To ask for help with groceries?

[FGSholdthedoor]

Had a few very unexpected outgoings this month, car breakdown (cost hundreds), vet bills etc and I am left really short until end of next week.
I've been making do but the fridge and cupboards are looking empty so I need to pull up my big girl pants and do a full food shop for the family to last until next Thursday.

We have no meat left at all. About 8 cans of tomatoes in the pantry and lots of rice.

There's me, DH and DS (3). We need everything milk, bread, fruit, veg, snacks etc.
We cannot afford to buy lunches out and coffees/treats on the go so want to buy some alternatives we can take from home in the morning instead.

My budget is a whopping £55...
I'm thinking of raiding Aldi.

Help please?

Do you have £55 for a week and a half shop?
There is SOOOO much you can buy with that! Might not be the best quality but it won’t kill you to live on slightly less than perfect quality for a week.

Beans are your friends. We are cutting down on meat so I've been making a big pot of mixed bean chilli. Basically fry an onion & some garlic, add mixed beans (kidney, haricot, butterbeans etc any mix will do) some chilli powder, a tin of tomatoes & some veg stock, cook for about 30mins & serve.

It's good one day with rice & the next on jacket potatoes with cheese. Look out for tins of mixed beans or if you have time, dried beans are cheaper but you have to soak overnight & boil for at least an hour the next day (unless you have a pressure cooker)

Go to Aldi. You can do a week's shop for 55, easy.

Lidl are great for veg. They also sell kidney beans, chickpeas and butter beans in tins, which are relatively cheap and easy to use. They do a big pack of mince (800g) that would probably make 3 meals if you bulk it out with your tinned tomatoes, some pulses and plenty of veg.

Soup for lunches - very cheap - carrot and lentil, leek and potatoe, parsnip

Lidl is slightly cheaper than Aldi I find. Turkey mince is great, and very cheap..you can make all sorts with it..lasagne, spa g bol, burgers, meatballs, chilli..pad it out with veg and you can easy get two meals for the 3 of you from a £1.80 pack.

yes Aldi is a good idea - their veggie offer is great. Plan each meal. When you say coffee, do you have a thermal cup/flask you can just put a cup of coffee in? That's a nice easy fix (and tbh you need never buy a ridiculously expensive cup of coffeeshop coffee again!).

aldi super 6 looking good I see a lovely vegetable curry to go with your rice. Yum!

£55 for a family of 3 for a week? That's more than my food budget every week and there are 4 of us . My suggestion is do a menu plan using all the ingredients you already have and then do a shopping list. Then go on Tesco oline and work out how much your list will cost. If it comes to more than £55 - edit the list for cheaper items or go to Aldi for most of it and just buy the brand stuff from Tesco. Spag Bol is cheap to make. Or a nice omlette is a filling meal - maybe buy ham and cheese for the filling which could also be used for sandwiches for packed lunch. Another cheap meal is jacket potatoes with beans and cheese?

You don’t actually need snacks. Get more fruit and vegetables - they’re cheaper and healthier.

For meat you can do Aldi, Lidl, Iceland or Farmfoods. Morrisons can be quite cheap too if you get there at the right time of day. 7-8pm is when they are lowering prices for meat about to go out of date. Get some and freeze. Bread can be frozen too, if you get it on good offer. For casseroles and lasagnas use less meat and more veg - that way meat will last you longer.

Keep your eyes peeled when in the shop - you might find a bargain. It doesn’t necessarily have to be something you usually use, but you might invent an awesome meal with new ingredients.

Also - check your Nectar points and Clubcard vouchers. You might have a decent amount that you can use.

Curry, chilli and pasta with veggie sauces all your friends. Meat is expensive. Buy tins of beans instead. Loads of fruit and veg.
I spend less than £55 a week for the three of us and we eat really well.

Beans on toast, pasta dishes, Jacket potatoes,omelettes - not fun long term but you'll survive for a week or so :)

Before you shop, make a meal plan. Decide what you're going to eat for lunch and dinner every day, and stick to it. My shopping budget and waste are much lower when I plan ahead, than when I just go shopping with a vague idea of what we need.

Also soups, stews and chillis can be made in bulk with minimal cost, and are lovely this time of year.

Lentils and beans. Frozen veg and coconut milk for curries. Beef mince + brown lentils stretches mince type meals. Strong cheese gives more taste than weak. Bacon to bulk out a meat taste.
I make oat cookies as my treat but if you don't already have some of the ingredients it'll probably tip budget over.
There are cheap places online to buy things past best before date if you're desperate

so:

vegetable curry
Pasta with tom sauce and veggies you like
Cheesy bean pie
chilli con vegetables
Something with mince - with spring onion, Korean rice is lovely
Something with chicken wings - very cheap if you have the rice, and maybe some soy/hoisin sauce or spices in your cupboard already?
if you are off to aldi, with the leeks on offer, leek and potato soup.

once you've done all your "main" dinners, you can put together a big "bottom of the fridge" soup - freeze what you don't want for that meal, and you have lots of lunches all ready.

Cut out the snacks.

Thank you for all the replies!
I feel like I panicked a bit in my head TBH...
So I have done a shop at Aldi - not bought any meats apart from sandwich bits like ham etc and the 750g of mince for 2.79.

Baring in mind we already have cheese, canned tomatoes, rice, cereal, coffee & tea in so didn't need those.

I managed to buy:

Veg: butternut squash, aubergine, baking potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, leeks, mushrooms, spinach, broccoli, kidney beans, baked beans, chickpeas, sweet potatoes, salad, onions, garlic and also fresh cut herbs (for soup), ginger, frozen peas and a whole pumpkin

Fruit: tangerines, bananas, apples, blueberries (toddlers request), lemons (we use it for water and in tea)

Meat: mince, ham, Spanish meat platter

Chilled: natural yogurt, milk, butter, mozzarella, yogurt snap pots, cream

Bakery: bread, wraps, waffles, brioche buns

Condiments/or "stuff": tomato sauce, spices, hummus, jam and Nutella

Also: cheap biscuits, rice cakes, "essential" tortilla chips, fish fingers, chips, olive oil, eggs

It all came to just over £45 which I'm quite happy/surprised with.

I'm going to get the rest of the meat from the local butcher as I can get portions I need and it works out cheaper + they often do 3 for £5 deals on some bits so will nip down tomorrow to get it all.

Just need to plan how to use it all in the most efficient way. I think we'll be OK

excellent, sounds like a whole heap of food there FGS - have fun planning it all out!

raid the reduced aisles, shop around - Farmfoods have better deals than Aldi

£55 would last the 3 of us a month

What rubbish Amyowen, I don't believe you. Are you seriously saying you spend less than £5 per person per week? Pull the other one!

My little family have been living off about a fiver a week for the last three months...it's horrible but it's possible. Fill up on frozen food and when using milk add water..yes I'm poor as hell.

£5 per week for the whole family or per person?

Per week for all of us