£55 to last a week (food and diesel)eeeeekkk

melie3

hi all,
my husband only got paid SSP this month as he has been ill for 2 months. he is now back at work, but as we had little money this month, and no money to pay my mortgage at all, we have dwindled down to £55 left to last until i get child tax credit next tuesday. i will have to get £15 of diesel, this is to get me to get the shopping, and to work on sunday, and probably to my mums on saturday(50 mile round trip), but i do eat there......... running on vapours! so ive got £40 to get 4 days dinners, school and work food, 24 pints of milk( a baby and a toddler, i need a cow). normally TRY to spend about £60 a week. too embarrassed to ask for any money. have nothing left to sell of any value(did that last month to live). looks like a value week this week

Bella79

aww hun u will do it buy lots of rice pasta beans etc 8p noodles !! errmm sorry not very good at stuff like this jst started myself lol im sure there will be more helpfull ppl along shortly

overlykeensaver

Hello, sounds like a difficult time for you all. I am sure lots of others will be along soon to help too. Does your baby drink cows milk or formula?

Do you have any food in the house (freezer, fridge and cupboards) at all? Perhaps there are some things you can use up as part of the 4 days of meals?

Have you contacted your bank/mortgage co. to explain the situation?


Also do you really need to drive to your mum's this Sunday? It will be cheaper to eat at home than to drive there and back!

perfectlypoor

I think £40 is plenty to spend on food, do you have any pets to cater for. There are loads of ideas and recipes for cheap meals on here and if you need more inspiration love at others meal plans for ideas. Stick to toast and cereal for breakfast. Can you take pack lunches to work with you? pasta bake,spag bol, sausage cassarole etc for tea.

calleyw

A lot of the supermarkets are doing offers on milk at the moment.

Such as 2 X 4pints for £2 and 2 X 6 pints for £3 (I think the price is correct but I know it is offer)

Also agree don't go to mums also do a big list of everything you have in cupboards and freezers and make meals from that.

Yours


Calley

overlykeensaver

You could get a whole chicken to roast, then strip it and use the meat for pack lunch sandwiches and the rest for a meal at nice - maybe chicken with some stir fryed veg (carrot and courgettes are cheap at the mo) and rice/noodles? You can get a large chicken for about £4.

melie3

overlykeensaver wrote: »

Hello, sounds like a difficult time for you all. I am sure lots of others will be along soon to help too. Does your baby drink cows milk or formula?

Do you have any food in the house (freezer, fridge and cupboards) at all? Perhaps there are some things you can use up as part of the 4 days of meals?

Have you contacted your bank/mortgage co. to explain the situation?


Also do you really need to drive to your mum's this Sunday? It will be cheaper to eat at home than to drive there and back!

hi,
ive 1 pack of mince in freezer, so need dinners for thurs, fri, sunday, and monday. some frozen veg. cupboard, ive got a jar of sweet and sour, 2 beans, run out of rice. so need chicken to make a meal(*i buy a chicken and make the sweet and sour, then a pie with the leftovers) could buy a large chicken, would make 3 days dinners but may be boring! so just need 2 more days gonna have an omellette one day, and dunno about other as yet, obviously needs to be cheap.) the 1 yr old and 3 yr old are both on cows milk, but i buy 3 six pints on shopping day, and normally go for another(dont have room for 4 six pinters). mortgage company knows we havent money, understand situation, but cant offer anything constructive to help, so are going to default us. may not be able to go to mums obviously, will then need to eat saturday. hoping i dont get short on electric(put £15 on meter yesterday, £16 inc emergency left). then theres the continuing price hikes in food. went last week, the mince i buy went from £1.55 to £1.89 in a week. GOT to just get through this week some how. oh and hub was diagnosed with diabetes last tuesday, so i have to be careful what im buying. cant even afford to buy his script for metformin, he has to wait for exemption card before he gets free.

overlykeensaver

Hi
you could maybe make some sort of chilli with the mince, beans and veg. Are you able to use any leftovers for lunches?

You could buy some value spuds and make a potato omelette to make it go further and fill everyone up.

Must be a worry on the electric - hope this doesn't sound too obvious but make sure you are not leaving things on standby, unplug things you are not using to reduce your usage.

melie3

perfectlypoor wrote: »

I think £40 is plenty to spend on food, do you have any pets to cater for. There are loads of ideas and recipes for cheap meals on here and if you need more inspiration love at others meal plans for ideas. Stick to toast and cereal for breakfast. Can you take pack lunches to work with you? pasta bake,spag bol, sausage cassarole etc for tea.

i agree £40 is plenty... when youve nothing else to buy. cat has his food so ok there.
this is what i will need.
toilet rolls will have to be value pack
food for work school.. meat, tuna. crisps if i can stretch it.
4 loaves of danish
3 six pinter milks
bananas, peaches
box of rice
chicken large
mushrooms
pastry for pie
washing up liquid
yogurts
beans
eggs value ones
something for 2 days dinners
cant think what else yet.

orchid-96

melie3 wrote: »

i agree £40 is plenty... when youve nothing else to buy. cat has his food so ok there.
this is what i will need.
toilet rolls will have to be value pack
food for work school.. meat, tuna. crisps if i can stretch it.
4 loaves of danish
3 six pinter milks
bananas, peaches
box of rice
chicken large
mushrooms
pastry for pie
washing up liquid
yogurts
beans
eggs value ones
something for 2 days dinners
cant think what else yet.

Hi good luck with your budget hun, just wanted to point out that Tesco have their milk on offer at the moment (till 15th June) it is 2 x 4 pinters for £2 or 2 x 6 pinters for £3 (a good saving I go through loads with twin toddlers and a six year old who loves his milk)

tim_n

probably a good idea to cut down on the meet and no alcohol for you this week!

Soya mince is a good subsitute with a couple of beef oxo cubes - alternatively bulk out a spag bog mix with lentils to make it go further - use half for the spag bog, then next day reheat with wostershire sauce put in casarole dish and layer with potatoes and top with some strong value cheese - you can also add any spare veg (esp frozen) and stick in the oven for an hour.

value mushrooms are good for you - have those with frozen veg and sweet n' sour with rice

Farm foods (if there is one nearby) does cheap large quantities of milk. Make sure your OH has watered down milk and save the good stuff for the baby.

IF you can really stretch the mince with soya and lentils then you could also have jacket potatoes with spag bog (or add chilli powder and kidney beans) to make a lunch.

9p noodles another bargin (asda/tesco) for lunches, though have a high fat content.

cereal for breakfast - use semi skimmed milk with 30% water - if you have to have juice water that down too.

Don't know where you are, but instead of supermarket there's a lot of places which sell eggs by the road much cheaper than supermarkets and usually better quality.

Driving - if you're going to put some in the tank, do it in the morning when fuel is colder and therefore denser. My dad said 'accelerate like you've got an egg under your foot between you and the accelator'. Annoys people, but it's your fuel economy. For £15 in my fiesta I can drive around 140 miles. Don't drive over 56 miles per hour and try and use the highest gear. Avoid busy/trafficked roads (or go out during different times of the day) but don't go too out of your way. Most of all, I know you've got kids but if you can, walk!

Citzens advice can talk to your mortgage company and often get a better response. Call your utility company as they may help.

Cook the food yourself rather than ready food and it'll help control sugar/salt better.