Is £55 a week enough for food for one person?

williewonder

Thank you everybody.

I'm not the greatest cook, I would normally do fresh 20%fat mince with mushrooms and onions and a jar of chilli con corni sauce  with microwave rice, the chilli makes 2 meals, One for the next day, etc so probably cost wise £2.50 each meal.

This is my meal plan for next two weeks. The repeated meals are because I want to save half for the next day.

Sunday - Chilli and rice 
Monday - steak and potato wedges, peas 
Tuesday - Fish and mash potatoes - peas, parsley sauce 
Wednesday - Pasty, potato wedges - sweetcorn
Thursday - Sausage Casserole. Mash. - Shopping day
Friday - Chicken curry , rice
Saturday - Chicken curry, rice 
Sunday - Tuna pasta bake
Monday - Tuna pasta bake
Tuesday - Fish and mash potatoes - peas, parsley sauce 
Wednesday - mini pizza, potatoes wedges and beans
Thursday - Bolognese and pasta -  Shopping day

I already have 4 drawers in the freezer full of food, pies, frozen pizzas, mince, sausages, pasties, chicken Kiev's, obvious these are simple oven meals because I'm not a good cook. I'm going to be eating all this over the next few weeks.

Then I want to go all fresh, with frozen veg and healthy frozen meals, get 5%fat mince. I want to eat healthy. 

What cheap easy meal plans can somebody cook which is cheap and within my £60 a week budget?

williewonder

I don't necessarily have to online shopping as Ocado is expensive I think. I have a large Morrisons walking distance to my house and I get support staff to help me do my shopping, as well as help me cook as I live in supported living.

dealyboy

williewonder said:

Thank you everybody.

I'm not the greatest cook, I would normally do fresh 20%fat mince with mushrooms and onions and a jar of chilli con corni sauce  with microwave rice, the chilli makes 2 meals, One for the next day, etc so probably cost wise £2.50 each meal.

This is my meal plan for next two weeks. The repeated meals are because I want to save half for the next day.

Sunday - Chilli and rice 
Monday - steak and potato wedges, peas 
Tuesday - Fish and mash potatoes - peas, parsley sauce 
Wednesday - Pasty, potato wedges - sweetcorn
Thursday - Sausage Casserole. Mash. - Shopping day
Friday - Chicken curry , rice
Saturday - Chicken curry, rice 
Sunday - Tuna pasta bake
Monday - Tuna pasta bake
Tuesday - Fish and mash potatoes - peas, parsley sauce 
Wednesday - mini pizza, potatoes wedges and beans
Thursday - Bolognese and pasta -  Shopping day

I already have 4 drawers in the freezer full of food, pies, frozen pizzas, mince, sausages, pasties, chicken Kiev's, obvious these are simple oven meals because I'm not a good cook. I'm going to be eating all this over the next few weeks.

Then I want to go all fresh, with frozen veg and healthy frozen meals, get 5%fat mince. I want to eat healthy. 

What cheap easy meal plans can somebody cook which is cheap and within my £60 a week budget?

... good plan.

One thing I noticed was 'potatoes' appears a few times, some people would suggest watching the carbohydrates from bread and potatoes, if you want to eat healthily, but who am I to talk.

Mince at 5% is a good move, easy to cook and nutritious.

I was at 'weight watchers' (forget their new name) last year and my three takeaways (forgive the pun) are eat chicken (without skin), eggs (3 or 4 a day is not a problem), and drink more water.

Katiehound

What I notice is that you have very little in the way of veggies.... and no mention of any fruit!

Now you can buy frozen runner beans, cauliflower, broccoli (probably both together) spinach. or buy some of these fresh & keep in the fridge.
Fresh carrots & swede are cheap-ish. You can roast these or boil, if starting to look a bit sad cut up, par boil & then freeze. ready to be added to any dishes of mince or casserole. Whole cabbage cooked or as coleslaw.

Pizza & potatoes together are not a great combo. perhaps pizza & mixed green salad or coleslaw or ratatouille. In fact more nutritious would be something egg based. Omelette, hard boiled eggs?

