To think it’s actually hard to live off this for the rest of the month?!

Another example of the internet age and computers vs learning stuff at school that is actually useful. When I was at school (centuries ago) we had proper cookery lessons every week. We would take all the ingredients for a dish, prepare and cook it - boys and girls. Nowadays the emphasis seems to be on tech which is great to look for info but not so great if you're hungry.

People should really prioritise what is important in their lives. I often hear people moaning that they have no money but spend a fortune on mobile phones and the internet etc. You will probably argue that your NEED the internet to live but food is far more necessary.

Jamie Oliver did a £1 a portion series of recipes, available on line. When you go shopping take a list and stick to it. It is easy to get side tracked into buying stuff you don't need. Before you go, plan ahead and try to get a balance so you're not having the same sort of thing everyday. Pasta everyday for a week is a bit boring. Steer clear of ready meals as they are expensive for what they are, you are paying someone to make them for you, and they are over processed, so full of salt and other undesireables.

Frozen peas and beans are good value as you don't pay for the pods, they are frozen quickly so keep their nutrients and you only need to cook the amount you need. I often add frozen peas or broad beans to dishes as they bulk them up without adding too much to the cost.

With batch cooking eg stews, curries etc you can freeze portions easily in either plastic bags, there are loads of different ones in all supermarkets or for a more sustainable option use the click-lock type of containers (systema is the best because it is affordable but doesn't have the transferable nasties that some plastics do).

Don't buy named brands but instead use supermarket own brands, if you already do this try a cheaper supermarket. I always make a bee-line for the reduced and short dated sections wherever I shop. Dented tins are great because the contents are fine and the tin will be crushed for recycling anyway.

Stir frying is easy, favourite veg and protein of choice (I'm vegan so I use tofu). Dust the protein in flour, which you can season with (sea) salt and pepper (black is best) then fry in hot oil, you don't need a wok, a deepish saucepan will do, when browned I remove and then do the veg. Start with what takes longest eg onions, then peppers, courgettes, broccoli etc and add a sachet of your favourite stir fry sauce (very cheap and less hassle than making one). Put the protein back in to heat and serve with rice, instructions are always on packet. Tip for the veg, cut into similar sized pieces so they cook more evenly. This you can batch make and freeze but it is better to cook the rice fresh each time.

When you have made a few easy options you will become more confident and start experimenting with different ingredients. This is how all recipes evolved. Chicken Tikka Masala happened by accident in a curry house in Birmingham when a customer ordered a curry and I think they said it was too dry, so the owner added a tin of tomato soup, it was enjoyed by all who had it and hey presto a truly British curry was born. Puff pastry happened because the cook forgot to add the butter or and so added it after when rolling out the dough. When cooked, the butter left little air holes in the pastry thus creating flakey/puff pastry.

Don't be afraid to have a go. There are bound to be some simple ideas on line which you can then adapt as you get more confident. If you have never been taught something you can't be expected to magically know how to do it. You are not the only person who can't (or thinks they can't) cook, so get in the kitchen and rattle those pots and pans because you don't know what you can do till you try.

Shop weekly instead of every day and you will save a fortune. For one person and a cat you could save yourself £150 a week, £600 a month &7200 a year.

You can actually see some of the menu cards online - https://www.hellofresh.co.uk/recipes

This bangers and mash recipe - https://www.hellofresh.co.uk/recipes/quick-bangers-and-garlic-mash-665f1dcc90118509c3abf166 is easy. It obviously serves 4, but it's easy to halve the ingredients. I often can't be bothered with making the gravy as per their recipe unless I've got the box, so I've just got a tub of bisto in the cupboard.

Seems plenty to me, we spend that a month on two adults for everything and we eat well. It’s not like you need shampoo or laundry tablets every week surely? We meal plan, batch cook and use beans/veg to bulk out things like chilli or curries. There’s lots of instagram accounts where there are cheap meal ideas.

It's not your fault that nobody taught you how to cook. But it would be great if you could teach yourself - or find somebody to teach you. You could ask a work colleague if they would show you some simple recipes?

