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.

Yes, and?

If I had anything else to add to my post, I would have done so. I was merely remarking upon it.

But why

Because in all honesty, OP, I feel you have a tendency to catastrophise.

Oh if it's that poster I'd agree.

My shopping for 2 adults and 1 child is usually 50-60. Shop in Aldi, mince are good as you can do different things such as chilli con carne, spaghetti bolegnese, pasta and mince all with a pack of mince. Do you have a slow cooker? I usually make a batch of mince with bolognese sauce then use it to make at least three different meals, that's a start.

Iceland deliver and they have a lot of cheap deals, lots of items for a £1 not the healthiest but if your having a bad day most of it you can just bung in the oven.
It really is doable for 1 adult and 1 child, you've had lots of great advice and meal ideas to see you through you will manage fine!!

I am surprised you wouldn’t be alarmed by someone hammering on all your windows and doors in the evening, especially if you were disabled and alone. Your point is irrelevant and not true or helpful, I don’t need another reason to hate talking to people. Maybe I should name change more often. Things are more difficult because I’m used to convenience foods due to my disability. . Someone more able who hasn’t been through what I have or don’t have the same circumstances as me might find things easier than I do.
so you might think that it’s easy done but for me it’s not.

Perfectly doable for one adult and one child. We are a two adult, two child household and usually spend around £90 a week and we don’t have to budget so am not careful.

Id be going for simple, cheap dinners including some that can give you leftovers for lunch the next day. Jackets beans and cheese, pasta bake, sausage mash and peas, spaghetti bolognese bulked out with lots of cheap veg, use leftover mince for jackets with mince or add kidney beans and chilli for chilli and rice, beans on toast, scrambled egg on toast, big batch of homemade vegetable soup with rolls. Lunches either leftovers, soup or sandwiches, breakfast porridge (made fresh not the expensive sachets), snacks bananas, apples, crackers with cheese.

Okay, let's break this down.

First things first I would think about breakfast and lunches.

Do you like porridge? A big bag of oats would do a good few meals and they're filling. You can even make non-microwave oats in the microwave just fine. Top with some frozen fruit/nuts/jam depending how the budget is looking after lunches and dinners.

Then let's worry about lunches. I'd probably go down the basic sandwich route here. Do you like e.g. cheese and pickle or cheese and cucumber? Cream cheese and cucumber. Add an apple and/or banana, and you could get done inexpensive biscuits as well if it's feeling like you'll be short on calories. It's not great but I could live with eating similarish things most days for a few weeks. I'd also consider eggy bread as you could have that with a bit of ketchup and some cherry tomatoes/cucumber/basic salad and that would be pretty filling.

Then you're onto dinners.

If you like macaroni cheese, you can make your own of that but it does require a lot of stirring.

Baked risotto is a fairly low input dinner - fry some onion (you can buy it frozen and diced if you'll struggle with that) and then add the risotto rice and some stock. Shove in the oven for 30 minutes and at the same time you can roast some butternut squash (again you can buy it frozen and diced if it will be too difficult to do). Get the pan out the oven, give the rice a really good stir to get the starch going. Add some cheese, cheddar is fine, and serve topped with the butternut squash. You can add some dried herbs etc for interest. (Frozen butternut squash, £2.10, risotto rice £2.40, frozen onion £1.65, cheese 2.69, but again this will be enough for 2 nights and you'll have lots of leftover cheese and onion from this. £9 but with plenty of leftovers,)

Another low input dinner is slow cooker spaghetti meatballs. Buy meatballs (frozen, surprisingly, sometimes have better ingredients and are cheaper). Buy a jar of pasta sauce and a tin of tomatoes. Buy a pepper and a courgette. Ideally fry off the meatballs. Add the pasta sauce and the veggies, a stock cube, some garlic and some herbs. Could shove some frozen onions in as well. Bring to the boil. Shove the lot in the slow cooker all day, ideally with a few cubes of leftover frozen butternut squash/sweet potato as it helps it thicken up. Eat with spaghetti and optionally salad/garlic bread. (Meatballs for at least 4, £4.50, pasta sauce 69p, tinned toms 47p, pepper 59p, courgette 56p, spaghetti 75p, so £7.60 but I think it would do at least 2 nights, probably 3).

So if you do those I think that would do 5 nights for £16.50 ish maybe £18 with some garlic and stock cubes, so you'd have the same again to play with for your last two nights. Then see where you are after you've done the basics for breakfast and you can decide how you'll jazz the food up - be that nuts for breakfast, extra salad at tea or some garlic bread etc, with what's left in budget.

I'll have a ponder for other ideas along those lines. I think you could make enough for 4-6 for each of those without breaking the bank and that would do 5 nights of the week.

