Aibu to ask what you eat when you are broke?

[NCsobroke]

I don’t mean feed your family for £10, I mean dinners like baked potato and beans that cost a couple of quid. None of us are v picky and no dietary issues.

The kids mostly eat a v healthy balanced diet, lots of whole foods and tons of fruit and veg, maybe frozen pizza on a Saturday, don’t really have takeaways often etc. I hate the thought of them living off cheap freezer food not enough fruit snd veg.

Also needs to include lunches as we don’t qualify for FSM despite being on UC as husband works FT.

We are so broke. We usually receive universal credit which we live off as DH wages all go on bills and rent. We won’t receive any at all this month and can’t do anything about it.

2 adults, 2 children. £110 to last for the next 3 weeks (plus toiletries and cleaning stuff and petrol for DH 2 hour commute )

But..the petrol will use most of the budget, won't it?

Can he get a lift or something?

When were broke I stocked up on bags of shop brand value frozen veg.
I usually had the basic spices at home.
Favourite meals was
1 Kielbasa and Veggies
Couldn't be easier. Frozen veg in a casserole dish chopped up potatoes, sausage, squeeze of lemon ,( use jif it will last longer and is cheap) cook. Near the end put in grated cheese to melt through. Kids loved it.

2 mixed veg used to make a thick soup. Use different things to make it interesting eg curry paste or ginger. Add lentils for protein

3 stir fried with mixed veg. Make your own sauce with soy honey if you have it in or brown sugar, lemon and oil.

4Cous cous is cheap roast veggies and stir through the cooked cous cous add a squirt of lemon. Add chick peas for protein.
5 risotto is cheap and easy. It doesn't have to be authentic. Add frozen peas and stir in done soft cheese.

Theres nothing wrong with frozen fruit and veg. It will last longer and is versatile.
5 curries can be dead cheap.

Make your own paste. Buying a few spices each week will be cheaper than buying jars and you can make enough paste to keep in the freezer for other times.
Try and make enough for left overs for lunch or to freeze.

Hope things get easier for you soon

I'd start with what you already have in... we have "freezer surprise" tea when I'm a bit skint. This could be a chicken nugget, fish goujons, what ever potato based thing is knocking about , accompanied by what ever there is half a tin of left in the fridge (soup, beans or what ever). Uses up all the random bits and bobs where there's not enough to make a full meal and no food waste so a bonus.

Another one I do to get rid of random left over veg is to chop it up, fry it, add tinned tomatoes or passata then stick some pasta in, or sausages or what ever I have that I need to use really. It can be a bit random (mushrooms, sliced cabbage and peppers in it last Night with some quorn mince, but you get used to it ), I add paprika or bbq sauce so it's a bit less bland but it's OK with out.

Aldi have risotto packets in at the moment, about 79p which are cheap and nice.

Cous cous stuffed peppers are cheap and nice too.

I would start by using what you already have lurking in the freezer. Lunches, as it's only temp, go cheap and cheerful, jam sandwich, biscuit and a piece of fruit, crisps for a snack won't do any harm for now.

Too much month left at the end of your money is rubbish op

Egg on toast
Ham, egg and chips
Toasties
Cheese on toast
Pasta, cheese with anything in the fridge or any tins you have such as sweetcorn.
Roast dinner but with sausages as the meat.

Try and get a fruit and veg box from lidl. Go about 8.15. Get a full box of random fruit and veg fro £1.50. Get pasta. Lidl sauces are cheap about 89p .good luck

Garlic and chilli spaghetti
Put spaghetti on to boil with more salt than you think. Peel and chop a whole bulb of and warm it slowly through in olive oil, then add chilli flakes. Cook for 4-5 mins on low heat then mix into just cooked spaghetti and sprinkle with parmesan. If you can stretch to a bunch of parsley chop it in. Also, because this is so cheap, it's worth splashing out on the 'luxury' spaghetti which really is nicer.

Puttanesca
Fry one onion, add 5 cloves garlic, add a good squeeze of anchovy paste, cook off, add tin of toms and simmer for 30 mins, crush a handful of (cheap) pitted black olives in your palm and throw in at last minutes. Serve with spag or pasta.

