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Look out for the Super 6 at Aldi as well if you have access to one. Cheap fruit and veg, 6 different items and changes every two weeks I think it is.
£15 and under food budget a week.
- Thread starter SideWinder
- Start date
If you move to a vegetarian / vegan style diet and focus on rice / pasta with frozen vegetables you should easily manage this.
Breakfast would be a challenge, however you could mix it up a little.
Quick shop at Sainsburys (not the cheapest mind) would net you the following for £11.13
Sainsbury's Tomato Pasta Sauce, Basics 440g£0.09/100g
Sainsbury's Chicken Curry, Basics 392g£1.35/kg
Sainsbury's Curry Sauce, Basics 440g£0.05/100g
Sainsbury's Onions, Basics 1.5kg£0.60/kg
Sainsbury's Mayonnaise, Basics 470g£0.10/100ml
Sainsbury's White Sliced Loaf, Basics 800g£0.06/100g
Sainsbury's Fish Fingers, Basics x10 250g£2.80/kg
Sainsbury's Beef Mince, Basics 400g£3.12/kg
Sainsbury's Tuna Chunks, Basics 185g£0.57/100g
Sainsbury's 1% Fat Scottish Milk2.27 ( 4 Pint )
Sainsbury's Muesli, Basics 1kg
Sainsbury's Pasta Shapes, Basics 500g
Sainsbury's Spaghetti, Basics 500g
Sainsbury's Long Grain Rice, Basics 1kg
Sainsbury's Mixed Vegetables, Basics 1kg x 2
Plenty there to make several meals with and relatively healthy as well. Plus you have another £3+ to add some more variety.
Breakfast would be a challenge, however you could mix it up a little.
Quick shop at Sainsburys (not the cheapest mind) would net you the following for £11.13
Sainsbury's Tomato Pasta Sauce, Basics 440g£0.09/100g
Sainsbury's Chicken Curry, Basics 392g£1.35/kg
Sainsbury's Curry Sauce, Basics 440g£0.05/100g
Sainsbury's Onions, Basics 1.5kg£0.60/kg
Sainsbury's Mayonnaise, Basics 470g£0.10/100ml
Sainsbury's White Sliced Loaf, Basics 800g£0.06/100g
Sainsbury's Fish Fingers, Basics x10 250g£2.80/kg
Sainsbury's Beef Mince, Basics 400g£3.12/kg
Sainsbury's Tuna Chunks, Basics 185g£0.57/100g
Sainsbury's 1% Fat Scottish Milk2.27 ( 4 Pint )
Sainsbury's Muesli, Basics 1kg
Sainsbury's Pasta Shapes, Basics 500g
Sainsbury's Spaghetti, Basics 500g
Sainsbury's Long Grain Rice, Basics 1kg
Sainsbury's Mixed Vegetables, Basics 1kg x 2
Plenty there to make several meals with and relatively healthy as well. Plus you have another £3+ to add some more variety.
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Soldato
Ok so you need to budget I say look at the whole picture is there anything else to cut back on. I personally would never cut back on food and NO i repeat NO we do not buy extravagant things just food we need to eat a balanced diet also lidl fruit and veg is cheap!
Soldato
This is easy.
Something like Spag Bol is a very cheap meal. But basically bulk buy cheap pasta, pasatta, some herbs, and onions, and a block of cheese (£7ish). Then buy a few things that you can mix in for dinner to add variation and a balanced diet.
A Loaf of bread, and a smart priced eggs can give you scrambled egg on toast for breakfast daily for about £2.
The bread can be used with butter to make sandwiches. Again obviously you'll have to add a couple of bits in, but butter is a monthly item if that.
Then double strength squash, and maybe some milk, another few quid.
By my estimate that leaves about £5 for a bit of variation in your diet. To be honest, I even think the prices I've guessed at are a bit too much. But I've managed to do £10/week last year when I was really trying to save money as a student. I'm back up to about £25/week now.
