It isn`t tough for us. We are OS and we COPE

Justamum

nu1isit? wrote: »

Hello Justamum...I know it's cheeky, but I'm going to ask you anyway (you don't ask, you'll never know). What sort of food/meals are you providing for £2 a day? The reason I ask is there's four of us...and we're looking for extra ideas .
Thanks for any help/advice in advance :beer:.

Well I think one of the main reasons I have managed to do things so cheaply is that I only cook vegan food, so I don't have the horrendous expense of meat. I also stopped buying 'luxury' food like breakfast cereal! Now it's toast (homemade bread) or porridge. It's also helped that all my children have free school dinners so that's saved quite a bit. At weekends or holidays for lunch they can have a sandwich - I don't 'do' lunches, they get a proper full cooked meal at night. I've stopped baking so I'm only going to be making cakes on birthdays.

I have to say that it wasn't intentional that I spent so little last month, but purely because the money wasn't there! Some weeks I've had less than £40 to spend on food :eek:

nu1isit?

Thanks for your reply Justamum :beer:. We,ve already implemented the toast or porridge start to the day . The littlest prefers the toast, and I'm glad she does - porridge is a nightmare if it starts setting, the less to scrub of her and the table can only be a good thing :rotfl::D...

mardatha

Porridge is great stuff; home made soup and bread is great; big pots of rice pud or semolina (god I love semolina!!) , all these old fashioned filler-uppers are cheap and wholesome

Lavandula

I love homemade crumpets and marmalade for breakfast...

One frugal dish I had yesterday was vegetable pie...basically it is leftover veg (carrot/swede etc) in a thick chicken stock (made from chicken carcass), topped with left over mash and grated cheese on top. Delicious, filing and cheap!

Athome1

mardatha wrote: »

Porridge is great stuff; home made soup and bread is great; big pots of rice pud or semolina (god I love semolina!!) , all these old fashioned filler-uppers are cheap and wholesome

I totally agree with the above AND I LOVE SEMOLINA too but judging from most peoples reaction we're in the minority!:rotfl:

mardatha

with jam in the middle and cream poured over !:D

Lavandula

Another strategy for coping would be to try and get free stuf....I emailed approx 50 food/toiletry/make up companies and got £40 worth of vouchers, mostly by paying them compliments (only send if you genuinely like their product though!)....I got £10 from one company after telling them I liked their oatcakes!:)

There is a thread about this somewhere.....

ceridwen

Athome1 wrote: »

I totally agree with the above AND I LOVE SEMOLINA too but judging from most peoples reaction we're in the minority!:rotfl:

I like semolina too - and tapioca and sago...

(sweetened with honey in my case - so not as "cheap as chips" then.....) - but still pretty darn cheap.:D

MKS

Lavandula wrote: »

I love homemade crumpets and marmalade for breakfast...

One frugal dish I had yesterday was vegetable pie...basically it is leftover veg (carrot/swede etc) in a thick chicken stock (made from chicken carcass), topped with left over mash and grated cheese on top. Delicious, filing and cheap!

How do you make the crumpets? Had a quick search and couldn't see the recipe. TIA

lauren_1

Urgh...my washing machines have been down for over a week (nearly 2 now) my absolute genius of a OH over tightened the plastic splitter so i could plumb in 2 cold feeds, needless to say if i try and fill either machine water just sprays everywhere from the cracked splitter....he has yet to correct it, keeps forgetting or he will DO IT TOMORROW, if i ever hear him utter those words again I WILL KILL HIM.

we have no clean towels, i have been wearing the same things for 3 days now as things that fit me are few and far between, i want to wash baby things (2 weeks till due date) i have resorted to doing the kids clothes in the bath and then skipping my top loader straight to a spin cycle. I would have done more but am being told not to bother as 'it will be fixed tomorrow'

He has also sat and munched enough haslet and ham to do 4 days worth of lunch for 4 of us in one day.....not to mention the crisps i bought the kids...

He is just 6ft of pure irritation recently.