Red Cross food parcel challenge

Little_Vics

Hello!

In a couple of weeks I am taking on the Red Cross food parcel challenge for a local charity - essentially I have to live on the contents of a Red Cross food parcel for a week. However, as I'm coeliac I get to spend the money on what I like rather than the wheat-heavy contents of the parcel.

So - I thought I'd ask your advice! These are the guidelines:

• I have £10 to spend
• I need to eat 21 meals - 7 breakfast, 7 lunch, 7 dinner
• I cannot use anything from my store cupboard - the money has to cover everything
• I can't eat anything with wheat or gluten
• I can't accept food or drinks from anyone, so no meals out, drinks in pubs etc
• I will be at work during the day, so can't cook there

I have access to supermarkets and our local market. I've done this challenge before and pretty much everything I had was yellow-stickered! However, I'm starting on a Saturday, so I think bargains will be few and far between.


So - my question is - what would you buy and what would your menu be?


xLV

tessasmum

I'm not exactly sure about your diet, but being wheat and dairy-free myself, I would be getting in some baking potatoes and some rice and veg to start with. Vegetable risotto would be high on my list, along with baked potatoes with various fillings. I'd also take leftover risotto to work to eat cold for my lunch, perhaps. Eggs would also be useful - hardboiled eggs could contribute to the lunch menu, fried with home made chips for supper, and scrambled etc for breakfasts. I'd also be looking on the Live Below the Line, Frugal Queen and A girl called Jack websites for inspiration for cheap meals. I dare say there will be a lot of repetition... Good luck, though - a very good cause.

Busymumofthreeplusdog

Another vote for eggs. Veggie meals with beans& pulses should help you stay within budget. Can you have porridge in the mornings? Hm Pea& ham soup? Actually any kind of soup, again added lentils etc.

What a great challenge to try, good luck with it!

Lizling

I’d probably go for cooking oil or butter, salt, a couple of types of dried beans or pulses, eggs, natural yoghurt, rice, and then spend the rest (roughly £5.50)on fruit and veg from the market and at least 1 type of herb or spice.

Fruit and yoghurt for breakfast, various combinations of veg, rice and beans for lunch and dinner, and eggs for either.

Swampmonster

I'm interested to know what a red cross parcel normally consists of.

Good luck for your challenge.

Little_Vics

Here's the contents - please note I don't want to get dragged into an argument about the nutritional value of it! I'm fortunate I can spend the money instead.

All your thoughts are very helpful. I think I'm going to get oil and pepper, eggs, and then as much fruit and veg as I can get. I might treat myself to a teeeeeeny bit of meat for the last few days.

A British Red Cross food parcel consists of:
1 x orange
1 x apple
1 x banana
1 x pear
1 x green pepper
2 x onions
1 x tin of baked beans
1 x tin of spaghetti in tomato sauce
1 x tin of tomatoes
1 x tin of vegetable soup
1 x tin of tomato soup
1 x tin garden peas OR kidney beans
1 x tin of sweetcorn
1 x small tin of tuna
1 x small tin of sardines
Peanuts (small bag)
Biscuits (1 pack)
1 x loaf of white OR brown bread
250g pasta twists OR spaghetti
250g long grain white rice
250g semolina
250g sugar
250g salt
250ml vegetable oil
12 teabags
1 x carton of apple OR orange juice (1 litre)
1 x carton of UHT longlife milk (1 litre)

Butterfly_Brain

Little_Vics wrote: »

Here's the contents - please note I don't want to get dragged into an argument about the nutritional value of it! I'm fortunate I can spend the money instead.

All your thoughts are very helpful. I think I'm going to get oil and pepper, eggs, and then as much fruit and veg as I can get. I might treat myself to a teeeeeeny bit of meat for the last few days.

A British Red Cross food parcel consists of:
1 x orange
1 x apple
1 x banana
1 x pear
1 x green pepper
2 x onions
1 x tin of baked beans
1 x tin of spaghetti in tomato sauce
1 x tin of tomatoes
1 x tin of vegetable soup
1 x tin of tomato soup
1 x tin garden peas OR kidney beans
1 x tin of sweetcorn
1 x small tin of tuna
1 x small tin of sardines
Peanuts (small bag)
Biscuits (1 pack)
1 x loaf of white OR brown bread
250g pasta twists OR spaghetti
250g long grain white rice
250g semolina
250g sugar
250g salt
250ml vegetable oil
12 teabags
1 x carton of apple OR orange juice (1 litre)
1 x carton of UHT longlife milk (1 litre)

That is so much better than a Trussel Trust food parcel

The £7 a week thread might help with some ideas.
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4084527

I would get eggs for protein and porridge is only 75p for 1Kg and that will last for ages

patchwork_cat

As you are a coeliac you could stretch a point and replace products containing gluten for a like for like substition pricing as if it were a gluten product, i.e pasta 29p instead of the £1.35. For those recommending porridge not all coeliacs can eat porridge. A tin of value potatoes is 15p and a few would be a useful addition IMO.

Lizling

Little_Vics wrote: »

A British Red Cross food parcel consists of:
1 x orange
1 x apple
1 x banana
1 x pear
1 x green pepper
2 x onions
1 x tin of baked beans
1 x tin of spaghetti in tomato sauce
1 x tin of tomatoes
1 x tin of vegetable soup
1 x tin of tomato soup
1 x tin garden peas OR kidney beans
1 x tin of sweetcorn
1 x small tin of tuna
1 x small tin of sardines
Peanuts (small bag)
Biscuits (1 pack)
1 x loaf of white OR brown bread
250g pasta twists OR spaghetti
250g long grain white rice
250g semolina
250g sugar
250g salt
250ml vegetable oil
12 teabags
1 x carton of apple OR orange juice (1 litre)
1 x carton of UHT longlife milk (1 litre)

Yuck! They've managed to include all the foods I particularly hate. If I'm ever in need of a food parcel, I hope I'm around people who'll trade my fish, teabags, weirdly sweet tinned stuff, banana and sweetcorn for some of their tinned tomatoes and pasta instead.

I'd find the £5 a week challenge easier than eating that