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 )

Toad in the hole: flour, milk, eggs and sausages served with veg (frozen from asda or wherever) and gravy

Jacket potato, cheese and beans with salad

Pasta bake

Omelette (with cheese, mushrooms, ham ect) and salad

Ham, egg and homemade chips

Stir fry with chicken or beef mince

Noodle dishes

Try to meal plan so you can allocate funds to buy the specific ingredients you need.

cookingonabootstrap.com/

This is an excellent resource as Jack Monroe is the queen of cooking on a budget.

Also, frozen fruit and veg have the SAME nutrients as fresh so don't worry about any negative impacts.

Jacket potatoes, pasta, chips, mushroom curry and 3 bean chilli (without the meat). All cheap and nice to eat.

Something my mum used to do was tuna tatties. Mashed tatties, mix in a tin of tuna and some cheese. You could add onions to it too.

Also “bacon and egg pie” which was effectively a quiche without the pastry. Fry off bacon (and/or) sausages. Whisk up eggs with milk and bake it in the oven until cooked. Also, toad in the hole.

Have you tried the Olio app?

When I was at University I once saw a recipe on a daytime tv show for when you're skint. And I loved it. Can of baked beans, can of sweetcorn mixed. Sprinkle with a mix of breadcrumbs and grated cheese. Pop in the oven for a bit. So tasty

Download the too good to go app or Olio you can get some food through there!

My mum used to make Cheese & Potato Pie - make up some dehydrated mash, stir in a finely chopped white onion, then stir in some grated Cheddar, put in a Purex dish and bake until top browns, serve with baked beans.

Stovies (I lovethese any way)
Bag wonky potatoes
Bag wonky onions
Tin cheap corned beef
Butter to cook
Beef stock cube

Peel and dice potatoes ( bite size) roughly chop onions , into pressure cooker and melt butter, cover spuds and onions with the butter then add a cup of water. Pressure cook til potatoes soft ( let pressure cooker come up to pressure, then turn off ,residual heat should finish them off so saves energy ) add chopped corned beef , beef stock cube either water if required , cook all through together , salt and pepper and serve. Can also be done with sausages and left over roast meat if you have any, but I find the corned beef goes the furthest.

@SylvanasWindrunner

When I was skint years ago I used to have spaghetti with a sauce made of tomato purée mixed with water (or passata) and cut-up bacon with some cheese on top.

I actually liked it so much I still eat it regularly now

I always find that tins of spaghetti have too much sauce in them for my taste, so I drain most of it into a tupperware pot before I cook the spaghetti, and keep that in the fridge. Then the next day I cook up some dry pasta until it's nearly done, drain nearly all of the water off, and then stir through the left over sauce, and finish off cooking both. If that sounds like too similar a meal on successive days, you could probably use it as a base for a pasta bake instead.

You’ve had loads of great suggestions already but I just wanted to add pitta pizzas (a pack of 6 are 49p in Asda) - mix tomato purée, ketchup & mixed herbs as the sauce, top with a bit of ham/veg etc and cheese and bake for 10 mins. The sauce also works on leftover baguette. We regularly eat bacon and leek risotto and macaroni cheese with bacon and onion. Smoked bacon means a little goes a long way and there’s really no need for cream in the risotto. I also make veggie chilli with onion, carrot, tin tomatoes or passata, paprika, cumin, tin lentils and tin mixed beans and sometimes frozen sweet corn. We usually have it as enchiladas or burritos but it’s good on rice, jacket potatoes, wedges or tortilla chips (brush a wrap with oil, cut into 8 wedges and bake for 6-7 mins). I easily get 6 adult portions from it so you might be able to make it stretch (or add stock to a smaller portion for Mexican soup). Hope things improve for you soon op

Big pots of curry are very economical. Lentils and a tiny bit of chicken (or without meat) you can bulk them up and very filling.

Beans (blackeye/chickpeas) fried with spices and tomato go nicely on wraps (you can make these ridiculously easily with flour, oil, water) with some cheese

A roast chicken can last quite a few meals. Can make at least 3 or so meals. Even just packets of noodles with chicken, stock, peas etc can be really tasty. And whatever spices you have.

