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 )

@NCsobroke no problem, glad you found some good bargains!

Just another thought - have you ever looked into Matched Betting? I read about it on here, kept seeing it on threads about side hustles and things people do for extra money. There’s also a post in the AMA section. I was very sceptical at first but I decided to have a look into it in January and I made about £5k in about 6 months. Could be a good thing for you to look into if you have some spare time at home. I found it quite complicated at first but then it’s very easy once you get used to it. The only thing is that the more money you can use for it the more you can make. You can literally start with £10 but once you build up your pot if you can it’s good to avoid dipping it into it. I followed the free guides on Team Profit.

I'm very grateful that our fortunes have changed dramatically in the last 10 years but we were very skint for a period of time. We once spent a few weeks living off a variety of salami based meals as someone we knew worked in a factory and had procured a few spares - was about 4" diameter and about a foot long. Rice, pasta, stews, fried... I was absolutely sick of it but we did it!!!
On a more helpful note, my kids still love a bowl of pasta with a sauce made from a tin of tomatoes and a few chopped up hot dogs with herbs. One tin of dogs and one tin of tom's will do a good few meals. Kids love it. Quick cheap & filling!

Check out your local supermarkets for any reduced items. Also if you don't mind a bit of food just past it's best before date check out bestbeforeitsgone, they sell a range of food, toiletries etc. Nothing I've had tastes bad at all.

Cheapest meal is prob pasta with a sauce (shop bought) or tinned toms/ fresh toms with herbs etc.

Supermarket brand foods are your friend! And shop in different supermarkets if possible to get best value.

Also download olio and TooGoodToGo apps

@FluffyWhiteBird
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.

It's do with changes in the starch molecules in the bread as it goes stale, and the steam that's generated by the effect of the microwaves causing those changes to reverse temporarily. See here - I've managed to revive half a loaf of crusty bread in the oven in a similar way to this. You can only really do that trick once though, and I've never tried the celery thing on sliced bread.

I found Jack Monroe recipes helpful- cookingonabootstrap.com/ she writes recipes from the perspective of someone who has been a single mum on a very low income but who wanted to feed her son healthy food.

Is there a food bank in your area that you can access for the basics? There are lots of working people who have to do this when money is very tight- no shame in it. It must be very hard to manage when so much of your income is going on fuel.

If your husband has covid and cannot work as a result you may be able to apply for a £500 grant. You apply through your local council and it gets Processed fairly quickly. It also doesn’t affect your benefits.

I’ve never heard of the microwave recovering dry bread. I usually rub a small amount of water over the rolls or bread crust and warm it in the oven. That would probably use more electricity by warming the oven.

Thank you @GAHgamel

Even if you have to pay the debt, StepChange could look at a debt management plan which means they could negotiate with creditors on your part and it might lower payments. It could help you get on top of it. Don’t rule it out. There are also other things like debt relief orders which could wipe out debt under certain circumstances.

Macaroni, pizzas with wraps, soup or beans on toast are favorites in this house when £ is low

Pearl barley and mushroom risotto.

Butternut squash quesadilla: 1 squash, 1 tin of beans of your choice, grated cheese, tortilla wraps, seasoning/taco seasoning

Roast your squash, blitz/mash a tin of beans (I use kidney or black beans), add the squash (mash a bit if preferred), add some seasoning or taco mix, put a tortilla wrap in a pan, spoon your veg & bean mix on top, sprinkle of cheese, and fold over or place another whole wrap on top and toast on both sides.

Veg hash: roasted sweet potato, sweetcorn, roasted red pepper, chuck in a tin of beans, add seasoning of some kind all in a pan together. Add an egg or two on top.

Cottage pie and Yorkshire puddings, gravy granule and bulk up with peas and carrots special. Could make 2 lots of meals each with it!

Lots of great ideas on here already. For a quick meal I have a tin of own brand sardines (about 50p) in a cup of soup. They also work in a sandwich. Good luck and I hope things improve soon.

pasta and butter

@Brightonbelle123

Lots of great ideas on here already. For a quick meal I have a tin of own brand sardines (about 50p) in a cup of soup. They also work in a sandwich. Good luck and I hope things improve soon.

