Budget food/living

Just bumped into LadyStardust and Velocio at the local supermarket.

All of us are on limited funds right now so were trawling Sainsbury's for bogofs, specials and reduced items.

Pasta pesto is the perrenial favourite, New Covent Garden soups are on a 3 for 2...

Dry cured bacon was on 3 for £6, so some will be stored in the freezer.

I always forget how good value offal can be, so now have some lambs liver. Will cook some of the bacon until its crisp and then flash fry the liver (once coated with seasoned flour), deglaze with sherry and then stir in some cream and herbs from the garden. To be served on bread or pasta depending on how hungry I am on Sunday evening.

Will probably move towards a more veggie diet overall - quite looking forwards to having the time to make up a fresh masala mix and to do veggie curries, will probably make a trip to Southall for spices and ghee soon.

I think beans on toast will also be a regular snack meal.

We were agreeing that there can be some fun in living on a tight budget, and that saving a few pennies now will prolong our ability to keep heads above water.

Market shopping for veg, offal, and the reduced specials and bogof's will start to become my staples, but what are your favourite economic crunch forms of sustenance

The last I saw of the King and Queen of Fixie Skidders they were off to find cream for White Russians, so not all standards are slipping.

Why you on such a tight budget these days DJ?

I have been trying to save up some cash over the last few months too, so have been eating on a budget. Pasta is good and cheap, but no good for me, as I don't eat pasta or bread... which also puts beans on toast out.
I have found omelettes to be a good cheap and filling meal. I have an egg white omelette with baked beans for dinner fairly regularly. chaning around the fillings can stop you from getting bored. You'd be supprised what can taste good in an omlette.... If you like it, give it a try! I'm quite liking spicy ones with red & green chillies at the mo.

No cheese though..... It is expensive, and makes you fat!

There is a lot of 'unfashionable' yet tasty fish to be had on the cheap at the market too. I'm a big fan of rainbow trout.

jobless

I have one word for you 'Ramen'. Easy to cook, cheap and quick - you can combine veg, meat and eggs. You can make it dry of you want. I am a big pasta fan though I'm trying to cut down. Spagettihoops is right about omelettes too, I often make those as well. Another good one for the cold weather is making your own soups, again you can combine anything you want. I will put in a bit of pasta in my soup too. I used to make my own bread too - but that can get messy quickly.

braising steak/stewing steak.
i like proper sirloin now and again but the cheaper cuts of beef cooked in a tagine or casserole for a couple of hours are real tasty, never really bothered with it before but i prefer it to lamb which is stupidly expensive at the mo.
i usually buy 3 packs for a tenner in sainsburys.

^^ I use braising steak in my casseroles, broths or soups.

hmm

brisket

there are so many great cuts of meat for slow cooking

the liver was ridiculously cheap, yet it's so nutritious

James, what are you doing about getting a new job?

Sorry to hear about the job situation. Hopefully it will be short lived.

+1 to home made soups. Especially this time of year. You can make big batches and chuck it in the freezer too.

Tesco's has a section where you can find discounted food that expires on the day.

I usually grab sandwiches for about 50p in the evening.

The later you go the cheaper the prices.

Some Marks and Spencers begin to reduce food from 10am for stuff dated same day and after 7pm in Simply Food stores sandwiches can go down to 50p or 10p to stop anything being thrown away.

I found that hitting the supermarkets around 3 pm or 4 pm on midweek days was when you found the best reduced items. This was especially true for Waitrose.

if you buy wine 'en primeur' you can save a fair bit. especially on the best Bordeaux.

Chicken stock. Making chicken stock is a massive win. Roast the biggest bird you can. Nom nom nom. Strip the meat for more nom noms. Make huge vat of tasty nutritious stock. Make more nom noms with the stock... noodle soup (with the left over chicken) for example.

I am a big fan of bread making and have used the no knead method recently with great success.
its cheap and easy and is much better than the sponge/sawdust type bread you get in shops.
Offers also endless potential for variations.
http://www.aresrocket.com/bread/

and I also get enraged by the price of toilet paper! and I only realized recently that you can buy
a 6 roll pack in a 99p shop.

if you buy wine 'en primeur' you can save a fair bit. especially on the best Bordeaux.

Most middle class thrift solution since I suggested buying a forum barrel of whisky!

Have you considered bin diving?

I hear you'd be amazed at what supermarkets throw out.

MaxCrowe was a proud freegan and can probably offer guidance.

Save money at Christmas by returning last year's cards to the sender with the simple inscription "Same to you".

(Viz obviously)

MaxCrowe was a proud freeloader and can probably offer guidance.

Fixed.

Sainsburys and Waitrose? times are hard.

All about the pulses.

I seem to be constantly trying to live as cheap as possible these days to try and get myself in a better financial position. I've been eating a lot of chicken dhansak, which bulks out as much as you like with lentils which are dirt cheap, this recipe: http://www.mamtaskitchen.com/board/showthread.php?thread_id=281 (bulk buy spices from an indian store, will keep you going for ages, whole chicken - roast, strip of meat and boil carcass for stock) Less than a tenner for 4 days food.

Lunches are usually ham and pea soup made with whatever is the cheapest cut of ham / gammon I can get, or flavoured cous cous sachet (cooks in the bowl with a little boiling water) with a little tin of tuna, and a bunch of toasted seeds, total cost about £1.50 and very filling and good.

Booze = cider box.

When I was a student I survived for a week on boiled rice and baked beans. Sounds gross, but I still really love it and it's my go-to comfort food now!

when i was a student a friend caught scurvy because he only ate white bread and instant noodles (without the little sachet of salt, MSG and powdered mouse droppings)

Aldi is super cheap for fruit and veg