When we’re low on money, the foods I always do for oats, pasta, tinned tomatoes, tuna, sweet corn, peas, eggs, potatoes, chickpeas, rice. I’ll try to make meals and get fruit for Dd, 3, I always make sure she has fruit, veg, milk, yoghurt and we eat crap if needed
Sorry you’re in that situation, it’s so hard. Could you lend any from family just until the end of the month.
I find it so unfair that good fruit and veg costs more than crappy oven meals which I hate eating and won’t give Dd, aside from fishfingers, maybe with wedges, peas, sweet corn etc

Do you know anybody who gets Hello Fresh OP and might have a free box code you could have? Not a long term solution but could help you out for a week while you're stuck without needing to ask anyone for cash help. If I had a free code at the moment I'd send you it x

Can you get out to a shop towards the end of the day for the yellow sticker section and stock your freezer?

Pasta and rice dishes don't need much to be filling and tasty, and frozen veg is nearly as nutritious as fresh.

Jacket potato with beans and maybe some corned beef, pasta with cheap chopped tomatoes, onion and a bit of garlic, mushrooms on toast, frittata with some (frozen) veg mixed in, chickpea curry with rice, bulk a bolognese out with lentils so it goes further.

Also echo looking at Jack Monroe recipes, she's fab.

Absolutely overwhelmed with the kindness and the amount of responses. Have a big list of recipes and have downloaded all the relevant apps etc with notifications on.

It’s a bit sad that this has made me realise how much I already do of this. Bulking out food, adding beans etc to everything, shopping at lidl, looking for yellow stickers, budgeting and planning meals religiously.

I mentioned earlier DH has sold a gaming console

• Giving us an extra £100 and I got rid of an old table for £25 so we’ve a little bit more wiggle room and can actually afford his fuel. (I’m negative and not having to isolate just FYI).

Spent so much time worrying about the £20 reduction to UC I was not expecting to have the rug pulled from under us like this in having the whole months worth taken away!

We usually end the month with hardly anything left in the bank but we don’t borrow and don’t go into the over draft so this is a bit scary, but we’ll make it work and maybe I’ll lose a few lbs through the lack of weekend wine!

Thank you again, you lovely bunch of people

I know you said you don't want to use a food bank but there's no shame in it. I've worked in one before and they're usually well stocked. You do need a referral though. Also download food sharing apps like Olio where local people post surplus food items they have (and shops too) you might get pastries, bread, cans, condiments ect for free which would otherwise go to waste if no one claims them. I'm sure there's other food sharing apps that might tide help you over too.

If possible go to the supermarket each eve. Reduced tomatoes go for pennies and roast up to make a great tomato sauce

Hunt down your nearest Food Pantry, they offer a place for you to buy a basket of items you pick for around £5. Heres an example but they run them everywhere.

www.govanhillbaths.com/pantry/

Have you got a 'Free Food' community fridge or similar where you live? Many towns have them, it is not a Food Bank but a project to avoid food waste - we have one in our very small town and you can access free food every day ... too few people use it as, whatever we say, they assume it is a Food Bank ... please try and find out what there is near you.

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Go to your local Asian supermarket if you have one - much cheaper for rice and pulses and grains and all sorts in decent sizes compared to supermarkets

Also you may have a local food waste place, which anyone can go to has nothing to do with income and everything to do with environment and saving waste

Are you sure you can't get school meals free. Is it worth double checking?

Planning is key when you are skint- so when you shop think about every meal and how long things have to last. Snacking is out for a start. Not sure where you live but shop cheaply so aldi/lidl and freezer shops like Farm foods/Jack fultons/herons if you have them. We actually all spend more than we realise on food and in the past, when skint and making every penny count, I realised you can actually buy quite a lot. Carbs like pasta, rice and potatoes are a great base to a meal. You have to buy value bread for a bit and cheap fillings/toppings for sandwhices and snacks. If you have herbs you can make a sauce very easily with tinned tomatoes and some onions and garlic. A massive pack of cheap mince can make a few meals like spaghetti Bolognese, chilli and cottage pie. Easy to bulk out with grated carrot. Keep veg and fruit cheap- we have got very used to just buying unseasonable imported stuff. Carrots, cabbage etc and buy the wonky varieties. If you are buying meat, just go for chicken thighs- loads you can do with them and they would be my choice for flavour anyway. Also the 'yellow ticket' is your friend. I love it because I am never have a clue what to buy for dinner so just go with what is on offer and create a meal. Finally- it can actually be fun having to reassess and come up with new recipes. Obviously not if you only have £1 a day to feed yourselves which I am very aware is the case for some.

I would just eat the kids left overs. Bread and butter is quite filling to tide you over too. Don't buy fresh fruit in case it goes off. Also look around the house for anything you could sell? Most importantly sit down and figure out if there was anything I could do to change the financial situation. If yes, act fast, if no at least consider the long term.