Or you could use youtube. There is a man called ChefJackOvens who does simple teaching videos. Maybe just pick two of his recipes to start with. Buy the pans and ingredients that you need, then practice them until you get them right. Good luck!

Perfect comment! Good food website will be your best friend! Those little dish do work out pricey compared!

Switch to aldi/lidl for shopping if you haven't already.
Don't be scared of trying own brand items, their dishwasher tablets are great for example and a fraction of the cost of branded ones. Same with washing tablets, a box of own brand powder would work out much cheaper (Aldi's/Asda is good)
Never buy ready prepped veg or fruit, for convenience frozen is cheaper and just as good for you.
Buying in bulk is usually cheaper too like a big pack of mince that will do 2+ meals that you can freeze in portions (will last 6 months in freezer), also you can bulk out meat with red lentils half and half.
If you're struggling to cook or find ideas I really like bbc good food website, or eat well for less (BBC or facebook page), or actually I get good ideas in the free magazines you get in Asda & Tesco each month - they usually have a 5 day meal planner or similar.
Meal planning is essential, and a shopping list, do it on the weekend for the week and then you only buy what you need and can do things like buy a whole chicken for Sunday then leftover cooked chicken in a stirfry or pasta on Monday (frozen veg and dried noodles for stirfry not the pre packed stuff!).
I spend about £100 a week on groceries for a family of 4 so definitely possible.

I completely understand how exhausting it can be to work full time and then come home and have to cook a meal. It can be tempting to reach for convenience foods. But if you’re concerned about budgeting, those items would be the first I’d cross off the shopping list.

Also if you’ve never done much cooking, it can seem mysterious and intimidating. But it’s really not! Take a look at some websites or YouTube videos with basic recipes. They will give step by step instructions. The BBC Good Food site has a lot of recipes for easy dinners. That’s just one example, there are loads more.

Ignore the pile on from some people @munnyya

If you were never taught how to cook, and you've managed sufficiently on your own, you don't know you're missing a skill until finances get in your way.

I'm glad you've had some good advice on here (ignoring the pearl clutchers).

Re dishwasher tablets, etc, Smol do free trials then a box of 30 tablets is £6.30. Otherwise I only buy what's on special offer at the supermarket and I look at the price per tablet thing on the shelf. If it's a decent brand for about 11-14p a tablet, I'll buy those! (Unless it's the lemon scented ones - can't stand them!)

In terms of food storage if you're batch cooking, I bought some plastic food containers from Amazon like you'd get from a takeaway (https://www.amazon.co.uk/10-Pack-Rectangular-Plastic-Containers-Leak-Proof/dp/B076T7651S/ref=sr_1_4?crid=3TDYVT4TMUHP6&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.MYE60IpeWF1dES4GqAzXbJVliV20239DW5T-w7iEStvAF9qXzmR_NoA4uJkqE7TYD9bJJI0hoHfp0SCw5Gf11TLHdDvJqXoGkyloEs83PhI3V85PGX3X0JQrpiw-TprsurwkqZTGS8c5XNA_ntWgNMhIxR_6VhUpWMJUnKzFVa3lGRAHciwkhQGJ5f9PnWa8BV8rK0_TLWAlPvRDh9K8bRBL_O2_ysQJ7TWP63mg06zQpZQ_jGOYEiurZbYn_QwO9Sbrb37owUfDdD9rEbMjvv439eTQPiKypfllS36SnmM.t4jTpCcxCWBNORH6ucpOoMPsRgG-lhu0IfU2nGdDG0Y&dib_tag=se&keywords=plastic+food+containers+with+lids&qid=1722938257&s=kitchen&sprefix=plastic+fod+%2Ckitchen%2C87&sr=1-4). They're reusable and clean nicely in the dishwasher. They're not the best quality for long term use, but they're cheap and I'm still using the ones I bought a year ago. Yes, nice glass dishes with lids are better, but they're also a lot more expensive and take up more room when empty.

