£0 for 28 days!!! Any advice???

[Deleted User]

Monkeyballs wrote: »

If you don't have jam, supermarkets often have jars for like 50p

Aldi's Everyday Essentials Strawberry jam, is 29p per 1lb jar.

[Deleted User]

Davie-G wrote: »

but definitely have a wee stash on the side to stop this from happening again.

I agree with this, and have kept a stock in for years.

Keep an eye open for reduced, BOGOF etc., then buy a good number of each item.

My permanent stock (I use and replace as I go along, putting the new stuff at the back) consists of:-

From Aldi.

Tinned beans and spaghetti - I keep in a 20 tin tray of each. Beans are 24p a tin, and spaghetti is 15p a tin, so £7-80 the lot.

Tinned fruit salad - I keep in a 12 tin tray. 57p a tin, so £6-84 the lot.

From ASDA.

20 sachets of 5 minute soup. 5 for £1, so £4 the lot.

10 packets of Pasta n Sauce. 50p each, so £5 the lot.

48 sachet box of instant noodles. 11p per sachet, so £5-28 the lot.

2 bags of Smart Price Corn Flakes. 46p per 750g bag, so 92p the lot.

2 boxes of Smart Price Wheat Bisks. 75p per box of 24, so £1-50 the lot.

Total cost £31-34.

Keep a tenner stored away, for perishables like bread, margarine, milk etc, and you have survival food for a couple of months.

Granted, it's not the most exciting food, but it beats going hungry.

Gigervamp

Couldn't the baby's father help you?

Candy0107

How about making a huge pan of soup.....basic veg (reduced is great), a tin of chopped tomatoes, basic stock cubes add some lentils for protein (or canned beans and pulses)

Hope it goes well, you can do it

Candy xx

catshark88

Great attitude OP. Best of luck, I'm sure you will get through the month swimmingly.

I really recommend Aldi tinned veg, it keeps it's structure when cooked, really well.

theoretica

You mention about food that is safe to reheat. The thing that is not safe for food is sitting around luke warm growning bacteria. If it is tomorrow's lunch get it into the fridge to cool rapidly, and heat it fast in a microwave. I will reheat anything this way and am much happier eating it than canteen food which has been kept warm on a hot plate.

If you do run short and decide to use a food bank there is no need to worry about people who need it more - you can donate back to it next month.

[Deleted User]

theoretica wrote: »

The thing that is not safe for food is sitting around lukewarm growing bacteria.

When I was young, my mother would make a large pan of stew on a Friday.

When we got home from school, she would serve us a bowl each, then let the pan stand, on the unlit back ring of the stove.

When my father arrived home, a couple of hours later, she would reheat the pan, and ladle out a bowlful, before returning the pan to the unlit ring, where it would stand until noon on Saturday, when what was left would be reheated and served.

If any was left, we would later help ourselves to a bowlful, of the warm stew, without reheating it.

Nobody ever got ill.

SavingPennies_2

Bedsit_Bob wrote: »

When I was young, my mother would make a large pan of stew on a Friday.

When we got home from school, she would serve us a bowl each, then let the pan stand, on the unlit back ring of the stove.

When my father arrived home, a couple of hours later, she would reheat the pan, and ladle out a bowlful, before returning the pan to the unlit ring, where it would stand until noon on Saturday, when what was left would be reheated and served.

If any was left, we would later help ourselves to a bowlful, of the warm stew, without reheating it.

Nobody ever got ill.

Yeah just don't try that with rice.

eyelinerprincess

Definitely not with rice!

I've just completed my food hygiene cert and they would be aghast to hear that when we were younger my dad would make a massive pot of soup we were still eating two days later!

[Deleted User]

Not to mention eyelinerprincess, that said pot of soup wasn't refrigerated.

Likewise that, in my younger days, the butcher/grocer used the same slicer, to slice cooked and uncooked meats.

The one I'll never understand is, why you are supposed to use separate boards for cutting up meat and vegetables, which are going into the same pot, for a stew, casserole, hot pot, etc. :huh: