In a bit of a desperate situation here - I really need your expertise!!

tibbles209

Hi there,

Well due to being pretty hopeless at budgeting I unfortunately have all of 2 pence left to last me the next 5 days until my pay comes in Travel to and from uni isn't a problem as i have a prepaid bus pass but my big problem is food! This is where I'm hoping you wonderful people can come in, I've seen how creative and resourceful you all are and I'm hoping you might be able to give me some ideas of anything I can make with the stuff in my cupboard. Bear in mind I have 2p so i cant buy anything at all. This is what I have;

4 bananas
150g strong cheddar cheese
1/2 a cucumber
Flora light
1/2 jar black bean sauce
2 jars tomato based pasta sauce
1 pint semi skimmed milk
1/2 loaf of white bread
2 brown rolls (frozen)
150g cod (frozen)
250g basmati rice
400g wholewheat couscous
1 sachet Ruskoline crumb dressing
400g penne pasta
HP sauce
2 very large white onions
500g bag of red onions
1kg potatoes
Jar of raspberry jam
Jar of peanut butter
Jar of honey
Jar of chicken gravy granules
500ml sunflower oil
Ground black pepper
2 sachets quaker oats so simple apple and blueberry flavour
1/2 sachet old el paso smoky BBQ fajita seasoning mix
250g Great Scot vegetable broth mix
Chicken stock cubes
Beef stock cubes
2 sachets tomato ketchup


I need to somehow make this stretch to 5 breakfasts, 5 lunches and 5 dinners.
I need to bring lunch to uni with me each day, any ideas? I've only got basic tupperware, no fancy flasks or anything. Thanks in advance for your help you lovely people!

jackieglasgow

tibbles209 wrote: »

Hi there,

Well due to being pretty hopeless at budgeting I unfortunately have all of 2 pence left to last me the next 5 days until my pay comes in Travel to and from uni isn't a problem as i have a prepaid bus pass but my big problem is food! This is where I'm hoping you wonderful people can come in, I've seen how creative and resourceful you all are and I'm hoping you might be able to give me some ideas of anything I can make with the stuff in my cupboard. Bear in mind I have 2p so i cant buy anything at all. This is what I have;

4 bananas breakfast with the oats
150g strong cheddar cheese fish pie and sandwich/roll fillings
1/2 a cucumber roll/sandwiches or chopped into couscous
Flora light
1/2 jar black bean sauce
2 jars tomato based pasta sauce pasta bake or pasta salad or if you can eat pasta in sauce cold take for lunch
1 pint semi skimmed milk fish pie
1/2 loaf of white bread cheese and cucubmer sanwiches or pb&j sandwiches for lunch/breakfast
2 brown rolls (frozen) as above
150g cod (frozen)fish pie could also do with rice and onions as a kedgeree type thing
250g basmati rice as above
400g wholewheat couscous make with some stock and have for
1 sachet Ruskoline crumb dressing
400g penne pasta pasta bake with jar of sauce topped with cheese
HP sauce
2 very large white onions fish pie
500g bag of red onions coule also go with cheese in sandwiches
1kg potatoes fish pie
Jar of raspberry jam
Jar of peanut butter
Jar of honey
Jar of chicken gravy granules
500ml sunflower oil
Ground black pepper
2 sachets quaker oats so simple apple and blueberry flavour can these be split? ie half a sachet for brekkie with a banana too?
1/2 sachet old el paso smoky BBQ fajita seasoning mix
250g Great Scot vegetable broth mix put this in cold water to soak now (about half) for making soup tomorow night it has leek in it and some peas etc so you can do a pot of soup and stick some spuds in it too, 2 or three meals at least, or a starter to a more meagre meal.
Chicken stock cubes soup
Beef stock cubes
2 sachets tomato ketchup


I need to somehow make this stretch to 5 breakfasts, 5 lunches and 5 dinners.
I need to bring lunch to uni with me each day, any ideas? I've only got basic tupperware, no fancy flasks or anything. Thanks in advance for your help you lovely people!

Right lets count Breakfasts 4or five (cereal and banana, or a pb&J sandwich)

Lunches Pasta bake, couscous (bit of a stretch) Cheese and cucumber sandwiches pb&J sandwiches. Should be OK

Dinners Pasta bake, fish pie, soup, kedgeree thing

you should have enough there to see you through, it ,might be a bit boring, but you'll survive. Good luck.

