AIBU to b constantly hungry

[Cheekychops84]

Is it me or are we the only family who are always bloody starving ??? I can't afford to keep the fridge stocked up we are living off Iceland frozen food we get one hot meal a day and during the day I survive off biscuits and maybe a slice of toast! I can't believe it's 2012 and we are living like this :'(

We are getting onto an even keel now as benefits are sorting themselves. We arent rich but I can budget well and we will be okish in the next few weeks.

Cheeky, I really hope you get things sorted soon. Its soul destroying living in a house which needs so much done!

Im sorry you are going hungry cheeky :(

I think you need to prioritise a little, having a car and internet access when you can't afford to eat is really silly.

Don't buy biscuits! For the price of a pack of value biscuits you could buy a value bag of pasta or a tin of baked beans.

You complain about not having enough money to buy fruit, why not go out and pick blackberries? You can also pick mushrooms.

My mum was a single mum in the Thatcher years and no one ever went hungry, meals were very very simple, no cheese on pasta if there was already a protein in the meal, soup for lunch everyday, rice and beans, porridge we had a veggie patch in the frount garden much to my embarrassment. We never had biscuits we didnt have a car we didn't have a tv, only incoming calls on the house phone no heating on ever we had hot water bottles and lots of jumpers. Nothing else matters if you don't have food, I think you need to reassess your lifestyle.

You should never attempt to pick mushrooms unless you really know what you are doing. There are far too many dangerous mushrooms out there which only the experienced can tell from the harmless.

Silver there are some very easy to identify mushrooms, chanterel mushrooms are very distinctive. I dont think it's a good idea to pick random mushrooms but if you educate yourself about mushrooms (read a book from the library or google it) they are an amazing free source of food. We survived for millions of years eating the food around us.

Just wanted to share my low budget list for anyone who might need it. A lot of these came from other MNers.

Porridge - huge bag asda value brand.
(With a bit of marg and two tablespoons of Tesco Value Goldern Syrup (£1.09) for a big jar you can make flapjacks as a treat for the children. The syrup might feel like a huge luxury but goes a long way and makes it feel like less of a hardship. 9p custard from Tesco where you add water is a funny colour but tastes ok and can make it feel like a real pudding)

£1 Bag of frozen sausages from Tesco. You get twenty. We have two each. 12p tin of mushy peas will do three people and loads of mash. (Potatoes are a must on a budget for us)

Eggs 15 for £1.50. Plain omelette or add leftovers to reduce wastage. Dippy eggs also feel like a good breakfast on a budget.

Pasta sauce is 39p from Tesco. I add a tin of cheap beans, pasta and a very stingy grating of cheese. You can also add crushed cereal to the top so it feels more pasta bake.

Morrisons have amazingly low priced value cereal which tastes just like the brand stuff.

15p Stuffing mix. Just add water and bulks up dinners nicely.

Tesco do Value yogurts, 4 for 33p. Very rich and creamy. DS loves them.

Tesco value soup is also nice and tasty.

Lentil and potato curry goes a long way and is cheap.

I hope things improve for you soon.

honey no....some varieties look incredibly similar and it's just stupid to attempt to pick them unless you've attended a short course on how to do this...yes...people have survived off the land for millions of years but there's been a rather large hiatus in the Western World called industry and consumerism. So it's just not advisable.

Of course a Puffball is hard to mistake...but others...not so much.

You would be lucky to find a mushroom or berry growing in the area I live

Good suggestions pumpkin

Yes silver some do look similar so don't pick the ones that are not easily identifiable.

Had a better look through my Favorited budget food pages. I've picked the simplest to make as I remember BF and not having the energy to make a cuppa.

Also found: Mini Pizza - 30p Pita breads for 6 (tesco value again) - tomato puree and a bit of cheese, ham, veg, whatever you've got leftover really. Puree can also be cheap, tomato sauce at a stretch. (DC can really get involved in this which makes it feel more fun rather than a money saving exercise)

Veggie hotpot - tinned peas, tinned carrotts, tinned mince and gravy, Slice potatoes, put on top and bake in oven. (I know tinned isn't ideal but any veg is better than no veg and we can't always afford fresh.)

