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What is the lowest amount you could cut your food bill to for a month?*

I have just been reading all the finance news over the last few weeks and it is looking grim even with the rescue packages in place. I would say that the state of things world wide is in financial decline, a depression in other words. For those of us though who have no real money or investments to lose our worry is just getting by and living another day. We have seen an increase in fuel costs this year that has trebled Gas bills and doubled electricity bills. Even water rates have gone up this year and what with the weather the way it has been next year will see this rise again along with all the usual insurance costs. For single people on benefits these folk suffer and struggle the most as the average cost of living for someone in this predicament is really scary to say the least. Unemployment benefit at the moment is 60.50 sixty pounds and fifty pence a week.. The only way someone can manage on this is if three or four share a flat otherwise a single person on there own can already account for at least 190 a hundred and ninety pounds of their benefit with no food, no transport costs for buses no clothes, no shoes, no rainy day fund certainly no insurance policies etc and absolutely nothing in the pocket. If an unemployed person has savings or a fiddle job than they are taking a risk but I can also guarantee that whatever little bit extra they can raise will go on the cost of living. The remaining amount left is 32 .00 thirty two pounds if an individual has no savings or extra income for food for a whole month. You can figure it out Gas at around 80+, Electricity around 30+, Water rates around 22-24, landline phone around 20 twenty pounds a month, an internet connection around 12.00 twelve pounds a month, a mobile phone voucher for emergency use only 10. 00 ten pounds a month, and television license 22 .00 pounds a month on a payment scheme. So if this was you could you manage your entire food bill on 32.00 yes I did say thrity two pounds a month. My own food bill and I am single over the space of a year has gone up from 25/26.00 twenty five twenty six pounds a week to around 33/34.00 thrity three to thirty four pounds and I would say I don't live on the most expensive foods, I don't have a high standard of living but I do know that like fuel bills the cost of the weekly shop has escalated. For a family the weekly shop must have escalated to the point where economies have to be made as what with the credit curnch, and rising costs everything is way out of control. So if you had to could you cut your food bill, and cut your waste? Is it cheaper to live off fresh foods and cook or is covenience foods still the cheapest way to shop and feed your family? List all the things you could save money on here. Here are two from me. Cut out that holiday costing a thousand pounds. Save on fuel bills and don't leave electrical goods on standby. There must be loads more..............

Answers:

1) question is how many times can you eat noodles and beans

2) we can do it in 45 and there is 3 of us and two cats, we grow our own fruit and veg and so this kind of helps

3) I spend about £8 a week on food for me, £5 on a bottle of cheap alcohol on a friday and about £17 a week on the animals' food So monthly: Food for me - £34ish Drink - £20 ish I'm a vegan, so can make a lot of my meals very cheaply. But live alone so it's difficult to pay all the bills anyway! A friend of mine is homeless, living in a shelter. He's a vegan, and he pretty much lives off 7p noodles, cheap baked beans, potatoes, cereal and soy milk. He has cereal and soy mlk in the mornings, mashed potato and beans for lunch and loads of noodles in the evenings - it must cost him about £0.80 a day. I'll admit that I've started to copy his diet, but with a bit more veg - it's got to be one of the cheapest ways of living.

4) We eat bean casserole every other week, costs about £1 a meal each. Our food bill for 2 is £30-£55 per week. We could cut the cost further. Don't waste food, plan your meals so you use up short dated stuff first, and freeze unused portions for reheaing later rather than throwing it away. Look on thrifty living websites for recipes. Buy less pre-prepared stuff and take aways- it may save time, but can you afford it?

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