Budget Challenge: 'Just Try To Be Frugal'

[@captainfancypants4933]

there was carrots in the soup, you broke the rules lol

[@AtomicShrimp]

Dammit. Fair comment actually - if the bean and cheese pastries were out of scope, the savoury rice should also have been. Not sure what I would have bought instead of that!

[@PandemoniumMeltDown]

At least we know all about the salt. Where it was, where it is, where it will be.

[@rebel4466]

Something made of carrot is in so many things. The rice could have been dyed with beta carotene. Can't even buy Fanta then. If someone really comes up with that point... Ban them lol

[@coby7914]

​@@AtomicShrimp SARDINES VS. SCAMPI 🍤🍤🍤 AND 🥐🥐🥐 CROISSANTS? I see you're not allowing yourself sardines, but what about Sprats? I'd rather eat 25 Sprats than 24 Sardines any day of the week! 🐟🐟🐟🐟 What about strawberry cream cheese inside a croissant w 4 Sprats and "sprouts"❓❓❓❓*Is it wrong for Sprats & Sprouts to hold hands walking in a park on Sunday?

[@coby7914]

​​@@AtomicShrimp what if you had liquefied one or two 🥕🥕🥕🥕🥕🥕🥕 carrots? You could have added it to the rice or _______________? I'm not sure why you are anti-carrot at this point, did I miss something?🤔🧐

[@tomleech9753]

The buying in bulk challenge broken down into "cost per meal" would be interested for the viewers and I would hope fun for you to find variations and doing cost breakdowns. I can't wait.

[@LilA-zl6tf]

Second that, absolutely!

[@penguin_meat]

I've been asking for this since his early budget challenges! It makes it less of a challenge and more of a real world scenario. I think it would be really interesting at what good value items most people miss

[@tomleech9753]

@@penguin_meat Right? And it also brings into consideration how things keep. Fresh fruits and vegetables are great, but if you can't travel to the store every day, it's gonna be rough.

[@sarahalarocheable]

I third this! :) ❤

[@bristolrovers27]

I fourth this

[@l.n.4929]

Your point of lacking variation is really one of the hardships of having to rely on cheap food. It really stirrs up my anger when there are (political) discussions of people looking down on those earning little money and having trouble to get by and be healthy at the same time, while never even considering how they would stand up to such a challenge. Thank you for a constant reminder for gratitude.

[@sharrow2]

Hard disagree. His point of people "lacking variation" is in how he shops this task. He could easily bring in greens from his garden or nature. You would like processed food delivered en masse to people who know no other way of living.

[@timhuester7721]

Most not so wealthy people don't have the luxury of a garden or nature nearby.

[@raerohan4241]

@@sharrow2 The poorest parts of a city are often the least green due to the city not wanting to spend taxes on them. Low-income housing complexes do not have garden space, nor are they close to nature. Often, they don't even have balconies large enough to do container gardening. Assuming there is enough space for a few pots, you certainly wouldn't be able to grow much more than herbs, perhaps a few heads of lettuce, some garlic bulbs, etc.. Anything more could require more time, energy, and money than most low-income people could afford. t is very difficult for a low-income family to be able to afford adequate nutrition, at least in the U.S.A..

[@19peter96]

​@Extreme Weather Oh yeah the poor should just grow everything they need in the massive gardens of the detached homes they own and go on daily 10 mile walks to the woods to forage after work. You fucking moron.

[@bananya6020]

Feel like one day in the future we'll be learning about history and it'll be like "In the 2020's, many video makers on the video platform KZbin exposed the societal ills of inflation and minimum wage stagnation..."

[@MarleneSB]

It's amusing to me that after decades of cookery shows on TV, Atomic Shrimp is the one thing that has made me put more thought and effort in the kitchen. The homely setting and the trial and error makes me feel less bad when things happen in my own cooking. That and the reassuring demeanour make these videos so appealing and encouraging.

[@nat3007]

Try Sortedfood they do trial and error as well.

[@oz_jones]

I am not sure how cheap quail eggs are in the UK but I still remember Jamie Oliver doing a "quick and tasty and fun" omelette with quail eggs. Truly the homecook of homecooks, lol. EDIT: This was at least 10 years ago, probably closer to 15 or even 20.

[@henningerhenningstone691]

I find Atomic Shrimp has a lot more authenticity because it's not so much a show but feels more like "dad doing his thing and filming it". What KZbin was originally made for

[@jolenethiessen357]

I really enjoy Glen and Friends cooking too for that trial and error aspect. His old cookbook show is awesome, and sometimes the recipes don't work lol. But then there's discussion about why it didn't work or was bad and how to improve it. I also love that he uses store-branded ingredients that I recognize immediately because I buy the same ones! 😅

[@MarleneSB]

@@jolenethiessen357 Cool, thanks I'll look them up!

[@theguyishere16]

We are being spoiled by the amount of budget challenge videos. This is absolutely not a complaint because seeing what creative meals you come up with is my favourite!

[@sharrow2]

Mine too. So question: where did earliest human in UK get carbs? Or was the climate so different that it's difficult to get now? I'm thinking sedge and other grasses for early breads but I don't know?

[@yuridanylko]

Number* of videos

[@mannye]

Frugal is often mistaken for "cheap" instead of carefully spent, and it's refreshing to see someone that knows the difference. Loved the video!

[@unboxing_legend7708]

u can carefully spend at any price really. it doesnt have to be at a cheap cost. people do it daily anyway by ignoring to buy junk food at times or food and drinks that dont last long for something that does. personally i feel like in the future ive got to do videos like these myself for people around my age that want to move out have their own place and want to know how to live alone and still be able to pay to eat effectively throughout the day. i want to take it to a very literal approach tho of where uve just moved in ur going by ur own work money or basically no money to something and to be able to become stable with the cost of buying food and drinks at an stable point.

