How to eat as cheaply as possible , suggestions needed.

To eat cheap the key rule is to not buy meat.

I spend about 20 euro per week, and i can live really fine on it. Me and the missus cook lots of different things. Potatoe fritatas, salad and tzasiki (home made for VERY cheap) or something.

Ommelletes and bakes beans

Vegetable chilli, super cheap, just buy a few more mushrooms.

We cook everything from scratch and never buy anything frozen or packaged.

Always have a massive salad bowl full of everything in the fridge, ready to go every night with food and things.
 
Cooking in bulk is the best way to go for cheap home cooked food. Pots of soup, big pasta dishes, chilis, currys all keep okay and can be done cheaply in bulk. A cheap bag of oats will keep you going for ages in the morning. Hit up Aldi for the super 6 cheap fruit and veg.
 
you can buy sacks of rice that will last ages and its a lot cheaper than buying tiny bags at the supermarket.

cooked and chopped/sliced chicken breast can usually be bought frozen for pretty cheap and they usually come in different flavours aswell
 
Dark_Injection said:
To eat cheap the key rule is to not buy meat.
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In general its a good rule, but there are good value exceptions, such as mine above, and whole chickens as have been mentioned earlier (A hell of a lot of meat on a whole chicken that ppl often leave out cos it takes a bit of work - or a min max if your willing to get you hands dirty, and proper stock is invaluable imo).

Its generally lean meat which is really costly.
 
Contrary to a post above, some frozen veg can be miles cheaper than their fresh equivalents:

Peas
Beans
Sweetcorn
Broccoli

I never find frozen carrots are up to much and don't find cauliflower freezes that well but carrots especially are dirt cheap if you go to the right places.
 
Thank you for all the suggestions and your time guys, I will consider them all , they are all really helpful suggestions.
Anyway long story short, Now I only have to budget like this for a month as my finance situation has changed yet again for the better.
It should make Christmas a lot more enjoyable, not having to worry about how much I spend on food and been able to eat what I wish. :)
 
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Kanifee said:
Bargain shelf's in the supermarkets can actually be full of little gems, do not discount them so easily as it could bring you some great little alternatives that provide a tasty meal you will be craving after set cheap meals.

Stew packs are cheap this time of year, cook a decent batch and you have a few lunch's made ready to be warmed, also a god send in the cold weather, for the sake of 3-4 euros you will have 3-4 lunch's, maybe more.

Noodles and veg for a stir fry will also be very cheap.
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Thanks , Yeah there are a lot of cheap gems on the super market shelf's like mini meals and tinned meals for 1 - 2 euros plus the half price and reduced deals.
I haven't seen any stew packs so far localy though. :(
but vege and meat are very cheap if I shop in the right places and get the right cuts.
stewing beef is very cheap.

QuickLink said:
It's got to be a mix of scanning for bargains, cheap cuts of meat (offcuts of ham for pea & ham soup for example), bellys, cheeks, you can normally ask at a butchers for off cuts and slow cook them etc.
Do stuff in larger batches, one pots, soups, etc. Then freeze them in meal size containers or sealed bags. This stops the waste when you defrost too much etc.
Try and use everything you have to the most you can. i.e. you buy a whole chicken for 3quid, you can get 3 meals out of that. (breasts, thighs/legs, stock from carcass)

Pulses are cheap as well, normally cheaper if you have to soak and cook them too rather than in a tin. They're very good bulkers and good nutritional things as well.
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Thank you for the advice, I do enjoy chicken soup , so I could make that from the stock with a few left over veges. :)
One place here is selling 6 chicken breasts for 5 euros, they seem to do it all the time , so I could essentially live on chicken, although I would rather get some red meat into my diet.
There is one butcher shop in town which specializes in pork , bacon and they always have great bargins.
Bacon chops 1 euro each.

I can get all the meat I can eat for a week for about 10 euros , even if I get the whole chickens or not , but they are way cheaper and worth it in my opinion, the whole chickens :)

I will keep off cuts in mind but I am not a big fan of them to be honest, but I can always try them once and see if I like them.

Btone said:
i would say take a good look around your town and surrounding country side at what shops there are, i know were i am in ireland on the outskirts of the town is a farm shop, i can buy enough veggies there (unwashed) for £5 that will last me a week (what more they last and taste better) were as in tesco £5 would not even get enough veggies for 2 days
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There is shops like that in town here, I am quite fond of their fresh veges. they sure are delicious :)
Much better than the super market stuff.
Although aldi are very cheap for veges.
 
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HazardO said:
Mixed bean chilli and rice with melted cheese to up the protein content (No mince).
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sounds good, i could add some stewing beef to that i sapose, I do try to get a little meat into my diet, even when times are tough.

King Damager said:
30-50 a week. Easy.

Smart Price Pasta/Rice + Pasatta. Then beef it up with some mince, veg or the such like. If you're feeling really cheep, it's pasta + Cheese + peas.

kd
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Cheers :) I do that as it is.
DirtyJester said:
Is porridge listed yet....
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I have porridge every morning for breakfast now.
 
