If you only had £8 to buy food/drink with, What essential food/drink would you buy?

[CatsSleepAnywhere]

As the title says, What types of food would you buy?

Cats, just to be clear, you have £8 to last 10 days?

Ps I saw smoked haddock for 38p reduced in sainsburys the other week

those cheapo rip off super noodles

Cats, you can't survive on this. It's just not possible. Have you looked for a food bank?

The money we have left in the bank is just enough to cover Electric, gas and water which will come out DD in a few days. I have £8.00 in my purse.
DH will get paid in about 10 days.

so you have
1 )sausage casserole (add lentils and make enough for two days - one day with mash the other with HM oven chips - or fried ones if you have a frier)
2) beans and waffels (2 tins of beans)
3)Tuna and sweetcorn pasta bake
4)mushy peas, new potatoes and fishfingers for 1 and just do pizza fingers for 2
5) Corn beef hash (that's fried onion, 1 tin of corned beef mashed in and two tins of beans)
6) Omlette and chips
7) tuna and baked spud

Mixed frozen veg
Spuds
Tin of Corn beef
Lentils
Eggs
Powdered milk
Couple of tins of chopped tomatoes

I'd take the cash out of the bank. Cancel the direct debits so you don't get charged by your bank, and then just set them back up again when they get in touch in a week or so.

Potatos (aldi have 4 baking pots for 39p this week)
More cereal, big box of wheetabix (unbranded) for about 80p is very filling

I agree with the others though you are best off waiting to see what you can get at the end of the day in the reduced section, and then use the money thats left to buy things to pad that out.

Also tesco online shop take the money about a week after they deliver IME, so if you get to the end of the week and really have nothing left you could try and order somethings from there.

I was thinking food bank too, it would streach this budget a bit further as lunch is going to be a problem and you may find portions are too small from what we have come up with. There is no shame in a foodbank everyone has a bit of trouble from time to time - though I'm not sure where you'd go to find out, maybe ring CAB?
It'll just get you some tinned stuff to bulk out what you have already and means you definatly have ehough to eat rather than doing food gymnastics (and hoping the reduced section pays off - which it can do, and I have eaten like this at tough times - but had no child to take care of)

Bag of bread flour - will make 2 lots of home-made pizzas (top with tinned toms and whatever is lurking in the fridge or freezer.

You can't really do it without seriously going without... Can someone loan you the money or can you dip into an overdraft?

Cats, you cannot survive on this. Milk alone is going to take up a lot of your budget. Contact a food bank, church or whoever can help in your local area. I think that sooner or later you are going to have to ask for help. Do it sooner and save yourself a lot of stress.

Cancel the largest direct debit, then set it back up again when things are a little better.

Sausage casserole will last for 2 meals if you bulk it with veg
Tuna pasta bake 1 meal
Jacket potatoes with beans 1 meal
waffles, fishfinger/pizza 1 meal

There's still 5 meals to make out of the rest. You need to get some help.

Good plan BodyOfEeyore. I think you should do that. You would probably only have to cancel one of them to get enough for a fair amount of food. The water maybe - is that about £30/£40?

Trickle there are some great ideas there, thanks.

Eeyore I will have to talk to DH about that but it is an idea, thanks.
Do I tell the bank if I want to cancel the DD?
How much notice would they need?

Market is good, Morrisons has cheap meat, things like pig liver, lamb bones, for under £1/kg.

Don't buy vegetables in the supermarkets, they are a rip-off get down the market.

The only drink I would consider would be milk, full-fat milk is £2 for 8 pints.

You can get masses of food for pennies in the evening before closing, 20-30p for a ready meal originally costing £3 or £4 in Morrisons here, they are generally good at least a day past the best-before.

Cancel the DD's, and put food on the table.

I know its robbing peter to pay paul, but it gives you more time to eBay, flog stuff, whatever.

