seven days, twenty one meals, thirty two quid and fifty nine pence

4/6/2012

A couple of weeks back I itemised everything I ate and drank for a week and it came to £41.88. That was pretty much a typical week of shopping and eating for me excepting, of course, that I was always aware that I was monitoring what I ate - but add, say, a few more quid and we're definitely hitting my average spend.

Following on from this I thought it might be quite interesting to see what a week's menu would look like at around the £30 mark - and this lot is the result. I should point out that the total of £32.59 did include £3.96 for coffee. I rather shot myself in the foot there I guess, but the normal 'cheap' beans which are my mainstay were not available - had they been I'd have saved around £2. I also used a 'premium' bread flour this week, rather than the 60p/1.5kg supermarket one I normally use.

As before, for the cost of each individual dish I have counted every ingredient, save for seasoning and spices (and I've made an overall allowance for these in the 'store cupboard' line item).

The link for the torta de naranja recipe will take you to the Peckham Rye Eats blog - it was Lisa who introduced me to this lovely cake when I went round for dinner recently. Thanks Lisa!

friday

Breakfast: orange juice + granola £0.88
Lunch: tuna mayo sandwich £0.67
Dinner: spaghetti + broccoli 1.76
Sub total: £3.31

saturday

Breakfast: orange juice, peanut butter + toast £0.40
Lunch: bacon, artichoke + broccoli salad £2.34
Dinner: poached egg, chorizo + peas; little gem salad; torta de naranja + cream £2.06
Sub total: £4.80

sunday

Breakfast: orange juice, porridge + cream £0.40
Lunch: niçoise salad £1.48
Dinner: roast chicken, watercress, roast potatoes; almond thins £1.85
Sub total: £3.73

monday

Breakfast: orange juice, granola £0.88
Lunch: fruit (apple, satsuma, nectarine, banana) £1.09
Dinner: pea + ham soup with chorizo; torta de naranja + cream £1.97
Sub total: £3.94

tuesday

Breakfast: orange juice £0.30
Lunch: niçoise salad £1.48
Dinner: rice + chicken; pear £2.03
Sub total: £3.81

wednesday

Breakfast: peanut butter + toast £0.20
Lunch: fruit (apple, satsuma, nectarine, banana) £1.09
Dinner: lamb's liver, bacon + mash; almond thins £2.14
Sub total: £3.43

thursday

Breakfast: porridge with milk £0.20
Lunch: egg + cress sandwich £0.45
Dinner: pea + ham soup; torta de naranja + cream £1.09
Sub total: £1.74

drinks + other stuff

Coffee £3.96
Tea £0.30
Honey & sugar £0.20
Bread £0.90
Milk x 2 pints 0.98
Butter £0.47
Olive oil £0.73
Store cupboard £.030
Sub total: £7.83

week's total: £32.59

You'll have probably noticed that the fiscal brakes were definitely on this time around - for example there's no fresh fish for dinner, no steak or other costly meat and I had pea + ham soup twice (although in the one instance enlivened with some fried chorizo). The (halal) chicken I ate was £2.99 for the whole bird - no corn-feeding or free-ranging this week. I only allowed myself one bowl of granola for breakfast - opting for porridge or peanut butter and toast the rest of the time (and on the Tuesday I only had orange juice). And when the juice ran out that day, I didn't buy another carton.

The exercise confirmed what I've long thought - that if you want to enjoy a varied diet, if you hope to eat well and pleasurably, if you want the food on your plate to gladden your heart as well as fill your belly, £30 is pretty much the absolute bottom line for a weekly spend in this country - or certainly in London.

Consider this: everything I ate this week (apart from a handful of almond thins) was home-made - that includes breakfast cereal, bread, stock and cake. Only the coffee, a chorizo sausage, a few olives and a tub of cream came from a delicatessen; everything else was either from Asda or the shops on Rye Lane. Apart from coffee and tea I only drank tap water - no bottles of water, cans of soda or juice (apart from the morning orange juice). I'm not sure how - without a garden or an allotment, without forming a co-op for bulk purchasing, without living in a large household to benefit from economies of scale, without foraging or skip scavenging - how I could have bought more efficiently the ingredients for what is (I think) a modest yet still enjoyable weekly menu.

I'll need several weeks of sybaritic indulgence first, but my next self-imposed challenge will be to aim for a weekly spend of around £20. Luckily, the Cranks Recipe Book is available for one pence on Amazon. Wish me luck.

29 Comments

Miss South link

4/6/2012 08:31:07

I've got benefits stuff looming in the near future (like everyone else at the mercy of the WCA...) and as such need to do a financial check up to make sure I can survive if I go to appeal rate. I think I'll take a leaf out of your book and do a week's food pricing.

