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.

Stock up on some own brand spices. Chilli powder, garlic, Italian herbs.!

Baked potatoes - fillings like beans and cheese.

Spaghetti hoops on toast - Tesco have 19p hoops that are fine.

Tomato based pasta dishes.

Variety of minced beef recipes - 1kg of minced beef in Asda is around £6.50 and does our family of 4 for 2 full meals so could make 8 meals for you. Bolognese, chilli, mince and potatoes for example. If you use own brand tinned tomatoes and spices this could be well within your budget.

Buy a whole chicken (£4.79 Asda) and use for multiple meals.

Breakfast - massive bag of own brand possible oats. Cheap bread for toast.

There are cheaper apples - shop smarter and your budget will be hard but possible.

Use the foodbank. They are for anyone who is struggling to eat

Random one, but you can get crumpets, scotch pancakes, bread really cheap (crumpets are 45p at Sainsburys, you can get their cheap Jam for 40p). Peanut butter works on anything. Nice on apples (x6 cheap apples for 90p). Cheap rice pud is about 20p. Baked beans 30p.

I don't spend a lot on food for myself, but I'm very happy to have repetitive meals.

I use a lot of dried pulses, you can get bags of pinto beans, cannellini beans, black beans, haricot beans in sainsburys for about two quid a bag. They are proteine, fibre, and veg. I soak for 48 hours (changing the water half way through) they expand to much bigger I'd say almost double. Then you do need to simmer for quite a while but you can make big batches and freeze them after. I stir them through brown rice with other veg, or I blitz soup really smooth and have loads floating around in it to make the soup more filling. Sometimes I just have them hot and melt salty butter through them.

I'm happy to eat items, rather than meal everything, but I'm not a foodie any more. I have cold boiled eggs in the fridge and snack on them.

I also love pickled onions/ pickled beetroot.

Root veg is very cheap, roast it and leave some in the fridge to graze on.
I find fruit and salad very expensive compared to cooking veg. You can make omelettes and fried rice interesting quickly if you have some pre cooked veg in the fridge.

I have to second @BluebirdBoogie regarding Jack Monroe’s books, especially ‘A Girl Called Jack’. I bought a huge bag of cooking bacon from Lidl this week and have made 4 tasty cheap recipes from Jack’s book.

I make a big pot of red lentil soup and add mushrooms and red kidney beans and eat it over a few days. It will last for 5 days in the fridge.

I eat it with spinach or broccoli or carrots etc.

Home made pizza can be done very cheap and feels like a treat

Veggie chillies with beans lentils just chuck in what ever veg isnon offer. you can make loads for pennies

Jacket potatoes can have with some of the left over chilli get those veggies in.

Make stews etc as usual but put more veg less meat and some pulses. So instead of 2 portions it makes 4 etc.

A home made tray bake goes a long way for treats

OP look at Asda essentials online for ideas - perfect for short term.

Garlic bread 37p - one example of hundreds of items

I make 3 different soups. All very cheap and delicious.
Leak and potato.
Winter root vegetable.
Tomato and red lentils.
I always eat it with the crust from a loaf of bread. I have soup most days for lunch. £1 per portion or less.

Jacket potatoes with beans and cheese
Cheese and ham toastie
Scrambled eggs on toast
Pate on toast
Tin of baked beans on toast
Tin of spaghetti on toast
These would only cost £1 a meal

Cook a chicken breast and chop it up in a wrap with some salad leaves and tomatoes. There will be enough to make 2 large wraps. £1.75 per portion.

A stew with lots of root vegetables and either stewing beef or chicken with dumplings. Freeze some portions. £1.50 per portion.

Pork chop and sausages casserole. You can serve it with vegetables or rice. £1.50 per portion.

Toad in the hole. My very favourite with Yorkshire pudding and sausages in. Serve with baked beans. You could microwave some the next day too. £1.50 per portion.

Dry fry bacon lardons, drain off any fat. Add a tub of cream fresh and a blob of blue cheese and melt slowly on low heat. Pour over pasta. Freeze a few portions without pasta. It works out at about £1 per portion. It's quick to do too.

