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Weekly food budget for a single person

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Comments

  • #52
    phelixoflaherty
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,456 ✭✭✭phelixoflaherty


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122294974#Comment_122294974

    make sure they are the hanging type and not the the "Jack and the beanstalk"type



  • #53
    tohaltuwi
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,493 ✭✭✭tohaltuwi


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122295389#Comment_122295389

    lol, unless you have a little set up for beanstalk growth, could be charming! A few luscious strawberries dangling.



  • #54
    CelticRambler
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,898 ✭✭✭CelticRambler


    If money is tight for food, see if there are other parts of your grocery shopping that don't really need to be in the trolley. One of the most wasteful things are paper products, i.e. kitchen towel and toilet paper. Seeing as this is essentially a food thread, I won't go into details, but there's a whole corner of the internet where you'll find advice on living without one and the other.

    Something else to be careful of are "special offers" - get in the habit of always checking the €/kg price of whatever you're buying, even if it's discounted. You'll often find that something that's being sold off cheap is only "cheap" compared to it's usual price, but is still more expensive than an alternative brand.

    Along the same lines, though, try to set aside some money so that you can take advantage of bulk-buy offers provided that they're products you regularly buy; and also so you can benefit from the "5€ off 50 or more" type vouchers. In the case of the latter, though, aim for a trolley value of €50.01 ! Well, maybe settle for 51-52€ … but make a list, and tot it up as you go around the shop; then stop when you're just over the qualifying amount (being careful to take account of any individual item cash-back promotions you might have picked up on the way).



  • #55
    LambshankRedemption
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,487 ✭✭✭LambshankRedemption


    If money is tight for food, see if there are other parts of your grocery shopping that don't really need to be in the trolley. One of the most wasteful things are paper products, i.e. kitchen towel and toilet paper. Seeing as this is essentially a food thread, I won't go into details, but there's a whole corner of the internet where you'll find advice on living without one and the other.

    Ah jeez lets not depress the OP even further. There is saving money, there is being thrifty, but looking for alternatives to toilet paper??

    Tesco Luxury Soft is 9 rolls for 4 euros. One roll a week (which would be extravagant), adds up to 44 cent a week. or 6 cent a day. I think the OP can afford that.

    Funny anecdote. I worked in Intel in Leixlip for a while and lived in a shared house with about 4 other engineers. It was slightly above minimum wage, everyone was permanently broke. Practically everything in the house by way of furnishings had been boosted out of Intel. The toilet roll dispenser in the toilet, was one of the industrial level ones like you see in restaurant bathrooms. I asked, "What happens when we run out?" and the senior tenant said "We wont, Mick stole about 10 replacement rolls and he can get more any time".



  • #56
    tohaltuwi
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,493 ✭✭✭tohaltuwi


    a terrific source of protein is Dahl, plenty of recipes on Internet, and really very healthy is made with the right oils. I take a lot of these anti-cholesterol oils, I ain’t slim, but my blood lipids are “extraordinary” in that they are anti-cholesterol, and a cath lab angiogram demonstrated excellent coronary arteries. I use a lot of walnut oil, dimly I love the flavour, but there are tons of superb oils that are essentially very good as long as taken in a blanched diet. (I’m plump. do as I say!)



  • #57
    the14thwarrior
    Registered Users Posts: 423 ✭✭the14thwarrior


    I was laughing cos i was thinking the same thing re toilet paper. I got 24 rolls for 10 euro in dunnes, and it was better than the tesco brand. I bought two lots and some milk, had a 25 voucher and i won't run out of bog roll for a long time! always check the unit price FYI.

    I am guilty of swiping a few sachets of brown sauce (only use it for stews) and mustard (mix with breadcrumbs for a cheap batter). I draw the line at the sugar sachets though!

    I buy cheap flour and if lemons are reduced /on sale I find pancakes are a tasty treat and something different.



  • #58
    defiantdancer
    Registered Users Posts: 175 ✭✭defiantdancer


    @LambshankRedemption your last story DID make me laugh & took my mind off my money worries!



  • #59
    tohaltuwi
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,493 ✭✭✭tohaltuwi


    re toilet paper, I wish wish wish that Japanese toilet paper were here. I no longer have to wipe my rear(removed by radical surgery 😱😁) but I am living proof in being an expert on toilet paper. Since having the ileostomy I require a nice “bedding” to empty upon, that disappears upon a flush. Ireland has worst toilets/paper. I am sick and tired of replacing toilet paper for my current needs, any advice welcome.



