When the SHTF: Aldi

This is an example of a really cheap menu you could use if you only had £13 for food.

Shopping in Aldi

Shopping list:

• Everyday Essentials Rice Pudding (400g) x2 40p
• Corale Baked Beans with Sausages in Rich Tomato Sauce (420g) 4 tins £1.60
• Essentials Baked Beans in Tomato Sauce (4x425g) £1.35
• Sweet Harvest Red Kidney Beans in Water (400g) £1.60 (4 tins)
• Cowbelle British Whole Milk – 4 Pints (2.27L) £1.35
• Wholemeal Essentials Bread (800g) 36p
• Ocean Rise Tuna Chunks in Brine (160g) 69p
• Emporium 400g cheddar cheese £2.19
• Four Seasons Mixed Veg (1Kg) 69p or peas 55p
• Quixo Beef Stock Cubes (12x10g) 47p
• Everyday Essentials Long Grain Rice (1Kg) 45p
• Everyday Essentials Strawberry Jam (454g) 31p
• Everyday Essentials Penne (500g) 32p
• Everyday Essentials Porridge Oats (1Kg) 75p
• Everyday Essentials Eggs (15) £1.32

Total: £13.16

I’ve not added spread for bread-this would be a luxury extra on this budget.

Optional extras:

• Tesco cooking bacon 500g 6p (10 servings) based on 60p per pack
• Ideal for making risotto or bacon sandwiches. Keep the fat for cooking/spreading/fried bread.
• Tomato puree 37p Aldi
• Aldi frozen peas 1 kg 69p for risottos and main meals.
• Processed/mushy peas 16p
• Baking spread/margarine/spread. Butterlly 500g 75p

Breakfasts

• Porridge made with milk and a blob of jam for 14 days
  This leaves 300g for other recipes or another 6 breakfasts that could be eaten for supper.
• Aldi wheat bisks make 12 servings of 2 bisks for 12p each plus milk.
• Almost 3 weeks worth but could also be eaten with a little chopped fruit for supper or dessert.
• Toast with jam.
• Fried bread-using the bacon fat.

Main meals

• Pasta meals x 6 using 80g per serving.
• Half a can of meatballs: 2 servings per tin
• Baked potato (microwave) with half a tin of meatballs or half a tin of beans with sausages (Basics/Smart price)
• Mushy peas with pasta: half a can of peas plus 80g of pasta. Top with cheese if you have some, and have two (2) meals of this
• Eggs: Boil 3 eggs and coat in stuffing mix then bake until stuffing is cooked. Serve with half a tin of baked beans
• 2 meals with the beans added: the 3rd egg to be served with a boiled potato and frozen vegetables
• Sausage risotto: Boil 100g of rice plus a stock cube. Add 2 sliced precooked sausages and 100g frozen veg. This can be repeated 4 times.
• Egg fried rice: Boil rice, whip an egg up and mix into it, cooking it and stirring it as you go-add 50g veg and sliced sausage. 3 meals of this.
• Asda Smart price grated cheddar 500g £2.21
• Often the grated cheddar is the cheapest-check price per kilo.
• Cheesy rice and veg.
• Cheese on toast
• Baked bean lasagne: no meat, using pasta, beans, and tomatoes.
• Pea and ham soup, using either tinned peas/frozen peas or dried peas and using cooking bacon instead of ham. Serve with bread. Smedley’s processed peas Lidl 16p

Snacks Deserts and suppers

• Make a batter with one egg, flour, and milk/water and fry in a lightly greased pan like a pancake.
• Sprinkle in any chopped fruit or dried fruits you may have or serve with jam.
• Porridge/Muesli
• Tomato scones/herby scones/plain scones. Plain scones need some sugar-the others need salt, pepper, and herbs. tomato/herby are the cheapest to make as no cheese and no sugar.
• Porridge is a great supper dish and filling-or semolina with jam.

The above is not a recommended diet or intended to be nutritionally desirable-it s purely to “survive”.