• Please Remember: Members are only permitted to share their own experiences. Members are not qualified to give medical advice. Additionally, everyone manages their health differently. Please be respectful of other people's opinions about their own diabetes management.
  • We seem to be having technical difficulties with new user accounts. If you are trying to register please check your Spam or Junk folder for your confirmation email. If you still haven't received a confirmation email, please reach out to our support inbox: support.forum@diabetes.org.uk

food on a very cheap budget

M

mark1985

Active Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
Pronouns
He/Him
Hi
I am looking for main meal ideas for someone on a very tight budget any ideas please.
 
Making stews in a pressure cooker is one way to keep down costs. It reduces cooking time significantly which is something to consider these days.
If you have a freezer it might be useful to buy frozen veges and berries, and to buy joints of meat to divide up and freeze individually as the price per slice can be significantly lower.
Back at a time when I was having to budget really tightly I used my credit card for purchases and paid off everything at the start of the month. It was basically a free loan, avoiding any possibility of being overdrawn, which costs a lot.
A neighbour who tried the same thing made the mistake of treating it as free money and got into real trouble, so you do need to be aware of what you are spending, and never allow any debt to accumulate.
I still carefully clip the bags of frozen veges so I don't lose any, weighing out the contents into 1/5ths instead of guessing at 1/4 probably made the Micawber difference between success and disaster on several occasions during spells of unemployment.
 
Rice, beans, pasta, potatoes, discounted fruit & veg!
 
Take advantage of the veg selection they usually have on special offer in the supermarkets. A few veg can make a casserole which you can add the cheaper cuts of meat. Mince can go a long way if bulked out with veg and chickpeas or beans.
We usually make a cooked chicken last 8 meals.
 
beating_my_betes said:
Rice, beans, pasta, potatoes, discounted fruit & veg!
Click to expand...

Rice pasta and taters??....three high carb items??.....need to be cutting those out!

This is something i am interested in since the vast majority of suitable recipe books always seem to have a long list of ingrediants.....and not cheap ones........or its cooking for 4 or 6........
Im on my own and trying to stick to a budget

Soup is cheap and easy and makes enough for days
 
paultrose said:
Rice pasta and taters??....three high carb items??.....need to be cutting those out!

This is something i am interested in since the vast majority of suitable recipe books always seem to have a long list of ingrediants.....and not cheap ones........or its cooking for 4 or 6........
Im on my own and trying to stick to a budget

Soup is cheap and easy and makes enough for days
Click to expand...
I cook for 2 but will make enough for 4-6 portions and we have for 2 days and then the rest goes in the freezer for home made ready meals, easy to do with chilli, curry, casseroles, bolognaise.
 
Leadinglights said:
I cook for 2 but will make enough for 4-6 portions and we have for 2 days and then the rest goes in the freezer for home made ready meals, easy to do with chilli, curry, casseroles, bolognaise.
Click to expand...
Same here as most recipes are usually 4 to 6 portions.
 
Egg bites/muffins, see my post in the recipe section.
Cheap ingredients, apart from the eggs, would be any cheap meat/veg/salad that you can find to use in them.
As each egg bite only has a small amount of ingredients in each, it makes food go a long way and last a good while, once cooked eat straight away or put in the fridge for another day, not sure, but you can probably freeze them too (TBC?)
Quick and easy to make too... 😎
 
I'm still fairly new to diabetes so many of my meals on a careful budget would need rethinking. My attempts at frittata failed so I buy it at my local WI market where it is made beautifully. I do still make omelette. I like it with mushrooms. I cook the mushrooms briefly in a microwave to get rid of the water but you can add anything to an omlette.

Are you time poor and energy poor too?

How many are you catering for and do you have a freezer?

You can poach a chicken in a saucepan and add veg. You then have a number of meals ending with soup. I choose to buy from a local butcher but it is readily available in supermarkets.

I used to make liver bacon and onions with a tin of tomatoes. You do dip the liver in flour but otherwise it is diabetic friendly. You add an oxo cube and put into tinned tomato. It was a sainsbury recipe a decade or more ago. I prefer lambs liver but have eaten pigs. It is good with mash but you can cook a small whole swede in the microwave as an accompanyment. I've found a slightly ponced up version here



www.sainsburysmagazine.co.uk

Liver, bacon and onions with white bean mash recipe | Sainsbury`s Magazine

Try this traditional comfort food recipe: liver and onions. Liver is a highly nutritious source of protein and a valuable source of iron and vitamins A and D. It’s also inexpensive and quick to cook, paired with a healthier white bean mash
www.sainsburysmagazine.co.uk www.sainsburysmagazine.co.uk

I remember reading in tips to keep costs down where a recipe uses cannelloni beans buy cheap own label bake beans and rinse the sauce off.

Today i went to see my sister and we had new potatoes carrots and sprouts 5 minutes in the microwave with some half price ham. The veg was from tesco. Just before Christmas they had bags of veg for 15p. I usually buy from market but at that price ..

I love fish which can be expensive but quick to cook and little waste. Fresh herring at the moment is lovely. If you have a freezer tesco do a pack of seabass which I know my sister buys.

From my student days I liked tomatoes onions and sardines as a sauce with or without garlic, for pasta. You could have small portion of pasta. There are alternatives from supermarkets or Holland and Barrett.
 
i am just looking for ideas for cheap meals really I have time so can cook bulk and trying to do low carb also.
 
beating_my_betes said:
Oh...i see.
Click to expand...
Are you already trying your high carb diet? If so your BG and BP numbers would suggest it's not working.

With a BG of 20, which is dangerously high, it would not seem that your insulin sensitivity is being improved by eating all the carbs.
 
I am another one for bulk cooking and freezing. On my weeks to cook I will cook double the quantity, and freeze half. Some go to meals are a veg curry, and a beef stew.

For quicker meals I make a large quantity of bolognaise sauce and freeze in portions.
I then use black bean or edamame pasta which is a lot lower carb than others. They are more expensive but I find a small portion works well as a ‘carrier’ for the bolognaise sauce.
 
I live on my own and do my own cooking. One of my favourites is to buy frozen chicken thighs from either Lidl or Tesco.
8 in a pack for £2.80. Freeze into small bags. 1 or 2 depending if it's for a main or lesser meal, with veg.
Three in my cast iron enamelled pot with various sliced up veggie, a few greens added half way through, and I have a big stew one day and heat up for a similar meal the following day. I took advantage the 15p Xmas veg in Tesco so this is on the menu for this coming week.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top