Feed a family of four for £20 a week challenge

lilbert

nursemaggie - So sorry! do you think you could give us a list of foods you and your son do like?
I see chicken and sausages they're a fab start as both very cheap and can be stretched What type of carbs do you both like? Potatoes? Pasta? Rice?

NewShadow

barneydee wrote: »

Sorry for butting in, but a good idea for getting fat of the top of stock is to let it go completely cold then using ice cubs the fat sticks to the ice cubs the just throw away I do this and it works rely well
Dee x

As I'm a little lazy, I sometimes use either a metal serving spoon i shove in the freezer an hour before - just skim it over the top - or a lunchbox icepack - I have to keep them in the freezer over winter 'cause otherwise I'd lose them before summer.

Both just get washed with the slow cooker pan later.

NewShadow

nursemaggie wrote: »

I am retired my total income is £150 a week plus £200 a month towards the rent. They stopped my sons housing benefit as well a his JSA.

DWP could have stopped your sons housing benefit as JSA was acting as proof of income, and without JSA he needs to apply separately.

Its a short form, but can only be backdated in some situations, so you need to get him to apply quickly. He should also appeal his sanction if he informed them over the phone and explained why he'd miss the appointments. Everyone gets sanctions as default if they fail to attend, but most get overturned on appeal.

I'm a little confused with council tax. If he's living with you then his council tax benefit (disregard) will be the same 25% as you living alone. If he's living alone then the same form for LHA will cover council tax and as he's unemployed he'll be exempt.

Could I ask how long he's been sanctioned for? My understanding is that the 4th sanction is for 6 months?

May I also recommend telco value sausages - 75ish pence for 6 and lovely in a sausage casserole.

And sainsbobs frozen chicken pieces - £4ish quid for 2.5kg, my last bag had 8 full legs and 2 drumsticks.

When i was feeding myself and my partner, I was spending about the same money as feeding myself - roughly £80 a month. I gained a load of weight as we were maxing out on carbs - a sack of potatoes from a man at the market was about £5 and worked out at around 30p per kilo and the cheapest thing per calorie from the supermarket was a value pack of custard creams.

It will depend on your area and where you can shop, but cheap alternatives are out there and needs must.

nursemaggie

This sanction has been going on since September I think. It shows no sign of coming to an end. It has now gone to a tribunal without him having a chance to get any representation. The job centre is just the name of the building it is the same department as DWP. They are the same department who sent him on the course at are sanctioning him. I cannot do anything only him. I have to feed him out of nothing and pay his bills apparently because he is under 26 I am legally obliged to pay his debts.

No I cannot go to a food bank you have to have a slip from a social worker to say you cannot afford food.

No I am going nowhere with Npower. I have resorted to calling Npower 3 times a day but they are still swearing my original reading I gave them was wrong. I don't know where they get their figures from but they now say I owe them 1500+ which would mean that we are using around £200 a day in gas to be cold. They have also charged my landlord £126+ for three months electricity and gas and still keep sending bills to me for him while the house empty.

I assume my son has slept last night as he is still not up. He has been up before 7am every day for a week.

I already said my son will not eat pulses. Pulses are beans and peas. Most of the food used buy both of those bloggers are mostly pulses. I was really just pointing out that there cannot be enough calories as we are losing weight. Someone else had asked about snacks. I think butterflybrain does not count things like fruit as snacks even though her family do eat them between meals.

As for asking family. 5 years ago when I left my husband because he was beating us my brother refused to lend me a few hundred pounds until we got our housing benefit. He behaved as if I had asked him to give me every penny he had got. He cannot understand why I never contacted him again apart from sending him my address.

My older son is not speaking to us because my son has been sanctioned and I did not send his son a birthday present. The same son who shouted and carried on at me for over half and hour last year because I bought something he already had while his parents did nothing.

