Food shopping and living alone

KxMx

I live alone and budget £170pm purely for food- some months that is enough and other months I go over (using the wiggle room in my budget).
I do eat a lot of fruit and veg, most of which comes from local greengrocer costs a tiny bit more but high value for money because the quality and longevity is better than the SM's.

CapricornLass

Rather than batch cooking specific meals, why not cook things that can be converted into different meals depending on what you have in/feel like on the day?  The one I'm thinking of is mince.  So many meals which use mince with onions and tomatoes.  If you have packs of cooked mince in your freezer split into portions, then a portion could be turned into cottage pie, with the addition of extra peas and carrots and with mashed potato on top, or you could add a bit of extra tomato and onion, wine, herbs and mushrooms and make a bolognaise sauce, or fry an onion with garlic and chilli, add a tin of red kidney beans and a portion of rice and you have chilli con carne.  Depending on how much extra veg you use, you may find that you have enough for two portions, meaning minimal cooking the next day.

Teapot55

@Wannabehousebuyer It’s difficult to say how long cooked potatoes last in the fridge but certainly three days. 

bouicca21

I’m with those who think £125 - £150 a month is perfectly ok (as long as you can afford it).  It’s easier to spend less per person if it’s a family but for a singleton that’s fine. I like the £10 idea plus maybe try and live out of the store cupboard/freezer for a while.  Maybe have a no spend day or week, whatever you can manage.  Or maybe restrict the buying by only getting deliveries?  I too find that going into a supermarket to buy just one thing means that I come out with a bagful.  

cornishchick

hi, I live alone, have ADHD diagnosed children and am definitely nurospicy\ADHD myself but undiagnosed, 
I tend to eat a certain meal every night for days then one night the thought of that meal makes me urge,...
I am 55 and my budget is around 30 a week with a bit of a top up monthly and I am mostly low carb.drink black coffee and sugar free squash 

how I manage is, 
nearly all my veg is frozen and cooked in the microwave or roasted in the airfryer with  spices to mix it up. 
I have chicken or steaks that are thinly slices and frozen so only take a zap to defrost and cook.
for lunches out I snack on packs of ham or cocked chicken and fruit. 

Teapot55

I’m starting to get into lentils again. Yesterday I bought a tin of cooked green lentils for 59p in Aldi. Will probably be enough for two meals. Normally I use the dried orange lentils soaked for an hour then cooked up gently till soft and yellow so these green ones will be interesting. 

Curried lentils with Tilda brown basmati (or a cheaper rice if necessary) served separately make a nice meat-free alternative. My favourite spices etc are onion, cumin seeds, turmeric, garlic, bit of chilli powder, black pepper, bit of salt, sugar & lemon juice, bit of water or stock. Cook in a little butter for a luxurious taste or a little rapeseed or similar oil as a cheaper, healthier vegan alternative. Some dried fenugreek leaves (kasoor methi in an Asian shop) give it an authentic curry taste and smell and what’s left in the packet will keep for ages in an airtight container. 

gesdt50

My advice would be to not force batch food on yourself everday, everymeal as you will most likely fail and are doing as you stated. Like James Bond sez shaken not stirred or the perfect cup of tea I find is temperature that make the tea or soup. If your eaten cold or just slightly warmed batches then you probably wont enjoy if you like piping hot batches also depends what your batches comprise of some foods really dont go together; I find a lot do more so that the tv chefs say; hunger is the best/cheapest sauce. whole foods where you add salt yourself is the best most used seasoning and your  unlikely to overdo on it in comparsion to what food companies and supermarkety brands do. Hope it helps