Can't afford to feed my husband

[Prusik]

Gah, the title sounds pathetic! Please don't rip me to pieces for the fact that he should be feeding himself but it's the simplest summary I can give.

DH is 6ft7 and skinny. He eats a lot to maintain his weight. He's both milk and egg free (milk is allergy, egg is intolerance as his gut tends to get inflamed). He also tries to avoid sugar as he was finding he was getting major energy slumps during the day and reaching for sweets.

Ok, so here goes. I did the food shop last night and it was £100. Haven't bought any luxury items apart from I bought four cartons of supermarket brand apple juice and haven't yet bought meat for the week.

Try to fill him up on protein, ie nuts, chicken wraps, etc as empty carbs just don't seem to cut it. I rely on cheap meat where I can, we eat a lot of mince. And I bulk things out with cheap veg and potatoes. We cook chilli with beans, pulses, etc and I make my own humous as that's a good fix and so much cheaper than the supermarkets.

I'm just at my wit's end. For various reasons we're now at the arse end of poor. We're going down to one vehicle and are really struggling. We don't buy coffees out, don't go anywhere which costs parking... everything we do is free. But I'm still struggling to afford to feed DH. I do buy fruit in for the baby and am starting to cut corners with what I eat just so DH and Ds can be fed. I'm not going without but will just have jam on toast for lunch rather than anything better as I don't want to use food up. This is far from ideal as I'm 28 weeks pregnant change in circumstances happened after I conceived

We get tax credits and child benefit.

Any tips for feeding a very hungry person on the cheap?? He's not greedy, he genuinely needs the food. ds is beginning to look like he will be the same

Should you be eating homemade pate when you're pregnant?

Good call on the peanuts, thanks. I've made that change now!

Sabine, you're right. It's not something i have often but occasionally I'll have a small amount. In pregnancy I treat it as 'everything in moderation'. I'm happy with the pregnancy dos and don'ts and take it with a pinch of salt.

It's weird. DH is frugal in all other aspects apart from food. But this isn't sustainable. I will be tackling him on it

sabine, he doesn't have pocket money. Neither of us do

Are you sure he hasn't got worms? But seriously, he needs to start eating like a man not a woman who is trying to keep their weight down.
Lots of baked potatoes, mash, pies and bacon.
You shouldn't be going hungry because he's too much of a kidult to feed himself.
You've got to give priority to yourself, your child and your unborn baby.

Nothing wrong with a little homemade pate. It's perfectly safe in small amounts.
Not that OP asked for the pregnancy police to comment.

Almonds are 200g bags currently on 2 for £4 at Morrisons, right? If you have a Lidl, their 200g bags of almonds are £1.39. www.mysupermarket.co.uk/lidl-price-comparison/Nuts_And_Seeds/Belbake_Whole_Almonds_200g.html?TrackingCode=AQEAAAE.IhJiGqSvSkqPgrTp3sNyLg

Swapping the almonds would save £2.44, and swapping to the cheaper savers peanuts would save £3.16, just on that shop.

£10 on nuts is still a lot, but it's a third better than £15 on nuts.

Oat cakes and meridian crunchy peanut butter is a great snack and would be more filling than just the nuts.

Whole chicken we get at least 2 meals out of that. You could get a roast and make some short crust pastry and make a big family chicken & veg pie. I love a mid week roast it’s a delight lol.

Oh pate yum, watch your vit A intake though with offal whilst pregnant.

Could you get tinned corned beef instead of deli ham? Or I also buy a gammon joint boil that and slice it thinly for sandwich type filling and it last pretty well in the fridge and then chuck a load of veg into the left over water and make soup.

Do you have a Costco near you? Their almond milk in bulk is cheap and their dates too. Or an Asda might be a bit cheaper than Morrison’s, do it online then click and collect so you don’t have delivery to factor in.

