Really cheap meals and snacks

[Redundancyhell]

I'm going through redundancy and need to keep budgets to a minimum until I find another job. Can anyone recommend really cheap meals and snacks.

I'm hoping to stick to around £3 per day for food which will be challenging but I'm happy to not have too much meat and don't need too many snacks or treats each week. It's just me so if I have to occasionally be a bit hungry then I'll survive.

So far I'm thinking:
Homemade veg soup
Plain omelates
Beans on toast
Things from my freezer
Pasta and tuna/tomato veg pasta
Porridge

Ideas very welcome. I'm struggling to think of much, including for snacks. I bought an apple today and it cost 50p which seems nuts for 1 apple but I couldn't afford the £2.30 for 6 and I know I need some fruit to stay healthy 😓

I don't have much in my cupboards but do have a bit of pasta, some tins of kidney beans, oil, herbs, some tins of tuna, sugar, porridge oats and gravy.

I personally find Sainsbury’s very reasonable!

Jacket potatoes x 4 = 79p
apples for 6 = 1.70
6 x eggs = £1.55
bananas x 5 = 78p
rice 1kg = 52p
800g bread load = 75p
frozen peas = 93p
ginger biscuits = 65p
Beans per can = 27p

Same, and they price match hundreds of items with Aldi. If you have delivery saver I find it much easier to stick to a strict budget when it’s delivered as you can analyse it carefully and make sure you don’t buy things that you don’t need. They have a cheap Stamford street range and ‘house’ range with things like dishwasher tablets for £1.50

Shakshuka is really filling - eggs, pasata and can add in frozen veg like peppers & onions.

Egg fried rice
Egg & chips
Fried potatoes (boil some extra when cooking potatoes) then add snippets of bacon offcuts for the last few minutes of cooking. If you've got some onion add some very finely chopped when you add the bacon. Finish with a little grated cheese if available.

Simple pasta dishes....spaghetti carbonara, pasta with peas & chopped bacon (buy off cuts for economy) pasta with marmite one of Nigella's recipes, pasta with sardines or tuna.

Please check if your area has a community pantry. These are great and you can often get about £20 worth of shopping for around £4.50 and you choose the fruit and veg you want. There are also some cleaning items and toiletries.

Look to see if you have a community fridge in your town.

Cooking bacon, pea and garlic pasta
Chorizo, tomato and pepper pasta
Bratwurst and part baked rolls with frozen corn on the cob (you can freeze the sausages and rolls - works out at 70p per portion from Aldi)

I find snacks the most expensive. I can make meals for dirt cheap but struggle with snacks.

Toast can be a snack
i I bought a single banana the other day it was 18p
Think about bigger fruit - a watermelon cut up is cheaper per serving than say strawberries
carrot sticks are super cheap to make
boiled eggs

God it’s shit isn’t it. I hope you find something soon.

You need to shop for basic ingredients that can do multiple meals.

Check places like asda for kids fruit. 6-8 Small apples are around £1 a bag. Bananas around the same. Carrots are dirt cheap for carrot sticks. broccoli also cheap for what you get. frozen veg is cheap and keeps well. Frozen garlic, chili and ginger are £1 for a big bag at asda. other things that will be useful are plain flour (50p a kg at asda own brand), eggs, Greek yogurt (big tubs are cheap at lidl) and milk. Tinned tomatoes. All will be helpful for multiple meals.

Cheap meal ideas:

• eggs and toast
• dal and flatbread made with plain flour and Greek yogurt
• Pancakes with whatever in the fridge as filling
• egg fried rice with frozen veg
• pasta “puttanesca” with tinned toms, garlic, tinned fish and any herbs you have lying around
• chicken thighs tend to be very cheap for protein. If you have some soy and honey in your store cupboard, make a marinade for Chinese style chicken. Or just roast plain.
• jacket potatoes

What is your weekly budget (sorry if I’ve missed it). Just keep meals plain and simple. I live by myself and I’ve done a menu plan and this week,

breakfasts are just porridge and honey. Nothing fancy
lunches.
Home-made butternut squash and lentil soup for 5 days.full of veg including leeks, a roasted pepper, carrots, and vegetable stock. If you choose to make this you could have it with a cheese roll.
I bought a pack of those big mushrooms which I was going to have stuffed the other two days.
dinners
sausage stew with mash
macaroni cheese with bacon

snacks are a choice of yogurt, bananas, or oatcakes. You could skip the yogurt and just have milk.

I'm hoping it won't be for too long but who knows. I will be avoiding food banks unless I get desperate as there are other people who don't even have the low budget I do who need it more.

It always amazes me that bananas from hf way round the world are so much cheaper than apples. Go figure.

About £3 a day as a budget.

Veggie chilli made with lentils and beans rather than fake meat- cheap and very healthy. The Anna Jones proper chilli recipe is good.

Thank you so much everyone for these great ideas.

A primary school lunch is £2.51 locally. Now obviously that includes paying staff, and overheads but £2.51 to feed a young child one meal. You are absolutely the sort of person who can and should access help like food banks.

Tinned tomatoes on toast or fried bread with a sprinkling of grated cheese is very nice.

Jacket potatoes with beans and a bit of cheese

Make a giant frittata and slice it up

If you like rice pudding- cheap to make and filling, as is bread and butter pudding

Crumpets with scrambled eggs on top

Sorry op i meant to add, I'm sorry you're having these troubles. I hope they pass quickly and you're back on a roll soon. You sound lovely and also resourceful and I know you’ll be ok. Good luck

That doesn't mean it can't be done cheaper. I don't need a pudding which the children will get and I'm not beholden to certain suppliers.

Thank you so much

Where are you shopping? You can get a six pack of small apples at Tesco for £1.05 standard price and at the moment five large seasonal apples for 99p clubcard price. A 600g pack of soft citrus easy peelers is 99p and you get loads, 550g bag of pears 99p (6-7pears). I definitely think it's important to keep up fruit and veg if you're going to be limiting what you can eat for a while you don't want to get run down.
Oats for porridge for breakfast, really cheap and filling

I tend to avoid my local Tescos as the parking is terrible. I have most supermarkets fairly close though as I'm in a city.

A good filling snack is sliced banana spread with peanut butter. The cheapo supermarket own brand is absolutely fine. Keeps you going for ages.

You could take a look at https://www.breadandbutterthing.org/new-member-information
and see if there is one in your area. It’s a lot cheaper than a supermarket and you aren’t obliged to go every week once you’ve signed up.