Food Budget.......Need some reasurance!!

LoopyLinz

Hi Folks

Really just looking for some reasurance. I got made redundant and am currently 25 weeks pregnant. DH and I sat down last night to work out our finances and well they dont make pretty reading!! DH wages just about cover our mortgage and bills leaving us the grand total of £125 a month for food. :eek: We have had a few 'tight' months in the past where we have managed on this or less but this is set to be the amount for the foreseeable future and Im starting to panic!!

I can cook and I can bake, just generally in the past didnt do a lot of either! Obviously this is going to have to change. I have been reading a few threads but am kinda struggling to know what is inexpensive to make..........that makes me sound really stupid. Today I have made bolognaise which I bulked out with lentils and some veg, I think from one packet of mince I may have buked it enough to make two dinners. What else can I 'bulk out'? Anything I should avoid?

Apologies if these are really stupid questions, we have never really been in this position before and Im not really sure where Im supposed to start! Feeling slightly overwhelmed by the whole thing at the minute!

Thanks
Linz xox

Fruball

No such thing as a stupid question here...

Firstly sorry to hear about your job - is there any 'case' there considering you are pregnant? Just a thought?

Re £125 on food - you will manage fine There is a website that has a meal planner which feeds a family of 4 for (from memory...) £25 a week...

Once a week or so have homemade soup with bread for dinner, beans on toast... something like that as a really cheap meal...

I am sure the other lovely people on here will be along with loads more advice for you xx

suseb_99

Hi,
Am sorry to hear about your job,
Have you checked to see if you are entitled to any working tax credits as only one of you is currently working,
and when the baby arrives you will possibly be entitled to child tax credits as well.

Also maternity pay.. as you were made redundant you may not get SMP but should be able to get Maternity allowance.
And don't forget child benefit which is approx £20 per week.

If you go to the website http://ni.entitledto.co.uk/ that will tell give you a better idea.
It may not be anywhere near as bad as you think!!

HTH
Suse

Bigjenny

Hi LoopyLinz

I think this is the site that Frugal is referring to http://www.cheap-family-recipes.org.uk/

Some good ideas and suggestions.

HTH

tracey12_2

Hi Loopylinz

I don't know your family circumstances but when the baby is born you would get child benefit and also would your family be entitled to working tax credit?

Your budget is tight but it is definately possible. I find that a couple of vegetarian meals help to keep the cost down and look at the recipe index at the start of the grocery challenge thread for low cost meals.

HTH

Tracey

euronorris

125pm for two adults is certainly doable. I think the biggest expense you will have is baby stuff (like nappies, wipes etc). Have they already been factored into your budget?

As others have said, do you have a case re redundancy due to the pregnancy? I think they may be able to do it, if a large number of people are being made redundant also, but not if it's just you IYSWIM. This site may give more info on that: http://www.fawcettsociety.org.uk/documents/redundancyfeb09.doc.pdf

Also, are you receiving redundancy pay?

Have you tightened the budget in other areas already? Such as removing entertainment for the meantime, removing Sky (if you have it), switching to cheaper providers for things like gas, elec, phone and mobile etc etc?

PS. It will all be alright in the end, with some planning and cutting back, so try to relax and take it one step at a time.

euronorris

Oh, and that link mentions Maternity Allowance which is apparantly paid out to those who are not entitled to SMP. Will check current rates for you.

Here is info from gov site:


You might get Maternity Allowance if:

• you're employed, but not eligible for Statutory Maternity Pay
• you're registered self-employed and paying Class 2 National Insurance contributions (NICs), or hold a Small Earnings Exception certificate
• you have very recently been employed or self-employed

You may be eligible if:

• you've been employed and/or self-employed for at least 26 weeks in your 'test period' (66 weeks up to and including the week before the week your baby is due) - part weeks count as full weeks
• you earned £30 a week averaged over any 13 weeks in your test period

Earnings from your employment and earnings you are treated as having if you are self-employed are used to work out your Maternity Allowance. More information about this can be found in the leaflet 'A Guide to Maternity Benefits - NI17A'

