To feed my family on £1 per person per day

[Dramatic]

I've heard about celebs doing this and finding it almost impossible but really it's not that hard, I spend £25 a week (or less) on me and 3 kids. Am I a cheapskate or do other people spend this much? I shop at Aldi if that makes a difference. Maybe I'm depriving my kids by spending £1 a day on them. How much do you spend per person per day? Surely it's not that unreasonable to think £1 a day is plenty to feed yourself, why are people making such a fuss about it?

nomore don't be ridiculous - if she ends up in court through non-payment of debt then where will the kids be?! Debts need to be paid, you have no idea how she ran those up (could well be from buying stuff for the kids in the first place!)

Its not ridiculous, debt companies have a duty to inspect your INCOME when they take amount of money from you, those amounts of money cannot exceed your personal income.

Even if the OP gave every single penny of HER income to debt companies, she would still have more than £1 a day to feed her children.

I don't understand why anyone needs to spend so little on food.

Well consider yourself lucky then.

Can i throw in my pennysworth - nobody needs to waste money on washing powder, get ecoballs! www.ethicalsuperstore.com/products/ecozone/eco-balls/
At times in my life when i've been very skint, i've lived on rice , veg and baked potaotes - but that was pre-kids, i wouldn't want to try it now.
There, that's my contribution!

nomore those benefits are paid to the adult, therefore they are part of the op's income. Children can't claim benefits.
And plenty of people have that amount or less to spend on food. It's not that uncommon, though hopefully it's only temporary in the op's case.

I fully believe child benefit should be spent on the child, but if it's either pay debts or lose an important commodity like electric, water, housing etc then it has to be done doesn't it.

After spliting with my ex I found out he had not been paying the bills he was supposed to. He ran up over a grand in gas bills alone so I now have a pre payment meter and am paying money back on that and the electric. He also ran up a £350 phone bill in my name and over £900 on rent. I also owe the tax credits due to an overpayment and there is also a few smaller bills I didn't know about. They are now all down to me to pay, also being on a pre payment meter means I spend way more during the winter, hopefully as the weather gets warmer I will have more disposable income. I feel guilty enough having to spend the kids child benefit on the mess their dad left me with but unfortunately, unlike you clearly, I have no choice.

Don't feel bad Dramatic you're doing the absolute best you can in your situation.

Have you had any advice regarding paying off your debts - www.stepchange.org/Howwecanhelpyou/Debtadvice.aspx these can be really helpful and you could potentially get the payments reduced to make it more manageable.

And what a twunt your ex is

No more, I get £71 a week income support which I suppose you could call 'my income' £30 of that goes onrent, £7.50 on water rates, £17.50 on transport (bus passes for me and dd) £16-20 on electric and around £20 at least on gas (can be up to £40 if it's cold) that's already over the income support amount and that doesn't include any debt/other bills, food, clothes/school uniform and anything else the kids need. There's no way I couldn't use the cb and ctc for bills.

Can you get some debt advice through somewhere like the CAB.

I am sorry - that's a terrible position to be in. Something a vicar friend of mine does is to ask for Havest Donations in small packages to get a family through 24 hours. So things like Weetabix, tin tuna, pasta, pasta sauce, tin of beans, tinned fruit, angel delight etc. To that he adds a handful of T Bags, a pint of milk and a small loaf.

He's been running his own mini foodbank for years.

If you are anywhere near SW19 pm me love and I'll pm you his details.

Ctc should put the overpayment on hold while you are on income support, they are not supposed to collect any debt while you are on is.

Speak to your energy suppliers to reduce the amount of the debt repayment.

For next winter register for the warm homes discount if your electricity supplier includes people on benefits with young children.

Speak to your landlord to see if you can reduce rent repayment too. Even if you can reduce everything by a couple of pounds a week it all adds up.

OP: didn't feel bad about spending CTC and CB on bills. The children need a warm house, all the not at all exciting stuff that uses electricity, water, etc. Paying for that is not somehow frittering away 'their money'; it's very much part of keeping them warm, clean, fed, etc.

