£10 to feed us until 17th?

gazza975526570

definately check out the reduced items - our local Tesco had about 100 boxes of large free range eggs for 10p

Got enough eggs to make the worlds largest omlette now!!!!

HypnoNu

It might be worth posting on Freecycle explaining your situation and saying you'll take any food that people cannot use, I think if i saw that I would at least try and dig out a few bits for someone in need.
You can get through this, bed,borrow and steal* but you will find a way!
xxx

(* ok, don't really steal! :rolleyes:)

Lunar_Eclipse

missbargain wrote: »

But 10 pounds for a week for 4 people is really tough.

It is. And unless I read the title incorrectly, it is actually £10 for four people for 3 weeks. So less than a £1/week each! I would suggest an emergency car boot sale and offering babysitting/household services immediately if that could help. Just an extra £20 earnt would treble the budget.

Freezer raiding from family and friends is another good idea. Otherwise my meal suggestions would primarily be based around rice & beans and porridge which is very filling and cheap. It's fine made with water and not milk. Maybe some pasta in butter/oil with garlic. You can also get value tinned meatballs which would be filling served with homemade dumplings as a possibility? Value bread with eggs/beans and also used as a basis for bread and butter pudding will keep your tummies happy.

And did I spot a holiday fund in your signature which could be raided?

Good luck!

Triker

Hi, I don't really understand how your going to manage going to a caravan when you don't have much to spend on food.

What about petrol money, entertainment, days out whilst your there or have you pre paid for these?

Coupon net is a really good site for money off vouchers for shopping. If there is a chance that there are any old magazines knocking about check these for money off coupons, both asda and tesco should take them.

Good luck.

Personally, I'd go with the sack of spuds, some cartons of dried milk, that you can rehydrate for cooking, brews etc and cheapest tins of beans, tomatoes, spagetti, pasta, cheap noodles.

NoahsPennilessMummy

Good ideas so far.

It really is worth finding out when the supermarkets sell their stuff off cheap and grabbing it!
I shop online at mr t so not sure when they do it but I do go to my local co op at 9ish in the morning and they have fruit/veg and bread and meat and fish for bargain prices.
Big pans of stew and soup are prob the way to go to fill up.
Have you any books/cd`s/dvd`s you could sell on amazon? I have made quite a fair bit of money on there during various lean months.
It sounds daft but I would seriously check all handbags and coats/jackets as now and again I have come across a fiver I didnt know I had.
Also I would be brutally honest with friends and family and see if various ones could provide tea one night a week......even just someone feeding the kids a few meals is better than nothing.
I hope it all goes well and you manage to get through it!

claire

ZoeGirl_3

noggin wrote: »

I should add at this point that my cooking ability is really limited. I can't make bread- but will be buying Mr T's value for 30p. We have been trying to eat healthily the last few months.

Things I have in at the moment- 2 fray bentos pies, some dried herbs, frozen chicken breast, packet dried cous cous. Apart from that not alot in at all.

Hi,

With the chicken I would boil it in a little water with some herbs, and an onion if you have one, till cooked. Take out the chicken and leave till cool. Shred or dice. In meantime, measure liquid and make up or reduce (by adding water or tipping some out) to the amount you need to cook the couscous. Cooking couscous in stock like that makes it yummy and then just add the chicken. Depending on the amount of couscous, and what you had to serve it with you could make that serve four perhaps.

What is the not a lot at all? If there is anything else at all you should list it here.

Also, I have to say if you are really desperate, try samples online, I get a bit of food that way, and also see if there are any events happening near by that may have free nibbles etc.

I agree with the fruit thing, I have done that and people don't generally mind especially if you offer to pick up windwalls and take away the yuck fruit as well, just put it in a different bag to that which you want to eat.

Zazen999

Don't forget 8p noodles; I got through my very tight years on these. Add one onion and a tin of toms/squirt of tom puree and you can get 4 servings for about 50-60p. A teaspoon of curry powder can spice it up a bit.

Hardup_Hester

Well I certainly wish you lots of luck, I'm spending just £4 this week, but & it's a big but, I cook everything from scratch & I have some stuff in my freezer & cupboards.
I bought potatoes, carrots, onion a doz eggs
I have in the cupboard/fridge/freezer freezer rice, noodles, paste, flour, herbs & spices & a few tins of beans & tuna, small lump of cheddar & some pecarino & 2 rashers of bacon. 1 pack of mince that will make cottage pie & pasties, 6 chicken thighs, these will make chow mein & casserole, small smoked haddock fillet which will make kedgeree
To give you some ideas this is what we're eating this week.
Porrige or toast for breakfast
HM soup for lunch, made with all the manky veg in the fridge
HM pasty, chips & beans
Chicken chow mein
Kegeree
Chicken casserole
Cottage pie
Carbonara.

sweetpeas_2

Hiya :hello:
Thank you all so much for your responses. There are some brilliant idea's on here and some of the recipes cost next to nothing and sound great!
My Mum came to my rescue this morning and gave me £20. So I had £30 when I went and paid a visit to Mr T. I managed to get quite alot with it.
I got enough value pasta and pasta sauces to spread over about 3 meals. I have cooked the sauce up and added value mushrooms and kidney beans so when it cools down will freeze it.
Also done a really cheap, huge, 4p curry with mushrooms again, kidney beans and red lentils. Got som cheapo rice to have with this.
Got the slow cooker full of stew cooking as I type. Enough lentil stew in there to feed us for 3 meals with my h/m yorkshires that I am going to make with my cheap eggs and flour!
Got 30 eggs, so after I have made my yorkshires, I am going to do some mushroom and cheese omlettes as well.
Got enough food there to last about 13/14 meals. I also got a bag of cheap chips- so can do the 2 fray bentos pies with chips and my left over tin of carrots one night.
Oh- got 4 tins of value tuna aswell, so can do pasta and tuna for about 2/3 meals.

Amazing how much healthier my meal plan is now I must say...!

Triker, we are giving some family members a lift down to their caravan as well (same site)- so they said they would pay for the petrol for the whole week.
We sort of make our own entertainment when we are there. The kids enjoy playing with their toys/colouring etc, and we got hold of a cheap dvd player last year- so they take some dvd's down and watch them. We also got about 6 cheap board games off a car boot last year, so they sit there playing happily with them.
The only day out we've really planned is going to the coast one day. We've decided to take a picnic with us to save spending any money, and my Mum has got us some fruit shoots for the kids to take out. The kiddies have a bag of 2p's each as well- bless.
We're going more to chill out then anything else really.

Thank you all so much for your advice and help, I do appreciate it and I've taken it all in. I am going to have a bach at the cheesey bean pie and also get some 8p noodles to have to bulk meals out.

Thanks again everyone, I really appreciate it.

Nic xx

fizzel81

watching this and the other threads with more interest that before iykwim, i started working this week so have come of IS etc and now waiting for working tax creds etc to kick in, dont know what im going to get or when bar getting paid thursday comeing (which is only around £100 oh and my £43 child benifit) but have to pay childminder and get to work luckly ive got some put by, im just hopefull it doesnt take as long as when i had to claim as a single parent last year that was a long 7 weeks for it all to be sorted, i dont have 7 weeks this time, i only get my full hb (and even then i have to pay some myself) and council tax for 4 weeks before its all recalculated

sorry goping off topic

luckly i eat on a shift (i get free meal allowance maccy d's on every shift heathy (not!)) so on work days its just boys to think about

think im going to do a list of everything in the cupboard freezer etc and work from that, i did ok few months ago having a use up as really ive got nothing for anything at the moment and for the next month or so i need a tight rein on everything