Woman's Own Credit Crunch Diet: Your Basic Meals
Your basic meals
You might not be able to eat all the food on the shopping list, such as the lamb or cheese, but every day you should aim to have the following:
- 1-2 portions salad, sweetcorn, carrots or broccoli
- 1 glass grapefruit juice
- 1 portion pasta or 1 potato
- 1 portion meat, ham or tuna
- 1 serving cereal
- ½ pint milk
- 1 satsuma
- 2 slices bread
- 1 banana
- 1 egg
- 1 apple
| Item | Cost | Per item |
| Wholewheat penne (90g a serving) | 85p | 17p |
| Seeded batch loaf (14 slices) | 89p | 6p a slice |
| Fruit and nut muesli (10 servings in box) | 97p | 20p |
| 2 pints semi-skimmed milk | 98p | 25p |
| 1ltr carton ruby grapefruit juice | 1.68 | 34p |
| 4 loose carrots | 50p | 13p |
| 2 x tins economy chopped tomatoes | 94p | 16p |
| 7 apples | 1.49 | 22p |
| 7 satsumas | 99p | 12p |
| 1 tin economy sweetcorn | 29p | 10p |
| 6 economy mixed fruit yogurts | 27p | 54p |
| 1 tin economy peaches | 35p | 17p |
| Broccoli head | 49p | 25p |
| Baked beans | 53p | 26p |
| 3-pack tuna in water | 1.25 | 42p |
| 4 large potatoes | 72p | 18p |
| 6 medium eggs | 1.42 | 24p |
| Bag mixed salad leaves | 1.39 | 37p |
| 7 loose tomatoes | 76p | 11p |
| 8 bananas | 1.00 | 13p |
| 1 slice ham | 26p | 26p |
| 2 slices cheese | 32p | 16p |
| 500g lamb mince | 2.15 | 72p |
This basket cost £20.49 for 21 meals over 7 days
By Catherine Archer
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Margaret, 8 months
Thank you for this article My Daughter has just got engaged to a wonderful Man and I really have got to do something so she is not ashamed about how I look. So wish me luck, I am really going to try and follow this article to the end.
Report this commentKarolina, about 1 year
This diet looks quite healthy and also cheap which is great, however the calorie stated are misleading! This meal plans - following the instructions, without adding any extra fat, oil etc - is already more like 1300 kcal per day and not 1000 kcal per day. That makes quite a bit of a difference.
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sandra ely, 8 months
I must say i tried this diet and it was amazing. Not only did I save a lot of moneyl I lost 10 lbs quickly. I'm a seasoned slimmer and have dione just about everything oin the planet. I follow Monica Grenfell in Woman's Own and before that in the News of the worls supplement and I just say her no-nonsense advice is the best in the papers now. It's hard to find someone who 'owns' her advice and her column - most of these things ar ejust artciles these days and you don't feel anybody really cares. This credit crunch diet seemed well-researehced and you really believed she'd been out there, buying the cart of food herself. more please!! Sandra Wolverhampton
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