Do I still fit in here if...

Penelope_Penguin

faithcecilia wrote: »

I'm having trouble getting on benefits (ie told I'm not entitled to a penny).

Not being nosy, but as a CAB adviser, I need to ask, have they given you a reason for being turned down You've said before that you have no income, and no savings, so you should be entitled to Job Seekers

You can PM me if you like, or get over to the Benefits Board for more help.

Penny. x

debtmuncher

if you are feeding your landlord twice a week then i hope he/she is feeding you on another two nights as well lol. seriously if you are really stuck then you need to be looking after yourself never mind trying to cater for another person two nights a week.

the dhs (or whatever it is they call themselves these days) do crisis loans. are you not working at all? absolutely no income?

flippin36

Do you care for veggie mince. Tescos own brand is as good as quorn and is under £2. I'm sure that it could feed you at least 4 meals if you add veggies and tin toms. Make chillies or lasagne from it. You could add value kidney beans or lentils to bulk it out.

I've also noticed chickpeas are cheap at the moment. They are a bit bland but you can make chillies with them.

Do you eat fish? Tuna is very versitile.

Good old fashioned baked beans on toast with grated cheese maybe?

got-it-spend-it

I find a big vat of lentil soup hard to beat- sweat an onion, add a couple of chopped carrots, a handful of lentils, a tin of tomatoes and a pint or so of veggie stock. It's also nice with some curry powder or paste added at the onion stage if you have any.

If you can get to Tesco at the end of the day then pick up reduced bread and freeze it. This can save you a lot of money compared to buying full price. Beans on toast or scrambled eggs on toast are good, cheap quick options.

Not the healthiest option, but Tesco value noodles are filling and very cheap (around 9p I think) and can be prepared really quickly with some frozen veggies thrown in as they cook.

Fire_Fox

I'd highly recommend a read through Weezl74's 'Eat Healthily on 50p per day' threads.

ceridwen

faithcecilia wrote: »

I'm having trouble getting on benefits (ie told I'm not entitled to a penny). So how can I get my weekly budget to the absolute minimum using Tesco (no local green grocers, and bus to Lidl/Aldi in town adds £4 a trip). I'm a very unfussy veggie. This isn't 'play' now, its sheer survival. To feed 1 (me) 5 days a week and 2 (landlord too) twice a week.

Thanks

Hmmm....oh dear. Have you put a query on the Benefits Board on this Forum re whether you actually ARE entitled to benefits? I presume they have told you that you are deemed to have "resigned from a job" and therefore are disqualified from due benefits for up to 26 weeks? I think it could be worth appealing if so - being in a nunnery is hardly a job in any conventional sense of the word....:rolleyes:

Good luck...and DO put that query on the Benefits Board.

ceridwen

....and, at a just plain how to eat on zilch £ per week theme - IF the DWP keeps on playing awkward re your benefits for that 26 weeks maximum - then, I can only say what I would do in your position. That is - I would go skipping - ie looking in supermarket skips for perfectly good food that they have thrown out. Try looking up "freegan" clips on YouTube. There is also a freegan website or two around on t'Web. Yep - I'm serious - I really would, rather than having problems literally finding the money for my food.

Take care.

ceridwen

Reet...Cecilia - I've just stuck "freeganism" into Google and loads came up. Try this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DN19Z0bw4g

I'm with ya gal on getting back into "civilian life" after your "previous life". It isnt an easy ride you have chosen there I know - so all power to your elbow.:T

Olliebeak

Please, Cecilia, appeal against that decision and make sure that you take somebody along with you for support. Is there a Welfare Benefits Advice organisation where you live. If so, they may agree to accompany you to an appeal. There's no way you can be left to live on absolutely nothing at all. Even if they consider that you've 'resigned from your last post', it can hardly be deemed a 'job' in any real sense of the word as you wouldn't have been paid for it.

I'm so sorry you're going through all this at the moment, you've got enough to contend with right now. Good luck and I do hope everything sorts itself out.

Ollie xx

Are there any charitable organisations looking for volunteers? They often feed volunteers in exchange for a couple of hours work.

ceridwen

I fully agree with Olliebeak there - appeal - please appeal. The "official mindset" often chooses to just take the easiest way out - rather than applying commonsense. As Olliebeak points out - its not as if you were paid for your last job. "Job" anyway is totally the wrong word to use for it - "vocation" is a more appropriate one. HUGE difference - and that was a vocation you werent paid for. I think/I am positive that would be THE point that you would need to emphasise at a Tribunal - ie that "how COULD it be deemed to be a job? - jobs pay a salary and you WERENT paid a salary". i think personally that you would win if it came to a Tribunal hearing - in fact I would be willing to bet on it (whoops - apologies for mentioning betting) - but I do honestly reckon you would win "hands down" if it came to it.

I know...I know...that "fighting for your rights" is going to feel VERY alien to you as a concept after spending that time in a nunnery. You have been in a VERY different world to "The Everyday World". I guess that is one of the first "life lessons" that you will have in the "Everyday World" though - ie that its not enough just to ask for something/be right - there is sometimes a "fight" on one's hands to "prove" that its right to get what it is that one is asking for. I hate that fact myself....so I sympathise.

But DO "fight" this unjust decision- and I honestly believe that this would go well for you.

Take care.