Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Aibu to ask what you eat when you are broke?

557 replies

NCsobroke · 08/10/2021 14:48

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 Confused)

OP posts:
SquarePeggyLeggy · 19/10/2021 05:49

Should say side of veg.
You would also need sugar and milk.

sashh · 19/10/2021 06:26

Get the app 'too good to go' you get a reduced price bag of food, it can be hit and miss with what you get but it's always worth more than you pay.

My local carvery does a couple of take away carveries everyday for a very reduced price.

Offal - it's cheap and good protein, you might not like the thought of it but chicken liver pate is simple to make.

Buy a pot of frozen chicken livers this will be about 60-70p, leave them to defrost, put in a frying pan with as much butter as you can spare (I like 50/50 liver to butter but that's not always possible on a budget) add a chopped onion and any herbs you have to hand, salt and pepper and if you have some brandy at the back of the cupboard slosh a bit in.

Cook until the livers have changed colour then use a blender to create something that looks, well like something out of a nappy.

Don't let that put you off, pour into a container, cool and then put in the fridge.

Pancakes / Yorkshire pudding are made with the same batter of plain flour, milk and an egg. You can make a stack of pancakes and have them for breakfast or you can stuff then with something savory, cheese, onion, cooked mince, veg from the freezer You bake them in the oven for about 20 mins so they are totally crispy.

You can also make fritters using the same batter and add things like tinned sweetcorn, have them as a side dish or as a main.

Things on toast, beans, cheese, bacon, eggs.

Have a look at the tins in your cupboard, I was making a chili the other day and instead of opening chopped tomatoes I opened a tomato and basil soup, so I added it to my mince and it was surprisingly nice.

I always cook more than one baked potato (live alone) and will use the extra to make gnocchi, just put the potato in a bowl (remove the skin) and add flour and knead until you get a sort of dough, take off small chunks and use a fork to make little wedges.

Drop them into boiling water to cook and serve with whatever you can make a sauce out of.

Home made scotch eggs for some reason feel more substantial than a couple of sausages and an egg.

Boil eggs and shell
Use either sausage meat or get some sausages and take the meat out - I tend todo this using Lincolnshire sausages but sausage meat is cheaper.

I use 2 sausages per egg, form the sausage meat around the egg and then dip in egg and breadcrumbs, I bake them rather than fry them and I tend to have a lot of sausage meat so they look huge when cooked. I normally serve with a home made coleslaw or salad. Obviously they can also be eaten cold for lunch.

AdoraBell · 22/10/2021 20:14

I sometimes use sausages for pasta sauce, squeeze them out of the skin. Either small pieces for rustic meatballs or break up the meat like you would with minced beef. Add spices or herbs of choice and tinned tomatoes. Serve with pasta/rice/potato.

LaraLou99 · 22/10/2021 23:13

Oh bless you that sounds so tough. I would carb load & use frozen veg.

Oats (porridge for breakfast) & frozen fruit

Sandwiches for lunch

Pasta, rice, omelette, mash potato & cheap meat for dinner.

Hope you make it to the end of the month x

HanSB · 22/10/2021 23:49

My area has groups where volunteers pick up food about to go out of date from supermarkets and distribute it to people that need it. You might find a contact on your local Facebook groups or apps like Olio. I think they get a lot of bread, milk which can be frozen and fresh fruit and veg.

Cooking I would have porridge most days as it fills you up. I also like congee which is some rice cooked until it breaks down in water so it’s soupy, add some stock powder and then can eat it plain or add anything you have to it.
Chicken thighs are very cheap and you can use the meat for all sorts of recipes. Make broth using the bones. Eggs are very nutritious. Check your cupboards/freezer and plan meals based on what you already have. Make use of any spices/dried herbs to make the food taste better.

icecreamcrackers · 23/10/2021 10:29

If your dh has covid have you applied for the track and trace £500 payment through your council?

NCsobroke · 23/10/2021 12:32

@icecreamcrackers

If your dh has covid have you applied for the track and trace £500 payment through your council?
Husband and both kids had Covid but all are fine now. We weren’t eligible for the payment when we tried unfortunately, my husband is still paid for being off work sick so they said that was a deal breaker. Although it was our UC that left us in the shit not his income.

Not long to go now though!

Local food pantry has been a total life saver. Big packets of chicken thighs there that I’ve stretched to feed us around 4 meals. Plus all the other bits - it has really taken the pressure off and I intend to stick with it! Thank you to all who recommended.

Got 2x 90p mince from lidl that did about 8 meals bulked out! (Chilli, meatballs, spag bol etc).

Also have found the olio app lots suggested is great I’m quick enough, have lots of fruit and veg in after a pick up yesterday.

Just got to get through half term with the kids eating me out of house and home, wanting entertaining and begging for McDonald’s treats etc now!

Thanks again for all the helpful advice Flowers

OP posts:
New posts on this thread. Refresh page
Swipe left for the next trending thread