To spend £30 a month on ALL food and drink?

This is easy. Do a big shop on 31st of the month for everything.

Spend £7 a week on milk, bread, and the odd non-frozen veggie.

Wait, you extol the virtues of real stock over stock cubes, but you were surprised that just eating biscuits and junk was not a good idea? I think I'm more firmly on the side of fake thread now.

Nope. Unless you have a well stocked freezer, tins, dried foods, seasonings etc. it would still be difficult. Utterly impossible without the aforementioned items. Even without buying a Greggs pizza slice…

Not possible if wanting healthy meals. Crap carbs are cheap. Fruit and veg and protein are more expensive. Big believer in batch cooking from scratch but would say £30/week in Lidl is more reasonable

Nectar points have also been mentioned multiple times.

Is this really a new type of job?

I spotted the same thread 🤣

@Jumell - I’m not sure how helpful this thread really has been to you, given you’ve started another one this very morning on the quality and cheapness of Greggs food, including steak bakes and pizza slices.

Are you, in fact, a shill, being paid for the number of mentions of the firm that you create and perpetuate on forums?

I agree, presently OP isn't at the stage (for reasons we don't know) where they are buying a cheap loaf of bread to make sandwiches or toast, so it's going to be a leap to butchering a chicken or making soup.

A lot of the money saving tips involve batch cooking or freezing, it's possible the OP is living in temporary accomodation , or a refuge, with only a kettle as cooking facility (hence only having tea or coffee in and living off biscuits)

Or, if they do have access to a kitchen , there are obviously other barriers to cooking, or preparing food. I'm not convinced they don't know how to do cook or make better food

I think probably the super strict budget isn't really the issue

OP, you have been given some great tips here but I don't think going straight to making your own stock is realistic or necessary when you have been living on junk food. Start off with a stock cube. Get used to cooking anything before moving on to the MN chicken

Ooh would definitely invest in one if you can (its also great when you can't be bothered to cook as there is always something ready :) )

I understand the thought process behind these kind of challenges, but honestly its kind of pointless-yes, you probably could spend £30 for one month on a very poor diet. That is completely different to being able to spend £30/month every month on food. It would be very unhealthy and I imagine exhausting. If you are wanting to discipline yourself and be more frugal in a way that is sustainable over time; whilst also eating a decent diet, £30 a week would be more realistic. This would definitely not include eating out or takeaways.

I consider myself careful with the food budget out of necessity; but part of the trick is to be able to eat enjoyable, nutritious and tasty food on the budget.
If you are not fortunate enough to have lots of spare cash each month for activities/going out (we are not-we have enough to pay bills/food/essentials and that is pretty much it), food becomes pretty important as a social activity in the family as well, so I want everyone to enjoy it! I save money on cheaper versions if it is the same product-for example, I will buy just essentials cheese rather than pilgrims or cathedral city; but coffee has to be a certain brand (tried the cheaper version, hated it!)

I'm just putting some perspective in these "challenges"-the reality of being on a tight budget doesn't mean everyone is sat joylessly over rice and beans every night-so I always find these extreme frugality challenges baffling.

If you are wanting to try some cheap recipes OP, making in bulk and freezing saves a bit of money-for example

Homemade chilli
Corned beef hash
Homemade soups (tomato, celery, veg, chicken, Pea and Ham)
Sausage casserole
Bolognaise

With mince based dishes, I use grated carrot, spinach and sometimes pearl barley as well to bulk out and add flavour. I have seen some add lentils but I am not keen on them.

If you are cooking a whole chicken, remove the legs and bone them, then stuff them-I cook the breast on the crown, I find there is less wastage this way.

It is also worth checking your local market as this can sometimes work out cheaper and for fruit and veg particularly, I have found the quality better too.

There is a book called "How I lived for a year on a pound a day". Some friends and I used to take inspiration from that and do it as a January challenge each year to undo some of the Christmas overspend. I have 2 kids now and couldn't manage on £30/mo now, but it was doable a decade or so ago.

The author recommends allocating a pound per day. You can carry unspent money over to the next day, but can't borrow from tomorrow so if you don't have it, don't spend it.

The author also had various bits in the cupboards (pasta, beans etc) to use up which obviously helped.

Eating out was a no-go though. Even if you get something for £1-2 from Greg's for lunch, what about breakfast, dinner, snacks?

Yes it is doable, but it will not be easy.

You could probably achieve this on £30
The Lean Team No Doubt Diet plan.pdf

I was just thinking it sounded like a lot of porridge and lentil soup.
And cutting back on the high life of pizza dorm Greggs.