Otherwise, if I make a lasagna, I put it in freezer bags.

BBC has a good article here about batch cooking, with links to recipes - https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/batch-cooking-beginners. Point 3 is the most important.

A tomato based pasta sauce can be used to hide a multitude of veggies and use up any veggies that are past their best, as can soups. My parents make a lot of soup and freeze it. They label everything but often have "surprise soup" lunches when the labelling's come off!

A roast chicken can go a long way too. Roast it on a Sunday then use it in pastas, salads, sandwiches for a few days after. You can pick up a small whole roast chicken for £3.22 in Tesco. They charge £4.50 for two pre-prepped chicken breasts.

You'd be worth buying some herbs and spice mixes that make even just plain chicken interesting. I like the Schwartz classic BBQ seasoning. It's £2 for a jar in tesco, but lasts a long time. https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/254777561 - goes well on chicken and on potato wedges. I make potato wedges and chips myself. As below, a baking potato is 23p at Tesco, which would also provide a portion of chips or wedges for 1. Just toss them in a bit of oil, sprinkle on some salt and pepper or anything else you fancy, and chuck in the oven on a baking tray for 35 mins (or an air fryer for about 25).

For a cheap meal you can't beat a jacket potato. One of my favourite meals when I lived alone was a couple of sausages chopped up and fried off, then served with a jacket potato piled with baked beans and some cheese (buy blocks, not pre-grated).

Jacket potato - £0.23 per potato
Sausages - £0.81 for 3 sausages from the tesco 12 pack that costs £3.25
Baked beans - £0.60 for a small tin of Branston (can't scrimp on beans IMO) or £0.80 for a big one out of a pack of 4
Grated cheese - £0.49 for 50g of a 550g pack of Cathedral City (again, I like CC cheese)

Total = £2.93 for dinner. If you bought 4 potatoes, the above would cost £12.77 and would give you four meals with half a pack of cheese left over. The sausages you can freeze (separate them first into portions as they can be a bugger if they stick together) and potatoes, cheese and beans last for ages if stored properly.

It's not the most nutritious of meals, granted, but it's a nice comfort meal.

I hope you take from this OP that it's ok to have not been taught these things and that I hope you feel a little excitement that you might be able to save some money but also create some lovely tasty meals for yourself.

I love watching cooking videos on tiktok and you tube!

You could likely get by without dishwasher tablets.

We spend £250 on a month's worth of food & toiletries and that's for two adults and a cat, your budget is absolutely doable. Meal planning is your friend!

I've also got loyalty cards and apps for all the supermarkets. You often get something for free from M and S or Lidl. I save Nectar points for £2.50 off with Sainsbury's.

I pick up any free magazines (especially Waitrose weekly newspaper and monthly Food magazine) for cookery ideas and more vouchers.

For almost instant cash you can eBay stuff or do Prolific surveys online.

@munnyya no one taught me to cook either. I found this brilliant page on Facebook- feed your family for about £20 a week- it covers all the questions you're asking. If you message the page with what you need advice on, they'll post it anonymous and the community is amazing. They have a website with all their recipes, it was set up by mums so they're not time consuming or difficult.
Once you have a few quid spare I highly recommend their first book to get you started on meal planning.

I was like you, spending roughly £300 sometimes more a month on groceries. Now it's half of that. I don't feel like I've lost any time either as a lot of things I can batch cook or prep in advance.

For now try to get all fruit and veg in the green grocery rather than a super market. It stays fresh longer and it's often cheaper. Same with meat from butchers. Especially in this weather, look for any prepacked bbq packs. I got one last week for £15 with enough to last us a fortnight. Get some plastic food bags, sandwich bags will do, and pack everything individually and freeze.

I don't want to come across as patronising, I was like you once and I felt silly asking for help. But no one taught us this stuff, if we can learn, we can pass the knowledge onto the kids and break this cycle.

You could ditch the brands like organix.

You've asked about food storage

Fridge

Don't keep half a tin of stuff in the tin. Tip it out into a bowl. You can cover it with cling film. Or save take away containers or plastic pots (from yoghurt etc) as storage.

