Oh hell! Ideas for how to not spend much for the remainder of Sept please!!!

[Becaroooo]

Made a cock up with my bank account (moved last month and had to go to Uncles funeral overseas so lost track) and I realise I now have £190 til the end of Sept to buy food and petrol for the 4 of us.

So....after filling the car (essential) which will cost £40 I will have £150 ish left.

I still have to buy nappies, wipes etc out of that too. On the plus side, just bought loads of cleaning stuff so should be ok for that.

£150 for 3 weeks for a family of 4....oh crikey thats only £50 a week isnt it???

Any tips?

Still need to buy fresh fruit and veg for dc as well as do packed lunch for ds1 each day for school.

Other than using up stuff in the freeezer and eating lots of soup & jacket potatoes, what else can I do??

You can do that. A whole chicken can last a couple of days; a roast and chicken wraps. Morrisons always have offers on fruit and veg so you can buy packs for £1, may be cheaper to buy them loose. Just make sure you have the basics (bread, milk etc). You can do it. Value nappies or use the points on your Boots advantage card.

Aldi f&v 39p offers. Local Market. Eat veggie.

We do 5 on approx that just including food. Not eating basically either.

Make a big vat of lentil chilli - Have it with rice one day and with jacket potatoes or inside wraps (top with grated cheese and bake) the next.

Make a big vat of tomato sauce. Have it with pasta and cheese one night; mix it with some roasted onions, peppers, courgettes and layer into a lasagne the next.

Vegetable and barley soup is really cheap and filling. You could make a batch of cheese scones to have with it and could use the scones for lunchboxes the next day too.

Go to the supermarket at the end of the day and grab the reduced stuff, especially good if it's food you can freeze.

Lidl nappies are fine, we've used them for ages.

Use Gumtree / Cheapcycle to sell odds & sods and make a few extra £.

Use up all points on store cards. It's amazing how far I can make £2.50 stretch when I have one reward voucher to spend.

Ask on your freecycle / freegle to see if anyone has surplus veg / fruit from their gardens. You might get enough apples to make a pie!

Even better go to the market just before it closes, you can get a real bargain much cheaper than supermarkets. Nearly gone off banannas make great bannana loaf. There are loads of blackberries in the hedgerows atm. Whereabouts are you we can't use all the apples in our garden .

wipes - I always used baby cream and cotton wool as I found it much cheaper than wipes and kinder.

Apples and free blackberries this month up for picking and fallers - this will fill out meals with a nearly free pudding of

crumble
apple pie
baked apples with sultanas
apple turnovers for packed lunches

I have a great recipe for banana loaf - you can also cut it up into slices and freeze ready to put in a packed lunch box, therefore making two at once can be a good idea and freeze it all.

Potato and something (carrot, leek, onion) soup for a starter - home made to again bulk out a meal in a cheap way.

Dalh is a cheap meal made with lentils and served with cous cous/rice and a bombay potato dish makes an interesting meal, add a packet of toasted pitta breads cut in half to dip in the dish instead of naan is far cheap to. Pitta bread is often on offer and freezes well for the following week.

Mix some chopped garlic with butter and salt and pepper, spread over pitta breads and bake them for yummy and v easy garlic flatbreads.

If nappies get desperate small towels or muslin squares, for waterproof covers steal plastic bags from the supermarket to make the wrap, so it doesn't leak, face clothes as soakers and face clothes as wipes.
Aldi chickens are £2.99 and are good and you can make loads of food out of flour and cheese, dumplings, pastry, bread, pancakes, gnocchi. Add veg in a sauce is a lovely meal. Also lots of markets even supermarkets will give you cheaper food if you beg. I.e they may give you there staff discount or the stuff that can't be sold.
We have four in our family and live of £40 a week for everything as that is all we have left after bills are paid.
Also ask staff in store when they discount stock and go in and buy everything you can freeze. That helps. Good luck it sucks but can be done. :)

Oh forgot onions they are great and go a long way and you can make so much with them even boil them and serve with cheese sauce and bread. :)

Thanks all, some good ideas!

Already buy the cheap nappies (always have) and wipes.

Will be getting my f&v from aldi I think...we will be able to go blackberrying soon!!!

Planning pancakes for tea tomorrow!

do you have an old thin towel or old fleece throw?

cut these into sqaures, dip in water and use as wipes which you can wash?

pick blackberries now and put in freezer, and apples are in season at the moment, so perhaps you will go past a house with some free to collect outside?

I got 20 fresh british pork sausages for £1.75 from my co-op yesturday (reduced but fine to freeze)

go to markets (not supermarket) for fresh fruit and veg (so much cheaper)

porridge for breakfast

eggs are a cheap form of protein

Home made pizza and dough balls with garlic butter is a real treat but costs less than a fiver for all five of us. Do you want me to put a recipe on?

id like that recipies please

(i do homemade pizza but those dough balls sound yummy to go along side)

Big bag of rice £5-7
Big bag of pasta £3.50
Big bag potatoes (you can get sacks and so long as you store in cool dark place they will last you)
Plain flour (pancakes etc...)
Self raising flour (cakes, biscuits, dumplings)
Strong white/wholemeal flour + yeast to make bread
Large cooking oil - £3
Canned fish £3 (sometimes BOGOF deals on) - tuna pasta bake, tuna + tomato + sweetcorn and rice
Dried pulses and beans
Chicken wings cheaper than other chicken (under £2)
River cobbler often cheap for white fish (£2 a pack in Tescos)
Chicken thigh fillets cheaper than chicken breast (£2 a pack of 4 in Sainsburys near me)
Frozen or veg - peas and sweetcorn
Cheese (look for BOGOF or go to Iceland for cheaper cheese and also margarine/spreads)
Eggs - for value sainsburys do a mixed size one
Cabbage - always lasts well
Carrots - value bag
Iceland for all frozens or look for the deals
Pitta breads - make mini pizzas with tomato puree, cheese and your choice of toppings

Don't know where you live, but near me I have a lot of middle eastern butchers that do meat a lot cheaper than normal butchers and the supermarkets.

Markets for veg or end of the day in supermarket gets you good deals (but it does go off faster).

I use the same dough for the pizza base and the dough balls so it's three cups of strong flour, a cup of warm water, a quarter cup of oil, a tspn of yeast, a tspn of salt and a tspn of sugar. Make the bases then shape what's left into little balls and let it prove. The most important bit is to wait til they're done then wrap them in a tea towel before eating so they steam and go nice and soft like Pizza Express ones
The garlic butter is just butter, crushed garlic and a little bit of salt. HTH.

How are you getting on OP?

Hi Ivykaty- please may i have your banaa bread recipie- thanks!!