January - the month tighter than Mr Tighty's hosiery

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

I'm am so broke, it's ridiculous. All my bills are paid, so there's a roof over me head, but the boyfriend has a stack of invoices his boss hasn't got the money to pay until the end of the month (moving house, getting married and big Christmas parties have made it impossible for her, apparently :cool:) and I don't get paid again for a fortnight. We might be able to scrape together a few pounds here and there - and the sofa is already half disassembled in the search for change - but essentially, we need to eat for pennies.

I've got two bags of cooked kidney beans in the freezer, two of chickpeas, a quarter of a bag of red lentils, three tins of pulses, some pasta (I could cook lasagne sheets and then slice them for fettuccine, I suppose), plus a tin of sweet corn, three onions, some carrots, parsnips, flour, margarine, rice, condiments, dried herbs and spices.

I'm also lactose intolerant.

He can top up calories with reduced yoghurt or desserts from the supermarket and i knocked up a rice pudding this evening for him using leftover rice from today's meal. I'm not able to, unfortunately - and thanks to a Special offer on lactose free milk at the supermarket, it's completely out of stock.


The thing is, if he realises just how bad it is, he will stop eating and claim he's eaten during the day whilst I'm at work, just so I get more. So it needs to be dressed up and camouflaged a bit - I've already set the scene by saying I've put on a bit of weight (not mentioning I'd lost it by Christmas) and I'd like to eat a bit lighter whilst saving a bit of cash as things are tight. As long as he thinks it's part of a plan, it'll be alright - I certainly can't be dealing with him starving himself, so food needs to leave him feeling quite full, he's only little anyway, he can't afford to lose much weight.

Today's lunch was a 19p packet of noodles. Last ones, as that involves a trip to the 99p shop to get some more. This evening was the last tin of tomatoes, kidney beans, chickpeas, half a leek, a brocolli stalk and some chilli flakes.

The plan for tomorrow is beetroot soup I made tonight with a sad looking beetroot, the last potato and some chicken stock. I've got enough flour to make a soda bread every couple of days until the bicarb and flour run out.

We've got kidney beans, lentils, chickpeas, carrots, onions, parsnips and lots of herbs and spices.


Can people come up with small portions (it's only a tiny freezer) that can be cooked very quickly/with minimal effort, as I've not been well and I'm shattered when I get in from work, so don't have the energy to be cooking for ages?

I want to get a big bag of oats, but they've only got expendive ones round the corner, so I really need to get a short list together of ingredients that I can ask him to get from/near the market, still keeping the story that I'm trying to save a bit of money whilst eating a little more healthily, not that we're screwed and I'm reduced to either having nothing until the evening or scavenging what I can from various meetings where food is provided at work.


Trust me, whilst it would be nice to be totally honest about things, hes already staying with me because he can't afford his current rent with an irregular income and he's very prone to anxiety - he's going to feel bad enough that he hasn't got me a birthday card or present today, never mind that I scarf up his non dairy leftovers when he thinks I'm washing up, to try to get a few more calories in. A plate of gruel would lead him to suspect something and start worrying about those damn invoices. But a bowl of rice pudding makes him think there's a semblance of normality going on.



Help!

Softstuff

We're about to be going into "OMG Austerity mode" in our house too, so I've been working out some ideas for us that I can share.

Rice is a staple in this house in one form or another. Chickpea curry goes on it, dhal (with your lentils) goes on it, mixed with onions and kidney beans it can be "mexican style" (wrap it in homemade tortillas and you have burritos great for packed lunch).

Packet noodles aren't as filling, or look like as much of a meal, as value pasta. You can use value spaghetti like asian noodles, one of our favourite cheap dishes. Fry up some thinly sliced carrot and onion, throw in a bit of sweetcorn if you like (I use whatever stir-fryable veg is cheap, cabbage is common), throw in cooked spaghetti, then add ketchup and soy sauce, give it a good stir roung. Can't remember what it's called, but it is actually an asian home cooked dish.

With some eggs, you could use your flour and make sweetcorn fritters, or a lentil pancake. Remaining eggs can be eggy soda bread or egg on toast.

All of these ideas (apart from homemade tortillas unless you're particularly quick) take less than 20 mins. And they tend to make more than a single serve.

