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

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

I have good news!

DH has checked the bank account and we have tax credit money gone in so we can go shopping for food today.

Thankyou for all the support everyone, you have all been great!

Kate, we have two families living below the breadline in our tiny hamlet of 12 houses. One family is having to regularly use the food bank in town, the other has regular handouts from one of their parents. We help as much as we can. Many people seem to think that you live well on benefits- that is not the case.

Kate, I know plenty of people who are struggling like this, even people whom you would never expect. Things are just so tough and an unexpected expense can through everything out of whack.

Even in this house, last month I ran out of money completely ten days before we got paid because DS3's last pair of shoes gave up the ghost and, because he is an adult size it took all the rest of my money (about £30) to replace them. Luckily, I have spent a long time building up a paranoid stockpile of things like pasta/rice/lentils/beans and I had flour, powdered milk and cornmeal so I was still able to feed us and make things like cornbread and yoghurt cake to tide us over, but it wasn't pleasant.

I think I will be trying to buy sensibly for the next month as we still have the MOT and road tax to pay for at the end of the month. I just hope we will be o.k. till next months pay day. We have the tax credit money now so that will cover us for food this coming week then DH will get paid. I will have to try and get to grips with shopping at the cheaper shops and trying to budget.

If things do get desperate next month though I think I will be trying to find out about any local food bank (if there is one).

This has been a wake up call to say the least!

Plan- do a cupboards / freezer survey- in detail incl herbs/spices

Work it what you can do/ make from that.

Get over to the mse website and post your list there and they will sort you out. There are some real experts on living in nothing there.

Things you might not think of- if you have flour ( any sort) you have pancakes/ wraps and probably dumplings ( made with any sort of fat) and soda bread. Great " fillers" .

Go to your market late on and barter hard for large amounts of fruit/ veg that they may be chucking out- might even be free. Be willing to chop the good bits off and use for soup/ pasta sauce/ curry.

Your freezer contents actually look pretty good to me- I can Make enough lentil soup ( lentils from the Asian supermarket are cheaper) to feed 5 of us for 30/ meals with a bag of casserole veg a mug of lentils and a couple of oinions ( I'd probably use curry spices in it).

If you are really on your uppers do not be tempted by the " buy now pay later " things obviously.

Theas18 What is the mse website? Is it money saving expert? Or is it something else?

Ah that's brilliant news cats! I agree with theas18, the money saving expert website is great and people are really really helpful on there and will make sure you're getting all the money you're entitled to, plus how to reduce your bills and make meal plans to ensure you don't waste food. The nicest website I've ever been on! X

I second the comments about Food Banks (sometimes known as community food larders), please use one if there is one near you and most towns do seem to have one nowadays. They often run by Churches, the other thing to try if you are really hard up is to ask at your local Church - the people there will never want to see anyone go hungry. Please don't be embarrassed to ask.

And for those of us that are lucky enough not to struggle, please remember to try and donate food to your local food bank if you can. DS and I are helped at one this morning, it is good to be able to share . I always try to put an extra item in my shopping trolley to donate.

Only problem the lady of the family using the food bank in the village has said is that it's all tinned stuff and very few vegetables. She has a bowel condition that means she needs to eat plenty of fibre so she really struggles during food bank weeks. The local food bank had a drive at the supermarket a few weeks but to be frank I was shocked at the types of things they were asking for: things like pot noodle and instant coffee. I understand that many of their clients won't have access to cooking facilities, but pot noodle, really? When you can get super noodles for about 13p.

I second what Ragwort says. Our church has a Kirk Session Benevolent Fund, which the congregation can contribute to. It's not a huge amount of money, but it is there for anyone in the community who finds themselves in dire straits.

People can contact our minister, explain their situation a little bit and he can give them a small amount of cash to tide them over the worst. It may only be about £20 but it helps people who are absolutely stuck. Up here, most churches have something like that because ministers are always getting folk knocking on their doors looking for crisis help.

phew - glad to hear something turned up :) I think lots of people are finding themselves in this position now - but most people waste loads of food they don't need to and if you can get the hang of not buying things you end up throwing away then your food bill can go down a lot. It's different for everyone - most people say buy for a week to stop impulse buys and allow you to bulk buy, but I have a friend who only shops for up to three days ahead - she lives on her own and kept throwing things away, she probably spends more than she has to but she spends much less than she was as everything is now eaten.

I'd second the asian food shops for other things like spices too, huge packets that make things taste more interesting for pence instead of a couple of quid for a fancy jar in the supermarket.

Never forget freegle - if you can pick up something like a slowcooker they are much cheaper to run than your oven and you can make the most of lentils and cheap cuts of meat - we use two chicken stock carcases and can get enough for six portions of stew/casserole out of the back meat - most people eat too much meat anyway. If stuff is about to go off just chuck it in a pan/slowcooker and make soup, you can freeze it for rainy day food.

Really hope things get easier soon

My oldest is at university and gets his meat from a halal butcher up the road that charges 5 pounds/ kilo of chicken breasts. Got to beat 6 quid for 2 at sainsbos.

have just signed up to milk and more so thanks for that tip. Seems to be a good way of getting a few bits and pieces then paying later as long as it doesn't get out of hand.

I have got about 20 to last til Friday but have bought nearly a week's meals.

I really hate this type of living but realise that lots of people in the same boat.

Just a quick update. After we had our tax credit money went in we did a shop at ALDI and Iceland. We are going to stick with doing most of our shopping at these (cheaper) shops and we are only going to supermarkets for a couple of things.

Just by doing this, I think we appear to be saving money which is great!

On the down side though we have our MOT for the car tomorrow so just hoping that doesn't bring bad news. Road tax is also due in about a weeks time. DH will be getting paid though so unless it is something very expensive we will hopefully have enough to get by.

Just wanted to say thanks to those on the thread that mentioned food banks. I had never heard of them before and a quick google shows that there is one about a mile from me. I've contacted them and as I drive past it on my way home from ALdi I am going to make it my weekly routine to drop something in each week, even if its only something small.