affording low carb ??

I must admit I was a little surprised when you say you have about £50 to spend on just yourself. Even taking away the cost of non consumables you still have enough to feed one person. What exactly are you buying?

Everyone has mentioned eggs and cheese already. I make vegetable soup. Morrisons do a prepared pack for 65 p. I added another big onion, 2 more carrots, vegetable stock pot and a chicken stockpot. This made 4 good sized bowls of soup which we had over two days . I whizzed it with a blender to make it thick. It was very filling. Hope this helps.

Personally I find Low carb cheaper, now that I am not buying all the bread, potatoes, cakes and biscuits, chocolate etc I am no longer wasting money on expensive coffees etc. I tend to shop in a variety of shops as I find this cheaper and look out for special offers on things that are low carb that I like. I buy a whole cauliflower and a large bit of broccoli and I spit it over 3 days. I also rely a lot on eggs which can make a very quick and tastey meal without costing too much (scrambled eggs, poached eggs, omelettes, fried eggs on their own or with bacon or cheese or mushrooms etc. I also eat lots of mushrooms... Which are dirt cheap and you can add to almost any meal cooked or otherwise. Take a look at the thread about what people are eating it will give you some great ideas... If I am feeling really hard up I buy frozen chicken or salmon and take a piece out each day.... The only thing I spend a lot of money on is buying a good quality olive oil and good butter...because if you are low carbing you need to increase your fat content - so I make sure these are the best quality I can afford.

@Kezzer4321 i totally agree with you about olive oil. I don't like other oils but morrisons do a good but reasonably priced olive oil .

If you are sleeping on a friend's floor then you are less able to cook than if you had your own kitchen, and you won't have access to stuff like freezers and masses of bulk buying storage.

That presents it's own sort of problems...

Can you boil eggs? They make a great snack, and don't take up much of someone else's fridge.
Cold meat is a great option for low carbing, but it is ridiculously expensive in those silly little 100g packs.
Better to buy a chicken or ham, cook it, carve it, pack it into portions and fridge (if you have the room).

Many types of veg don't really need refrigerating, provided they are not kept in a warm place. They won't keep as long, but if you shop regularly, that shouldn't be a problem.

When we were without a fridge (briefly) we bought tinned fish a lot, and bagged salads. And cheese.

VinnyJames said:

Are them mixed nuts in Lidl low carb?

The ones I looked at weren't.

Agree with everything else you say.

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I really don't know about carbs in nuts ..The only thing I have heard is not to eat to many if you need to loose weight as they are high in calories

Hi ben1972$.

When I first moved out of my parents, some 17 years ago, my monthly shopping bill was less than £50 so it's definitely do-able. My shopping bill even these days is only about £15/20 per week and that includes the cat. - Yes, I'm cheap.

No buses where you live? Exactly how many miles is a 10 minute drive.

If the shops are less than 3 miles away, invest in what I call an "old lady's shopping trolley" (Sorry Old Ladies!) for the days your friend cannot drive you and enjoy the walk to the shops.

Toilet roll - Iceland do 4 decent ones for £1.
Washing Powder, basic essentials can all be got in local "pound shops".
Make a shopping list of ingredients that you can make bulk of and borrow some space in your friends fridge and or freezer. Soups and stews can be made very cheaply, stored and heated/microwaved when needed.

You can do this if you really want to. As izzi quite rightly points out, you're wealthier than a lot of people here.

ben1972$ said:

Thank you for the great advice. I will go to lidl next shop. I need to look at what I can eat more.

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Ben , can you please try to eat breakfast ...do you cook and do,you have a freezer...
If you like one pot cooking, you can make some great soups , chillies and curries ...many more meals as well ...
Shopping really is not cheap , I am reduced carb ...so I do eat some rice i can only share ...the veggie version ...but you will get lots of ideas here .

ben1972$ said:

I dont have a car. My friend takes me if I need to go. Couldnt afford a car.

I am currently homeless and living on a friends floor after split up of a relationship.

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Sorry to hear of you situation Ben , you must be going through an awful time ...so sorry

I agree with Kat, you really seem to be going through a tough time at present. I hope this is only a short- lived phase.

Kat100 said:

Sorry to hear of you situation Ben , you must be going through an awful time ...so sorry

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Hi Ben don't want to sound patronising in anyway , but are you getting all you are entitled to ,,food bank vouchers etc.....just thinking ...