I cannot borrow what I cannot give back. I will still only have £150 to live on when this sanction finishes until the next one starts which will most likely be fore missing the meeting they did not tell him about when his sanction finished. This is not short term he has been sanctioned for 6 months out of the last 8.

I just need to try and feed us on the least money I can. After all this time I do not have any extra food in. I do not buy things like salad cream and tomato sauce they do not contain any nutrition.

I do think it must have been a lot easier to change the diet of a little boy than it is of a nearly 21 year old. He has just stopped eating.

My son will eat cheap noodles but to be honest I can't keep them down they taste more like chemicals than food. I had more than eough of eating chemicals (microwave meals) the first few months after my cancer op last year. I feel I should be feeding him properly or he will suffer when he is older.

nursemaggie

My son is a joint tenant. He is not exempt from Council tax it is now up to local councils whether they charge you or not. My son reapplied for his housing benefit the day they decided to tell him two months after they stopped it. He has also appealed against his sanction but no one is in any hurry to do anything. This is how they get the unemployment figures down.

My son does not like potatoes, he says they have no taste what so ever. I can understand that if he cannot taste them. I am allergic to raw potatoes in other words they set off my eczema badly if I peel potatoes so we eat very little of them.

He does not like jam, cakes, puddings or anything sweet really apart from a small amount of chocolate. He does not like pulses. Neither of us like porridge. He will eat rice until the cows come home as long as it is savoury. I don't like cakes much or puddings. He can't eat nuts. no mushrooms or cabbage.

I still think sausages are not cheap nor is mince or stewing meat. My son does not like stews and casseroles. Chicken is much cheeap and I will not pay £4 to go to sainsbobs when Mr M is ten minutes walk away. It costs £4 for my son to travel into town and back. I take him with me as I cannot carry a weeks shopping. I shop in the market which is definitely much cheaper but it also means a bus ride. I can buy 2kg of chicken pieces, no bones, for £10 lasts us a couple of weeks. For the same price in the market I get 12 sausages. No comparison at all.

boultdj

Nurse Maggie,do you have a car? If so I have a few surgestions

Morrisons
12.5 kilo[about 25 lb] bag of unwashed spuds £2 at the mo
1.2 kg carrots
1.2 net of onions
stalk of sprouts all on 3 for £1.50 or 69p each so mix and match
savoy cabbage what you like and use for soup & stews
500g parsnips
500g swede

Aldi

2 pk gammon steak 99p[ thinking stir fry's here]
250g bacon 99p [again stir fry also to chop & fry with onion to do filling for jacket spuds or to have with pasta as a cabanra type dish]
6 pk tomatoe
savoy cabbage
500g carrots all on supper 6 at 49p
3 pk lemons
swede
1 kg onions


Lidl
750g red onions 39p
400g lean diced steak, thinking stew for a couple of days,then use the rest of the liquid as base for soup
250g ready grated cheddar £1.29to put on jacket spuds,sandwhichs, welesh rabbit
week-end offer 500g beef joint ale gravy, say's it's for 2, but me & OH have it over 2 days.

Not a lot realy, but hope it's a help, seeing as the spuds and onions 'should' last over 2 weeks even if they are making up the bulk of the meals. B

wishus

nursemaggie wrote: »

My son is a joint tenant. He is not exempt from Council tax it is now up to local councils whether they charge you or not. My son reapplied for his housing benefit the day they decided to tell him two months after they stopped it. He has also appealed against his sanction but no one is in any hurry to do anything. This is how they get the unemployment figures down.

My son does not like potatoes, he says they have no taste what so ever. I can understand that if he cannot taste them. I am allergic to raw potatoes in other words they set off my eczema badly if I peel potatoes so we eat very little of them.

He does not like jam, cakes, puddings or anything sweet really apart from a small amount of chocolate. He does not like pulses. Neither of us like porridge. He will eat rice until the cows come home as long as it is savoury. I don't like cakes much or puddings. He can't eat nuts. no mushrooms or cabbage.