Best of luck Jojo.

yuppiebaker

If you don't know A Girl Caled Jack it's worth googling the website - lots of as-cheap-as-feasible recipes, many involving lentils, kidney beans, chickpeas etc

whiteguineapig

happy birthday for tomorrow jo jo
chin up! (i'll have a think but i'm not much help )

[Deleted User]

I too would reccomend 'A Girl called jack's ' blog she has come up with some amazing food for literally pennies. She went through a very lean time with her small son and started to write about it.Gives costings as well so you can see how much everything costs.I'm sorry you are having a tough time If you lived nearer you would be welcome to graze in my store cupboards as I am trying to not buy anything much this month because I have far too much in store.
I hope things get easier for you Jojo, being broke can be apart from the obvious, quite depressing, try to keep you food intake up if you can though. January is a long hard month for lots of folk, my DD's both hate it as they say getting paid before Christmas really doesn't help anyones budget.
Hope things get better for you
JackieO xxx

siws1

Hi I am sorry that you are having a hard time of it. I too can recommend A girl called Jack - I made her Minestrone Soup the other day and I have to say it was so easy and very tasty.

This is the link to the recipe

http://agirlcalledjack.com/2014/11/13/minestrone-soup-19p/

I didn't add the spinach to mine as I didn't have any and I left the sauce on the beans and I have to say I would make this again.

Hope this helps.

NewShadow

Jojo_the_Tightfisted wrote: »

I've got two bags of cooked kidney beans in the freezer, two of chickpeas, a quarter of a bag of red lentils, three tins of pulses, some pasta (I could cook lasagne sheets and then slice them for fettuccine, I suppose), plus a tin of sweet corn, three onions, some carrots, parsnips, flour, margarine, rice, condiments, dried herbs and spices.

Any budget for ingredients at all? If you can get some tomatoes (tinned or from the market), some more onions and oats?

Ideally you'd go to the market yourself to see if there's any wilted veg going cheap - A big bag of greens or mushrooms would make life a lot easier, as would a tray of eggs to make some cakes...

Kidney beans, Lentils, Onions, Tomatoes, grated carrot and spices (cumin and coriander - ideally with cayenne pepper, but chilli is fine), with rice makes chilli

Leftovers can be rolled in cooked lasagne to mix it up the next day - just add extra tomatoes if you can

Chickpeas with tomatoes, grated carrot and onions, with curry powder, and rice makes curry

Lentils, onions, tomato, garlic and chili/ cumin/ garam makes tarka dal

As has already been mentioned, sweetcorn fritters or onion bajhis(sp?) can perk up a meal and make it feel a little less gruel like.

Spiced parsnip soup, or spiced carrot soup (with oats or lentils in place of potatoes)

Mash chickpeas and slack with oil, and flavour with garlic to make a budget hummus

Cook and mash lentils into a thick paste, flavour with curry powder (or oxo if you've got it), to make a savoury sarnie spread.

Any sugar would let you make shortbread crumbles - flour, sugar and oil or marge mixed to a firm (sandy) consistency then a spoon full pressed down with a fork on a tray, baked for about 15 minutes. Crumble the same mix over any tinned or spare fruit (i've even used brown bananas) for a budget 'crumble'

If you can use soup for starters, then biscuits for 'afters' you can feel like you're eating quite well...

Have you checked everywhere you're not due any cash back or refunds, or tesco points?

AnnieO1234

If the deepest darkest part of the forest is anywhere near the derbyshire/Yorkshire/Nottinghamshire border PM me.

I completely recommend Jack's blog linked above, in particular her carrot, cumin and kidney bean burgers (that can be made into soup or "meat" balls) are a delight and I'd serve them whether I had £1 or £1,000 to spend on groceries. they're reminiscent of a certain burger chain's spicy bean burger but soooooo much nicer.


If you could get back to the post with the amount of money you have scraped around for, plus an idea of the sizes/amounts of the beans in bags etc then someone will probably be able to put a menu plan together.

Do you have an aldi near you? What's your usual supermarket type shop?

Xxx

AnnieO1234

Don't know if this helps. Tesco free magazine has 40p off a carton of alpro almond milk xxx

LameWolf

Jojo I was only thinking about you the other day and wondering how life was treating you.

Can you obtain and eat spuds? There were two very large ones in my last bag from the market for £1 a bag, so we had them last night, jacketed, with baked beans. We were both so full we didn't bother with pud.

Best of luck mate.

*wishes for Jojo to find a forgotten fiver in a coat pocket*

AnnieO1234

12.5kg unwashed potatoes for £2 in morrisons xxx