Desperate for advice on food shop.

Ruby_woo

Where do you live happy?

guineapiglet

Just got this off the department for education site:



In England, children are eligible to receive free school meals (FSM) if their parents are in receipt of any of the following benefits:

• Income Support
• Income-based Job Seekers' Allowance
• Income-related Employment and Support Allowance
• Support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
• the Guaranteed element of State Pension Credit
• Child Tax Credit, provided they are not also entitled to Working Tax Credit and have an annual gross income of no more than £16,190, as assessed by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs.1

If you qualify, speak to the school. You usually have to complete a form, provide evidence of benefits to get the meals, I think it includes nursery meals if at a school nursery

Butterfly_Brain

crispycreme wrote: »

Thankyou for all the quick replys. I will go and check out the links. Here is a list of what we have in:

Freezer:
Peas
Sliced mixed peppers
1 stick of garlic bread.......cook and crumble over hot spaghetti 24p a packet cheap and tasty
Tub of tomato, lentil & pepper soup

Store Cupboard:
Plain Flour.....cookies, pancakes (sweet or savoury), tortillas, pitta bread, shortbread, pastry and sauces
SR Flour........fairy cakes
Brown sugar....Use for cakes, cookies etc
Cooking choc.........melt the chocolate and dip shortbread into it or chop into chunks and put into cookies, fairy cakes and shortbread
Cocoa powder
3 pks angel delight...........make up into little baby saver pots or yoghurt tubs and add to lunch boxes.
Baking powder
Cornflour
Shredded suet....Dumplings, melt some jam in a pan and pour over for a filling and cheap dessert, better with syrup
3 pks instant noodles.......... add peas and peppers
1 tin of tuna.......tuna lasagne, tuna and pepper risotto, tuna pasties, tuna fishcakes.
Tinned pineapples pieces
Half pk egg noodles
Lasagne sheets.........
Rice...... Risotto with peas, peppers and fried red onions and herbs or add milk for rice pudding
Red onions
Potatoes........... Wedges, Baked in jackets, mashed (If you are mashing the potatoes save the skins, wash thoroughly and dry, use the next day by putting them into the oven with a drizzle of oil and herbs and serve like chips, roasted with red onion, rostis and bubble and squeak
Selection of mustards, pickles, dried herbs & spices

Have a look at the £7 a week thread there are lots of cheap meal plans and recipes on there.

Personally I would buy 1kg of porridge oats 75p Aldi and Asda
A jar of mixed fruit jam 29p Asda
a pack of spaghetti 24p Asda
If you have a local butcher go and ask if he has a pork hock usually between £1 and £1.50 Have as for a roast dinner
15 eggs £1.15 in Aldi
Grated cheese £1.99 Aldi
1 bag sausages pk 20 s.p Asda = 91p use 4 sausages sliced for each meal 1).Toad in the hole. 2). sausage stew , 3).sausage pasta. 4) slice on top of HM pizza with peppers. 5) sausage with scrambled eggs and potato scones
2 tins tomatoes 31p Aldi = 62p add herbs for pasta sauce and a base for pizza
1kg bananas 68 p for 8 in Aldi
Bag of frozen mixed veg 75p asda
A bag of strong bread flour 70p Sainsbury
yeast 7 gram sachets 6 pack 66p. Aldi
tea bags 27p Tesco
3 tins evaporated milk 48p x 3 = £1.44 use watered down for tea rice pudding and cereals, neat for coffee and soup.
Tuna Chunks 54p Aldi
bag carrots Aldi 39p (slice into sticks for the children's lunch boxes)
Lard 49p Aldi
Marge 55p aldi
Gravy granules 20p
Bottle squash 42p Asda
1 pack meat free mince 64p
1 savoy cabbage 39p aldi

Total £15.07

Butterfly_Brain

£7 a week thread is here
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4084527

katydo12

Def look at local fruit and veg shops as I you can often get 'best before' veg for really cheap. as they say its a bext before date and root veg often lasts a while past the date on the bag.

bulk out with dumplings and rice/pasta

xxx

crispycreme_2

Thankyou all for the helpful replys. Some really nice dinner ideas here, will sit down later and attempt a meal plan out of them. Also will check out the £7 per wk thread.

I had a look on the food bank website & we dont have one near here as far as can see.
The shops I have near me are Aldi,Sainsburys, Iceland, Waitrose & fruit & veg stall Wed- Fri.
We are on Surrey/ West Sussex border ( Not far from East Grinstead)

I will apply for the free school meals as from the sound of the info post on them we are entitled, so thankyou for posting that. Little one is not at school nursery so only DS1 could get them, still helps though. Does anyone know how long this takes?

Am also going to check out Healthy Start vouchers, not sure but someone mentioned to me we might qualify for them.

Am really appriciating all the time people have put into meal ideas/ money advice etc.
x x

Spendless

Link to Healthy Start vouchers

http://www.healthystart.nhs.uk/

squeakysue

Good luck to you OP, what a lot of great replies you have had. I am not much good at meal suggestions etc but wondered do you have family nearby, could you get yourselves invited over for dinner one night? Or do you have any friends/family you could borrow some money off?

Do you have any clubcard points/boots advantage points that you could use to buy some bits?

Do you have anything you could sell on Facebook/eBay/gumtree for cash eg dvd's video games toys household stuff.

Hope it all works out for you x

hunters

Foodbank East Grinstead

http://eastgrinstead.foodbank.org.uk/

edit to add you should pop up to the Debt Free board and post up a statement of affairs and they can help you with some of your debts and how to cut back on expenditure.

Boodle

I also suggest checking out menu plans on £7 thread. I also just posted one on the £10-15 for a month thread you might find useful.