To have cried in asda

[Littlemissdan]

Is it just me that the whole cost of living thing is getting too much for? I actually had a (very small and no one watching!) cry in asda when I saw some reduced bakery goods because I didn’t know if I could afford them alongside my entire smartprice shop. £30 I had for a 2 week shop including nappies, and it just broke me that I actually had to wonder if I could afford a 55p treat for my kids. I can’t believe we’re living like this, 3 years ago we were comfortable and now I’m relying on the free school meals half term vouchers.
Not really looking for advice or budgeting advice here, just a bit of solidarity really :(

@jennakong

I'm really sorry OP. There's nothing I can say, except that hopefully the war in Ukraine will be a short-lived one. Living in the summer is cheaper, and we could be in different circumstances by autumn, the market could be flooded with cheap oil and gas if the sanctions against Russia are lifted. Putin could be deposed, we don't know what may happen, but things may look brighter in a month or two, fingers crossed.

But we had an energy crisis before this war. It hasn't helped things but please don't deflect the blame from the current government. It's quite telling that a PP said, without a hint of irony, that she hoped some footballers would step up and campaign again for hungry children. This is what our country has been reduced to - hoping that footballers will sort out the problem of starving children. The fucking government, and anyone who supports them, should hang their heads in shame.

@GrandTheftWalrus

DD didn't get on well with aldi formula as we did try that at the start. However we do buy their Wipes and nappies.

@RedHelenB she wasn't. I looked in her trolley and it was all morrisons the best stuff etc. We had a basket full of yellow sticker items.

Not sure what age she is now but it's worth revisiting the cheaper formula when they get a bit older (8 months or so when they're well into weaning) they're much more likely to be tolerate any kind of milk once they're old enough to digest proper food

CMPA aside of course, but you'd be on prescription milk then anyway

Some churches offer holiday clubs for a few hours of crafts etc but including lunch. Worth checking if anything like that.

This is what my sky is going to. We barely watch the TV. We mainly watch netflix or prime. So can get rid of that. But we need Internet as our work is all online for signing up to shifts, seeing payslips etc.

My restaurant was one of them, I raised £600 in cash donations and a stock room full of food within 4 days, it was so humbling and made me so proud of our community.

@PinkAndViolet

I was shocked when I walked round Sainsburys earlier. £2.58 for a 6 packet of walkers crisps and £4.50 for a small box of breaded chicken. How the hell are people meant to cope? I'm sorry OP, it's so difficult I know. X

I went to M&S a few weeks ago and nearly fainted at the prices! A Chinese ready meal is the same price as my local takeaway

Do check if you have a local food hub, ours is about avoiding food waste not based on means testing, I think you take a bag and pay £4 and fill the bag with food.

We use the food to go app, often get a bag of goodies from Greg’s as a treat (£2.95).

I have fussy kids too, well both have sensory issues/ASD so it makes things more tricky when trying to budget, there’s not really a meal we will all eat.

@SmellyOldOwls she's 10 months now so I may change her milk. She's only have 2 bottles a day now anyways. I just keep buying her the same milk she's been on since birth. I know follow on milk is cheaper but I prefer her to be on the 1st stage milk as I can't afford her to have a wide varied diet etc. So there are lots of fruits and vegetables she hasn't tried yet and that makes me really sad.

I'm on a group for her birth month and they are showing different meals every day etc and it makes me feel so sad I can't do the same.

Sometimes you can get 4 cans of chick peas for £1 and 4 cans of tomatoes for a pound. I mix them up and heat them in the microwave at work- it works out at about 3 meals for a pound. it is really filling and warming. Sorry things are so grim. I tried growing my own veg at one point but it’s not cost effective (accept lettuce) so did without. Take care, Lovely

@GrandTheftWalrus

This is what my sky is going to. We barely watch the TV. We mainly watch netflix or prime. So can get rid of that. But we need Internet as our work is all online for signing up to shifts, seeing payslips etc.

Did they just increase it? If so you can break the contract penalty free. see my post upthread.

