I was unsure I’d be able to accomplish a food shop for under £15. I keep hearing about food prices increasing and well I was getting concerned these days were over, I didn’t need to worry, sticking to my usual tips and system and I’m happy to report I left with my bags filled with good food and was only £13.12 worse off.
In my cupboard I had:
- A tin of tomatoes
- A tin of tuna
- Red lentils
- Veggie stock
- Chickpeas
- Oatmeal
- Cous Cous
- Flour/Sugar/baking soda etc
In my fridge/freezer I had
- An apple
- Milk
- Feta Cheese
- 1/2 pepper
- 2 carrots
- Apple Sauce
- 1/2 grapefruit
I’ve really been craving wraps but promised myself unless I could find them on sale I wouldn’t be buying! I also really wanted to make Dahl this week but only could if I could afford the spice and still come in under budget! On top of that I was in desperate need of spinach (I really struggle on weeks I don’t buy spinach)…but again I was a lady on a mission.
So I bought:
- Spinach
- 3 clementines
- 1 lemon
- Aubergine/Eggplant
- A big bag of economy leeks
- Small bag of grapes
- 3 pack of cranberry juice
- 8 wraps plus another 8 for free! (about 12 wraps will be frozen to use over the coming months)
- Gouda cheese
- Tzatziki
- Fresh Covent Garden Carrot & Coriander soup (on sale for £1 – to be frozen and used another week)
- Fresh Covent Garden Tomato soup (on sale for £1)
And the plan for dinners this week?
- Veggie stirfry with lemon cous cous and chickpeas
- Tomato soup with a tzatziki and veggie cheese wrap (this meal will be served twice)
- Lentil Dahl with spinach salad (my recipe for the Dahl will make 4 meals, 1 will be used for lunch the next day, 2 will be frozen)
- Greek Soup with spinach & feta cheese in it, yummy! (the soup will make 4 meals, 1 will be used for lunch the next day, 2 will be frozen)
- Grilled veggies, tzatziki, lentil salad
- Chickpea and veggie salad with homemade scones
I’ve got loads of soup and 12 wraps to freeze – they should last me the rest of the winter! And somehow I was able to get all the things I wanted for 7 breakfasts, 7 lunches and 7 dinners and come in under budget! Yippee!
Not bad for £13.12 = $19.32 US and $ 24.12 Cdn.
Have left you an award over on my blog, hope you like it, hope you are well fiona
God, I wish I was that disciplined!
Do you have any other food stores available? Lidl, for example, regular has fruit and veg and lot cheaper, and it’s also good for wraps (about 70p a pack i think?) and yoghurts. If you can get to one chinese/asian food stores are great too – they do spices a lot cheaper (60p for a big bag), and are great for sauces etc for cooking. Ours also does massive tubs of bicarb (for cleaning) and is where I buy 95% of the tofu i eat.
Will reply to your email later on x
That’s fantastic! You are so disciplined.
I was pleased yesterday as I did my weekly shop with £18.53. Organic spinach has definitely become one of my staples. I use it in everything. Your guidelines really do help.
Thanks Fiona, that’s really kind I’ll head on over!
Sarah – I keep meaning to try Lidl, haven’t yet, I think my concern was the quality of fruit/veg but I will check it out next week.
Look forward to your email
Laura – well done, £18.53 is brilliant! Spinach is fab isn’t it?
Love love love pictures
You did well.
And that spinach.. mmm.. People find me weird, but I love eating it!
Fabulously Broke in the City
“Just a girl trying to find a balance between being a Shopaholic and a Saver.“
I cannot believe you eat that little, I’m forever putting food in my mouth!
I spent about half your weekly shop just on cheese today! However, we’re having a fondue to bring back lovely France memories!
I’d love to see that recipe for Greek Soup when you make it – sounds delicious.
Sounds fanastic. I love dal, reminds me that I haven’t made it in a while. I’ll have to put that on my menu.
Wow, you did really good!
frugal trenches, i am coming to your house for dinner.
mmmmm!
Wow, that’s fantastic and your menu sounds delicious!
~Corinne
Your soups sound delicious! You have inspired me to try your kitchen sink soup recipe.
I seriously need to start working out a better system for buying food. We spend so much every week, and it’s obviously not necessary.
…I’d also love to know the recipe for the greek soup.
I made your kitchen sink soup already twice and we both find it very, very delicious. I added some carrots and cauliflower and served it with homemade bread. And the soup really is very cheap – I spent about 1, 45 Euro for it.
I’ll 3rd the request for Greek soup!
Good for you for being so disciplined. I need to start meal planning more. I do fairly well with it, but if I seriously planned a little more I could likely cut back on my grocery expenses. We spend around 600 Canadian/month for a family of 3 including diapers, dog food, cleaning supplies. We both take our meals to work with us and limit the amount of convenience foods. I am a former professional cook, so I love to make different things and occassionally cook a little fancy. I don’t mind spending the money on quality foods.