I'd avoid biscuits, perhaps graham crackers with own brand value cheese spread instead? Some stores do their own brand with chives and faff in too which we love.

Baked bean "lasagne". Layer of beans, pasta, value pasta sauce, repeat, top with a little grated cheese.

Simple sponge. Just flour 2oz, eggs (2), sugar 2oz and marg 2oz, bit of value jam. Microwave and add the cheapy custard. You can microwave this with the golden syrup in too (Thank you to the MN'er who PM'd me this! We loved it)

I know puddings aren't a priority when you're struggling with food but I've found that having a cheap pudding a few nights a week makes the whole thing a lot more bearable. The flapjacks must have cost around 30p to make 6 good sized servings, we three had half last night with half of the 9p custard and will have the other half tonight. DS loves a pudding after his dinner and it feels like a treat for us all.

I'd stay away from Lidl, I went in the other day and it was all crap and tat, basics like the flour was so overpriced, also they don't seem to do an "own brand" so although some bits are cheaper than branded in supermarkets you don't really get as much as you can for your £. I've only been in the one though so maybe it varies store to store.

I go to tesco at 7.30pm or asda at 8pm and get lots of reduced food which I freeze. I make soup with the vegetables. I can half fill a trolley for less than a tenner and often get a fair bit of meat in that. Times may vary at different stores and some nights are better than others but once a fortnight usually keeps us topped up.

I wish I could do that Jubilee but I can't drive....I don't want to get the bus in the dark with 2 dc.

I wish I could do that Jubilee but I can't drive....I don't want to get the bus in the dark with 2 dc.

Batter mix is one of the cheapest things to make and you can do a couple of different things with it:
Yorkshire pudding to go with a main meal - very filling.
If you get some value sausages as above you can make toad in the hole for a supper.
Pancakes - both sweet and savoury. Sweet ones can have sugar, or syrup or jam on, depending on what you have in the house. You can mash up a banana or other fruit to put in with them too. Savoury ones - you can grate up a little bit of cheese or ham into them, or mash up some potato, or sweet potato or parsnip into them. You can soak oats in milk and add them to a pancake too - there's literally nothing you can't add to a pancake, I think.

And the good thing about making pancakes is you can make it a bit of fun for everyone, so it doesn't just feel like a cost-cutting exercise.

Dhal is incredibly cheap to make - add tinned tomatoes and veg - if you have any South Asian shops or markets near you they will probably be the cheapest place to pick up lentils, dried beans and spices.

Things with baked beans - jacket potatoes, toast. Add a bit of spice to baked beans to stop them being boring. Nethuns (ssh!) have lots of baked beans ideas here.

Yoghurts are often reduced at the end of the day, eggs are often cheap.

Good luck - it sounds really difficult for you at the minute. I'm sure if you asked for more ideas and advice on meal planning on the food or credit crunch board there will be lots of experts who could help. Isn't there some famous MN meal plan that someone will PM people if they ask for it?

Cheekychops Î think for £60 a week you are doing it wrong. Those ready meals and biscuits are not feeding your family right.

Try dhal.

Veggie soup, I weaned my dd2 on cm cubed squares of potato, sweet potato, swede, onion , celery and carrot. You don't need stock with this soup.

One third over of the celery, finely diced and carrot and onion with a tin of cheapest toms is a lovelely pasta sauce.

The last third of the celery is the beginning of a risotto or savoury rice dish.

I was shocked to hear you saying that you were starving on £60 a week.

You could have porridge every day for every meal and not be starving. I woûld rather go veggie and fruit and veg and pulses than Iceland ready meals

If you are really starving, just get porridge oats and have porridge every day three times a day.