I'm not as organised as yourself and often use impulse purchases as an excuse to go out and neglect my store cupboard in favour of shiny new things. I am hoping to blog some home made drinks for mere pennies soon that I think will be my summer treats...

The Skint Foodie

5/6/2012 02:53:12

Do let me know the outcome if you do a week's costing, would you?

And fingers crossed for you re. WCA (I dread that letter arriving on a daily basis). xx

Debbie B

5/6/2012 03:00:21

Although a varied diet, have you looked at what calorie intake the menu provided? Just aware that a man should normally have 2500 a day & at first glance it would seem a bit low on calories.

5/6/2012 03:57:08

I'm touched by your concern, Debbie, but I'm fine! Actually, for my age, weight and sedentary life, the figure is more like 1900 - although I generally use the easier method of simply assuaging my hunger.

5/6/2012 09:56:25

Glad to hear you are well, I was wondering for those that might also follow suit with a similar meal plan. This is all very interesting stuff.

5/6/2012 15:33:51

Debbie - I honestly can't see what it is you think the week's menu is missing - unless you think the portions are too small? Don't overlook the bread, milk, honey, sugar, butter and oil included in the final section.

Maybe, if I've got time, I'll go back and work out the calorific value of it all.

Lindsay

7/6/2012 05:43:36

This costing exercise is fascinating. I'm a debt advisor and I regularly have to work out budgets for people. Your food this week is noticeably less interesting. I'm really interested in seeing how you fare on £20 for a week. Imagine how bad it would be if you couldn't cook!

I think the level of benefit single people have to live on is utterly disgraceful. Many of my clients eat utter rubbish because it's all they can afford and the ingredients on offer in local shops is pretty dismal. And don't get me started on the WCA test.

The cake looks great. Just printed off the recipe!

Izzy

7/6/2012 07:21:12

I am hardcore into day 2 of my Weight Watchers diet plan and it is pure torture to read - and now SEE - your week's menu. The torta de naranja, white farmhouse loaf and poached egg, chorizo and peas look particularly appealing right this very minute. Right, off to munch on a puffed rice cake and dream of better days......

Fran Petipher

8/6/2012 09:39:51

Keep the faith Izzy i'm a full time Weight Watchers leader and you can eat proper food i promise you, i love the Skinster's website and regularly take inspriation from it for my own weeks meals. If you run a few meals through your recipe builder and tweak you will be pleasantly surprised!

Robin Betts

8/6/2012 04:01:23

Interested that you're reaching for the Crank's Recipe Book ... If I was going for a £20 week, I'd choose an indigenously vegetarian cuisine with a long tradition: say, South Indian. There's fantastic variety in it, it's delicious if it's properly made (which takes time), and it makes you feel great. But I have to admit, suddenly your blog would become something else altogether..

8/6/2012 04:49:22

The Crank's reference was supposed to be a joke, Robin. Ah well...

11/6/2012 09:14:30

*Klunk* .. Not my first this week. My antennae can't be out atm.

Kim

10/6/2012 16:48:30

Made a torta de naranje yesterday after reading your blog - what a fantastic cake! It's my mum's birthday next week and she's just been diagnosed with coeliac disease, so this will make the perfect gluten free birthday cake. Thanks so much for the recipe.

11/6/2012 16:22:24

Glad you liked it Kim. Although thanks should go to Lisa and, of course, Claudia Roden!

Claire Brown

21/6/2012 11:52:06

The Algerian Coffee Store in Old Compton Street has a monthly special - 1/2 Kilo of fabulous coffee beans for £6. They have a different high and medium roast each month. As long as you're not drinking over 250g a week, there's a saving there.

21/6/2012 12:05:11

Hi Claire - I'm drinking their coffee of the month at the moment! The one they recommended for espresso was a dark roast - which I didn't clock at the time. The problem with dark roasts is that that's what they taste of - the roasting process.

And at £6, it's still more expensive than Caffè Nero's £4.95/500g beans - which is my go to 'cheap as chips' option.

Helen C

13/7/2012 20:42:56

Hi Skint Foodie: just letting you know that your blog is being read and appreciated in Wellington, New Zealand. Love the recipes and hearing how your journey's going.

14/7/2012 14:55:47

Thank you Helen!

Kel

15/7/2012 10:05:35

Interesting concept for a skint foody but my problem isn't being skint, it's work!
Being at work by 7am and rarely leaving before 7 I don't find the time to shop and cook all ths wonderful food.
Any chance of foregoing a weeks bliss for options for the stressed out foody who needs to find 30 mins a day to prepare and buy some food?

15/7/2012 13:30:52

Funnily enough, I have been thinking of writing a post for those with little time to cook!

Being what can be called time-rich (!), I hesitate to give any advice to someone who's working their bollocks off. It's only because I used to work 60-80 hour weeks myself that I feel vaguely able to suggest the following:

1. Hopefully, those 12 hour days of yours are Monday-Friday. If so, then the weekend is the time for making stews, soups etc. and freezing portions for future use. And the Sunday roast will furnish you with the makings for a few salads or sandwiches during the week.

