Living cheap on food

[alien]

Depends how much you want to carry and how cheap you wanna go.

At my cheapest, breakfast always consisted of tins of asda smart price rice pudding and peach slices

2 minutes ago, russycarps said:

I used to take a couple of Tesco value loaves of bread and a few packets of cheese slices when I first started going. That's all I'd eat Thurs-Mon. Never went hungry, never craved anything else.

Simpler, happier times.

this too, cheese slices are still a staple

[Hugh Jass]

29 minutes ago, Alvarhanso said:

I'm just wondering how many people on here take camping stoves?

I'm considering one this year to help reduce costs between the two of us. I am intending to buy the toast things that are placed on top but wondered if anyone had any tips for which food to take and storage methods?

I take a camping stove. I never use it for cooking but I'm medically incapable of going more than a few minutes after waking up without a cup of tea.

[Ommadawn]

Pilton allotments are just up the road

[Sasperella]

1 hour ago, Half Man Half Mattress said:

Is the correct answer. Ate twice last year. Friday lunchtime and Sunday morning. Cost about a tenner.

So true....Not sleeping Friday and not eating Saturday are two of my general festival tips and good to keep the budget down (although I suppose you end up spending the savings elsewhere). I broke my fast with a twister ice-cream on Sunday morning last year. Bloody beautiful it was!

[sedra]

We take a small camping stove and a kettle- can make tea/coffee/ hot chocolate, instant porridge pots for breakfast,instant  pasta pots etc. Cereal bars are good for snacking plus fruit, biscuits, Pringles, nuts etc , Some people bring instant BBQ for first night /morning and bring sausage/bacon/burgers frozen in cool bag - need to eat that up tho. 

Free meal at Hare Krishna, and worth asking in green fields or Avalon if any help needed for a meal. Theatre field has a low cost children's food tent ( think it's still there) plus food for a £5 on loads of stalls. Water is free, milk and bread from the bakery reasonable prices. 

Reckon you can manage on £30.00 plus any stuff you bring in. 

[somecoolusername]

1 hour ago, nikkic said:

There's no way a Tesco value loaf lasts 5 days!! 

It did in the good old days

[tigertoo]

The supermarkets sell a wide selection of dried meals in packets based on rice/noodles/pasta etc. Which just require boiling water. take a plastic camping dish they are less bulky than pot noodles if you are going to need enough for 5 or 6 days meals.

take plastic cartons of fruit in fruit juice, if you like cereal take a decent size packet or the porridge in pots which again take boiling water. You can get jam and honey portions in little blister packs ( B&M sell them). Butter will get hot in a tent during the day assuming we get a sunny glasto !

cereal bars,dried fruit and nuts are good to take out with you during the day.

If you are in a car you can leave some of it there and go back half way through the week and can take baked beans in plastic cartons, rice pudding, and eggs ( take a little frying pan and small pan for beans on toast etc). Cartons of fruit juice too.  if you are on the coach then the dried stuff will be better.

the 50p tea tent is in the green furtures field and does very good value cakes too.

[maclauk]

Russycarps had it as simple as possible, but my ideal has more variety and fibre than that.

Camping stove is the basis of cheap food with some variety and dehydrated ingredients the key to carrying it. At the start of the day and any point you go back to the campsite you get a cheap and hot cup of tea or coffee. Tesco does some little LactoFree milk portions and eBay sellers can provide various UHT milk portions.

Cereals with milk from the milk wagon or (my preferred) porridge cooked on the stove for breakfast. Remember some salt (or sugar yuk) to season the porridge.

The main meal of the day will be based around rice. Uncle Bens boil in the bag rice makes preparing it a little simpler at slightly higher cost. To go with the rice I recommend a canned meal such as Staggs Chilli, or chicken in white wine, etc. One can plus rice is a reasonable meal for two.

Super noodles, dried pasta meals, etc are also easy to carry and cook but less satisfying.

Dehydrated fruit and nuts for when you are out and about on manoeuvres, plus some Peperamis.

[Mr.Tease]

I lived off custard creams, bread and a 5 pack of Mars Bars first time I went. Take some stuff with you (loaf of bread, cereal bars, chocolate, crisps) , if you run out and become hungry then biscuits are reasonably priced at the stalls that sell cigarettes and snacks, as is the aforementioned bakery. Probably allow money to have one proper meal if you find yourself struggling /becoming ravenous. 

[JoeyT]

one mythical character staged a break in with nothing but twix as sustenance.

so perhaps always have one of those handy.  

[Stu H]

We take a couple of Jetboils.

We also take lots of packs like the ones I'll list below, which just need heated in boiling water for a few minutes, which you can then eat straight from the pack. You can get some really tasty and nutritious stuff, it doesn't have to all be pot noodles.

We also take a stack of bananas (great for the mornings), breakfast biscuits and some packet soups. If you buy longer-lasting brown bread the morning you set off, it should last the whole festival (or we pick up some from the wee bakery near the entrance to the Kidz Field). Great for dipping into the packet meals or for the soups.

