Feed my family for around £30 a week- please help!

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So I’m not going to go on about how rubbish 2020 has been at any length, but without the obvious COVID-19 stuff I also was diagnosed with breast cancer. So an absolute shocker of a year.

End of January I go to half pay, I’m still in active treatment so not able to return to work yet. This means I’m down to c.£1k a month. So need to pay mortgage, bills and feed family: 2 dcs under 10 and 2 adults.

I’m really keen if anyone is able to share any tips on recipes or how to make healthy meals as cheaply as possible. I don’t eat meat but rest of family do, so recipes that are versatile would be fab. Thank you xxx

Sorry you're going through this.

Jack Monroe has a great website with budget meal ideas and would be a good place to start:

cookingonabootstrap.com/

This is fantastic Mrs.Deadlock, thank you so much x

Can you speak to your bank about the mortgage, if you can extend the term you could lower that bill then overpay once you are back on your feet.

Did you take out critical illness insurance with the mortgage, that may pay out too.

Have you checked out charities especially if you have professional qualifications, some professions have a benevolent fund which could help you.

Are you paying for a car which you could sell/ hand back? Can you reduce insurance and claim a refund as you've reduced mileage due to covid and not working.

Have you ever repaid a government student loan? Call them and see if you are entitled to a refund, it is complicated how it's worked out but you might be surprised.

Are you now entitled to married persons tax allowance based on your lower income? Every penny helps.

I know it's a faff to look into these things but it could be so worth your while to find these little windfalls. Good luck.

I'm a member of a FB group called feed yourself for £1 a day, which is roughly your budget. It's really tight but achievable.

I would look into various food initiatives in your area, for example, my village has a project with food for fareshare. You get to pick 5 items, including one meat product for free and then you can buy a fruit and veg box for £3.

Also, have you spoken to the council about spreading your payment over 12 months instead of the usual 10 to help with cash flow.

Good luck with your treatment. It's rubbish that you're worried about money at a time like this. Stay strong and leave no stone unturned, you shouldn't be living on £30 a week don't be too proud to ask friends for help, they will understand and they will know about alsorts of local help that you might be unaware of, for example I know of a local group that offers free food via Facebook, it's not something that makes its way into day to day conversations so I would need to know a friend was in trouble before I mentioned it.

Have a look at the BBC News website, at the Food section. Within that is a huge section of budget family meals, lots of choice of types of meals etc.

More generally, consider shopping late in the day to take advantage of reductions on fresh foods. Ask at the customer service desk in your supermarket what time the reductions are put out.

Meal plan, don't waste anything, learn to love lentils, cut back on non essentials, limit treats, don't be tied to expensive brands.

In the run up to Christmas, potatoes and carrots and parsnips are usually about 20p. I bought a big bag of potatoes from Aldi yesterday for 14p. Do you have freezer space? You could make soup from them or a root vegetable bake and freeze?

Jack Monroe's recipes are cheap but anything I've ever made of hers has not tasted good - watery stew, cakes that don't rise properly, and the less said about the peach and chickpea curry the better. And I am a decent cook so I'm pretty sure it's not me!
I'd stick to the BBC and Tesco websites as a safer bet.

Miguel Barclay is supposed to do good cheap meals. Not sure if he has a website but he is on Instagram.

Middle Eastern cuisine is good for healthy, tasty budget dishes. Many start with sweating chopped onions and creating an olive oil tomato puree based sauce. Various vegetables slow cooked with mince meat in herbs or cheese sprinkled on top. Served with rice or bulgar and bread. Villagers can't afford meat or fish often, so vegetables are the base of almost all dishes.

Take a look at the feed your family for £20 a week website and face book page. Super friendly, great recipes and budgeting advice. Great for a few ideas of how to make it all spread it a bit further.

Have you spoken to McMillan they can help with finances? My breast cancer nurse specifically asked me if we would be ok financially as they could put me in touch with help if we needed it. Can you speak to them.
Good luck with your treatment.

So sorry you are going through this. Now more than ever you need to eat well.
A
I would recommend porridge and bulk buying pasta. Using the super six at aldi and lidl and frozen goods as much as possible. But some amazing advice above. I'm sorry I'm not much help but tonnes of good wishes sent your way

You may be entitled to some benefits? Check entitledto.co.uk

Can’t go wrong with a big pot of homemade soup. Filling and nutritious.

Is your area covered by the Olio app? Lots of free stuff including food to cut down on waste.
Batch cooking is economical if you have room in your fridge/ freezer.
Best of luck, OP.

Porridge with cheap tinned fruit or raisins for breakfast, baked potatoes, piece of cheap fruit a day, bulk out pasta with lentils, chicken thighs instead of breast, whole lettuce instead of a bag, cabbage is cheap and lasts ages.
Also download local food waste apps like too good to go and olio. Depending on where you live you can get some great stuff on there!

