Surviving a week on £30...

[LadyOfWaffle]

Dunno how but there is only £90 in the bank, £15 has to stay in for the internet bill, at least £40 needs to be put aside for four days of petrol for DH to get to work , which leaves £30 I can withdraw (cannot take out £5s). First of all it sounded ok, but wrote a list with nappies - £4, wipes - £5, then £1.30 for 4 pints, for 7 days is £9.10... which is leaving about £10 for food! Wipes are non neg., cheaper ones rip poor DSs bum to shreds, obviously I will have to drink less milk but how do I do 7 days (DH, me and DS) for £30? Thanks sooo much if you can suggest anything!

Boots points for nappies, etc?

loadsa stuff

and now my minds gone blank

DS2 is 4 1/2 months and has enough nappies, and is breastfed so is pretty much free this week!

If push came to shove I could borrow a little from my mum, but I should be able to stick pretty close to that, esp. since DS2 wastes alot of his milk, I am going to be a milk scrooge and only give it to him morning and evening, unless he really does want it.

Thanks so much for replying!

lol bronze I was just thinking the same "oh loads of stuff on that list" but ermm, err minds gone blank

You then end up in arrears borrowing from others...I always think it best not to borrow if you can help it...you start digging a hole for your purse IMO.

I'll swap you the green and blacks chocolate for a 12kg sack of basmati rice that DH bought for some bizarre reason at the weekend when I sent him out for a bar of dairy milk!

seriously though you can do loads with that lot

Do you have CAT LoW? I have a massive pack of cotton wool I was going to throw out because I rarely use it, so if you CAT me I can send it to you if that helps.

Make a shepherds pie with the mince and bulk out with lentils if you need to - make double the size so you have two meals

Lasagne - as above

Soup for lunches at the weekend.

Other 3 meals -
Suggest
mushroom omelette
jacket pot, bacon & beans.
Casserolley type thing with couscous.

pasta and tomato sauce for lunches.

Then eat all your chocolate.

I don't have any vouchers/points - I do have a £30 argos voucher but that is DS2s.

I forgot my freezer! Let me go list what's in there:

a curry ready meal (dhs i guess for work)
1 mince
some yorkshire puddings
some chips
about 2 x 1/4 packs of frozen veg
1 pack of frozen chicken which I have been avoiding cooking as it is watery and doesn't cook well at all.

Cotton wool and water instead of wipes. Tesco do non frangranced ones that are £1.30 per pack and are great on my nephews really really sensative skin

I don't think I have CAT anymore Bramshot, but thanks so much anyway I have one of those rolls somewhere, I am sure I do... one of those things you just bung away in a cupboard. Amazing what you 'waste'.

i would buy a chicken and use the likes of beetroot and pickled onions etc maybe with corn and some lettuce for a salad with a cheap crusty roll.

the chicken could make chicken curry and a roast dinner and soup out of the carcuss.

i have a 1pd of nappies i could send you?
cat me if interested

No worries! Everyone has one of those rolls somewhere - I found ours when we were fitting the bath panel at the weekend!

I cannot make bread , I would def. do it but would need to spend money to buy the tin at the moment!

make a big lasagne with your mince (it'll be fine if its in date) tomato soup, herbs and cheese.

Use your spaghetti to make a sausage and mushroom pasta with soup as the sauce.

That's two meals down without spending a penny. Plus a couple of lunches with your soup/pasta in sauce/noodles

the dips selection will go very nicely with jacket pots, this is what we always do with left over dips, pour over the top of jacket pots - yummy!

Lasagne or Spag bol for starters. Use mushrooms sliced. Buy cheap chopped toms. Pad out with some baked beans.

Make sausage wrapped in bacon toad in the hole.

The cheese selection will keep well past the date on it unless it's cream cheese, but even that as long as it's not open.

Ham, cheese, pickles and fresh bread for a lunch.

Buy chicken thighs, remove skin and bung in the oven with curry paste/mushrooms/tinned toms and sliced onion.

Just a couple of off the cuff ideas...

and i'd put the sausages in bacon in the yorkshire puds with gravy and some veg - again yummy tea!

I reckon you don't actually need to buy very much at all LOW

I don't think you'd actually need to buy much at all tbh, you have plenty in for just a weeks meals if you sit and think about it

fry the chicken from the freezer with the curry paste and onion (if you ahve one) then add the rice and water, boil until rice is cooked and or water gone, then take off of heat add some frozen veg cover and leave for 5 mins. Serve you now have pilau chicken!

Wow, great ideas, writing them all down to send DH to tesco!

One thing with the lasagne is buying the sauces, is there a cheap homemade sauce version? I haven't made white sauce for years - is it flour and something? I have flour! Will a tin of toms do for the red sauce and some herbs? Or use the tom. soup? Are value tinned toms. ok? Or are they packed with salt and rubbish? Thankyou thankyou thankyou! You are my saviours!

risotto always a good way of bulking out soup/stock & veggies.

potato omelette cheap, nutritious & fllling.

Do you have a breadmaker? Homemade loaves about 40p each. If no breadmaker, flatbreads quite easy to make (look up a recipe on line) - usually flour, water, salt & oil/lard.

UK apples quite cheap at the mo.

Have also used fleece wipes/flannels in the past (with water) and work fine, although must admit to using a wipe first to remove most of the s**t!

HTH. I struggle to economise, and would never manage on £30 for the week. Is there a friend who you would be happy to borrow £20 off for the week? Could you do some swapping (e.g. groceries in return for old clothes/toys- not DHs!) with anyone you know?

LOW have you got a blender? Whizz up the tinned toms in that so it's more like passata, then simmer with tsp sugar, salt, herbs and garlic for a while till it reduces a bit and use that.

I do have 2 onions too, I forgot the veg drawer, and a slightly sorry looking lettuce and a pack of apples. And DH has informed me we have potatoes too...