[@rosieg9435]

Vg

[@captainghoul666]

​@@unboxing_legend7708if you do heres a topic idea Ways to cook without a stove. Moving into a new place I didn't have a stove for a month had to learn how to cook 3 meals using a rice cooker crock pot and waffle iron

[@geordieghoulette7142]

I do try but then I always end up in the middle of Lidl and buying random shite 😂

[@ZakJames]

The no carrots, bananas, etc. rule was a great idea. Made this one feel really fresh again. Looking forward to the next one.

[@fookdatchit]

I hope this series NEVER EVER ends. Great work Shrimp.

[@Living_Life242]

I think he could do a challenge that is based around a singular bounty; like starting with “freshly caught” fish or venison, but the rest of the budget is extra small.

[@Living_Life242]

Another idea might be to go at these challenges from the perspective of limited kitchen utilities; foods that are shelf stable and don’t need electronics or gas to prepare/cook- to “symbolize” a challenge of a long term power outage. I live in the Bahamas, and while my family personally has a generator (we also ran an extension cord over to our neighbors so they could still use their fridge), when hurricane Dorian hit it took our home 2 weeks before grid power was restored. Discussing how to prepare balanced meals under similar conditions could be a worthwhile challenge.

[@sexualwaffles]

Cant really stop, he would starve

[@Noah-lj2sg]

@@sexualwaffles lmao

[@UpliftedCapybara]

I wonder what he’ll do for the episodes in the year 2123? At that point this would be like a historical reenactment lol

[@yaziyo]

Although you often reiterate that these challenges are nothing more than that, these videos are actually really educational. Watching you find seemingly random ingredients and making new meals is great to learn from for those of us who often use a recipe as a shopping list. I agree that a longer challenge would be great to see. A week of food for a tenner is not far from your 1.37 a day but gives you the ability to buy in bulk, which I think would be really cool to see. And it also means that you're not having to eat the same staples cooked differently for 3 meals a day.

[@unboxing_legend7708]

yeah. tbf it does make me think a bit more overtime on what to do just normally when making my own food now as well. do i spoil myself and get a bit creative with it or do i go for something that isnt that costly to eat. idk just something i started to do. the one thing ive always wanted to do while learning to cook that i did recently, was to add onions into the gravy for my dinner. sounds rather small ik but its something ive always glanced over of doing when ive done gravy with some of my meals yet also not had in years and wanted to have again. i can say that it didnt dissapoint.

[@MrDanAng1]

Absolutely, a one week challenge seem like a more useful challenge to see for those on a very tight budget. A kilo of flavour and/or oatmeal is absolutely a lot of food for the price you pay for them.

[@awkwardsity]

If I remember correctly, he has done a longer challenge maybe it was 5 days or so, but he mentioned that with doing so many days in a row, it was difficult for him to get the videos out and these one day challenges are much easier

[@Stuntman707]

@@unboxing_legend7708 Fry the onions first so they get caramelised then add the gravy. Also I started adding a bit of mustard into mash potato. Sauté broccoli with garlic & butter. Just something a bit different that adds some depth of flavour.

[@unboxing_legend7708]

@@Stuntman707 learnt that myself before this comment but thanks anyway. didnt think u had to do it for a cheese and onion omlette but now i no the hard way.

[@Sayares13]

I think it's worth noting that £3.68 is within the "One of each coin" budget rule from one of the previous challenges. I thought that was a really interesting idea!

[@regimiro4888]

Missing the 20p

[@DemstarAus]

​​​@@regimiro4888 within the one of each coin total. Means that £3.68 hasn't broken the limit on that restriction. £3.88 is the max, just so happens to be 20p under.

[@TheMurderBird]

Do you remember which challenge? Couldn't find it

[@NachaBeez]

@@TheMurderBird it was a weekend challenge-maybe using “weekend” as a search word will help.

[@unboxing_legend7708]

i guess so yeah but really its one of those things that can only get u thru 1 day alone unless u really know how to push out about 3 days from it at best but its also the fact of it can be very time consuming if ur someone like me who rarely shops ecspecially for food and stuff and having to not only be in the mindset to even know shops do deals on stuff u tend to buy but even knowing which is the best cheapest stores and what does those weighing things for produce.

[@breakingaustin]

'Oneion and twomatoes' are why I love this channel! Been here since the hundreds of subs and we are on for 1,000,000!!!

[@mikedrop4421]

I was going to say these challenges are my favorite type of videos you make. Then I remembered the scambaiting... and the foraging....and the woodworking... And the recipes... and the collaborations with Babatunde... and the nature walks.. And, and, and... 😊

[@gumbyno5808]

What a gem of a channel this is, isn't it?

[@IRVDawg]

my alltime favourite one might be the one where he makes puffballs into fried fish sandwiches in the woods. ⚪🔥

[@CineMiamParis]

And the pots ! (About to post, thinks for a minute) And the weird beers. And the shirts. And the, oh, snap.

[@karmenzoriano6864]

One of my favorite special episode was his invention of the hot dog testing machine...that's when I knew I would become a big fan... Plus I love shopping with Mr. Shrimp.. his voice over are totally relatable...for me the product jingle pop up and interrupt my thought process.. Thank you!!

[@mikedrop4421]

@@IRVDawg great video. My favorite is when he tried out that Russian MRE by foraging in the woods and making mushroom stew and chestnuts.

[@DrJigglebones]

US resident here. When I saw the price of that haul I genuinely did a double take. The equivalent USD price of your haul was $4.48, which is an astoundingly cheap price for a whole day's worth of food. I went through and found what similar items I could at my local grocer and added up the prices. Surely I could have done better by just picking different items, but that was not the point. The total price for an equivalent haul from my local grocer is $8.31, which is equivalent to £6.82. Nearly double what you actually paid. Notably, the produce and the instant (savoury) rice are IMMENSELY more expensive here than they are over there. In fact, the cheapest pouch of instant rice I could find was more than half the price of an entire bag of white rice. I will note that I could not find an apt equivalent to the mug soups, so I went with four Maruchan ramen pouches instead. The chick peas were the closest to the same price, being $0.79 or £0.65. Yes, every single item in this list is more expensive here in the states, apparently.

