Definitely our food and money needs change as we go through life's changes
Being single, no matter what your age, it really helps to look at Eating and The Feeding of One, in a different way
Of course. this does depend on a number of things:
- finances
- whether you like cooking or not
- whether you're a "foodie" or not.
I am not a foodie and really emotionally and mentally do not want to cook. I've done my time there. Having a family, living in a community, and then having flatmates.... I'm so over cooking. I have a couple of female friends about my age and the three of us always laugh about how We. Do. Not. Cook. But of course we do cook. (Just not much😂)
I'm on a facebook thread where a woman asked about feeding herself, and not having much money. I have so been there, done that with finances. Amazingly, she got heaps of advice about batch cooking and freezing meals. Ugh. I've done this and don't recommend it at all. Suggesting making lasagnas and other fiddly stuff. Why? It can be way easier and cheaper than that.
Have a flexible plan
One of the great things about The Feeding Of One, is that we can really pander to our likes and dislikes. But, to be honest, it helps to do this hand-in-hand with a sort of a food plan.
Soup de jour
I've been following nutritionist Monica Grenfell for a long time, and she suggests making soup. I've done this for years. Monica said to use root vegetables as they're so nutritious. You can add some soup mix of pulses and grains (Kings soup mix in Aotearoa, NZ), or red or brown lentils. Sometimes I add a big blob of cottage cheese just before serving. Monica also suggests adding bits of cooked chicken, or seafood, for extra protein. There are also tinned beans or lentils, mince, that can be used. All up, it's quite inexpensive, easy and quick to do. A famous chef, Jacques Pepain, makes what he calls fridge soup. using up all the stray bits of vegetables in his fridge. If I have leftover cooked chicken, I rummage through my (fairly empty) fridge for stray vegies, and make enough for one or two days. Today it's leftover chicken, onion, garlic powder, stock cube, potato, celery and spinach. I have in the past frozen soup but not at the moment. If you've got soup with protein, then you've got either lunch or dinner sorted.
Petit dejeuner (breakfast)
Having a regular breakfast helps too. I can't eat too many eggs, but if we're not buying too many extra bits and pieces, eggs can be affordable. I had oat bran porridge for years, then added dried prunes as they're so high in antioxidants. I've also made my own granola, again inexpensive. Or just had porridge. One of my friends adds an egg when she has porridge, as she says it keeps her going for hours. I used to add wheat germ for extra B vitamins and protein. Sometimes I make my own muesli or granola. Or, more Monica recipes coming up, you soak them overnight or a bit before eating:
- a couple of spoonfuls of oats, one or two of mixed chopped nuts and seeds, pour over some milk and soak. I just bash the nuts and seeds in their packets and buy small packets at the supermarket, usually sunflower and pumpkin seeds, brazil and walnuts. I add a spoonful of whey in the morning. A piece of fruit, and chomp away.
- At the moment I'm using another of Monica's recipes: 2 cups of oats, 1 of wheat germ, 2 of mixed nuts and seeds. Soak one teacup (these are the small cups) in one cup of milk. So filling!! Keeps me satisfied for hours. Takes ages to chew it all, so that gets the ole digestive system working really well.
Yoghurt for desserts, brekkie, and snacks
I make my own yoghurt (because I prefer the taste of my own), using a yoghurt maker from an Op Shop. It's really cheap to do this and it's good food. One litre of full cream milk, and 0ne cup of milk powder. Double the protein. If I want to lower the fat content, I use trim (nonfat) powder, if I want rich and creamy, then its full fat. About one third of a cup of my previous batch, or, I buy one small natural yoga pottle to use as a starter.
Lunch
Some cheap and easy suggestions:
- Soup and a slice or two of vogels.
- A sandwich.
- Tin of tuna, vogels or ryvitas, and salad or a piece of fruit, or a carrot.
- Cottage cheese and same or with fruit.
- 2 boiled eggs or omelet, scrambled eggs etc.
- Leftovers Supreme on toast
- Baked beans on toast
- baked potato with leftovers, cottage cheese, or cheese.
- Grate some carrot and slice some lettuce to any of the above, and you have a nourishing meal
There is nothing wrong with having the same breakfast and lunch everyday. And if we're just feeding ourselves, it's really nice not to produce a culinary masterpiece everyday.
Dinner
Dinner isn't hard when you're on your own. I never would be making chilli, nor anything like bolognaise. Because...why? I have a homemade dinner out, at least three times a week, and the other nights I just pop a bit of chicken or similar and some vegies in a roasting dish, sprinkle over salt and garlic powder and a bit of butter. Yum. (hehe, not actually cooking)
A bit of protein and vegetables or salad for dinner is so easy. I buy chicken drumsticks and freeze them individually. You can do this with other meats. It works out quite inexpensive.
Another thing that I do, especially in winter, is to pop some protein, (chicken usually) a bit of stock, and vegetables into my teeny crockpot, in the morning, cook it on low heat. No cooking needed. I "borrowed" this off a mega glamorous single friend. Another friend told me that she adds miso to the leftovers, for soup. You can buy very cheap single serves of miso for this, and those sachets make nourishing drinks.
If money is really tight, learn how to make dhal, and serve it with Basmati rice.
Other essentials
For bread, Vogels is great. keep it in the freezer. I use Very Thin.
Vegetables, root vegies and onions keep well, but I only buy a few each week. I do buy packs of lettuce, and frozen spinach. A friend always has a pea and corn mix. Have what suits you best. It really is cheaper to have frozen vegetables on hand, than buying humungous amounts of vegies that go off.
I do not buy extra "stuff" (except a bit of chocolate. Of course)
Milk. I do buy organic but when I'm a bit broke, I buy regular. Or longlife packs. They are great.
Drinks: Water, tea, coffee. Milk.
Fruit: if you can't afford lots of fruit, there are always tinned fruit, dried prunes which are really high in antioxidants, and fruit in season. One of my besties has greek yoghurt and tinned peaches for breakfast.
Seriously, none of this is hard.
If you have a couple of choices for breakfast, a few more for lunch and dinner, this cuts down on wasting money. And reduces stress. Big time.
When we eat badly, our health suffers. We can eat well and nutritiously, quite cheaply. A lot of what I've learnt about how to do this is from single women who have great lives, but not tons of money. They all inspired me.
more food and also beauty budget tips here
and more plus a sob story about finances here
budget food swaps here
Anyone else doing the Feeding Of One thing? Any hints?
Link to Global Unity Festivals on you tube, here. I'm in the Wave 1, Asia/Pacific episodes.
Link to a post explaining Global Unity Festivals, here
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