I'm really sorry your year has been so rubbish, newpage. You are dealing with a lot. I have not had such a bad year but I am facing a massive budget cut in January and am looking to cut my food budget by at least 50%. I meal plan anyway but find that if i focus each meal on a vegetable, I can then plan around that. For example, if I buy a pack of cherry tomatoes, I can make tomatoes roasted in honey and garlic. I can then add rice or potato or a piece of chicken for my husband who can't live without meat (chicken thigh is cheap). Lunches can be soup based around a vegetable. Most soups can be made with one veg, some stock and cream or Evap milk. My favourite soup is a onion and that's just onions, garlic and stock. Aubergines are nice and meaty. As are big mushrooms. I like Miguel Barclay - on Instagram - as well as cookbooks - as he does portions for one so you can double or whatever according to numbers. I have two small children so they can have one portion shared. Wishing you lots of luck.

Thank you so much everyone, it means a lot to get your well wishes and all of your tips.
I’m trying not to think too much about how I will make my budget stretch, I am just going to need to work it out and hopefully I will do okay through treatment and be back at work before things get too hard!

In terms of help that has been offered, basically nothing. I don’t even have a breast care nurse, well there is someone I met initially but now on to active treatment not in the same ward. They’ve said support is limited because of COVID. I’ve had to go to every appointment alone and sometimes that can be so hard because I want to run in the opposite direction 😆
Anyway, the tips you’ve given have been spot on, I also just had a look at Iceland there and they are doing some fab offers like 2 packs of frozen sausages for £3 ( so that’s 24 sausages) and they do veg ones too!
I hadn’t heard of Miguel Barclay so will be checking that out too.
All the best to everyone and I hope you have a lovely Christmas/festive season. Xx

One last thought that occurred to me overnight was your utilities, if you don't often read your own meter do it this week and compare it against the estimate reading on your latest bill. I do this once a year and usually get around £20 where they've overestimated the bill. It's not a fortune but it might just get you a nice foodie treat or a coffee out. While you are speaking to your utility company explain your situation to see if you qualify for a reduced tariff on the basis of your lower income and health.

Take care of yourself, I wish you all the best with your treatment.

If you're having a rummage around Iceland I highly recommend their plant based section. They do these amazing meat free burgers that are often on offer for £1.50 for 4. They are the best ones I've ever tasted and our family love them.

I've recently switched from tesco to lidl and have been really impressed by the quality of their food. The fancy salmon/meats are literally half the price

Meal planing is the bedrock of sticking to a budget but aim for a monthly plan rather than a weekly that way you can buy across time rather than as you go. Make a list of meals that the family like - eg shepherds pie; pasta bake; stir fry rice/noodles. If you have a library of meals the family welcomes then you can build your menu around the special offers that come up. Organize the freezer to absorb left overs; batch cooking is by far the best way save money but increase variety. You can spread a spag bol by adding an extra tin of tomatoes some passata and chopped veg - eat half freeze half. Explore low cost options like chapati and pancakes for adding variety.

NewPage
so sorry you are going through this. I too have been through breast cancer treatment this year, lumpectomy, chemo and radiotherapy, finished in November.
You WILL have a BCN, ask at the hospital for there number.
MacMillan can help you apply for PIP if you cannot work, they will help with thr forms, they have a grant you can apply for as well.
Check your life insurance, unfortunatley mine only pays out if I was terminal, but you may have critical illness cover which would pay your mortgage off .
Hope you get through treatment soon, and will be recovering before you know it, best wishes to you.

So sorry to hear that you are going through this too @happyjack12. I hope that you are recovering okay. I have a general BCN number and just speak to whomever answers the phone. For the last 2 weeks the answer machine has been broken and when I have managed to speak with someone they try and get me off the phone as quickly as possible.

I don’t think I have life insurance.

Wishing you the very best xx

Hi OP. Pp has mentioned entitledto to check if you can apply for help. Please do this. Go via gov.uk website as it is a safe site and type in benefits . They have a completely anonymous benefits calculator. You can put in different scenarios to see how it affects what you might be able to get. It is important to take all the help you can. Anything to reduce the stress. Good luck .

One thing I’ve started is bulking meals with things like chopping the stalks of cauliflower/broccoli that I used to throw out. Lots of veg either grated or chopped in a liquidiser, sauté the veg before adding lentils/ beans/meat. So when I do a pasta sauce or chilli it’s 50% veg, and roughly 40% meat once I’ve added tinned tomatoes.

As others gave suggested, contact any charity or other support organisations.

Best wishes for 2021.