[@morgantrias3103]

American food prices are very worrying.

[@LawrenceTimme]

Fresh food in the USA is more expensive than here. You are only allowed to eat plastic cheese, hot dogs and burgers

[@LawrenceTimme]

​@@morgantrias3103if you get local food the prices aren't as bad.

[@Banoffeenyx]

i live in New Zealand and it would cost at least twice as much here...

[@andrei19238]

because american salaries are a LOT! higher than british 😂

[@bobbystark3721]

I’m really proud of you for stretching yourself on this one. You took a really fun concept (limited budget challenges) and forced yourself to add some variety to it thereby giving us, your viewers, a fresh perspective. And isn’t that one of the hallmarks of your channel anyways? In other news, your fresh perspectives have led to me cooking different things than I ever would have…I’d be willing to wager that I was the only guy in northeast Ohio cooking up some Welsh Rarebit (which was amazing by the way).

[@talonhammer]

Ayy NE OH buddy! Now there's two of us making it lol

[@bobbystark3721]

@@talonhammer it’s a small world my friend! Love to hear it!

[@tylerdejong6930]

Me too mate! Were all british now!

[@tylerdejong6930]

I'm in southern NE ohio though

[@erzvolnes]

This is actually a challenge I run into a lot - due to time & budget constraints I often find myself having to buy food 'for the day' rather than investing in long-term options (like flour, eggs, or even milk.) Ultimately I spend far more just trying to feed myself quickly & easily on a day-to-day basis than I do if I were able to spend more on things I could eat for multiple days. Very interesting video & breakdown of the ingredients!

[@jengis_i]

You're making a very valid point. I can 'afford' (time, opportunity cost, not being too fatigued after a long day) to spend an hour per day to prep dinner. And I cook for 4 people. Feeding one person for £3.68 per day is hard-ish as our host demonstrated. Feeding a family on 4 x £3.68 = £14.72 per day or £103.04 per week is actually very doable. I spend £120 per week (i.e. just £13 more) for a weekly online shop and that gets us organic meat, free-range eggs, green salad and a lot of variety. Yes, having time and energy plus buying in bulk for a larger household is a massive advantage. I don't need to chase the one single carrot or onion, but buy a whole bag and don't have to worry about having to add carrot to every meal of the week as I'd have to in a single person's household.

[@raerohan4241]

@@jengis_i Truly, I never realised just how difficult it can be to shop on a budget if you're living by yourself and don't have much time to food prep. If you don't have time but do have money, you can get by on easy to prepare meals and takeout. If you don't have money but do have time, you can often afford to buy certain items in bulk and prep them for long-term storage/use. But what are you supposed to do if you have neither time nor money?

[@theKashConnoisseur]

@@raerohan4241 Meal prep. Buy in bulk like Jan mentioned to benefit from the price decreases, and then allocate a single day of the week to make all the week's meals. There's also slow cooked meals (stews, braised meats, sous vide) which you can put on before leaving for work and will be ready when you get home at night. And you can throw together a large array of meals from pantry staples. There's lots of casseroles that can be made mostly from canned goods, requiring you to maybe brown some meat at most. But most importantly, learn time management skills. You almost certainly have a lot more free time than you think, and a lot of amazing food can be made from scratch with 15 minutes of work in the kitchen and an hour or two of waiting for things to finish cooking. If you come home from work and spend that 15 minutes of prep time, you can spend the next 1-2 hours relaxing before dinner and enjoy the cost and health benefits of home cooked meals from scratch every day.

[@LawrenceTimme]

​@@theKashConnoisseurgreat advice, I normal cook meals for the next 2-3 days on a Sunday then freeze them to save time during the week

[@lamshanti7]

Shrimp I just want to say that you've had a tremendous impact on my approach to food in general. Since I started watching your videos, you continue to inspire me to cook at home more, experiment with different ingredients and flavors. It's not uncommon for me to replicate your recipes and, most notably, I used your video(s) as a learning tool to make rough puff pastry which is something I always thought was too complicated and never bothered to even try but now I thoroughly enjoy doing it. Thank you so much for such great content! :D

[@pagatryx5451]

Yeah it's honestly very helpful. Also saves on shops, as the more experienced you are with this type of frugal/experimental cooking, the better you will be at making the most of what you've got at home. Although, I'd always make use of spices/other forms of flavoring. Whilst it might get in the way of daily challenges, just a few spices can make a boring meal into quite a tasty one.

[@rorypenstock1763]

Me too.

[@applegal3058]

He definitely makes cooking look less structured and more doable by a home cook. No rules, just general guidelines to make something delicious ❤

[@pawel8365]

The banana sponge with custard is something I make regularly, don't know why, but he made it in a really appealing way, and I like how he commented on me saying so 🥹

[@Myndale]

With all due respect to Tesco, their check-out really shouldn't be asking people buying 3.68 pounds worth of food to round up to 4. The psychological impact of poverty is not to be discounted, and as worthy a cause as the British Red Cross is, anyone actually in that situation doesn't need the extra guilt factor added on top of what they're already having to deal with.

[@deliriouscheeto]

Seeing you put a sticker straight on the onion and potato made me absurdly happy because that's something I do a lot and I get a bunch of weird looks for it. But why would I take a plastic bag for one piece of fruit? Sometimes I also just stick it to my hand (when I know I'll use the self check out) and that's when I kinda understand the weird looks.

