A healthy diet when on very little money

[lightand]

Obviously, I am aware, that many people are living on a very tight budget.
But it is important to still try and eat as healthy as possible, whilst spending as little as possible.

People recommend oats, milk, cheap tins tomato soup, lentils, bread. What else?

This thread isnt for me right now, but who knows in the future?

If there is a thread already like this, please point me in the right direction. Thanks.

I'd agree and I'm a Scot. My children have to have it with honey and a variety of toppings though.

Cheap noodles, frozen veg with an egg whisked through and a splash of soy sauce is my go to cheapie dish. I feel like it covers all the food groups also you can make an individual portion for maybe 50p quickly in one pan on the hob, or using a microwave or even just a kettle.

So many cheap meals seem to involve feeding four or lots of cooker time which increases cost

Best bang for your buck in terms of essential nutrients to ££ is animal foods:

Eggs
Tinned sardines/mackerel (avoid the ones in seed oils)
Liver (ox/lamb/chicken) bit of an acquired taste, but makes a lovely strognaoff with mushroom, onion & sour cream
Heart (lamb/ox) shhh it's actually delicious, taste and texture like regular beef/lamb stewing pieces
Beef/lamb/turkey mince
Stewing cuts of beef like cheek (if you have a slow cooker/instant pot)
Aldi frozen premium Aberdeen beef burgers (£2.50 for 4)
Aldi block of extra mature cheddar
Full fat Greek yoghurt
Crème fraîche/sour cream
Proper butter

Then fruit and veg

"Wonky" ranges of cheap carrots/onions/apples etc
Large cabbage
Bag of frozen berries
Pick blackberries to freeze in late summer
Bags of frozen vegetables
Aldi/Lidl super 6 F & V

Store cupboard ingredients

1kg tub of Thai curry paste (buy from Amazon or ethnic supermarket - lasts about a year in fridge)
Tinned coconut (full fat)
Passata
Herbs and spices (buy in bulk online or ethnic supermarket etc)
Ghee/coconut oil/olive oil
Sauerkraut

Always look in the yellow sticker sections when shopping.
If your freezer is half empty, fill up with YS bread/bakery items. Helps your freezer be more efficient AND you have a quick, cheap and easy snack for when you feel peckish.

My favourite salad comes packed with nutrients, and comes to 35-50p depending on your garden and ability to bulk buy:

Lettuce
Greens
Tomato
Onion
Cheese (smoked, cheddar or mozzarella)
Walnuts
Pumpkin seeds
Oil
Balsamic glaze
Mint and verbena leaves from the garden

It tastes divine, and importantly, looks psychologically pleasing as a dish. It has a range of nutrients and good fats, dairy. The greens - shredded fine - give you enough to chew on so that it takes time for you to feel full.

I have that every day, then a yogurt and berry snack, then dinner.

I've found that the more effort I put into nutrition, the less hungry I am.

Miguel Barclays £1 meals are actually appetising and tasty. He's got books out and is on Instagram.

You do need a well stocked spice / herb rack though.

Longer term? In season veg, growing your own, porridge, lentils.

We already buy smart price stuff. The mushy peas are nicer than branded, they taste like chip shop ones.

This is a silly question but is white cabbage considered a green leafy veg?

I second MogandDog’s recommendation of offal as cheap and nutritious, but may I just warn people not to eat liver more often than once a month, particularly if pregnant, as you can build up toxic levels of vitamin A. It’s fat soluble, so you can’t just excrete the excess in urine.

I ate a lot of heart as a child - my mum grew up poor and knew how to cook it, then we had no money either.

Tastes really nice plus she would give me an anatomy lesson while we were cooking - now I'm a doctor😁Sadly not a cardiologist.

Basic veg like carrots, onions and cabbage, lentils, chick peas, rice, chopped tomatoes plus bulk spices (from world foods aisle) can produce healthy taste food for very reasonable cost. We add in a little meat but it's still cheaper than all meat

Lidl plus app has 20% off frozen fruit and veg coupons some weeks.

Delicious tomato pasta sauce

Fry 1 large onion finely chopped and 2-4 cloves of garlic finely chopped until the onion is softened & transparent

Add 2 tins of chopped tomatoes, 1 level teaspoon of sugar and 1 level teaspoon salt, a pinch of black pepper and dried oregano, simmer for 20 minutes with the lid off so it reduces. Check taste and add more salt to taste. Can be eaten as is or blended with a stick blender to make a smooth sauce. If you blend, you can also add hot water and eat as a soup. You can also add pulses like Borlotti beans, butter beans, green lentils for protein and serve with pasta or jacket potatoes.

