Breadline Families - Make Stuff Go Further Tips

Taadaa

NewCustomerOnly wrote: »

Sorry , its against health and safety rules to load the back of a baby's buggy with heavy bags - even a value 4 pack of tin toms, another one of beans, jumbo milk cos cheaper, potatoes, apples etc would be too much.

Sorry to come back to this but some of my environment work crosses into H&S - was just wondering if you could point me in the direction of the legislation or guidance that states this?

BitterAndTwisted

Yes, hummus does freeze well and you can make a great bucket of it for about a quid if you buy dried ones. High in calcium and protein so good for those kids existing otherwise on toast and jam sandwiches so they're teeth don't all fall out before they're twenty. Not to mention the other beans hummus can be made from when they're fresh, in season and cheap.

"My kids won't eat that!" deserves a clip round the ear when a budget is as tight as a duck's @rse

A KILO of frozen oven-chips is 65 pence in Lidl. BK? Not a chance.

Taadaa

Can I pull a silly face and ask where you can get dried chickpeas from? I normally buy the ones in cans and drain them, guessing the dried are cheaper.

sulkisu

NewCustomerOnly wrote: »

seriously, maybe you dont know how bad it is out there - guess what some mums do on a thurs when money has run out so no dinner money - Yup, keep kids off school -

They could do packed lunches for the week instead. That makes more sense than forking out up to £2.00 a day for four days (£8.00 total) and then keeping a child at home on Friday because they can't afford a meal, when they could fill a lunchbox for a week for less.

BitterAndTwisted

Dried chick-peas are on sale, or should be, in most regular supermarkets. If you can't find them somewhere around where they sell rice and pasta you'll find them in the "World Foods" aisle. Indian folks make rather a lot of different things from them, even chick-pea flour for breads. Very tasty.

Don't forget to get them soaking overnight before you cook them. This buying-cheaper malarky often requires you that think ahead a bit.

BitterAndTwisted

sulkisu wrote: »

They could do packed lunches for the week instead. That makes more sense than forking out up to £2.00 a day for four days (£8.00 total) and then keeping a child at home on Friday because they can't afford a meal, when they could fill a lunchbox for a week for less.

Too sensible. Especially when someone seems rather more keen to blame George Osborne rather than concentrating on putting information and power in the hands of those who could do that.

I don't want to labour the point but I'd be interested to know how many of those Mums who keep their kids off school for the lack of a bus-fare, and they can't be working if they do, are regularly buying fags at about seven quid a packet.

SmallL

I think the OP has totally missed the point of most of the comments.
Whilst a cone of chips at a quid is a meal, making a big curry works out a lot cheaper portion wise.
So whilst the chips looks appealing on the surface, spending extra to make more is alot more MSE- to be honest if you were truely on the breadline you would know this already :P

sulkisu

I'll probably get shot down for saying this, but here goes anyway.
With the benefits system that we have in this country, particularly for people with children, I am struggling to understand how/why so many families are apparently resorting to food banks to feed their children.

Every child receives child benefit, which should mean that no child goes hungry, surely?

Also, while the stories in the links posted seem tragic and hardhitting at first sight, on the limited facts available, I will aways retain a certain degree of scepticism.
I have lost count of the number of 'I can't afford to feed my family/ I can't afford to live/etc' threads that have been started on this site, and then when an SOA is posted up, the problem is caused by large debt repayments, loans, credit cards. Or where a significant portion of the family budget is spent on phone contracts, TV packages, or other non-essentials, which were taken out in times of plenty and which the families are now tied to. Or where families have failed to save a single penny for that rainy day, even though they had sufficient disposable income at one time to do so.

I'm not saying this happens in every case, but it does happen.

Just a thought.

NewCustomerOnly

emlou2009 wrote: »

Am I missing something here? How is it cheaper to buy a can of chick peas or ready made hummus than jam? Plus, no way would my kid eat it. Better to give then something they'll actually eat than have them starve til they get home

Thank God - a real person struggling with the real situation - good on you! No-ones saying kids should have nothing else but jam sandwiches but fuel prices are so high that I know people with only pence left and who have no choice!

Thank you for posting!

NewCustomerOnly

Taadaa wrote: »

Can I pull a silly face and ask where you can get dried chickpeas from? I normally buy the ones in cans and drain them, guessing the dried are cheaper.

I have seen them in Holland and Barrett and in health food shops - good luck!