@covilha

Sometimes you can get 4 cans of chick peas for £1 and 4 cans of tomatoes for a pound. I mix them up and heat them in the microwave at work- it works out at about 3 meals for a pound. it is really filling and warming. Sorry things are so grim. I tried growing my own veg at one point but it’s not cost effective (accept lettuce) so did without. Take care, Lovely

Stick a few spuds in you can make a nice curry for a weeks lunches

@BritishDesiGirl

Its sickening that people are being put in this position. This government needs to step in.

This.

It's not acceptable.

On this day and age this number of people shouldn't have to rely on food banks, especially not in a country as rich as this one.

It's a disgusting failure of government.

This is so crap and you shouldn't be in this position. Apologies if this has already been suggested but try emailing your DC's school, we've a really good well-being lead at ours who is great at finding support.

OP if you are on Facebook, see if there are any swap sites locally. Many were set up during the lockdowns and they’re brilliant. I’ve swapped well over 200 household items (books, toys, clothes, unwanted toiletries, anything I no longer need) and usually ask for teabags, coffee, butter, cat food, fruit or snacks for the kids, and it’s saved me loads of money.

Definitely worth checking it out for your local area, search for “swap shop”, it’s a good way of decluttering too.

The fucking government, and anyone who supports them, should hang their heads in shame.

^^ this

I’m so sorry OP, it must be shit. I don’t suppose you’re in Buckinghamshire at all? Our local parish council has set up a scheme to provide cheap food, no questions asked.

@ickky I got the email on 3rd March that it's going up from 1st April. I was 68 a month which is still a lot but was slightly more manageable. However we had been thinking of leaving etc but we also still have a 400 mobile bill outstanding as they didn't accept me saying at start of covid I had no work and no income and still kept billing me.

I am so sorry you're going through this, my family was very poor growing up, I remember mums of friends crying because things were getting more expensive on a daily basis and we pretty much lived on potatoes and toast, though we did have an excellent local undercover market where food was local and very cheap so we could get good fruit and meat. Many of the stalls have now been replaced by "artisan" providers...We also had the Greggs seconds shop, which was food that was a day or so old (I guess Too Good to Go has taken over that role in some places).

I can see people have already mentioned Too Good to Go and Olio; for occasional treats, is it worth looking at some of the Apps (Greggs for instance) as sometimes they have special offers, especially when you first sign up.

And B&M, Poundland, Home Bargains also sometimes have food including treats at lower prices than Tescos, Morrisons, etc. (It did make me laugh that Rishi chose Sainsburys for his photo ops - I can't remember the last time we could afford to shop there!) We also have a community fridge in our town - just opened - would it be worth seeing if there's one of yours nearby? The stuff in ours is totally free.

I'm totally with you bulking things out as well - lentils, oatmeal, soya mince, breadcrumbs, milk to make chicken soup go further, grating the cheese and freezing it, blanching onions and other veg and freezing them if we have the space...

I never thought so many of us would be facing this again in my lifetime. It's appalling, and the gulf between rich and poor is getting wider every day.

So no, you really weren't being unreasonable. I just wish you didn't have to go through this.

It's awful, sorry you are struggling
You're certainly not alone unfortunately and i imagine many more families will find the next year very difficult.

It's crap. I don't know what people are supposed to do. The price of the basics range has gone up so much, and that's if they even have it in stock.

Shop in Aldi

It's bleak.

[quote GrandTheftWalrus]@SmellyOldOwls she's 10 months now so I may change her milk. She's only have 2 bottles a day now anyways. I just keep buying her the same milk she's been on since birth. I know follow on milk is cheaper but I prefer her to be on the 1st stage milk as I can't afford her to have a wide varied diet etc. So there are lots of fruits and vegetables she hasn't tried yet and that makes me really sad.

I'm on a group for her birth month and they are showing different meals every day etc and it makes me feel so sad I can't do the same.[/quote]
Oh please don't worry about that. The best diet for babies is hearty inexpensive vegetable based locally available stuff - root vegetable soup, stew, shepherds pie and that sort of thing. Apples and bananas are just as nutritious as avocados and mangos. My baby eats a lot of the same thing every day because firstly she's CMPA and secondly she's my second and I don't have the headspace for making sure she has a diet full of variety never mind the budget. She gets ready brek, banana and toast, the odd jar, that sort of thing and whatever we are having for dinner and she's thriving.

So sorry you're in this position @Littlemissdan
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www.entitledto.co.uk/help/Local-welfare-fund