For most people, money is tight. Living payslip to payslip is, unfortunately, a common trend in recent years. Feeding yourself, and your household, while broke is a tough task, but luckily there are ways to ensure you get all the micro and macronutrients you need to live healthily – and without going into debt.
First thing’s first: make a budget. Getting control over your money may mean you can allocate extra cash to your food budget. Once you know how much you can spend on groceries, you’ll be able to plan your shops much better.
Carbohydrates
Buying rice, pasta, and potatoes in bulk will be much cheaper than buying smaller bags, or microwavable packets.
Rice
A 1kg of Basmati rice from Aldi is £1.79, a 10kg bag from Morrison’s is £15 which equates to £1.50/kg. Buying the equivalent weight of rice from Aldi will cost you £17.90. The upfront cost might be higher, but you’re saving money in the long run.
In their Aldi Price Match range, Sainsbury’s sells a 2kg bag of Basmati for £3.58 (£1.79/kg). While this doesn’t save you money for buying bulk, it does show you the importance of shopping by unit price. We cover this in more depth in our how to shop on a budget article.
Pasta
Aldi sells a 1kg bag of fusilli for £1.29. Tesco, Asda, and Sainsbury’s all do a 3kg bag of fusilli for £3.80 which will save you two pence per kilo, compared to Aldi’s smaller bag.
Potatoes
While rice and pasta have long Use By dates, potatoes have a shorter shelf life. Buy a big bag and dedicate an evening to prepping and freezing them. Peel, dice, slice, chip, cut however you plan to use them, and freeze in portions. When it comes to deciding what to have for dinner, ingredient prepping gives you far more freedon than if you batch cooked full meals.
A 2kg bag is cheaper and will last longer than buying individual spuds, pre-prepared foods, or smaller bags. You’ll find that local farm shops will sell bags of a higher weight at a lower cost than what you’ll find in any supermarket. You’ll even find potatoes big enough to use as a jacket potato in a farm shop spud sack.
It might be worth popping down to your local – and even if they don’t sell any big sacks of potatoes, at least you’ll have had a nice day out.
Protein
Meat is expensive – there are cheap cuts you can get, and certain products are better value than others. Traditionally-cheaper cuts have risen in price due to an increase in demand from more and more people looking to save money. But some key tips to remember when shopping for meat:
- The more a product is processed, the higher the price. Skinless and boneless will cost more than their counterparts.
- Bulk is cheaper, look at the unit price on the label
- Your butcher could be your friend when it comes to less popular cuts of meat. Shin, neck, brisket, flank, shoulder, for example, aren’t always available in supermarkets. Research different cuts of your favourite meats and ask your butcher
Pulses, beans, and legumes are high in protein while also being cheaper per kilo. These are a great way to add bulk to your meals, add micros, and make your shop go further. Cheap meats might be too tough to griddle or fry, but are ideal for slow cooking. Try a chicken chasseur, stew, goulash, or meaty pasta.
Lentils might not be on your radar, but they should be. A 100g serving of red split lentils will give you 7.3g of protein – and you can get a kilo for £2.50. Add them to soups, stews, currys, oven baked dinners, dahl, and so much more. With lentils, the possibilities are endless.
You can take a similar approach with other types of beans: black, pinto, chickpea, black-eyed, kidney, cannellini, butter… Each comes with their own flavour, uses, and nutritional advantages. They’re also budget friendly.
Chuck a tin of chickpeas in your chicken curry, and you’ll be able to divvy up more portions. Stir some kidney beans in your chilli con carne or rice (this is its own dish in Jamaica called rice and peas). Serve a fajita dinner with a side of black beans to make it more filling.
Fat
Full fat dairy, eggs, oils, avocado, dark chocolate, nuts, seeds, and fatty fishes all contain the ‘good’ fats – choose (mono and poly) unsaturated and omega-3 acids over saturated and trans fats. Just because you’re feeding yourself on a shoestring, doesn’t mean you have to be unhealthy.
Luckily, you can include ‘good’ fats in your meal plan, even when you’re broke.
Your local farm shop will sell trays of free range eggs for a good price; you might even have someone nearby with their own chickens who’s looking to sell their excess eggs. The eggs will be higher quality, and are often cheaper than their supermarket equivalents. As well as fat, eggs are also high in protein. Just make sure to check your eggs’ best before date before use to avoid potential salmonella poisoning.
Nuts and seeds are great for snacking, as well as adding to meals. Add a handful of each to your cereal, yoghurt, or even your dinners. Cashews can be added to curries, for example. Nuts and seeds are energy dense and high in calories, which means they will keep you satiated for longer – thus making them better value for money. Health stores, such as Holland & Barrett and Grape Tree, stock a greater variety and are more likely to run promotions on these types of products than supermarkets.
When it comes to dairy, cheeses aren’t far off the unit price of meats. You might be able to budget for a block a month so you can satisfy your cheese cravings, but other fats are more wallet-friendly when you’re broke. There is one exception: cottage cheese. It’s high in protein, fat, and is incredibly versatile. You can add it to scrambled eggs, blend it into milkshakes, use it for a jacket potato topping, include it in salads, make pancakes, and so much more. BBC Good Food has a whole host of ideas if you’re interested.
Foods to buy when you’re broke
Go for potatoes, pastas, and rice as your carbohydrates – these will make up the bulk of your meal.
For proteins, opt for beans, legumes, and pulses. Meat proteins are far more expensive than vegetable ones, however you do get more protein per gram from meat. Meat-wise, go for bigger trays and cheaper cuts. A kilo of chicken thighs is cheaper than breasts.
For a balanced diet, you’ll also need fats. Seeds, nuts, and eggs are your budget options in this category.
Of course, we can’t finish without including any fruits or vegetables. Look for 1kg+ bags of frozen veg, these will be the cheapest. A kilo bag of carrots will cost you less than a quid, £0.69 at Asda, and can be used for snacks, dinners, soups, purees, sides, and shakes. Grapes, apples, oranges, pears, and bananas will give your diet the hit of fresh it desperately needs.
