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

It would be a struggle but doable without eating out in the short term to live on £30 a week but not £30 a month no way!!

I mean if you absolutely HAD to do it, then you probably could. But your diet would be awful with almost no nutrition.

In a 4 week month that would be £7.50 a week, from Aldi that could be:

• Own brand cereal £0.79
• 2 pint milk £1.20
• Bread £0.49
• Butter £0.95
• 4x tuna tins £2.49
• £1.49 ish left to spend on some veg to make a big pan of soup to cover other meals.

So cereal for breakfast, soup lunch, tuna sandwiches, you could probably make that stretch a week if you absolutely had to, but it wouldn’t be a healthy diet by any stretch.

Plus as others have pointed out that Greggs pizza is £2.50ish so even that diet isn’t doable on £5.

It's not doable or healthy at all.

I had to live off £20 a week for food at one point, this was in 2007 and I managed but it wasn't a varied diet and very carby. Plain porridge with water for breakfast, toast and butter for lunch. Pasta bake most evenings, I was also able to make a chilli with some cheap mince that would last me 3 nights. I did get some fruit and veg daily, carrots and apples were cheap enough.

£30 for an entire month sounds awful.

I think it would be interesting if you wrote up a shopping list for the month?

£30 a week you mean??

Greggs and chocolate isn't food.

I've done it and I can tell you now it's not fun, healthy or sustainable. It means eating a lot of the lowest quality foods, lots of pasta with just tomato ketchup (cheapest possible). Freezing reduced loaves of bread and allowing yourself 1 slice a day, no butter, no toppings except maybe a scrape of that ketchup. Choosing between sugar and milk in your tea. No variety in your meals, it's cheaper to buy in bulk so you eat the same thing virtually every day. No treats, certainly no eating out or takeouts.

In conclusion, it's a miserable existence, one that only someone who really has no choice would do, but it is possible.

*oh and I now don't actually like butter on my bread or sugar in my tea, my taste buds evolved to deal with the situation. And I did learn very valuable lessons in how to bulk out meals with cheaper ingredients. But thanks to the trauma I have a fully stocked pantry and freezer, if I'm ever in that situation again I will at least have some treats.

Doing something stupid like this ‘as a challenge’ is really distasteful when there are people going hungry out of necessity.

How old are you op? Sounds like you've never had to shop, cook and budget for yourself, you can't afford anything from Greggs on £1 per day.
I would advise you look on money savings expert, there's loads of budget sheets and tips for reducing your food shop.

Presume this is a windup, but....

One pot noodle per day and a multivitamin would keep you in budget. No Greg's pizza slice allowed though.

Maybe if you lived off porridge for breakfast and rice and beans for your lunches and dinners…but you’d be lacking in vital nutrients by the end of the month and I don’t think I could manage without at least some variety. Do you think you could?

I feel like you could probably do it for one month, not including eating out.

But it would be a lot of porridge made with water, plain toast, and jacket potatoes with just butter.

I don't think it's sustainable.

Yes, definitely doable (assuming you're planning an extended sleepover at the end of the month courtesy of the NHS)

I’d say it will make you unhealthy. It would be possible but not in a way that makes you feel good.

Well, to have arrived at this figure you must have done some maths, so show us what you’re planning to buy and eat in a week and we’ll tell you if we agree.

I guess if you ate porridge for breakfast made from the big cheap bags of oats, loaf of bread with jam or soft cheese for sandwiches for lunch, big bag of apples for snacks and bulk make pasta with homemade tomato sauce for dinners you may be able to do it but it won’t be vary varied. Drinks would be water and tea.

I doubt you'd be able to manage that, even if you lived off basic own brand porridge and pasta for the month. To get a balanced diet and some decent form of nutrition, not a chance.

Maybe you could get close to it if you qualify for food banks, and were able to time shopping trips to get the cheapest yellow sticker deals.

I've seen people do this as a challenge too (although I think it's in bad taste). You could maybe try it for a month but it would be a terrible idea for much longer than that.

A lots of people have looked into this

You need to spend between 40 and 50 a week just on food excluding any eating out if you want to be eating healthy and long term sustainable

However thinking OP is a wind up

I suppose if you did a home-made bulk cook of lentil and vegetable soup for every meal, plus some baked potatoes for variety, plus porridge for breakfast, it would be doable, just. Plus some apples or fruit.

If you are trying to budget, it needs to be realistic, otherwise you’re just setting yourself up for failure. Why don’t you start with something more reasonable but still low, such as £50 a week or whatever makes sense to you. You can always adjust it down later.

My eldest adult child did a £5( I think) a week challenge about 10 years ago for a charity thing and it was extremely hard - it was basically pasta, tins of tomatoes, water only to drink, reduced loaves of bread, porridge made with water and no fresh fruit.
If you have loads of back up stuff in the cupboards a single person might manage £10-15 a week but only very short term. Once the cupboard, fridge and freezer stuff was gone it wouldn’t be possible to eat on £1 a day.