To ask your absolute cheapest ways to feed 1 adult 1 5 year old

[HAF1119]

Cheapest food ideas - primarily dinners - beans on toast/on jacket potatoes I have on the list. Cheapest fruit/veg and proteins?

A ducks in a row situation literally every penny counts and need a dramatic drop in outgoings (not long term but possibly as much as 6 months so as many suggestions as possible as my head space is poor right now)

Have a look at full time meals with Tom Kerridge on instagram

Lentil soup is brilliant -tasty, cheap and healthy

lentil curries with added frozen veg is very filling and delicious. Have with rice

Omelettes with pitta bread

both meals have carbs and protein but are cheaper than meat

Bean chilli is pretty cheap. You can add some veg as well - carrots, onions, etc.

My DS basically lived off it at uni.

You can get big bags of cheap pasta as well and do tomato sauce with lentils/carrots/other cheap veg

Also stir fry rice - big bag of rice. Cook the rice, then fry with whatever veg are cheap. Eggs if you can stretch to them for protein.

Pasta . Tin of tuna . Tomato ketchup .
can add frozen veg too

Browse too good to go. The grocery and local grocery type stores with 4.5 or higher ratings can be very good

Join the olio free food app.
Buy seeds from aldi/lidl are start growing veg
Buy wonky fruit/veg
Cut down meat and replace with lentils/beans
Lots of similar threads if you look

Have you a freezer? Going off root veg (courgette, obergine, carrot, onion, peppers, tin of tomatoes - anything left over - OR often found in lidl/morrisons £discount wonky veg boxes) chop finely, oven roast and use as a “healthy base” for all other meals (I add garlic and dried herbs but it’s not needed). Mine will have it over pasta. Potatoes and as a “dip” for other dinners (mini pizza etc). Can be made in a big batch and frozen/defrosted in a microwave and just stirred into meals as needed.

Meal planning is your friend - if you have the storage space. I use chicken thighs a lot - shred the meat. First night (for adults I’ll add tomatoes harissa or any other dried spices and a veg cube from above) with beans (and plain rice) and eat in wraps. Second night I’ll add it to rice cooked with a stock cube. Frozen peas and broccoli.

carrots and cheap and filling,

other veg varies, you can just go to the supermarket or green grocer and see what is cheap today.

Bananas is another go-to for me, when skint..

Porridge with full fat milk is a cheap and filling breakfast. Big cartons of natural yoghurt, with any cheap fruit is a good dessert. raisons go well with either, and can sometimes be brought cheaply

sausages - well, some are better value nutritionally than others.

eggs, a bit expensive, but a good source of protein

Cheese - massive differences in price - look for multi buy offers as it lasts

Rice, particularly brown rice, is much better for you then pasta - can be flavoured with onion, spice, etc.

lentils can be very cheap

Don't forget green leafy veg, lettuce, cabbage, etc very important for a healthy diet

Agree lentil and carrot soup with some bread.
Butter beans, onion, chopped tomatoes, courgette with some rice
Pasta, onion, dried basil or oregano, few mushrooms. Grated cheese if you have some.
For cheap pizza use a wrap or Nan bread, chopped tomatoes as a base then some mushrooms and grated cheese
Sweet potato baked with cheese and baked beans
Omelette

Pasta is your friend.

Shepherds pie made with lentils instead of meat. Frozen peas and carrots on the side.

A roast chicken. Eat it roasted on day 1. Then strip the carcass for a couple more meals: chicken curry, chicken soup and chicken sandwiches.

Homemade tomato soup and toast or cheese sandwiches.

Porridge for dinner is a luxury when my DH isn’t home. It’s self-indulgent but cheap and quick. I make mine with mostly water too. Then you can add jam or banana or Nutella for toppings.

Tonight I had toast for dinner 🤷‍♀️

Breakfasts - eggs (scrambled, poached etc for variety) porridge oats can be bought in bulk cheaply and various things added for flavour such as jam, fruit, peanut butter

dinner - jackets with tuna, beans,
bean chilli with rice (beans bought dried and then soaked are cheapest usually)

cheapest fruits and veg are usually Aldi’s or if you have time your local market will be offering lots of good deals. My city centre markets does 5 large oranges for £1 and lots of deals better than the supermarkets

Also research locally if there is a food pantry near you. You can get food cheaply there (this is different to a good bank, apologies if you know this already)

good luck, this is tough and I have been there and it was tough but things for me have now improved and so will your situation x

Omelettes/frittata filled with vegetables.

Chilli with lots of beans. Pasta sauce with extra vegetables finely chopped. When I do bolognaise sauce, or a tomato sauce, it’s about 50% veg to bulk out the meat.

Easiest & cheapest (free) option is food banks. Many don't even need referrals & those that do are easily obtained. GP, HV, mental health team, anyone from social services or domestic violence charities, nursery/school. Local libaries/community centres. A family member is a police officer & they can also do them.

Olio is another good one, community fridges (google/local fb pages will have info for your area)

You say you're getting your ducks in a row, so assuming, leaving a relationship? Do you have a family member/friend that could also support you?

There is a fab group on Facebook called "feed your family for about £20 a week"
It has loads of cheap but filling meal ideas and lots of tips for stretching meat further like adding porridge oats to mince when making mince and tatties or lentils when making Bolognese.

Brilliant thanks, child loves lentils and egg based foods (but not 'just an egg') omelette is a fantastic thing I'd not thought about

Fantastic thank you! I will do some chilli. I can do that en mass too and freeze a load of portions

Thank you! I tried that but as a non driver wasn't possible :( my most local shop don't use it and the rest isn't a feasible option for anything regular. Thank you though!

You're right thank you I will do a search and look at similar threads. A lots happened in the past couple of days and I'm not thinking as I usually am!

Thank you so much! I'd never heard of a food pantry either and am going to look into that

A dinner I love...cherry tomatoes cut in half softened in some oil...toss with spaghetti. Things you can add if you have or can stretch to...basil, garlic, chilli, parmesan or some sort of hard cheese. Works out very cheap per person

In terms of needing to cut back overall, but as a result of that/needing to have money available.

Thank you I will look at all of them. I have spoken to family and have some support but I need to try to sort some of the financial aspects

When skint I have porridge (Tesco Value oats) with half milk, half water for breakfast.
Lunch, any kind of homemade soup is cheap, healthy and filling - lentil, carrot, leek and potato etc.
Dinner, cheap bacon pieces, onion and tinned tomato with pasta. Bacon pieces, onion and potato slices layered up. Pour on white sauce , sprinkle with cheese and bake, stuff on toast, French toast, omelette, baked potatoes and cheese/ beans. Pasta and tomato sauce. Special fried rice - whatever is hanging round in the fridge mixed with rice. Replace half meat with lentils in a curry.

Buy a bag of dried chickpeas (about £2), and prepare the whole bag in one go (soak overnight, boil and then simmer). Portion into bags and freeze. You can then use them in almost any recipe to replace meat just by chucking them into . You can do chickpea and potato curry (parboil potatoes then chop into bit sized chunks), chickpea chilli, stir them into pasta with frozen veg and passata, etc. You woul have enough for about 9 meals.

Soup made from whatever veg you have

chilli/cottage pie with lentils to spin out the mince and make it go further.

pasta with homemade tomato sauce (tin chopped toms, onion, garlic etc) then maybe a bit of bacon and chilli flakes in it too. Or even just pasta with some pesto stirred through it. And a garlic bread-the Aldi ones that are about 50p are great. Could use some leftover bacon chopped up in an omelette

if doing a big pot of chilli: one night with rice, one with jacket potato or wedges so it’s a bit different.