What's the naughtiest thing you've done at your most skint?

Homeagain

Living away from home for the first time also resulted in the invention of "gunge" - mashed potatoes, fried onions and baked beans, all baked together. If we were flush, there was grated cheese in it too. Still make it now :rotfl:[/QUOTE]

Sounds delicious ... how do you make 'gunge'?

Mags_cat

Nicolafine wrote: »

Sounds delicious ... how do you make 'gunge'?

Ermmm...it's as easy as it sounds.

Mix the mashed potatoes with some fried onions and baked beans - stick some grated cheese on the top and bake it til it's golden and bubbling.

You could also use up any leftover cooked ham/bacon or corned beef and add them in if you have them.

Smothering it in HP sauce once it's cooked only improves things :rotfl:

It is delicious, which is why I still make it even though I no longer need to do so from neccessity

cydney65

When I had no money for food for my two daughters I would go round to my ex's house when he was at work and steal food. I usually went without. What an awful time that was.

escortg3

I too have done wrong in the past to survive. My ex husband drank every penny we had for him, me and two kids.

I had no money for baby milk once and was totally out. Back then you used to buy it from the local cottage hospital. So i went up and picked up a tin and put in under the pram and walked out. Once outside is cried all the way home as i felt so bad.

I also once stole from my brother, He had a jar with change in and i took £2.67, trying to get it out quietly was so hard. I spent it on much needed food for my family.

To repay what i have done wrong now i am financially secure was to donate a hamper to local hospital for their christmas draw and my brother said he always knew i took change and didnt mind but i threw him the best party ever for being the best brother ever.

John_Stiles

Breaking rules is part of life. Sometimes to do the right thing you have to break rules. Sometimes the rules are wrong and the thing to do is to disregard them. Following rules just because they are rules is insane. Anyone who breaks rules in order to do the right thing gets my blessing. I break rules all the time.

FireWyrm

LittleMonkey16 wrote: »

Some of the stories on here really put things into perspective. I have always felt really bad about writing cheques that I knew would probably take me over my agreed overdraft.

My mother used to call this 'Flying a Kite'. It wasnt until I was much older that I realised that back in the old days of the roller swipers, you could present your card for 'cashback', the store would take a carbon copy which you signed, give you the money and in the three days it took to process and bounce, you had the money. My mother used to do this when we had too much month left at the end of the money and we needed food.

We were forever in overdraft which was always in the region of £300, but more than we could afford to pay. I remember my mother standing a rolling pin behind the front door one day and telling me never to open the door without the chain on. I never found out what they owed and to whom, but it always stayed with me.

One of the re-occurring themes on this thread is petty theft, often of loo roll. While I have never felt all that guilty about shop lifting food, it's a matter of survival, but loo roll? There are other options....newspaper for one.

My mother too was forever on a 'diet', but in her case, she really was overweight and used to buy expensive 'weight watchers' food which reduced our ability to buy normal food somewhat. I know that DH has never gone hungry in his life and it would be a shock to live like this for him, but dont you all find that this sort of upbringing rather gives one reserves of courage that most people dont seem to have? I know for a fact that I can not eat for 7 days and although my stomach might threaten, I wont actually die. I can walk hours if I have to because I did when I first started work. I know you can carry 30lbs of food on a push bike and that you can make a chicken last a whole week and feed two adults for all of that week if you must.

What else have people learned?

jaffacakegal

Mags_cat wrote: »

Ermmm...it's as easy as it sounds.

Mix the mashed potatoes with some fried onions and baked beans - stick some grated cheese on the top and bake it til it's golden and bubbling.

You could also use up any leftover cooked ham/bacon or corned beef and add them in if you have them.

Smothering it in HP sauce once it's cooked only improves things :rotfl:

It is delicious, which is why I still make it even though I no longer need to do so from neccessity

I have something similar than my grandad made every Tuesday for me - we call it Cheese and Onion.

Boil potatoes, add raw onion half way thru then mash it all up. Put in an oven dish and put grated cheese over then grill. Its scrummy! I always have with baked beans and veg yum yum!

It was only years later that I found out my grandparents "invented" this as a way to use leftovers, back in the good old days!

Elmo1985

i have to come clean on the stealing loo rolls from work one i did this on a reg basis when oh was on reduced hours at work a few years back, we ate horrid tesco value pasta for a month god i complain its bad now but thinking back it was a hell of a crappy time, thank god it only lasted a few months and they were back on normal hours again!

immoral_angeluk

I just spent the past hour reading this thread and am totally humbled and grateful that I can afford to feed and clothe my children in our comfortable, warm house.

For all the judgemental types, until you're at the point where you don't know where your next meal is coming from you are in NO position to judge others.
If it meant feeding my children I would steal food or rummage through bins if it meant they didn't go hungry, even if it meant I wouldn't eat.

There's a lot of posts about people having no food, so I just wanted to say that there are charities out there, such as the salvation army, who can provide food parcels to those in need, and if anyone IS in this type of position, they should go to their nearest CAB or advice centre to find out local organisations who may be able to help with food/clothing/etc. There IS help available but you need to know where to look!

krillarbran

I ran out of food for a week once. I had enough money for one packet and instead took multiple packets of supermarket branded flavoured rice to the self service checkout and only paid for one. :S I felt guilty but knew it was nessecary. I did this during the switch between unemployment to being employed as there was a month payday gap. I wasn't told I could get emergency funding.