Aldi £10 Food Challenge: No Oven, No Hob 2023
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- Опубліковано 1 чер 2024
- This is my £10 Extreme Budget Food Challenge without the use of a hob or oven.
My first attempt at the £10 Extreme Food Budget Challenge over 2 months ago didn't go to plan as I had hoped, but I did learn a lot about my own habits from doing the challenge. In this extreme food budget challenge, this time around, I not only wanted to see if I could eat for £10 a week but to put a simple meal plan together but I wasn't allowed to use my oven or hob to cook my meals.
Shop was done at Aldi in September 2023. I am cooking for one person only (me!). I only cooked 20 meals over a 7 day period (I explain why I didn't cook Sunday evening in the video). I'm only using salt/pepper/oil as my cupboard staples.
Please note that these extreme food challenge videos are only meant to give ideas and suggestions, any meal plan suggested in these type of videos are not meant to be sustainable it is just for the short term. For me, they are a learning challenge to gain perspective since I am on my own financial and frugal living journey.
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Hi there I'm Natalie and welcome to my channel Life Living Lite where my family and I are on a financial and frugal living journey to save money. If you like the video, show a little love by hitting the like button, commenting and please consider subscribing. I really appreciate your support for this little channel, it means a lot. Thank you for watching, much love Natalie x
Website: www.lifelivinglite.com
Music by the Life Living Lite Channel, Cheel - Sunset Dream, Patrick Patrikios - Oh My
Chapters:
00:00 Intro / Challenge Overview
02:18 The Shop
04:30 Cooking Items
05:34 The Meals
13:52 Ingredient Swaps
14:49 Outro
Disclaimer: The content on my UA-cam channel, Instagram, and website, collectively known as Life Living Lite, is based solely on my personal opinions. It is important to note that this content is not to be construed as financial advice. My primary goal is to provide informative and entertaining content. I am not a medical doctor, healthcare professional, nutritionist, or financial advisor. Any information presented on the Life Living Lite channel is intended purely for informational purposes. It is crucial that you exercise due diligence and seek professional guidance for any questions or concerns you may have regarding the information presented on my UA-cam channel, social media or website. Please exercise caution and discretion when following any instructions or methods featured in my videos. The creator and distributor of this content hold no liability for any negative consequences that might result from the implementation of any methods described on this platform.
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#tenpoundfoodshop #groceryhaul #frugal #frugallivinguk #aldi #budgetchallenge #budgetfriendly #budget2023 #cheapmeals #cheapfood #groceyshopping #aldigroceryhaul
😊 Maybe doing a series with 15, 20 and 25 Pounds and showing how much the foodintake improves in variety, nutrition (not in chemical detail- just in veggies/proteins on the plate) and quantity by adding such small money amounts. Ten pounds worth of food is not sustainable for the majority of people and nutrient defficiencies related deseases are on the rise in europe. 🥦🥦🥦 I do like my microwave, but cooking erverything in it must have been quite a adjustment and time consuming-very impressive 👍👍👍 I really like your channel and your very recocnizeable and appealing thumbnails. Have a lovely evening, Heike
Thank you Heike for taking the time out to comment. Thank you for watching
That’s a really good haul for £10. I lived for three years without an oven or hob. I used my microwave and slow cooker for everything.
I don't have an oven. I have a portable hob which I rarely use. For me it's mostly the microwave and Instant Pot but my slow cooker comes in a solid third place. I do sometimes miss the oven, but I didn't cook enough to justify buying one when I moved in to this place so I kept the space and use it for storage instead (which is at a premium here). It's amazing how well you can get along without an oven or hob, but I would find just the microwave pretty hard going in the long term.
That's amazing. I need some slow cooker tips! Thank you for commenting and watching
Love these ideas! I’ve never had to cook with only microwave, but when I think about it, a lot of people probably do. Like to see honest reviews and “mistakes” as well ❤
Thank you for watching and commenting
interesting food and meals.cant always think of everything.great food for thought
Thank you for watching and commenting
Wish prices were this cheap in Australia even with the conversion. Our cheapest jam retail around $2 au were mince can be upwards of $6.50au for same amount.
