Could you feed a family of five for 23 days on £120?

[MediumBags]

It's a long way to payday!
I see lots of pasta in my future! :-(

Lidl is your friend there fruit and veg is cheap and so is the meat chicken is 2.29 for a whole chicken mince is 1.89 it's a good shop I use it for my weekly shop now. They haven't unfortunately had the 1.50 veg boxes in my Lidl yet though

No Lidl or Aldi near me

Not anything store cupboardy either. And, unfortunately have allergies and picky eaters to deal with so will have to concoct my own menus!

You really can buy 'cheaper' though. Not sure how nice the stuff will taste but £17p passata and £49p bread it is!

I did use a credit card for a very small shop that I know is over it's limit (so once interest is charged it will be over, over, and incur a fee... but what can you do) 😢

I think if it was just food it would be ok. Ya bloody toiletries and washing liquid that are going to be a bugger :-(

Credit cards don''t work if they're over the limit.

You can get washing up liquid really cheaply in the supermarket, no more than 50p. If you mean for washing clothes then use washing powder instead as the liquid is always really expensive, you can get a box in Poundland.

Also B&M/Home Bargains are dirt cheap for toiletries and can be cheaper than Poundland. You can get tins and packet foods there as well.

Some of the cheaper meals we do (we do have a good store cupboard and spice cupboard)

Veggie egg fried rice - sometimes add leftover chicken and if you cook the rice in stock it's very tasty

Chickpea, lentil and sweet potato curry with rice

Cottage/ Shepherd's pie bulked out with lentils and veg

Beef or Veggie chili (tins of mixed beans or Asda do a frozen mixed pulses bag)

Roasted chicken thighs (1.1kg for £2 at Asda) - herb and garlic with roasted med veg, curried with rice, or lemon and thyme with salad

Spanish omelette or frittata with salad. Chorizo is reasonably priced (£2 a ring) and goes a long way

Med veg, chorizo and bean stew with cous cous

We can do chili for 4 and cottage pie for 4 with 500g beef bulked out with veg and lentils

You can make things like fishcakes with tinned fish. Nigella Lawson has a recipe for tinned salmon fishcakes which are pretty good.

Simple Bircher muesli is cheap to make - oats, grated apple, a handful of sultanas and some natural yoghurt. You can get a 1kg tub of yoghurt for £1.50 (lancashire farm from Asda). If you get frozen berries then you can chuck some of those in.

Leftover veg can be turned into veg cakes by finely chopping and mixing with mash.

Veggie fritters are also super easy to make and quick for lunch - serve with passata heated through with dried chili flakes and have with salad

@dickiedavisthunderthighs you're wrong, thankfully! If it's under £30 and you use contactless, they will Sometimes go through as they take a few days to show up on statements.

Porridge oats and water is cheap and filling.
Home made popcorn is a cheap healthy snack.
Soups and lentils are cheap.
Tinned fish is usually not too expensive and can be a source of protein.

Could try a food bank if desperate (i’m Not sure if you need to be referred - but gp may help).
Also contact a debt charity to help give advice on how to repay debt (I dunno how much they do now, but citizens advice bureau helped someone I know to liaise with companies and agree a repayment schedule).

Could you use the Olio app, like freecycle but for food- it may help with a few bits if you have people using it in your area.

On Saturdays during Lent some churches have Lent Lunches, which are soup, bread, cheese and maybe fruit. They are usually free and you would be welcome to join in if there is one in your area.

Farmfoods good for cheap frozen veg
Last night teen ds made himself a meal from a tin of hotdogs , a tin of bean and grated cheese and declared himself a culinary genius!

I could feed them in the sense of keeping them alive and healthy, but I must say the menu would be basic and somewhat repetitive.