THE Cheapest meal ideas

pricesteve

http://agirlcalledjack.com

this.

vtotheicky

You should definitely consider giving family/friends a call and seeing if someone can help you out until you start earning. Is there any way you can earn money doing cash in hand work? Perhaps helping out neighbours, working in a local cafe/pub etc?
In terms of food eggs are awesome- low in calories and are really filling. Also beans and noodles are good too.
Hope things get better for you!

SLLeask

Cottage pie (cheap mince, onion, garlic and an oxo cube with a mash potato topping, yum!) and veg soup (buy ANYTHING on offer, add a few potatoes and any herbs /garlic you have, boil up or roast and then blitz, also yum!)

geebusuk

Are you back in the UK? Your profile says you're off with the Kiwis.

If it's still an issue...
I've had to do this sort of thing a few too many times.

Potatoes - the Asian corner shop would do 2kg for £1 where I used to live.
1kg of basics rice is 40p,

If you can, get to the supermarket towards the end of the day when the deals are out.
Some supermarkets are better than others. Right at the end, Morrisons will mark stuff down by hand too. Once I got a massive bag of sandwiches, veg sushi and some other stuff for £1 because they just wanted it gone.
Easily a couple of days worth of food for £1 with giving some to my friends/dog. Recently got two massive 'basics' joints for £1 and £1.25 or something. Was going to give them to the dog, but they were surprisingly nice, so he had to make do with the trimmings .
Plenty of veg can be pretty cheap - a £1 iceberg lettuce usually lasts me a good while. Can get a lot of onions for not much if you buy a bag (don't buy in 3s.)

Otherwise, while 'basics' ham isn't ideal, it's still got a fair bit of protein and not much fat.
Turkey can be pretty cheap.
Basics eggs are good for protein and fat as well as being nutrient rich.

Depending on your budget, I wouldn't discredit ready meals.
For instance, I just a £1.50 iceland Chicken Korma. Pretty tasty and technically it should serve two with rice (I cooked the rice myself, of course), or if you're stingier and have more rice, you could probably get three meals out of that - so £1.50+ 10p rice for three meals not too bad.

Aldi's super 6 tends to be 'ok' (often smaller items) and the food is often good quality, but it's rare to see the end of day bargains that you get in others, which can make a massive difference.

willnorton

its not really healthy but if you go to McDonalds and get the Mcdouble for $1 and you get the side salad and be sure to tell them you want sliced tomatoes on yoru salad (not the grape tomatoes)....ask for a pack of mayo and get a nice ice water....

now you put the sliced tomatoes on your Mcdouble and some of the lettuce from the $1 salad.... then you put the mayo on the Mcdouble.... now..

you got a salad huge double cheese burger with lettuce tomato pickle onions..and a samll salad(you put the salad dressing on teh remaining lettuce)

that is really a huge meal.... for ONLY $ 2 where can you get a big meal like that for $2.....

at home...eggsare cheap...rice is cheap..... cook a big pot of dried beans....you can get those pinto beans for pennies... dont buy the canned beans...you got to buy the ones in the bag that you have to cook....

if it gets too bad, go to your local church and tell them whats going on....I promise they will help you.....

good luck.....

twinketta

Are you back in the UK? Your profile says you're off with the Kiwis.

If it's still an issue...
I've had to do this sort of thing a few too many times.

Potatoes - the Asian corner shop would do 2kg for £1 where I used to live.
1kg of basics rice is 40p,

If you can, get to the supermarket towards the end of the day when the deals are out.
Some supermarkets are better than others. Right at the end, Morrisons will mark stuff down by hand too. Once I got a massive bag of sandwiches, veg sushi and some other stuff for £1 because they just wanted it gone.
Easily a couple of days worth of food for £1 with giving some to my friends/dog. Recently got two massive 'basics' joints for £1 and £1.25 or something. Was going to give them to the dog, but they were surprisingly nice, so he had to make do with the trimmings .
Plenty of veg can be pretty cheap - a £1 iceberg lettuce usually lasts me a good while. Can get a lot of onions for not much if you buy a bag (don't buy in 3s.)

Otherwise, while 'basics' ham isn't ideal, it's still got a fair bit of protein and not much fat.
Turkey can be pretty cheap.
Basics eggs are good for protein and fat as well as being nutrient rich.

Depending on your budget, I wouldn't discredit ready meals.
For instance, I just a £1.50 iceland Chicken Korma. Pretty tasty and technically it should serve two with rice (I cooked the rice myself, of course), or if you're stingier and have more rice, you could probably get three meals out of that - so £1.50+ 10p rice for three meals not too bad.

Aldi's super 6 tends to be 'ok' (often smaller items) and the food is often good quality, but it's rare to see the end of day bargains that you get in others, which can make a massive difference.

lots of great ideas here, except you are in NZ, but you must have supermarkets there that offer similar items.

Good luck with the job also, sometimes it pays to think outside the box, instead of looking for a job try to create one. Offer cleaning/gardening/ironing/pet minding/house sitting/child minding/dog walking even voluntary work might lead to something.

Good luck hun :flowerforyou:

cathyg321

My mom used to make tomato soup (I believe that's one of the cheapest) and add baked potato quarters to it. The soup not only is filling with the potatoes in it, but is rather tasty. I have tried it myself and I can vouch for it! Good way to stretch the soup!

For breakfast, one box of cereal. Eat whatever the serving size is (3/4 1 cup.. or less to stretch it), WITHOUT milk. Cereal eaten dry can be quite tasty and not so soggy. It gives you something to chew on for longer.

My mom is a fan of the dollar stores. She buys these tuna and chicken mixes that come with crackers. I imagine they are a dollar each. She also started eating Ramen Noodles for dinner. That's all she has been eating. It's warm and fills you up as the noodles expand. She told me it cost her 1.20 for dinner .. for the entire week!

Hope these ideas help!

I realize these aren't the most nutritionist meals to suggest, especially the Ramen Noodles, but I hope you understand that exercise is a must with them...anything that gets you moving.. walking, running, stetching, turn on a radio and walk in place to the music for an hour, or 45 minutes. Walking is so easy. You can do it anyplace.. any time.

heatheralvina

Check out supercook.com
you just enter the stuff you have in your house and it gives you recipe ideas

Hscsusiq

Oatmeal soup!
oatmeal! boullion and lots of water.
If you have bacon, cook it first and brown the dry oatmeal in the drippings, then crumble the bacon over the soup. It's the most filling thing I've eaten when poor

Been Catfood poor.
Go to your local church, even if not a parishioner. They're there for you.
Protein is the main problem, so beans and rice, beans and corn. they're whole proteins and cheap.
One meal a day should do it, if you combine lots of carbs and some whole protein.
Good luck.