Well, the experiment is over. Total spent: £72.22.
It’s nice to come under the target, although several people have complained that £75 for food in one month seems like a lot. I said early on that if I wanted to go really hardcore, I could just buy 10kg of rice for £5 and have a bowl of rice every day. I wouldn’t die, but I might go insane with boredom and eventually start suffering from malnutrition.
The objective here was to see how easily I could eat properly while spending less than normal. The key really is to cook meals yourself, and more importantly to bag and freeze any leftovers. I still have loads of food left and if I had to I could survive for another two weeks.
You need to spend a bit on good stock ingredients that’ll stay in the cupboard for months, and then all you need do is buy specific ingredients to complete whatever meal you want. I honestly don’t think I’ll ever buy a prepackaged ready meal again, they’re far too expensive for what they are, and I can cook something nicer and healthier for much less.
Thanks to all that have followed my progress 
Well done! I’m really glad you got under your target. £75 for a month’s food is NOT a lot of money in today’s world; my family of 4 easily spends at least that per week on food and mum makes all our meals from scratch! So go you!
What is this?
Cheap eating competition?
First I’ve heard of it…
“I honestly don’t think I’ll ever buy a prepackaged ready meal again”
good luck! i manage to make most things from scratch (including pasta, and pasta sauce) but I keep jello packets around, and a few packets of ramen for after those really long days of work…
Me and my flatmates are students without jobs out of term time, surviving on very little funs, our monthly budget for food is roughly £23 a month for two…. value bake beans on value bread toast, potatoes tea bags milk sugar, garlic, butter, onions, chopped tomatoes, value mince, rice & pasta.
our menus consist of:
baked beans on toast x 20
baked potato & beans x10
potato wedges x 2
garlic bread x 4
bread & butter x 1 loaf
raw oxo cube snack x 16
home made chili con carne x 6
sausage bolognese x 4
sausage sandwich x 10
This isn’t very nutritious or varied. My flatmate and i have lost lots of weight and our stool motions are irregular (every 4/5 days)
cups of tea x 90.
Chocolate from nothing…
1 part value coco powder
1 part sugar
2 part milk
+ microwave
Any suggestions for next month. We have a combined budget of around £50
I spend £100 a week on food for 4 people, and cook meals from scratch. £75 for a month is NOT a lot! I’m dead impressed
I’m not sure how I stumbled across this but it looks like you did really well! I eat for about £20 a week and cook pretty much my meals from scratch. Maybe it’s because I’m vegetarian but I noticed you were lacking in fruit & veg a bit. Still, well done
Well done, but it’s not as hard as it looks.
I’m a student in the UK and i regularly spend around £15 a week. The initial shop was maybe 30 for the raw materials, but i’ve had salmon, steak, good sausages and so on and it hasn’t hurt my budget. You can live well on cheap bread, good meat, pasta and vegetables. I’m not a massive milk drinker – i’ll just drink the pint there and then.
I’m proud to say i’ve never wasted money on a ready-meal, from scratch tastes better and is generally cheaper. Learning how to cook good, wholesome food is something that can make you a lot of friends.
This blog has been a great source of inspiration to me! It’s amazing how well you did, £75 for one month is not a lot of money by today’s standards. I’m going to be leaving home for the first time next month and I’ve started my own blog about cheap, nutritional eating. Thanks so much for the inspiration, I love cooking and I hope to be as healthy as possible once I get to college.
Take care,
Bez