  • #60
    Slightly Kwackers
    Registered Users Posts: 759 ✭✭✭Slightly Kwackers


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122293754#Comment_122293754

    Pounds and ounces???

    I retired three years back, I last did that rubbish in primary school.

    I buy in kg and litres, it helps compare prices. What can possibly be easier than a litre of water equals a kilogram, then if you are blessed with ten fingers and not eight or sixteen………………:-).

    Pounds and ounces were used in the UK by some traders in open markets trying to pull a fast one as they knew an easy comparison on price was not possible for the thinking challenged.

    Of course when Trading standards prosecuted them for the units because even then they were giving short measure, they started the "patriotic attack" on British values whingeing.

    The use of imperial units is fine if you live in an outpost cut off from the rest of the planet, but if you buy books in imperial measurements, you also need to see where it was published. Not all units are the same in every country.

    I bought piles of cookbooks, it's just a way of using shelf space for coloured pictures.

    My approach is simply buy what is a bargain, or grow/ produce food that you like or find easy to propagate and simply do a search on the internet using the ingredients. A cook book will be festooned with recipes that you need to buy in material for and a lot of spices or other ingredients might not be fit for use when you next produce a dish requiring them.

    Frankly by the time shelf life and natural flavour variations are taken into account, half of the ingredients could probably be omitted anyway with few noticing the difference.



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  • #61
    Slightly Kwackers
    Registered Users Posts: 759 ✭✭✭Slightly Kwackers


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122293488#Comment_122293488

    3L of milk, I actually add one 3l container and whatever is open and on the go in the fridge. I now have a controller I bought from Amazon at £8.00 I will give you the delails if you want them but for a one off you can do it by watching and waiting.

    Without a controller I just leave the pot on full heat, but you need to watch the temperature.

    Use any milk, low fat, full fat or raw milk is available and I have used it.

    Watch the temperature go up to eighty five to 92 degrees C. then switch off.

    Allow the temperature to fall to 42 to 45 degrees and drop a dollop of cheap own brand natural yoghurt in. Use some from a previous batch or even some whey if you have any left over.

    I did buy live cultured yoghurts, but the cheapo stuff from Lidl or Aldi is fine, I look for Greek style natural that has the strain of bacteria listed. It's not sold as "live" but I have yet to find a tub that isn't extremely frisky.

    The quantity added does not seem to make much difference, I stick about half a pot in and give it a stir with a plastic or wooden spoon.

    Then with a controller you want the lowest heat setting and walk away for a few hours or I have left a batch for a couple of days.

    If you don't have a controller or if you want to save the small amount of power wasted, wrap the slow cooker in a few towels to keep the heat in.

    You will have to return from time to time just to see the heat does not drop too much though.

    You will find the yoghurt start to thicken in three or four hours or less.

    The longer its left the more the whey separates and if you want a fairly solid Greek style yoghurt a sieve will separate out the whey.

    I ran a test and half a litre of the whey takes around a level teaspoon of bread soda to neuteralise it, so that's the quantity I base my soda bread on.

    Buttermilk is an added expense and I don't like the idea of using naturally soured milk using whatever is in the air. Basically because I want to remove variables, so the whey is perfect.

    The one thing I do to soda bread that I have not seen in any recipe is liberally coat the surface of the loaf with the whey and lightly rub it in before baking.

    When I remove the loaf from the oven I wrap it in a tea towel to cool and it provides a nice pliable crust that is not too brittle at all.

    Once you start you tend to find that the yoghurt making becomes a small part of the proceedings, it's really versatile and the downside is that when yo have tubs facing you every time the fridge door is opened, it's hard to resist.



  • #62
    Bredabe
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,185 ✭✭✭Bredabe


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122297207#Comment_122297207

    In terms of the cookery books, I didn't want to assume op was a specific age and was conscious that the budget maybe tight for internet. Books at least can be revisited if there is a choice between light or internet in the budget. Ime, there are many more housekeeping or budget cooking tips in older books.

    I use lls/oz's and us measures, I just cant juggle all those no's to convert to metric. But in the end, its up to OP's inclinations/budget.

    "Have you ever wagged your tail so hard you fell over"?-Brod Higgins.



  • #63
    Slightly Kwackers
    Registered Users Posts: 759 ✭✭✭Slightly Kwackers


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122302797#Comment_122302797

    It's whatever floats your boat.