Adding sardines to soup is a new one on me, what a good idea? Which flavour soups have you tried, and which do you recommend? I often have canned pilchards in tomato sauce with bread and butter.

I buy a bag of cheap potatoes and slow cook them until soft. I cut them and put them in the freezer when they're cold. To cook I put them in the microwave for 5 minutes and have any topping on them.

You can buy a large bag of wonky potatoes from Morrison's for 95p they're a really good size. Aldi similar price.

Baked potato and some grated cheese is a lovely lunch or dinner.

I know you seem mostly sorted now OP, but just for anyone else - the Feed Your Family For £20ish a week Facebook page is brilliant for weeks like that.

They have meal plans all costed out for various things that are ideal when things are really tough as it gives you a great guide.

Look up the Radfords on FB, they are the family with 22 kids. The dad cooks suppers and tells you how cheap they are. They look fab

Take a walk round your neighbourhood with the intention of spotting garden apple trees. Many people don't want the fruit and just leave most of it to fall on the ground and rot so many will probably be happy for you to offer to pick it for them. If you store the apples in a cool place in a dark bag they will last for months.

Buy dried beans, lentils etc rather than tinned. A fraction of the price.

Frozen veg is very nutritious. I used to use frozen spinach as a base for pasta sauce and it's delicious.

Find out what time of day your supermarket knocks down the price of meat and baked goods (and get there first!)

Could you start getting your milk delivered? More expensive in the longer term but if your milkman only collects money once a month (as ours does) you might get a few free weeks before you have to pay. We can get other items from the milkman also such as eggs and bread.

Eat dinner as late as possible so you don't go to bed hungry.

Can you get a referral to your local food bank? Citizens' Advice can refer you. You might also be able to get some one-off funding or petrol /supermarket vouchers from your Counci. Google your Council name and "emergency fund".

@EdgeOfTheSky I want to come to dinner at your house! Your dishes sound great

@NCsobroke there are so many good suggestions here so not sure I can add much more, but generally veggie meals and really using all different types of beans/lentils & pulses to bulk things out is much more economical.

All the best

Tuna pasta bake - tuna, sweetcorn, broccoli if you have some, white sauce, pasta - top with grated cheese & crushed packets of crisps.

Jackets potatoes - tuna & sweetcorn or cheeses beans

Cauliflower cheese

Omelette with beans/tinned tomatoes

Pasta, tomatoes, tin of beans (any type) herbs & grate cheese over the top.

Pack of mince, bulk out with lentils - bolognaise, chilli, cottage pie

Buy frozen veg rather than fresh as it is cheaper and you'll have less wastage. Lots of eggs, lots of oats, lots of pasta. Buy big bags of things like rice and pasta - look in the world food aisle for big sacks of rice rather than small bags.
Egg fried rice with frozen peas/mixed veg
Boiled eggs and soldiers
Egg, chips and beans
Pasta bake (add lots of frozen veg to bulk out)
Macaroni cheese
Spaghetti bolognese
Baked potatoes
Ready roll pastry, covered in garlic Philadelphia, veg (fresh or frozen), add sliced sausages if you have them and bake for 12 mins, served with chips and beans.
Have a look in B&M or Home Bargains for things like jars of sauces as they tend to be much cheaper than supermarkets for the same brands.

I would buy:
Rice
Chickpeas
Frozen spinach
Pumpkin
Lentils
Pasta
Tinned tomato
Coconut milk
Peanut butter
Bread
Oats
Ground beef if you have enough money left.
Frozen peas
Mixed frozen veg
Butter
Whatever fruit is cheapest
Jam
Flour

Given you have spices, I’d make:
Pumpkin, chickpea and spinach and peanut curry with rice
Spaghetti bolognese bulked out with lentils
Porridge for breakfast
Peanut butter sandwiches
Egg on toast
Omelette (size of veg)
Pasta with butter sauce (and add peas)
Pasta with egg sauce (add frozen broccoli)
Peanut butter toast
Slice of bread and butter with every dinner
Make oat biscuits (very filling)
Make jam drop biscuits

If you buy the cheapest brands of everything, you could do this with petrol money left over I think!