Food variety....it's costing me!

[CassKins]

I currently don't drive and am recently single. I eat well and am fit/healthy to the best of my knowledge. And...I don't like what food is costing me since everything seemed to shoot up in price!

I usually strive to eat a very varied diet, so lots of healthy lean meat/fish and tons of lovely veg and salad. I don't like large, hot meals such as casseroles or curries as they irritate my IBS, but apart from that and red meat I enjoy a lot of Italian and Greek inspired lighter meals, sometimes with tortilla wraps, rice, fish and chicken. I will buy everything from avocado's, cherry tomatoes, various peppers to making my own coleslaw. I love all of this, but it is becoming so expensive, especially if I look for higher quality ingredients and organic meat.

Problem is, my income has dropped a little over the past year (self employed), so whilst I am trying to fix that, I could do with spending less on food. Some of it, especially decent cuts of fresh meat or fish are really whacking my budget. I was reading about the push to get people to eat more variety, yet I think in my case it might be a good idea to actually reduce it. Sourcing some of my fave foods can be a pain in the arse, too, and online shopping just seems to grow more and more expensive..

Which brings me to my point: for over a decade in my 30's I ate pretty much the same thing almost daily. That was granola with fruit for breakfast, fresh soup and a small bread roll for lunch, and a baked chicken fillet (not home made) with vegetables (around 7 or 8 in number) every evening. Sometimes I swapped the chicken for a fish fillet, usually in breadcrumbs.
I would love to go back to this, as it would be a ton more affordable than what I spend now. My only 'processed' yearnings are in the coating - no matter how well I cook a sauce, etc, I much prefer fish with a batter or crunchy coating. I also love tinned tuna and mackerel, and keep a lot of green veggies in the freezer.
Sadly I can't eat the typical healthy and cheap meals with lentils, beans and onions/garlic due to my IBS, so a lot of typical batch cooking and soups are difficult.
Would returning to that 'diet' be healthy enough? With all the hullaballoo surrounding processed foods I could be overthinking it about the breadcrumb coating...

Agree with previous poster's suggestion of hake. Cooks well in Mediterranean-style recipes, such as: put piece of fish - frozen fish is fine for this - in shallow dish with some oil and lemon juice. Tuck cheap little cherry tomatoes (or slices of other bargain ones) and/or strips of red/ yellow/orange pepper (whatever's in the cheapo bulk pack from supermarket) and a little sliced red onion all around. Sprinkle with sweet or smoked paprika and a few more drops of oil and/or lemon juice. Bake in hot oven for approx 25 mins (depending on thickness of fish) covered with foil for the first 15.

Whiting is also a good and cheap subsitute for haddock. Drizzle with oil and cover with thin slices of lemon and some capers. Bake then scatter with chopped fresh parsley or dill. Or serve with very simple sauce made of 2/3 mayo mixed with 1/3 lemon juice, dried tarragon (or dill), sliced gherkins and black pepper. Mix this before you start to cook the fish and let it stand in the fridge for 30 mins or so.

It takes a bit or organisation, but I buy bulk frozen fish online. Usually much, much cheaper. Plenty of suppliers - look for one fairly close to you.

Buying three little pots of tuna is more expensive than buying one larger tin. Half a tin will keep fine for at least 24 hours in the fridge in a little glass or pottery bowl, covered with a suacer or some other kind of lid.

A great many excellent and healthy fish recipes here: https://www.themediterraneandish.com/category/fish-and-seafood/ Some are expensive but others can easily be adapted to cheap fish.

If you go to Lidl, look for their basic olives in jars. Very, very cheap. Transform them by marinading them in a little olive oil plus a strong flavour that you like, for example garlic and parsley/lemon juice/lemon peel and fennel seeds/ chilli flakes/ or dill/coriander/tarragon all with black pepper.

For wholefoods and spices have you thought of buying online? From places such as https://www.buywholefoodsonline.co.uk/

Re chicken. Again, for my DH I buy a good quality whole corn-fed free-range chicken and joint it. I cook some fresh and freeze the rest. The pickings from the carcass make excellent sandwich fillings or you can cook them with mushrooms and garlic in a cheap and simple white sauce. (The carcass and trimmings can also be used for soup, of course.) A lot cheaper than buying ready cooked bits and pieces.

@nameXname thank you so much!

So many great ideas, I am definitely going to try them out x

if you are looking to cut cost, switching to frozen fruit and veg can help you save a lot. they are also nutritionally the equivalent or better than fresh produce. if you have some space, you could grow a few things? things like lettuce are relatively low maintenance.

Breaded fish or chicken is not the end of the world. nigella has a great recipe using cornflakes that is ultra crunchy.

yoghurt is actually really easy to make, as is bread. little adjustments like that can make bit difference in cost.