How to consistently eat well on a low budget?

[Madmog]

Our budget is approx £45/50 a week for food, toiletries and cleaning goods which I can stick to. However, from September our available monthly cash will be reduced, so food is one thing I'm looking at cutting back on.

At the moment we often find ourselves eating things like potatoes, sausage and beans (DD is lucky and gets all veggies with her sausages but to cut back we have a value can of baked beans), Lidl pie with potatoes and a small amount of veggies or something like value spaghetti on toast at lunchtime. I often eat value peanuts as they are really cheap with loads of calories and some protein and vitamins, or value biscuits. Nothing wrong occasionally with all of these but I'm aware they're not the healthiest options, so just wondering if anyone has any healthily alternatives which are cheap as well.

Also, what sort of things do you buy with protein, fruit or veggie wise which are cheaper options? We want a healthier diet, but needs to have enough calories as me and DD are underweight and DH is about right.

Do you have a freezer? Can you bulk buy / buy reduced produce / batch cook?

I find meat the most expensive part of my shop - I usually do a tuna pasta bake once a week (tin of tuna, tin of chopped tomatoes, sweetcorn & a chopped pepper) with Aldi pasta & garlic bread (29p for a budget bag of pasta, 35p for garlic bread) and the kids love it - we usually have leftovers for lunch the next day too.

Frozen veg is pretty cheap.

As far as cleaning, have you tried zoflorya made up with water. Its about £1 and probably makes 4/5 bottles of cleaning fluid.

Make everything yourself - avoid any ready meals.
Double up your oven when it is on. Cake in the bottom trays of biscuits in the top type of thing.
Spices from international stores - they make the most uninspiring food interesting.
Use pulses for protien - a pressure cooker is good for cooking beans (and stock) quickly. See if one of your elderly relatives has one tucked away in a cupboard.
Grow anything you have space for.
If food is about to go manky make it into jam, chutney or soup as appropriate.

Bulk dishes out with lots of veg or chickpeas. I've bought a 250g pack of mince today for £2, bulked it out and it will do three big portions. Don't buy ready meals, as a PP said already.

Buy frozen veg, Iceland do packets of 900g for around a pound, rather then fresh

Make what you can from scratch and watch your potion size. Try not to buy packets of cut meat it's cheaper to buy a large joint and then slice up and freeze for lunches.

Do you have spare time to shop? A lot of veg shops have reduced stock, usually a small box near the till. Butchers often offer stock bones for free - it adds protein and a bit of fat and a lot of flavour to stews (good way to use ropey reduced stuff).

But the best way is to find out the best times for reduced items in supermarkets near you. Mini supermarkets are often good too - our mini asda has loads of very cheap fresh/chilled food of all types about 30-60m before closing time. Sometimes just pennies but you have to be lucky and stock up when you see it!

Agree with the frozen veg - I only buy frozen now as there's no waste.
I only buy the cheap fruit - apples, pears, bananas - and frozen berries. Kids' puddings are fruit or Lidl greek yoghurt (comes in a kg tub).

I also make all our bread - if you can get hold of a cheap bread maker it's worth it.

I do a one week meal plan and we just repeat it. Not exciting but it's stuff that I know if nutritious, cheap and gets eaten. Have some meat free days.

So, roast chicken on Sunday and then a chicken curry/risotto on Monday. Leftovers can be used for sandwiches or soup. Bulk out mince with lots of veg for spag bol or chilli. I usually have one sausage based meal a week as the kids like them, something with fish and a couple of veggie nights. Homemade pizza with frozen peppers on it and any other leftover bits - sausage, chicken, tuna, whatever I have.

Eggs are cheap and nutritious. Lots of fruit and veg and value rice, pasta and cereal.

See if you can get a bread maker on Freebay / Freegle - saves a fortune. Especially if you can fork out for the sacks of flour online. As others have said, frozen veg saves waste - and almost all of it is 89p a bag in Iceland (they do online ordering now but only over £35). Lentils are cheap and can be put in with everything to bulk up.

I always buy pork chops(pack of 8), a chicken and steak pieces from tescos. It's 3 for £10. This is for two people. I spilt the chops into two dinners of two each, with them we have mash and veg or marinate them and have with rice/veg. I cook the chicken and half of the steak pieces add to pasta and pepper sauce with onions and peppers to make spicy pasta. With the left over chicken I make a curry or stir fry sometimes manage to get two sandwiches out of it. Il use the rest of the steak pieces in a stew/casserole with onions, carrots, peas, potatoes and gravy throw in some sausages to bulk it out.

Have you checked if you'll be able to get any tax credits after your change in circumstances? I think you'll struggle to consistently feed your family well on your reduced budget. Have a look at 'A Girl Called Jack' her website has got cheap ideas. The best thing you can do is cut out the meat and replace with pulses and eggs. Good luck.