If you are running low on funds at end of the week buy passata to go over pasta, or blitz up a couple of tins of plum tomatoes and pour over pasta. 60p a portion.

Cherry tomatoes are cheap and nutritional. Apples are cheap. You can get them on super 6 at Aldi. You might be able to know someone with a cooking apple tree who will give you free cooking apples at this time of the year. You can cook sliced up cooking apples in stews and casseroles. It gives good flavour.

I buy a shoulder of pork for £8 and get eight servings out of it. I use quorn mince for spaghetti bolognaise and shepherds pies. We have a big pile of cheese and onion mash with baked beans. We have good old egg and chips. We love a mushroom omelette.

@Redundancyhell I'm sorry you are having a shit time too OP- I had a few months like this once and got inventive with pancakes- which I left off my list- I used to slice and fry mushrooms and make a kind of sauce by adding crème fraiche and a bit of parsley- worked a treat put on pancakes and rolled up .

Snacks - carrots are pretty cheap. Find the unfancy apples or an unloved apple tree. Dried chickpeas make an inexpensive hummus . Pop your own popcorn. Flapjacks or diy hobnobs with your oats.

Frozen food is often really good value if you have a freezer - random white fish (like basa or hoki) or frozen chicken, veg (you can use exactly what you need), fruit.

Try to buy the big Asian packs of rice/lentils/dried pulses/spices - much better value if you can front the cash. Asian supermarkets are a great resource, but lots of supermarkets have a world food section with the big sacks.

It’s not a healthy suggestion but if you have an Iceland near you, they have a whole range of things for £1so it might be nice to alternate/mix with healthy things like Dahl, soups etc for a bit of stodge.

I've just done a sample shopping basket on the Tesco app, just to see what I could get within your budget:

Loaf of bread
Bag of pasta (1kg)
Bag of rice (1kg)
Jar of pasta sauce
Eggs (6)
Bananas (6)
Bag of potatoes (1kg)
Bag of carrots and parsnips (750g)
Chicken thighs
Mince
Porridge oats
Stock cubes
Frozen peas
Milk

This comes to €24, so just over £20, and I think would provide reasonable, if somewhat boring, meals for one for a week? But I'm so sorry you're in this position, and I don't think you should feel any shame about accessing food banks or any other supports you need.

Have you thought about sultanas or raisins for a bit of fruit. They are high in sugar but you could add some to home made flapjacks or porridge as oats are cheap.

red lentil Dahl is great, you can add extra veg like carrots or beans or carrot and red lentil soup.

Chickpeas or kidney beans are great for curries or making into burgers or a chilli.

As others have said there are community pantries. I think the Vodafone app has £2 off for Sainsburys tomorrow if you have them as a network and the co op has a game you can win money off your shop. They have a selection of money off coupons every week and you can pick two. I know they came be more expensive but with a 50p off vegetables coupon, carrots can be cheap.

Have you got any nectar or club card points?

can you declutter and sell a few bits to help make enough to buy some extras?

I find this recipe really useful for cheap meals https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/tomato-pepper-bean-one-pot#commentsFeed it makes a lot for one person and you can freeze it. It gives suggestions of variations in flavour. So it can be a veggie chilli served with rice or beans on toast etc. You can also vary the veg based on what you have. I have left out the pepper before or added savoy cabbage so it is quite versatile.

In Iceland I bought a pack of 10 large chicken breasts for just 10 pounds. A wonderful bargain imagine a whole chicken breast for just a pound.

Also not a healthy suggestion but if you want a night off from cooking from scratch, and don't we all, Aldi essentials pizza is 95p. And their chocolate oatie biscuits, very similar to hobnobs, are I think 72p. For a break from doing all the work that won't cost loads.

Lidl do £1.50 veg and fruit boxes every few days. Usually at the front of the shop. Big boxes full of good stuff.

