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markets, at the end of the day
Good source of free fruit as well.
When I was completely broke over 10 years ago (I was staying in a backpackers hostel and all my belongings were stolen) I'd get myself to Portobello Market and such in the evening to pick up some fruits dropped on the floor or left behind on pallets. There's nothing wrong with an orange or grapefruit picked up from the gutter except from a hurt ego.
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er... so I've a question.
Large amounts of my weekly expenditure is fresh fruit.
I don't think I could survive without it- where is cheapest?From trees.
Otherwise...
Dhaal with chapatis.
Ramen soups.
French onion soup + home made bread.
Roast chicken on a sunday to provide stock and meat for ramen soups.
Stews with winter veg and lots of barley. -
hearts this thread. I cooked and ate so much better as a cash-poor, time-rich student than I've ever done as when employed.
+1 to cheap cuts of meat. Shin makes awesome stews. Throw in a couple of bits of oxtail for gelatin and it'll go all nice and rich and goopy. Then pearl barley, veggies. and some dumplings on top. All the good stuff.
One thing that does make a difference is having enough people around. It's much cheaper to cook for 6 than 2. And it's miserable having the same thing day after day if you make too large a batch.
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I know that this is not buuuuuget food but it helps:
mysupermarket.com
it will compare between supermarkets and tell which one is cheaper. It will also tell you which items you can swap to make your shopping cheaper.
Another think is to go to the market when is almost finishing and you can buy loads of veggies and fruit for next to nothing.
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Had a Winter warmer craving yesterday so made cauliflower cheese, was amazed at the size of the cauliflower i got for 70p, enough for 4 servings, some with (Green spinach) pasta, some as a side to a bit of gammon... etc etc
Cauli - 70p
Butter - 10p
Flour - 1p?
2/3rd pint milk - 30p
Cheese - 70p (could have used much cheaper cheese but went for something extra mature)Something super comforting about baked cheesy/saucy goodness.....
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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.
I used to do that but it was getting very popular with folks a lot poorer than me. There were people who could of been there half the day wheeling around a trolley full of items they had checked were on their last sell by date (but not yet reduced) waiting for the lad with the hand held reduced sticker machine to turn up. It then became a bit of an unsavoury scrum.
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oh another trick is to use the self checkout lane in supermarkets and choose 'loose onions' for any self weigh veg....!
I guess thats maybe theft and not just a money saving tip though...
That's a brilliant idea and frankly if just 1 purpose of the self checkout lanes is to reduce the number of staff and hence wages and hence increase profits then it really is the least you can do to relieve the robotic fuckers of a few quid. Keep up the good work.
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I'm being particularly stingy at the moment. I've cut out all meat from my diet and I've stopped eating bread as it's so damn expensive.
Bread is really expensive- try making your own, it's actually really easy. I started when I was last a student, 1lb of flour per load, that's pretty much 3 loaves from one bag of flour, £1.20 for a cheapish- bag of bread flour and a few pence for yeast and salt and sugar, win!
Plus homemade bread is much more filling than paper-thin chemical-rich supermarket bread, so fewer slices will fill you up.
And if you make several loaves at one go and freeze a couple this reduces your electricity bill from having the oven on for 45 mins, plus increases the efficiency of your freezer by filling it up.
Only 2 minor drawbacks- need for loaf tins (ask your neighbours?) and the time the process takes- figure in 5 hours from start to finish. 10 mins to assemble, then leave for 100 mins to prove. Then another 10 mins to knock it back and put in tins, then another 100 mins to prove again, then 50 mins to bake. -
oh another trick is to use the self checkout lane in supermarkets and choose 'loose onions' for any self weigh veg....!
I guess thats maybe theft and not just a money saving tip though...
Ha!
Just leaving for Sainsburys right now ...
List
- loose onions
- some really expensive veg item
I have not swiped my nectar card
- loose onions
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MaxCrowe was a proud freegan and can probably offer guidance.
Before or after his Chuck Norris phase?
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Problem solved! Although when I started baking bread I went into a decent cooking shop and debated for about half an hour- cheaper, made in China job, or slightly more pricey British-made sturdier one. I went with the latter and it's really good, now I use that and one of my Grandma's, make 2 loaves at a time.
So- another potential solution, ask your Granny. -
i remember baking bread in teracotta flower pots when i was a kid..... true story... you can, at a push, bake bread in lots of things in place of 'proper' loaf tins....
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Budget food/living
Posted by
@dancing james
markets, at the end of the day
but the produce you get may be on the turning point, so may not last more than a day or so