Good ideas. When cooking something that doesn’t turn out the way we expect it’s OK. That’s how we learn. I thought you had some great ideas. I’m following you now. Good luck.
Thank you for watching
Great video and useful tips. I'm always horrified at the ingredients lists on products especially bread.
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Very interesting Natalie. If we had aldi I'd buy the frozen veg as the picture shows a nice mix. I don't have a microwave oven but use my electric cooker for all cooking so maybe I need to work out how to make better use of each cooking session by cooking for two or three different meals at a time. I'm going to visit lidl soon to see what I could try. I'm going to lift some herbs, pot them up and put them in the back porch or potting shed to use over the coming months because they are so expensive here in the shops.
Thank you for watching and commenting
Well done, and it looks similar to my grocery shopping. Only thing I would change would be to buy 1 pint of full fat milk and add 1 pint of water to it so I could have milk for my porridge for the full week. I’ve done this before with 4pt bottles of milk, but frozen it in jam jars after mixing. I wasn’t having porridge at the time, I just used the milk for coffee so I got 2-3 days from each jar. You just have to remember to shake the jars well to remix the milk & water. It cost the same as my usual 4pt of skimmed milk, lasted more than twice as long, but tasted so much better & allowed me to get some necessary fat into my diet.
Thank you for sharing and watching the video
Butter or marge can make a huge difference to beans on toast.
Nice job! You’re super creative with the restrictions you had, great work. I’ve seen some great Japanese recipes using a microwave only online. I’d be interested to see a similar challenge where you are allowed to use some sauces/spices so you can try some international dishes.
You can cook lots with just a microwave , dry grains like rice, bulgar, couscous etc, pasta, noodles, potato's, oats, vegetables, just like you would cook or steam them on stove top
Really useful and interesting. I'm gluten intolerant so I know for sure that I couldn't follow this meal plan, even if push came to shove. I think the only way to go might be to batch cook your own sauce, soup bread etc from fresh ingredients and try and eek that out over a fortnight maybe?
Thank you for watching and commenting
Hi thanks so much for the fab video.
I will be doing more budget shopping as we’re on a budget all the time.
Would you do a Christmas food/Christmas dinner on a budget video xxx
Thank you for watching and commenting.
I cook my porridge, rice & pasta in a Thermos flask. It works really well. I agree with you about the cheap baked beans, but the cheap red kidney beans are good.
Thank you for commenting and watching
Cheap tins of beans are usually quite good. That is just plain beans. But cheap baked beans are not even half as enjoyable to eat as the normal top three brands.
I think you did really well. It couldn't have been easy. Bernadette
Thank you for watching and commenting
There were so many items there that I wouldn't want to buy, and I'm grateful that I don't have to. So many ultra-processed foods - even the bread. I wonder, if you happen to have an oven or a breadmaker, how cheaply you could make bread yourself, assuming you had been able to buy the more expensive ingredients over time, so you could cost it out on a per item basis for the real cost of the ingredients (and how much of a difference the energy costs might make to the overall budget). I think if you have a lot of time on your hands, you can often do more things yourself - like make bread and make yogurt. So if you are (one is) not working, you might possibly be able to take advantage of being "time rich" (when you're not jumping through hoops for the Jobcentre or DWP) and learn how to make more things yourself. Thankfully UA-cam is a great free resource where people can learn these things. John Kirkwood runs a great channel on home cooking, lots of traditional foods that few people know how to make themselves any more.
But it's an endless struggle to keep costs down and to balance between what you can stretch to in the ingredients versus what you can bear to eat. Obviously at a £10 budget, you're really setting yourself a challenge based on what you can buy for your budget, as you identify at the beginning.
I would personally have enjoyed seeing you make "rice and beans" type meals, because you can cook dried beans into something delicious in the slow cooker for pennies, and microwaving rice is something you know you can do too. In the menu you came up with, I love oats but I buy organic oats (regular oats have been found repeatedly to have high levels of glyphosate in them, thanks to Monsanto and their ilk) and berries are a bit of a treat, really, but so good for you.
