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 )

Ask in-laws for a loan please do ask for help. My son has often had to ask for help and I would be very upset if he didn't.

Also yes to egg and chips and pasta and potato bake!

Sorry if this has already been said, but don't feel guilty going into savings / overdraft.

If it's definitely a one off blip (not a change in payment dates) then next month your income for UC will be zero so you should have enough UC to re-balance your money.

Remember as well that if you qualify for UC they pay 85% of childcare cost so a part time job might be worth it. Okay most will come straight off the UC, but may give you more freedom.

I've tried some of Jack Monroe's recipes, and tbh I thought they just weren't very nice (as well as very small portions), but she does have some good ideas about substituting ingredients.
I find youtube is a good source for cheap recipes, there's people posting from around the world. Lots of good, basic and cheap food.
Also would agree with what a PP said about treats. I would try and buy at least one treat a week, even just a 25p pack of biscuits. We used to really enjoy it, much more than usual when we can afford more.

Left over dinner pie.
Veg and bit of gravy in dish top with mash and bit of cheese if you have. You can add a little meat in bottom too

Do another check for benefit eligibility /citizens advice ? Many people have been where you are op. x

Incase you hadn't thought of it already - Do you have any loyalty points you can use? E.g Boots points for toiletries or nectar points for food shopping?

And pay zero attention to the person saying you need to pay tax selling stuff. It's absolutely not true unless it's a main source of income. Everyone gets an allowance. It's over £1000 before you need to start thinking about it.

www.budgetbytes.com/ is a good website to check out - I've made a few things from there!

@NCsobroke where abouts are you? I’d be happy to drop some shopping off for you if nearby.

It might be an idea to find out if you can get a food bank voucher. If you don’t have enough money for your bills and food, they should be able to help out and take the pressure off a bit x

Buy frozen veg, it's just as good.Iceland do the best value IMO.

Cheapest smoked bacon chopped small,tin of cheap Tom's chopped,33p carton of passata ,squeeze tomato puree,seasoning, garlic,•5 teaspoon of sugar( to balance acid in cheap tomatoes) ..theres your basic ragu or bolognese sauce .Always best to mature for a day in fridge.will feed 4 with cheap thing of spaghetti or pasta. I use cheapest mince same basic sauce without bacon but add 2 x chilli beans and chilli powder ,serve with rice.
Homemade hummus with pitta bread.

Soup, of carrot,onion,potatoe whatever you have but peeled butternut squash great stock cube.,blitz. This will for few days and is filling

Huge pack of chicken thighs that you can separate into meals,buy em skin on cheapest..I can feed us really filling slow cooker feel for 4 for less than £2/2.5..look on web for ideas. ..apply for food bank if you can ,they might just tide you over with cleaning stuff

Sorry I checked my pm ,clicked post then my words went stupid but you get the gist..good luck!

For cleaning: cheap white vinegar, real lemons and soda crystals are great.

[quote SunnyUpNorth]@NCsobroke where abouts are you? I’d be happy to drop some shopping off for you if nearby.[/quote]
That is so kind of you but we will be okay, we do have a small amount of savings we will have to eat into this month but luckier than some that we have them.

I managed to get to lidl at about 3pm today and got some great 90p bargains in reduced meat etc came out with change from a £20 with dinners and lunches for at least the next week.

For anyone reading for budget ideas, look out for the green 90p stickers in lidl, got 2 big packs of mince for 90p each today!

If you live near any potato farms you can usually get a huge sack of potatos for £5 to £7
Baked beans on toast.
Pasta
Chicken and rice
If you have froven veg make a veg pie. Can use a little meat for flavour but bulk up with lentils and veg.
Mince cook with lentils , other vegitables, tin of tomatoes. 1st night serve with spagetti, 2nd night boil up some potatoea for a cottage pie. Etc. Often we have enough for 3 or 4 nights. We tend to freeze so not consecative nights

Instant noodles

Packet noodles mixed with mulligatawny soup,its like a curry taste.Serve with bake at home rolls,really cheap meal and filling.

