30 p meals ???

annieb64

tessie_bear said:

I’m interested to hear what the journos find out might help all our budgets. 

So would I. All I can think of  for a 30p meal at the moment is a single egg on toast-the last lot of eggs I bought were £1.10 for six and a toasting loaf was about 90p.

If someone was able to batch cook veg soups , curries etc they might manage  it if they can buy cheap veg. Wonder if the MPs local food bank will come up with any recipes.

euronorris

You can get 15 eggs for £1.29 in tesco. Approx 9p per egg. And a 800g white loaf for 36p. Approx 22 slices, so just over 3p for 2 slices. Then some butter for the toasted slices. So i guess it would be doable but....whilst there is nutrition in that meal, I wouldn't call it balanced. So, OK every now and then, but not best to be relied on every day.

I think veggie soups and veggie curries will probably be where its at.

annieb64

Unfortunately we don't have a Tesco or any large supermarket. All we have is a badly stocked Coop and a small market once a week. I'm old enough for a  bus pass so get the bus to the nearest Aldi which is five miles away. That's fine for me but a problem for those who don't qualify for bus passes or who don't have the time to spend 40 minutes each way on a bus.

euronorris

Which highlights another issue that is so often overlooked when bold statements like this are made in the press. Not everyone has the same access to transportation and/or shops.

I looked at Jack Monroes page and saw a recipe for kidney bean burger. Went off to price it, and to get it as cheap as possible, you need 3 different shops. So highlights that a trade off is always going to be made for even the cheapest recipes.

maisie_cat

I'd assumed it was 30p an average head including children because that is doable, but needs some planning & compromise like meat free days and cooking from scratch.
I often make dinners that are  sub £1.50 for 6 adult servings and hubby is 6'2" with a matching appetite. I used to price meals a lot so have a general idea but I've just priced the curry we had last night at 1.30 for 6 portions plus 8p per portion for the rice.
The 3 bean chilli we had the day before was 50p per portion including rice but that's because black beans are more expensive and peppers and avocado are not cheap either.

SadieO

I read on twitter that the comment was based on a £50 haul of food that was batch cooked into 170 portions. (Didn't say of what). While that may be possible it doesn't really help those who can't afford an initial £50 outlay, don't have the access to get somewhere that will give you a decent amount of food for your money (£50 will buy you a lot more at a discount supermarket than it will at an expensive local convenience shop), can't afford the time/electricity to cook all that food, don't have an industrial kitchen to cook in such quantity so would need to do many, many batches to end up with 170 portions, and finally (although there's probably more!) don't have the space to store/freeze 170 portions. So, all in all, not really applicable to an individual cooking at home!

cymruchris

It’s possible you might be able to make a meal for 30p as outlined (one egg on toast) - but to live on 30p meals for a month or more - you’d be better off in prison. I would like to see these politicians put their money where their mouth is literally by showing us all how to do this by doing it themselves. Lead by example I was always told. 

Moorviews

I decided to listen to the MP himself first before commenting. Of course, it is possible to make some meals for 30p a head but that really doesn’t cover food needs for the day. Nor is it sustainable over time; I became malnourished as a breastfeeding mother when we ran out of money at one point and I was subsequently ill. We could feed our children but just ate limited vegetables from the garden and foraged greens for ourselves. We had to prioritise the mortgage and bills and the unexpectedly costly house repairs which cleaned us out when I was still on maternity leave. Thankfully, a short lived but never forgotten part of our life but I am mindful that sometimes there just isn’t the money, so food banks are unfortunately necessary. 

Having done domestic science at school I am a good and thrifty cook but I also learned a lot from my grandmothers. I can produce all the bean, lentil, pasta, rice, cheap cuts and vegetable dishes economically and make them tasty. Offal is the only cheap meat now and there are cheap eggs for animal protein. Cooking bacon is economical but not healthy. In most recipes and for nutrition some fats are required which are an extra expense. I don’t feel that the fact that I can make brawn, soup, or lentil rissoles and other people could be educated to do so really answers the current problems. 

My apologies to the original poster as I haven’t provided recipe ideas which I think was what you were asking for. I worry about perpetuating some sort of myth that everyone can thrive on 30p a meal or day for food. 

MovingForwards

When I first split with my ex I had £1.50 to last me a week and that had to cover breakfast, lunch and tea. Couldn't afford to cook as the gas had run out and the electric would just about cover having a light on for a bit in the evening.

The cheapest 'value' items I could get was bread, cheese spread, crisps and cup-a-soup. A slice of toast for breakfast and one done to take home with cheese spread; work had a toaster. Cup-a-soup (cream of veg, which had no taste) and salted crisps (again, no taste). My workmates thought I was on a diet.

I doubt I could buy the same amount of food now, as I did then, for the same money.

Bringing it back on track.

I can make vegan food cheaply, a spicy split red lentil and veg soup, or curry, is my go to staple when I choose to have cheap and cheerful and I knocked up 3 generous lunches for £1 the other week. 

If I was on a very tight budget, I would be batch cooking stews, soups and curries and having toast for breakfast.

Brie

One of the things that astounds me is that if you avoid the major supermarkets you can do quite well.  A small Polish place I go to has "cuppa soup" but it's in a small cannister so you can just put a spoonful of powder into a mug instead of opening an individual packet.  And it's £1.49 for what they say is 17 portions.  Frankly I like it weaker so it goes much farther for me (and it's borscht which I love).  Their other soups are also much cheaper and have  much more flavour than what you might get at a Tesco or Aldi.  And their vegetables are more varied and much more affordable as well.  

What I have yet to see here is food banks offering cooking lessons of any sort - might just be the area I live in of course.  But this was a standard thing when I used to be in Canada.  But (& it's a big one) as others have said you have to have the facilities to cook and the money to pay for the pots, pans, utilities and have storage.