I still think sausages are not cheap nor is mince or stewing meat. My son does not like stews and casseroles. Chicken is much cheeap and I will not pay £4 to go to sainsbobs when Mr M is ten minutes walk away. It costs £4 for my son to travel into town and back. I take him with me as I cannot carry a weeks shopping. I shop in the market which is definitely much cheaper but it also means a bus ride. I can buy 2kg of chicken pieces, no bones, for £10 lasts us a couple of weeks. For the same price in the market I get 12 sausages. No comparison at all.

Hi Nursemaggie - I'm very eczema-prone too.
It doesn't sound like there's much point in peeling spuds for you if the are tasteless to your son and they give you a rash of troubles! So sorry to hear of your situation.

What are your feelings towards swede? I often see them reduced to 10p for a half swede and they last for ages. They have a potato-like texture, but are sweeter in flavour. The only problem is, they are not as calorific as spuds, but they do fill you. Basic tinned spuds can work out cheaper weight for weight than basic 5kg bags of raw potatoes, and that would eliminate the peeling. I would also perhaps think of 40p rice, or basic pasta, which is lighter to carry home.

Not great for now, but when you do have spare £8 or so, I would invest in a shopping trolley just in case the pinch is likely to come again, as it enables you to avoid bus fare and taxi costs and visit different shops in town too.

Also, perhaps the food bank would accept a letter from your doctor rather than a social worker? Some do.

carlymummy

Nursemaggie so sorry to hear of yours and your sons situation, probably best to list what meals your son does like to eat then go from there. Could you maybe shop online I know Iceland does free delivery in our area I think for a £25 spend? which might not be too bad if you do a fortnightly shop, also although most people may shun so called 'convenience' and frozen foods needs must, no good wasting money on foods that you can't or that your son won't eat. Also sometimes you can get money off vouchers shopping online for example sainsburys, their basics range (especially tea bags, fishfingers, cheap pizzas & frozen chips) have been an absolute lifeline to me and my family as we often struggle especially at the end of a month.
Hope some of that may help a little.
Carly x


Edited to add - Butterfly Brain great posts once again although I am usually a lurker

nursemaggie

A car you must be joking it would take the whole of my income to run one.

I am not trying to be awkward but I have a shopping trolley I have had shopping trolleys for years. How do you get them on the bus when they are heavy?

I eat swede, I cannot live on it, I have not seen a swede for less than 50p for years.

I will tell you something that happened 5 years ago when I first left my husband and 3 of us were living on £100 a week them. I went shopping and bought lots of savers things. I cooked dinner and put on rice to cook the normal amount I was used to cooking for three. When it was cooked there was only enough for one. I worked it out that cheap rice actually works out more expensive than quality rice because there is nothing there much after it was cooked. I ended up cooking the whole bag of rice.

I do know how much things cost in Mr M I shop there every week. Aldi is a £4 bus ride plus a one mile walk that is why I take my son. I tried walking both ways one week. We got half way home and I could not walk any further. Lidl is a £8 bus journey as it is two buses. £4 is the minimum return fare.

I have cancer I cannot walk a long way I seem to be able to manage just under 3 miles and then my legs just cease up.

I do not think it is anything to do with my GP no wonder they are collapsing under the strain if they get patients going to them because they have no money. Your average GP has over 20,000 patients. How many of them do you think are struggling. When the NHS first started the average GP had just 1000 patients.

I only wanted to point out that I thought there were not enough calories in the meals people were suggesting I am sorry I said anything. I only mentioned my circumstances for them to see there are real people trying to exist on this.

As I have already explained why we rarely eat potatoes why on earth would I buy 12.5 kilos of them. If I buy 1kilo half go bad and I have no where to store them.

moments_of_sanity

Nursemaggie, we aren't judging you at all, we are just trying to understand the things you like/don't like so we can try and help you more.

Have you thought about picking one of the very cheap delivery slots as that way you wouldn't need to go out for the shopping?