• A Guide to Maternity Benefits - NI17A Opens new window

If you don't qualify for Statutory Maternity Pay or Maternity Allowance, you may be able to get Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) instead. If you have made a claim for Maternity Allowance you do not have to make a separate claim for ESA. Jobcentre Plus will automatically check to see if you can get ESA.
If you have a visa that allows you to live and work in the United Kingdom you may be able to get Maternity Allowance. If your visa includes the condition that you have “no recourse to public funds” you may still get Maternity Allowance. You will need to satisfy the qualifying conditions. The qualifying conditions for Maternity Allowance depend on your recent employment and earnings history. Because of this Maternity Allowance does not constitute public funds.
If you or your partner or civil partner are claiming benefits or tax credits you may be able to get a Sure Start Maternity Grant.
More information can be found in the leaflet 'A Guide to Maternity Benefits - NI17A'.

AND

How much do you get?

Maternity Allowance pays a standard weekly rate of £128.73 or 90 per cent of your average gross weekly earnings (before tax), whichever is the smaller.
MA is paid for a maximum period of 39 weeks.
The amount of Maternity Allowance you get depends on your gross average weekly earnings or the amount you are treated as earning from your self-employment. More specific information on how your payment of Maternity Allowance is worked out can be found in the leaflet 'A Guide to Maternity Benefits - NI17A'.

The above comes from here: http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/BenefitsTaxCreditsAndOtherSupport/Expectingorbringingupchildren/DG_10018869

So you may have more coming in than you realise. I hope that helps.

I also see from the guide, that it can start as early as 11 weeks before your due date.

Al1x

£125 should be easily do-able especially if there are just 2 of you?

stews done in the slow cooker are a great cheap meal. You can use the cheapest cuts of meat and the fat just melts away leaving the meat really tasty, bulk up with lots of veg. I usually find i can use round 350-400g of meat and bulk out with enough veg to make plenty of meals last 2 days (sometimes with leftovers for hubbys lunch) usually spag bol, stragnoff, curry or sweet'n'sour.

JulieGeorgiana

I stopped working at 10 weeks, I am currently 24 weeks alone. I am elegable for a maternity allowance. You send the paperwork off at 26 weeks along, and they start paying you from 29 weeks along. It's all pretty much straight forward:

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/BenefitsTaxCreditsAndOtherSupport/Expectingorbringingupchildren/DG_10018869

At £128.78 a week for 39 weeks it'll be a real help for you right now.

LoopyLinz

Ahhh folks I knew you would make me feel better! Unfortunately no case for redundancy as there was more than just me, it was a whole team that went. We have used most of my redundancy pay to get rid of any debt we had making our only debt our mortgage. Im currently claiming Job Seekers Allowance and then apparently in a few weeks I can claim Maternity Allowance which is paid at a slightly higher rate. I have just filled in forms for Working Tax Credit, according to them on the phone we will be entitled to £35 a week!! Hmmm I think this is kinda high but I shall wait and see.

We have cut everything possible out, my mobile is on a contract which still has a year to run and DH has a PAYG so not really much I can do here I dont think. We are in NI so dont actually have a choice of electricity suppliers which is rubbish!! The only other way we may 'save' some of our budget is that I may have slightly over estimated petrol for the month, to be honest I dont really have any idea how much we usually put in so I thought it was best to over estimate this one. I have also factored into our budget things such as saving for oil and car tax which we would never have done before.

Im going to sit down with my notebook this afternoon and scour through all the posts and web sites I can possibly find to make this work. Im honestly panicking just a bit but trying to put a brave face on things for DH and convince him it will be all fabulous!! Lol!

LoopyLinz

Wow I crossed posts with a few of you. Thank you all so much, in my little hormonal state Im now sat here crying!

Im adding to my list 'Sort out Maternity Allowance'!! This will also obviously be a great help!

I dont have a slow cooker at the moment, do you think it would be worth investing in one? I had thought if it previously as I wondered if it would mean I could buy cheaper cuts of meats. I might have a little skulk around Asda later with my notebook and try to work out what I should be including in my weekly plan!!