Fruball

tibbles209 wrote: »

Hi there,

Well due to being pretty hopeless at budgeting I unfortunately have all of 2 pence left to last me the next 5 days until my pay comes in Travel to and from uni isn't a problem as i have a prepaid bus pass but my big problem is food! This is where I'm hoping you wonderful people can come in, I've seen how creative and resourceful you all are and I'm hoping you might be able to give me some ideas of anything I can make with the stuff in my cupboard. Bear in mind I have 2p so i cant buy anything at all. This is what I have;

4 bananas snacks as you will prob need some
150g strong cheddar cheese with sliced potato and some milk as a bake
1/2 a cucumber with jacket potatoes
Flora light
1/2 jar black bean sauce with rice as a poor mans takeaway
2 jars tomato based pasta sauce with onions and pasta with cheese on top
1 pint semi skimmed milk
1/2 loaf of white bread with peanut butter/jam for sandwiches
2 brown rolls (frozen) with peanut butter/jam for sandwiches
150g cod (frozen) with jacket potato or mash
250g basmati rice with black bean sauce as above
400g wholewheat couscous with stock for filling cheap lunch (take the couscous and stock cube and just pour on kettle waterl
1 sachet Ruskoline crumb dressing
400g penne pasta with tomato pasta sauce and cheese
HP sauce
2 very large white onions
500g bag of red onions French onion soup
1kg potatoes bake half of them as jackets, freeze if you can or keep in fridge - can microwave with cheese if you have micro at uni, mash some or make chips with sunflower oil
Jar of raspberry jam
Jar of peanut butter
Jar of honey
Jar of chicken gravy granules with potatoes (mashed/baked)
500ml sunflower oil
Ground black pepper
2 sachets quaker oats so simple apple and blueberry flavour breakfast with jam
1/2 sachet old el paso smoky BBQ fajita seasoning mix
250g Great Scot vegetable broth mix with stock, soup
Chicken stock cubes
Beef stock cubes
2 sachets tomato ketchup with hm chips covered with a sprinkling of cheese

Can also layer thinly sliced potatoes and onions in a dish, pour over some stock and cook it - its a french thing but i can't remember the name.


I need to somehow make this stretch to 5 breakfasts, 5 lunches and 5 dinners.
I need to bring lunch to uni with me each day, any ideas? I've only got basic tupperware, no fancy flasks or anything. Thanks in advance for your help you lovely people!

I would try to beg some salad dressing/salad cream and a tin of tuna and make tuna pasta salad for lunches, then you could use bread for toast for breakfast.

Notice there is no alcohol on there... Not like my uni friends :rotfl:

Good luck, must be stressful but you have enough to eat I think, its just a case of being creative and not necessarily eating what you normally would for breakfast or lunch!

For the future, I would set aside your food budget in a separate purse and try to set aside a few bits each week in case of emergencies later, ie pasta, sauce, tuna, porridge oats and bread if you have a freezer.

Let us know how you get on One of my good friends is at uni atm and if she was struggling I would send her a few quid (not that I have much) to help her out

RAS

tibbles209 wrote: »

150g cod (frozen) - make a bake with 50g, some of the pasta sauce and top with a little cheese, and eat with potato.
150g strong cheddar cheese
400g penne pasta - pasta salad one day? Then pasta and tomato sauce with some fish one day (even 25g) and pasta sauce and cheese another day.
250g Great Scot vegetable broth mix - get some of that soaking now, even 50gs as you need to make some soup tomorrow. You can use chicken stock cube with some onion for one variant and either a bit of pasta sauce or the tomato ketchup and a beef stock cube for a different soup.
Flora light
1 pint semi skimmed milk - I suggest you freeze half of this if possible, as it will go off in 5 days
1/2 loaf of white bread
2 brown rolls (frozen) this is the base of something for lunch on two days - even if ther filling is cheese or peanut butter.
250g basmati rice -
400g wholewheat couscous - and this will provide the base for some more lunches
500ml sunflower oil
2 very large white onions
500g bag of red onions
1kg potatoes - baked potatoes - with cheese or with pasta sauce

1 sachet Ruskoline crumb dressing
1/2 jar black bean sauce
2 jars tomato based pasta sauce
Jar of chicken gravy granules
HP sauce

1/2 a cucumber


2 sachets quaker oats so simple apple and blueberry flavour - breakfast for two days here

1/2 sachet old el paso smoky BBQ fajita seasoning mix
Chicken stock cubes
Beef stock cubes
2 sachets tomato ketchup
Ground black pepper

Jar of raspberry jam
Jar of peanut butter
Jar of honey
4 bananas - baked bananas and honey?