    I used to set up instrumentation for companies and made a point of offering them whatever the site used I never had a single taker for cubic angstroms or cubic fathoms despite offering them "cheap" :-)

    Frankly unless you find someplace to sell things in pounds ans ounces, do you not have to do a mental conversion anyway?

    I can only buy flour in kg, so that tells me I can get three loaves from a bag of flour with plenty to spare for dusting, that's using standard loaf tins. Yeast I buy in grams as I do soda or baking powder.

    I would actually find it very difficult to work in anything other than kg and litres.

    There is one butchers heading from Tralee to Ardfert that advertises things in pounds, I find it as much use as the plethora of shops selling things at x% off. Loads do it, but don't put a price on the "discounted item". Anyway I'm getting old and have no desire to try work out how many slices of bacon are in a pound of the stuff, I somehow doubt that the pounds and ounces are for the convenience of the customer either.

    As an ex UK resident, I must confess to being a little negative about imperial measurements. I feel sorry for the poor eejits that wrecked their country for blue passports and the pints of wine they don't even have yet.



  • #64
    Madd002
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 340 ✭✭Madd002


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122294974#Comment_122294974

    Just my tuppence worth, below is a cheap meal that I eat 2-3 times a week as its quick easy and filling.

    Ingredients:

    1bag of Dunnes frozen garlic & herb prawns €4.79, 3 portions

    1pack Dunnes spaghetti .79c 5 portions

    1tub cherry tomatoes 99c 3 portions

    Chilliflakes from cupboard €1 dunnes brand.

    Couple leaves of basil from window but if you don't have it'll do without.

    Cook a portion of pasta, bring to boil and simmer.

    Get a small saucepan and put on low add some olive oil & add 10-12 frozen prawns as these are fresh frozen they'll cook to a pink colour. these take around 8mins turning regularly add Chilli flakes at end.

    Cut cherry tomatoes in half and snip basil leaves in your serving bowl.

    Drain pasta and toss into saucepan with prawns & add the cherry tomatoes & basil in too toss around with fork and upend into serving dish. You should end up with something like this add a sprinkle of salt and black pepper to taste, its very tasty & not boring 😋

    20240506_194013.jpg
    20240625_185035.jpg



  • #65
    Slightly Kwackers
    Registered Users Posts: 759 ✭✭✭Slightly Kwackers


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122303284#Comment_122303284

    It looks delicious,

    The photo is very impressive too.

    Food isn't the easiest subject to record.



  • #66
    Madd002
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 340 ✭✭Madd002


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122303366#Comment_122303366

    Thanks, I used to spend hrs cooking dinners in evening when kids were younger and coming in after school, now that I'm older I'm too tired after work so need quick easy and satisfying meals.



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  • #67
    defiantdancer
    Registered Users Posts: 175 ✭✭defiantdancer


    @Madd002 thank you! That looks delicious & also really easy to make😊



  • #68
    Speedsie
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,318 ✭✭✭Speedsie
    ¡arriba, arriba! ¡andale, andale!


    @HeidiHeidi re keeping shop bought basil growing, the secret is to repot it! Basically it's a pot full of seedlings and runs out of nutrients quickly.

    I tend to repot into about 6 pots, but I know people who just just one very large pot.

    Pinch off the tops, about 2/3 leaf nodes, the seedlings will then bush out & you'll have months of basil.



  • #69
    defiantdancer
    Registered Users Posts: 175 ✭✭defiantdancer


    @Speedsie this is great advice-I will do this😊



  • #70
    HeidiHeidi
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 29,627 ✭✭✭✭HeidiHeidi


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122308775#Comment_122308775

    I have actually been told that before, and tried the repotting - the plant definitely lasted longer for sure - but my sister has a basil plant that was nearer to a tree, which i was very jealous of but have never got even close to achieving!

    But yes, repotting in a bigger pot with fresh compost definitely prolongs the life of the plant.



  • #71
    dunworth1
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,342 ✭✭✭dunworth1


    does anyone else find that the 3 for €10 meet offers in Dunnes has become poor/static recently there used to be a bit of variety every now and again now it just seems to be the same items?

    i have also noticed they have started doing a 2 for €10 and a 3 for €12.

    the 2 for €10 is just bigger portions really ( 3 chicken fillets instead of 2 etc.)