Jacks365 is that true regarding paying overpayments back to tax credits whilst on income support?

OP, I think your doing a good job, maybe the milk vouchers can throw a few more veggies and some fruit into the mix I wish my oldest DD would eat what the rest of us eat but she's beyond fussy so you have my sympathy!

Definitely spend CTC and CB on bills, of course you need to do that. What you don't need to do is spend it on debt, you can phone the debt companies and have the debts brought right down to £5 a month until you are in a position where you can work and pay more off.

Again, the money that your children get (via you) to feed, clothe and keep them warm should not be spent on debts that you or your ex ran up.

It was the case a few years ago when I was in that position. Tax credits would not even let me make arrangements to clear the over payment they said it would be held until I came off is but it was a separate department I was dealing with but I don't know how good they are at passing details through internally so it may mean speaking to the team that deals with over payments rather than the normal advisers.

OP, a cheap way to introduce beans and pulses into you diet is to buy a pack of dried peas.

A 500gm pack of dried marrowfat peas costs about 70p and would give you multiple meals. Steep them overnight and then cook them in enough water to cover them. What you get is a pan of mushy peas.

meal one -
jacket potatoes with mushy peas, serve topped with finely chopped tomatoes, onions and cucumber and a little bit of grated cheese for those who will eat it.

meal two -
take half the remaining peas add a couple of chopped onions, about 4 decent sized grated carrots, a chopped leek and enough stock to give a soup consistency. Simmer until the veg is tender and the soup is soupy. Longer cooking gives a better development of flavour. This soup would probably do your family for 3 lunches.

meal three -

fry a couple of chopped onions until soft, add a tin of chopped toms (or some chopped fresh tomatoes) and some curry powder. Cook for a few minutes then add the rest of the peas, mix well and heat through. This gives a very simple dahl that you can serve over rice. My kids have always loved this meal My youngest likes it with cucumber chunks and natural yoghurt on top.

You can use the left over leeks (a 500gm pack is £1 in Asda) to make cheesy leek pasta. Cook the leeks until soft in a little oil. Stir through a good spoonful of flour and cook for a couple of minutes. gradually stir in a pint of milk. heat gently until boiling, stirring all the time. Reduce heat and simmer for a couple of minutes then stir through a handful of grated cheese. Mix through cooked pasta. If the kids won't eat cheese sauce, you can just use the white sauce - the cheese ups the protein, calcium and vitD up a bit, though.

The rest of the carrots can be used in other meals or chopped into sticks for snacks.

A cheap and easy way to get fish into a child's diet is fish finger sandwiches. My kids love them, I just put some lettuce in a sandwich top with fishfingers and sliced cucumber for the ones that will eat it. Some of the like tomato sauce on theirs, some don't. Value fishfingers are about 70p or you an get 40 for about £2 in Iceland.

If you would like some cheap lentil or bean recipes, just let me know

My Dcs would put themselves into the care of Social Services if I started soaking dried veg overnight.

I had another thought while I was cleaning the bathroom.

Another thing that you could base a few meals around is a packet of cooking bacon, some potatoes, some eggs and a bag of frozen cauliflower.

meal one -

cauliflower and bacon soup

cut 1/3 of the bacon into little pieces and cook it in a little oil in a big pan. Add a couple of chopped onions (probably 4 of the value ones because they are small). Cook until soft. Add about 500gms of potatoes, chopped into quite small bits, 1/2 a bag of frozen cauliflower and about 3pints of ham stock (if you made the pea soup up above, you should have stock cubes left.) Simmer until everything is tender and flavours are blended, probably about 20 minutes. Serve with bread.