Just saw that you are spending 60 quid a week on food. There is no way that anyone should be starving on that amount of money a week. I think you are probably spending too much on processed food, which is always overpriced for what it is, and not doing proper meal planning. Look at your shopping bill and add up how much you have spent on any ready meals, biscuits, crisps etc. All of that can be replaced by ingredients which are not only more filling, but which give you more for your money and are probably more nutritious.

You don't need fancy fresh expensive ingredients, but you do need to cook from scratch - that is what keeps the cost down.

hi OP I dont want to be rude (or upset anyone) but you shouldnt be struggling on £60 a week. My budget is £75 a week for 7 people and we eat pretty well.

I could help you if you like (sharing meal plans etc) but for starters this is one of the site i have taken recipes off -

1940sexperiment.wordpress.com/100-wartime-recipes/

the first thing is totally stop buying snacks concentrate on the basics and make snacks (make a big sponge with jam etc - cheap and alot bigger than a bought one).

It's hard because as someone else who spends about 60 a week, you DO sometimes feel "God...I can't even buy a nice cake now and then for pudding."

But you can make treats...here's a selection of my weekly shop.

Chicken £4.00
Pack Minced Beef £2.50
Cheese from Cosco (large block lasts two weeks) £5.00 so weekly that is £2.50
Milk Around £6.00 worth a week
Flour again large sack from cosco about £5.00 lasts 3 weeks...so that;s about 1.50 a week
Pasta Cosco pack of ten packs of spaghetti £5.00 so again about £1.00 per week
Rice big bag about £2.00
Apples one bag about £3.00
Bananas £2.00
Brocolli "£1.50
Potatoes "£2.00

Porrige oats Big bag "£2.00

Butter two packs "£4.00
Eggs big box "£3.00
Tea £4.00

Cosco is our saviour...it's worth getting to one if you can...we use a friends membership but you can buy them.

We roast the chicken....have it with potatoes etc....then I take the remaining meat off it and we have it in a curry the next day...then I use the carcass to make stock...add some barley and soup mix...carrots onions....spices...that's a nice soup.

That's three meals from one chicken....the spices are worth getting in when you can afford to because it makes bland food taste nicer.

Other meals are shapeards pie, spag bol and towards the end of the week pasta with cheese on top and some vegetables.

Obviously that's not my whole shop...I spend VERY little on cleaning products and we have the cheapest soaps etc.

www.cheap-family-recipes.org.uk/. This website did a costed menu plan for a month, nutritionally balanced, £100 for a family of four for the whole month.

Costs have risen since then, but you should be able to get some good ideas.

Op I agree with the others when they say you can feed yourself well on this budget.
You need to meal plan for the week.
Oats are very good for you and filling so have them for breakfast.
Again rice and pasta are filling too so plan your meals around them.
Even a jacket potato with cheese or beans is cheap, nutritious and better than iceland crap.
There ought to be lessons in areas teaching people how to live/eat well on a low budget. I don't think there is but there should be. People don't seem to cook from scratch as much as they should do. It's almost like a forgotten art
Have a look at moneysavingexpert or google meal planners

I think you could get a bit more for your money tbh.
I buy 2 chickens for £7 in tesco and that's 2 dinners for 5 of us (me, DH, 2 teenagers and 9 year old)
Also tesco does 3 sorts of meat for £10 so I get 2 packs of mince and one pack of pork steaks, that's another 3 meals.
Also a favourite of ours when we were beyond skint was sardines in tomatoe sauce and value spaghetti. Sardines are 45p, 3 tins of those, chopped onion, garlic, carrots, tomatoe purée, 1 beef stock cube, 2 tins value tomatoes and packet of value spaghetti. It's about £2-3 and fed 5 of us.

Breakfast, Yy to big bag of porridge, very filling. And you can buy value cereal for less than 50p
Eggs, cheap and cheerful. Baked beans as well.
Jacket potatoes. Instant noodles are very very cheap and quite filling.
You can make soup, it's dead easy and cheap.

Ready meals and convienience food may seem better value but with fresh food you can make it into 2 meals with leftovers, with frozen food you can't do that.