Food ideas for someone on benefits?

[Amee1992x]

SIL recently lost her job, own fault for being late anyway...

She's now on benefits, receiving food bank parcels & some savings and we help out as much as we can!

But what's some good budget dinners or meal plans? Help her manage her money?

Doesn't like beans/soups.

Do you want me to keep going?

When I was a student my mum used to make sure that I had basics such as huge bags of rice and pasta, tinned tomatoes and herbs.

Eggs, milk, flour, butter, potatoes.
-Pancakes
-Omelette
-Mash
-Chips
-Pan fried potatoes

Just her on her own she can buy a pack of mince and split it up into small portions and freeze, add carrots, onion and celery to make the basis of spag bog or cottage pie, a handful of lentils will bulk out the meat and are super cheap and healthy.

I also used to buy Quorn pieces when they were on offer and put them in the freezer for use in curries as they are cheaper than chicken (and I'm very funny about eating non-free range chicken). Or you can cut the meat out totally and do a lot of veggie curry. Just add yoghurt and curry powder.

Stock cubes.

A jar of pesto divided into an ice cube tray and frozen so you can add a little to pasta at a time.

Pasta with soft cheese and courgette, season with lemon (Jif lemon about 40p) or chilli. If she likes spicy food buy her a chilli plant. In fact could you gift her a herb garden? Even the cheapest of bland food can be livened up with fresh herbs. Chives for baked potatoes or with pasta and soft cheese.

Mychild- brilliant tip about the mug/freezer bags! Thanks.

Big pot of rice cooked in water with one or two stock cubes either buy itself or with any odds and ends of veggies. Then fry the leftovers the next day with an egg or two scrambled in it. Lovely and filling. And the egg fried rice feels like a takeaway!

A jar of pesto is very useful , can have pasta pesto at lunch time and also use it to flavour cheap frozen fish fillets , chicken portions or pork chops , having a well stocked storecupboard is useful and can be built up slowly , eggs are a cheap source of protein too

Thanks everyone! Sorting some lists & meal planning

Lots of budget but healthy recipes on my free blog eatnptspend. I started it for people just like her, struggling to feed themselves good food.

Was also going to suggest Jack Monroe.

Yes she great, she inspired me to do a blog too.

Thanks I'll look both up! She's feeling more positive about it all now

That's a great blog, FoodologistGirl, and I have used it for vegan ideas.

Here's the link, OP eatnotspend.wordpress.com

Use the main menu for ideas about shopping lists and supermarket budgets as well as actual recipes. There's meat and fish in there, too!