What would you do with £40 for a 2 week shop?

[theroux21]

We’ve had several large unexpected costs in the past fortnight that we weren’t prepared for, leaving us with £40 for a food shop for 2 weeks.

We are a family of 2 adults, one 9 m/o and a dog. DH will not eat eggs, fish or pork (he will eat sausages!). He also needs a packed lunch everyday. As well as fruit/veg for baby. We have plenty of nappies, wipes, toiletries etc. Also need to factor in Halloween sweets for trick or treaters somehow too!

What would you do with this amount for breakfast, lunches and tea? Any and all ideas are welcome! Thanks!

Frozen fruit and veg for LO

Buy larger packs of chicken breasts, mince etc and patch cook meals and freeze them.

MN cliche but I'd buy a chicken for about £3.50, a pack of minced beef, a big bag of potatoes and one of rice, carrots, frozen peas, pasta, onions, tinned tomatoes, kidney or borlotti or black turtle or rose cocoa beans - whatever are on offer, milk, cereal or oats if they like porridge, sliced bread, sausages and eggs (even though DH doesn't eat them.

You can do roast chicken one day then use leftovers for a chicken paella or risotto or biriyani next day. If you like you can boil the carcass and shred the tiny bits of meat from the bones for a chicken noodle soup or just use the stock for any other soup you like making.

Make the beef and tomatoes and onions into a pasta sauce and then use leftovers with some chilli powder and beans to make a chilli for next day, to have with rice or baked potatoes.

One day you can have egg and chips, he can have sausage and chips, with peas and carrots. Use any extra sausages/bits of chicken for sandwiches. Keep sliced bread in the freezer so it doesn't go mouldy after a few days.

Poundland for a bag of Halloween lollies/crisps to go wit sandwiches at lunchtime, though that's low priority if you only have £40 for two weeks!

My suggestion for 1 week, I estimate this will cost approx £20 but doesn't include dog food

Dinners:
Bean and sausage stew with rice x 2
Jacket pots with cheese/beans x 1
Pasta with veggie sauce x2
Chicken &veg tray bake with wedges x2

Lunches
Chicken and lettuce/cucumber sandwiches
Yoghurt
another snack e.g. banana/cereal bars/crisps

Breakfast:
Toast or shreddies

Shopping list:
Bread x 2
Shreddies (supermarket equivalent)
Milk x4 pts
Pasta
mixed beans x 3
tinned tomatoes x3
sausages
potatoes
rice
frozen chicken breasts
courgette/peppers/mushrooms/sweetcorn (frozen if cheaper)
lettuce/cucumber
cheese
yoghurts
Stock cubes x 2 (you may already have, could use beef gravy if not)
Garlic bread if budget allows
Bananas
Other fruit for baby
Cereal bars/crisps (if budget allows)
Spread (if you don't have some already)

sausages make lovely casseroles - with some cheap root veg and a good handful of lentils or a budget tin of beans. Home made potato wedges/ baked slices (they go like crisps). Some casserole can be liquidised for baby (before you put any salt/stock cube in though)Ditto with cheap chicken thighs. Minced meat plus onions and lentils with a tin of chopped tomatoes plus flavourings for spag bol /lasagne/penne.
Lentil soup - absolutely brilliant at filling you up for pennies -lentils, onion,stock cube and water - job done and its bloody lovely.
Make a tray bake cake and decorate it appropriately for trick or treaters - cheaper than sweets.
Remember -

1. if you but anything prepared you're going to be paying for the labour - so do it yourself if you can.

2 water is cheap so try to choose dishes which include it as an ingredient 3 to save the p's (pennies) remember the p's - potatoes, pasta, puddings. 4 don't throw any food away- use it up veg as a soup, bread/eggs/milk - bread and butter pudding pm me if you want anymore ideas

Buy full fat milk and dilute it. Make porridge with water and add milk to serve with tsp jam/honey/sugar, whatever you have.

Have you any points on your boots card that you can use for snacks for the baby?

I would go heavy on the pasta and rice, get mince and tinned tomatoes etc.and do spag bol, enchiladas and chilli con carne. Chicken thighs are cheap. A whole chicken would probably do a couple of meals plus soup or chicken mayonnaise for sandwiches. Buy fruit and veg, sausages, ham?, eggs for you, cheese. Yogurt, milk, butter, mayonnaise. Pita bread and wraps are good for lunches. Cabbage seems to last forever.

Food bank?

Forgot the lentils! Red ones, they cook very quickly.
Corned beef for packed lunches.

