THE Cheapest meal ideas

bcattoes

Gluten free pasta - look in the international foods section of your grocery or Asian market if you have one for rice noodles. The cheaper brands may not be labelled 'gluten free', but rice is naturally gluten free and rice noodles just as cheap or cheaper than regular pasta. Just check the ingredients to be sure rice is the only grain included.

Beans and rice are both super cheap and gluten free, and coincidentally, taste awesome together. Toss in a bag of frozen mixed vegetables or frozen greens.

Eggs are a cheap source of protein. Canned tuna is usually fairly cheap too.

mslisatm

Wow, all of these ideas are awesome! You have covered what I would suggest, dry beans, a whole chicken garlic and onions go a long way as well as eggs. Its tough, I know! I lived off ramen for a summer. Not healthy mentally or physically!

Andreaviolet89

As a college student, I have learned how to eat on a budget. I dont know what prices are like where you are but grocery shopping at Walmart helps save a ton of money. Heads of iceberg lettuce and bananas are cheap. Also a huge bag of rice to be the base of most of your meals for a while. Canned tuna, beans and frozen veggies are cheap also. Good luck and try to take any job you can for a while. Many times you can atleast get some free coffee out of the day.

seltzermint555

This might sound like a silly thing to some...but what about letting a few of your nearest and dearest friends/family know that you're a bit broke at the moment and would love to join them for a meal?

I did that when I was in college and my workplace closed down (until I could find other work)...ate 2-3 dinners per week at my best friend's house or my mom's house. They didn't mind at all.

Honestly if someone I knew was broke I'd rather feed them than give them cash or a loan. I think many people feel similarly, even if they don't have a lot of money they may not mind you coming and having a portion of their dinner with them.

St_Paul

Rice, bags of dried beans, eggs, and sometimes day-old bread (cheaper), and whatever veg or fruits are on sale. Lots you can do.

_noob_

Ramen...bowl...water...microwave...BOOM

gonnamakeanewaccount

Ramen
Rice and beans
Frozen vegetables
Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
Pasta
Canned tuna
Oatmeal

hbunting86

Thanks for the ideas... I'm working my way through the cupboard and it's pretty bare!

SweetLilyR

http://agirlcalledjack.com

This woman is my freaking hero. She's a single mother living in poverty in the UK. Her writing is compelling and her recipes are all cheap and easy and based off what she could afford on the English version of food stamps and what she managed to get from food pantries. There may be some local stores (not chain stores) that might be persuaded to give you the day-old breads, older produce, and scratch & dent items for a reduced price or even for free. If you're starting to get desperate, look for a local "gleaner's guide" and start looking for "Freegan" groups. There may be places around where you live that open their gardens and farms to people to pick food for free.

There are always ways to earn money online - Swagbucks is how I pay for Christmas each year. Time spent online equals out to Amazon (and they have UK Amazon too) gift cards, which you can use to get some extra food online. Content writing isn't that lucrative but it's money you didn't have before and can be done from home. If you have internet, a phone and are willing to, being a phone companion is actually a lot of fun and can get you some cash fast. I don't recommend it if you aren't open and willing to talk about a wide range of topics. Lastly, I have a friend who is disabled and makes her income stretch by taking surveys and doing writing for Lionsbridge (not sure if it's available in the UK). Take it from someone who's been there - your pride is going to take some blows by asking for help from people and possibly by the work you do to get by...but it can be regained in the knowledge that you are doing EVERYTHING you can to keep you (and your family) afloat. And that's what's most important. Good luck and feel free to PM me if you have any questions....

777Gemma888

OK embarrassing but true... I'm totally broke. Not just 'a little bit short of cash' but bones of my *kitten* kind of broke - i.e. I have 80p in the world and no overdraft.

I need to find a way to eat for the next few weeks and I just have no clue how to do it! I was wondering if anyone had been in the same position before, and if so what they managed to live on. I'm not saying I've been rich in the past but I've always been in a position to be able to eat well, if not extravagantly so (which to be honest doesn't bother me at all).

I'm hoping to hear back from a job I was interviewed for yesterday and have another interview today - but still there would be a gap before I earn any kind of money. I've tried cutting down to eating once per day, but then I just end up hungry and miserable! Also not being able to eat gluten makes matters a bit harder, as the pasta which is gluten free is about 4 times more expensive than the home brand regular stuff!

Thanks - a miserable me

The last time you were on, you shared you were residing in NZ. From that loc stat, I would suggest you find Anglican Churches in NZ where Nuns serve. As a teenager, I was a Novice-in-training, so I did participate with forms of assistance directed at Young Professionals, Young Families, the Struggling Students and the Elderly, who'd oftentimes found it difficult to put a meal on the table, a day. The Anglican Sisters in NZ have an arm, which caters specifically to feeding (which is one meal), usually at lunchtime and on Sunday it's a big brunch. For the week, if you call-in, you should be able to get some groceries. NZ being NZ with a large population of Anglican Business Community in the Food Industry, you'll get a lot of packaged Watties, canned tuna and the like. If you are in Britain, then I would suggest, the Catholic ~ The Assumption Order. Good luck!!

jadedhippo

Im a uni student and I live off potatoes, brown rice and lentil soups. I add frozen veges to most things and grill any fresh veges.
I add different combos of herbs and spices to things for variety and also juice from lemons (you could always nick those from a nearby lemon tree? Heh!)

Tinned anything is great too!