We are really up against it on a low budget for food because of all the additives and "food-like substances" that are presented to us by the global food companies. They are ruining our diet and making a nation full of fatties (unfortunately I am one), so it's important to fight back and try to keep our diet as good as we possibly can. £10 a week does not provide a good diet, unfortunately, even though you have vegetables and eggs and have thought about fibre and so on, so you did about as well as anyone could have done, I suspect. Thank you for sharing this with us. Personally I think this is important to cover - not just as a cost of living/frugality subject, but also as a state of the nation's diet item.
Ooh look! I've written an essay! I'll give myself a gold star and pat myself on the head and let you go now... 😀
Thank you for taking the time to comment and watch the video. I'll give you a gold star too 🌟
I have no tins.
Suggest growing herbs, etc
Thankyou for watching
Brill, can you do a veggie version please, I eat eggs, cheese and milk
Oh I'm not a fan of pasta or rice, just to make your life harder. You can just write a menu plan here, you don't have to do a video, all costs money doesn't it.
Video was very useful as my menfolk and daughter do eat meat, rice and pasta
Do you not eat puddings in your house?
How do you fare eating budget meals when you have to cook properly for your family, sorry so many questions
@@suzannerobertson416 Thank you for taking the time to comment and watch the video. I probably should have stated in the video that majority of the time I would normally use my microwave for reheating rather than cooking. I'm not able to post links but there was a couple of UA-cam Channels that I got inspiration from when making this video. Check out 'Bigger Bolder Baking' @GemmaStafford, 'Tasty' and @buzzfeedtasty and @MadeleineOlivia. They all have microwave meal videos. Madeleine is vegan but you could easily adapt the recipes. Yes we do have puddings occasionally, the only recipe I've done in a microwave so far is a chocolate mug cake. The rest of the time I use an oven if I bake when cooking something else (to save on electricity). If you don't like rice or pasta you could try Noodles, Cous Cous, Quinoa, Bulger Wheat .... for a few ideas. Some people like to make Squash or Courgette 'Spaghetti' as alternative to pasta. Doing a challenge while cooking regular meals for my husband and daughter is a task, I try to batch cook main meals for them beforehand. I hope I've managed to answer your questions.
yes you have thank you@@lifelivinglite
So how did u cook the mince, in the microwave ?
Yes the mince was cooked in the microwave
Soya milk 50p :) - you get 1 litre for that too so much better value!
I forgot about soya. I used to buy that! Thank you for commenting and watching
How did you store your rice for 3 days I’ve been told never to reheat rice
As soon as you cook your rice (especially when you know you have too much) you cool it down immediately with cold water. Cooling any leftover rice quickly reduces the chance of bacteria being produced. The rice was stored in the refrigerator until I was ready to reheat it.
@@lifelivinglite thank you
You can also freezenit
@@lifelivinglite I’ve recently bought a rice cooker I’ve not used it yet thank you for the advice on cooling and freezing as I usually boil to much and it was such a waste
I had no idea you could freeze rice, thats handy to know! @@bearclaire
I think that you are really fussy/ We ALWAYS buy the cheapest baked beans because we add herbs and spices EVERYTIME, cheapest or not, as we prefer our own flavourings. Be aware that not everyone has your tastes.
Thank you for watching
I have an African friend who adds chopped fried onions and herbs in baked beans.
@@hazelwilson7825 My husband sometimes does this. It's a good trick to change the flavour. Thanks for watching
Cost of living crisis indeed. Man eats 2 potatoes a day. I'm a neurosurgeon. I'm also homeless
I'm sorry to hear of your situation. If your based in the UK please check out foodcycle.org.uk or alternatively try asking at your local community centre, church or at Citizens Advice about a local soup kitchen.
@@lifelivinglite I was taking the piss but thanks.
@@lifelivinglite your page is too pure for my ass. I'll go cyberbully elsewhere.
@methylphenidate69 I'm one of those strange Americans, but I do love you guys. What does "taking the piss" mean please?
@@sandy-pf9bb niqqa I'm indian
I would have bought a few carrots instead of all the carbs. You did well not using a hob. I don’t have a microwave. I don’t approve
I love my carbs! Thank you commenting and watching