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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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

194 replies

Fishwearwigs · 27/04/2018 13:09

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.

OP posts:
Angie169 · 27/04/2018 23:14

biscuits we have exactly the same bacon / pasta idea .
I forgot to add , A bit of Tabasco gives the same recipe a bit of ZIP too .

Popc0rn · 27/04/2018 23:54

For recipe ideas: cookingonabootstrap.com/category/recipes-food/

Also, bit of a weird suggestion, but halifax are offering £75 if you switch your current account to them, might help make this month and next a bit easier? Hope you get on okay Smile
www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/compare-best-bank-accounts?gclid=CjwKCAjwlIvXBRBjEiwATWAQIuWYZf70Ldss2eoml2fop5FtEjBUzNhTc9-BUCf8EOLVC_0xja-QMRoClfYQAvD_BwE#mands

mancmummy1414 · 28/04/2018 00:56

You really don’t need to live in bland food like lentils, tinned tomatoes and pasta.
Just shop reduced. We go to M&S at 7pm sometimes and you get 90 percent off ticket price. 11 salmon fillets for 90p is my best bargain recently.
Aldi super 6 for fruit and veg.
Are you lucky in that your toddler will eat anything? If so, you’re home and dry. Mine has sensory and dietary issues surrounding textures so we need to make sure we have specific foods in at all times (none which are fruit and veg obv)

RomeoBunny · 28/04/2018 01:09

@mancmummy1414 not everyone has an M&S near and reduced prices at bugger supermarkets are hit and miss every day. The OP is after a reliable plan to guarantee food for the 3 weeks. Buying yellow labels is not reliable. And if she ate that much salmon or fish in a week she'd be on her way to mercury and arsenic poisoning.

Fatbergs · 28/04/2018 01:15

@romeobunny Mercury poisoning after a week of fish? not possible! love, A Scientist xx

mancmummy1414 · 28/04/2018 01:18

@romeo hey rude! arsenic poisoning wow, I seriously doubt it.
Not just M&S, Morrison’s Asda’s and Tesco all do yellow stickers every evening. You can get bread for 5p sometimes and that can do sandwiches for a few days.
I’ve been in this situation before - you really can eat on less than £20 a week for only two people without doing bland meals and eating the same every day. Toddlers aren’t like adults either in that they will just eat it - I don’t know any toddler who would happily eat plain food five days a week.
Even if you don’t shop reduced, you can get a small chicken for £2.50 and make a roast, curry and soup out of it, value sausages are 65p for 20 in my local Tesco on Ann offer atm to make toad in the hole, wonky spuds for mash etc.
Good luck, it’s really crap worrying about money but you’ll come out the other end and three weeks really isn’t long Flowers

mancmummy1414 · 28/04/2018 01:19

*an offer

mancmummy1414 · 28/04/2018 01:23

ALSO Mrs arsenic poisoning, we froze the fish didn’t guzzle it all in one go!! Three weeks not one, read the OP goady fucker.

RomeoBunny · 28/04/2018 01:37

Yes but they're not guaranteed and would require her to go several times a week and have an abundance of freezer space. With such minimal money for food do you think she can magic the money or petrol to do several shopping trips instead of just one per week? And I did read the OP you pompous whopper.

RomeoBunny · 28/04/2018 01:38

@fatbergs no shit Hmm did you take a 'litteral' pill this morning in the lab?

grumpy4squash · 28/04/2018 01:45

OP what happens after the 3 weeks is over? Will you have more money then?

nursy1 · 28/04/2018 02:18

I’ve been where you are.
This was my “Income Support Potato Pie”
( income support = fore runner of tax credits)
Slice onion and potatoes finely and layer alternately in a dish with some seasoning. Finish with a layer of potato. Pour stock, beef or chicken, either will do, to just under top layer. Cover in foil or a lid and bake at 180 for half an hour. Take the foil off, dot a bit of butter or oil on top and finish in a hotter oven for 15 mins.
My kids still ask for this.

JugglingMummyof2 · 28/04/2018 08:39

Hi op
Just got this code for £15 off a £60 spend at Iceland and wondered if it might be useful. DOR153CDMYU There is lots of non-freezer food on their website too and they are very cheap. Good luck.

Snowysky20009 · 28/04/2018 08:50

Farm foods. Frozen veg- mushrooms, onions, peppers and peas 4 for £3. Use in stag bol, curry sauce, shepherds pie etc to bulk out with lentils, will last you three weeks.

Worried7190 · 28/04/2018 08:53

There's a great Facebook group called Feed yourself for £1 a day, they have a recipe page and meal planning ideas, and of course lots of support for posters.

yawning801 · 28/04/2018 10:51

You can get own-brand instant mash at Tesco in the grocery aisle for next to nothing (something like 20p when I last bought it). Also oats and potatoes are a must-have because you can do so much with them.

Drknittingfrog · 28/04/2018 11:06

Have not read all the posts so apologies if that has been suggested already but Jack on cookingonabootstrap.com has lots of suitable recipes for your situation with excellent tips on what to get from the supermarket. I would not completely remove meat for nutrition but be clever about it (get cheap cuts for are and stretch it with lentils or beans). Sending you love op 😘

noeffingidea · 28/04/2018 11:16

I think you can do this. I would buy baked beans (supermarket own brand), eggs, sliced bread, bananas, pasta, carrots, broccoli, tinned fish (prefer mackarel myself), tinned tomatoes, cheese, yoghurts, cereal. That really covers your nutritional needs.
I don't know why so many people on here immediately suggest going to a food bank before even considering if it's neccesary. The OP has £18/week, not nothing at all.

Lockheart · 28/04/2018 11:28

It can be done. It maybe boring and repetitive, but it is doable.

Smart price / own brand everything. Bread, pasta, and rice are all cheap. Porridge oats and own brand cereal are cheap.

Check the price of pre-bagged fruit as it may be cheaper to buy loose by weight.

You can buy a pack of mince in tescos for £2.50 (full price, if you can go late you may find reduced meat) and that does me 6 portions of spaghetti bolognese - nearly a weeks worth of dinners. Add grated carrot or baked beans (works oddly well) to bulk out the meat.

As for lunch, buy own brand bread (or go late for reduced bread and freeze it) with cans of soup (usually 5 or 6 for £2-£3 or so) or own brand super-noodles.

You can even buy packs of own brand biscuits and chocolate for pence for treats for you and your toddler.

Avasarala · 28/04/2018 11:38

This really bothered me, so I've bee doing my sums and thinking about meals you could manage and came up with a better shopping list and meal plan. It leaves you about £4 for nappies/toilet paper (but you could always borrow some toilet roll from a cafe of something... not that I recommend stealing but this was something my student friends did back in the day!). But, If you already have pasta/spaghetti/frozen peas/soy sauce and have enough of them, then you will get an extra couple of pounds to spare.

This will be a long one! It's all from Tesco, so again, you might get cheaper in Aldi and if you do, then you can get another one or two pounds to spare.

Shopping List:
3 x Butternut squash @ £1.50 each = £4.50
Redmere farm brown onion (1kg) = £0.59
2 x 10 pack of stock cubes @ £0.50 = £1
Redmere farm carrots 1kg = £0.47
Tesco Red Split Lentils 500g = £1.15
Tesco Arborio Risotto Rice 1kg = £2.00
Woodside farm cooking bacon 500g = £0.60
2 x Tesco frozen peas (900g) @ £0.80 = £1.60
2 x whole chicken @ £3.25 = £6.50
Redmere farms potatoes 2.5kg = £1.35
2 x 15 eggs @ £1.25 = £2.50
plain flour 1.5kg = £0.55
36 pints of milk = £9
Tesco everyday value gravy granules = £0.20
1kg rice = £0.45
150ml soy sauce = £0.65
1kg pasta = £1
3 x pasta bake/pasta sauce @ £0.75 = £2.25
2 x woodside farms 8 pack sausages @ £0.89 = £1.78
Colman's sausage casserole sachet = £0.80
2 x Boswell Farms 500g mince @ £1.69 = £3.38
500g spaghetti = £0.20
bolognese sauce = £0.75
4 x bread loaf @ £0.55 = £2.20
Jam = £0.75
Tesco butter spread = £1.05
21 bananas @ £0.14 = £2.94
3 x 6 pack tesco fromage frais @ £0.50 = £1.50

Total = £51.71

If you can spare it, the tesco swiss roll is £1 and will do around 14 small portions for a treat but maybe something cheaper in Aldi.

21 breakfasts =

12 x scrambled egg on toast
9 x jam on toast

21 lunches =

9 x butternut squash soup = 3 squash, 3 onion, 3 stock cube, 2400ml of water. Cook, blend. split into 9 adult and 9 child portions (or cook 1 squash at a time).

4 x lentil soup = 450g lentils, 4 pints of stock, 2 onions, 6 carrots, water & seasoning as needed. Split into 4 adult portions and 4 child portions.

4 x pasta bakes = half a jar of pasta bake sauce and 150g of pasta per bake.

1 x Fried rice with peas = Fried rice, 100g frozen peas, leftover chicken if there's any left.

2 x Pasta with cooking bacon = 150g pasta and 50g of cooking bacon per lunch with butter to serve.

1 x Bacon and Pea Risotto = 140g risotto rice, half an onion, 1 stock cube, 100g frozen peas, 50g cooking bacon.

21 dinners =

2 x toad in the hole = 4 sausages per meal (2 each), 200g potatoes, yorkshire puddings (made with 1 egg), 100g peas, gravy granules. Carrot if you want.

6 x Bacon and Pea Risotto (same as lunch recipe).

2 x roast chicken with potatoes, yorkshires (1 egg), 100g peas, gravy

2 x chicken fried rice with peas = leftover roast chicken, 100g peas

1 x chicken pasta in half jar of pasta sauce (leftover chicken)

1 x chicken, potatoes, yorkshires (1 egg), gravy with leftover chicken.

1 x Pasta bake in pasta sauce (half jar)

2 x sausage casserole with potatoes and peas - 4 sausages per meal (2 each), half a sachet of casserole powder, 100g peas per meal.

2 x spaghetti bolognese = half pack mince, half jar sauce per meal.

2 x mince and potatoes with peas and carrots = half pack of mince per meal, 100g peas per meal.

Snacks for your toddler - 1 banana a day, 1 fromage frais a day (for 18 of the days), more toast.
If you've saved enough money in Aldi, maybe a wee slicing cake.

For you, if you want something sweet and have suger in the house then skip the scrambled egg on your breakfast and use the egg white and sugar to make meringues. Or cake if you have the baking stuff in.

Teacuphiccup · 28/04/2018 12:15

Flowers ava

QuiteLikely5 · 28/04/2018 12:18

Svasalara what a lovely kind thing to post Flowers you are amazing

Fishwearwigs · 28/04/2018 12:26

Thank you everyone for these wonderful suggestions! I cant reply indivudualy but i am reading them all. They are brilliant and its lovely just to know that people would go to so much time helping someone they dont know by writing these.

On a side note id like to take a minute to echo MNHQ, although i am genuine in my asking for advice, not everyone is and people should remember that.

Thanks again you wonderful people Smile

OP posts:
SandysMam · 28/04/2018 12:27

Ava you should start your own blog!

cantstopfuckingeating · 28/04/2018 13:53

@Avasarala you are awesome!