To think it’s actually hard to live off this for the rest of the month?!

[munnyya]

I have 350 to last me and dd (2) until 29th of august. This is for food and household essentials like washing tablets, dishwater tablets, shampoo etc only. I think this is incredibly difficult to do? Am I going wrong somewhere? I can’t understand how this is meant to last us until then.

Yes, another vote from me for Taming Twins. She's brilliant and has great 'how to' videos

I live off a lot less about £100 a month if that sometimes its less.

Unfortunately i never learned how to cook so I have no confidence with it especially for dd.

But you're not too old to learn are you?

Toddlers can eat pretty much the same as adults.

Maybe give the vindaloo a miss but otherwise, whatever you're eating, she can.

I'm wondering where you got the idea that kids have different food?

Mine were eating a kiddies' portion of Xmas dinner at age 2.
Turkey, veg, gravy, etc.

BRANDED dishwasher tablets are. What sort do you buy?

When you were a child, did your parents never cook?

Did you never watch and learn?

Please don't let your DD follow in your footsteps.

Learn to cook and show DD how to as well.

I wasn’t looking down my nose at someone who hasn’t learned how to cook. I didn’t know how to cook until well into my 20’s and I started doing things like googling “how to make bolognese”.

The OP isn’t at a massive disadvantage because she wasn’t taught. Most people aren’t taught. We use the internet to figure it out. It is very easy to find simple recipes and loads of “how to’s” on the internet.

It’s enough and you’ll be ok.
If you’re not confident with cooking have a look online for simple meals. Buy in season. Buy the cheaper fruit and veg. Carrots, parsnips, cabbage, apples, oranges bananas. Buy a large chicken to roast and have it with veg and potatoes. Then use the chicken to make a curry or stir fry. You can freeze it for another time or use in sandwiches. There are lots of delicious vegetarian and vegan recipes online too. I’d buy a slow cooker in your situation and have a look at slow cooker recipes- you essentially just brown the meat and bung everything in. It’s not difficult and the more you do it the more confident you will become. Have a look at Bored of lunch on instagram.
Use half the washing liquid for your clothes - avoid the tabs as they are too expensive, you need softener either. Only put on a full load of washing. Change bedding every fortnight and use towels more than once. Shampoo is shampoo and can be as cheap or expensive as you want it to be. Use a good conditioner instead. If toddler is old enough start toilet training as you’ll save on nappies. Have a look through wardrobes / toybox and sell stuff you don’t need. If you’re not sure where to start it’s incredibly easy to feel completely overwhelmed and just stick to what you know and what is easiest. Get a notebook and plan the next few days meals. Take it one step at a time. You’ll be ok.

@ConsuelaHammock I think the OP is at such a level that she doesn't know how to roast a chicken, or make a curry or stir fry.

She needs a really simple guide like

How to roast a chicken
How to make a casserole
How to make a pasta sauce
How to make cheese sauce
How to cook a piece of fish
How to make shepherds pie/curry/risotto/stir fry etc.

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/chilli-con-carne-recipe
This is an incredibly easy recipe and can be made in larger batches and frozen. Can be eaten with rice or on a baked potato. My teenage son likes a small bowl of it with a tortilla wrap for supper. It freezes well too. I always use at least 1.5kg of mince when I’m making this as I know it will save time and effort for days when I don’t have time or can’t be arsed to cook. ( which is often if I’m honest). Use tomato puree, tinned tomatoes , tinned kidney beans from Lidl. They’re really cheap. You could use less mince and add extra kidney beans or a tin of mixed beans to bulk it out.

I use my slow cooker for the above recipe. I just brown the meat and then bung it all in. I don’t pay much attention to timings either. Stick it on slow in the am and it’ll be ready for dinner. I usually leave the lid off for the last hour so it thickens a bit as the sauce can be a tad watery.

www.simplyrecipes.com/easy-dinner-recipes-for-beginners-5198225

https://www.budgetbytes.com/how-to-freeze-leftovers/

Make this tonight OP. Replace the wine with more chicken stock (use stock cubes) and your daughter can have it too. It uses chicken drumsticks/thighs which are very economical. It has only a few ingredients.

https://www.recipetineats.com/chicken-fricassee-quick-french-chicken-stew/

https://www.recipetineats.com/mashed-potato/

By the end of the day you can have cooked from scratch chicken in a sauce and mashed potato! There’s detailed explanations and videos if you get stuck. That will get your confidence up.

Looking down your nose at someone who hasn't learnt or sneering as some posters have done is never a great way to encourage people to try something new. Not everyone is as confident at new things for all kinds of reasons

The op is buying and cooking duck breasts.

Op can presumably use her eyes when browsing the meat section and is able to count - so she'll be aware that there are far cheaper meats she can buy and bung in the oven other than duck breasts fgs.

OP you will have got from this by now that you can definitely make some changes to be more economical.

As for not being able to cook, it’s really not difficult to learn how to make a few simple meals but I can tell from your responses you feel a bit overwhelmed and lacking in confidence. So I’m going to make a few suggestions that might help you, both with eating and cooking and will also help with budgeting.

Get yourself some freezer storage containers so you can do some simple batch cooking. Amazon do loads. If you are cooking for your child make sure to get some smaller ones to freeze small portions.