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  • #72
    LambshankRedemption
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,487 ✭✭✭LambshankRedemption


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122451433#Comment_122451433

    I should preface this by saying I worked in Dunnes for 6 months in the year 2000.

    Ive never been a fan of Dunnes as a consumer. They used to be the cheaper option over Quinnsworth/Tesco. Then Lidl and Aldi arrived and they were no longer the cheapest option. They went through a sort of identity crisis by trying to emulate Marks and Spencers for a while. For cheapness, my go to is tesco, who by the way are doing 3 for €10 in selected meats. They also have a kilo of beef mince for 8.50. So you could divide the kilo into 5 parts, and have a dinner with 200grams of beef mince, for 1.70 per dish.



  • #73
    Sleepy
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 24,276 ✭✭✭✭Sleepy


    One tip for meat: a whole chicken is WAY better value than butchered packs of breasts/wings/drumsticks etc.

    Roast the chicken whole and enjoy a roast chicken dinner (cook in a dutch oven on top of some root veg / peppers and you'll have roast veg to go with the chicken, strain the veg out with a slotted spoon, add some stock and flour/cornflour to make real gravy.

    Pick the carcass clean of meat, throw into tupperware in the fridge - you'll have enough shredded chicken to use in stir fries / curries / pasta dishes for a few days (we'd usually get enough for a chicken fried rice for a family of four the next day)

    Put the remainder of the carcass into a stock pot, fill with water and the peels from your root veg, perhaps an onion etc and simmer for a few hours, strain and you'll have a rich chicken stock that's the perfect base for chicken noodle soup with some cheap noodles, sweetcorn and spring onions. (That's another tip actually - only use the greens from the spring onions and put the bulbs in a glass of water on the windowsill and you can regrow the greens in a week or so. Usually get 4/5 "harvests" from each bunch we buy.)



  • #74
    zell12
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 26,457 ✭✭✭✭zell12


    That is very expensive. Lidl have beef mince at €6.78/kg

    image.png

    or Aldi at €6.59/kg

    image.png



  • #75
    LambshankRedemption
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,487 ✭✭✭LambshankRedemption


    That's another tip actually - only use the greens from the spring onions and put the bulbs in a glass of water on the windowsill and you can regrow the greens in a week or so. Usually get 4/5 "harvests" from each bunch we buy

    I do that. My sister thinks Im mad.

    That is very expensive. Lidl have beef mince at €6.78/kg

    I dont frequent Lidl because I dont have one near me. That is a good deal.



  • #76
    zell12
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 26,457 ✭✭✭✭zell12


    Social Justice types says a singleton should spend €60pw/€3120yr on food.

    The MESL research identifies the cost of what is required to enable a life with dignity, at a minimum but acceptable level – what we call the Minimum Essential Standard of Living - excludes housing, childcare.

    image.png



  • #77
    Ezeoul
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,581 ✭✭✭Ezeoul


    Don't discount all meat completely, if you like it.

    You can get a lot of value out of a small chicken, a small fillet of ham, or a piece of housekeepers cut (beef).

    I roast the chicken, and have a breast for dinner, the other breast could be cut up for sandwiches / salads during the week, and then the rest of the meat can be stripped and used with a jar of inexpensive sauce and some rice (store cupboard staple) for a tasty dinner another day. You'd be amazed how much meat there is on a small chicken!

    I'd also recommend cooking a small chicken in a slow cooker as well, if you don't particularly want roast chicken. The meat comes out incredibly moist and tender, and slips of the bone. Perfect for using with a sauce (curry, chicken supreme, casserole) and saving some for the freezer or sandwiches / salads.

    If you like beef, you could get a piece of housekeepers cut when on special offer, (it does very well in a slow cooker) and then slice and freeze in portions for other dinners, it freezes really well. Very easy to reheat in the oven - I usually reheat a few slices in a small ceramic roasting dish. I add a little gravy / beef stock to the dish, cover with foil and let it reheat slowly in the oven. It comes out delicious and tender.

    I personally am a meat lover, and couldn't live on vegetarian / mostly veg based meals only. (Well, I could, but I'd be miserable). But I have cut down on a LOT of waste of expensive meat, by doing the above. Best of luck!



  • #78
    defiantdancer
    Registered Users Posts: 175 ✭✭defiantdancer


    thank u @zell12 . I had come across that research before but couldn’t remember the name of the organisation. Have now looked it up & bookmarked it.



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