What to do when your budget runs out?

HockeyDuo8083

I not good on meal planning and budgeting but through this website i am slowly getting better.

If I run short in the last week(s) of the month or when OH is offshore, I tend to eat cereal/toast/instant noodles once i have cleaned out the freezer.

I have to admit when times have been really tough i have reached for Mr Visa but have always paid the balance in full at end of month. Even then I go to Lidl - LOVE that place! Sometimes defrosting a meal for one when you get in after a hard day is just too depressing!

Rummer

I go to my parents and grans for dinner and leave with goodie bags! Then I live on a selection of weird and wonderful food combinations until I am paid again.

Bitsy_Beans

I second meal planning. It's not that difficult but you do have to be ruthless and stick to it. By meal planning you can work out what you need to buy to create the meals for that week and ONLY purchase those items. I've gone from wandering round aimlessly buying stuff I didn't really need to having a will of iron. I am out of work at the moment and have budgeted a weekly shop of £30 or under per week to feed 2 adults, a 3 year old and a baby. I do have a good stock of meat purchased from Costco which helps keep the weekly cost down and will see us through the next few months.
I use mysupermarket.com to work out roughly what I purchases will come to so if necessary I can change what I need to buy to squeeze into my budget.
Have a look through your receipts etc and see if you can see where your impulse shopping lies.
Good luck. You can do it!

Patchwork_Quilt

I would second keeping your receipts to see just where the money is going. Vegetarian meals cost virtually nothing. How about something like

chop up an onion and fry in a little oil
add a couple of diced carrots
add some green lentils (about 6 oz)
and just enough water to cover.
When the lentils are just soft, season and add a handful of peas. Put in a tablespoon of soy sauce if you have it in.

Meanwhile, boil 2lb of peeled spuds, then season and mash with milk

Put the lentil mix in an ovenproof dish (make sure that there is not too much gravy) and top with the potato. Add a little grated cheese if you have some. Reheat in a medium oven for half an hour.

This sort of thing costs virtually nothing and you can use up any old veg with the lentils.

Good luck

zippychick

I save my receipts when i go shopping. When i come back each time, i mark off impulse buys so i can see how much i have overspent. Tot that up at the end of the month and you may be surprised!:eek: Meal planning is a godsend, and it really is amazing what you can do with whats in the cupboards. Do you have many beans and pulses so you can eat a few verrgie meals? Saves dosh, and good for health too. Lentil curry for eg can be made with bottom of the fridge veg or frozen veg, old potatoes and stock and curry powder (or a mix to make up curry powder)

Frozen veg are great and bulk up most things . Try and make things go further than you would normally. For eg, i used to take a whole tin of tuna for lunch but can stretch it to 3 lunches now by adding chopped roasted nuts, onion, sweetcorn, peppers, apricots, or what ever i have lying around. Maybe consider doing online shopping after meal planning - that way you are focused on what you need and highly unlikely to buy extras you don't need.

When i go shopping, i listerally stand battling with myself if i really need what im buying.Plus eat two bananas before hand, so no urge to buy things not n the list.

Again, try and have alternate veggie nights or challegne yourself to various things.
* One meal for 50p a head a week
* One toast orientated meal
* one potato based meal
* If buying a chicken, work out before hand how many meals you can get from it. From one £7 chicken, i got a breast for roast dinner, 3 portions of pasta sauce, 3 portions of chicken couscous, coronation chicken, and two generous pizza size portions of chicken. PLus about 6-7 servings of soup from carcass and scraps. All the stuff to mke these was in my cupboards and freezer, so it didnt add to the £7. Thats 17 meals from some veg for soup, frozen veg for pasta and fridge stuff for cous cous and corrie chicken. I probably could have got more, but will challenge myself next time.:p
* try and avoid going to the shops. I always have skimmed milk and stuff to make bread in, so am much less likely to go for bread and come out having spent £20! Also have a mainstay meal, so you always have stuff to make it in the cupboards without going to the shop (mine is tinned toms and frozxen veg and pasta . Nice made into a bake too with cheese on top
* variety is essential so you don't feel hard done by (and end up ringing a pizza or something!)

clutterydrawer

zippychick wrote: »

I save my receipts when i go shopping. When i come back each time, i mark off impulse buys so i can see how much i have overspent. Tot that up at the end of the month and you may be surprised!:eek:

I'm SO glad I'm not the only person who does that!

zippychick

I only tot mine up if i feel i need to or have overspent ! too scary otherwise!:eek:

Butterfly_Brain

I agree with everyone Meal planning is essential
Make sure you have at least two weeks back up stock in the cupboards and freezer - frozen veg is as healthy as fresh, instant mash, pasta and rice are essential to have in the cupboard.
Try buying a few things extra for stock every week that way you don't really notice the outlay .
Smart price susages at 99p for twenty have been the mainstay of many a tight month you can make so many different things
get a whole chicken and make it last for three meals, roast one day, a curry, stew or stir fry the next and a nice wholesome soup on the third day.
Check out this thread http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=19417005&highlight=mbaz#post19417005
And also have a look at the store cupboard challenge. It really is surprising what you can do with very little.
Good Luck

jollymummy

pasta and tinned toms for us during lean times, in fact we have some kind of pasta based basic meal once a week.
Can throw in left over peppers/onions a bit of bacon or cheese. We call it pasta surprise
Avoiding meat is another great way to save money, omlettes, jacket spuds, home made pizza etc.
I've started freezing left over veg or making it into soup for the freezer too.

blueberrypie

Patchwork_Quilt wrote: »

I would second keeping your receipts to see just where the money is going. Vegetarian meals cost virtually nothing.

Hah! We eat vegetarian about 95% of the time and I spend a small fortune on groceries! :eek: