Can i feed me and a toddler for three weeks with £55?

[Fishwearwigs]

Im a regular poster and this is not a begging thread.

I have just done my sums for when i get paid on monday. After my bills are paid i have £55 to spend on food for me and a 14 month old for 3 weeks (18.33 a week)

Can this be done? Has anyone got meal ideas for me please? My toddler drinks 8 pints of milk a week and i drink 4 (in tea but i could give that up and just drink water) so there is a £4 of my £18 gone already. Im a good cook but just struggling for ideas. Ideally id like my toddler to carry on having fruit everyday as well. I have basic items in (pasta, frozen veg and frozen peas) but not much else.
Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you everyone these are all really good suggestions. Omlettes and baked potatoes and pasta and sauces i think will be our main meals looking at your suggestions which is great. I had forgotten omlettes were even a thing!
My main worry was my toddler getting enough vitamins and stuff but i thinm with your suggestions she will be fine 🙂
I have also rand and spoken to my CAB, i have an appointment on Monday and they said they can me a voucher that is valid for a month so i dont have to use it staright away. Anymore suggestions are very welcome but thank you all so much youve stopped me panicking quite as much at the very least! 🙂

It won’t be fun but I think you can do it OP.
Buy whole milk only and water yours down, should save on a couple of pints.
Big bag of porridge oats and bag of value sultanas, should make breakfast every day (cook porridge with water not milk or just add a splash), have toast and cheap jam if you can’t face porridge.
For lunch make veg soup with onions, carrots and any cheap veg plus stock cube. Have with wholemeal bread. Give little one some cheese or ham for protein, you will survive without this.

Cheap tinned tomato’s cooked with onions and garlic and whizzed with a blender served with pasta. Tinned sardines and mackerel are cheap forms of protein and my kids really enjoy them.
Tortilla made with eggs and potatoes is nice and filling and cheap.
Mince is your cheapest meat I reckon but also pork tenderloin is really cheap and can be sliced thinly and fried them served with mash, gravy and veg.
Cheapest breakfast, cheap lunch and better dinner is the way forward here. Buy cheap biscuits for a snack, not the healthiest but will be a nice treat. Carrots are cheap and make a nice snack when cut into sticks.
If you stick to your list and plan carefully you should be ok. No shame in asking for help though!
Are you eligible for healthy start vouchers?

If your toddler will eat porridge, you can get a kilo of own brand porridge oats for 75p - make it with water and splash a little bit of milk on top. That's all your breakfasts and if you want sugar on top that will only be another 60p or so.

Own brand baked beans good and you should be able to get a kilo of frozen peas for around 80p. Similar price for a kilo of frozen sweetcorn which will be filling. A kilo of fresh carrots is around 50p. My kids will stomach frozen spinach added to pasta, mash etc, so if your toddler will this is a good vegetable to add.

Fruit can be expensive and isn't necessary (you can get the vitamins from the vegetables) but look out for offers.

Own brand powdered mash is 29p in Tescos and should feed you and a toddler for three meals. Agree with other posters about pasta.

If you have flour, butter and sugar you can make scones and use very cheap jam.

When we've done this, I've bought things like cheap chocolate biscuits to keep up the calories and relieve the monotony.

Cooking with lentils etc is a great idea if you are in this for the longterm, but if for just a short period I would be sticking to foods I knew my toddler would eat to avoid waste.

If you can get help (e.g. food bank), please do. Also, your HV should be able to help you get vitamins for your toddler which may put your mind at rest a little bit.

Yes you can do it if YOU aren't fussy about what you eat.

Plain rice / pasta - filling and cheap and you won't come to any harm living off it for a few weeks.

Porridge made with hot water and a tiny bit of jam / sugar / honey - anything you have in.

It's not nice food, but it is food.

You drink water or black tea saves a bit a week on milk.

What other shops do you have in walking distance? Any grocers / butchers? Always worth asking for anything that won't otherwise sell.

I've had some amazing bargains in M&S of all places - packs of 6 pitta bread for 3p etc.

If I was you I would ask your health visitor for a referral to a food bank and also ask if she has any food vouchers

With your budget I’d be buying

Lots of bread (reduced section)
Butter
Eggs
Cheese
Beans
Vegetables - soup
Bananas
Apples
Jam

Id prioritise spending what money you have on veg / dairy etc for your baby.

Porridge.
Malt loaves are 50p
Value pasta and value chopped toms with an onion or garlic for flavour (or herbs if you have in)
Eggs. Omelettes, scrambled, baked. Can have value tinned toms or veg or reduced fresh onion/tomato in. Or mashed in sandwiches.
Bananas. Mashed banana sandwiches.
Baked potatoes and value beans
Value potatoes mashed, fried, boiled, added to omlettes to make a tortilla
Value frozen peas can be a side or added to omlettes or tortilla or to pasta
You can normally get value wafer thin ham for less than £1 which can make sandwiches or go in omlettes/pasta/tortillas.

Go value everywhere. Morrison’s savers are good and they also have cheap wonky fruit and veg which is actually really nice.

Have you got sippy cups for your toddler yet? You could try starting her off with them as they are smaller than bottles, you would use less.

do you have online account.go for the smartprice asda section.teso everday value.pasta is 23p compared to 60-£1 in shops.the difference is huge

I couldn't. Maybe 2 weeks.

I think it's doable but you wouldn't want to do it long term.

You need to seek out the cheapest options for each food type.

Protein: Packs of soya mince are about a £1 and I can get 6 decent adult portions of spag bol or chili from one. You could definitely make up a batch of something with that plus a cheap jar of sauce and a grated carrot for bulk. Would probably give you three main measl for you both and 3 lunches maybe too. Freeze so you aren't eating it all week.

