Food crisis - help with meal planning on limited stocks?

foreversomeday

Hi all,

I've got a bit of a challenge for anyone who's interested.

I can't drive and it's now (at 7mo pregnant!) too far for me to walk to the supermarket (even the local shop is a mission!) especially in this heat. I don't have access to any money so can't shop online and the only way we are getting food in at the moment is what OH buys, when I remind him enough times or he remembers.

The problem is we have a hungry lodger who keeps eating our food when we buy it - we have tried asking him to contribute to the food bills or buy his own, the trouble is he does for about a week then stops again. Luckily he is moving out in 4 weeks so the problem will be over with but we are so fed up of trying to remind him all the time we have completely given up. I don't have the energy to argue and OH doesn't want to deal with it, his solution is to eat takeaways every night or just buy in what we need on the day that we need it - the only problem with this is he's often "too tired" after work to go round the supermarket. I would buy stuff in and mark it/hide it but as I said before I have no money and he won't do that as he thinks his way is better.

Anyway if I list everything we have in the freezer, fridge and cupboards, I need to make a meal plan for the next few days (basically to stretch it out as far as possible!)

4 Chicken breasts, 500g(?) mince (half a huge pack? Enough for 2, anyway.), bacon (lots), Ham (a little bit)
Pasta, Rice & Spaghetti (plenty of all)
vegetable oil, olive oil, sesame oil & lots of herbs including salt and pepper.
1 tin tomatoes
1 largish tin sweetcorn
1 tin pineapple
soup: 1 tin chicken, 2 tins mushroom, 1 tin tomato, 1 sachet chicken, 3 sachets tomato flavour cup a soup.
About half a bag of potatoes
1 onion
butter type spread (not much left)
1 egg, a tiny dribble of milk, no bread
3 lemons
most of a cauliflower
mayo, ketchup, brown sauce, american mustard, english mustard, malt vinegar, soy sauce.
crisps
marmite, bovril, tea, coffee, hot chocolate mix.
flour, sugar, baking powder, about 1 tbsp oats (!)
corn flakes, coco pops
1/2 pack cream crackers
1 pack biscuits (choc chip!)
loads of beefburgers for some reason
frozen crispy potatoes
1 portion microwave curry
1 and 1/2 portion spag bol (frozen)
frozen peas
1 portion unidentifiable frozen thing!

Sorry I know some of this list looks mad but I am tearing my hair out and just really fed up now. There is a possibility we could get some more ingredients to use day by day, so feel free to include other bits! The only restrictions are: I am allergic to cheese, and OH doesn't like fish.

We have a slow cooker, a normal cooker (ie grill, hob & oven!) and a microwave.

Thanks in advance for any help!

Cornishpixie_2

I think a way forward would be for you, in the meantime to cook what you have in. I.e chicken breasts with pasta and veg.(use soup for your lunch), and spag. bol for another meal. You could make Egg fried rice . Fry eggs first with Soya sauce if you have any (if not lightly oil pan). Just as eggs setting(would use about 2). Then add already cooked rice, about a cup each. Once Lodger moves out, you could discuss with hubby, agree a budget that he can put into your Bank account or joint one. Then you can make a meal plan and order on line and get it delivered. Good luck:)

katieowl_2

Well Foreversomeday FIRST thing I'd do? Defrost the unidentifyable frozen thing and leave it in the fridge for the lodger......

Without going through the whole list...I'd try and make stir fries with the veg to use them up, the chicken breasts, pineapple and sweetcorn could do some sort of sweet/sour dish - both with rice possibly...

Eat the beefburgers with the crispy potatoes and the frozen peas...

You could probably do with a few onions to help out...I take it the lodger won't eat raw onions?

If OH could bring in some eggs, you could make ham omelette. You could also do "all day breakfast" with Bacon, eggs and the tinned tomatoes...

I'd also do the bolognaise and the curry with some rice, and either ask OH which one he wants or share both of them on the same plate, to use them up - leftovers like this is MY OH's favorite meal!

If he bought home some bread you've got a few tinned soup meals too.

I

foreversomeday

Lol @ katyowl's suggestion to defrost the unidentifyable frozen thing!

