On rations next week, what can I make from my cupboards?

[CornishTeaTime]

Really on the breadline next week, what can I make/meals from my essentials in my cupboards, fridge freezer This is what I have:

For about 10 days....for 2 x adults dinners in evening as breakfast will be cereal and lunch a sandwich. - teen is covered

✨️CUPBOARD
Sweetcorn
Tin of toms
Tuna
Chickpeas
Kidney beans
Branston pickle 😀
Pasta
Rice
Jar bolognese sauce
Marmalade
SR flour
Caster sugar
Bread yeast sachet
Tortilla wraps

✨️FRIDGE
Mince steak
Bit of butter
Carrots
Tomatoes

✨️FREEZER
Peas
Gammon steak
Chips
Sausages
4 x Frozen veg sachets peas carrot, beans
1 x beefburger
3 x chicken in breadcrumbs
Garlic bread

Have cheese as well

How many people are you catering for? Does this need to cover breakfast, lunch and dinner or just dinner? Will you be able to buy bread and milk?

Depending on how many people you need to feed with that and the quantities available, theres plenty of meals there.

Tuna and sweetcorn pasta bake (packet of Coleman's is about 80p in Asda)
Spaghetti (or pasta) Bolognese
gammon and chips

Ive edited post but...

For about 10 days... 2 x adults dinners in evening as breakfast will be cereal and lunch a sandwich. - teen is covered

So 10 meals

The obvious ones are chilli, tuna pasta with veg sachets and tinned tomatoes (assuming no mayo), chicken wraps with tomato and sweetcorn, pasta bolognaise, sausage chips and peas.
if you could stretch to buying eggs you could do pasta carbonara with them and the gammon, and egg fried rice. If you have spices etc and an extra tin of tomatoes you could do a carrot and chickpea curry.

Tuna sweetcorn pasta
Chilli con carne
That things with the wraps where you bake them in the oven, you could full them with leftover chilli, with cheese over, I can’t remember what it’s called
Gammon and peas and chips
Sausages veg and chips
Chicken with the veg

Do you have any lentils? It would help to stretch out the mince. You could do bolognese one day, then turn leftovers into a chilli.
or, if you can get some potatoes, a cottage pie, with part of the mince leftover for bolognese or chilli.

Cheese means you could do vegetable quesadillas with the wraps instead and have the chicken another day- with a veg sachet and garlic bread.

No lentils

Do you have any spare supermarket points you can use to make your food go further? Perhaps buy eggs, bread, beans etc so you can have beans or egg on toast or omelette?

Nope

Tuna / sweet corn pasta

Chill con carne & garlic bread

Sausage & chips

I would do cheese scones for one meal - lots of flour and not too much butter (Delia says 245 flour and 45 butter - how much is your 'bit?'

Can you get a referral to a food bank? Doctor, housing, citizen’s advice, job centre etc?

I wouldnt do sausage and chips, that's two 'big' ingredients together. I'd do toad in the hole with the sausages. The BBC good food recipe is good and simple. Again the stodge element is flour.

Make the chips the main ingredient of another meal. Serve them with one or more of the frozen veg sachets.

50g butter

1/2 Mince and bolognese sauce, pasta, cheese, garlic bread
1/2 mince and bolognese with kidney beans, and rice to make a chili
Chicken and fresh tomato wraps with side of frozen veg
Sausages and chips and frozen veg
Tuna pasta bake with the tinned tomatoes, peas and sweetcorn topped with cheese

No we both work BUT even us workers find it hard sometimes with unexpected bills.

Meal 1: Bolognese sauce, sausage, pasta, garlic bread
Meal 2: Mince, toms, kidney beans, rice to make chilli
Meal 3: Leftover chilli from previous meal in wraps with cheese and baked
Meal 4: Gammon steak and chips and carrots
Meal 5: Chicken in bread crumbs with mixed veg and would you have any pasta, rice or chips left?

We do have a community larder locally which you can just pick up excess food from. Worth checking if you have anything like that locally.

I'm sorry I wouldnt put cheese on anything where you already have protein in the meal. It's too precious on its own. I'd be expecting at least two of the meals to be pasta in cheese sauce - im hoping you have a bit of vegetable oil to make cheese sauce with, since I've used up the butter in the scones.

Chick pea and veg curry
chilli
cld burger be reformed to meat balls with pasta and tom sauce and then with garlic bread

I would be tempted to make up a big batch of italian style tomato sauce with herbs and garlic as this can be used with baked tortillas filled with veg or chilli or whatever, pasta and chicken or beef, just plain pasta with veg and sauce, also use a s a base for pizza with cheese and whatever on top
Sweet corn fritters to have with something
Tuna and sweetcorn for baked potatoes
Soups and garlic bread or fresh bread if you have any

Extras I would buy
some sort of lentil to fill out any curry or bolognaise etc (Black or yellow)
some pizza dough mix if you are not confident making from scratch
Baked potatoes
Maybe sweet potatoes if you can stretch and do wedges with these for a change
there is not alot of fresh veg in their so maybe carrots and onions to add into things, but also can do a good soup from that esp if you have cumin or coriander in the cupboard, could also be had with garlic bread if no money for fresh stuff
Eggs are a good call too - bit of potatoes (left overs fine e.g. stick a couple of extra smaller ones in when baking potatoes and any left overs type frittata, omlete, eggs on toast, egg with something else like the gammon etc although thats 2x proteins in one meal.

I would probably try and have snacky tea a couple of nights so beans/eggs on toast or just stuff in the fridge make a veg soup to start with to fill up on - super easy and takes about 20 mins to cook etc.

Look at some of the apps for food as well esp from supermarket if they do veg/bread ones would usefully fill out the cupboard essentials and maybe provide a treat for around 3.50 and we are not an area with alot of poverty we still get these deals. Olio and too good to go are the ones I am thinking of, also haunt the yellow sticker hours if you know them, if not now then next month so you have a few cheap meals set aside?? Buy them when you see them and freeze