To ask for your tips on a very lean month?!

[Wombatbum]

😩 v. cheap meals needed, any other tips to get through the month? I’ve got paid today but due to changing jobs and one thing and another I’ve got a shortfall of about £500 this month. Bonus points if you can make it fun 😂😩

I think this is good advice. If it’s only for a few weeks, there really is no need for a full on performance for every meal. Beans on toast, soup, scrambled eggs, omelette or something like that are all perfectly good dinners.

I did ocado one just before Xmas and they then sent via email five more £20 off codes as well as free smart pass for three months. A lot of things are more expensive but basics aren't like milk and I have to say their basic vegetables are better than my usual asda or aldi's, best carrots I've tasted for years! 🥕😊

Get on Vinted and sell

I too was going to suggest the olio app which helps food waste and its all free. Some people on there collect from their local grocery shop nightly and put it on the app. I've noticed that baguettes and pastry items are common on there in our area from the ones that get the shop stuff.

A day old, stale, hard as a rock baguette can be revived though! Run it under a tap briefly, wrap in foil and bake for 10mins or so, then open the foil and bake till slightly crispy on the outside. It comes out just like a crispy, fresh baguette.

For a cheap meal I do baked potatoes with home made coleslaw. I use any mayonnaise I have and add almost any harder veg I have in the fridge! I've used various combinations of the following over the years. Grated carrot, finely chopped onion/spring onions, finely chopped purple/white or green cabbage, chopped celery, radishes, grated celeriac and if you have them- seeds or nuts for some protein.

It’s true, but the OP was talking about buying nice jewellery and video games for the family at Christmas, so was definitely in a position to have £100 in a biscuit jar at the back of the cupboard to cover something like this.

You mentioned ‘other’ tips. Anything you can sell on eBay or Vinted? It’s surprising what will sell sometimes.
If you are not going out because you are skint any chance of picking up any additional paid work?

Check out your local food larder. Most areas have them

Buy the items you use regularly in bulk now. Like rice, pasta, tinned tomatoes, beans, dried lentils, frozen foods, herbs and spices. Buy for the whole month that way you know you have enough food.
With the money left over, divide that over the remaining weeks so you have a weekly budget for fresh food.
Buy popcorn that you pop yourself and find some films for movie nights on whichever platforms you have.
Go out and do free things in your area.
Nothing more miserable than feeling skint and not going out anywhere.

Stop buying meat, when we are cutting down we have a lot of 'beans on toast' type meals, and pasta with sauces. Very filling and cheap to make.

I do Attapol surveys and get paid for them. Download the app or Google paid surveys. Some are poorly paid, but some are not, and I put the money on a Revolut card for dog food orders online.

Looking at what you’ve got in I would make a big bolognaise; a big veggie chilli, a big lentil Dahl and a veggie curry using what you’ve got in. Split each of them into 4 portions and freeze 3 of the portions for future meals.

Then go through the freezer, fridge and cupboards with a fine tooth comb and try to use up everything in a menu plan for the month, buying the minimum.

Try and budget just 10 or 15 a week for shopping on top of what you’ve got there and see if you can go for super cheap meals for the other ones.

This is also a really good opportunity to do some decluttering. Do you have old kids clothes and toys; clothes you don’t wear; old phones etc. can you sell them on Facebook for a few pounds at a time?

Ok so I know this might not sound delicious but believe me, it is...

Fry up some finely chopped onions then add finely chopped red pepper, mushrooms and a can of green lentils. Simmer till lentils are soft - you may need to add some more water at some point. Add a ton of paprika and course ground black pepper. Then serve with a poached egg on top. So yum. And cheap!

Baked potatoes. Cook lots at once and you get two days worth - can reheat or cut into wedges and coat with oil for cheap tasty potato wedges. If shopping at Tesco get the aldi price matched potatoes.

Have you got a local 'Food share or community pantry' - these are not Food Banks but designed to avoid food waste .. we have one in our very small local town, open every day for anyone to use. Otherwise as others have suggested -Too Good to Go or Olio. But, without sounding snarky, is this is more of a budgeting issue ? If you can afford a half term holiday and 'spends' for it don't you need to focus on everyday budgeting?
Apologies if you are just asking for ideas for cheap meals.

make a big batch of tomato sauce (for pasta). I use tinned tomatoes, onion, carrot, mushroom, herbs and stock cubes. Can have with cheese, with mascarpone for pasta bake with tuna if you eat fish and veggie mince / sausages etc.

lentil dahl, chilli, chickpea curry, carrot and lentil soup are all nice and cheap.

If you’ve never tried it, Haggis is REALLY cheap and delicious (£2.99 in Sainsbury’s for 400g) and it can be cooked in the microwave too) so a meal for 4 can be less than a fiver and you can use Burn’s night as an excuse!

If you use Quorn products, look for supermarket own brand alternatives. I prefer Tesco's veggie mince or Farmfoods. Half the price usually.
Add your lentils or grated carrot to mince dishes. Bulks it out and can halve the amount you use.
Use up what you have in already or just buy what you need to add to make a meal.
Too Good to Go and Olio.
Increase the cheap carb portion in meals (potatoes, pasta, rice) reducing the protein element a bit.

If you have children, mine absolutely love pasta mixed with baked beans or pasta with butter and cheese. Not the most nutritious perhaps and I do always put frozen veg with it but they are totally happy with these as a meal and actually see it as a treat. They are young though.

I don’t have any savings!

Excuse me?

You really have no idea.
I got my daughter a Pandora bracelet and charm in the sale. Less than £60. The 2 video games I got were on a 2 for £20 offer. Any spare money we have had has gone towards the short break we are going on in February which can’t be cancelled.

imagine going and looking back at my posts, I’m not begging, I’m just asking for some tips for a difficult month!

Fair enough, but really, next time you think of booking a break, please instead out that money somewhere safe for the next time this happens.

It’s absolute madness to run so close to zero but book trips away. Getting a safety buffer is absolutely critical.

This soya mince is incredibly cheap and goes really far. It's a very decent alternative to mince in bolognese, cottage pie etc (I do eat meat but I prefer this to mince) www.hollandandbarrett.com/shop/product/holland-barrett-savoury-soya-protein-mince-60082491

I explained in the OP, or I thought I had, that due to me changing my job things are difficult this month. We normally manage fine. For context we are having 2 nights at Disneyland paris at the cheapest time of year, driving to do it as cheaply as possible. All booked before I changed my job, if we don’t go we will lose what we have paid, the spending money I have saved isn’t a massive amount as we are doing it on a shoestring. I changed my job because I was unhappy there and it was affecting my mental health, plus the commute was costing me. My new job is initially fewer hours, but there will be more hours for me in a couple of months. So it really is a temporary situation.

Ok 👌

You really have no idea.

I was amazed at the stuff I found when I defrosted the freezer that I'd totally forgotten about, especially the little pots of leftover things.