Firstly thank you for all the lovely comments on the last post! As promised, here is PART I of how I eat for a week on £20. I accomplished my shop this morning, using my typical weekly system.
Before I started I went through my fridge, freezer and cupboards and found I had:
Freezer
- 2 salmon fillets (ethically sourced)
- 1 chicken breast (organic)
- frozen homemade soup
- peas (organic)
Cupboard
- rice cakes
- whole wheat pasta
- lentils
- peanut butter (organic)
- Raisins & sultanas
Fridge
- almond butter
- yellow zucchini (organic from farm shop)
- 4 kiwi fruits
- blueberries (organic)
- 1/2 sweet potato (organic from farm shop)
- cheese (from farmer’s market)
My shopping list consisted of: 4 fruit, 3 veg, yogurt, hummus and lunch items (basically whatever would make a frugal, yummy lunch)
I spent the grand total of £12.98 approx $21.94 US or $23.51 Canadian. The yellow & green courgettes aka zucchini, broccoli and carrots are from a farm shop. If I’m in South Devon I buy fresh veggies from Riverford Farm Shop when in Exeter I buy from the Thursday am farmers market in Exeter, or the fruit & veg shop on Magdalen Road.
What did I buy?
- Hummus
- Greek Yogurt with honey
- Seeded Bagels
- Carrots (organic, farm shop)
- Broccoli (organic, farm shop)
- Courgettes (organic, farm shop)
- Radishes
- Tuna Fishcakes
- Cherries
- Raspberries
- Rocket
- Soft Cheese
- Mandarin orange segments
- Pineapple pieces
- Orange juice
So what does my week look like food wise
Breakfasts
- Wheetabix with milk & blueberries and orange juice x 2
- Yogurt with honey, raspberries
- 1/2 bagel toasted with peanut butter and cut up kiwi fruit x 2
- Homemade blueberry muffins with cheese and cherries
- Rice cake with almond butter, pineapple pieces
Lunches
- Kitchen sink soup with rice cake and almond butter, mandarin oranges
- 1/2 bagel with hummous, raw zucchini slices and kiwi fruit
- 1/2 bagel with cream cheese, pineapple pieces, rocket salad
- Homemade carrot & lentil soup, rice cake with cream cheese, cherries
- Homemade pasta salad – whole wheat pasta with peas, broccoli, crumpled cheese & balsamic vinegar dressing, carrot & raisin salad
- Leftover chicken & veggie stirfry, hummous, mandarin oranges
- Lentil dahl with 1/2 bagel, salad
Dinners
- Chicken, broccoli, zucchini & peas stirfry
- Jacket potato with cheese, large rocket salad with homemade tahini dressing, carrot sticks
- Salmon fillet with mashed sweet potato & fried green tomatoes
- Tuna fishcake with roasted veggies and hummous
- Homemade veggie casserole with jacket potato, carrot & raisin salad
- Bean & broccoli salad with pasta salad
- Out for dinner 1/night
Light Treats for Guests (no dinner guest this week, but friends for afternoon tea)
- Homemade peanut butter cookies
- Homemade shortbread – soooooo yummy – let me know if you want the recipe!
As long time readers know, my goal is to make sure I get a minimum of 5 fruit/veg a day every single day – in reality I usually get 6 or 7. For example last night my dinner was exceptionally yummy!
Homemade kitchen sink soup (with lentils, tomatoes, sweet potato and yellow peppers), potato with cheese, lettuce & yellow zucchini salad, blueberries & kiwi fruit! My meal was absolutely delicious and very filling!
Now, a good section of food this week is using up stock from my fridge, freezer & cupboards, but I’ve also got £7.02 to roll over from this week to next week’s budget, making it £27.02. Plus I will still have a fishcake, soup, a salmon fillet and wheetabix left over. I’ll make another post next week to demonstrate a larger shop and a whole new menu plan (my weeks really do vary, so while my meals are frugal and healthy next week’s menu and food will be quite different).
There is a lot of hype about it being too expensive to eat healthy and while I do know that there is sadly much more difficulty for lower SES groups to get to farmer’s markets and make meals from scratch, I do also know that with some determination, forward planning and sacrifice, you can certainly eat well on a lot less than people assume!
Now, please don’t think I’m preaching, I’m simply sharing how I eat; yes I make sacrifices so that my food budget is lower, but I’m also pretty happy knowing I can get the recommended minimum (and usually exceed it) of fruit, veg, calcium & protein on an average of only £20 a week! If I can do it, you can too! And if feels good knowing that I have enough left over to continue to support those with less than I!
Better dash, I’m letting a friend use my computer today!
You make some lovely food – do you eat quorn by any chance? I eat quite a bit of it.
Hey dreamer – I do occasionally eat quorn, I try not to have it more than once or twice a month max!
