Living on a food parcel for a week - need meal ideas

Sheahaven

Milk:
On this challenge, could you substitute normal milk for a tub of dried skimmed or a tin of evaporated milk?
They both go a long way (whether its hot drinks or cornflakes).

Plus with the dried milk can then make up a pint or two of 'fresh milk' at leisure and still have loads left in storage that won't go off as normal fresh milk.

HTH

greenbee

I'd have a look at what was in the red cross parcel and try to match it as closely as possible, particularly thinking about the nutritional value of the contents.

It does sound as if porridge (made with water ) for breakfast (assuming you can eat oats, as i know not all coeliacs can eat other grains) and potatoes for the rest of your carbs would be the obvious choice. Then eggs and tinned fish for protein, and whatever cheap greens you can get for veg.

Good luck, and please come back and tell us how you get on.

rosh12

Don't forget your teabags as well....

Little_Vics

teabags! Pants!! I have no idea how I'm going to cope without all the tea I drink!

I've done a bit of planning and think I'll get a lot more use out of bread than pasta. I'm also going to get oats, eggs, as much fruit/veg as I can, some ryvita and soft cheese. I'll put together a menu for the week, price it up, and then come back and let you know how it's going!!

just an aside (and this isn't at all why I've asked for your help) - we're hoping to raise a bit of money by doing this too. If anyone would like to know more, please send me a PM and I'll give you the details.

Someone asked about the contents of a food parcel - I'll get the list and post it here too.

xLV

rosie383

You have definitely given me food for thought, and I've now got even more ideas for cutting down on our food bill. Thanks Little Vics and everyone else for all the suggestions.

Little_Vics

The food parcel list is below.

I've been really challenged by this project. Although we're personally trying hard to clear our debts and live as simply as we can, I'm lucky enough to have a choice to be able to spend more on food. The people we support don't have this choice. There's no flexibility, and I honestly think I'd die of boredom with the food they're given. I'm sure that it's supplemented by other charities and donations, but even so, it makes for grim reading. It makes me a little sad.

I'm grateful that I get to spend the money rather than have to eat this lot:


1x orange
1x banana
1x pear
1x apple
2x carrots
2x onions
2x potatoes
1x pepper OR 25g chilli peppers
1x tin of spaghetti in tomato sauce
1x tin of baked beans
1x tin soup (chicken OR vegetable OR tomato)
1x tin of tomatoes
1x tin of garden peas
1x tin of sweetcorn
1x tin chick peas
1x small tin of tuna
1x small tin of sardines
1x loaf of white OR brown bread
250g pasta twists OR spaghetti
250g long grain white rice
200g sugar
250g salt
0.5 litres vegetable oil
20 teabags
1x carton of apple OR orange juice (1 litre)
1x carton of UHT longlife milk (1 litre)
100g peanuts
1x packet of biscuits

got-it-spend-it

This is certainly an interesting challenge.

I find that list a little bizarre- there is a loaf of bread but nothing to spread on it. 200g of sugar but other than the 20 tea bags nothing to use it on. I#d much rather have a bag of lentils than a tin of sardines.

Hope your challenge goes well, I think you are definitely better off having the £10 to make your own shopping list.

meritaten

Little_Vics wrote: »

The food parcel list is below.

I've been really challenged by this project. Although we're personally trying hard to clear our debts and live as simply as we can, I'm lucky enough to have a choice to be able to spend more on food. The people we support don't have this choice. There's no flexibility, and I honestly think I'd die of boredom with the food they're given. I'm sure that it's supplemented by other charities and donations, but even so, it makes for grim reading. It makes me a little sad.

I'm grateful that I get to spend the money rather than have to eat this lot:


1x orange
1x banana
1x pear
1x apple
2x carrots
2x onions
2x potatoes
1x pepper OR 25g chilli peppers
1x tin of spaghetti in tomato sauce
1x tin of baked beans
1x tin soup (chicken OR vegetable OR tomato)
1x tin of tomatoes
1x tin of garden peas
1x tin of sweetcorn
1x tin chick peas
1x small tin of tuna
1x small tin of sardines
1x loaf of white OR brown bread
250g pasta twists OR spaghetti
250g long grain white rice
200g sugar
250g salt
0.5 litres vegetable oil
20 teabags
1x carton of apple OR orange juice (1 litre)
1x carton of UHT longlife milk (1 litre)
100g peanuts
1x packet of biscuits

That is awful - couldnt they trade the peanuts and biscuits for more veg? the amount they give isnt even the recommended 5 a day!
also the tinned stuff once opened wont last more than a couple of days before becoming dangerous - you would need a degree in nutrition to make a weeks worth of meals from that! and there is too much salt! and not enough veg oil!
I had to cope with overseas food parcels during the miners strike - and we had some weird and wonderful meals! but, this is not what I would have bought for staples for the week! What the bluddy hell do you do with a tin of tuna and one of sardines for your only protein? where is the cheese? and that amount of potatoes is laughable - everyone on a budget buys the biggest bag of spuds they can!
The Red Cross food parcel must be a sad disappointment to the recipients - I bet they can do better themselves with the money spent!

sp1987

Little_Vics wrote: »

The food parcel list is below.

