Yes you’re absolutely right. The plans do involve so much sugar (and white stuff and bread, which are just sugar anyway), so we were getting a bit sick of it all after a couple of weeks… Think I’m going to re-write the plans in a healthier version… Watch this space!

Interesting to read your comments on the ThrifyLesley meal plans. I haven’t actually stuck to any of her plans to the letter. I have mixed them up and used them as a basis to vary my meals. The soup ideas are useful and I make a whole batch and freeze it for easy meals. I wasn’t too keen on having raisin pancakes for breakfast! I have cut my food bills down quite a bit and I don’t buy bread. So the meal plans with lots of “X” on toast really didn’t cut it for me, so I would either go without the bread or find a substitute such as salad (I buy the cheap 49p salad offer items). If my garden was better situated I would grow my own, only home-grown tomatoes this year!

I do make flatbreads , using a different recipe to the one that TL details. I too was somewhat worried at the amount of sugar used in recipes and either tried to cut down, cut out or substitute the sugar where possible in the recipe.
I was also concerned at the limited food combos but if money is tight then you have no choice. I try to save on some items and buy good quality ones when I can and bulk buy! Which is always harder when you are only cooking for one. Anything and everything that can be frozen to give it as much shelf life as possible without losing the nutrients is key.

I was good to discuss all this food business with you in person this weekend. I think it’s clear where I can make some pretty immediate savings in my grocery budget. It’s definitely a case of targeting the “low-hanging meat” as I could see yours and everyone else’s eyes bulge when I said we eat meat with every meal!

The same applies to food, but we are putting it into our bodies – I don’t want the cheapest of everything, I know what it will do to my body if I eat poorly. Even if I didn’t have eczema and the like, I know that the fats and micronutrients etc. are also important in a diet, so if you’re going to follow a meal plan, you’d better make sure that you cover the important, smaller details as well as the main ideas.

I think I’m probably going to move back to a low carb, or at least, very low refined carb diet i.e. no pasta, even the brown/oaty sainsbury’s one. I find that I have more energy and feel better by swapping that for brown rice, or brown rice noodles, or just for a higher, quality fat content.

Thanks for stopping by, as always, I appreciate your comments. We’re missing you here at the FIRE Escape.

I had said previously that I couldn’t keep to a strict meal plan as I prefer flexibility with my cooking. Or because I know I’m not a very organised person! However, I have picked a few of Thrifty Lesley’s recipe ideas and have been cooking in bulk again and also have an eye out for buying more things in bulk when I can, so I’m saving in the long run, both time and money.

I’m not a huge fan of brown pasta either so I mix it with white – it does look a bit funny when cooked but when you mix in sauce, you can’t see (or taste) the difference.

Thanks again for documenting your efforts.

thanks for your kind words. Not sure what happened to the link, but here it is again: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00UVT0COE?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00

Yo can get four ~920ml tubs for about £26 – and this is the deodorised one, meaning you can cook anything with it and it won’t get a weird coconutty flavour on foods with which it wouldn’t taste good.

Cheers

I must admit I haven’t actually got round to targeting our food outlay as I’ve had bigger fish to fry regarding our spending habits – this may change somewhat when I stop work and have more time. For the moment my husband does most of our food shopping and cooking. We do eat pretty healthily but probably not quite as cheaply as we could.

You obviously really know your nutrition so it’s very interesting to read your thoughts on eating for health on a low budget and how to bring together all the current thinking on healthy eating into an actual meal-plan.

Really interesting post , and good to see you are pointing the drawbacks of the diet.

The link to bulk coconut oil isn’t working for me. I’d be interested to see that.

Thanks,

Mike