Once my son is fully potty trained, that will certainly help the budget!
When I was single, I probably only spent around $150 Can/month. My how things can change.
Enjoy your weekend.
Love the pictures too! Everything sounds delicious and so healthy
Would love to have your dahl recipe!
(Did you knit???)
I read your blog but I still can´t figure out how you can make so little food last a week, that looks like enough for perhaps 2 days maybe three days max!!!!
FT: Lidl fruit and veg varies from rubbish (overripe and/or just out of stock) to very good -it’s worth finding out what days they get their deliveries as when they’re full up and fresh it tends to be great value. They do do some organic items, and they’re quite good for ‘exotic’ fruit and veg – aubergines, sweet potatoes, melons, pineapple etc etc seem to be very well priced.
I was over from the U.S. visiting my mum and I went to lidl – we have aldi here in the states but lidl is better – they even had goose fat at Christmas.
The leeks were excellent – you made me laugh with your “economy” leeks. I guess you have to check the quality but they are really inexpensive. I shop a lot in street markets over there. I with Holly – I m always eating maybe that is where I am going wrong.
How to manage to fill full? don’t get me wrong… I love the combinations of food you eat. And I wish I once again… ate as healthy as this. But, I think my tummy would growl.
But, as it works for you… Great job! Great price!
our house cant do it at all. my hub eats like a horse who eats meat
i really try, but cant get below £70 a week at all.
Way to go, girl. And the meals all sound really delicious too.
Oh my, how do you do it? I pay more than that for our bird fruit alone!
I’m trying to be careful with my money for the next few weeks so need a bit of inspiration for a sugar loving meat eater. Actually make that two sugar loving meat eaters!
I’m hungry now just looking at your menu. I love your dishes! Do they have little apples on them?
Thank you for adding the US conversion. Until I got to the end of the post, I had no idea exactly what you had spent! Well done! We are lucky to come in under $100 a week for two adults and a baby…and I barely buy anything for her…no dipes, baby food, formula. I am really trying to work on cutting down our food budget to $75 a week max.
Thank you once again for sharing with us!!! Since December I have been putting in an effort to use up 10-15 items in my fridge/freezer/cupboards and building them into my weekly grocery shop. I’m still amazed at how much this extra effort can save $$$ wise and I’m noticing I waste absolutely nothing. Making homemade soup is not only therapeutic and healthy it is also so cheap to make. One little frugal tip I have is buying a cooked whole chicken. Two meals for dinner, two lunches of sandwiches and then I boil the leftovers for chicken stock, peal off every last bit of meat and make a huge pot of chicken noodle/veggie soup (sorry FT I realize you are a vegan but wanted to share). So for $6 / 3 quid I get so much mileage out of one little chicken
Once your dedicated to living a more simplified life it becomes a game doesn’t it?
Just a little note to say that you’ve won my blog giveaway … The Little Food Book … seems appropriate!
looks great! i can easily bring my costs down, my problem is the planning. somehow, i can never seem to want to eat what i had planned for that week.
After figuring out what our grocery costs are, we’re not actually doing too badly (about $500Cdn/month for 5 people). We definitely eat meat and lots of dairy products, but I make my own bread and made some successful wraps for the first time this morning. Wraps and bread seem very expensive for the good ones over here and we have a soy allergy in the household, making buying bread a bit of a pain.
Easy wrap recipe:
1 c. white flour
1 c. whole wheat flour
1.5 tsp salt
2 tsp oil
3/4 cup lukewarm milk
Whisk wet ingredients together and slowly add to the dry ingredients while mixing. Knead for 2 min. Let rest for 5 min. Make 8 balls. Let rest 20 minutes. Roll out circles to about 8″. Fry in dry skillet on high for 30 second per side.
Tasted great just with melted butter, but I’m going to roll my leftover saucy beef roast in it for lunch.
The best tip I’ve read for saving grocery money has been to eat all leftovers and don’t let anything spoil. We waste a lot that way, but I’m doing better with “shopping in my fridge” lately.
you did really well, and thanks for converting it over to dollars!!!!
I am not a huge fan of spinach, the only way I will eat it, is if it is disguised with something else!!
One thing to do with the wraps, is make pizzas. I use a little spaghetti sauce, pop plenty of veggies on top, broccoli, mushrooms, spinach what ever you like, top with some cheese and pop into the oven for 10 to 15 minutes. Really good.
Gill in Canada
Well done on your progress so far. I amazed about how little you eat. I have a gastric band fitted which limits the amount I eat but I would think that I eat more than you do. Are you eating enough. Do remember to take care of yourself. Do you shop at any supermarket or only one. Take care, Margaret