Help me cope?

RAS

When I was on the dole, I used to budget to replace everything non-food over 1 or 2 or 3 months and put aside a small amount each week/fortnight towards them.

I kept that money separate from food money.

So if I needed a new battery, or toothpaste or washing powder there was a stash from which to draw it.

Obviously I kept a stock check on all items. So what do you have now which is running out? How long will it last? And what will not even need replacing this month?

Also economise on portions. You can get a decent wash of stuff that is not that dirty with half the amount of powder. You only need a pea size blob of toothpaste. You can squeeze the tube, rinse out the bottle and bang the box to get the last dregs.

Tink_04

Thanks for the replys - last night I did a 'stock take' and had enough to last me the week with just buying a few bits to add to it like fresh stuff!! Today I went to aldi and spent £22 and got loads - I have my meals planned till next Thursday and since a didn't need too much as had a lot of stuff in already so I bought washing powder - bleach - washing up liquid and re stocked my cupboard with tinned tomatoes - puree jam etc so did really well. Still a bit worried as it was my first week the freezer/cupboard had lots if odds and ends in I can use to make a meal but what do I do when this runs out? It was cheap today as I only bought bacon and sandwhich stuff in the way of meat but I will need to buy chicken and mince next week which is a big chunk out of my budget! Thanks for all the replies tho, meal planning is much easier than I thought and the idea about a cash purse for shopping is great!

rising_from_the_ashes

Not sure if this will help at all but if you need meat & have freezer room - have a look at the £3 for £10 offers (usually Mr T & Mr A - only sm near me so others may as well - on big packs of mince and chickens)

3 chickens for £10 is brilliant IMHO as a chicken could feed everyone for several meals (eg roast on day 1 with the LO being made into several meals, bones done for stock etc)

If you got 3, you'd have one for Week 2, 3 & 4! (£3.33 out of each weeks budget)

craftynutters

this site might help http://www.cheap-family-recipes.org.uk/index.html

Beetlemama

To add my penny, I find a lot of the home made things cost more than the cheap supermarket ones, for example, pizza costs more if you want proper cheese on it and pepperoni or ham and pineapple, whereas you can buy two iceland/asda frozen pizzas at £1 each and make chips and salad to pad it out.

Same with bread, which is a shame, but on a real tight weekly budget, it's better to go to the supermarket late and buy the 10p and 20p bread and freeze it. I could make a loaf of "free" bread right now, but only because I already have strong flour and yeast in the cupboard, if you have to go and buy them they're not really very cheap unless you get it in bulk....which you can't do on a small weekly budget.

I always, always pick up strong white flour when it's on the reduced rack, it lasts forever as long as you weevil-proof it.

As an idea about meals, we have spaghetti and meatballs fairly regularly, asda SP (smart price) spaghetti (24p), asda SP pasta sauce (39p), asda SP meatballs in tomato sauce (42p) and one of their SP garlic breads (32p but only if you buy it frozen, the unfrozen is 34p), my husband won't eat meatballs so he has a can of chilli on his spaghetti (SP - 54p) and we can get the lot for under £2 and it makes enough for 4 decent sized bowls. Rinse the meatballs before you put them in the pasta sauce, it makes them less tomatoee(?!).

If I manage to pick up any bags of reduced lettuce for 10 or 20p I also invest the £1 for their cherry tomatoes and make salad to go with it, and I highly recommend the asda cola for 59p but NOT the 17p Smart Price coke, that's nasty!

If you don't have an asda, I've no doubt Sainsburys and Tesco's have roughly the same prices on their cheap-o items, its tough and getting tougher, they can't afford to lose any customers either.

Oh and not to sound like some kind of asda worshiping weirdo, lol, but their cheapo washing powder and fabric softener are lovely, I buy them even when we've got money, lol

fairy3

I would just say BREATHE! you are doing great, meal plans til next Thursday? well done! Stuff will run out but the shops are open 24 hours a day and there is always opportunity to make great savings. Check out the recipe threads for ideas, there are lots of meals which do not cost the earth even if they are a bit different to what you are used to. I like to 'cost' meals so that I know for future what goes down well and it can be surprising.
introducing a veggie meal a couple of times a week might help too, my lot love egg and chips night with a plate of bread and butter and yorkshire puddings filled with a thick veggie soup.
Good luck
F x

Kitchenbunny

Good luck to you - I've been doing some storecupboard mealplanning lately and it's interesting to write down what you've got and what you're missing, and then seeing if you've got something in the cupboard to substitute. A lot of the time it transforms the dish into something you'd never thought of before! Like:

Pack of sausages -

Sausage meatballs with pasta
OR
Sausage meatballs with chilli & pasta
OR
Sausage & bacon risotto
OR
Bangers & Mash
OR
Toad in the Hole
OR
1/2 a pack in a Full English Omelette & then the 2nd 1/2 pack in little meatballs in soup or on a pizza
OR
Skinned and then turned into pork mince for any mince-based sauce - say, for jacket potatoes mixed with beans and some BBQ sauce.

Lots of possibilities

HTH, and best of luck.

KB xx

Betty_Crumble

Well done, meal planning is the best thing you can do on a money saving journey imo. I find I still eat as well with the only difference being i've not got my spare money tied up in unused tins in the cupboard.
What I was going to suggest was if your budget is £25 then that is what you have planned to spend, so spend it. If, like this time, you spent £22 then regardless of whether you need it this week or not, spend the other £3 on meat for the freezer.That will enable you to buid up a mini stockpile and also spread the outlay. I hope that makes sense and good luck on your journey.

Tink_04

Hi can anyone suggest some simple meals that can get me Dhaka and dd4 through the next few weeks?

I'm currently 9 weeks pregnant and everything about the kitchen makes me throw up at the moment and has done for the past 4 week's, this means every batch cooked meal has been used up and all our basics are nearly out. Dh has been in charge of the cooking shopping (supermarket smells make me gag too) but this is getting expensive as his cooking skills are limited and his shopping less organised than mine. I have been getting bits in here and there but have only been to local shops as the sickness is awful, I'm at work full time too so I'm exhausted!!

Now I know (hope) this will pass soon but the stocks are low I'm going to do an on line shop but need something dh could throw together or I could do with spending limited time round food. The last week has been ready meal style food or stuff on toast but it's expensive and not what we normally eat.

Sorry for the long post but hoping someone has some ideas x

rachel6188

could you get a slow cooker and get your oh to throw it all in and it cooks itself. meal plan. its horrible ms, my sil has been in and out of hospital 30 times since 6 weeks with hyperemesis gravidarum. is there any foods you are able to stomach? hugs to you and congratulations on the pregnancy. x