Another way of getting protein on the cheap is also from Iceland. They sell three half kilogram bags of frozen minced beef for £10. With this peppers and mushrooms you can make cottage pie or maybe a big saucepan full of bolognese sauce which you can have with pasta or baked potatoes or rice.

I am sorry you are going through this. Please consider using a food bank if you need to.

I agree Dhal. You can add tinned tomatoes and frozen spinich to it for vegetables. You can eat it for breakfast as a change from porridge if you ever fancy.

Also three bean chilli: tins of economy beans + tinned tomatoes, if you have them fresh or frozen onions, a stock cube if you have one, some chilli powder and if you have it paprika. You can also add some frozen spinich or other frozen veg. Serve on its own or with rice or potatoes. It will last for several meals or freeze.

Bascially frozen veg and tinned or dried beans/pulses can be pretty good value. Eggs are also I think a relatively cheap source of protein. Egg fried rice with frozen peas or mixed veg is also cheap.

Not sure if any of these are useful: www.channel4.com/programmes/jamies-1-wonders

You can use kidney beans and whatever cheap veg you have in to make bean burgers. Soups, stews, chilli or curries with veg, beans and lentils. Pasta and rice as cheap fillers. Tinned or frozen fruit is a lot cheaper than fresh and nearly as good for you. Do have a look for a community fridge nearby, and consider going to the supermarket close to closing time to get reduced stuff. I’ve been there and it’s grim, best wishes to you OP

Also lentil spaghetti bolognese, with Worcester sauces or soy sauce to season. Use wholemeal pasta rather than white as more filling. Cheap and yum. Hope

Bolognese is always a cheap winner here

Pack of mince (I get 20% fat as it's cheaper then just drain the fat out once it's cooked)
I use tin chopped tomatoes for the sauce as there cheaper than any other options
Spaghetti is 20 something pence for the cheapest one in most supermarkets

Just use any old spices and herbs I've got in the cupboard to give some extra taste.

Weirdly I've put a bit of been gravy in to the bolognese too as it makes the sauce nice and thick and the beefy taste is lovely!

Can make plenty of portions out of that.

A cheap loaf of bread (the 40p ones) and a jar of cheap 20p jam is a staple too.

I quite like bananas for a cheap fruit or a buy the packs of kids apples as there cheaper. Kiwis are normally around 90p for a bag too which is decent. Carrots to bulk out foods (love to grate one up and add it into bolognese to bulk that out!) and there not to expensive.

Favour spaghetti hoops over beans as there cheaper

I usually grab things like sausages opposed to chicken breast if I'm on a budget
I don't really eat much meat anyway so my food shopping isn't to expensive

Batch cook multiple meals which can be reheated in microwave. Also vitamin tablets can be significantly cheaper than soft fruit. Try to keep the electric usage down as well, so if you have a pressure cooker then use it. If you use a wood fire, then jacket potatoes wrapped in foil are fantastic after being in the fire for an hour.

Soups are fantastic, most beg ends that people throw out are ideal for soup. Wash your carrots and put the ends and peels in soup. Use instant mash to thicken them bulk. woody / harder parts of veg (like broccoli stalks) just take longer.

If you boil water for potatoes, then see if you can cook pasta with the same water.. if you want cold pasta the following day.

Dried beans or lentils are very cheap but require soaking.

On-bone chicken thighs are great way of spreading meat throughout a few days. The bones can then go into flavouring soup, the skin can be peeled off put in oven to make chicken skin crisps for texture.
I always look at proteins to go into more than one dish. For example Yoghurt goes with oats for breakfast. Yoghurt goes into curries and yoghurt and tinned fruit and honey.

Learn to be cheeky, if people leave those McDonald's little tomato ketchup, then ask if you can have them. Whenever my girls go to mcD and they give the sauces we keep them.

If you have things on the turn then cook and freeze. If you have a veg stall nearby wait until end of day and see what they'll do a deal on. A lot of time they'll do discount for items which didn't sell. 3 cauliflowers for the price of two for example.
Dried herbs and spices are expensive but can transform a boring stew to an exciting curry. Buy in bulk.