He doesn't eat raw onions but he does cook them, however onions don't need to be in the fridge so we could squirrel them away in the bedroom! We don't have pets so don't need to worry about that! I am giggling now, it feels so stupid to have to hide food but at least he will be gone soon.

I'm a bit paranoid about defrosting chicken (our microwave is 1000 watts!) so will be doing that in the fridge and it's a bit overactive (like the microwave) so that will probably take a couple of days, at least I now have some ideas for the days in between - I was thinking we had nothing to eat and now it feels like we have some things at least.

katieowl_2

Slice up the chicken breasts, as they start to defrost, and they will defrost more quickly and you can cook them and eat them before the gannet decends....

My post got posted before I finished LOL...

I was going to add take it easy on yourself it's hot and you are pregnant! Eat stuff in as close to its original state as possible....less work!

Regards

Kate

foreversomeday

Lol fair enough

Thanks for your suggestions again, I find sitting next to an open window helps especially on the side of the house NOT directly in the sun!

ceridwen

Personally....I'm calling a spade a spade here - the lodger is stealing your food plain and simple. I'd hide as much as possible of it - and keep other stuff hidden/locked away as well that he might have his eyes on.

When he moves out (and he'd be going a good bit sooner than he planned chez ceridwen - as in out the door literally tonight - but I appreciate you might find it difficult to get an instant replacement for him so might not want to chuck him out as fast as I would!) - then I would deduct sufficient money from his damages deposit to cover for the stolen food.

zarazara

goodness what an awful situation. Is there anyone you can go nd live ith ntil the lodger moves out? and I think your partner is being very unhelpful.
you could make chicken curry and rice, or curried cauliflower and rice cook the chicken in a tin of mushroom soup as a sauce.

yvonne763

Hi, I've only just started eating up all the left-overs so may not be much help! but you should eat chicken asap, maybe with potato fritters (microwave them then coat in flour and fry in olive oil) and cauli, then the remaining 2 portions in a risotto with rice and peas. Several soup meals if you can get fresh bread. You could make up 2 and a half portions of spag bol so the extra half adds to the half in the freezer. Could your partner take the fridge up to your bedroom? I know it sounds extreme but when I was being eaten out of house and home by my teenage son and his friends, I bought a small fridge for my bedroom and kept all my food in there.

kunekune

"I don'I don't have access to any money so can't shop online and the only way we are getting food in at the moment is what OH buys, when I remind him enough times or he remembers."

OK, so I may be shot down for this but I am concerned. OP, are you OK? This sounds like it could be an abusive situation. Even if you think everything seems to be ok, please make sure you are safe. And safety means, right now, access to the food you need. More importantly, in 2-3 months time, is your baby going to have what they need and are you going to have the food you need to make milk to feed your baby? OK, you will get rid of the lodger but OH does not appear to have any understanding of what you need.

Sorry if this is so blunt it seems to be insulting. But I am prepared to take that risk if there is even the slightest possibility that you are in danger.

coolcait

kunekune wrote: »

"I don'I don't have access to any money so can't shop online and the only way we are getting food in at the moment is what OH buys, when I remind him enough times or he remembers."

OK, so I may be shot down for this but I am concerned. OP, are you OK? This sounds like it could be an abusive situation. Even if you think everything seems to be ok, please make sure you are safe. And safety means, right now, access to the food you need. More importantly, in 2-3 months time, is your baby going to have what they need and are you going to have the food you need to make milk to feed your baby? OK, you will get rid of the lodger but OH does not appear to have any understanding of what you need.

Sorry if this is so blunt it seems to be insulting. But I am prepared to take that risk if there is even the slightest possibility that you are in danger.

No "shooting down" from me kunekune - exactly the same thoughts crossed my mind as I read this thread.

OP, you sound very isolated (can't drive, no access to money), and unsupported (your OH won't tackle the lodger about the fact that he's stealing your food; your OH thinks his way is best). You're pregnant and are basically dependent on your OH's whims to get food. If he's "too tired" he won't go to the supermarket after work - that's if he "remembers" what's needed, or if you've "reminded him enough".

If you were to sit your OH down and tell him that - for the sake of your health and the baby's - you need to eat a more balanced diet; and you don't want him to have to go to the supermarket every day after work (when he's "too tired"); so you'd like to have money in an account which will let you shop online, with delivery...

How do you think he'd react?