As I said on Saturday, this book by a food blogger is on loan from the library. It's been raved about all over the place and has good reviews. It has menu plans and very delicious recipes for meat eaters, vegetarians, vegans and people who need gluten free. With a photo and prices of the weekly shopping required. EXCEPT when you come to look at the recipe you need other things not mentioned in the shopping list........things like flour, olive oil, spices and balsamic vinegar..............and that's just in week 1. So although it says feed your family for £35 a week you do need a few extras.
But I shan't gripe too much because when I worked out my plan 3 years ago I also used a few things from the cupboard but my weeks outlay was under £20 while in the book each week comes in at MORE than the £35 quoted.
Perhaps spending more than the quote is just sort of authors artistic licence?......or cheating........
But what about now .............2018..... can 2 people eat for £20 for a week......is it possible? (without pulses - which I can't eat and with a few sweet treats ......because I'm bad!).
I tried - using the Mysupermarket price comparison site again - but by golly it's hard. I wanted fruit but that was difficult to factor in, I wanted some meat and cheese and vegetables and breakfast other than porridge. I added up, took things out of the list, swapped some things but still couldn't get under £20. And I know there are people out there managing very well on £10 a week per person..... please could they tell me how? (without using yellow sticker stuff plus NO pulses but with meat, cheese, fruit and veg!)
Then I had a thought.... "light-bulb moment"!................benefits are paid fortnightly so anyone on a tight budget would have two weeks money and could plan two weeks menus which might actually make things easier to work out.
So back to the drawing board...........£40 for 2 people for 2 weeks...........................
That was the weekend before last when I was watching Rugby, writing a letter and reading a library book so didn't get round to sorting out a meal plan. Then I tried again this weekend just gone................
How did I get on?
Back Tomorrow
Sue
I don’t know where this weekend went, must have been that hour we lost! I do feel if the book says you can eat within a certain budget, then it should stay with it xx
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to reading what you have planned. And I agree, a lot of frugal plans do rely on having a good basic storecupboard. OK in theory or for an experiment but not if you really have to.
ReplyDeleteJ x
Ooh that’s a pest. I hate it when it says, 5 ingredients and it ends up being ten, with the extras.
ReplyDeleteCould it not be that the price of things have gone up since the book was written?
ReplyDeleteYup I was concerned about all the need for a well-stocked store cupboard - put up a picture of all the extras I'd needed to add. Looking forward to your menu plan!
ReplyDeleteApologies for not realising/forgetting you had done posts about this book - it was probably where I saw it mentioned!
DeleteI've found your picture of the "Missing Ingredients" and for anyone who wants to look it's on your Feb 10th post. The amount of extras needed is even more than I thought!
I do find that a lot of these who do things like meals for 2 for £20 buy in a lots of cheap value foods, which I have tried and find disgusting with lots of bulking out with cheap nasty stuff, food is an important fuel for your body to function at its best and I dont see that filling it with cheap processed stuff does it any favors, I would rather budget in other areas than whats on my plate. looking forward to what you come up with.
ReplyDeleteAgree 100% with Dawn. Especially for those with health and weight issues. Buy the best, freshest and most wholesome food that you can afford. Prioritize health over all else.
DeleteYes Sue...I have bought in bulk for value...then scheduled the expense when we're actually using the item...I bought a whole box of Muller butter this way...and large packs of sausagemeat cut into three...cheating or not it's helping to keep our food costs down. x
ReplyDeleteAn interesting exercise. I'd definitely struggle to do it on a regular basis especially when I'm picking up 5 gala apples for £1.60! Doesn't surprise me people would choose 4 or 5 packets of biscuits instead. I'm happy my shopping bill has stayed the same for the past few months. That feels an achievement in itself at the moment! xx
ReplyDeleteI'm looking forward to seeing how you get on Sue. I'm always looking for tips as it so hard to keep the food bill down. Jane xx
ReplyDeleteYep we food budget fortnightly and meal plan based on specials, not on recipes.
ReplyDeleteGreat call, the supermarkets supersize most things, so to buy for two weeks and split it is perfect. We always split packs of almost everything before freezing. When we shop we have meat on our list, and check out the offers, if it's beef, we buy beef.
ReplyDeleteIt is extremely hard to budget on a small amount of money when you need to buy everything necessary to prepare the foods. I even found it would have been easier to add two more days to the old Live Below the Line challenges and have £7 for 7 days instead of £5 for 5 days.
ReplyDeleteI look forward to seeing your budget plans for the two week period. Of course as well as being able to buy bigger packs or more variety of food, budgeting for two weeks would mean that things like curries, stews or soups could be made in bulk and frozen away ready for the second week helping to keep costs down.
I was thinking of this post when I was doing the grocery shopping today. It totted up to £41 but that included 6 Primulas for £3 for the garden, and a strawberry partisserie tart (I have called this "Lunch"!) They had a good veg offer - any 3 for £1, which included onions, broccoli, potatoes, carrots etc, which I availed myself of, and a big pan of soup is in the offing. Like Marlene, I split packs of things too (especially when it's chicken thighs/legs/breasts etc) into individual portions and usually go for the bigger size bag of, say, rice, as that is better value though more initially. I am looking forward to seeing what your post will be. We use a lot of ground ginger and cinnamon and decided to try the large pots (180g or so) I found in The Range - tried the Ginger first and OH said it was fine (he puts it in his Horlicks drink at lunchtime), so we went back for some Cinnamon. I do a lot of baking with both and at £1.80 for the Schwartz (£1.50 for 26g) or Barts ones (£1.61 for 26g!) it soon adds up. We used to get it "fresh" from the Health Food Shop until they changed their supplier and it was so obviously stale we voted with our feet.
ReplyDeleteDoh - 2 different prices for the Schwartz spices - first one Amazon and 2nd Morrisons.
ReplyDeleteIt is hard work sometimes and time consuming to shop around and stick to the budget. I think I am a savvy shopper but would find 10 pounds per person very challenging this time of year when I have no garden produce. The price of fruit is ridiculous at the moment. Looking forward to seeing how you get on :)
ReplyDeleteSounds a sensible idea to do it in two week slots Sue.
ReplyDeleteIt is sort of misleading - especially when it 'assumes' that everybody keeps certain things in their cupboards. I hate when recipes claim 5 ingredients or less and 4 of them are things that I'd never use again! I think I could feed people really cheaply but some of that assumes there is nothing fresh. I try to stick to a budget but we are lucky that there is wiggle room for fresh fruits or a more expensive dinner (our version of takeaway lol).
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to see what you have some up with! For anyone who is just setting up a house the cost is enormous to begin. Just a few spices and condiments can eat up your food budget and you end up with no food to eat.
ReplyDeleteThrifty Lesley has some really good meal plans for tight budgets and she not only costs the recipes but they are nutritionally balanced. Also Jack's cooking on a bootstrap. My food costs are low but mostly I buy yellow sticker fish and meat, I have a large freezer which also helps and I use pulses and chick peas. I think a lot of it depends where you live as it is harder if you are not near supermarkets or good markets.
ReplyDeleteThe only thing I can recommend is to make things from scratch, no prepared food, no boxed things, use fresh veg and fruit and no canned things. But it's a lot of work! ((hugs)), Teresa :-)
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to seeing your menu plan. With prices going up I can imagine it was a difficult piece of work to do.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
I'm looking forward to your two-week plan. I can't eat very much of the pulse family so your guidelines are the ones I'd use as well.
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