I tend to not spend any more than £50 on food.

 

 

Packets:

 

https://www.tesco.com/groceries/product/details/?id=293425160  (these John West fish things are good)

https://www.tesco.com/groceries/product/details/?id=293425147

https://www.tesco.com/groceries/product/details/?id=293258530 - Kohinoor indian veg packets

https://www.tesco.com/groceries/product/details/?id=293258615

 

Some of the Jamie Oliver packs are ok:

https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/shop/gb/groceries/pulses-beans/jamie-oliver-microwave-ready-to-eat-smoky---spicy-mighty-beans-250g

 

 

Also, we LOVE these, but less and less places seem to be stocking them.  http://www.lookwhatwefound.co.uk/ 

[russycarps]

1 hour ago, maclauk said:

Russycarps had it as simple as possible, but my ideal has more variety and fibre than that.

Camping stove is the basis of cheap food with some variety and dehydrated ingredients the key to carrying it. At the start of the day and any point you go back to the campsite you get a cheap and hot cup of tea or coffee. Tesco does some little LactoFree milk portions and eBay sellers can provide various UHT milk portions.

Cereals with milk from the milk wagon or (my preferred) porridge cooked on the stove for breakfast. Remember some salt (or sugar yuk) to season the porridge.

The main meal of the day will be based around rice. Uncle Bens boil in the bag rice makes preparing it a little simpler at slightly higher cost. To go with the rice I recommend a canned meal such as Staggs Chilli, or chicken in white wine, etc. One can plus rice is a reasonable meal for two.

Super noodles, dried pasta meals, etc are also easy to carry and cook but less satisfying.

Dehydrated fruit and nuts for when you are out and about on manoeuvres, plus some Peperamis.

yeah my idea is fine when you're 18-21, but there is no way I could live like that now.

Your idea is similar to what I eat now in real life! I quite often have porridge for breakfast and (veggy) stagg chilli and rice for tea. When the zombie apocalypse comes I'll live off stagg chilli, love it!

 

Edited April 26, 2017 by russycarps

[MilkyJoe]

[Untz]

I bet some of those bastard seagulls over Oxlyers would be delicious roasted.

[Spindles]

Snackbars are my festival staple, weigh almost nothing, take up very little space and you can throw a handful in your bag each day to snack on if energy levels drop.  

Last year someone in camp solo had brought a pack of individually wrapped pan au chocolat, which seemed like ideal festival fare, I'll be nicking that idea this year.

[jdizzle]

In 2015 the green fields had a place you could make your own pizza for a donation! Really helped me as I was in my final year of uni (Student Life & What not) But didnt see it last year?

[nikkic]

As someone has mentioned you won't need to go over whatever your usual daily budget for food is...

Brekkie : Cereal 

Lunch : Super Noodles or similar 

Dinner : Plate of chips 

Not the most exciting of menus but definitely less than a fiver per day and should keep you going until the booze and drugs kick in properly and you just forget to eat. 

[ghostdancer1]

I took a stove last year, although only for breakfast stuff as I'm usually waiting for others to wake up, and we like to have a sit around and a natter in the mornings rather than get up and out to get breakfast.

I had a camping stove, camping kettle (1.2L), a small pan, and a little collapsible thing for toasting bread.

boiled water in the kettle for tea/coffee, and also for putting into porridge pots.

we also took a loaf of bread, butter, and some eggs and bacon and made toast/sambos with rashers and fried eggs. you could sack off the bacon if you didn't want to have to keep it chilled for a few days (we brought a small cooler box).

they sell fresh milk each morning around the campsites and in the shops, so you could bring cereal and a re-usable bowl.

 

for lunch/dinner, you could use the above setup for pot noodles/dried pasta (just add hot water), and could bring tins of tuna (or any cooked tinned meat i suppose) to bulk it up and get some protein. maybe bring some of those small sauce tubs if just bringing a bag of dried pasta to liven it up. you could heat up tins of beans/spaghetti in the pan too.

for snacking - nuts/fruit/dried fruit should keep you going.

I'd probably say try to buy a meal from a stall each evening for dinner if possible though.

 

 

[Watergirl]

Pasta with pesto is easy to do. Tasty and filling.

[SG87]

Those weetabix breakfast drink things are brilliant for the mornings where you wake up rough as a dog, and cant stomach anything to eat. 

[sadimmock]

An obvious point but make sure you take a little bottle and fill regularly from the taps. `No need to pay for water.

Also if you did decide to treat yourself then (in general) the quality of food from the stalls increases and the prices decrease the further you are away from the main stages. However a Welsh Oggie (near the Other Stage) will feed you all day. 

[adamski]

"Pasta with pesto is easy to do. Tasty and filling."

 

And you'd pay a fiver (at least) for exactly that from one of the dodgy pasta stalls.

Edited April 26, 2017 by adamski

[koj]

Peanut butter and jam sandwiches, lived on them last year (well in AM).