Could you get hold of a back pack bag .. When I have to walk into town for shopping about 6 mile round trip, I find I can get a lot of food in the back pack and it's easy to carry on my back ... I get cheep chease in big ish packs & Reduced priced veg from the supermarket ..mushrooms and eggs are my easest to make quick meals from .. Chease & mushroom omelet and salad .. Stir fry with quinoa and any veg that are cheep .. Again with a handful of salad .. Cuecumber or celery with a cup of soop made from a half of stock cube .. Eating cheep is acheviable .. But I am a veggie

Has anyone mentioned that supermarkets often mark prices right down just before closing? Maybe waiting till 2am or similar is a bit extreme but Sundays just before 4pm is manageable.

DeejayR said:

Has anyone mentioned that supermarkets often mark prices right down just before closing? Maybe waiting till 2am or similar is a bit extreme but Sundays just before 4pm is manageable.

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Our supermarkets are open 24 hours .. So you can go in anytime to get reduced priced fresh foods .. I wish we had a green grocery shop as you can greens and other vegetable trimmings for next to nothing ..

Enclave said:

Our supermarkets are open 24 hours .. So you can go in anytime to get reduced priced fresh foods .. I wish we had a green grocery shop as you can greens and other vegetable trimmings for next to nothing ..

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This especially. You also can purchase small amounts of what you need. ie, 1 Onion. or a handful of mushrooms rather than an entire packet. Remember once when I was making some dish, buying two chillis. The greengrocer raised his eyebrows and said 2p please. lol

If there's an allotment near you, presumably run by the local council, ask at the council offices if they have a scheme for disposing of surplus veg (EVERYODY has too many runner beans, courgettes etc at some time). Or there may be an allotment society run by the gardeners themselves.

I don't know whether you're a student, a worker or unemployed, but from what you say of your difficult circumstances atm you might need a bit of emotional project management to sort out priorities (your health being No 1). I'm sure someone here can help.

I do feel for you Ben as shopping for food can be so pricey. I am a definite Aldi convert. I low carb and there's only me most of the time and I usually spend £25-30 each week and that include household items such as washing powder etc too. I have also been without a freezer for a year so cant do much bulk buying either. Eggs are brilliant and so cheap. Aldi often have great deals on meat like burgers/mince/chops. I got some venison meatballs last week for £1.99!!

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ben1972$ said:

I dont have a car. My friend takes me if I need to go. Couldnt afford a car.

I am currently homeless and living on a friends floor after split up of a relationship.

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gutted, sorry to hear this...........

I too went through a similar situation and had to move in with a friend, I had a job though that made things easier.........

any job opportunities on the horizon.............?

Low carb food is only expensive if you buy expensive stuff. I get about 80% of my food shopping at Sainsburys and buy the Basic brand which is really good value for money and doesnt contain all the gunk that's put into the expensive well known brands. Lidl and Aldi sell meat at low prices and its all good stuff. Also, if you can go out about 5pm in the evenings some greengrocers will sell vegetables and fruit that might be a bit damaged for very cheap prices like 50p for a small carrier bag.
Some open air markets are worth going to as well and its surprising what turns up. Ive never looked back and have been economy shopping since 2000. As far as I know my health is in good order

It's obviously more difficult without your own kitchen but agree with many of the suggestions.
Stir fries with lots of veg aren't expensive and some meat (chicken particularly) certainly within your budget. Home made beefburgers, just minced beef and some herbs and seasoning are easy to cook and go well with a salad . Eggs are always good value. If you aren't extremely low carb then adding pulses to your diet will provide some more protein as well as lower GI carbs (chilli con carne, various dahls)
Absolutely agree with either the backpack or the trolly for shopping. My daughter walks quite a way to the market to get her veg along with 3 young children. She used a backpack for ages but has recently 'upgraded' to a shopping trolly!

VinnyJames said:

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Too high in carbs for me.

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That label is absolutely nuts!
For a start would anyone eat 200g as a serving? where is the per 100g listing that should be there?
All nuts have some fibre, some quite a lot. That label appears to be from a US packaged product with fiber spelt the US way and listed directly under carbohydrate yet, very strangley none is listed
Moreover, the only nut with anything approaching 45% carbohydrate is a chestnut .You'd find about 44% for this on a US label but it also has about 8g of fibre so ends up at around 36g of carbs on a UK label
see http://www.weightlossresources.co.uk/calories/calorie_counter/nuts_seeds.htm

Unless there is something other than nuts in the packet (and if so it should be listed) there is no way a packet of plain mixed nuts could be 45% carb.