What's more, because the basic stuff (carbs/pasatta/onions/herbs) come in quantities more than one weeks worth you'll easily be able to have more variety when you don't have to buy those.
It really is very easy, just buy the value range instead of the high quality stuff.
kd
Something like Spag Bol is a very cheap meal. But basically bulk buy cheap pasta, pasatta, some herbs, and onions, and a block of cheese (£7ish). Then buy a few things that you can mix in for dinner to add variation and a balanced diet.
A Loaf of bread, and a smart priced eggs can give you scrambled egg on toast for breakfast daily for about £2.
The bread can be used with butter to make sandwiches. Again obviously you'll have to add a couple of bits in, but butter is a monthly item if that.
Then double strength squash, and maybe some milk, another few quid.
By my estimate that leaves about £5 for a bit of variation in your diet. To be honest, I even think the prices I've guessed at are a bit too much. But I've managed to do £10/week last year when I was really trying to save money as a student. I'm back up to about £25/week now.
What's more, because the basic stuff (carbs/pasatta/onions/herbs) come in quantities more than one weeks worth you'll easily be able to have more variety when you don't have to buy those.
It really is very easy, just buy the value range instead of the high quality stuff.
kd
Associate
To be honest, yea Sainsburys etc are good and handy to get your pasta, rice, bread etc but if you live close to a famers market or a veg market you'd be surprised how much veg you can get for your money there. Plus if you get the veg from the market it will probably make you a little bit happer and not get bored of your food so fast. Its also worth having a go at making your own sauces instead of buying in jars.
Also maybe give yourself a £25 buget over 2 weeks instead of 15 every week., that will still get you a lot of food, and you will have a £5 left over for a spontanious buy like a cheap curry or something different every week or 2.
I used to give myself a £10 buget every week for around 2 months about 5 years ago, its not great but aslong as your organised with it you will get thru it fine.
Also maybe give yourself a £25 buget over 2 weeks instead of 15 every week., that will still get you a lot of food, and you will have a £5 left over for a spontanious buy like a cheap curry or something different every week or 2.
I used to give myself a £10 buget every week for around 2 months about 5 years ago, its not great but aslong as your organised with it you will get thru it fine.
Soldato
lots of tinned tomatoes, pasta, mince, jacket potatoes eggs and beans are the key staples.
A bag of about 6 or 7 baking pots is like £1.60, they are not huge, stick half a tin of beans on top and some pepper and presto theres the potential for 6 meals there, you are not going to get fat but it will feed you. as said porridge is around £3 for 2Kg from morrisons, this will feed breakfast for the best part of a month though with no budget for milk i suspect youl need to whack in a little sugar.
of course there is beans on toast, if you have a cheap farm house shop near by this would help dramaticly as you can get like 30 eggs for £3 in some places, that gives you the potential for lots of eggy bread for a twist on beans on toast, omelet's or scrambled egg on toast with some tommy sauce is great, variations are scrambled egg and beans etc.
as others have said, spag bol is very effective in bulk. go student and you can have spag bol toasties if you have a toastie maker, bulk it up with a tin of beans, whack some in a dish and cover with mash and you have italian cottage pie, very tasty
it is very doable, you will be great for the first 2 maybe 3 weeks but you will see some weight loss and start to get sick of your diet and the manotiny. The key is you will have to be creative.
A bag of about 6 or 7 baking pots is like £1.60, they are not huge, stick half a tin of beans on top and some pepper and presto theres the potential for 6 meals there, you are not going to get fat but it will feed you. as said porridge is around £3 for 2Kg from morrisons, this will feed breakfast for the best part of a month though with no budget for milk i suspect youl need to whack in a little sugar.
of course there is beans on toast, if you have a cheap farm house shop near by this would help dramaticly as you can get like 30 eggs for £3 in some places, that gives you the potential for lots of eggy bread for a twist on beans on toast, omelet's or scrambled egg on toast with some tommy sauce is great, variations are scrambled egg and beans etc.
as others have said, spag bol is very effective in bulk. go student and you can have spag bol toasties if you have a toastie maker, bulk it up with a tin of beans, whack some in a dish and cover with mash and you have italian cottage pie, very tasty
it is very doable, you will be great for the first 2 maybe 3 weeks but you will see some weight loss and start to get sick of your diet and the manotiny. The key is you will have to be creative.