Looks yummy! Although I’ve usually stayed within a fairly specific food budget, this fall I’m stepping it up a bit and making it more formal, and will likely be doing much the same as you in terms of shopping at home before I shop at the store – keeps costs down and helps reduce waste. I also have a lot of food bought in bulk that I’d like to finish up before I have to move it all, but I’m looking forward to the added challenge of a strict budget and eating healthy meals within it.
Jenn – good luck!
You make some nice variations in your meals. I mean I eat the same breakfast everyday.
I’m impressed at both your financial and culinary skill! I love to cook and also love to plan, but I don’t think I could get my budget that low-particularly since DH loves his meat (can’t go a day without it or he might shrivel up and die if yoiu ask him!) Kudos to you! I also love your rationale-the more you save, the more you can give to those less fortunate.
Thank you Sarah! The meat is a budget buster, but I’m sure you could do it for maybe an additional £10 a month for two. When I’ve had meat eating company for a week I found £30 was enough and I often had quite a bit left!
Thank you for sharing your meals and menus. I’ll be trying Kitchen Sink Soup !
I’m cupboard clearing after I went to make some bread and found those little weevels in the flour and had to throw 3 packets out.
So today when I wanted something sweet around mid afternoon I had a single portion microwaveable Christmas pudding that wasn’t even left over from this year so needed using up ! Tasty esp as the weather seems like winter !
Has anyone got any suggestions for how I can tempt myself to eat tinned sardines in oil ? I seem to have 3 !
A quick, tasty breakfast = raw porridge oats splashed with orange/apple juice.
Hey Sally!
Not sure about sardines in oil, but I have two suggestions one would be on toast (minus the oil) the other would be in a big greek salad with feta cheese, tomatoes, cucumber and lettuce!
That breakfast sounds yummy!
Of COURSE we want the recipe!
I’ll put it up this weekend!
yes recipe please
and thankyou for this, i love the inspiration of other people’s menus…i am pretty much automating my breakfast and lunch during the week which means i eat mostly the same each day (mon-fri) for those meals – it does ensure i get my five a day and i’ve found it’s the best way for me to be…but i can always use inspiration for dinners and weekend lunches and any time i feel like something a little different…
thanks also for the cash breakdown – it’s really helpful to see actual figures
It is neat seeing how other people eat isn’t it?
Recipe this weekend!
Inspirational as always FT. This week I think I shall try to use up what I have (a lot) rather than buying, but at the same time I need to eat healthier – and for me, unfortunately, that means spending. I know I need to spend more on fruits and veggies I find tempting in order to get myself to eat them. (ie, I don’t like apples or oranges much, but like grapes, pineapple, melon.. the expensive stuff!).
Anyway… (sorry, run on sentences!)
I always wonder why you buy the expensive fage with honey yoghurts, last I checked those are around 80p each? I love fage yoghurt myself and splash out on the expensive 0% fat one (eaten with honey too, yum), but if I wasn’t going for the very low fat one I’d buy the large containers of ‘own brand’ for a similar price and 3-4x as much??
You have to do what you have to do, I think spending on yummy fruits is a good way to make you eat healthier.
Fage is my big treat of the week!!!!
… oh, and your multiculturalism is showing
using both zucchini and courgette in one post 
Busted!!!
Here’s a somewhat frugal tip for anyone that has ever had to throw out flour products because of weevils…I used to have them often, but haven’t had them for years. Since I found out that the weevil larvae (too small to see with the naked eye) are in all/most flour products. But if you bring it home from the grocery, and put it straight into the freezer for a few days, it kills the larvae. Then you can move it to a canister and keep in your cupboard, and never worry about having the mature weevil infiltration.
Gross, I know, to think that we eat the larvae all the time without knowing it, but what are we to do about it? I find focused denial helps a lot.
Of course, I have the luxury of a roomy freezer, otherwise I would buy flour in small packages so it would get used up before the time required for maturing.
Great tip Kath, thanks!!
Kath, Thank you for the freezer weevil tip. I will do that – I wondered where they could have come from and now I know they were there all along !
OOohhhhh my this all sounds so good!!! You really need to write a book or have a newspaper column! You are amazing girl!
I’ve got a bit lax recently about meal planning and controlling my budget but need to get back in control again.
Your menus always look interesting and varied, I like to see what other people eat as it’s easy to fall into a rut of having the same few things on rotation.
Hope you are feeling well, or at least better than you were.
I’m glad you are back with your food posts. I have missed those!
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that’s it, the sweet potatoes and that picture have *finally* convinced me to make your kitchen sink soup! do you always use peas and celery in addition to whatever other veggies you’re throwing in?
A little late now, but I’m wondering how you made the kitchen sink soup in this post – it looks amazing! But I can’t quite figure out where the substituting occurs – did you omit other veggies? I like that it seems v. thick in your photo here, versus the more liquidy version in your recipe post – also, I LOVE sweet potatoes & yellow peppers, so I’d want to make something closer to what you’ve got here. Whenever you have the chance to answer, that would be lovely!