When I’m in a better headspace I will go through the comments and make notes

Easy, cheap meal ideas:
Pasta, baked beans, and grated cheese.
Fried egg sandwich / scrambled egg on toast.
Frozen pizza.
Raw carrots, mushrooms, apples etc.
Houmous (with veg or bread)
Pasta and butter.

I haven’t read through the whole thread so someone may have already suggested this. Have you joined gousto before? We did it last year for the first time with a 70% off code and got 5 days worth dinners for 2 at around £17. It really helped me save some money last January when things were a bit tight!

Have you got a slow cooker? This meatball recipe is nice if you have a bit of a store cupboard - only really need to get mash/potatoes and meatballs. He's worth a follow as does a lot of slow cooker stuff

www.instagram.com/reel/DAYnJ7IouDL/?igsh=MWhweG1mMTZvb25hZA==

Depending where you shop look for the wonky veg and go for cheaper so carrots, peas, bananas, apples etc

If you feel up to it, I do a fridge clear pasta bake at the end of the week - pasta, make a tomato sauce, add in onions/peppers/sweetcorn/whatever veg and any scraps of ham/bacon etc and bits of cheese/philadelphia
Uses everything up and I can get 6 meals from that

Frozen ready prepped stuff is often cheaper than fresh as well. Red lentil and roasted veg soup is easy and cheap

Second uber eats if you've not used it, combine the discount first order with the 50% off fruit and veg on Mondays and you'll get loads

This has been our budget for 4 of us for the past 5 years. If your child goes to school their lunch is free. We do sometimes end up with odd combinations but we look for things that will cover a couple of meals. Cut down on meat portions and bulk up with vegetables.

It’s easily doable but you will have to ditch the ready meals and plan to cook from scratch.

Porridge. Really cheap and filling. One big bag would last 3 weeks. I have 5 spoonfuls for a serving. Dinner spoons not really sure what that is.
If you are ordering online look for 3 for 2 offers.
Jacket potatoes are a good one. With own brand beans one day, tuna the next. Whatever fruit is the cheapest.
I think it's doable fairly easily. Good luck.

Tesco normally issue their club card vouchers at the start of February.
Eat from your freezer, fridge and store cupboard first (good opportunity to defrost too!).
Move your overdraft on to a 0% credit card and pay it off before the 0% ends (most overdrafts are around 40%).
Use Entitled to to check you are getting all your benefit entitlements.
See if you can get cheaper utilities/phones etc.
Do some online surveys.
See if there's a community fridge locally.
Sell some unwanted clothes etc on vinted.

Honestly breathe, I think it will be fine. Plan it out , I think no pet insurance is a false economy though.

Jacket potato with choice of toppings 2 nights - toppings are so versatile, but you could just have beans.

Chickpea and potato curry with rice two nights.

You said you didn't like lentils, but you could make a tomato and lentil soup, you can hardly tell there are lentils in there but it gives you a decent amount of protein.

A large supermarket veg pizza would do you both for one night.

A couple of pasties with, chips and beans for one night.

Morning - porridge and get some frozen fruit (defrost the night before).

Lunch - A simple sandwich with whatever fillings you choose to put on your jackets, or peanut butter on toast.

This probably wouldn't even come close to £60, and I'm flabbergasted you spend £130 ordinarily.

Failing this:

42 Pot Noodles will cost about £42 considering bulk buying.

Another vote for Olio - or do you have a FareShare supermarket surplus scheme near you?
Also, lentils. Dahl is your friend.

Vegetable soup is cheap and nutritious. You could have a French stick with it. I'd make a large amount and freeze soup for later in the month.

It’s possible to have a healthy and balanced diet without meat, ready meals and pasties. In your case it would only be short term. DH does a plant based, sugar free, alcohol free January- he survives and loses weight. I think you need to reframe it a bit, there’s no need to panic.

Beans on toast, egg on toast, omelettes, you can still buy fish /meat but make it go further by making your own pies/pastries etc. So rather than have whole sea bass fillets/cod/steak whatever it is you buy and having the whole thing, just cut up and make pies? You can buy pastry. Pasta is great, jacket potatoes, bags of frozen vegetables, make and freeze stew, curries, casseroles, make your own dumplings. Or buy cheaper meats, ready meals, sausages etc and have ‘saucy’ meals to hide the taste if need be. Have wraps, sandwiches? I love a crisp sandwich!

Personally I think you spend a lot on food, I can see why your panicking as the budget as halved. You’re probably spending more than most people are able to. Toiletry wise I’d just select supermarket own brand for one month or use less product- we probably all use too much.

I don’t blame you for not messing with the dog’s diet, can cause bowel issues if you change foods- more hassle than it’s worth and should be introduced slowly.

I just tried the ChatGPT thing and it's really good. It takes account of food intolerances, which is really helpful, and would probably accommodate the motor problems that the OP is dealing with. Thanks for that tip.

Agreed, as is cheese and tomato on toast.