Seriously struggling - any advice would be appreciated!

TopsyMum

If it's just you and only food needed I agree with others - it should be easy so please don't worry!
Write a list of literally everything food wise you have in then plan your food for the 17 days making the most of what you have, I can see you've been given some fab looking links so plenty of ideas. Try not to focus on what you want to eat/normally eat etc - focus on what you have and what's cheapest after all it's just for a short time.
TattyCath's idea is fab too....if there is anything you've been thinking about selling get on a local selling site and do it!! I've done just that this month as had a few extras to pay for,only sold stuff I've literally no use for and have really been meaning too for ages but it got me the money I needed and my house is less cluttered!
Good luck and do let us know how you are getting on x

[Deleted User]

Indeed work out 17 days menu's Breakfast lunch and dinners.I do this every Sunday morning for the coming week and if as I am doing at the moment you are shopping from your own cupboards then its even easier .Basic stuff I would say to get you through a thin patch would be some potato, a few onions eggs and some cheeses can be eggs and chips or a jacket spud cooked until almost done then the middle scooped out and an egg chucked in the well and topped with the scooped out filling and a sprinkle of cheese on top back in the oven for 5-10 minutes and voila a meal to fill anyones tummy. Or layers of mashed potao,grated cheese and diced onion until a pyrey bowl is filled then topped with grated cheese chuck in the oven and cook 30-40 minutes (cheese and potato pie) basic egg cips and baked beans will fill anyone up Wedges cooked in the oven if you haven't got chips in the freezer or can't be a$$ed to slice some spuds up Basic porridge for breakfast a kilo is about 70p and will easily last you over a fortnight.

Meekie

Hi Lucky,

Have you thought about buying a sack of potatoes rather than just bags from the sm? They can sometimes work out much more cheaply. Around here you can get a little sack for £3.50 which would give you a portion of potatoes every day for a month or more. :money: Admittedly you might want more variety than that! :rotfl:

purpleybat

Meekie wrote: »

Hi Lucky,

Have you thought about buying a sack of potatoes rather than just bags from the sm? They can sometimes work out much more cheaply. Around here you can get a little sack for £3.50 which would give you a portion of potatoes every day for a month or more. :money: Admittedly you might want more variety than that! :rotfl:

I agree with the buying of a sack of spuds, lots of supermarkets sell them now, just make sure you store them in a cool, dark, dry space, plastic bags are lethal for them 'sweating' and then going soft and sprouty.


carrots and cabbages are another cheap vegetable that'll keep well in the fridge. bubble and squeeeek is nice and cheap served with a runny fried egg. both are also nice in stirfries with onions and spices to have with rice. leftovers can be used for egg fried rice.


I think my instant reaction to seeing that amount left in my account would be to panic, but with some spices and herbs simple food doesn't have to be bland.

frosty

Can you get a prescription for gluten free food? I thought you could receive a bit if you have been diagnosed.

MandM90

Hi LOTI,

Most of the advice offered so far has been ace. I think you can and will do it without dipping into anything! £31 for two weeks is ample for a single person.

Can I suggest you check out YouNeedABudget once you've come up for air?

They do a 30 day free trial (and don't take any CC details, so they won't charge you if you forget to cancel...after 30 days they just withdraw access unless you sign up properly) and then it's £3 a month. It's the best £3 you'll ever spend, and this will never happen again. Really I can't rave about it enough...it's changed my life and turned our finances around!

As for food, I'd buy:
lentils (big pack from World Food aisle)
rice
porridge oats
cheap DF milk
bananas
tinned tomatoes
frozen veg
potatoes
onions
garlic
chilli powder
curry powder


Banana and oats are great for breakfast.

You can make a huuuuge batch of both lentil curry and veg chilli and freeze, serve with rice, or on baked spuds, or with homemade potato wedges. Any leftover money can be used in the reduced section on meat/veg to make whatever you can cobble together (risotto, chicken curry, beef and veg stew with mash) to make life a bit more interesting.

Good luck for the future :j

pollypenny

Id make a big pan of ratatouille, which would last three or four days. You could have it with rice, pasta or a baked potato.

That's what I used to do when OH was working away. Time-saver, rather than money then.

Toomuchdebt

I second the advice about YNAB. It's amazing!!

As for recipes, cottage pie is quite cheap to make and you can portion it out and freeze some.

luckofthe_irish

Hi all,

Thank you so much for all your amazing responses, I have just got to work so will review them all in detail at lunch time but so far I am building my essentials shopping list from the help you have given me and will go through my kitchen tonight and list absolutely EVERYTHING I have to help me out. I never thought of using lentils to make things like 'meat'balls and veggie burgers so I will have to look into that! I love cooking !

I was out for dinner last night (treated by the wonderful man I am dating luckily) and have cancelled my social plans with my work colleagues as I know it would be irresponsible to go.

Thank you MandM90 and Toomuchdebt for the YNAB recommendation - I actually tried it before and never got to grips with it but after hearing so many good things again I signed up on Wednesday for the free trial and am going to give it my best go for this month to see if it helps. I am usually good at checking my bank account when I know there is money there, and then I will have a massive weekend with expenditure and will be too scared to look at it for the rest of the month...which is how I have gotten here evidently! So I will be giving it my best go for sure. Still getting my head around it but I have time this evening to focus on it now!

WantToBeSE

luckofthe_irish wrote: »

Hi all,

I never thought of using lentils to make things like 'meat'balls and veggie burgers so I will have to look into that! I love cooking

I use this recipe for lentil meatballs:

http://minimalistbaker.com/easy-lentil-meatballs/ It uses flax egg, as it's vegan, but if you arent vegan and eat eggs, then just use 1 egg instead

And this one for lentil burgers:

http://cookieandkate.com/2014/lentil-chickpea-veggie-burgers-with-avocado-green-harissa/

The best thing about these recipes is that the herbs and spices can be changed according to whatever you have in the house (or whatever you can pick up for cheap-Morrisons so some value basic mixed herbs and spices) or just omitted

Good luck!