[@AtomicShrimp]

Yeah, I've seen people put a collection of loose potatoes in the basket and stick the label to the back of their shopping list. Makes sense not to take a bag if you don't really need one

[@deliriouscheeto]

@@AtomicShrimp that sounds like a good idea too, except I don't really have a paper shopping list. I'm either a "I'll remember it all" type of person (and I forget half the things) or a "I have it all in my phone" type (and I don't check the list on the phone because "I'm sure I remember it all")

[@ZeroPlayerGame]

Last time I shopped for loose veg, because I leave most of the skins on veg, I stuck all 3 labels onto the same poor onion... The cashier was a little puzzled, but didn't give me a weird look, maybe afraid to look me in the eye.

[@mrcheesemunch]

Yeah most of the time I don't even bother with bags for veg unless I don't have another one to carry everything in. It's just kind of pointless really, I mean you're going to be washing them, peeling them and then boiling or otherwise cooking them so it would be pretty crazy for any germs to be dangerous after that.

[@Grey_Warden_Invasion]

Taking a bag for one single piece of fruit or vegetable sounds more like something you'd get weird looks here.

[@DuckcuD]

one of the things I really enjoy about this series is how you highlight how soulcrushing living like this is, and that you make it very clear the whole time that it is hard to penny pinch and still have any semblance of a "healthy diet" especially if one has to work a full time job aswell

[@LawrenceTimme]

How is it soul crushing. It shows you can have a great variety of meals even on a small budget. It's quite pleasing knowing you don't need to spend £5 on a sandwich for lunch and £10 on steaks and veg for tea. I know some people who spend £100 a week just on Uber eats and just eat takeaways ordering breakfast, lunch and tea.

[@Blackadder75]

Nobody with a full job should be on a 25 pound a week budget, let alone the extreme 5 pound challenges these youtubers do. If you work full time and still have nothing, something weird is going on, like you being declared in debt by the law and under financial supervision of some sort. But even then the budget for food would be higher, and the curator would just control the rest of your money to pay rent, debts etc

[@Blackadder75]

@@LawrenceTimme I easily spend €500 a month on food on my own. I could save a lot of money, but I see no need, i can't afford to buy a house anyway, and saving €20,000 in 5 years won;t make a difference. So I rather enjoy what I can enjoy... I am not a big spender in other ways, I have a small cheap car which i don;t use much and i don;t go on expensive holidays.....

[@geordieghoulette7142]

​@@Blackadder75unfortunately lots of people with full time jobs are struggling due to the rising cost of living. Especially if you have kids.

[@wildwine6400]

Would be interesting doing challenges like only tinned food or only frozen food. We relied on just tin food several times during the pandemic. I know a lot of people who turn their noses up at tinned food

[@Sashashka]

tinned seafood is incredibly versatile!

[@Laralinda]

"only tinned food" would also be great for those days the canteen at work doesn't offer anything delicious. It could be expanded to include other shelf-stable products which can be prepared just with a microwave and/or a kettle.

[@ElijsDima]

Great ideas. Only tinned, only frozen, maybe also "only dry storage" (so like pastas etc.)

[@ellem2293]

Hey I dont, Chicken Fricasse, Beef curry (Tescos own is well nice) Minced beef, Stewed steak, Corned beef, Tuna & soooo many more that IMO are very enjoyable with rice/pasta/pastry/Potatoes :) They last long & are usually pallatable so let them turn their noses up NOW but if thats all thats available will they still..? I highly doubt it ;) So convenient to open a tin add a side/sides & eat after a long day at work, just add vitamins & ya good IMO

[@soctavian]

@@ElijsDima That's what you might call... Pantry foods? Nothing novelty about it, I'd wager most households do something like that a couple times a month when they don't feel like going out shopping.

[@MrWakeling]

So glad about the last commentary there, you took the words from my mouth. I think a week on £10 for one person is still 'do-able' in the UK as long as you're clever with what you buy and include the reduced sections. I got into a habit of going to my local Morrisons/Asda at the right times to do our weeks shop (family of 4) for close to £20 weekly between the two. As you mention though, it's labour intensive. One thing we did notice by living off yellow stickers was how varied our diet became because we were forced into inventiveness with what I could buy. We've since moved to a remote Scottish Island, and now food shopping is an entirely different 'kettle of fish' - a more than relevant phrase in the circumstances!

[@geordieghoulette7142]

My Dad visited some friends in Stornoway a while ago and was blown away by the amount and cost of fresh fish/seafood. He almost moved there!

[@dankart4924]

The way you set boundaries around not using more common ingredients gave me an idea: A budget series just like this, but you're not allowed to use any ingredients from the previous episodes. The series ends when you feel like you're spending too much for it to be considered cheap, perhaps a £5-10 limit. It might not be a very long series, but it could be an interesting way to experiment with new recipes.

[@Ubeogesh]

Amazing idea

[@mackenziedrake]

I think that would be very short indeed, from what I've seen of the shopping trips so far. There are only so many nutritious and tasty things available in the market at low prices.

[@diamonddusk6]

You're still killing it... look up budget meals and there's so many that are "whoa, meal for $5". You still did a whole DAY for 4£, that's a win for sure

[@Rob17Cotton]

My favourite thing about Atomic Shrimp is his lack of fear of failure & his ability too constantly adapt when he challenges himself 😁

[@mitchyuk]

I do love these budget challenges. I'm glad you noted the jump in price from the "bargain" item to the other items in the category, it's something I've been noticing lately. Good episode!

[@CyreneDuVent]

This no-budget budget challenge was really interesting. The video felt to me like one of the challenges and its recipe redemption at the same time - the creativity of the normal challenges combined with the more sensible recipes of the recipe redemptions.

[@princesspinkblue]

The 45p Creamfield yoghurt is surprisingly very good, tastes very much the same as the more expensive tesco own brand version. Not watery and sour at all! Would reccomend.

[@SocksAndPuppets]

I think Creamfield is also a Tesco own-brand. Likely the two products would be made in the same factory!