Also, if you are struggling, do you have any DVD's you or the kids no longer watch? We took about 12 down to CEX and got £18 the other day? You need to take ID with you and proof of address I think. You can go on their website and find out what they are worth before you take them too.

I hope you can get sorted. I echo the others with potato and pasta based meals. You can get massive bags of them for very little, and they are very filling.

My favourite dish for when the pennies are not adding up is pasta, with value tinned chopped tomatoes, and just add a few herbs whatever is in the cubboard. Sometimes there are no herbs. I just have the tomatoes. Tastes alright, costs about 15p a portion if I remember rightly.

Just ring the bank - I think you wouldn't be able to stop tomorrows DD but anything after you should be ok to cancel

You need to call the bank and ask them to cancel it. You need to give them at least 24 hours notice (although I've done this the day before it's due to go out and its been OK). Then contact the company and set it up again. They will send you a letter just after it should have gone out to tell you it's not gone out of your account. Don't worry, I've done this a few times. There's a lot of people in the same boat.

You can cancel a DD anytime, as long as it is before the date it is due to go out. I've cancelled them loads of times (for different reasons). When they try to take the DD they get told it has been cancelled, and you don't get charged. They will then write to you to say they were unable to take the money and give you more payment options including setting up a new DD. That will give you a couple of weeks.

you're welcome, hope you can cancel a DD and make things a lot easier

pasta
milk, eggs & cheese for a carbonara type pasta dish (bulk out with breadcrumbs)
passata or tins of toms for a bolognaise type pasta dish
Any green veg and a some carrots

Quorn is great - around £2 a bag - low fat, high protein and easy to cook (like chicken). I bag will do enough for 2 meals for each of you. Fry it for the best taste before adding any sauce

Good luck

A lot of people are allergic to Quorn. It makes ds vomit for hours.

Okay, I think I'd buy the following:

1 whole chicken (about £3.50)
Pack of chicken wings (about £2.00)
Bag of potatoes (about £1.00)
Jacket potatoes (about £1.00)
1 loaf of bread (about £1.00)
Milk

You said you've got enough cereal, so that's breakfast covered.

Use the bread for lunches, have sandwiches. Do you have anything in the cupboard to go on it e.g. jam, peanut butter, honey etc? If not get some supermarket own brand jam it's very cheap.

Dinners I'd do as follows:

1. tuna and tomato bake. Use 1 tin of tuna, 1 tin of tomatoes, pasta and some sweet corn.

2. jacket potatoes with cheese and beans (be sparing with the cheese!)

3. toad in the hole and peas (don't put in whole sausages, chop them into bite size chunks to make them go further)

4. roast chicken, potatoes and some frozen veg. Serve the legs and wings and save the two chicken breasts.

5. chicken chilli. Use 1 chicken breast, 1 tin of tomatoes, mixed frozen vegetables. Do you have some chilli powder, cumin and a stock cube in the cupboard? Add these for flavour.

6. chicken casserole. Use 1 chicken breast, potatoes and frozen veg. Add a stock cube if you've got one for extra flavour.

7. sausage and tomato spaghetti. Use some sausages cut into bite size chunks, a tin of tomatoes and some spaghetti, if you've got any green herbs in the cupboard, add these for flavour.

8. potato and cheese bake. Mashed potatoes, mix in any veg, sprinkle with cheese and bake until golden.

9. chicken wings and potatoes, roast them all in the same tin. Add some lemon juice and honey if you've got some in the cupboard for flavour, if not just salt and pepper.

10. serve up the remaining freezer stuff like your burgers, pizza fingers etc and a tin of beans. Trust me the family will think its fun, my mum used to do this every so often!

I'd also raid the kids piggy bank and down the back of the sofa on this occasion and if you've got extra money get some bananas or apples.

Please let us know how you get on x

If you want more details for the recipes like quantities, just let me know x

You've already got tuna and pasta in so you could buy a jar of Mayo and have pasta tuna thingy. You could bung some sweetcorn in it as well.