urgent help with food budget

skader

Thanks for the inspiration firewyorm :j
You've made me want to do some baking this weekend
Thanks again

girlatplay

Try to get your hands on cheap food flasks. It is worth paying for them if you want your kids to have hot meals some days.

tiggerbodhi

FireWyrm wrote: »

Beer and wine is home brewed and very nice it is too. I bought a bottle from the shop the other night because we had none ready...it was horrible.

Don't suppose you have a recipe for Jack Daniels?

FireWyrm wrote: »

A dozen sausage rolls (easily), fresh baked in about 40 minutes. Those same sausage rolls in the supermarket would retail for around £2.20 each!

Problem is a dozen fresh sausage rolls just out of the oven, will power or get a vegatarian to hide them, actually that would work, eat 7 immediately leaves 5 for the week! :rotfl::rotfl:

Since becoming BR and moving in with a new partner, tend to meal plan the week and cook fresh as much as possible, saves a lot in not wasting fresh ingredients, can make a really good beef stew to die for for £6 for 5 litres, enough for at least 6 portions eat 2, freeze 4, and the dogs get the left over gravy!

As for the IVA "allowances" for a single person I was allowed £250 per month for groceries, this does include washing etc, you dont have to spend this or provide reciepts so anything saved from a budget can be allocated elsewhere.

dandelionclock30

£30.00 per week for childrens lunches is too much in my opinion.I would explain that they could have a nice hot dinner at tea time.If anyone at school says anything they can just say that they fancy sandwiches for a change etc. The flask idea is good, also you can get a cheap drinks flask and fill with hot water and theycan have cup a soups etc.
You can make pastry really cheaply, I use stork/trex and everyday value flour from Tescos.You would be able to make enough sausage rolls, quiches and pasties to sink a ship out of a bag of 60p flour.
Also I go to the market and get cheap fruit and veg there.I make lots of fruit crumbles for my mum.They are very cheap to make.

FireWyrm

tiggerbodhi wrote: »

Don't suppose you have a recipe for Jack Daniels?

Unfortunately, distilled spirits are illegal...or so they say. Doesnt seem to bother moonshiners though. No, wine and beer by the barrel are home brewed and a 30 pint beer kit is £25(ish). I brew hedgerow wines by the demi-john so I'm not sure, but probably no more than £1.50 per bottle in the end.

tiggerbodhi wrote: »

Problem is a dozen fresh sausage rolls just out of the oven, will power or get a vegatarian to hide them, actually that would work, eat 7 immediately leaves 5 for the week! :rotfl::rotfl:

I didnt say they lasted all week. I said they were cooked FOR the week. If people choose to have no willpower and eat them straight off the wire rack, that's not my fault. By the way, for added zing...a little grain mustard smeared on the inside of the pastry before you fill it with meat is very nice....another thing that can be made quickly and easily by the jar.

I not only have to guard baked goods from husband and children, the cats have been known to steal a banana muffin or two. Our youngest was thought to be the guilty culprit until we spotted one of our blacks gobbling one under the table :rotfl:

tiggerbodhi wrote: »

Since becoming BR and moving in with a new partner, tend to meal plan the week and cook fresh as much as possible, saves a lot in not wasting fresh ingredients, can make a really good beef stew to die for for £6 for 5 litres, enough for at least 6 portions eat 2, freeze 4, and the dogs get the left over gravy!

Our slow cooker gets a work out at least once a week. A slow cooked 'steak' (scrag end) and kidney stew then topped with suet pastry and baked for dinner the other night...yum. Real winter warmer and it takes about 20 minutes to prepare.

tiggerbodhi wrote: »

As for the IVA "allowances" for a single person I was allowed £250 per month for groceries, this does include washing etc, you dont have to spend this or provide reciepts so anything saved from a budget can be allocated elsewhere.

Washing 'tablets' are a joke. Get some VWP from Ebay and use it in the dishwasher...its basically clorine anyway. Washing liquid, use half the recommended amount...their recommendations are way more generous than you need...hence, you use it more quickly. Who'd have thought it!

pelirocco

i think a lot of posters have misunderstood the OP , she needs to know what she can allow under the terms of an IVA , what she wishes to spend is a different matter

HappyMJ

pelirocco wrote: »

i think a lot of posters have misunderstood the OP , she needs to know what she can allow under the terms of an IVA , what she wishes to spend is a different matter

Agreed...we all want to spend as little as possible. I would keep the school dinners and list that as a separate expense to the groceries which could be as high as £350 a month for a single parent and 2 kids. 2 adults and 3 children the figure would be much higher. The figure sounds high but it includes absolutely everything you can buy at the shops. Then I wouldn't actually spend the £350 and hopefully aim for £250 and would have £100 a month change which I could spend on anything I want.

theoretica

Do you know from reciepts and bank statements how much you have been spending in the past?