But seriously, lentil/leek and potato/vege soups have been a life saver for me

CaffeinatedConfectionist

I'm pretty much perpetually broke, so I feel you (I got got paid yesterday, and my grocery budget for the next two weeks is $50). Like other people have said, I eat a lot of dried goods that I can buy in bulk, mostly grains and legumes - oats, rice, beans (black, kidney, pinto, chickpea, etc), quinoa, barley, lentils, etc. I don't eat a lot of processed food, because I feel like I don't get a lot of bang for my buck. Sure, I can get a hamburger for $1 at McDonalds, but I'm hungry again an hour later, so meh. I then try to always have milk and eggs on hand. I found a local farm that sells fairly cheap meat and eggs and dairy, so that is a useful alternative to the high grocery store prices. I can buy a whole chicken for a couple dollars, which gives me plenty of meat to use in things like pot pies or soups or stuffed rolls, and I can make a lot of stock from the carcass. I try to buy as much fruit and vegetables as I can when they are in season and therefore incredibly cheap, so that I can blanch and freeze them. Here this is a good time to buy really cheap corn - I found a store selling a dozen ears of corn for $4, which gave me something like 4-5lb of kernels, versus $1.50-$2 a pound when buying frozen kernels. Usually root vegetables are fairly inexpensive, too. You can get a giant squash for pretty cheap. I also keep a small garden. I don't have time to put a lot of work into it, but even without much work, it has produced a lot of tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, etc. The challenge then is putting all those cheap ingredients together in a tasty way with enough variety that you don't go crazy. Usually when I have a little extra cash for groceries, I try to buy things like bacon or good cheese, so that I can add these sparingly to dishes to enhance flavor. Most of my meals are based on eggs, dairy, bread (I make my own - easy, delicious, and cheap), or grains. Fried rice, rice and beans, stratas, quiches, oatmeal, baked oatmeal, quinoa or various other grain and bean salads, etc, etc. Feel free to look at my diary, though I haven't been logging very consistently lately, and family has been visiting so I've been eating a bit better than usual. Feel free to friend me, too, if you want more ideas.

ETA, sorry, missed that you were gluten-free before, so nix the bread-based things. You can make a killer strata with eggs, spices and toasted cornbread. It's best with some cheese, corn, peppers, etc, if you've got em.

acpgee

http://www.theskintfoodie.com/

Foodie blog with recipes from a guy on benefits. He has good tips on how to plan shopping and budgeting.

devil_in_a_blue_dress

I like this website a lot: http://www.budgetbytes.com/

I think the cheapest meal I make is beans and rice. If you have a crock pot, you honestly don't even need to soak your beans. Just put a one pound bag of beans with 6 cups of water (add bullion if you have it), maybe a can of diced tomatoes (again if you have it), or peppers/onions (again, if you have) with whatever spices and make some rice and boom, dinner.

When I was my poorest, I would buy a largest sack of rice that was 7 dollars or less, 2 bags of black beans, 2 cans of diced tomatoes, 1 bag of frozen peppers strips, 2 bags of mixed veggies, 5 pound bag of potatoes, 1 dozen eggs, 2 cans of chicken, a loaf of the cheapest bread I could find and and butter. That was usually $25.00 us dollars and it fed me for 2 weeks.

keem88

rice, dried beans, frozen veg, eggs. hopefully you have some spices already to help switch things up. that sucks about the gluten though bc unfortunately the bread and pasta is much more pricier. maybe you can find a food pantry and get some staple/canned goods there and then use the money instead for the gf options.

if not then rice and beans with different seasonings and veggies, can make a stir fry. maybe buy a whole chicken cook in crock pot and you can use that for some different things like soups, casseroles, stir frys.

Rurouni_Kou

Income wise: I would be taking any type of job that you could part time to supplement your income. I would also see if you could qualify for temporary assistance from the gov't for food stamp like programs.

Food wise: Do you have any stores like Aldi's or Save a Lot? Aldi's is really cheap and has their own "Fit & Active" brand. Save a Lot is also really cheap. Eggs for breakfast. Soups are really cheap to make per serving and can last several meals. I would also check out local churches for food pantries.

This post annoys me because A) Aldi, not "Aldi's" (petty I know) and I think the OP is in the UK, but in the USA you basically can't get food stamps as a single person. I tried once, many years ago when I lost my job due to the store I worked in closing down. I was basically laughed at. The rule then was something like as a single person you could not have earned over $400 in the last 12 weeks. Of course I had! According to my friend who works in the social assistance field things have not changed for singletons whatsoever...

Edited to add: Ok, so that was kind of snotty. Sorry. And yes ALDI is awesome. They do have it in the UK (not sure about the OP's region). I shop there for about 80% of my groceries and they're cheap and fantastic!

I had a sibling who was on foodstamps for a while and he was a single person. Just because you had a bad experience with it doesn't mean the OP or anyone else will. Trying to dissuade someone from trying to get on a program that could help them and "getting annoyed" at people who are giving helpful advice like "try for foodstamps" is really petty and cruel. Please, unless you can give HELPFUL advice, stop being "snotty" to others who are trying to help.

OP, good luck with your financial situation. Being poor sucks *kitten*, me, my family, and my friends have all been there; but there is some very good info from other (non-snotty) posters in this thread. Take care!

hbunting86

Hi thanks for the other comments and advice!

I managed to get a shift last night so earned some money for food for the week (yay) - we have a cheap supermarket called Lidl here and there's Aldi too so I'm going to see what bargains I can bag (hopefully).

bkelley32148

bump

ms_leanne

Are you absolutely positive you have a gluten issue, or are you on the gluten bandwagon? In your position, you can't really worry about such nonsense unless it actually is a real problem.

Agreed with this as you didn't make it clear if you are actually coeliac or not.

Either way hun, well done getting the shift and check out Aldi and Lidl.