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 )

Cheesy mash and beans

Eggy bread. White bread dipped in egg mixture.
Jacket potatoes and beans.

*Jack Monroe's lentil and spinach daal with rice.
*Soup made from a kilo bag of carrots - so cheap and so good!
*Sunday afternoon supermarket loaves chucked out at 15p and popped in the freezer to bulk out soups and curries and for lunches.
*Big baking potatoes brushed with oil, sprinkled with salt, baked, split lengthwise, scooped, insides mashed with a dash of milk or butter or mayo, seasoned, mixed with a little tin of sweetcorn, a snipped up spring onion per potato, end of some ham on the bone from the cheapie shelf chopped up (if they have any and you're meat eaters), grated cheese to mix and sprinkle over, pile back into empty shells and back in the oven until bubbling and golden.

• Sausage casserole made with one cooked sausage per person snipped into rings, chopped onion, kidney beans and passata over cooked pasta.

Good luck!

Tonight we're having a potato, carrot, lentil curry. It's cheap and the children love it. We also like the bean goulash on jack monroe's site. I often make a veggie chilli cheaply. Beans and lentils all the way. We also like the Marcella Hazan's tomato pasta sauce and just add whatever veg we've got in the fridge. X

A pressure cooker is your best friend for tenderising cheap cuts and saving time and fuel. Charity shops often have them. Get stainless steel if you can.

Probably can't add anything that hasn't been suggested. Lentil Dhal, pasta, rice dishes where the carb's the main focus and the flavouring is cheap. Cheap winter veg.
Go easy on yourself though. Ask for help if you need it. I donate every month to a foodbank. I'd be cross with you if you struggled and didn't ask.
When you're feeling less strapped, you can pay it back.
Good luck.

If you can get to a farm shop, we buy 1/2 a sack of potatoes for £6.50. Lasts 2 adults more than a month if you keep them in a cool place

Lentil Bolognese. Make the sauce from red lentils, grated carrot, tin of tomatoes, purée and any other grated veg lime courgette. Lots of stock and salt. Serve with spaghetti.

I sometimes make mini toad in the hole which stretches out sausages. Get a muffin tin for 12 muffins: cut 4 sausages into thirds so you have 12 pieces. Put one on each space with oil and put in the oven at 200 till the oil is sizzling hot. Make a batter from 100g of plain flour, 2 eggs and 175g of milk. Pour into the muffin spaces over the sausage till about half full. Back in the oven till they have risen and are crispy - about 10-12 mins. We would then eat 3 each (family of four) with lots of veg.

Beetroot risotto is very cheap and tasty too.

childhood was stuffed pancakes - make pancakes and put tinned mince (fresh not nearly so good) in each, fold them into parcels and put in a dish. Empty a tin of condensed cream of tomato soup over the top, add grated cheese and bake till warmed through. I really miss those stuffed pancakes

^

Blardy gorgeous

Dinners are well covered I'd add kedgeree and pilaff but that all I can think of )
Packed lunches for DC:
Egg or cheese or tuna, cucumber, carrot sticks, tomato, shredded cabbage/lettuce.
Mix and match as you wish into sandwich and veg sticks or salad box with crackers or filled wrap. Make a tray of home made cookies or flapjack each week for the sweet treat. Bottle of water.
Packed lunches for adults: box of dinner from night before to heat in microwave or larger portion of egg or tuna salad with bread.

Am I right in thinking that it’s ok to buy horse carrots ? I think they’re just mis-shaped

when going through hard times, whatever's in the "reduced for quick sale" shelves at the supermarket.

It helps if you work odd hours or can go out at about 10.30pm.

Might be meat, cakes, bread, cream, ready meals, eggs, fruit, a turkey...

Round my area there is now a voluntary group that collects short-dated food from shops and offers it for collection.

Also, a sack of potatoes from the farm shop. You have to keep them in a cold dark place, perhaps a garage or a mouse-free shed.

Keep a cupboard stocked with inexpensive filling food for hungry days - porage, rice, pasta in big packs as a basis for hot meals.

Minestrone. Corned beef hash. Pancakes. Cottage pie.

Root veg is very cheap at this time of the year so I would focus on making meals using those. Presuming you have all the relevant herbs and spices. I’m vegan so:

Lentil chilli- carrots, lentils, peppers, onions, corn, tinned toms, kidney beans. I like to make a double portion of this so I can use it for enchiladas the next day. You will need wraps & cheese for this. You can make a quick enchilada sauce with tomato purée and spices.

