Tight for the next 3 weeks

[hipzdolie]

Hi all,

So I get paid on the 26th so 21 days. We have had to pay a big bill that we hadn't accounted for. Didn't want to use the credit card so we have paid it. We now have £486 to last for 21 days. All bills are paid but we do have to buy food from this along with about £100 of petrol. We can live without treats but anything that we did buy as a non-essential would also have to come from this money.

We are a family of 4 - me, dh and 2 ds aged 8 and 13

Not sure why I am posting - just feel a little anxious about it all this month

So £128 a week for food, that sounds perfectly doable to me. Any other expected expenses?

That sounds fine to me - almost £130 a week? Keep the food shop under £100 and you'll have £30 a week for fun money.

Make sure one or two on meals a week are cheap (cheesy beans on toast, tuna jackets etc) and then do at least one batch cook a week to give you an extra portion for the freezer (bolognaise, chilli). Do a roast chicken and save the leftovers for a curry the next day (bulk out with veg). Meal plan to make sure you're using all the things you're buying and don't have to do top up shops in the week.

When driving;

stick to 55mph on A roads instead of 60mph
stick to 60mph on Motorways & Trunk rds
approaching exit on Motorway, many exits are up hill to decrease your speed - lift foot of pedal and it will save wasting fuel
careful on any wasteful braking as it saves fuel

food

7 x dinner you could aim for £5 each meal that’s £1.25 each £35 then lunch and breakfast the same £105 for each week.

plan the same food for each week and you’d come in at £315 + £100 fuel you’d be well within budget

https://www.deliciousmagazine.co.uk/recipes/easy-tarragon-chicken/. Miss the white wine if you don’t have any and add extra stock. Make double and freeze half for week 3

https://www.deliciousmagazine.co.uk/recipes/easy-midweek-spaghetti-bolognese/. Easy to make and again double up recipe for freezer for week 3 & carrots and tinned tomatoes are really inexpensive

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/easy-chicken-curry chicken curry is always easy, add a tin of chickpeas to bulk it out and buy a packet of pitta breads to toast cut into strips and serve with it, cheaper than naan bread. Again double up and freeze for week 3

TikTok has some great budget meals for slow cooker and air fruer

eggs are a good protein breakfast to keep ds full

@Whichnumbers great post! Thank you. I'm going to try the tarragon chicken recipe - sounds fab

Tarragon chicken recipe is my eldest favourite & made in bulk for her when she was batch cooking for her first ds birth

i also made Delilah’s shepards pie to use up the carrots and celery, it’s a good recipe in her original book if you can find it / she uses cinnamon and I use beef and I just use normal potatoe for topping not the leeks

I've been in your position (with less money!) And this is what I did.

Make a list of all toiletries and cleaning products - do you have enough to last the month? If no then buy as cheap as you can. Eg aldi, savers, poundland. Also check things like baking paper, kitchen roll.

Make a list of all food Inc spices. See what meals you can make only buying a few key ingredients. Some meals may be a bit wacky but it's a good opportunity to use up those random things lurking at the back if the cupboards.

Eat as much vegetarian as possible, its much cheaper than meat. Or if you must use meat bulk out with lentils/beans/vegetables.

Use frozen vegetables, still tastes great but at a fraction of the cost.

Look on olio, free app where people offer food/items for free. In my area people collect from tesco, Costa, pret.

Cut out the prepackaged snacks. For lunch boxes I buy boubon or chocolate digestive biscuits. Costs around 50p 2 biscuits per day for the week. Buy big packs of raisins/sultanas and decant into smaller tubs.

Or if you have ingredients Make some fairy cakes or biscuits. As a quick cheap treat sometimes we stick some icing and sprinkles on plain digestives.

Do you have any community kitchens near you? Near me i can pay £4 and get roughly 2 bags of shopping.

Sell anything no longer being used on vinted/Facebook. Might not help this month, but will help you build a buffer for future unexpected spends.

For reference my usual entire monthly food/cleaning/toiletries budget is £260. This is for 1 adult, 2 children (14 & 11) and 2 cats. DH rarely eats at home so I don't include him but he uses toiletries etc just no food. I'm also gluten and dairy free due to intolerances and dd2 is vegetarian.

Plan in a few cheap dinners, jacket potato, spaghetti/beans on toast, pasta and sauce.

That's more than my usual weekly budget for food. Non issue really as we eat well, I shop once a week from Tesco online spending £80-£100, it doesn't feel tight.

You’ll be fine OP, that’s more than my food budget per week, but you will need to cook from scratch. PP has lots of good advice about using up existing stores too.

I would add if you have the freezer space or can use something within 24 hours, check out the prices of frozen vs fresh meat, fish and veg as the frozen is often much cheaper.

It's fine as your bills are paid and even after petrol you'll be left with a reasonable amount for food. Just make sure to meal plan, write a list before you go shopping or do your shop online.