Thread: Meals for a very tight budget...

...just wondering if anyone has any they wouldn't mind sharing? I'm ridiculously poor at the moment. But made sure I can attend SW as bought a countdown with my JSA.

Thanks

Lou xx

hiyer, i'm trying hard to cut bills, have started buying the 800g of mince, as you can spilt this into 3, so works out cheap(freeze whateverevers left out of what you make) the bacon rounds are good to have with sw chips(most supermarkets £1), also try doing baked potatoes, there is a budget menu on sw site, and if you search here, some good budget meal ideas. Hope this helps, Oh anothere good idea is soup, i sometimes but i £1 frozen bag od frozen cassorole veg, a gammon hock for £1.59 from morrisions, makes lovely soup, you get load, buy some pour and stor bsgs from home bargins, and pop them in the freezers. Hope this helps.

syn free chips - or jacket potato or smash and beans
Pasta with tin toms and some mixed veg thrown in
mixed veg soup - boil it all up and blitz it

Originally Posted by loobieluck

...just wondering if anyone has any they wouldn't mind sharing? I'm ridiculously poor at the moment. But made sure I can attend SW as bought a countdown with my JSA.

Thanks

Lou xx

I find Green days brilliant for when im on a budget. I love things like baked bean lasagne, mash & baked beans, quorn cottage pie, potato bakes, jacket potatoes etc.

Do you have a local butchers or a farm near you? I tend to go them and buy a big bag of potatoes, its only £5 here so really cheap compared to the small rip of bags of potatoes in supermarkets.

The bags of spuds come in all shapes and sizes too so great for anything from new potatoes to massive jacket potatoes.

I hope this helps xxx

Green days can be done very well on a budget.
we are on a very small budget and have managed very well on sw--indeed got to target on it in 7 months--and eat a very wide and varied diet across all 3 plans.
we also look out for reduced things that we can freeze and use another time(i rarely pay above half price for meat or fish for example).
we also make sure we are aware of what cheapest,seasonal and on offer across all the shops.aldi's super 6 is often fantastic for being the basis of your fruit and vegetables for the week. at the moment for example morrisons has nets of clementines for 50p.....very good and very cheap.
dont settle into a routine of eating the same things all the time...if you are prepared to swap and change things a bit according to offers or things you've bought reduced etc you can really eat well and varied.
also planning can help as you can research cheaper recipies,stick to them and only shop for them.

I have just discovered my local butcher. Well, when I say "discovered", I knew he was there, but had assumed without checking that he was a bit expensive.

Then I found that among the large joints and huge chickens (too much for me on my own) he also does much smaller things, aimed at pensioners and other people living alone.

Yesterday I got a pheasant leg for 40p and it is cooking in my slow cooker right now. He also sometimes has chicken carcasses (left over from jointing chickens) which still have a lot of meat on them and are great for soups and stews and they are only 50p for two.

Have a look here - this works out at roughly 50p a day, and I'm not sure how it translates to SW but it should be tinkerable with, for example the apple curd on toast prob not SW suitable, but the porridge is, as is the bean pate sandwiches, cottage pie, changing something else for the cur would be fine too...

Cheap Family Recipes | Low Cost Meals | Reduce Food Bills | Eat For Less Money

It depends what you like eating, do you like lentils, soups, dahls, stews, beans, meat, all vegetables?

What shops do yo have near you?

Farmfoods can do some very good frozen veg, milk and staples offers but it all depends what you have near you.

We have started to cut our chickens in half. this was done so we could have a mid week roast and not waste so much, plus also saving us money.

I too have started to buy the large packets of mince and split them, i have also done this on the pasta sauce my OH insists on using (hates my homemade one..cheek).

I am new to SW (this time - have done it before!) and have found buying my fruit and veg from Aldi or Lidl is way cheaper than the big supermarkets. I have saved loads the last two weeks doing this! I have a slow cooker so also buy cheaper cuts of meat.

I tend to buy bags of frozen fruit and frozen veg as it works out a little cheaper. I think Sainsbury's are doing a '3 for £5' deal on their frozen fruit at the moment. Sugar free jelly can also be quite cheap and it's great for little snacks. I normally buy some cheap plastic cups when I do my shopping and fill them with frozen fruit and SF jelly to keep in the fridge.

I saw this on Sainsbury's website. It's not all SW friendly but some of them are -

Weekly Meal planner

Hi Loobieluck,

I made the following yummy tomato soup which has 4 servings and is free on all plans:

400g carton of sainsbury's basic chopped tomato (33p)
1 chopped carrot
1 chopped white onion
1 clove Garlic
1 litre stock made with 1 veg stock cube
Fry light
Black pepper to taste

Method:

Fry onions, carrot and garlic in fry light for 4-5 minutes over a medium heat then add the chopped tomatoes, stock and black pepper. Bring to the boil and then simmer for 25 mins. Then all you do is blend and it becomes lovely and thick.

Ps I nicked this recipe from the soup recipe thread on here and adapted it so it's not all my idea but it really is yummy. I'll pop by again if I think of anything else.

Aisha xx

Originally Posted by loobieluck

...just wondering if anyone has any they wouldn't mind sharing? I'm ridiculously poor at the moment. But made sure I can attend SW as bought a countdown with my JSA.

Thanks

Lou xx

I tend to do my food shopping online and only buy the stuff I need for my sw meals. Its much easier sticking to it rather than going in the shops and being tempted by loads of offers.
I also buy a big bag of potatoes from my local butcher, they are only £5 for a 25kg bag. And there are lots of sizes ideal for jacket potatoes etc.

I also go to places like the market or aldi and get my fresh fruits and veg or you could even buy frozen to save some money.

I also find sticking to green days cheaper, i buy lots of bulk pasta, potatoes and rice and make tons of meals using them all up.

Any leftovers i always save for work the nextday, again it stops me being tempted to go buy my lunch from a shop too.

I buy shop own brand of things like tomatoes, beans, sweetcorn, passata etc its just as good as the branded stuff. I now buy Sainsburys light yogurts too as they are just like mullerlights but tend to be cheaper most of the time and they are also syn free.
I hope this helps xxx

go to the thread where the bargains are lots of shopping bargians there

A really good cheap meal was created by my consultant's hubby, pasta, beans and cheese!! Boil the pasta, drain, stir in heated baked beans and top off with cheese. You can add any veg you like to the pasta, or if you like marmite you can add that as well! Sounds a bizarre mix but really cheap quick filling meal...enjoy!