Thanks so much. I'm aware we eat more processed food than I'd like, I just do the cheapest option I can think of sometimes. I need some inspiration, need to think ahead so I can balance food costs out. Your posts are helpful so I'll see which work. I'll look more for bulk purchases and good value frozen veggies.

flossiechops - thanks for the tuna pasta idea. I'll see if I can get some cheap frozen sweetcorn as DD likes this on its own as well.

maroonedwithfour, will look into zoflorya. Tescos have it on their website but I guess I can get it cheaper in town.

Iamnotanugget - DH hates his job, he's done a course in something he really enjoys and is doing it on a voluntary basis, but has to pay to do a course at degree level (which he need for paid work) and he will have to pay for the course himself. I don't relish the cost of it £6,000 over two years, but he's really unhappy. I'm not sure we'll get tax credits for something like this, but I was thinking about looking into whether anything was available for students - I think there's a student card which can be used at some places. I've been keeping my eyes out for something locally to work around the little job I have (which we are both agreed I don't give up as it fits really well with the family), but without success so far.

Watch your portions - I use half a pack of pasta to feed 2 adults and 2 children. I used to use 3/4 pack and some would be wasted.

Aldi/Lidl - I know some people don't like shopping there, but you don't have to get everything from there.

Grow your own - if you have the space, you could grow some herbs, salad leave, potatoes and tomatoes. It's really easy. It won't save you loads, but it's really rewarding.

Go to your local library and get hold of a copy of a book called "A Girl Called Jack" by Jack Monroe - it's full of really cheap and nutritious meals which taste great as well.

They do Zoflora in £land if you have one near you.

Market for fruit and veg is soo much cheaper than the supermarkets.

I do the bulk of my food shopping in Aldi, then pick up extras from tesco.

I tend to buy a weeks worth on payday (with a meal plan and shopping list) then, as the food runs out, before doing the next shop, I gather all leftovers and incorporate them into the next weeks meals. This works for us as DH gets paid I'm the middle of the month, so a pay comes in twice a week.

I think, rather than ask for help on what to buy, look into the kind of meals you would eat (there are great threads on here for this), make a meal plan and budget. You'll learn to tweak it as you go (DH used to earn a fair bit more but is also retraining, so I understand about the drop in income making everything harder).

Also, cleaning stuff - I buy almost everything at poundland.

Is it really better to buy frozen veg instead of fresh?

I don't know if this will help as it needs a bit of initial outlay but you could save a few quid each week to do it.

I buy good meat that is reduced, same day use.
Freeze it or make it into pies to freeze.
The same with fruit and veg, buy from supermarket last thing when they are reduced, either blanch and freeze or use on that day.

I don't buy cleaning stuff now apart from white wine vinegar and lemons.
If you can manage soap its cheaper and lasts longer than shower gel, buy this from places other than poundland as it can be cheaper.

Any leftovers go in plastic containers in the fridge, even a little is a dinner or lunch for somebody when others are out. This saved us all the tins of stuff that add up.

Bread, I do the same as fruit, veg and meat, freeze on use by date.

Anything you save from doing this can go towards next buys or to buy something in bulk when on offer, like washing powder or loo rolls.

Yes, it means no waste. Frozen is also often more nutritious as it is frozen very soon after being picked whereas "fresh" can be a week or two old by the time you eat it.

Please watch poundland, the zoflora mentioned I have found cheaper in both B&M and Home Bargains, you need to watch the lost leaders at poundland.

Borrow some veggie cookery books from the library, as meat is really expensive, a good veggie book will explain all about getting your full needs from beans, pulses etc.

And if you do buy meat treat it as a luxury item, not a basic. I know some will call this a magic chicken but one big chicken did a roast for 4 and then risotto for 6, as we stripped the meat off boiled the carcass for stock (you don't need to watch it for the full 2 hours) and had snippets of chicken and LOADS of veg :beans, sweetcorn, peas, carrots and sweet potatoes mostly frozen.
How? i am a tightwad with my meat you get your small portion each and no more, it is wrapped up in the fridge.

A girl called Jack lots of cheap, largely vegan/veggie recipes here.

When my dc only take a few bites out of an Apple I chop it up and freeze it. When I have enough I make a crumble!

I know this isn't what you are asking for. But it might be worth enquiring at your local Foodbank as to whether they can help. They often have different rules at each one, but if you explain that your grocery allowance simply doesn't buy you enough food, they may offer you one Foodbank voucher per week.

I manage one, and we would certainly do this. Some however are very strict on the 'emergency only' element. It's worth enquiring. (And don't be embarrassed, we see people from a huge variety of backgrounds!)

I meant per month, not week*

Which would help with basics like pasta, tinned veg, beans, tea etc