Amazing Tarka Dahl, at least 8 good portions:
Cover 400g -ish red lentils with water plus an inch. When boiling, spoon off the froth and add 4 big teaspoons turmeric.
In another pan fry 4 tsp cumin seeds till they turn dark in 2 tabllespoon oil + 2 tablespoons butter.
Add 2 chopped onions and 2 tsp salt, fry till they start to darken at edges.
Add 16 cloves of garlic (or 4 tablespoons of the cheap Asian food aisle garlic in a jar, very useful and less vinegary than others) and fry for anohter minute.

Add 8 teaspoons ground coriander (again, from the Asian food aisle not the herbs section) and 2 teaspoons chilli and cook briefly (add water if pan too hot)
Then add 1.5 tins of chopped tomatoes. Add more salt if necessary and cook until the tomatoes soften and the whole thing reduces into a paste and releases oil back into the pan, around 15 minutes.
Add the masala to the lentils, cook 6-8 mins more.
Add juice of 1 lemon (or Jif), and a bunch of chopped coriander. Serve with bit. of yoghurt and rice and/or naan .
It sounds complicated but isn't, it's actually really relaxign to cook.

I don’t think jacket pots and tuna are that cheap!

I’d buy a big bag of rice (pref brown), lentils, onions, garlic and tinned toms.

You can make lentil soup with onions, garlic, lentils and stock, though you might want some herbs or spices as it can be a bit plain.

You can make dhal and rice, or a chili with baked beans.

Bread is better value than pitta breads, rolls etc. You could freeze it, so you’ve always got some in.

I’d also shop in the reduced section and freeze what I could ie milk.

Think the trick is to make foods as flavoursome as possible, one trick is to fry your onions for at least 20 mins as this caramelises the sugars and gives it a greater depth of flavour.

If you know anyone with a Company Shop card this can be a great place to get loads of food for not too much money. I got 1kg of hummus for 10p last time I went. I was giving it away to everyone. Or there may be a food project near you - the one near us sells food very close to their sell by date, so it’s very hit and miss what they have, but you can get a bag of bread, veg etc for £1, though you have to be prepared to cook it and freeze it - I made broccoli and bean soup which did 10 servings for £1

Oh, and when I was really on my arse (and I think its still like this), if you fill up at pay at pump, they only debit £1, take the rest of your money a couple of days later so might be helpful a day or two before your due to be paid. (My bank used to allow a 48 hour leeway up to £50 of an unplanned overdraft before I got charges so I could basically fill up woth fuel I couldn't afford 4 days before payday and not pay extra charges, but don't rely on this info!!)

Definitely porridge!

We have a rice dish - basically lots of cooked rice, fry up an onion and garlic, mixed with one or two cans of sardines (I usually do one with tomato sauce, one regular), frozen peas and sweet corn. At the end add a little vinegar, and soy sauce. We love it. If you have a spare egg or 2, this can be added to make it a little more like egg fried rice.

Also recommend Dahl using red lentils and a strained can of tomatoes instead of fresh.

Tortilla made with 6 eggs and potatoes, in baguette if needs to be more filling.

Tomato soup made with canned tomatoes, bulked out with some red lentils, delish.

Pack of wraps, tuna, cheese and little sweet corn, couple of tomatoes, you can make cheap quesadillas (it's an Eat Well for Less recipe).

Jamie's chicken liver bolognese is a bit more expensive but amazing and you can tinker with the recipe. Chicken livers are very cheap and full of protein etc.

@Cruiser11 I might try roast dinner with sausages as meat!

Sorry you're in this position op. Could you apply for a UC advance payment?

Do you have a local social supermarket? An organisation (usually a charity) that takes unsold surplus food from supermarkets and resells it at v low prices? I know of several in the North West so PM me if that's your area. You don't usually have to qualify to attend or be referred like at a food bank. Plus the environmental benefits to buying unsold food are huge!

