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I realised a few months ago that the amount of money I was spending on food was TOO much. Armed with this thread, I initially ate recipes based upon dried beans/rice/stock/herbs for a month. Doing this I managed to pay off a lingering £300 debt that I have had since I finished university in August. Having paid of this debt I decided 'but what if I could save a similar amount of money every month? That could pay for a holiday... or even a car!' so now I am budgeting myself to £20 a week. My tips for eating well on this budget? -'Yellow Sticker' food. I'm not sure if you guys have it in the USA, but in the UK, as a food approaches it's sell by date, the supermarkets sometimes stick 'Whoops' or 'reduced' stickers on it. If you are a carnivore like me, you can save a ton on meat by looking out for these things. For instance, this week I have the following in my freezer: A large whole chicken should be £5, i got it for £2.50; A roast beef joint (prepared by the in house butcher), worth £9, I got it for £4;2 hand prepared sirloin steaks, should be £9, reduced to £4 (£2! for an aberdeen angus sirloin!! what?!). Seriously, do not under-estimate these reductions. Literally amazing. Bung it in your freezer and then just stick it in the fridge the day before use for it to defrost. -Value Veg. Stuff the 'finest' and 'organic' and 'premium' veg. Veg is largely veg. They might look different, maybe a bit knobbly, but it doesn't matter, it'll still taste wicked. I always buy budget potatoes, budget carrots and budget anything else i can grab. -Stop buying lunch. Make it yourself. I'm sure everyone realises that buying food every day costs too much. £5 is a typical amount i used to spend on lunch alone, which in a working month adds up to £100 a month! i'd rather have that in my pocket by making lunch out of my £20 a week budget. The best way to avoid buying lunch is to.... -Cook big on Sunday... eat for the rest of the week. For example: I cooked up some lovely spaghetti bolognese, enough for 4 people. I ate one that night and fridged/froze the rest, eating it for lunch for the next 3 days. It's as quick to re-heat as a 'ready-meal' but tastes way better and is more satisfying. What i've found is over the weeks I actually have an excess of food, such that I'm struggling to plan meals simply because I have so much choice. I have my next £20 of my food budget to spend next monday too! I think it's especially prudent to try and save some money given that the economy is going to crash big style in the new year. Hope you found some of this useful (if it is a little obvious, i apologise). Try and live on £20 a week, you won't regret it. Edit: ^^^ whoops! didn't see a fellow reduced meat buddy posting above.
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Dec 3, 2011 01:14
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| # ¿ May 1, 2024 13:48 |
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