I think the "old school" stuff is cheaper if that makes sense? What people would cook years ago
So not the trendy veg/exotic fruit but apples, oranges, bananas, cabbage, carrots, tinned pears/peaches, broccoli. Look at the wonky veg and fruit and whatever Aldi has on the super 6
The coop freezer £5 deal is often decent

Bulking everything out - I don't like kidney beans but black beans are nice and I added those to a chilli to have with some smart price tortilla chips (good as a snack too!) and rice
Soups/stews/pasta bake to use up any left over bits of meat/cheese/veg

Things like pulses are loaded with antioxidants too.

Im surprised the supermarkets haven’t expanded the smart price ranges like they did in the credit crunch.

@LetitiaLeghorn You need to cook the tomatoes on high for quite a while, so they break down and become more sauce like. Plus plenty of seasoning - I like to chuck in herbs, salt and pepper, cumin and / or paprika, etc. Mayne a pinch of sugar for sweetness. But it varies each time, just whatever's to hand.

That said (bearing in mind the thread topic), just cooking higher for longer plus salt and pepper will bring out a better flavour.

Having basic spices/condiments will make a lot of difference imo.
I cook everything from scratch, and I can cook quite a variety of food from very limited ingredients easily, because I have a lot of basic condiments.
So depend on what staple food I have in cupboard and fridge, I can create something tasty and nutritious easily.

Not sure if my ways fit with the thread but thought I would share anyway! I look out for supermarkets that do £ off your first online shop and order from there if it's a decent amount off! I also had a weeks worth of hello fresh for just a delivery fee which was helpful!

I bulk everything out with loads of veg, lentils, chickpeas, oats etc and freeze (I use bags as can squash and shape to maximise freezer space!)

Porridge with water and sultanas. (Cheapest dried fruit and only 30g per portion)

Carrots are cheap. Lots of recipes are carrot heavy...

Onions keep in a net bag hanging in a cool shed/garage buy when on offer and store.

I freeze milk into ice cube trays to have with porridge as it’s the only breakfast that keeps me full. tiny bit of peanut butter and frozen fruit. I do 50/50 water/milk

lentil soup/ dhal with whatever veg I have around, I stock up on frozen veg too

risottos with frozen butternut squash

Chickpea with frozen spinach homemade sauce (batch cooked & frozen) and Iceland frozen rice bags

Sign up for the Olio app. Free food that would have been otherwise thrown out by a supermarket. Every few days I get vegetables and bread from Olio in my area.
Red kidney beans in curries make them very nutritious and tins of red kidney beans are very cheap. Scrambled eggs on toast is a go to dinner or breakfast here. Stir fried vegetables with rice and soy sauce. Good Italian pizza dough flour can be bought for around £1.50, dried yeast sachets don’t cost much either. Mix with olive oil and warm water and you have amazing pizza dough for around 6 pizzas. A big hit in our house! Top with a homemade sauce (again, for not much money) and whatever toppings we have lurking. Potato wedges coated in olive oil and chilli powder baked in the oven are amazing, and topped with grated cheese.

Chicken is lean protein and still pretty cheap (though due to go up a lot in price)

Frozen fish is cheaper than fresh (and often fresher too as it's frozen on the boat.)

Eggs are cheap and versatile. Poached on wholemeal toast or in a frittata with sauteed veg.

Choose seasonal veg. Personally I have never got frozen veg to taste right or work in recipes, except for peas, beans and sweetcorn. Everything else goes soft and tastes of the freezer rather than the vegetable. I prefer just choosing broccoli or kale or cabbage in season. Supermarkets often do very cheap bags of roasting root veg too.

If you take milk in tea, choose full fat as you need far less of it to get the right colour and balance, so it lasts longer.

@LetitiaLeghorn you have to cook the tomatoes down first.
My husband will put a carton of passata in a pan with a bit of hot oil and reduce it while adding seasoning. Always comes out delish.

Buy fresh fruit and veg that is on offer that week.
I dont eat much meat to cut down on spending.

Vegetable stew is cheap and cook in bulk and freeze in portions. You can always add it to meat when you are cooking it if you want. Or mush it up a bit and make it into soup.

I buy value tomatoes and cucumber and peppers then add that as a side salad to jacket potatoes or frozen pizza or toasted sandwich or scrambled eggs or omelette etc

As others have said frozen or tinned fruit or veg. Fresh broccoli and carrots are usually reasonable.

Also I divide food up when I buy it. Eg I buy a quiche. Cut it into four then freeze individual pieces so no waste. Or if dc's take pizza for pack lunch I buy a fresh one cut it up and then freeze so I have individual portions. Freeze bread also so it doesnt go mouldy if not eaten in time.
Reuse the freezer bags that the bread products have been in.

Try not to buy unhealthy stuff to fill up on. I dont buy biscuits and crisps etc for me (get some for my teens though as my teens without snacks drives them crazy).