You don't have to be the greatest cook, basics of onion, celery, carrots and a tin of tomatoes will make you a good sauce. Then you can add your own flavourings such as chilli  or balsamic vinegar, a stock cube etc.

Have a look at Jamie's £1 meals because there are some great ideas- yes, I know he is making 6 portions but it should give you some ideas.  Sometimes you can make something in 4 portions- one for today and 3 for the freezer!

You might set yourself a challenge that you will try to make  one new dish each week- cooked from scratch! Loads of ideas online not just Jamie. You can bulk out mince with (tinned) kidney beans, chick peas, lentils which will increase your veg intake & reduce the price.

If you google 'cheap healthy meals from scratch' lots of ideas come up, just ignore the 'hello fresh' advert.....

Mnoee

williewonder said:

What cheap easy meal plans can somebody cook which is cheap and within my £60 a week budget?

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/collection/easy-dinner-recipes

There's a big list for inspiration!

I enjoy a good stir fry - a mix of vegetables, pretty much any diced meat, with noodles or rice and either sauce from a packet or just some soy sauce to be healthier. The same vegetables and meat could be used to make fajitas on a different day, you can get pre-blended fajita spice seasoning and wraps - add optional cheese and sauces like salsa, sour cream or guacamole. If you do get cheese and sauces, they could be used to make nachos, or go well with chilli con carne. 

Moving away from pre-packaged processed food to home cooking is already a big step up health wise, I'd personally focus on making meals I know I'd enjoy from scratch to start with instead of immediately attempting to switch to a diet of quinoa and kale burgers. 
Making small sustainable changes is easier in the long term. 

Which reminds me, beef burgers are easy to make from scratch! 

HampshireH

I would recommend keeping a few pizzas or oven chicken steaks in the freezer for the days you get in late can put be bothered and then tha could lead to a unplanned takeaways.

We keep a basic oven dinner (chips chicken and peas or baked beans) in stock for such days.

Soup is a good one for keeping and freezing, also does lunches (we love a broccoli and stilton in our house. Pack it with onion and broccoli and potatoes with seasoning & chicken/veg stock cube and stilton very easy and tasty plus a batch can do many meals - same with vegetable - great way to use up stuff).

If you make a basic onions, celery and carrot mix blizted you can use this as a base for spag bol/sauce base /lasagne/cottage pie etc great to have. Keep in stock tinned tomatoes, puree and mixed herbs/garlic/salt and pepper.

We eat a lot of pasta and rice in our house, which isn't the best but we cram veg into everything possible.

maman

I'd definitely give up on shopping with Ocado. If you have Lidl or Aldi near enough I'd shop there. Their 5% mince is the best value as are other products.

You don't have to eat the same meal 2 days running unless you want to. As you run down the ready meals in the freezer, start cooking really large batches of chilli or curry or Bolognese and start freezing your own ready meals. A small portion over a jacket potato makes an easy lunch. 

Personally, I've stopped using meat in chilli completely. I add extra beans and some lentils instead and extra veg like carrots and mushrooms. I still use beef stock for the flavour as we're not vegetarian.

£55 a week should be plenty but as your cooking skills improve with practice (plenty of recipes and videos online), you might start adding to your stock of herbs and spices and other frequently used ingredients. 

itsthelittlethings

Get Asda or Tescos delivery, much cheaper. Even Sainsburys but that is more expensive.

I manage on £50 a week for food and cleaning products but I don't drink, rarely eat meat but buy it in the butchers if I do. I do buy niceish food and don't cut back too much. I usually have a bit left over at the end of the month.

Murphybear

Frozen fruit is very good, it’s nutritionally sound and generally cheaper than fresh.  I’m talking about berries rather than apples etc.  you can often get free apples by asking around as people with apple trees tend to have a glut.  Our GP surgery has a big apple tree and patients can help themselves.  There are also blackberry bushes so a big blackberry and apple crumble can be made for very little cost. 

MarzipanCrumble

It is coming up to evening class time - details from a local library often.  Is there a basic cooking class on offer or even a speciality cooking class like Curries?  Might be worth investigation?