Aibu to think I can live on less then 15 pound a week?

[Mosseywossey]

I have just worked out my budget and I only have about 25 pound a week spare. Ideally I want to put 10 pound of it away in case of emergencies and treats.
I am allergic to chemicals so need to cook most of my meals from fresh, but can I realistically live on spending 15 pound on food a week?
And if people have any cheap recipes idea or meal plans let me know. 😋

Lots of traditionally meat based meals can be made with lentils and veg instead. Like a pasta sauce with grated veg, whatever you have or like, and canned tomatoes. Kerryann Dunlop has a good recipe on Youtube.

Also, chilli with 2 or 3 different beans, lentils, instead of or in a addition to minced beef. That way you use much less beef.

I can't think of the ingredients right now but Jack Monroe has a good recipe for spicy cauliflower. Add boiled eggs and rice and you have a really nice curry, just not the standard sauce type.

For cheap recipes I use Penny's Recipes, Jack Monroe, and the blog linked to by BoffinMum up thread.

If you can spend the time planning it can probably be done. Good luck.

Found a shopping list from the lean years which shows the level I worked money out to eat

Yeah I do buy jars of sauce for curries and pasta ect

Well, stop doing that for a start! If you cooked fresh sauces you'd save masses.

Tin of tuna mixed with chopped apple (or sweetcorn), chopped up cheese with a bit of mayo and ketchup. Yum. Easy and inexpensive.

Just for those claiming the OP is somehow imagining things, can I point out that sulphite allergy is relatively common, and sulphur dioxide / sulphites are included in the EU regulations regarding allergens that have to be listed on product information.

My sympathies, OP - ex-H wasn't allergic as such, but sulphites were a migraine trigger for him, and they pop up all over the place.

Find out the time of your local supermarket's reduction. Before I moved home, I had a Tesco local 1 minute from my house. I used to stroll in 3 times a week and pick up the short dated reductions and stock the freezer. Usually it would be bread, veggies and fresh soups, but I'd also pick up some brilliant bargains on other things (smoked salmon 120g - 43p, for example).

It's not quite the same anymore, but I still try and time my weekly shop to be around reduction time (last week at Morrisons I bagged 6 individual pies for 9p each - I won't eat them but are great for DP's work lunches).

Don't bother with jar sauces anymore either. Get tinned tomatoes and make your own sauces as you said you have all the herbs and spices. Bulk dishes out with onions, potatoes and frozen veggies.

And porridge should be a staple. It's cheap and really good for you. It's fine with water (I eat it with water usually to save calories), and then flavour with some cheap jam or buy a jar of honey which will last you weeks.

I can make a corned beef hash for £3/4 and it makes 3 portions, could stretch to 4 if you add some peas and maybe serve with a slice of bread.
Gnocci with a bit of cheese is tasty.
You can do loads with tortilla wraps - quesadillas with cheese and onion, wraps, pizza, cut them up and bake them to make tortilla chips, cover with cheese, a diced tomato and maybe red onion for nachos.
4 Jacket potatoes for £1, eat with beans, beans and cheese for a cheap meal. I serve ours with left over curry sometimes.

Sloes arent ripe til October and November, so make sure you know how to identify hedgerow food.

Sulphur is E220 is most commonly used in dried fruit to preserve the colour.
Sorbitol is E420 and an artificial sweetener. The body treats it the same was as fructose (fruit sugar), so I'd be cautious about a claim you are allergic to it.
Both are well labelled and not difficult to avoid.

I haven't read all the replies so apologies if this has been mentioned - do you have a real junk food project near you? Where they take all the unwanted food from supermarkets etc? You pay what you can.

just you, yes possibly.

red lentils work well, as do tinned kidney beans (value) for protein.

aldi's weetbix are great. add sultanas. (86p last two weeks)

sainsbury's and aldi do nice wholemeal bread for about 35p a loaf. (v different to warburtons if you like that though)

aldi and asda value beans are the nicest value ones.

oops not sultanas then

Corner beef and rice with some veg thrown in. Pretty cheap and what I had as a child, when we were struggling.

*Corned.

When I was a student I ate jacket potatoes with beans alternated with pasta with tinned tomatoes and sweet corn for weeks on end when funds were low (they weren't always low and often it was my own fault for splurging on restaurant meals earlier in the term ... and I usually managed to have enough money for a cheap bottle of wine...) I also bought cheap apples in big bags, porridge oats (not fancy ready porridge, oats - there's a really no difference except price), milk and tea bags and instant coffee..
I was perfectly happy doing that, though I remember a friend telling me off for lack of variety. I think it used to be fairly normal for students to eat like that. Now I have kids I spend hours cooking, but I couldn't be bothered then and resented the expense.

I would feel bad about using food bank type things, even though I do struggle I can just about manage and wouldn't want to take away from those who are really needy. I'm quite capable of getting a job, though I have limited experience and it will be tricky.
Again, I would like to say I can't say for defiant I'm allergic as the doctor won't peruse it any further and there isn't a test for it (this was ages ago). It was a process of elimination which is similar to those you stop eating dairy or wheat. I noticed with these E numbers and sulphur dioxide I was very ill. Think how the sickness and diahorra bug makes you feel. Because I can't identify it try to eat as fresh as possible to prevent any bout of this illness as it is truly terrible.

Veggie Indian food is certainly not boring!

@LRDtheFeministDragon

Yeah I do buy jars of sauce for curries and pasta ect

Well, stop doing that for a start! If you cooked fresh sauces you'd save masses.

That isn't always true, actually.

Tesco
Cheapest tinned tomatoes = 31p then you need ot add stuff to make it into a curry sauce like garlic, spices, oil etc
Cheapest curry sauce = 25p

Frozen veg is your best bet. Super cheap with no waste.

Learn how to butcher a chicken, whole chickens are good value usually. I got 2 in Lidl the other day, marked 30% off as out of date the next day. They were free range and £3.xx each
Would help towards your protein levels, butcher and you've got 4/5 meals plus a carcass for stock.

A PP recommended the Jack Monroe blog.

I went on and found this (sorry - this is derailment and nothing to do with the thread - it's a fireman's perspective of the Grenfell Tower fire). I found it very moving. Here's the link if anyone wants it.

cookingonabootstrap.com/2017/06/18/a-firefighter-who-was-called-to-grenfell-wrote-this-after-his-shift-and-even-as-an-ex-fire-control-op-i-found-it-extremely-difficult-to-read/

OP please forgive me if this is inappropriate.

The chicken idea is brilliant! I will check out YouTube for tutorial !!!!

hipster - I love the idea tinned tomatoes are the thing without which you can't make curry!

In general, ready-made sauces are expensive. Not invariably, and some of the crappy ones are quite cheap. But it's generally a lot cheaper to cook things that don't require a ready-made sauce.

That's all.

sainsbury's and aldi do nice wholemeal bread for about 35p a loaf

Agree that the Sainsbury loaf isn't at all bad haven't tried the other). Don't get their cheap white bread though - not once at all.

Facebook have a couple of groups called "Feed your family for about £20 a week" they put their recipes on a website. Also include info on good deals. fyf20quid.co.uk

Make a big ass pot of soup. My favourite is lentil.
Use stock cubes if you're able to tolerate them, ham or pork give a nice flavour, I often use both.
Then red lentils, leeks, swede and a load of carrots.
Cheap, cheerful and delicious.