[@DatBoiSchwally]

This was REALLY interesting. Initially I was quite sceptical about your purchase of the kippers, it was a single item which nearly doubled your overall price after all. However, as the video progressed and I saw how you'd pretty much shaped your entire day's food around them I realised that any main source of protein will likely be expensive (well, other than more baked beans). Thank you for listening to our feedback, and I can't wait to see the next episode with the longer term planning! 😁

[@accountnamewithheld]

I recommend cannelini or butter beans. 70pish for a can and they're amazingly versatile in delicious vegetable stews or bakes.

[@raerohan4241]

@@accountnamewithheld If you can afford to spend more money at once to spend less overall, dried beans and legumes are much more economical than canned. They often need to be soaked for an hour beforehand, yes, but it's not much more time spent in exchange for a lot less money spent

[@davidwilson6577]

I just want to say thanks for crediting the music so clearly. It's the normal good creator decision now to have the information easily accessible to anyone who wants to see it in the description, but highlighting it clearly in the video I think reminds the audience that there are actual people who put effort into the music that permeates their day. Most people just don't care about music anymore, unless it's something they recognize or is associated with some brand, like a celebrity or a TV show or whatever, that inclines them to notice it. Yes I'm sure the track was chosen specifically because it is Muzak, the kind of filler sound that is designed to be unattended background fluff. It still has more going for it than the majority of the top ten right now. Muzak designed for seconds-long Tiktok clips, they're barely sketches of first ideas that hint at genre. Porcupine Tree were too generous in their 'Sound of Muzak'.

[@addie1080]

As someone who struggles to make ends meet I found this gave me some ideas! I find a lot of my meals are quite samey, I'd love to see a version of this where bulk purchasing plays a factor. It's fun to watch you be creative while saving as much as possible, keep up the fun content ❤

[@gillianmeehan3206]

Mike, you have been given lots of suggestions for future food videos and because you say that you welcome suggestions I'm going to add mine to the heap. Last February you made a video showing how you could make a variety of soups from the same group of ingredients. Could you do something similar with a base recipe that can morph into a number of other dishes such as a pan of beef mince & onions that is split into Cottage Pie, Bolognese and Chilli just with a bit of tweaking and a few other ingredients?

[@sharrow2]

No way - you're not allowed to give away this stuff! Here's some free tips; garlic, basil, cumin, worcester sauce, bay leaf, tomato puree, beef stock cube, red wine, oregano, cinnamon, all the juice from the kidney beans tins (all tins, always), black pepper (the King), English mustard, brown sauce, lime juice

[@TdwtSierraFan123]

I love your budget cooking challenges! This should become a weekly series of yours.

[@gaborszucs8935]

He would probably die of depression and malnutrition if he made it a weekly thing :D

[@BadgerBishop]

These are hard work, and today's was laden with more salt that is probably healthy(as an american I am speaking from experience and not to criticize). I wouldn't want Shrmp to sacrifice his health for out entertainment and learning.

[@misc.cont.]

I don't know if it's just the green pepper and red tomato priming me, but this one felt a bit like an episode of Ready Steady Cook. Another great vid, Shrimp!

[@sharrow2]

I'd watch loads of RSC if Atomic was on there with Ainsley

[@Blackadder75]

omg, RSC, I haven;t seen that in ages.... when BBC was still good, I watched Top Gear, cooking shows and Eggheads , and anything Rowan Atkinson would do , but i guess by then it was already only reruns

[@Skipti_LLC]

This is exactly the sort of direction I was hoping you'd take these challenges! I had a couple of ideas for further experimentation - First, you could do a challenge to make some "fancy" meals like beef Wellington or chicken cordon bleu using the cheapest possible ingredients. Second, a "time is money" version of the challenge in which you have 24 hours of cooking time and each hour is worth 10 pence, so you'd have a maximum budget of £2.40, but for every cent spent eats away at how much total time you have to cook.

[@sarahloomis2034]

Interesting ideas!

[@CheshireDave]

I think what I took away from this video is when you buy an item from the supermarket it's not confined to one meal. It really does discourage being wasteful and encourages being creative through necessity or otherwise. Which can only be a bonus to your wallet and the environment. Thanks for all your videos. I really appreciate the time and effort you put into these videos. The range of subjects you cover is amazing. Hope you have a great year. I can't wait to see what delights your garden gives you in the coming months.

[@neilburns3614]

It's here, longer, new content from Mike. This is fast becoming the cornerstone of my KZbin viewing content. Mike's self-effacing, honest style is what draws me. And, interesting food budget challenges, and foraging of course. Weird Stuff in a Can - who can forget Weird Stuff in a Can? I have watched every one of those. Thanks for your effort(s), Mike!

[@traceymars]

If there's ever an Atomic Shrimp cookbook I am going to add to cart - just saying in case you ever have the inkling to do something like that. I love your recipe videos whether they have a budget or not attached to it - they give me inspiration on what to make

[@shadowtheimpure]

Removing the hard cap on the money has definitely allowed for a lot more creativity. Keep it up, we all appreciate it!

[@ravingcrab]

I am so glad you are going deeper in these experiments. I also think that forcing you out of your usual suspects ingredients is making the challenge more interesting! I enjoy this series a lot, thanks!

[@quackers4207]

a lot of cooking youtubers have been making cook books but “the atomic shrimp’s frugal cooking” is the only one i want

[@Fat4all]

I’m absolutely loving all these different takes on the budget challenge, gives me lots of inspiration.

[@TheSesameStreetGang]

I'm always surprised at how creative you get with these challenges, you should release a cookbook!

[@reverbchorusdelay]

Agreed!

