Not eating proper meals

[Gettingbysomehow]

I'm very frugal and have a small mortgage. My salary is pretty good by most standards. NHS band 6.
I'm in my 60's. I dont eat meat so you would think my shop would be cheaper.
I'm finding that when I go shopping for me and my two cats food comes to around £40 for three or 4 days.
There is always an item that bumps it up. Bulk cat food or toiletries.
I just can't afford this kind of cost for food and I'm having to eat cereal for 2 meals and then having a home cooked meal at home in the evening.
I cant ever remember not being able to eat three meals a day even when I was a single mum with a much larger mortgage and outgoings.
How on earth are people managing?

My nearest shop is the Co-op and I find it incredibly easy to spend £20 on bits and pieces almost every day, it’s very expensive. Own brand peanut butter is something like £2.20, Tesco is £1.09 and so on. Even our small Sainsbury is cheaper. Why do you not have home delivery while you aren’t well?

Order online

Another one saying the co op is your problem. It’s extortionate. We are rural and it’s our only easy local one too. I get and on online Tesco delivery once a week. Maybe you could do once a fortnight and then just get milk from the coop.

Bemused at this, people are managing by not going to their local Co op and going to supermarkets.

I’d do a big shop at beginning of month online - say £100 or so. Bags of porridge, lentils, rice, pasta, tins of tomatoes and beans, large box of eggs if you eat them, frozen veg and berries are really good, onions, carrots, potatoes, loo roll, cat food. then use the coop for bread and milk during the month.

If you have a slow cooker it’s great for dhal or chickpea curry (add frozen veg, spinach is great) and its a complete meal and can do a few days either lunch or dinner. If you have it with bread/potato/rice at least the sides make it slightly different. And doesn’t need too much standing up.

or maybe you can just reduce pension slightly till you’re better? I think improving your nutrition is better use of the money just to get through this tough stage. Hope you’re better soon .

eta we have a local coop and it’s so handy to have but incredibly expensive. I’m starting a reduced shopping budget this month and part of that is no little coop trips!

I've always ever only had one decent meal a day. I don't think you need three full on meals in a day I certainly don't. If you're getting a nutritious meal and then also having cereal/fruit/sandwich etc I don't see the issue.

Online deliveries, making the most of offers when they appear on things you buy regularly, so you always have stocks of cheaper loo rolls, household and toiletries etc. Same for non-perishable tins etc.

Get a slow cooker, so you can just do a small amount of preparation and then the cooker cooks it for you with no work required from you.

Use Amazon for pet food to get cheaper, bulk quantities.

Use zooplus for cat food.
I buy mine grain free decent cat food, and it is about £60 every 3 months. So £20 a month.

£80 a week should allow you to eat three meals a day surely?
We spend about £150 a week on three of us, and that includes lots of organic produce, meat, and more expensive kids snacks like some fruit pouches or freeze dried fruit. Ds also had allergies so we often have to pay for premium options to exclude.

Breakfast:
toast and boiled eggs/ granola with fruit and yogurt

lunch
homemade soup, sandwiches, fruit, yogurt, or leftovers from night before

Dinner
whatever. Not caviar style, but your regular meals should all be possible.

Use zooplus for cat food.
Use online Ocado/ Tesco/ Sainsburys for your bulk everything else

I’d look at online shopping.

i find coop expensive and i shop at Aldi Ocado and Waitrose.
id say it’s on par with Waitrose (but worse quality for several things)

lentils and beans are cheap and nutritious.

porridge and a banana is going to be cheaper than cereal and nutritionally much better.

frozen veg are often very good value too.

Like other pp I was going to suggest on line shopping order that way you have more control over what you’re spending .

You’re choosing to pay into your pension rather than spending more on food. Tomorrow’s not promised to any of us x

Monthly online shop, bulk buy cat food, meal plan, freeze portions for days you feel worse. I spend £90 a week approx including household items for 3 adults

I'm a single Mum and have lost weight and and now underweight and often weak. My 2 year old is fine, it's amazing how little toddlers eat. and how much they drink, and how they actually crave healthy food.

I make soups, drink water, we have bread and eggs. Obviously i buy cheese and protein.

Nobody understands that having children and being in survival mode, you start to gradually reduce what you can eat until you realise you're only eating a bowl of soup a day and maybe breadsticks.

The main reason for me is astronomical rent. And energy bills. Plus council tax.

Your brain changes to survival mode so you are making decisions based on survival rather than logic. Nobody understands what a barrier that can be.

But the op has a decent salary and LOW housing costs and I think no children at home

She is choosing how to spend her money - putting extra into pension and shopping physically a very expensive store and then complaining she has not enough money

40 for a 3-4 days - whilst i spend £50 for a week - twice as long for not much extra

I fully understand food is expensive ontop of high rent, low salary, high childcare etc

But op says she earns ok. About £42k band 6. And that her housing costs are low. And no young children. So something must be wrong?

if you have a take home of £2400 a month. How much is mortgage/ rent and bills? £1000 max? If so £300-400 a month on food should be easily affordable and £1000 spare for other stuff, saving, pension extra contributions

I also get cat food delivered. I can’t be bothered with the weight of it and it’s cheaper.

Like PP said you need to do a monthly online shop. I would start with a 7 day meal plan you can rotate and then buy food from there. Once you get in the swing of it you can cook in bulk and really reduce the amount of cooking.

The co/op is only good for milk, the bargain bin and freezer deals occasionally.

remember a first delivery should come with money off as well If you look for a code so even more ideal to stock up!

Theres plenty of people on MN who can help plan a 7 day meal plan on the food board.

She’s explained it, she shops at the local co op and puts a lot of money into her pension. I’ve no idea why she started this thread, she knows exactly why she’s spending so much anc has so little left.

So you have cereal for breakfast and lunch and then a "proper" meal in the evening?
Swap the lunchtime cereal for a sandwich or something on toast and isn't that just normal eating?
As others have said - home delivery from a cheaper shop or if the big supermarkets don't deliver where you live could you ask locally if there's anyone who regularly does a big shop at a discount place if they can get you some items too.
I know of people in a village that one person does a big Costco shop which is then split up for various different people.

Ahhh, the co-op. My sympathies, it used to be my closest grocery store and it was shit food for so much money.

£40 for 3-4 days. Not for a week. So more like £10 per day.

I'm not sure how you are spending £20 per day tbh

£40 for three or four days. Your cats must be expensive ! Or veggie food is more costly than I thought. I spend £60 a week for teen ds (hollow legs) and myself. We aren't veggie so eat meat/fish 5 nights a week.

This week we had
Chicken (legs), spicy couscous, peas & sweetcorn
Chilli & brown rice (beef mince)
Omelettes and oven chips (cheese & assorted veg)
Pork chops with apples & garlic, and salad
Haddock, peas, brown bread & butter
Friday - Pepperoni pizza for ds, risotto with mussels & hake for me
Tuna with garlic & cannellini beans

Lunches are pate, salad, home made soup, sausages rolls, beans on toast, cornish pasties. Breakfasts are toast and fruit. Snacks for DS are fruit and supermarket biscuits, nuts for me. Main shop is Tesco. I'm a full time working single mum so nothing I cook takes more than 5 mins effort. (except risotto). I live rurally too.

Your issue is shopping in the Co-op. Can't you do an on-line shop somewhere sensible? It would be better value. Or ask a neighbour to take you to the supermarket once a week while you are poorly.