You can keep most stuff 2-3 days or longer.

Freezer

Use freezer bags. I prefer the ones where you can tie the top in a knot. The ones with the zip are fiddly.

You can also use plastic takeaway containers.

If you go online and buy a pack of silver trays and lids, these are useful and you can put meals in them and take them from the freezer into the oven.

Technically, you can keep food in the freezer for months. The texture will start to deteriorate after 4 months but you can still eat it.

You can chop up and freeze:

Sweet peppers
Lemons and limes
Stem ginger
Herbs
Onions
Garlic
Grated cheese

Also

Mashed potato
Bacon
Pretty much any cooked meal

The only real freezer rule is don't thaw anything then put it back in the freezer. If you do thaw something, you need to cook it then it is ok to put it back in the freezer.

It's not much if that's all you have left once bills are paid every month. I'd struggle with that as a single person. It's less than £100 for food, transport, clothing and socialising. Even the most frugal of Mumsnetters must concede that's a tight budget! If it's a one-off, it's doable, but it's every month, then you need to consider how to increase your household income.

Can you look at what you change branded to non branded for? Can you shop in eg pound shops fit some things? Make lists, look at what will last two days eg we did meatballs and they lasted two days etc. best of luck op x

Even without "proper" cooking, you can save a fortune on ready meals, tins, and packets, just by shopping around, and researching which supermarkets sell each thing cheaper than the others, look out for their offers, i.e. 3 for 2, clubcard discounts, or just temporary reductions. EG mccoys multipack crisps are always on offer somewhere between the main 3/4 supermarkets - if they're full price in Morrisons, they're probably half price in Tesco etc.

Just buy the non perishables (cans, packets, etc) when you see them on offer. Go to Aldi or Lidl for all the stuff that you don't want to be "big names", i.e. their own brand baked beans instead of Heinz etc. If you want to save money you have to be proactive.

Re the big stores for named items, do them in rotation, i.e. Morrisons on Monday, Tesco on Friday, Sainsbury the following Monday, etc. so you'll get the "offers/discounts" somewhere within a 10 day/2 week period.

Get all the store discount/club cards you can and use them - research what they offer and if you get extra points or a discount by buying, say, baked beans in Tesco, then buy your baked beans in Tesco with the club card - if there's no deal in Tesco but you can get extra Nectar points in Sainsbury for buying the same beans at the same price, buy them in Sainsbury. Even if you don't do online shopping, create online accounts with the main stores, and you can go online to see their offers/discounts from the comfort of your sofa, so you can plan your shopping lists to go to the store which has the best offers for what you need that week.

If all else fails, start getting into the habit of looking at the "short dated" area in the supermarket - even if you don't need it immediately, you can usually freeze to use subsequently. If you want to save money, you can't afford to be choosy and if there's several ready meal lasagnes at half price, then you need to buy a couple and either eat them or freeze them.

Also STOP doing interim "fill in" shops, especially stop going to smaller convenience stores, petrol stations, etc for the likes of bread and milk. You'll save a fortune by better planning so that you don't run out of stuff between "bigger" shops.

I think the OP could probably save 25% to 50% by buying virtually the same (i.e. no need to learn to cook etc) just by shopping around and taking advantage of the discounts/offers/loyalty cards, buying short dated items, not doing fill in shops, etc. All it takes is a bit of research and planning and flexibility. Obviously not ideal in terms of health and nutrition etc., but if short term finances are the aim, then it's a short term solution.

The op WILL be paying far more than she needs to do if she goes to the same shop all the time and isn't shopping around for deals/discounts - moreso if her "local" shop is a smaller convenience store (even if a big name). It's all a game to the supermarkets in cahoots with the main food manufacturers that they "rotate" the deals around the stores, so the more stores they go to, over say a month, the more they'll save over that month. Shoppers need to play it smart and play the stores at their own game by rotating and taking advantage of the deals.