[@youngkwokching8379]

​@@reverbchorusdelay+1

[@EeeEee-bm5gx]

The main educational value here is how to cook without a cookbook

[@baryonyxyt3247]

This looks a lot like my shopping basket when I go shopping - the fish is what skews my total up too! Smoked Basa is worth the cost! I'd like to post my suggestion from the other budget video if that's okay, since I was a bit late to it and you may not have seen it: I'd love to see a 'budget challenge' based around a 'mystery' box of food from a supermarket on a food-saving app. They give a good quantity and variety of food, but you never know exactly what you'll get. A typical box will have a mix of fruit and veg, baked goods, sometimes even cheese, meat, eggs, and whatever else is fine to eat but may need to go in the next few days. It's all quite good stuff as well! I feel like there's a lot of interesting potential there; I'd love to see you unpack a box and break down how you'd hypothetically use it all up, or try and use only the boxed items for a day or so, or just your general opinions on the concept. I understand that having to download an app and make an account may be a bit much just for a single video, but if you're up for it I'd recommend Too-good-to-go or maybe Olio, since they seem to cover most of the major supermarkets. Thanks very much for continuing this series - I love watching, and you have some of the most relatable and honest insights into the issues of food costs in supermarkets. Your point at the end about the massive price difference has eloquently summed up my experience with food shopping, and the way things are priced so that it's difficult to eat with any variety unless I spend more.

[@violettheory]

These are always so enjoyable to watch, and so informative! I find I don't think about food in "puzzle pieces" enough, like how you used the potato skins for one meal and the inside for another. Making everything fit together like that is wonderful for decreasing food waste. Can't wait for your bulk buy challenge! Doing one or two days of meals and then giving a loose meal plan to take advantage of what is leftover would be really nice.

[@MrSpecialKayyy]

Been waiting for this type of challenge! Creativity over super strict restrictions! Love the work Shrimp :)

[@adyhdz2767]

I love the challenges where you have to forage and use whatever you can find that you can get for free. The creativity you show is mindboggling. I keep thinking why it didn't occur to me.

[@savannahjackson4929]

I really enjoy your cooking challenges. Sometimes, at the end of the week, I have to get 'creative' with cooking just to ensure that food is not wasted. Good job my husband is not a picky eater!

[@AA-qg6to]

Watching your summary and conclusion really wants me to make it mandatory for people in leading positions to watch channels like yours and actually do a couple of your challenges like for a week straight. Because that's the reality many people live in, I've been there myself and know how much that can suck if you have no other choice. Well done, I really like your channel! 👌👌

[@skizzit]

I like the idea of this. Let's you maybe get more creative and varied with what you cook and not just using many of the same things cause they are the cheap options.

[@ellem2293]

Think the whole Idea is to to waste less & be creative with what you can afford on an extremely low daily budget.. our energy bill is higher than our food bills atm so if we can learn to save & be creative with as little cost as possible then maybe you need to check out other channels that do what you want, This is only for one day, he has other vids doing longer challenges & with more allowances etc Just leave him be to run his channel his way. Too many like to dictate & demand what people do on their own channel.

[@SilverReviews]

Shrimp could also do a budget of 2 pounds for one day, to see how to limit the budget for the day compared to the 3.68 he did with this video. Would be interesting to see if the constraints are significant by losing than extra 1.50ish pounds

[@SashaTheSheep]

​@@ellem2293 no one asked

[@amandawalsh8557]

It is so much fun for me, seeing what you do with ingredients at varying price points! I like the thought of these frugal challenges, this allows a bit more freedom in the budget while still keeping the heart of the original style of challenge. Seeing what you make at the different price points is so cool! It makes me want to make a home cooked meal!

[@FreyFreyJ]

I love what you do, thank you. With regards to skipping over the flour because its more than you'd need for the day I'd love to see what tips you have for living frugally sustainably over a timeframe, not just a day. Thank you!

[@Felix-vs8cv]

I love these videos so much, especially when you go foraging in between mealpreps. Its like a "a day in the life" vlog. I hope you get inspired by the comments to keep the series going.

[@Kopekemaster]

I know you've talked about it before, but it's always so remarkable to me how much more affordable groceries are in the UK compared to where I am (a pretty small town) in the US. It's difficult to find *anything* less than a dollar. Even accounting for currency conversion, it's still a huge difference. For example, a 14.5 oz can of store-brand tomatoes (425g) costs about $1.75 as opposed to the 30p ($0.36) you mentioned.

[@jolenethiessen357]

Same. I'm in Canada and I'm amazed how cheap things are in the UK (and the US too lol). Using your tinned tomato example, you can get it as low as C$1.25 for generic on sale, but the better brands are C$2-$3. The yogurt for 49p blew my mind - a similar tub of plain yogurt here starts at C$2.97. A friend of mine moved here from the UK a few years ago and she struggled initially with how expensive things are here compared to where she lived before.

[@jaklg7905]

Every time that I watch one of these videos, or the ones that go around grocery stores, I am amazed at how inexpensive food is compared to most places in the US. It makes me extremely angry that a Country that produces more than enough food and wastes so much, charges us ridiculous prices. Grocery stores alone make billions in profit and here we are, the regular people struggling to purchase food. Even their prices that have doubled, are still significantly cheaper than what we have where I live.

[@lassievision]

Shipping makes a big difference to the costs of things. It's not all that far from a port or distribution centre anywhere in the UK.

[@Kopekemaster]

@@lassievision that's a fair point, though on the east coast here there are a lot of big ports, but prices are still crazy as far as I know. Like I don't think groceries are any cheaper in Boston or New York.

[@ateisate7270]

@@lassievision No, not really. I mean, it's not far from the distribution center, but the UK can not grow bananas. They have to come from overseas. I also can't imagine the UK growing good tomatoes (like, they want SUN, a thing the UK is very famous for not having), but they are still cheap. It's also April, a season where peppers do not grow locally and peppers aren't a food you can store for long like carrots or potatoes. It's still cabbage and spinach season.

[@Norhando]

A. Shrimp, your integrity in approaching these challenged is unmatched. Good on you

[@themaypole]

One of the best meal results in ages. Loved this one. Those loaded Tato skins were legit inspiring

[@EdWebb595]

I love that you read comments and use the video ideas. Can't wait to see more interesting spinoffs in this series! Would love to see some multi-day videos that are not a specific budget.

[@KNM48]

The budget challenges are easily my favourite part of your channel.

