£15 for one person for one week challenge - example shop from Morrisons week 1

 Make no mistake the most expensive way to budget is week by week.  Combine that with a challenge that 1) has £15 total for the spending bar, 2) is just for one person so no big value packs that are less pence per 100g 3) uses nothing from stock or stores 4) has to cover three meals a day, seven days a week and include all drinks it is hard..

Why then did I spend time doing this? Well things are in a bit of a mess at the moment aren't they.  We have children from low income families being given inadequate free lunches by government appointed firms who claim they are not profiteering (yeah right!) - that was supposed to be £15 per child per week.  We also have massive growth in unemployment numbers thanks to COVID and also people who are on furlough which may not be 100% of their normal pay. Food banks are busier than ever before with growth in the hundreds of percent compared with just 18 months ago. We also have food prices that have spiked on some items due to Brexit - anyone else notice that one?  If you look at the recipe websites and things like the BBC we have started to see cooking on a budget programmes like this one. I then had a YouTube suggestion for a video that did one weeks shopping on £10 - again from scratch (but from last autumn) so I wondered what my version would be.  I could not manage £10 - although I may revisit it and try again; hats off to Nicola who did.  It also proved impossible to recreate Nicola's basket post Brexit from the same supermarket chain as most of the value brands which those who are on a super low income rely on have quietly disappeared from the shelves in just 3-4 months.

It is a little artificial to use nothing from stores.  The only time this really happens to us is when we first move out of home. I remember that I had a miserable month the first month I moved out after uni as I had to pay deposits/rent etc up front, was still buying necessary stuff for the house including cleaning stuff and had to buy a season ticket for travelling to my new job.  I think I survived the month on bubble and squeak with no extras. Once you get to the first pay check whether it is weekly or monthly that's when it starts to turn around. My mum was in no position to help much as she wanted to as she was unemployed herself and lived in a different part of the country.  The only other time that has happened to me was when we moved to Germany for work, but that was entirely different though as the company paid the rent (and therefore deposits etc) and we had some ready cash to buy the initial storecupboard.  If you do not have some ready cash as a backup and are starting from zero then it is really hard and you have to make some compromises somewhere.  After the first week you have some food items that you can carry over and it gets slightly better from there on; but make no mistake it is a hard way to live and I take my hat off to anyone who has to do this day in and day out - our family budget at this point is £20 per person per week and with carnivores even this is a struggle sometimes.  It is also a hard situation to recover from as when you have no wriggle room at all in your budget you know you have to eat what you have cooked or go hungry; how then are you brave enough to try a new recipe. Lentil dahl is super cheap but it may not be something you have ever tried if you come from a family that is traditionally meat-and-two-veg type meals.

Going week to week with your budget is also harder.  If you get paid monthly consider a budget for the month rather than week by week, that way you can buy things like oil, rice and spices at the beginning of the month and use it every week, the first week is expensive but everything gets cheaper from there on.

So here is my offering for inspiration.  Hopefully this is harder than the situation you find yourself in and even if you have something like oil, herbs and spices in the storecupboard then you have already earned yourself over 10% of the budget in terms of wriggle room. This can allow you to either add more variety, buy a better value for money larger pack which will last for longer (and save more long term), or use to save an emergency buffer in terms of pennies.

Here is my basket in no particular order- meal plan and recipes to follow:

Clover margarine - the cheapest tub at the moment (the only item that is on offer), use as margarine for toast and in recipes but also in lieu of oil which I could not get within budget - £1.00

500 gram frozen mixed veg - cheaper than fresh and with some variety.  In this case peas, carrots, sweetcorn, broccoli and red pepper. - 85p

2 x value passata - less watery than tinned tomatoes even though they are more expensive per item. (tinned tomatoes by comparison would have been 28p per tin) 2 @ 35p = 70p

1 kg onions  - no I won't use all of these I would have bought 3 single onions if I could and used some of the money elsewhere- the other alternative is frozen chopped onion but that is a few pence more expensive for half the weight, some to carry over to next week - 65p

500 g red lentils - protein hit and no soaking or long cooking £1.15

 

800 g loaf bread white or brown are the same price, toast for breakfast here we come but put half in the freezer at the beginning of the week if you do not want to have to throw half of it away because it is blue, contains 22 slices including crusts- 49p

2 pints whole milk - I plan to water this down to make 3 pints total, since it is full fat it will then taste like semi-skimmed - 80p

500 g pasta - any shape you like, not a time to be fussy and they are all the same price, if I use 75g per meal this would be 6 meals plus some left over - 45p

head of garlic - 39p

6 eggs - the most expensive way per egg but never mind...-75p

1 kg granulated sugar - ok so this is a weird one since I do not take sugar in my tea.  I wanted something sweet and figured I could use this in baking; this will last a whole month for one person I hope - 65p

2x 410g baked beans - definitely not branded ones 2@30p - 60p

500 g plain flour - not just for this week but useful for making sauces, biscuits, flatbreads, pizza bases....-45p

1 kg frozen cauli and broccoli - more frozen veg what can I say - 99p

350g white cheddar - smallest pack available and mature for more flavour - £1.89

100g curry powder - not enough in the budget to buy individual spices so a one size fits all flavour addition that will last several weeks- 65p

jar mixed herbs, again not just for this week and a mixture of flavours - 95p

8 value pork sausages- the only meat this week and not the healthiest but the cheapest, - £1

80 value tea bags - at 3 cups of tea a day this should last over 3 weeks - 55p

Total spend - £14.96

What's not on there.  Well I had several things that I removed and put back and removed again.  Week 2 will start with vegetable oil, potatoes, rice and 5 bananas (if I had set the budget at £20 they would have squeezed in with just over a quid to spare).

So my challenge for you is given £15 what would you buy for 21 meals for one person?  I would love to see you do better!

Edited - meal plan for week 1 plus links for recipes here