How best to spend £13.93 to live for a week?

chalkysoil

merlin68 wrote: »

Me too I have a freezer full of reduced items, then every week I do a big order from approved foods and food bargains. I could live out of my house for about a year. I am having to poke food in the most strange places. lol

Ha! I could have written this I bulk buy what's on special offer at a supermarket (eg coffee, loo rolls) and then go to a different one next time and cream off the bargains and ignore the non bargains. 99p stores and Poundland are worth a peek if passing, I sometimes get 3 tins of Felix cat food for a quid.

lorilainey

You're just a bit too rude littleyellowspider!

The fact is someone is asking for help, not for you to criticise them. So unless you have something constructive to offer to this thread, please refrain from posting.

C-M, Asda is fantastic for whoopsies, if you go in from around 1800hrs onwards. Asda Smart Price is fantastic value, pasta for 29p etc. A good recipe is a tin of chopped tomatoes, a tin of sliced carrots, a chicken stock cube, and some tarragon all blended together, and that would do you at least 2 lunches or dinners, and you can get it all on smart price with the exception of tarragon, but thats just for good flavour, so if you cant afford it, just miss that bit out.

I know you've now been paid, but good to bear in mind for future

sillywilly

c-m wrote: »

just been paid for my month and a bits work. feels good.

Still i will be carefully budgeting this time.

I doubt you will be that carefully budgeting this week!

If I HAD to live on the limited budget for a week, or longer, the first thing I would be getting when I was off that limit would be a lamb dopiaza, mushroom rice and a couple of poppadums from my local curry house!! Even that only comes to about £6.50 at my local so still quite a "budget" treat.

ivfmummy

c-m wrote: »

just been paid for my month and a bits work. feels good.

Still i will be carefully budgeting this time.

I'm glad you got through the week okay, I've read this thread with interest.

sjcollett

What a great thread I have thoroughly enjoyed reading this and picking up some useful tips. Thanks for posting OP and thanks to everyone else for sharing

mrsgreentoad

Mothership wrote: »

It doesn't matter how you end up in a muddle , maybe illness or losing a job could put any one of us in the same position.
The good thing about this site is there is always someone willing to help out.

here here

slowandsteady_2

Just putting another little thought in. Maybe you could get a medium size slow cooker, they are quite cheap in Argos, and maybe make up a batch of mince/tinned toms/mushrooms/onions etc, or some stews and portion them in them little microwave plastic tubs you can get from pound shop etc, and freeze the portions. Then at least you will have a couple of bits in the freezer if needs be again, and they are always there if you get in and cant be bothered cooking

Just a thought-slow cookers are very popular on my favorite haunt, Old Style!

The_Thrilla

I have been in C-M's situation many times. Students have found themselves often in this pickle. I know of a pair of starving students who had not eaten for a day, and then they raided the freezer, taking items of food from each of their housemates. I dare say it was the best meal they had had in their lives.

As I have said, I have been in the same situation before, and I enjoyed it so much, I have been a cheapskate ever since.

In an emergency, you can live on potatoes and milk for ever. Combined, they contain everything the body needs. It is a good idea to keep the house stocked with various beans, rices, lentils.

At the moment Poundland are selling 6 packs of those noodles for £1. If you keep the sachets of chicken broth they come with, you can add them to your pulses to make them more interesting.

Mothership

I've been thinking about this thread, it just shows you how thrifty you can be if needs must. I think there's a lesson for all of us to learn here, maybe we are all spending far too much on food. I know I do. From now on I'm going to have 1 week per month doing a 'poundstretcher'. And put the money I save aside. I started when this thread started, and I have £122 that I'd normally have frittered away. Makes you think doesn't it?

Since joining MSE's forum my approach to my finances has changed completely. Instead of 'How much have I got to spend' foremost in my mind it's now "How much can I save". I follow the grabbit, food and low spend threads with great interest, only buying things I need or will use. My cupboards are now bursting at the seams, I have 'extra' funds I can use for things on my wish list, that I didn't have before. And I am managing to save some money for a rainy day. It's only been 5 months since signing up this site has completely reprogrammed me, I love the thought of all of us looking out for each other, after all we are all here for the same reason to save money without dropping our standard of living.


Hats off to Martin. The government should take him on as a consultant, the man is a GENIUS! :T :T :T :money:

tindella

Really enjoyed this thread. congratulations on getting through the week!

Re porridge - two 500g packs of Tesco's oats is cheaper that the 1 kg pack.

Definitely endorse the slow cooker idea - made a batch of bolognese sauce last month which gave me lots of meals - and I think the sauce tastes better when it's "stood" for a while. Also a chicken is a massive investment - so many meals from a medium sized one - but I expect you all know that!