[@tmfox9999]

I really enjoyed this one. Huge fan of the serious but rarely comment. This held the exact feeling as the original budget challenge to me, almost nostalgic. I would love to see you do other iterations that don't necessarily follow a specific budget for the whole shop. Big fan, thankyou so much for making videos. Love from Australia where groceries are SO MUCH more expensive and despite you always suggesting that perhaps other things are cheaper. No, fuel, rent, house prices, groceries, all higher here.

[@SherlotteR]

I love these videos so much! I always find your creativity helps to get me out of a rut with cooking; you really help me have fun in the kitchen. It was great to see what you did with slightly looser constraints. Thank you also for your mantra of "This is an exercise!". It's wonderful to see someone be so aware of the context of their videos, and responsible to their audience. It's no wonder I always rush to watch your latest whenever it comes up in my feed.

[@efectocapricornio941]

I know one must take these videos as to just exercises but they have helped me so much in these last 2 years that ive been living on a tight budget 😅😊

[@garyflies]

I love fish pie but I dont make it often as I end up with too much for just myself. What a great idea with the kippers, I'll try a single serve fish pie with a tin of kippers soon. I love these challenge videos, I just cook for myself and I find it quite difficult to use all of the food that I buy if I want some sort of variety in my diet. I learn a lot from how you make use of all of the ingredients and not waste anything.

[@EggBastion]

good lad

[@infamoussphere7228]

cooking for one is its own interesting challenge! I often travel on my own and I cook, and sometimes when I'm not staying in a place for that long I don't want to end up with tonnes of leftovers. When in Montreal I was unable to buy the standard meat (pork, beef, chicken, lamb) in a small enough quantity for one person, so I went to the "wild game" section and got bison and duck. Of course it's bad from a budgetary standpoint but it's good from a variety and not-wasting-food perspective.

[@nefertitimontoya]

I always cook for "more" people than I have, and freeze the extra so that I have options when I don't want to cook

[@batelite6223]

Not that I've seen every one of these, but this budget challenge in particular is high on the creativity. Never thought I'd see such quantities of pepper and onion split so many ways.

[@timdene]

Great video, I love the way this series is going. Any thoughts on doing a 'Waitrose' style shop, where you repeat a £1 challenge, making the same meals, but buy all the top of the range ingredients and then compare with the budget challenge. It would be very insightful to see whether the 'top range' ingredients really make a difference in taste/enjoyment (you could put in an enjoyment vs. cost chart).

[@ragnkja]

So, buying as many different things as he usually does for one of these challenges, but they can be a lot more expensive?

[@KellyS_77]

Cheap vs Steep?

[@janettehinchliffe]

I'd love to see you do a "Ready steady cook" style challenge where we give you 6 ingredients and you make 3 meals! Xxx

[@errorerror6918]

This was fun! I think a challenge with limited pro rata could be interesting too - e.g. You have to use at least a 7th of everything you buy to simulate a week long one without actually making a week of meals.

[@MinistryOfMagic_DoM]

Shrimp you are doing such a great job with these. You even make your meals look pretty with nice presentation which I think is important to remember to do if you do t have much. It helps elevate your state of mind not looking at a "boring" plate.

[@y-yyy]

I have to say, I do envy British prices, it's amazing how cheap that cheapest stuff is, and the deals that you feature sometimes are so good! I currently live in Finland and it's a bit of a struggle... I do tend to live off the cheapest stuff, but it's more expensive for sure.

[@peter.j.07]

For what it's worth, this is probably the most interesting video of any challenge, yet. What you did with the potatoes was, in my opinion, genius! Edit: And we get to see Eva, too! Perfect video!

[@BlazinBlz]

Whenever this comes back I do hope to see foraging return, I feel a big draw of some of the earlier episodes was the fact you not only showed the cheap ingredients, but also showed some forageable things, of course borderline useless to me (being in Australia) but still made an interesting watch and seeing how just using a bit of knowledge of things that grow can transform a tiny budget into something more is something a lot of people could use

[@Juslin7989]

I think foraging and urban foraging definitely contributed a lot of appeal, yeah. Hope to see a return of those.

[@JadeIsChronicallyTired]

the graph you show at the end was really interesting, I did some reading on poverty and diet in the US and a lot of the data was very similar. The cheap already made stuff is often going to give you more bang for your buck in terms of variety and flavor but is often less healthy, the cheap ingredients might be cheaper in the long run but tend to produce less flavorful meals and often with little variety. Moreover, ready-made stuff has really long shelf lives compared to ingredients and could be cheaper long term for someone who doesn't have the time to cook or has a hard time making everything before it goes off. Buying slightly better quality stuff tends to end in disappointment because, as you said, it just doesn't make that much of a difference on that end of the curve.

[@GigaDavy91]

Please do one of this challenge in a week, so you can mix up a bit the various ingredients, it would bring more content and more creativity, and you could publish them like a series in episodes! Would love that kind of content!

[@GigaDavy91]

I finished the video right now and heard that you have already that in plan lol, can't wait for the next challenge then!

[@FaceEatingOwl]

This challange had made me realise something. I spend around £60-70 on food and essentials every month or so. I'm spending less than £2.50 a day on food. Yes, I have a lot of dried goods, and I supplement from the garden, but that's great realisation. And I'm not being frugal either. Great video as always. Thank you, Mike.

[@fleshcircuits1078]

the way you use and view ingredients in these challenges is very inspiring! i would have never guessed you’d end up with a fish pie.

[@erin9868]

I'm so excited for the buying more in bulk challenge. I think it's going to serve as a very interesting contrast to past challenges and give you room to be creative in new ways. One thing I'd love to see you tackle is ways to preserve the food that spoils quickly. I'm currently experimenting with quick pickling as a way to keep veg and fruit crunchy and reduce food waste. I think freezing works great for somethings but has a tendency to make everything mushy. Lol

[@lananieves4595]

I love these challenges. Have you ever considered challenges which address some life aspect other than food? I run a not-for-profit, and we have a program where we challenge people to put together emergency/disaster preparedness packs on a low budget. It's a lot of fun, and it gets people thinking about how one really CAN afford to be prepared for a natural disaster if they're open to the idea of eating peanut butter, crackers, and raisins (protein, carbs, fibre, and iron) for a few days, instead of some high-priced, freeze-dried meals.

