Eating healthily for £25 a week

attentionseeker1

I do think it is very cheeky expecting to have scallops- I adore them but can't afford to eat them except as a very special treat and my husband and I both have decent jobs now.
(and if you are going to have them- with Dolmio sauce??!!)
When I was at uni, my parents could not afford to give me even five pounds a week, so I normally had £5-£10 a week to spend on food. I lived on tuna pasta bake (made with value tuna and a can of creamy soup etc), jacket potatoes, HM fried rice etc.

However, if she does have to have fish, other than obviously going for canned, king prawns are normally a good deal- IF YOU GET THEM BOGOF! Our two main supermarkets always have one type of frozen king prawn on BOGOF- so get 2 packets for about £3. That would do my husband and I at least four meals (pasta, stir fry) when bulked out with veg.

Finest sausages are about £2.60ish but then with 6, if you freeze them, they should last loads of meals- I make a luxury sausage and mushroom pasta and would only use 2 sausages for myself and OH- and he has huge appetite!

Seriously though,try to give her the experience of budgeting for herself- I find it invaluable to have had the experience of living on next to nothing and working out how to pay for food as well as my DDs etc- even now that I don't have to struggle as I did then, I find it has given me a better perspective on the value of money, especially compared to some of my friends who were given Mummy and Daddy's credit card when they went to uni and now struggle to stand on their own two feet!

Ames

Thanks for all the advice, but she said she doesn't want advice. She's decided she doesn't want my money, she'd rather eat crap for £10 a week which is all she can afford.

Sorry that you've all given advice for nothing, but I've picked up loads of tips, so it was of some value.

mrsmortenharket

Ames, well done for trying to help her.
She will learn the hard way if she doesn't want advice. I learn frequently from reading this site. Your sister is quite silly. Hope I don't offend
The scallops made me :eek:
Lisa

mandi

Ames

Why dont you cook an extra portion of your evening meal each day , and give her that for tea, along with some breakfast cereals , bread milk & eggs

.I dont know how anyone is expected to " live " on just 64.50 a week, shes very lucky to have you , well done

purpledreams

Hi
Not sure if your sister likes cheap brands , but f she does i was in asda today and they had jars of smartprice cooking curry sauces for 4p!! apparently they are only ever 5p full price with a bit pasta/rice from her cupboard this could be a cheap meal for her ;-)

pd xx

greenbee

If she's decided she doesn't want your help, then she'll have to learn all the things you've asked about that much quicker! In the meantime, make the most of the extra money yourself, either as part of your own healthy eating plan (you could use it to help stock up on a few bits and pieces) or by putting it in a savings account (after all, if you haven't had it to spend up till now, you won't miss it!).

You've been a very generous sister, and I'm sure she'll realise that when she looks back. Hopefully she'll get a job soon and you'll be able to stop worrying about her.

patchwork_cat

Oh dear she sounds rather like my SIL - throwing her toys out of the pram. Might point out she is exactly the same at 44 because no one stood up to her and gave her some home truths.

mumto1_2

If she'd rather eat crap. let her - if she likes the expensive stuff, she'll soon get tired of it.

But, really, as you had to cut back on the amount of money you give her, she'd rather have none???! Ungrateful twit.

Save your money.

Ames

Thanks everyone.

Mandi, I can't cook an extra portion of what I make, because I just do a piece of meat and a pan full of veg - I have ME and get too much pain in my wrists to cook things from scratch. My point to her was that she could eat the same things for well under her budget, but she turned her nose up at it. She actually gets £50 a week because she's under 25, but dad's helping her with some of her bills. He has been giving her about a grand a month for rent and everything, but he's run out of money now. That was before she was able to sign on and get HB though.

Greenbee, I need a few things for the house - warm winter bedding is top of the list. So I'm going to get that, and then save the money. I've got a budget all worked out!

Thanks everyone else, it's good to know I'm not a heartless b!tch being unreasonable.

kunekune

No, you're not heartless. Your sister does need to get real though. Her period of unemployment could last a while and benefits won't be going up. In fact, if my suspicions about the plans being made by the conservative party are correct, they could actually go down. Yeah, it's not her fault there are few jobs around, but the politicians will have forgotten that soon, and we'll be back to the punitive approach we saw in the late 70s and early 80s. Most people in her situation are not getting masses of money from relatives and she will HAVE to learn to manage if she's going to come out of this employable - bad food will lead to bad health and probably a bad mental state. I am assuming that her current costs are related to debts she ran up as a student - a grand a month should easily have covered a shared flat and some reasonable food! If that's the case, should she ever come knocking, contrite and embarrassed because things are worse not better, she needs to visit debt-free wannabe.