£8 budget

[Snoopdoggydo]

So I want your best ideas for cheap meals that aren’t miserable. £8 budget for 6 days worth of food (just for me). I have been slowly building up more seasonings and spices over the past few months adding one on each food shop so I should be ok there. I would rather have a better meal at tea time than have to factor in lunch. So skip breakfast and lunch!

This cold weather means comfort food suggestions only, I should be able to do 2 meals and split each across 3 days easily enough. So roughly £4 each meal, please share your ideas!

Chickpea curry or bulk out your chicken curry with chickpeas. Super tasty. Sainsbury’s do a good recipe

@Hohofortherobbers would you mind sharing where you get your cooking bacon from please as I used to buy it from our local Tescos all the time and they have stopped stocking it - I’m gutted!

Oats are your friend.

They are so cheap and filling.

You can also use various toppings to mix them up a bit.

I don’t think you can beat porridge with sugar though.

Do you have a community shop near you OP? We have one near us and it's £3 for a bag of food and £5 for a bag plus so many household items (toothpaste/ cleaning products/ loo roll ect).

Ours is run by the church food bank but you don't need a referral to use the community shop. Loads of people in our town use it when budget is tight (January is a big usage month as it's so long between pay days) and the money is ploughed back into the food bank. Most of the stuff in the community shop is either short date, what they have an excess of or fresh stuff that won't keep long. Quite a few corner shops, local supermarkets and local farm shop donates. So this month they posted on FB that they had loads of veg that was left over from Xmas and lots of single pints of milk. The stock varies every month but there is always loads of choice.

Not RTFT so apologies - mushroom stroganoff with rice is one of my favourites.

Ours is also set up near the school and post office on a Thursday morning 9-11 and loads of people go and have a mooch round after school drop off. They started by advertising it as a low waste community option rather than an extension of the food bank, which has really helped with uptake.

We have a cheap meal here called Fatherless. Not sure if it's a particular local invention but not many people outside of the area seem to know of it.

You only need taties, onion and bacon. And tonnes of pepper 😋 fry the chopped onion and bacon in a little butter. Parboil chopped taties or use the tinned ones. Add all the pan juices/bacon/onion in to the taties/water while they finish off cooking and voila. Tatie/bacon/oniony soup. Can mash the taties a little to make it thicker if wanted. Plenty of pepper and buttered bread is the chef's kiss

What are you talking about,?

Sorry nothing quotes anymore. I was supposed to reply to the pp who said you would be on the toilet for two days for eating chicken

Sausage and lentil casserole- you only need 6 sausages for 4 portions. I often use cooking bacon/lardons to bulk our soup and also add lentils.

Buy some red lentils make a huge veggie ragu. Lentils boiled for 20 mins .
Sweat onions

Add chopped carrots until soft
Add tin of tomatoes
Some herbs
Then the lentils

Split into portions

Thats your bolognase add to pasta with mushrooms of you have them

You can add chilli and kidney beans to one to make a chilli so add to jacket spud or rice

I work part time for reasons to do with my physical health too complicated to explain! So I’m not earning a full wage but I work a few hours each day Monday to Friday so on the weekends I do like to get out and about whether it be for a walk or to see family. It’s a simple life I’ll admit but I find pleasure in the small things! I’m in my mid late 20s (how long can I get away with saying 27 is mid 20s😂) but I enjoy doing things at home like crafting with materials I have around and such. I’m content with what I have, a lot of people have it a lot worse.

Another vote for a bolognese sauce. On penne (3 meals), in a jacket potato with cheese (3 meals), on toast (for breakfast if you can face it). Leftover carrots and celery from the bolognese prep can be snacks with a tub of humus (that’s few light lunches). Leftover cheese makes cheese toasties. You will not glow with wellness but if you pack some veggies in the spagbol you should be ok.

Spaghetti bolognese is usually one of my go to meals, it’s a strong contender now haha! Sainsburys does the 250g pack for only about £2.25 and I get 4 meals out of that one when I make it so it usually allows me to get the little Parmesan packs that are about £1.50.

Lots of suggestions about lentils too which I have to admit, I’ve never used! I think I will have to start using them since they are so popular.

As for the poster who asked about cooking bacon, sainsburys has it and it’s quite cheap as that is sometimes a go to of mine on a weekly shop as the meat in my meals.

And before anyone says sainsburys is expensive, it’s not so bad with a nectar card and it’s the only supermarket near me and I don’t drive 😁

Have you watched Atomic Shrimp on YouTube? £5 for 5 days. Absolutely incredibly what you can stretch out of a fiver if you plan everything right.

I've been on peanut butter on toast all this week. But I do love it. Sour dough loaf about £1.50 butter about £2.00 peanut butter about £1.00 today had some jam on it for a change 75p . There's enough bread jam and PNB for next week too. Quick nutritional and delicious. I did have half a tin of beans two nights as well. Usually only gave one meal a day but the cold made me hungry earlier in the week.

Pilar

Sorry. Pilaf - rice, herbs, veg

Chickpea and coconut milk curry
Daal
Carrot and corinader soup with red lentils

Hearty stew? Packet diced beef, brown off, put in slow cooker with onions and carrots, stock and chuck in some herbs. Will make 3 portions- serve with potatoes or with those part baked crusty rolls.

As a student I used to make minestrone. The basic veg is onion, carrot, peas, but you could put in anything really. It's much nicer if you can put in a bit of bacon, but 1 rash is enough. Then you add potato, pasta and beans (canellini or borlotti is best, but needs must) to bulk it out. Doesn't have to be all 3, but I would do beans. With a bit of bread it's great. The only issue is that you would have to freeze some as it makes tons.

You could use some left over veg, bacon and potatoes to make a bubble and squeak.

Big bag potatoes Lidl 3.99..you can mash,fry,chip them etc.large bag pasta 30p something like that and jar pasta bake lovely with cheese on

Make a ratatouille.

You can spice it up as a chilli...
Add lentils for Spaghetti bolongese
Make it into chunky vegetable soup
Have it as it is with couscous or rice.

Spices you can add to make each meal different: chilli flakes, Paprika & Smoked Paprika, rosemary, garlic & mixed herbs, ...

I’d look to make two dishes from every meal.

Do you eat meat? If so perhaps mince- spaghetti Bol and a chilli.
Beef brisket- make a huge stew.

I love beans on toast or jacket pot.
Chickpea curry.
Stew.
I don’t eat meat so would get lots of mushrooms onion, chilli, and quorn. I do love potatoes so would have to get a big bag of those! Pasta and sauce. And some bread.

I know you said soup doesn’t sustain you, but you also said you had never used red lentils so perhaps worth a try another time.
Red lentil, tomato and chilli soup.
Traditional lentil soup with a little bacon.

Chickpea curry with any reduced veg (spinach, rocket etc) and homemade flatbreads (flour, water and pinch of salt).