Please Help! I've Only Got £15 To Last A Fortnight.

[Deleted User]

I know its not much help but years ago I lived for a week on custard when I was really broke .Took me a long time to ever taste it without remembering how brassic I was in 1962
Only because I had a big tin of Birds custard powder in the cupboard and I just bought milk everyday,half-inched small packets of sugar from my canteen at work to sweeten it with.Oh the joys of being young and hard up, not.

caitybabes

My friend ate a lot of pasta and tinned tomatoes with cheese when she was hard up... makes quite a tasty filling meal for not a lot.

lostfarmer

OK, this is completely do-able... don't panic!

Pasta is your new best friend. Pasta, passata, onions, cheese (large blocks about 2.50 from aldi) and hot dogs or anything similar meat wise. Tins of sweetcorn. This = a tasty pasta bake for next to nothing.

Invest in a block of butter and a loaf of smart price or similar bread- keep in fridge and it will last for ages for toast etc.

Smart price / economy noodles- 9p a packet- add any veg you have to hand for flavour.

OK, so maybe not a 5 a day job but you'll live for a couple of weeks!

Good luck!

GEEGEE8

ASDA/Tesco etc do 9p noodles.. they are the ones you boil in a pan, microwave with water, or just soak them in boiling water for 10 mins.. I think hey are ace.. not the healthiest of things, but for 9p! two packets makes a decent lunch.. dip some bread into them, voila !!

*Can be found on the bottom shelf in most supermarkets, where you won't even notice them til you look*

Potatoes are cheap and versatile too..

Bread / Butter

If you have flour and milk you could make pancakes? (I think)

Dazi

I think this is the the thread Trinny mentioned

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2400779, this does assume though that you have a good store cupboard.

for me, when budget is tight,it is as others have said, pasta, pasta all the way . Value tin of tomatoes and anything you have in the cupboard or is on offer, although if you don't like pasta this could be a problem! Saying that potatoes and toast are just as good, Jacket potato with ......cheese (hard cheese or soft like Philly) or beans or egg or anything really, the same fillings for potato would work on toast.Sardines on toast is ok too, if you like sardines that is!

A pack of tesco value mince is about £2, you could make a few meals out of this. 1 with the pasta ,1 chilli to go with a jacket potato, 1 with mash to make a shepherds pie, meatballs with tomato sauce....have now run out of suggestions so will leave it at that :rotfl:

If you do have stuff in, just post what you have and you will get loads of ideas with what to do with it and what to buy to go with it etc

As has been said, do the supermarkets when they mark down stuff for veg and bread.

katholicos

In the chilled section of most supermarkets you can buy fresh filled tortellini/gnocchi....Tesco have 500grams gnocchi for £1 at the moment...and fresh filled tortellini 400 grams for £1.50 or 900 grams for £3.09. It is freezable and will give you many meals, at least 4 or 5 generous portions. All you need to go with it is some pasta sauce ...tesco sell their basic pasta sauce for 36p for a large jar and you should be able to get 2 or 3 servings out of it. The best thing about this pasta is that it cooks in 3 mins! We love it as a healthy standby meal. It's cheap, convenient, filling and nutritious.

Neil1969

Hello Everyone,

This is my very FIRST post on MSE :-)

Hi nordtraveller,

As everyone has said...Pasta is your new best friend.

I was in a similar position to yourself a couple of months ago (not now though, I'm in a much healthier position) and didn't have a clue what to do.

A quick trip round Tesco with £10 to get me through two weeks and all was not lost. I bought Tesco value pasta, noodles, tuna, sweetcorn, tinned potatos, tinned tomatoes, onions, cheese, hotdogs, meatballs, baked beans, bread and butter.

I couldn't believe how far my £10 had stretched, it was awesome and I eat well everyday. It can be done and we've all been there.

I wish you luck :-)

[Deleted User]

Seriously its true food is a lot cheaper in supermarkets if your not too bothered for a fortnight about 'healthy eating 'You won't die without a banana or apple a day' find the best reduced offer if possible on spuds,pasta,rice,onions,cheese and pasta or curry sauce,don't forget the old standby of sardines or pichards for flavouring if nothing else (they're actually not bad for you either as it makes a change to have some fish in your diet) and you will survive.it maybe a bit boring but it is do-able .Send me your email address by pm and I will email you my online 'Misers Cookbook'.Lots of meals on there for very little cash that I have collected here and there,especially from this site, I have sent it to probably well over 100 folk on here in the past few months. Shop toward the end of the day to get the best reduced prices and of course try to set out a menu for the 14 days of breakfast,lunch and dinner.MrT's porrige oats at around 40p a bag will sort out a good few breakfasts as well as filling you up at the start of the day.if you have friends or relations explain how you are stuck for a fortnight and with luck someone will either invite you for a meal or donate some spare tins from their store Its amazing how creative you can be when you try, but do try to make every penny do the work of two I have,like a lot of folk on here been in that situation and its just possible that it will give you a bit of a nudge to get a small emergency store cupboard when things get a bit better.Third world folk live on far less for a month than you have for a fortnight .
Good luck

zippychick

Did Nord ever come back so we could work out a plan on what he has int he cupboards? Waiting a list:p:j

domesticgoddess789

Hey just wanted to send some encouragement your way. With all of the excellent tips above I have no doubt that you will be fine!

I'd second the suggestion of buying a bag of smart price porridge oats for breakfast. It can be made with water and a 1kg bag will last quite afew days. I'm a bit of a porridge queen though and have even been known to have it for dinner when things get bad/ cannot be bothered to cook!

For lunches, you could have smart price beans/ sardines/pichards on toast.

For dinners, pasta or jacket potatoes are super duper cheap.

Hayley