2. If you've had a glance at the rest of the site you might have noticed that I'm a big believer in planning. Whatever your situation, it's going to save you time. 30 minutes or so of a Sunday evening with a notepad and pencil in front of the telly and you've planned out the week's menu. That means that you won't waste time dithering in M&S every evening wondering what to buy.

3. Mid-week, you're not going to want (or be able) to do much cooking. So, except for stuff in the fridge/freezer already prepared, you're going to want to be thinking in terms of pasta, salads, chops, steaks etc.

4. You don't have to even cook anything to enjoy a glorious meal. A hunk of cheese, some slices of salami, a loaf of sourdough, some pickles/chutney and a bowl of ripe fruit - fucking ace!

5. There's no magical solution - it's always going to be a compromise. I only cook like this because I'm potless and not working. If I was working, had money, and had access during the day to Selfridge's food hall or Borough Market or similar, I'd buy loads of ready-prepared stuff. I'd just want it to be as luscious as something I could make myself, if I had the time.

6. I want to mention PLANNING again! The 30 minute recipe thing is fine - and there's TV series/books aplenty targeted at that. But they never take into account the time it takes to buy the food, or the time spent the night beforehand looking for recipes that grab your fancy. If you plan in advance, you WILL save time. Then your cooking can be 10, 20, 30 minutes or whatever.

Good luck!

Claire

19/7/2012 07:27:39

Have you tried internet supermarket shopping? Great for the cash rich/time poor. You can order your food from the comfort of your couch with a nice glass of wine in hand. Just don't make the mistake of ordering the food you 'should' eat rather than the way you do eat. For example, don't order a whole lot of salad bags that will go off or prawns you won't get around to cooking. But a salad of radicchio and little gem (if you buy whole heads), topped with goats cheese and pine nuts will take minutes to prepare and the ingredients will last weeks. Ocado frozen mackerel fillets are also a good standby in our house.

grainne

19/7/2012 03:58:42

I've been slightly stressing about the £20 a week food budget since I read it on here. How the hell are you going to do it? And stay healthy/not depressed? I've got a few tips that might make it a bit easier:
-dal and rice
-soups (carrot and red lentil, pea and your ham stock)
-bread and butter pudding (I pick up lovely organic bread that had been discounted in Tesco last night and made my take on Delia's rum and raisin bread and butter pudding - total yum - choclate B&B pudding made with cocoa is also yum)
-here aldi do a 'west cork indulgence yogurt' for about 65c and its the dogs do-das. I'm sure they do similar there.
- my last tip is a bit of a guilty secret - fried eggs, maris piper (or kerrs pink) fat chips with mushy peas. Why is it a guily secret? I pour a good glug of good fruity olive oil over peas and give them a very good grind of black pepper totally yum.

As fascinated as I am in seeing how you do it please don't put your health at risk.
g

19/7/2012 07:20:16

Don't underestimate the power of the cabbage. As coleslaw mixed with apple and fennel it makes a great base for mackerel. Stir fry it with soba, carrot and onion for yaki soba. Braise it with apple. Use it in minestrone. Stuff it like the Poles do. Make bubble and squeak for breakfast. It's cheap and goes a long way.

20/7/2012 09:19:35

I've cheered up since I realised that with a food budget of €£40 - a week on £20 will allow you a nice lunch out to reward yourself. Have it booked before you start.
Can I second the bubble and squeak idea. Also don't forget about bacon and cabbage - we grew up on it and hated it because we thought of it as peasant food but its on lots of posh menus now.

20/7/2012 12:00:52

Grainne - Thanks for your concern! I *was* supposed to start today, but I've put if off for yet another week. Health will be fine - apart from anything else it's just a week. But taste, pleasure and variety are in serious danger I think.

I've just got to steel myself and fine some backbone.

Thanks for the tips - dal was going to be one of my meals.

Tormarie link

29/7/2012 12:25:58

I found this really interesting and am tempted to write down and photograph my own meals this coming week, though they're nowhere near as sophisticated! I'm a coeliac vegan and mostly eat raw fruit - I save a lot of money going straight to the reduced produce and to markets. I agree that it's hard to get under £30 unless you eat a really simple, herbivorous diet - lots of cheap staples like apples, rice, millet and beans.

2/8/2012 03:38:52

have you starte yet? how is it going?

2/8/2012 03:57:07

On the £20 week? No!!!!! Keep putting it off. Need to steel myself. :0)

2/8/2012 04:58:14

Not surprised! book a lavish lunch and 7 days before that get going. (Or start at lunchtime and finish at breakfast so that you only have 5 total days on low budget.)

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