Please help with meals...hard times

BitterAndTwisted

carlymummy wrote: »

DH went for a promotion at work to a supervisor which he got but it meant moving from weekly to monthly pay he got the job.

Angel, the transition from weekly to monthly pay and the difficulties it can cause are not unknown to employers. If they haven't offered any help he should ask them for a short-term salary advance payable out of a couple of month's pay. A bit like a season-ticket loan but shorter-term. A decent employer would agree to this. No askee, no getee.

Mrs-s_4

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

Angel, the transition from weekly to monthly pay and the difficulties it can cause are not unknown to employers. If they haven't offered any help he should ask them for a short-term salary advance payable out of a couple of month's pay. A bit like a season-ticket loan but shorter-term. A decent employer would agree to this. No askee, no getee.

I agree, we were in this situation a few months ago and DH employers worked out a plan were he was paid 2 weekly for 2 months then we had enough to get by, it was tight but alot more manageable x

boultdj

Chop up half the sausages and make a toad in the hole, and use the other half to do sausage meatballs and pasta.
Take your instant noodles,a chicken stock cube,sweetcorn and about a pint of water and do a soup.

meritaten

notanewuser wrote: »

Potato plants don't "flower" as such. The leaves turn yellow and wilt at which point you harvest the potatoes. Ours aren't far from being ready - perhaps a week or so.

not sure what variety you plant - but I have seen flowers on virtually every potato I have ever planted - after the flowers die and the leaves start changing colour is when they are ready to 'lift'. you can leave them a couple of weeks or so if you want larger spuds but you shouldn't leave them so long the all the top part of the plant is dead.

carlymummy

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

Angel, the transition from weekly to monthly pay and the difficulties it can cause are not unknown to employers. If they haven't offered any help he should ask them for a short-term salary advance payable out of a couple of month's pay. A bit like a season-ticket loan but shorter-term. A decent employer would agree to this. No askee, no getee.

Thank you for this I have sent him into work this morning with instructions to go and speak to his manager and or HR/Payroll, fingers crossed but he isn't very hopeful but worth a try

carlymummy

Also Thank you to everyone that has helped me. I found an old Tesco voucher for £1.50 last night so that can buy milk or something, need to check my nectar balance and hopefully should get 'paid' a small amount from Pinecone research tomorrow, I was hoping to save my shop n scan vouchers for xmas but may have to redeem. At least there is this fantastic thread to lend a helping hand and give advise in the meantime. Thanks again Carly

attentionseeker1

You could buy a big pack of mince and make spaghetti bolognese and chilli con carne. Serve bolognese with your spaghetti and chilli with your rice. Pad out bolognese with carrots/sweetcorn and chilli with peppers/beans.

Fish finger sandwiches in the baps- yum!

jackel

Hi everyone Hi Carly - One thing I rely on is milk powder. I know it's skimmed but your lads are not really small and although I use it all the time you could just use it until you get straight. T.co sell a box for £1.15 .I divide it into four bags(about 5 Tablespoons in each) Put 2 pints of water into a jug and add 1 bag and whisk. Less than 15p a pint. jac x.

mucky_moo

Hi dont know how useful I will be but here are a few ideas. im on my own so I dont know about portions for five.

I agree with the powdered milk as itmakes just under 8 pints in a packet for £1.15

I hope your potatoes are ready as some of these will need mash adding

-fish pie wiith veg
-fish fingers and beans +mash
-pasta sauce using - tomato puree, tinned toms, pepper, carrot and -onion and herbs
-Beans on toast
-sausage, spaghetti hoops and HM yorkshire pud
-pizza toppedwith sausage and any veg (you could use the naan breads as a quick base maybe for the kids)
-fried rice (link below) you could flake some of the defrosted fishthrough it with plenty of veg
http://studentrecipes.com/recipes/vegetarian/egg-fried-rice-2/

if your kids like rice pudding then you could try making ricesoup. chinese people eat it for breakfast but im sure itll be yummy for a cheap pud. its out of a student recipe book. I havnt tried it yet but plan to soon

per person
about 200ml milk
50g cooked rice (any sort)
brown sugar or honey to taste (maybe golden syrup will work or some cinnamon or mixed spice or dried fruit)

put the milk and rice in a saucepan over a medium heat and stir in any flavourings (except for the syrup, honey or sugar as they will be added at the end)
heat the rice and milk, stirring until bubbles just start to break the surface, then turn the heat down and leave to simmer until the rice is hot, stirring occasionally
pour into a bowl and stir in sugar, honey or syrup

hope this helps
MMC

sweetilemon

Can you maybe search foodbanks nearby? I know our local council do foodbanks just not very well advertised. For future savings is there any jobs in food establishments you might be able to eat at work? I know this wouldn't do the family but would be extra £ and means you can priorities the children & DH eating. Sorry if this isn't much help.