Red lentils can eke out mince like you wouldn't believe and grated carrot too can bulk it up.
See if you can find local "no food waste" places but definitely do a meal plan and stick to it

Don't buy sweets for trick or treaters..

Have you tried looking at the too good to go app?

Honestly I'd find out if you could access a food bank. See if you have any points of supermarket loyalty cards that you could use. Or perhaps a family member who might be able to lend you some money? Also no trick or treat sweets I'm afraid! Turn the lights off.

See what you can cobble together from what you already have- we tend to have random tins and packets, bits and pieces in the freezer. Could make for some odd meals but as long as it fills you up it doesn't matter.

A cheap trick when you are very short of cash is to buy full fat milk and water it down a little. Tastes like semi skimmed and goes a lot further!

Diluting full fat milk is a genius idea. I've been checking out these threads for years and never seen it before.

Seconding the suggestion to check your Nectar/Boots Advantage points if you've got them.

Do an inventory of your cupboards and freezer and build around anything substantial you've got in there.

If it's just a one-off, I would try a food bank or borrow from friends or family. You can certainly survive on £40 but it will be tight, and if the situation is temporary there is really no need to go without.

Have a look at this recent thread. Full of lots of helpful suggestions.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/4369773-Aibu-to-ask-what-you-eat-when-you-are-broke

Ditch the chicken breasts for thighs; they're tastier and way cheaper.

It's autumn, so make soups with carrots, potatoes, onions and any remaindered veg going limp and cheap.

A few sausages go a long way cooked and snipped into a bean caserole.

Stir fried rice with frozen veg goes a long way for not very much cost.

Value spaghetti is extremely cheap. Like 20p a pack from Tesco for the value range ‘Hearty Food Co. Spaghetti Pasta 500G‘

I’d be eating a lot of pasta as a start.

You've got about £1.25 per meal (lunch & dinner only, allowing a spare couple of quid on breakfasts from a kilo of porridge and four pints of full fat milk).

I agree that chicken thighs are a good base - you can get a kilo for less than two quid which will do you at least four portions.

Go through your cupboards, freezer and fridge to see what you have, and what you can make out of them. Also, any spices, herbs and sauces you have.
For the shop - shop at Aldis/lidls if you can, or buy the cheapest supermarket brand. I would buy -
Porridge oats (1kg), full fat milk, bananas. This should take care of breakfast for the whole fortniight.
Lunches - bread (55p/loaf), salmon paste, cream cheeese. Tinned soup, tinned spaghetti, cheese. (Sandwiches, soup and bread, spaghetti on toast, cheese on toast.
Dinners - potatoes, value spaghetti (costs about 20p), value rice (50p)
Frozen mixed veg, chick peas, tinned tomatoes, frozen sausages, baked beans., cabbage/greens/broccoli.
I eat mainly eggs, but I would guess your husband would prefer meat, so chicken thighs/mince?. I would make - sausages, jackets and beans, sausages, veg and gravy, chickpea and veg curry with rice, pasta with tomatoes and cheese, chicken with rice and vegetables, etc.
Any spare money I would buy yoghurt and fruit for the baby.

Lentil and coconut curry ( brown a chopped onion, add 2 cloves chopped garlic, tablespoon curry powder, .5 teaspoon turmeric, 1“ ginger. Add one can tomatoes, one can coconut milk and a cup of lentils (red split pea ones), 3 cups water, s+p. Cook till lentils soft. It freezes really well too. Nice for kids if spiced adjusted. Very filling. I Make chapatis or flatbread to go with it.ä

Sausage, mash and peas/beans.

Bramley Apples are In season at the moment. I stew them up and have them cold with weetabix or other cereal, or with yoghurt or custard for pudding. Crumble for a treat.

Casseroled chicken thighs with onion, garlic, tinned tomatoes, red pepper, onions and orange juice, and chicken stock cube. Delicious with french stick to dunk in the Sauce.

Lunches - veg soup with either lentils, tin of butter beans, Pearl barley, pasta shapes in to make it more filling.

For snacks I make rock buns which are easy and cheap. English muffins or crumpets with cheese.

I’d definitely check out to goodtogo if you have it in your area. Lots of shops like Budgens, Spar etc do £3.50 bags you pick up around 9 in the evening that have a tenner’s worth of food - big packs of meat that you can freeze, bread, veg, etc.

You can do so much with a couple of bags of lentils! Red lentils for daal or pasta sauce, green for shepherds pie, chilli or salad, either for home made veggie burgers.

My go to broke lunch is Beans or spaghetti on reduced bread/toast