I have £50 per week for food in February

[Lovelybitofsquirrel3]

After 2 big unexpected bills in a few days since getting paid, I have £60 a week for February for food for myself and 1 child, dog food and toiletries not included. I usually spend about £80-130 a week. I usually batch cook so that’s fine. Will eat a lot of things. The first week of the month I don’t need to buy anything as I’ve got enough in. I feel really overwhelmed.

As someone who lives in Australia. I'm mind blown at how cheap these groceries are. The cheese is just hard to believe.

I also cannot believe how much people complain of COL and then have luxury items like expensive dog food - you simply cannot be in that much of a struggle then.

I did have pets as a child and they just ate our leftovers. No insurance or vet visits - that is luxury really. You can't complain that you don't have enough money to eat and then proceed to spend a fortune on a pet.

Tesco is the main place I shop from and you absolutely still don't need to live on lentils and can feed yourself and your child for £60 a week. Stop telling yourself that you're panicking. Lots of people are giving you good ideas. You will however have to learn to get used to cheaper cuts of meat as most people on a budget do. No one on benefits should be spending £130 a week to feed an adult and a six year old. That's not a dig at people on benefits. I've been there as a single parent with a young child. You cut your cloth accordingly.

Good question
just by going off a recent shop, things like pies, steak bakes, ham salad rolls, salad bits and humous, lasagne, macaroni cheese, cottage pies, scotch eggs, tuna salad, fishcakes, all things that can be bought as a ready meal or home made, and I tend to pair things with things from jars like beetroot or fermented cabbage just to make things a bit easier

If I was eating a load of rubbish I'd cost 'the taxpayer' a lot more in medical bills. My mood would also get even worse, I would be even less productive. I can't believe you feel I have to justify to you why a healthy balanced diet is important. Keeping as healthy as possible as a disabled person is a priority for me, and I go without a lot of other things to ''afford'' it. I also get disability payments to cover it.

I have a 7 year old and budget £50 a week every week. Perfectly doable. The OP does not need food banks/food pantries etc, they are not going to starve. Meal plan and go to Aldi. Jesus

But how would she get by without her Tesco finest ready meal and expensive fish?

I think I'm feeling panicky partly because I'm used to having a lot of convenience foods. I'm going to be trying the chat GPT thing suggested.

I don't have dog insurance either but I'm working full time and am fortunate to be able to put money away to cover vet bills instead.

The problem with pet insurance is the premium increases substantially every year in line with the dog being one year older. I
took out insurance for my existing dog when she was a pup (12 years ago) as she's half Labrador and Labs are prone to orthopaedic problems. These typically come to light in the first 2 years. The insurance started off reasonably priced, £22 per month from memory, year two was about £28 and by year three the quote was about £35. I sat down and forecast how much I was likely to pay in insurance across her lifetime and it was a ridiculous amount of money. At this point, I cancelled the policy and started a savings account for her, my back up plan being my (for emergency use only) credit card. She's now 12 years old and other than routine vaccinations etc has not required any veterinary treatment. I've not touched her savings account as we'll most likely need some of that as she ages. Each to their own but personally I would only take insurance for the first two years and put money away thereafter. (I should add my existing dog is my 6th dog over 30+ years. I had savings put away for my 5 late dogs and only once did I have to use my credit card (£500.)

I fully agree with OP that a quality dog food keeps dog healthy and away from the vets.

Jacket potatoes, beans/egg/tomatoes on toast, are convenience food. They literally take zero prep.

They are just more cost effective if you are on this tight budget for a couple of weeks.

You'll be fine.

Eat loads of bananas and satsumas - they cost pennies and come in their own packaging - no prep at all. Just peel and eat.

www.iceland.co.uk/
Have a look at Iceland, free delivery and can do a mix of fresh and good value frozen.
Also try buying frozen fruit and veg, it's as healthy as fresh if not more.

So I think it’s the meat and fish (and the ready meals) that are going to make this tough. Lots of the things on your list would be “special meals” like on a Saturday night for our household. Are there any vegetarian/vegan foods you’ve tried and liked? What batch cooking do you like to do?

Yes but I am disabled so have to account for easy foods usually so this is trickier for me. I don’t eat a lot of vegetarian foods other than soup or macaroni cheese.
I make at home the same kind of thing I’ll buy in a ready meal if I feel able.

If you can let us know how your disability affects your cooking ability MNers may be able to suggest recipes that you can manage. Home cooking fresh food will be a lot cheaper and a lot healthier than the convenience food you're currently relying on.

We spend that for 2 adults, you’ll be fine.

I can get very tired and disregulated, and another reason can be that I have a hard time being consistent with managing my time or even being aware of my body so I wait until I’m really hungry before I eat.

I've just done a sample Tesco order and got enough food to make:

4-6 servings (depending on how much you/your child eats) of tuna pasta bake/chicken pasta bake (pasta, sauce, chicken)
4 servings chicken fajitas (wraps, chicken, seasoning, plus some of the peppers & onions used in the spaghetti bolognese)
4-5 servings spaghetti bolognese with peppers, carrots, onion in for bulk
2 (adult) servings of chicken stirfry with veg, noodles and sauce
Plus 12 bags of those steamfresh veg (as you said convenience) to add to things for some vegetables

2 loaves of bread plus 4 tins of tuna & a packet of honey roast ham, plus lettuce tomato and cucumber for sandwiches and carrots for some carrot sticks on the side
4 jacket potatoes with tuna sweetcorn mayo

Big box of weetabix and 8 pints of milk, plus whatever's left over from the bread for toast for breakfasts

Plus mayonnaise and butter spread as I didn't assume you'd have those

That wasn't me trying very hard and Tesco prices aren't brilliant - but that comes to £57.95. That is me assuming you have oil, salt and pepper - add another say, fiver on if you don't (but you wouldn't need to buy those again during that 3-week period). I'd say if you shopped a bit more carefully than me and did it at a cheaper supermarket, you'll be more than fine!

They may be cheap but all of them are healthy meals (assuming the chips and sausage aren't fried.) You've a good diet there!

Okay, so doesn’t sound like a physical issue (like standing or finding it difficult to chop with a knife) so batch cooking will be your saviour as you can prep and freeze loads on a good day and literally defrost it on your bad ones.

I know you said you aren’t a fan of lentils but try to add them in a cottage pie with mince 50/50 and you probably won’t be able to tell. Get some little freezer bags and freeze everything if you can

Have you got a Tesco Clubcard? There are lots of 'Clubcard prices' & offers which can add up to quite a lot of savings. Some items in this week's shop were half price, others were 3 for 2 etc. The offers change from time to time, so check what's on offer & go for those, would be my advice.

How about using this as a basis to work out what to eat, buy and cook over those three weeks? Just substitute or add as and with what you see fit and add cost accordingly.

This link comes with basic meal ideas for a week and costings ...

www.bbc.co.uk/food/articles/How_to_eat_cheaply

Is that your thread about the dodgy amount on your bank statement? Won't this problem be solved when you get that money back?

yes that’s my post and no because that money is to pay for bills

Oh, you're the poster with the scary and aggressive delivery man...

Agree with the lentils

One of my kids isn’t keen on the texture of lentils so I make them into a sauce

Water
Stock cube
Tin tomatoes
Cooked red split lentils
Blend to smooth

You could Add steamed sweat potato for extra sweetness

I use this as a sauce for all sorts of stews, curries ( just as curry powder and Tumeric ) , pasta, cottage pies etc