Lentil Shepard’s pie- carry the rest of the lentils, carrots, onions over and add tinned toms and potatoes

You could also make a lentil bolognese with the lentils, onions, mushrooms tinned tomatoes

Veg stew- barley, carrots, potatoes (rest not used in Shepard’s pie), parsnips, mushrooms, and literally any veg that you want. I make my own dumplings

Veg casserole- you can use the rest of the veg you’ve not used in the stew with some spices and tinned toms. I like mine with veggie sausages and some bread

Veggie nasi goreng is very nice, and also cheap as it is based on cabbage, carrots and rice, plus spices, with an egg on top for non-vegans.
I like beans on toast for lunch or breakfast. Baked potato with beans and cheese, or with any leftovers such as mushrooms, bolognese, or chilli. Carrot and coconut soup. My kids liked pasta bake, which could be with mince, left over bol, whatever veg you have lying around, or with tuna, a tin of mushroom soup & sweetcorn. Fortunately mince that is not reduced fat is cheaper and tastier than the low fat version.
Frozen veg can be much cheaper than fresh if you are really skint, and can be quite nice. Toad in the hole is delicious with mash and peas, and very cheap to make.
If your family will eat it, chick pea curry is cheap, easy to make and very yummy, you can have it with pitta bread or chapattis you can make yourself in a dry frying pan with chapatti flour and water.
Don't buy fizzy drinks or fruit juice, they will be fine with tap water.
Fish fingers or frozen white fish ( coley?) are pretty cheap, and I think Iceland is your friend if you have one near.
Spanish omelette ( made with onions and potatoes , or you can add any veg you've got lying around. I do this for my packed lunch, as it travels quite well and is nice cold.
Happy to post recipes if you would like.

I’m shocked at some of the suggestions on here to be honest. Chorizo, Parmesan, ham hock? Ffs what planet do some of you live on? I find the financial privilege and lack of self awareness on mumsnet staggering sometimes. Anyway I digress..

I don't think that's fair. Chorizo and parmesan at least give a huge amount of flavour per gram in comparison to other meat/cheese so you need far less of it. I have been very broke indeed (I'm not now, I have been very lucky) and one of the things that made a differnce to my state of mind - really really important when you're trying to keep a family positive on fuck all - is having variety and some of the stuff that other people have, and that you'd been able to have in better times. Living on potato waffles is fucking depressing and that matters.

I mean living on as in it's your staple diet. Potato waffles are fine.

Also oats for breakfast if you like them! Can be used in so many different ways and 1kg is so cheap. You can have over night oats, baked oats, basic porridge, blended into oat flour for a healthier pancake.

Bags of pasta are like 30p in aldi will be good for lunches

Corned beef pie. Cheapest tin you can find (b and m) mix with mash, onion and a bit of made up gravy from granules. Make some shortcrust pastry for the crust. Serve with chips and cheap mushy peas. Gorgeous.

Don't base the rest of the meals on meat, see meat as a garnish not the focus. Like Welsh rarebit with a bit of bacon on top.

Porridge for breakfast with frozen fruit.

Make some cookie dough using the 30p bars of chocolate so you feel like you're getting a treat. Add oats to them to make them filling.

@NCsobroke, do you know of any community groceries near you? Near where I live they have set up some where you can fill up a couple of bags for around £3 / £4. Its food that the supermarket has got rid of - past its best before date for example fruit, bread, salad etc. It may be worth checking out any local community pages on Facebook if you have access to it to see if there is anything like this in your area. I know there are a few that have been set up through the country but unfortunately they are not everywhere yet. They are set up to help the environment by reducing waste and any one can access them (not a referral like a food bank). They are usually on set days.

Our local food bank offers food for free - no questions asked.

On a tight budget I’d have porridge for breakfast and make lots of soup with whatever veg and pulses I could get cheap. Bulk them out with pearl barley, rice, or pasta. You get decent variety by going for whatever veg you can get cheap, and it costs very little and is filling and nutritious.

Pasta bake is a good one. When money is a little tight I just use the cheapest chopped tomatoes I can find with either sweet corn on some sort of beans mixed in. Just whack it in the oven with some cheese on top, it’s always a hit with my kids.

Homemade carbonara with a pack of cooking bacon feeds six of us for a few quid. I think cooking bacon was 90p or a £. Just need some hard cheese and a softer cheese to give some flavour but then you have lots of cheese for another meal.

Big bag of potatoes is great if you can store them dark & dry otherwise you’ll be chucking them out.

Celeriac - possibly ugliest vegetable & seemingly wasteful as you peel. But we’ll worth it for luscious soups, chunks in casseroles & very nice roasted.

Likewise cauliflower & turnips, delicious when casseroled or roasted.

Initial outlay high, but worth eking out are sesame oil, smoked paprika, soy sauce, tamarind paste, chilli sauce - a few drops or teaspoon of one of these in a dish can lift the flavour.

Oddly, very cheap baked beans washed through are a handy source of haricot beans, good for topping up a casserole at last minute if kids are extra hungry.

Cheap cuts of meat are not that easy to find in the supermarket, so the local butcher may be your friend. Lamb neck fillet is nice for a casserole or curry as a treatment slow cooker is your friend.

Lambs liver is good & highly nutritious but not everyone likes it. It needs to be cooked with same attention as fish, over cooking it makes it tough. Quality is also key here, make sure that all the tubes & sinew has been removed before cooking.

White fish/pollock frozen from the supermarket is good value & versatile.

Any credit on nectar/Tesco advantage cards that you could spend?