Eating plans for a £1 a day

When Mr J had his last operation, we made meals to go in the freezer rather than buy ready meals. It meant I did not have to cook from scratch every night and we knew the ingredients we had put in. This is exactly what we are going to do again soon before he has his next op. It really helps me because I will be very busy caring for him for a while post op.

MissAdventure

My grandson gets half an hour for lunch at school.
The younger children go first, so by the time my boy has his turn all that is left is a bacon roll or pizza, and about 10 mins to eat it.

Ditto for DGD and nowhere to sit, either.

I know! Nowhere to sit and eat! I was shocked to hear that.
It can't be healthy to eat a load of storage on the run.

Stodge. Not storage.

It's a new school too!

Perhaps mps should look at that kind of thing, and the financial arrangements in place for unhealthy "meals" being given to our children?

you cn't do it
the price of tinned goods has increased dramatically as has everything else

£1 a day seems impossible.
Not being funny my dog's food costs £48.29 for a 28 day sack.

I'm so sad to hear about young school children having to eat the stodgy end of service food, and having nowhere to sit is awful.

Another consideration is whether people have access to an outside space where they can grow some veg. A lot can be grown for very little on a balcony if you have one and can afford some compost and seeds and recycle some old bags for containers. Of course many people don't have this sort of amenity but if they do it can be hugely productive for little effort, and a big saving on buying veg. Also if they have a freezer (big if, I know), frozen fruit and veg is as nutritious as fresh and you can just take out what you need which may end up cheaper. Even a small freezer compartment in a fridge can accommodate a few bags of veg.

I googled economy meals earlier today and the cheapest I found was sausage omelette which was costed at 59p per head. All the recipes assumed you had all the oil and seasonings in a nice well stocked store cupboard.
I recently found Delia Smith’s Frugal Food book on a charity stall. Dated 1976, it has some lovely old fashioned recipes.
I would very much doubt anyone could cope for long on £1 a day though,

I'm currently eating a chick pea and lentil mild curry. I suppose it was cheap to make but really haven't costed it. I do know that in order to get the same protein as meat you need to mix pulses so it has chick peas, lentils and frozen peas in it. Otherwise it's a chuck in anything!
My mother was very good at cooking cheaply. She relied heavily on a pressure cooker which cooked cheap cuts of meat quickly so saving food and fuel costs.
I'm not sure about our nutrition levels though. I made banana custard for a trip down memory lane the other day and realised she did it to stretch one or two bananas between 4. We saw very little fresh fruit. Apples came in puddings or pies.

This is one thread I do hope gets widely broadcast elsewhere.

I do chuck-in-anything dal, glorianny (love the name!). I mean that I keep all sorts of leftovers from all sorts of meals (some bacon/cabbage/cashew nut/onion stir fry from today, for instance) and chuck them all in when making dal. It does mean that my dal is rarely vegetarian let alone vegan but boy does it taste good ?

you can only chuck meals together or use leftovers if you have enough food in the first place

Jack explains it better than anyone:
cookingonabootstrap.com/2022/05/12/whats-the-difference-between-jack-monroe-suggesting-budget-recipes-and-a-tory-mp/

JaneJudge

you can only chuck meals together or use leftovers if you have enough food in the first place

True but that does not detract from the lack of wastefulness of the practice.

Baggs

JaneJudge

you can only chuck meals together or use leftovers if you have enough food in the first place

True but that does not detract from the lack of wastefulness of the practice.

Of course you can but I can't help thinking that a little of the chucking together attitude is helpful as far as costs go. Sometimes you look at recipes and think you can't make something because you haven't the exact stuff and perhaps you can't afford the stuff. Taking a more experimental attitude and realising that you can use little bits and left overs and make something out of them is a big step. I think it's easier when you don't have children. They are critical little beasts.

Porridge made with milk? Just no! This Scot makes porridge with water and a pinch of salt, nothing else, and no sweet toppings are added either. If you want to be extremely economical there’s always the porridge drawer. This was found mainly on farms and was a tin lined dresser drawer which was filled with thick porridge. It was then left to cool and slices were cut off by farm labourers to sustain them during the day. A drawer could last for a week. Not something I would fancy!

MissAdventure

This is one thread I do hope gets widely broadcast elsewhere.

Jack Monroe threw out the same challenge to her followers on Twitter today. There have been hundreds of replies, but nobody has come up with very much. Maybe I'll direct her here.

Katek

Porridge made with milk? Just no! This Scot makes porridge with water and a pinch of salt, nothing else, and no sweet toppings are added either. If you want to be extremely economical there’s always the porridge drawer. This was found mainly on farms and was a tin lined dresser drawer which was filled with thick porridge. It was then left to cool and slices were cut off by farm labourers to sustain them during the day. A drawer could last for a week. Not something I would fancy!

Porridge made with water doesn't have much nutrition in it - the salt isn't very healthy either.

growstuff

Katek

Porridge made with milk? Just no! This Scot makes porridge with water and a pinch of salt, nothing else, and no sweet toppings are added either. If you want to be extremely economical there’s always the porridge drawer. This was found mainly on farms and was a tin lined dresser drawer which was filled with thick porridge. It was then left to cool and slices were cut off by farm labourers to sustain them during the day. A drawer could last for a week. Not something I would fancy!

Porridge made with water doesn't have much nutrition in it - the salt isn't very healthy either.

Oats are a nutritious grain. Obviously adding other nutritious foods is a bonus but oats are nutritious in their own right as far as grains go. Stop downing them, gs!

Salt is so important it used to be currency. Mainly because it was used to preserve food before refridgeration but we need some salt in our diets too. a pinch in one's porridge isn't going to kill you, otherwise there's be no Scots!

*there'd

Do you have the same attitude about potatoes, gs, that used to sustain the Irish peasantry?

Nobody is saying oats or potatoes or other starchy foods are enough in themselves.

But good luck to anyone eating on a low budget who tries to do with out them!

When I was teaching in Thailand I asked an adult class who had been discussing food, why no-one had mentioned rice. Someone said, "Rice is life! We don't need to mention it".

Ditto oats, wheat, barley, potatoes, etc.