If the kids are still hungry value rice pudding (15 a tin) and value tinned peaches (about 30p a tin) make a good pudding.

leftovers can be kept in the fridge for lunch the next day.

potato and bacon bake -

thinly slice about 2lbs of potatoes and finely chop 4 onions. Take another 1/3 of the bacon (1/2 of what's left) and cut it into small pieces. layer the potatoes, onions and bacon in a baking dish, finishing with a layer of potatoes. Make 1pint of white sauce and pour over the top. Bake at 160 for about 2hrs. it's nice with carrots and peas.

leftovers can be kept in the fridge for lunch later on.

bacon frittata -

boil about 3/4lb of potatoes and then thinly slice. Chop the rest of the bacon into little bits and fry in a little oil with a couple of chopped onions. Add the potatoes and a handful of frozen peas. beat 6 eggs in a jug with some salt, pepper and a little splash of milk. Pour the eggs over the veg and bacon and cook gently until set. Stick under the grill for a few minutes to brown the top. If you have them serve with sliced tomatoes and cucumber.

Leftovers can be eaten cold the next day with bread and butter.

Cauliflower cheese and chips

Use the rest of the cauli to make cauliflower cheese. if the kids won't eat cheese sauce, just use white sauce again. Serve with wedges made with the rest of the potatoes and some more frozen peas and cooked carrots.

shopping list

1pack cooking bacon 81p
1pk frozen cauliflower £1
2.5kg potatoes £1.18
15 eggs £1.35
1pk frozen peas £1
6pts milk £1.48 (do healthy start vouchers pay for milk?)
1.5kgs carrots 89p
ham stock cubes £1.50 (aldi have them for 49p)
180gms mature cheddar £1.50
kingsmill 50/50 loaf £1
2 tins rice pudding 30p
1tin peaches 35p

So that's 4 dinners and probably 3 lunches for about £13. The eggs and cheese can be used for lunches and breakfasts as well. How about cheesy scrambled eggs on toast or mashed egg in a cup with bread and butter for lunch. You could get another 2 meals for you and the 2 littlest out of the 9 remaining eggs, I would think.

Other cheap but nutritious lunches are
peanut butter and banana sandwiches
peanut butter and apple sandwiches
tuna pasta salad - using a tin of value tuna, a tin of sweetcorn and whatever veg you happen to have - carrots cut into tiny pieces, shredded cabbage, little pieces of cucumber thawed frozen peas - cold, cooked pasta and a squirt of value salad cream.
beans on toast with a little grated cheese.

Cheap breakfasts -
porridge made with half milk/half water and a handful of raisins
toast and peanut butter with a glass of milk and a small piece of fruit
boiled egg and toast

It's bean a very long time since I cooked for very small children, so I can't really remember how much they actually eat. Most of the above feed 4 adults. I would think that you would probably eat about 2 1/2 adult portions between the 4 of you? So there should be leftovers from most of the dinners.

Wind most dried pulses have to be soaked overnight. it helps them cook more quickly. Would your kids not eat kidney beans or anything like that?

Mine love mushy peas, bean chilli, hm baked beans and the like

To those asking why celebs would live on so little- last week (and some people this week) there was a charity challenge. It's called live below the line and its to raise money through sponsorship & also to raise awareness of the 1.2 billion people who live below the poverty line.
I did it last week. It is hard- because you cannot use anything you have in your cupboards- you can only spend £5 in total for the 5 days. It's easier if you're feeding more people because of economies of scale.
OP & For those wanting very cheap recipes, if you google love below the line there are lots of recipes which are really cheap.
I lived on mostly lentils & rice. No fresh fruit.

And Slebs don't do their own food shopping or even much of their own food prep.

No? All of them?

Just a suggestion for getting children to eat cheese - I had one who didn't like it, but would eat mild cheddar mashed into potato.

My cheese hating ones will eat that as well, Saskia, also cheese sauce in things like mac and cheese or cauli cheese. They just don't like bits of cheese, secret, melted, hidden stuff seems to be fine.

I didn't like cheese and had it foisted on me. Turns out, I have very little tolerance to lactose. If they don't like it, don't foist it on them, there may be a very good reason why their body is telling them it's not nice to eat.