No sugar at all?
No vinegar?
No salt?
Can you raid even a little bit from the Uni canteens in packets? Oil and vinegar gives you salad dressing for couscous and pasta.

No flour at all?

You could do either a potato bake, sliced potatos, onions with a little milk and a stock cube and either a little cheese or 50gs fish and it would do two days main meal.

If you can beg a couple of spoons of curry powder, then cooked rice, cooked onion flavoursed with curry powder, flora and cooked fish make a kedigree.

If you can get 25 g flour, you can make white sauce flavoured with fish or cheese as another pasta suace.

jackieglasgow

Nice job Frugal its amazing how different eyes see things. Chips is genuis why didn't I think of them?

Tiddles it might be an idea to get one of those supermarket savings cards and put a couple of quid on everytime you do your shopping to have a wee bit by you in times of (non beer) emergencies

jackieglasgow

Oh just had a thought, instead of chips you could use the fajita seasoning and do spicy wedges! I am hungry, can you tell? :rotfl:

Fruball

:T:T:T:T

jackieglasgow wrote: »

Oh just had a thought, instead of chips you could use the fajita seasoning and do spicy wedges! I am hungry, can you tell? :rotfl:

Spicy wedges is even more genius than chips!!!! Well done

tibbles209

Hey guys,

Thank you so much for all the great ideas This is seeming much less daunting now. RAS I'm afraid I don't have any of that stuff, i might be able to get some salt from uni but i think thats about it =/
and Jackieglasgow I love the sound of those potato wedges! Ill definetly be making those at some point this week.
Frugal I put the broth mix in some water to soak, going to make that for dinner tomorrow Thanks again so much all of you!

Fruball

jackieglasgow wrote: »

Nice job Frugal its amazing how different eyes see things. Chips is genuis why didn't I think of them?

Tiddles it might be an idea to get one of those supermarket savings cards and put a couple of quid on everytime you do your shopping to have a wee bit by you in times of (non beer) emergencies

More genius!!! Great idea, even if its just a quid a week (hopefully more) then you would have enough for bread, milk, eggs etc.

Do you have a rough idea of what your weekly budget is for food as we could probably help with a weekly shopping list so you aren't in this situation again.

Also, what supermarkets do you have access to? Any Aldi or Lidl near you?

xx

RAS

tibbles209 wrote: »

Hey guys,

Thank you so much for all the great ideas This is seeming much less daunting now. RAS I'm afraid I don't have any of that stuff, i might be able to get some salt from uni but i think thats about it =/
and Jackieglasgow I love the sound of those potato wedges! Ill definetly be making those at some point this week.
Frugal I put the broth mix in some water to soak, going to make that for dinner tomorrow Thanks again so much all of you!

Our main dining room has salt, pepper, sugar and vinegar out for the taking. Check up tomorrow.

tibbles209

Frugal wrote: »

More genius!!! Great idea, even if its just a quid a week (hopefully more) then you would have enough for bread, milk, eggs etc.

Do you have a rough idea of what your weekly budget is for food as we could probably help with a weekly shopping list so you aren't in this situation again.

Also, what supermarkets do you have access to? Any Aldi or Lidl near you?

xx

I probably have about £20/week for food, I'm quite limited for time though so I really need food to be quick and convenient. There is a Lidl a couple of minutes walk away, and then there is a bg tesco about 30 mins walk away so I can usually only really find the time to go there about once a week.

The budget was all fine until last night, but i was at a halloween party, and when i've been drinking all sense seems to go out the window and I ended up blowing the rest of my months budget going out to a club afterwards So now I'm learning the hard way.

It really is lovely that people here are so willing to help xx