I've been really challenged by this project. Although we're personally trying hard to clear our debts and live as simply as we can, I'm lucky enough to have a choice to be able to spend more on food. The people we support don't have this choice. There's no flexibility, and I honestly think I'd die of boredom with the food they're given. I'm sure that it's supplemented by other charities and donations, but even so, it makes for grim reading. It makes me a little sad.

I'm grateful that I get to spend the money rather than have to eat this lot:


1x orange
1x banana
1x pear
1x apple
2x carrots
2x onions
2x potatoes
1x pepper OR 25g chilli peppers
1x tin of spaghetti in tomato sauce
1x tin of baked beans
1x tin soup (chicken OR vegetable OR tomato)
1x tin of tomatoes
1x tin of garden peas
1x tin of sweetcorn
1x tin chick peas
1x small tin of tuna
1x small tin of sardines
1x loaf of white OR brown bread
250g pasta twists OR spaghetti
250g long grain white rice
200g sugar
250g salt
0.5 litres vegetable oil
20 teabags
1x carton of apple OR orange juice (1 litre)
1x carton of UHT longlife milk (1 litre)
100g peanuts
1x packet of biscuits

Why 250g salt? Why 200g sugar? Those two are not exactly needed if you don't have anything to mix them and the salt is wayyy over the RDA.

If I was making the pack the list below would be what I would consider needed to go in first with more added as budget permitted:


2 onions
4 or 5 potatoes (to make jacket potatos, mash, wedges)
5 bananas (the cheapest fruit for the flesh weight and not so much water, surely?!)
two tins of tomatoes (cook with your onions to make a pasta sauce to do 3 meals?)
baked beans
tomato soup
tin of peas
tin of sweetcorn
carton of fruit juice apple or orange

pasta/spaghetti 500g value packet. I would rather plump for penne pasta than spaghetti.
1 x loaf of bread (easier to make use of with cheese spread pretending it is butter and and beans)

powdered milk
cheese spread (can do a sandwich or melted for a pasta sauce or replacement for butter on a jacket potato) unless we are basing this on no fridge?!2 tins of tuna(so many people do not like sardines so I would personally double up on tuna). Some of the stuff from the original list isn't much use e.g. the tinned spaghetti in tomato sauce if you have spaghetti to cook and beans (similar to the spaghetti for what you use it for).

Not many people know what to do with chickpeas (by that I mean me!) and I am sure the list above doesn't give much scope for using them?! I'd do away with the pepper as they aren't the cheapest vegetable to get and I would rather throw in 1 or 2 extra potatoes.

I think the variation in fruits is all well and good but an orange/apple when you already have either apple or orange juice is a waste of the fruit as you don't get as much tummy filling from an orange as you would from a banana, just my opinion?!

I think I would leave out the rice and just double up on pasta as there isn't a great deal there to have with rice.

patchwork_cat

meritaten wrote: »

That is awful - couldnt they trade the peanuts and biscuits for more veg? the amount they give isnt even the recommended 5 a day!
also the tinned stuff once opened wont last more than a couple of days before becoming dangerous - you would need a degree in nutrition to make a weeks worth of meals from that! and there is too much salt! and not enough veg oil!
I had to cope with overseas food parcels during the miners strike - and we had some weird and wonderful meals! but, this is not what I would have bought for staples for the week! What the bluddy hell do you do with a tin of tuna and one of sardines for your only protein? where is the cheese? and that amount of potatoes is laughable - everyone on a budget buys the biggest bag of spuds they can!
The Red Cross food parcel must be a sad disappointment to the recipients - I bet they can do better themselves with the money spent!

By my calculations it does provide the 5 a day - don't forget the tins of toms are 4 servings, the beans and chickpeas count and the fruit juice is 1 a day.

However there is far too much salt, not enough protein. It is very eccentric and I applaud what the OP is doing trying to supplement this. My DD is interested in trying something similar, how do you raise money , is it sponsorship?