This is very doable, it is often something I do.
I tend to make a couple of soups at the weekend, divide them into portions and freeze. That's my lunches sorted along with a pitta from a multi pack, or cheat and buy Heinz soup bulk from Costco which works out at about 60p ish per can.
Then I will have a higher initial outlay where I buy meat in a larger quantity and make meals such as lasagne/ chilli/ curry/ stew etc. where I can freeze it in portions and just have simple frozen veg with it. I have found Costco's meat to be a very good quality and good value.
I tend to make a couple of soups at the weekend, divide them into portions and freeze. That's my lunches sorted along with a pitta from a multi pack, or cheat and buy Heinz soup bulk from Costco which works out at about 60p ish per can.
Then I will have a higher initial outlay where I buy meat in a larger quantity and make meals such as lasagne/ chilli/ curry/ stew etc. where I can freeze it in portions and just have simple frozen veg with it. I have found Costco's meat to be a very good quality and good value.
Soldato
Make the most of your freezer by batch cooking.
Tomato sauce (onion, garlic, tomatoes, maybe some basil) to which you can add what you chicken or mince, or black olives, capers and anchovies. Peppers are cheap if you get the big mixed bag rather than 80p each, there's nothing wrong with the green ones!
Soups as mentioned, root veg are cheap as are dried spices.
Curry can be dead cheap, curry powder, onion, garlic, ginger, Butternut squash or chicken.
Slow cooked cuts of beef such as chuck steak and brisket (a bit harder to find though), and pork shoulder can make some great chilli and when buying chicken get a whole bird.
There's no need to spend money on some branded goods like chopped tomatoes, fish fingers or tuna when Sainsbury's basics are just as good.
For breakfast I usually eat some porridge or toast, occasionally cheap cereal, and some fruit. Lunch is either reheated leftovers or a sandwhich of cheese salad or tuna, with some peanut butter/cheese crackers and fruit to snack on.
Tomato sauce (onion, garlic, tomatoes, maybe some basil) to which you can add what you chicken or mince, or black olives, capers and anchovies. Peppers are cheap if you get the big mixed bag rather than 80p each, there's nothing wrong with the green ones!
Soups as mentioned, root veg are cheap as are dried spices.
Curry can be dead cheap, curry powder, onion, garlic, ginger, Butternut squash or chicken.
Slow cooked cuts of beef such as chuck steak and brisket (a bit harder to find though), and pork shoulder can make some great chilli and when buying chicken get a whole bird.
There's no need to spend money on some branded goods like chopped tomatoes, fish fingers or tuna when Sainsbury's basics are just as good.
For breakfast I usually eat some porridge or toast, occasionally cheap cereal, and some fruit. Lunch is either reheated leftovers or a sandwhich of cheese salad or tuna, with some peanut butter/cheese crackers and fruit to snack on.
You can do it for £15 very easily if you're prepared to put some kitchen time. I almost did it for £10 per week with a rule of free range meat and fresh produce, but my ~3300 calorie demand for my training holds back how little I can spend.
Essentially, don't buy anything pre-prepared. Despite others in this thread recommending ready-made sauces, this is an expensive way of consuming sauces. Economy sauces are full of the lowest quality ingredients, they are watered down, the calorie quality is low and you can make home-made sauces with better quality ingredients for much less. Cut down your meat intake and eat more pulses and vegetables.
Essentially, don't buy anything pre-prepared. Despite others in this thread recommending ready-made sauces, this is an expensive way of consuming sauces. Economy sauces are full of the lowest quality ingredients, they are watered down, the calorie quality is low and you can make home-made sauces with better quality ingredients for much less. Cut down your meat intake and eat more pulses and vegetables.