple of green vegetables, and maybe have meat three times a year?

How cheap can you get before scurvy and rickets set in?

Would the base staple be rice? How cheap can you get it in bulk?

I'm thinking the cheapest diet would be rice mixed with frozen mixed veg, also bought as cheaply as possible, and then the very cheapest meat once a week. Over-ripe fruit and veg bought at the greengrocers just before the end of business would be a treat.

This is just a mental exercise... I am not actually going to try it, although I am toying with the idea of having a basic foundation like this... eat much less meat, fuss less over novelty and variety, and have something like that two or three times a week instead of starting with "Well, what meat do I thaw for tonight's supper... and what do I have to go with it?"

thriftlady_2

A couple of years ago I worked out the cost of various protein foods per lb and found that dried peas were the cheapest. I didn't do this very scientifically so I'm not sure how much protein a lb of peas gives you compared with a lb of beef say.

This is my list of what I think are bargains both financially and nutritionally.

Cheap carbs -a sack of potatoes (25 kilo sacks cost about £5-6), pasta, value oats, value flour.

Cheap proteins - dried beans and lentils especially dried peas, tinned sardines and tuna, fresh mackerel, herrings, coley and pollack, offal, shin of beef, belly pork, eggs

Cheap dairy -dried milk, fresh milk, value cheese, homemade yogurt, butter (though these have all gone up recently)

Cheap fruit and veg -carrots, cabbage, onions, apples and whatever else is in season and abundant at the moment, tinned tomatoes

Penelope_Penguin

BrandNewDay wrote: »

OK... let's say you want to feed a family of four for a month. NOT counting sales/bogoff/whatever, what staples are the cheapest and give you the most nutrition for the buck? I say "staples" because I don't even want to consider things like frozen ready meals, although they may well be the cheapest way to keep body and soul together.

If I were really insanely hard-core about it, then I'd put cost over taste, right? So, things like monotony and blandness would not matter. Aren't there people in other countries who eat pretty much a bowl of rice with a few scraps of whatever else they can get, day in and day out? Aren't there entire cultures that live on nothing but yams, a couple of green vegetables, and maybe have meat three times a year?

How cheap can you get before scurvy and rickets set in?

Would the base staple be rice? How cheap can you get it in bulk?

I'm thinking the cheapest diet would be rice mixed with frozen mixed veg, also bought as cheaply as possible, and then the very cheapest meat once a week. Over-ripe fruit and veg bought at the greengrocers just before the end of business would be a treat.

This is just a mental exercise... I am not actually going to try it, although I am toying with the idea of having a basic foundation like this... eat much less meat, fuss less over novelty and variety, and have something like that two or three times a week instead of starting with "Well, what meat do I thaw for tonight's supper... and what do I have to go with it?"

We really don't need to eat as much protein as we think we do As you say, there are people who live on a vegetarian diet.

We've taken to eating vegetarian at least 2 days a week. This is for mainly health reasons, but it is certainly cheaper.

Another really good way to save (literally as welll as environmentally) is to eat seasonally. I buy most of my fruit and veg from the farm shop - much of it grown locally. Gingham's vegetarian meal planners are great for this. She plans meals based on the seasonal produce she gets in her weekly veg box.

Shout if you'd like me to find links.

Penny. x

BrandNewDay

I'm not sure that fresh veg is cheaper than gigantic bags of frozen stuff from Iceland or Farmland. And, unless you pick it yourself, I'm not convinced it's any more nutritious than frozen.

(That said, I am looking for a farmer's market on the west side of Glasgow... I used to love the market in Gloucester! That's not about ultimate frugality, however.)

redmel1621

I was reading the british nutrition foundation website, well its called something like that!!!
They say you should plan your main meal around the carbs not the protein(like i do). So something like potatoesx3 ricex2 pastax2 etc....
I would love to do this but I just can't get my head around actually doing it.

Mel x

thriftlady_2

I agree about frozen veg -peas and sweetcorn are good value.

At the moment the cheapest foods for me are blackberries and quinces- free from my garden I suppose that makes the cheapest food anything you grow yourself. Fruit bushes and trees are best value because you only have to buy them once.

Sugar is pretty cheap too, also vegetable oil and salt. I bake for my kids' school and when I do the costings those are the ingredients that are cheapest. Quite often the addition of some fruit will double the cost of a batch of muffins (unless they're blackberries of course).

vixtress

depends on your ethical view (i only buy freerange) but surely you cant go wrong with eggs!!

a dozen value eggs and a sack of potatoes, add some 9p baked beans and you could feed a family for a good few days on very little

lotto-dreamer

I remember reading somewhere about WWII rationing - but can't remember what the items were. Surely that would have been based on minimum foods to keep people reasonably healthy? Actually, I'd be interested to know what the basics were - does anyone have any idea?

pennypinchingmum

hi,
i have a family of 5 and i know what a struggle it can be to get good cheap food in them.Heres a few hints
1. seasonal veg particularly carrots cos they can be eaten raw so great for lunch box buy value and they are reall y cheap.
2. Value pasta, Rice ,this is what we live on potatoes are much more expensive.
3. Passata is better for you and cheaper than pasta sauce and much more versatile and at 39p for a carton that should mix through two lots of pasta and it actually tastes good i would recommend it.
4.Lentils and value stock cubes with a few carrots really make a great cheap soup that will last days.
5. Value Tuna will at least add some oomph to dull meals and can be mixed through pasta.
Hope this helps.

kethry

redmel1621 wrote: »

I was reading the british nutrition foundation website, well its called something like that!!!
They say you should plan your main meal around the carbs not the protein(like i do). So something like potatoesx3 ricex2 pastax2 etc....
I would love to do this but I just can't get my head around actually doing it.

I do something like this. I try to alternate meat and veggie nights, and try not to have the same carb multiple nights. So, one night might be thai veg curry with rice, next night chicken with wedges, the following night soup with bread, then lamb and aubergine curry with rice, then veggie spag bol.. its a bit complicated but it does work.

keth
xx

thriftlady_2

lotto-dreamer wrote: »

I remember reading somewhere about WWII rationing - but can't remember what the items were. Surely that would have been based on minimum foods to keep people reasonably healthy? Actually, I'd be interested to know what the basics were - does anyone have any idea?

Funny you should mention that http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=481412&highlight=thriftlady%27s+wartime+experiment