A lump of cheese, go for mature as more flavoir for your £ so can get away with less. Batch of chese sauce to have with pasta or with a baked potato or on toast.

Bacon offcuts and lentils and onion and carrot- pot of filling soup. Stale bread is fine toasted and dipped in soup.

Fruit: Bananas are cheapest make sure they are ripe so as not to encourage constipation. You could freeze and make a smoothie with them too.

cereal. Weetabix or porridge, get a cheap jar of jam and can be used to flaovour and also for toast for lunches etc.

If it really is just 3 weeks then reducing the little ones milk by an once and topping up with water wont do her any harm.

If you live near a tesco they provide free fruit for children to eat while you shop. If you can't see the stand just ask.

If you have any points cards like club card or nectar, check to see if you have any you can turn into voucher to use.

I do think it is possible if you plan it out. Keep the meals simple. Porridge oats will sort out breakfast. I used to make them with water when I was really low on money and now I actually prefer them that way. add a pinch of salt and another of sugar and they are great.

Eggs, potatoes, pasta and rice are all cheap enough bases to which you can add flavour.

Do you have any stock cube or powder? No good for your toddler but I also used to have stock soup. Grate up a carrott, get it book it then add stick to turn it into a broth.

If you have any spices that will go a long way to making a meal less boring.You will likely have to go without meat.

There’s a really good Facebook group called
Feed yourself for £1 a day .

I would say what everyone else has said, and second the gurdwara. You could add sliced potatoes to an omelette to make a more filling tortilla. If you want meat, beef cheek is very cheap and delicious. Also if you have any Thai/Asian shops nearby they normally do gigantic bags of rice/noodles etc far cheaper then supermarkets.

Tinned peaches or pears as a stop gap for your DD,Azda do own brand cheap ones.
Aldi have very cheap pizzas in their frozen section.
Is there a reason you are so short this month?

yes.

£2 per person per day with a bit left over.

not a problem.

KitKat, read the op’s thread again.

Do you have points on anything like Boots,Tesco etc you could use for nappies or toiletries?

If you have pasta/rice use that with veg, baked for extra flavour, canned fish, cheese.

If you have spices then use your favourite ones for veg curry, add boiled eggs or lentils for protein. Frozen veg can be cheaper.

I do pasta with tomatoes, with grated carrot added. Also risotto, use standard rice while money is tight, with grated carrots and a little chicken. If buying chicken thighs are much cheaper than breast.

You could have omelettes filled out with veg. Jacket potatoes with cheese and beans.

Are you doing this long-term OP or is it just a shortfall this month?

And to PPs - the problem with buying in bulk is (a) having the money for it (b) the transport. EG There's a farm shop near me that does a large sack of potatoes for £5. Sounds great but for the OP it's nearly a third of her expenditure for three weeks and impossible to carry more than a few yards.

You can get Healthy Start vouchers if you're on a low income. You can use them on First baby milk, any cows milk and fresh fruit and veg, and I think also some frozen fruit. You get 8 vouchers a month at £3.10 per voucher and you can use as many vouchers as you want at any time not just one per transaction. Look them up and apply for them. X

Do you have a market anywhere near you? You can get a lot more fruit and veg for your money from a stall in a market than you can in a supermarket.

OP can I ask why you are in this situation?

Yo have been given some very good advice on this thread- but to be in a situation like this is pretty dire.

You say you work- what about your baby's father does he contribute?
Are your housing costs particularly high? Is this an ongoing financial problem or have you been hit with a big bill?

Loads of people have posted you good food suggestions but my advice would be to think of it a bit differently.

You're looking at £18 a week for three weeks. But you've actually probably got more in than you thought once you start looking.

So I would try and do £5 the first week and then £20 the second and third weeks, which will let you top up anything you run out of.

Take everything out of the cupboard; freezer; fridge etc and look at it all and try and make as many meals as you can out of it. And go from there. . . .

Any help?

If I was you, I would spend money upfront on a sack of LIDL potatoes for £3.50, 2x 1.5kg bags of flour for £1.20 , a packet of yeast for a quid, a packet of chickpeas (can't remember), a packet of red lentils for 75p, a packet of frozen peas for £1,a packet of carrots for 60p, 2 packs of pasta for £1,lots of tinned tomatoes, a bag of onions for 60p, a kilo of porridge oats for 75p, 12 eggs for £1.80,and a packet of Basmati rice for £1.00. (These are all LIDL prices, and not 100% accurate. All packets are whacking great generous ones). I make that £20- ish, although my arithmetic isn't what it used to be.

You've then got the makings of endless dhal, potato and pea curry, carrot and red lentil soup, bread, scones and pizza (if you add some mozzarella, which is actually the cheapest cheese you can get!), chick pea pasta (fry cooked chick peas up with onions & garlic, add some rosemary you've nicked from someone's hedge, add half a tin of toms,squish about half the chickpeas up and leave the other half intact, and there you are), porridge (with milk), jacket potatoes with nearly coleslaw or spicy chickpeas, egg fried rice w/ peas, etc.etc.etc.

Can you get powdered milk- at least for you?

Good luck!

Check out the one pound meals chef. Some of these recipes look super nice.

Also use every bit of the food you have. Plan meticulously so nothing goes to waste which you should be able to do as you can cook. Feed your little one only as much as she will eat so nothing is wasted...so if you usually give her a whole sandwich and she eats half then mushes the other half up, give her little bits at a time so it is all eaten and if she gets full before it is all gone, save the rest for later. So much food gets wasted with kids or because of bad meal planning.