Go to cheap meals are things like instant noodles, beans on toast, boiled eggs mashed in a cup with butter and salt, stuffed peppers (buy the ‘wonkey’ veg) - usually fill with savoury rice and top with cheese or Philadelphia, Burritos made with rice and beans. Most Kids like things like hotdogs and pizza and they can be bought for cheap. Cereal for dinner is sometimes an option when we don’t feel like cooking and aren’t super hungry. Plenty of cheap freezer food in places like farm foods to make meals, not the most nutritious but fills hungry tummies and is affordable.

Eggs are cheap. You could make a tortilla-style omelette with potatoes, onions and a bit of grated cheese, peas and carrots on the side.

Home made pizzas are cheap - a bag of bread mix, topped with tomato, cheese and any other toppings you have in, from peppers and onions to ham, chorizo or olives.

Pasta pomodoro is very cheap.

Dahl with rice.

Beans, chips and sausages.

MN mocks but a roasting chicken is very good value. You can buy one for £3.50, roast it with some potatoes and carrots, with peas or broccoli on the side.Then strip the meat from the base and the bones, and mix it with rice and veg next day for a paella, biriyani or risotto.

Egg fried rice with frozen veg and onion in it.

Delicious and filling.

Can anyone tell me where the big round family sized cakes for 50p are sold please? If they exist, buying them would be less hassle than making them. I know I can check reduced sections of shops, but if I've gone there to buy a cake I need to know I can definitely get it at the price I need, otherwise I may as well stay home and bake. I like cake for a treat. Endless jam on toast feels old pretty quickly.

A tip is to put them on a second, lower shelf in the oven when you cook your main meal so as not to waste fuel. I get the boxes of 15 eggs because they're usually slightly better value, keep several weeks after expiry date, cheapest margarine because you can't tell the difference in a cake and once made cakes last several weeks in an empty sweet tub/tin.

A tip for slightly stale bread rolls when they're just that bit too hard to eat, is to put them in the microwave for 10-20 seconds. I've no idea how it works and can't remember what led to this discovery, but they go soft temporarily until they're cold again, so eat them hot. I cut them open and put the butter inside first before microwaving them.

Thank for starting this thread OP, there's been lots of useful information.

I haven't read all of the comments so apologise if it's already been asked but I read your replies and saw the part about your husbands wages being counted twice in one assessment period for UC, is he paid monthly? The guidance has recently changed so you can ask to have it recalculated and the 2nd wage will be included in next months UC instead.
Weekly/4weekly pay is different and you will always have at least 1 month overlap but if he's paid monthly then it's definitely worth letting them know as it can be rectified.

How many are you cooking for?
Spanish omelette, cheaper and more filling than your average omelette plus you can eat it hot or cold for lunches, using up potatoes onions anything you want. Jars of peppers can come in handy as they stay fresh and you can put just a few in things like this. You can get huge jars in tesco etc cheap

Veg stew - I use up anything I've got in, always potatoes and onions carrots stick cubes, but either your traditional veg like swede etc or I do aubergines chick peas etc sometimes add chilli flakes, I almost always add either red lentils or barley or both.

I've recently discovered the weigh your own, eco friendly shops.
I got oats, muesli, lentils, cinnamon sticks at a fraction of the usual cost so its worth looking up ones in your area.
I also love to yellow label shop in supermarkets, if you go in the evening there are usually bargains and I often fill my freezer. We have several vegans and a few meat eaters so it's good to save money as much as poss and give everyone variety.

Burgers are good and filling, home made sweet potato wedges,
Massive bowl of home made coffee slaw costs pence lasts days and is so much tastier.

Big slow cooker of risotto, mushroom is good, we just use Normal mushrooms whatever is cheap, rice and onion and stock cube.

Pasta bake , with cheap garlic bread or make your own.
I like to make a tub with fresh garlic in a tub of flora or whatever, then bake baguettes and use that but it's also so good on anything and just for dipping!!

Big home made quiche will do days of lunches

Wraps packed with salad, ham coleslaw

Cous Cous , falafel , Greek salad

I would definitely contact a food bank in your area xx

Firstly what do you have in the house ? You may have several reasonable meals in already.

If you need to buy the porridge , rice and red lentils will go a long way and not be expensive. Frozen veg may be better value than fresh especially from the bargain freezer shops - be strong though thr cheap biscuits etc that they display are not your friend.