[@CineMiamParis]

That is a super interesting idea. I think it deserves more attention. And, thanks for what you’re doing.

[@carrottopadc]

Truly the most enthralling series on KZbin. Love the videos

[@dayvancowboi9135]

I adore this series! glad you're having fun with it and using different rules.

[@AWvyren]

I allway love to see the Idears you come up with while being limited in one way or another. Keep up the Good Work and Great Idears :3

[@danielintheantipodes6741]

This was so interesting to watch. Looking forward to a bulk cooking video.

[@Marte0107]

While you were showing the different shelves of food at Tesco, I kept thinking ‘Oat biscuit porridge? Cool! Oooo he could make a savoury cake with those wheat cereals and eggs?’ I was getting excited thinking about what you would come up with!

[@Bass599]

It would be cool to see this idea as a whole week, as I feel that would yield the best results. I think the key to being frugal is hitting zero on waste. This is something the shrimp has great skill in already 👌 Another great video! Cheers

[@emmo4765]

I am a bit of a food hoarder because i love cooking, so every now and then i decide to go a week without doing any food shopping and make dishes with what i have, just seen you have a "making do with what i have" video, which i will be watching next!

[@Robutube1]

I love this series - always plenty of ideas and imagination. BTW, 'your' Tesco is much better stocked than mine, which, regardless of day or time of day, always rocks a '28 Days Later" vibe since that 'flu bug that was going around.

[@Makkenhoff]

I really do appreciate taking this suggestion up; it does help me think outside the box more on food. I very easily fall into a predictable pattern of food, which doesn't bother me but tends to annoy people in the household because of lack of variety.

[@vegancam]

Great challenge! It was as significantly more satisfying to watch as I suspect it was more satisfying for you to experience. Also I have cooked many roast vegetable dinners over the years but I have never once roasted onions in their skins. You learn something new every day.

[@tenthousanddaysofgratitude]

Great video. You bought chickpeas and a packet of rice and it’s interesting to point out that rice completed the protein in chickpeas. I have never made fish pie because I always thought it complicated. I think I could do it now. Also appreciate how you used both the skins and soft parts of the potato differently. Keep up the great work!

[@ellaquin]

I tried this challenge in the USA with my mom a few weeks ago, we wanted $7 as our budget, but I think we had to stretch it to like $10 or something, certainly room for improvement from us, we will try again sometime soon :)

[@alex6027]

Nice pfp

[@ellaquin]

@@alex6027 Thanks! I was about to say I made it on Picrew, but im realizing that this isnt Discord lol, I actually made this one myself (by combining other images)

[@dakat_]

As a student with little time to think what I cook for myself sometimes, your videos are a great tool to come up with different, original ideas (while keeping it in a somewhat low price range, which is always an additional bonus).Thanks for that!

[@piers2225]

I use the 45p yoghurt to make overnight oats with the cheap (even if twice as much as before) oats. 100g of each makes a breakfast for 16p, add a banana and a little milk and it's still probably only 40p but for something really hearty

[@TheCheseWzrd]

I think you make a real good point at the end there. Shopping like that is hard work, and doing it for protracted periods of time wouldn't be good for someone's mental health, im really glad you mentioned that aspect. Pointing out the arrangement of cheap items around higher costing similar products and the sigmoid curve graph. That just giving a little extra budget or putting in a bit more "work" really dosnt make the whole experience any less grim

[@TK_mushy]

I’d really like to see a video where you make two identical meals, one made with ingredients from a budget friendly store, and the other made from the more expensive stores. Then have a blind taste test with Jenny and see if you can tell the difference

[@shadow_realm47]

I've actually done this due to improving circumstances and sometimes the "cheaper" dish tastes better!

[@uttermil]

I appreciate the honesty in showing what little you can make of some coins. I haven't gotten a cost of living raise, so it helps me feel like I'm doing what I can on sardines, Saltine crackers, dried chili peppers and stuff that I ferment (cabbage etc.). And I haven't cut the champagne/wine budget. Why make myself that miserable eating crap. And also, I have evacuated from the weather here in California. When that happens, I'm willing to spend any kind of money for raw oysters and bubbly. That's tolerable life on the run.

[@antonyfiori2931]

Looking forward to the bulk challenge!

[@ZealotOfSteal]

Really love these challenge videos for the creativity and ingenious culinary ideas. The way you think about ingredients and create new recipes is almost mesmerizing. Thank you, you are my favorite Nuclear Crustaceans.

[@BelindaShort]

I love your challenges- I do similar things with art, just limiting myself to a few things forces creativity and I learn a lot

[@wyldlibrarian3549]

Very interesting! I think mixing up is good. In a practical sense those of us trying or needing to be frugal will be scouring for good deals but buying for a week not a day! More of your wonderful content please.

[@Asdayasman]

Excited for the buying in bulk video. We buy all our food in bulk and eat very well for what I feel is not a great deal of money, so seeing that quantified and vindicated would be cool. Also I think I'm going to steal "6/10 needs cheese" and use it to rate any mediocre experience. "How's your day?" "Did you enjoy the rollercoaster?" "Do you have plans for your Mum's funeral?" Etc.

[@maidsua4208]

I think the roll the dice diet was fun and have been waiting to see if there will be more of it. Thank you very much for many wonderful preograms from you Mike, I have followed you for several years.

[@craigchampagne7797]

I am hiding from my family for thirty minutes like every Saturday morning. Thank you Shrimp.

[@seachelle1]

You are very creative. My husband and I are watching in awe! Well done, and great video!