You are relying too much on convenience foods. 2 kilo of potatoes is about £1.60 at Tesco and that should last a while - bake or mash them yourself.
Duck breasts is more expensive than chicken. Buy a larger pack and divide into portions and keep in the freezer.
Don't buy ready made - online are loads of recipes for inexpensive but tasty meals.
Your child should eat the same as you, no need to get Little Dish.
Two eggs and toast make a nutritious breakfast. Add a banana for your child.
I make a delicious and easy soup that lasts four days lunches for two that costs me about £5 in ingredients (assuming some staple herbs and spices) for example.
Pasta is cheap and you can batch cook some sauces and then freeze in portion sizes for variety. Eat with a salad.
You say you were never taught to cook. Well teach yourself! You learn by doing.
You should have a pantry of staple items - if need be I could feed myself and daughter for about a week! It might be a bit boring but if I had to I could. Build it up over time.
Keep:
A variety of dried herbs and spices (smoked paprika, Italian herbs, cumin, coriander, salt and pepper are a good place to start).
Olive oil/cooking oil
Tinned chopped tomatoes
Tinned kidney beans
Tinned tuna (in water or brine)
A couple pasta sauces for convenience in a pinch (I like Lloyd Grossman and often reduced)
Pasta (spaghetti and penne or other shapes)
Rice
Oatmeal (makes a nice winter breakfast- again add some fruit)
Ketchup/mayo/mustard/sweet chilli sauce
Stock cubes

In your freezer keep:
Microwaveable cooked baked potatoes (this is a great basis for a quick meal - add tuna and sweetcorn mixed with a bit of mayo and serve with salad for example)
Frozen vegetables - relatively inexpensive and always there when you need them - we always have petite pois and sweet corn)

That's a good start. I also find doing the shop online keeps me from temptation and also you can see exactly how much you are spending and can easily comparison shop. Don't necessarily go for the cheapest (Tesco value crisps are vile for example).

OP, I get it because I was terrible at cooking for the longest time. A bit different for me but my real motivation for improving my cooking was my partner, because eating takeaways was unsustainable for the pair of us and while I would happily get by on toast and bitty foods, he wants proper meals. It has been great though, now I adore cooking, love making meals and will volunteer to cook when people come over.

None of my ideas are original, they are all sourced from recipes (BBC Good Food is amazing!) and then as you get more experienced you know which ingredients to drop and where you can cut corners or add your own twist. I'd advise building up a small spice rack – it's amazing how flavourful things can taste with just a few spices (pepper, salt, paprika, garlic powder, oregano and cumin would be my most used). Gousto or Hello Fresh as someone mentioned were also great for learning new techniques and getting ideas – you can get discount codes and then after a while, you can stop because you have a whole stash of recipe cards you can keep forever and just order the ingredients yourself.

@munnyya I'm a bit late, so haven't read all the messages and may be repeating.

You have to pick a struggle - broke amd buying ready meals or learning to cook so you can be less stressed. There's really no other choice.

BBC Good food, YouTube, influencers and even the supermarket websites have recipes. Start small and your confidence will grow as you go.

Jamie Oliver's 5 ingredients book is good for simple food. I'd also watch some tiktok or youtube shorts of simple meals just for inspiration really and it helps to actually see the food being cooked. If you're concerned about storage you can always just cook one simple fresh meal at a time and then work up to batch cooking and storing in the freezer.

I don’t consider dishwasher tablets a luxury either. However if you’re struggling for cash then you need to make changes, and swapping out dishwasher tablets is an example of a change you can make. If money isn’t a problems then carry on doing what you’re doing, but your post suggests that it is.

There's not much to learn about prep/storage

If you pick a recipe it will tell you what to do and at the bottom it will usually say freeze like this
Basically it's either in the fridge or the freezer or defrosting!

This is a good account for slow cooker

www.instagram.com/boredoflunch?igsh=Nmk0ZGRrYm1vd2lv

I'm with you OP every day I pop to the shop it's £30 or so. I'd struggle on that budget and it's just me and the cat 😺