Extra Easy £20 a week budget for 3 weeks

[dudette2001uk]

Hi there,

After forgetting about my car bill (bloody oil leak, and useless bloke who didn't send the bill out for 6 weeks!) and being very naughty and buying a Wii, I've worked out I have about £20 a week budget for the next 3 weeks until pay day (£25 at the most!)

What sort of meals could I cook on EE, or what food should I buy for £20? There's only me to cook for, but I did have spag bol this week, so I'm a bit sick of it! I also don't have a lot of freezer space (houseshare woes!) so meals that would be ok in the fridge and reheated would be good

Sian xxx

 

[big bear]

Quiches, chips, beans, pasta with sauces with onions, mushrooms.

Buy chicken thighs cheaper & tasty just remove the skin.

Buy frozen veg.

Sorry not sure if much help here.

 

[dudette2001uk]

Thanks hun! It's my own silly fault for spending too much All ideas are much appreciated, so thank you! xx

 

[Babysham80]

Soups! Chuck all your left over and spoiling veg and make a yummy soup for a couple of meals. Get in to the supermarkets between 7-9pm and veg/meat is 75% or more off original selling price. I would try to stay clear of salad if the pennies are rather tight cause I think that can be expensive...

 

[Babysham80]

...or get loads of tinned veg in, value brands are harmless, i love vaule mushy peas, great super speed snack on green days

 

[dudette2001uk]

Babysham80 - thanks for the tip about the meat! I hadn't realised it was that much cheaper at that time of night. Will definitely try that! Also, staying away from salad sounds like a good idea, as it does seem quite expensive xx

 

[evilpenguin]

Hi Sian

I started buying my veg out of a greengrocers, its so much better and cheaper, supermarkets overcharge and their fruit is always brick hard until it goes off so there's an area to make a possible saving - that or buy frozen veggies for things like casseroles/stews. I would do lots of pasta dishes ie carbonara, cannelloni, macaroni and bolonese. Morrisons usually have offers on their mince which you can use in a number of dishes like burgers, curries, chilli. Do you have a slow cooker? A cheap packet of beef with some stew veggies and stock makes a great meal and you can always freeze it. These are just some of the things I cook and my budget is usually around £20 per person per week.

Hope this helps x

 

[dudette2001uk]

Thanks evilpenguin!! If you don't mind me asking, what do you use for macaroni cheese? Do you use fromage frais/yoghurt? If so, what are they like for reheating the following day? I made macaroni cheese for mum and dad this week but couldn't have any as it was a proper homemade cheese sauce xx

 

[evilpenguin]

I use this recipe http://www.minimins.com/slimming-wo...-other-night-luxury-macaroni-cheese-pics.html it uses a sauce of yoghurt and eggs with cheese and other stuff thrown in! It's amazing. I've never reheated it so don't know how it turns out sorry! Maybe StaceyUK could answer that or anyone else whos used the recipe. It's not that I wouldn't reheat it, it's just so yummy I never leave any to reheat lol

 

[dudette2001uk]

Evilpenguin - thanks for the recipe hun. Sounds lovely! xx

 

[Karen]

buy lots of tinned tomatoes and tinned veg as they are cheap and can be used as a base for anything... just add different spices depending on whether you are having jacket spud, pasta or rice. Asda are doing 6 tins of the napolina toms for £3 at the mo.

isnt there a students area on the website as well? if so, it'll be good for cheap ideas. xxx

 

[janegreen]

have you tried Farmfoods for frozen meat and veg, for example a bag of upto 6 chicken breasts for £4.75 and they are huge, loads of frozen veg £1 a bag.

 

[ninnins]

you are me last month!

I had a good root through the cupboards and freezer to see what food i had already then planned meals around this making a list of only the foods that I needed. I stuck to the list and bought a few of the items at a reduced rate (close date) and did my shopping for a whopping £8.91! This ended up lasting over a week! It can be done, you just need to be careful

 

[louisehj]

As others have said the value brands will be better value - i have just come back from Asda and got the following low syn/free things

Smart price gammon rounds £1 for a pack of 2
Smart price tinned chilli con carne about 41p
Smart price tinned spaghetti bolognaise again about 41p
Smart price chopped tomatoes
Smart price eggs 15 for £1.20 ish
Smart price frozen cauliflower about 71p (there are other veg too)

just a couple of ideas. Do you have a food directory if so you could look through that for the value brands that are low syn.

 

[gemma_]

in student part on slimming world site they have recipes for under £4.... then you can freeze some things like bolognase

 

[dudette2001uk]

Well...I didn't quite manage to keep to £20 this week. It came out as £29 But I bought some things that will last me for at least a couple of weeks as they have long dates on them etc. Also bought 3 quorn items as they were on offer which I can freeze and have over the next 3 weeks. So I'm getting there! I cut down on some of my luxuries this week, so it wasn't too much over my £25 absolute maximum

Thank you all for your advice though! I'm still amazed by how helpful and supportive everybody is on Minimins

Sian xxx

 

[tarka]

If you have a market nearby try that for fruit & veg also go to a butchers for meat and tell them what you can afford and ask what they can offer for that. We have a butchers in town who does "meat for the week" which seems to be based on a family of 4 and costs £10 for loads of stuff (mince, gammon, whole chicken, steak and something else that I can't remember, might be sausages but you get the idea)!!

 

[LadyHelen]

Spag Bol and Chilli work out as pennies per portion. I can get 8 portions out of 500g of extra lean mince, just bulk it out with grated carrot, onion and frozen mushrooms

This is a great tip - also a can of value baked beans chucked in with spag bol or chilli will stretch it out across at least another portion, maybe 2 if you're careful.

 

[CheeksForKeeps]

WOW this post Is great! I feel the pain of a broke student haha Also Eggs are a godsend.. so filling you wouldnt believe! I always say you need a good start to the day, Id ususally have my brekki around 8.. have a slice of brown bread HEB with a mushed up banana (yumm) and while your munching on that have an egg boiling.. You'll be stuffed till 12 or 1 at least!

You can also make yummy omelettes or even egg fried rice if your looking for a take away distraction! Very easy to make all you need is an egg, some peas, ground pepper and/or lemon for a bit of bite and rice! Best of all its all free.. infact Im getting hungry now xx

 

[Lexie_dog]

This will feed a family of 4 for £25 a week, or about 80p per day

I dunno how you'd SW it, I'd not looked at it in that much detail.

Hope its some help though

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