How can you eat really well cheaply?

Hi,

I want to eat really well, but whilst not spending too much on food.

I currently spend about £55 a week on food, and want/ need to bring this down to about 30 a week.

I think I would save a lot of money if I was more economical with my meats, so I have a few questions:

If I buy a big pack of 4 chicken legs, but only want to eat 1/2, is it best to just cook the 2 I want and leave the rest in the pack for a few days (how long can they keep?), or to cook them all and then leave in fridge on a plate for a few days?
What do most people do?

Reply 1

domonict

Bulk is always cheaper than singles.

Check sell by dates on packets and eat the whole lot within the dates ( but if it has say, 5 days, eat on a Monda/Wed and a Friday with something else in-between)
or freeze some bits.

Look for "dine in for £10 deals. I spread a "meal for 2 and bottle of wine" over three days but some dishes don't split/reheat so read the packet.

Buy a whole chicken . Remove and freeze the leg meat. Use for a stir fry. Roast the rest of the chicken and you'd get 2/3 days ( one hot roast/one cold chick and chips & sarnies)

If you have a freezer - buy a slow cooker. Hardly any energy. cook a big chilli and freeze portions.,

Reply 2

username1799249

Crikey! £55 for one person. That is a load! That works out at about £3.70 a meal (lunch and tea).

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Where are you shopping? Forget the big supermarkets. Aldi and Lidl are where the "good" cheap food is. Why pay more?

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Never buy branded goods. Why pay for a marketing campaign when you only want a full belly? Unbranded food is more or less exactly the same.

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Stop buying ready meals. Get a cookbook and cook from scratch. I recommend Jamie's Ministry of Food if you want simple easy tasty wholesome stuff.

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Invest in a larder of basic ingredients

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Cook large batches of things and then freeze what you don't eat. You can buy foil takeaway trays for easy portioning and make sure you label what they are!

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Chicken breast is really expensive. Buy turkey breast instead. In a curry or stirfry you can't tell the difference.

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Slow cookers rock! They allow you to cook the cheaper (tougher) but always tastier cuts of meat like chump or braising steak. You prepare your meal the night before, set your timer and come home to a delicious tea.

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Plan your meals rather than buy what you fancy. Seriously! I can tell you what we will be eating on any day of the week.

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Enjoy cooking!

Good luck!

Reply 3

passivepineapple

[QUOTE="domonict;57153767"]
/

Original post by ByEeek

Crikey! £55 for one person. That is a load! That works out at about £3.70 a meal (lunch and tea).
/
Good luck!

I shop at tesco.

I don't buy any ready meals.

When you freeze a meal, what do you put it into to freeze it?
Can you cook frozen chicken breasts and chicken legs from frozen in the oven?

Reply 4

Wellzi

A tin of spam. You're welcome :biggrin:

Reply 5

Loquacious

Woah ! That is a lot spent on food.
I thought I spent a lot, haha. Usually for me it's between £10-£20 a week. And a lot of it ends up in the freezer for whenever needed.

I figure it's cheaper to make your own meals in bulk, yes.
You can buy plastic containers of any sort in most places, Poundland might even do them, i'm not too sure.
Standard plastic containers like the ones you get from take-aways sometimes can be used too.
I get mine from Asda for 50p/each for the sturdy ones, but the cheap ones work just as well.

If you're dealing with meat and don't think you'll use it all before the date on it, freeze it.
It's just as good of a meat/meal after frozen; just not as fresh.
Also, go for the cheap own supermarket brands, usually called 'basics/essentials/savers', that kind of thing when you're going for the basics such as pasta or flour etc. That's, if you don't mind it; honestly you can barely tell the difference.

(edited 8 years ago)

Pasta.

/thread

What are you buying and cooking now? Give me a break down so I can give you tailored advice.

Reply 8

claireestelle

Original post by domonict

When you freeze a meal, what do you put it into to freeze it?
Can you cook frozen chicken breasts and chicken legs from frozen in the oven?

You can cook from frozen or defrost in the microwave then cooking it from there. I barely ever use fresh meat except mince now and the leftover in the pack goes into the freezer and i then defrost i afterwards. We spend £35-40 a week to feed the two of us so how on earth you re spending £50 on one person:P
what are you even buying each week?!

Reply 9

claireestelle

just noticed you said the shop at tesco, are you buying brands if so stop as its not worth it, switch to tescos own or value if you can or just go to lidl/aldi

Reply 10

username1799249

[QUOTE="passivepineapple;57182647"]

Original post by domonict

When you freeze a meal, what do you put it into to freeze it?
Can you cook frozen chicken breasts and chicken legs from frozen in the oven?

Yes - definitely freeze fresh meat you are not planning to eat in the next day or so. I don't recommend cooking in the oven from frozen though. Take it out in the morning and leave on a plate to defrost through the day. Or defrost in a microwave.

Reply 11

silverbolt

try tp have variety as well. I spent months eating nothing but stir frys and now i cant stand to look at them.

buying in bul is a good idea as well,

ignore brand names and buy store brands.

Aldi and Lidl for fresh fruit and veg (though the difference it has to be said isnt huge between them and Tesco) but I used to buy Lidl meats and honestly i dont like it that much, it just doesnt seem as good. But meat is the one thing im really snobby about. Frozen veg is awesome stuff too

Bulk out your meals, if making a curry/pasta/stirfry etc etc add cheap easy veg to it, mushrooms, carrots, onions things like that to make bigger (and healthier) portions for yourself