Was going to say jacket potato with cheese/ beans

Pasta with a sauce of tinned tomatoes plus whatever vegetable I’ve got

Stir fry of whatever vegetables plus noodles

Enchildas: Make a bit extra bolognese or used leftover cooked chicken in a tomato sauce. Buy cheap own brand Wraps, roll up, tuck in sides then cover in more tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese (very cheap). Back 20 mins delicious.
It's mostly wrap and sauce and cheese so you don't need much filling. Serve with frozen sweetcorn.

Too good too go app - it is amazing! Don't bother with a lot of the costa coffee/gregs/starbucks/wenzels etc. Rubbish food and not enough to sustain.
Go for morrisons and costcutter. I have been able to feed my family fresh for a week for under £10 before now. I always get Meat in the costcutter one and always tonnes of fruit and veg and sometimes some bread in the morrisons one. See if you can find out whether the ones near you are good before you buy if someone else has tried it - some are more hit and miss than others. But as long as you have space in the freezer and the time to process the stuff - chop and freeze or cook and freeze then you can feed your family super super cheap. Hope this helps.

Sweet potato & chickpea curry, pasta and pesto, homemade soup and veg, sausage casserole. Breakfast of porage and banana or pancakes and stewed apple with peanut butter, french toast.

Are you on Instagram? Search for 'One Pound Meals' by Miguel Barkley

When we are skint we eat a lot of pasta; Mac n Cheese, Pasta & Pesto (red or green, super cheap from Aldi) Spag Bol - bulked up with beans

Also see if you can find a community kitchen type place - one has opened in the library in a town not far from us. There's two freezers and a fridge, and local supermarkets donate stuff instead of throwing it out. Plus loads of fresh bread and excess veg. There was frozen houmous, sausages, vegetarian products, ready meals, lots of different things.

You literally help yourself from the freezers.

Egg and mixed vegetable fried rice

Homemade vegetable soup with Pearl barley in - so filling and incredibly cheap
Make double and freeze for the following week and have with toast

Vegetable casserole with dumplings

Toad in the hole

Mixed tinned bean chilli, again make double and have on jacket potatoes one night and wedges or rice the following or make burritos out of some with some cheese on top

Red lentil and vegetable dhal with rice and homemade flatbread ( plain flour and yogurt)

Chicken casserole using thighs and add dumplings for extra body and Pearl barley
Serve with bread and butter

Macaroni cheese

If you are cooking minced beef or lamb add equal amounts of lentils as it doubles the quantity and you will get added goodness too .

For cleaning stuff if you've run out buy one bottle of own-brand "flash" and a cloth and a bucket. Add water. You can clean everything with that. Start with the kitchen countertops, end with the bathroom, toilet last. Either throw cloth away or boil wash next time you do one. Boiling water to sterilise bucket when you're finished.

Tinned vegetables are cheap and don't go off, look on the bottom shelf for the 30p tins. Jars of pepper and mixed herbs are useful for seasoning plain food. Eg pasta, grated cheese, tinned tomatoes, sprinkle over with pepper and herbs. Porridge is cheap and filling. Soup and bread is a portable lunch for work if you wanted something hot. Home made cake is cheaper than shop bought, slab of cake, cheese and cucumber sandwich and an apple for lunch. Stews and casseroles. Baked potatoes with butter and salad. Tomato soup for a sauce, mixed with rice and topped with mince, tinned veg.

Make an appointment with Citizens' Advice. They can check to see if you're not claiming any benefits you're entitled to and can also make a referral to a food bank.
As pps have said lentils, chickpeas, frozen fruit and veg from Aldi and porridge are all cehap and nutritious.

Pasta with pesto, home made vegetable soups (much more filling than a can). I would buy what you can with the money, batch cook meals like chilli/lasagna and freeze. Frozen veg often cheaper than fresh.

Agree that your dh's commute is going to use all your funds for next 3 weeks. Can he wfh temporarily?

I think the best thing to do in your situation (and something I've been doing regularly since I was made redundant at 3 months pregnant a year ago...) is to first claim a food bank parcel and see what you can do with it, and use a small amount of money for extra bits to make up the meals with.

don’t think jacket pots and tuna are that cheap

Potatoes are cheap if you buy them by the sack. I agree about the tuna. Sometimes there's special offers on multipack tuna which would help.