Limited food choices, advice?

Had a quick peek at your diary

A few thoughts to save a few pennies

why Kingsmill bread and not own brand from say Asda,?

Why Qourn bangers and not own brand veggie ones?, or Linda Mcartney often on offer

Oops, just went back a bit further in your diary, and see you do have own brand

I realise on tight budget choices are very limited, but could you & mum perhaps cut down on the carbohydrates & increase the fresh veg, it does seem to missing from your diary

I know some veg is silly prices, but I have switched to using frozen veg, like cauliflower & broccoli, not only for convenience but is cheaper at the moment than fresh veg

PS, need I mention cut out the crisps? :-)

PPS, just spotted the fruit veg bit about you having problems with it. One advantage with the frozen stuff is you can just have a little bit with no waste or going mouldy

Parsnips are sort of carby, and also high in starch & sugars, sort of in same pile as spuds really

However, how about trying roasted vegetables?, Even some mini spuds included
Waitrose has recipe on line

http://www.waitrose.com/home/recipes/recipe_directory/r/roast_vegetable_medley_with_stilton_and_chestnuts.html

I use it as guide but omit the expensive stuff, like walnuts & Stilton, and use just a smidgeon of rape seed oil [or any veg oil to hand really]

heat roasting dish, with a scant tablespoon of oil, gas 6, chuck in vegiges,I use onion, carrots, parsnips, a mini spud or two maybe, and [from Jamie Oliver] cauliflower, give all a good stir round to coat in oil

Follow the general recipe for timings, give them a mix up and stir half way through

I have not tried, but I bet a sweet corn cob would do well in the pan along with the rest

PS, I have also chucked in a few sausages, but I found the Linda Mc ones just dried up and were like trying to eat sticks. Quorn may do better, pork bangers work, but of little use to you

Hello friend

Ok so this is my opinion take it or leave it but I'm saying this with the best of intentions

I think you need to reassess what your putting into your body. I had a look at your diary and to me it loooks pretty unhealthy, high in carbs and fat and highly processed foods.

From what I understand the cost of living over where you're from is a lot lower than here in Australia, here are a couple of tips from when I was a struggling student and also now as I try and lead a more healthier lifestyle

- Try shopping at Farmers Markets - We have them here, they are significantly cheaper and the produce is fresher than your general supermarket chain - do you have something similar?
- Buy in bulk where possible - usually means discounted
- if you're worried about fresh food going off, can you preprepare meals and freeze them? That way you will be planning your meals (and calorie intake) which will assist you in your weightloss goals plus also prevent your fresh foods from going off.
- Add something green to your plate - it will fill you up more, is a much healthier choice than a lot of the options you've got
- Try something new every day where possible - your diet is fairly limited. Try something new iwhere possible, look at what's on special, you never know what you might like etc
- buy frozen vegies - might be cheaper but then def won't go off too quickly.
- grow your own? Do you live in an apartment or a house - It's pretty easy to do up your own vegie patch and cheap if you are strugglign to buy your own. If you are in an apartment even just growing your own herbs would help.\

A few ideas anyhow in a bit of a rush and gotta go

Good luck! x

Find out the times places like Asda, Marks and Spencer, Tesco etc do their daily reductions as the fresh food can come down to really low prices, sometimes as low as 10p, even at Marks.

Get some nuts, you can get pretty large bags for £1 from lidl and the 99p shop etc. They are a good source of nutrition.

There is a wide variety of vegetables out there. Keep trying until you find those you like. I love raw carrots dipped in houmous. You can easily make your own houmous.

Stews are great. Get a large bag of soya chunks from Holland and barrett, goes a long way, and add potatoes, veggies and macaroni with some stock to make a nice pot of stew that can last several days. You can also get soya mince to make pasta sauces and chilli, and those bags last quite a long time. Asda has their own brand of this, I believe, too.

Lentils and dried beans are cheap. You can easily boil up some lentils and cobble together a meal or soup using those.
Look online for budget vegetarian recipes.