Think about your purchases, one decent £10 chicken will have the same amount of meat on it and taste better than 3 16 week old chickens if you have any social consciousness should be the one you buy.
 
boxman2000 said:
Do you have a freezer?

If so then I'd suggest you make yourself batches of food - although it may cost you a little bit upfront it'll last you ages.

We make batches of chilli con carne (we use lamb but beef is much cheaper) and it's easy to pack out with beans which are cheap and filling (I use the BBC Good Food recipe and do 2-3x the quantity of beans). Serve with rice (1 cup of rice is plenty for two people and probably costs 20 pence).

Also soup is great - get yourself down to a farmers market and grab a big bag of potatoes and some other veg. You can pad this out with bread or even a little bit of pasta. Leek and potato soup is great and not expensive.

With the potatoes from the farmers market, again if you have a freezer you could prepare some mash potato in advance or even a cottage pie.

For meat, cheapest option is a whole chicken. Co-op here are doing a chicken for £3.50 and we did one yesterday that easily would do three meals for two people and a little bit left over for our daughter. Same again here, batch cooking is the way to go if you can – sometimes 3 chickens for £10 deals are around and means you can save money/time. Also learn to make chicken stock from the carcasses as adding a few offcuts –
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall has a good recipe that uses leftovers/offcuts to save those pennies.

Couscous is cheap and filling. We’ve been doing the chicken and couscous dish on BBC Good Food and using special offer chicken thigh/leg combos (usually £2 for 4x legs and 4x thighs).

Time your purchases as well, i.e. if you like pumpkin then wait until after Halloween when people will almost be giving them away – great for soup and pumpkin pie!

If you do go to a farmers market don't forget to stock up on onions and garlic which if stored correctly can last a little while.
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Thanks , I will look into all sorts of recipes I can cook in batches.
There is not a lot of freezer room but it would still help.
 
maccapacca said:
Think about your purchases, one decent £10 chicken will have the same amount of meat on it and taste better than 3 16 week old chickens if you have any social consciousness should be the one you buy.
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I will bare that in mind , although 3 smaller chickens are a lot more convenient,with limited space.
Since I can buy them as I need them.
Also limited storage to keep the food fresh in. (fridge , freezer)
Once I have more storage , I will keep what you said in mind.
 
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spoffle said:
50 euros a week for food shopping? That seems pretty generous to me.

I eat A LOT of good food and it doesn't cost any where near to 50 euros a week.

I do cook nearly all of my food "from scratch" rather than buying ready/packaged meal type of things though.
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That is what I want to get into doing , cooking everything from scratch.
I think if I can be careful with my money, I can start doing it more regularly and within my budget of 30 - 50 depending on which week of the month it is, but in fareness , I'll be okay money wise in a months time as things have improved money wise for me , but I wont use that as an excuse to over spend on food , I still need to stay money conscious.
 
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Glaucus said:
No need to skip anything with that price.

If you have a freezer it makes things so much easier, just buy in bulk, cook it up and freeze.
Look at altipernative meat cuts as well. Like beef short ribs, so cheap and makes amazing stews.

Get a big ass pork shoulder and do pulled pork, stuff. It in some rolls with a bit of salad or coleslaw and that's lunch sorted for about two week.

Get two kilos of beef mince, some tinned tomatoes, chili powder, kidney beans and that's probably 8+ portions of chili, to freeze up.

Living on that price you do not need to skimp at all, just a bit of planning.

If just made a chilli

800g beef mince £7.98
1000g pork mince. £4.58
3 cans chopped tomatoes £2.07
2 cans kidney beans in chili sauce £1.30
1/5 Bag of onions £1, 20p
4 garlic cloves 10p
Chilli powder 50p

£17.73, 8 portions that's £2.21, although its more like 8-12 portions depending how greedy you are.
And it would be easy to make it a lot cheaper, with cheaper meat or all pork. Can serve it with rice, flat bread, jacket potatoes etc.

There's 6 portions, more in the pan, just ran out of foil containers. I did use a slightly more complicated recipe.
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For 30-50 a week there's no need for these drastic student type recipes.

So many things you can do, if you freeze.

Just need some more foil tins.
Got more to do this week, got lamb shanks, pulled pork, pork ribs to do.
Then next time I do a shop I'll get some stuff to do like 10pies.
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Thanks very much for the advice , I will have to bug you sometime for more recipes.
Know of any good cook books on batch cooking ?
 
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99Androidguy777 said:
Thanks very much for the advice , I will have to bug you sometime for more recipes.
Know of any good cook books on batch cooking ?
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I don't know any specific books.
I use www.foodgawker.com these days for pretty much all my recipes. Just see what takes your interest, plants of things freeze, well a few things don't. Ay meat in sauce will almost certainly freeze well, so spag Bol, chili, meatballs, curry, stews etc.
 
pasta and noodles kept me alive at uni for a long time.
mince is always good and can be used in a variety of dishes.
potato, prepared in different ways can make it seem like your eating different dishes even though its all the same ingredients
 
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