I would recommend a slow cooker if you can afford one.

Get an app or two for family friendly cooking. I like the baby led weaning app (great recipes for toddlers) and also the slow cook recipes app. The instructions are easy to follow and you can make lots of things you can freeze that you can then reheat with pasta, rice or potatoes.

I also used to use a website called my fussy eater a lot when the kids were little. Lots of easy pasta sauce recipes for example. A hand blender is helpful for this (Amazon is again your friend, you can get one for less than £20).

The baby led weaning one has a super easy bolognese recipe for the slow cooker where you just lob everything in and don’t need to cook anything in a pan first. (I still use this even though my kids are much older!).

If you can get your child into jacket potatoes and eggs you can make some super easy and cheap meals. Jacket potato with baked beans, cheese or bolognese is easy and relatively healthy for a toddler (and you!). Scrambled eggs are quick and easy either in a pan or the microwave and perfectly fine for a toddlers lunch or tea.

If you have enough room in the freezer I would always have peas, sweetcorn and fish fingers in. Get the best quality fish fingers you can afford and they really aren’t that bad.

I don’t buy frozen chips. I just cut whole potatoes into wedges and use an oil spray. 30 minutes in the oven and they’re done. Easy.

Wraps/tacos are popular in this house and require hardly any cooking. You can freeze any wraps you don’t use for next time (they freezer better rolled rather than flat). Wrap either a chicken breast or a fillet of white fish (I buy frozen hake usually) in foil and bake in the oven for about 20 minutes with a little oils. I then do chopped cucumber, tomato and avocado, could also do chopped pepper. I just use a little bit of mayo or hummus for the kids. They love it.

Hope that helps a little.

If you learn to make two basic sauces, a tomato based one with onions, garlic, tinned tomatoes and a bit of black pepper, and a white sauce with butter, flour and milk, you will have the basis of many meals. The tomato one can have vegetables, lentils, red kidney beans, tuna fish, mince, etc added to it to make pasta sauces, soups etc, and the white sauce can also be used with pasta, with vegetables such as cauliflower to make cauliflower cheese, or you can do fish in white sauce and just add some fresh herbs. Homemade sauces are cheap and don't have strange ingredients added. The tomato sauce can be made in bulk and frozen. If you start with basic home cooking, your confidence will grow and the money you spend on food will shrink!

Feed your family for £20 a week fb page mightgive you some money saving tips buy all toiletries at savers so much cheaper or supermarkets own brands also TikTok have loads of quick and reasonable recipes for you to try out 🥰

White Sauce
Ingredients
40g/2oz butter
40g/2oz plain flour
500ml/18fl oz milk
salt and white pepper
Recipe tips
Method
Melt the butter in a saucepan.
Stir in the flour and cook for 1-2 minutes.
Take the pan off the heat and gradually stir in one-third of the milk. Return to the heat and simmer, stirring, until all the milk is absorbed.
Repeat this process, stirring all the time, allowing the sauce to become thick and shiny before adding more milk.
When all the milk is added bring to the boil. Simmer gently for 8-10 minutes and season with salt and white pepper.

Gammon and vegetables plus 40 packets of itsu glaze for meat all for £6 from my local food pantry. I fill 2 large shopping bags each week.

For phone/internet tarrifs ect, have a look on Money Saving Expert website (Martin Lewis) and sign up for the newsletter which flags up deals.

I want to add this picture not the pancakes

BBC good food website is so good for recipes. Usually very simple and you can search for an ingredient you like and it will come up with lots of suggestions. Some are harder than others but maybe start small with a couple of things you know both you and your daughter like (macaroni cheese, spaghetti bolognase?) I do get though not having the headspace or time to learn new stuff but sounds like it could take away a lot of stress in the long run? Jacket potatoes with various toppings is another good one x

That's loads. I spend between 180 and 220 monthly for two adults and two cats. I buy one big chicken and it feeds us fo 3 days, Roast it one day , have wraps and curry or pies. Lean beef mince, batch cook Bolognese and cottage pie. Use frozen mixed veg. Have scrambled eggs some nights. Porridge for breakfast with frozen berries. Cheesy beans on toast. I batch cook loads once and eat twice, or even three times by freezing it. Look on you tube for inspiration.

Back in the good ol' days we used the yellow pages.

Its probably much harder now its all gone digital lol.

I've got less than £200 for 3 of us until 23rd, which includes £38 for travel to work and really I need to order school uniform too. Just went to lidl and brought several packs of crumpets for 18p each, stuck them in the freezer. Breakfasts sorted for a while at least!

Fortunately we can eat quite cheap simple meals, jacket potato with cheese and veg, mushroom and spinach omelette. We buy huge bags of rice which works out pennies per portion and have rice with a variety of things. Definitely recommend lidl. I also just got a free loaf of fresh bread as I had a voucher on the app

We're not overly careful and don't always cook from scratch but we average £40 a week per person for food and toiletries plus some cat food for four adults and two cats. In your situation I'd imagine £60 pet week was more than adequate.

I have learned something on this thread - had no idea that dishwashers were cheaper than washing up by hand. Probably because I've never had a dishwasher! Thanks for the clarification.