Gut pain on the left hand side sounds like it could be diveriticulitis - if it is (and I'm certainly not making a diagnosis over the internet) then lots of pulses can aggravate it.

OP, you have to get him to go to the GPs.

What about a curry with mince (so cheaper meat and some fat for calories) with pulses, potatoes, veg, rice and naan?

Thai curry with creamed coconut (buy blocks as much much cheaper than canned coconut milk).

Can he manage garlic bread and macaroni cheese with veg and bacon, or lasagne, given his problem with dairy?

Stew with lots of pulses, potatoes, dumplings, Yorkshire puddings or pancakes?

Agree that he needs to knock the expensive snacks on the head. Not affordable on a small budget.

Food budgeting is hard work! Especially as you have dietary requirements but soups sound like a great start.

I make a yummy leek and pot soup which is super thick, cheap, filling and v easy. Tastes creamy but no dairy in it.

2 jacket pots (peeled & chopped)
2 leeks
1 onion
1 stock cube
500ml water

Basically fry the onion and leek in a bit of oil/butter whatever you have, add the chopped up pots, add the stock. Bubble away till soft. Blend. Done. Honestly tastes creamy and delicious.

Good luck xxx

Check the ingredients on the pies. A lot of them contain egg.

Just having a bit more of a google - own brand chilled unsweetened almond milk seems to be about £1 a litre in Asda/Tesco etc, compared to the UHT stuff being about £1.50 a litre. You might need to have some UHT to store for convenience but could you have a couple of litres of the chilled version each week? 50p saving a time, it all adds up.

Ps I usually buy a whole chicken each week as it works out amazing value. Get to do a roast, a curry or something, maybe a couple of sandwiches plus I make stock with the carcus for soup etc

Home and bargain is a great shop! Full of really cheap, rice, lentils, pulses. If you go to a large store they do have freezer sections and fresh food too. Might save you a few quid shopping here? Also I batch cook all my meals making individual freezer meals. Saves time, money and is super healthy xxx

If you get a chicken, make sure he eats the skin.

OP If you use mysupermarket.co.uk you can find the cheapest shop for what you want, and it will also suggest cheaper alternatives. You have to be a bit careful (it suggests alternatives that aren't allergy suitable on occasion) but if you use it every time you definitely work out how to save money e.g. I went from mini weetabix, to weetabix, to own brand wheat biscuits, then porridge. Now I really resent paying for the mini ones - they're a treat.

No @BarbaraofSevillle I think If op likes it she should keep that all for herself especially as she is pregnant. I’m lucky I don’t have to share it as no one else likes it in my house.

Oh also you can get quite cheap pork shoulder joints in most supermarkets. Cook it low and slow with whatever seasoning or marinade you like I like bbq and make pulled pork 2kg will give you at least 4 evening meals. I eat it with roasted veg mostly but it’s good with rice. Also pork mince (not lean) is quite cheap I make a veggie laden (blitz veg in food processor) meatloaf with that it’s awesome to eat hot or cold I often just have that for breakfast or porridge both equally filling.

Change from brands eg: Bisto, Morrisons own grave is delicious, Their own brand crisps are tastier too, Same goes for Weetabix get the own brand they are also lower in sugar and salt.

I echo again about the frozen chicken, I found I saved more money when switching.

The veg box is great, you get a lot for £3, I make stews, casseroles, soups, curries etc with the veg.

vegetables, potatoes and cheap, long cooked meat.

Mince (WITH the fat) made into chillis, bolognase and cottage pies, pork shoulder chops (stewed with veg) are delicious with dumplings, chicken thighs made into a chicken and veg curry.

Your shopping list should be more like

Mince (cheap, 2 kg)
Pork shoulder chops (1 kg)
Chicken thighs - 2 kg
Dairy free margerine (vitalite is good and cheap)

Apples
bananas
Carrots
onions
10kg potatoes
savoy cabbage

Pearl barley
Flour
Suet
Pasta
Rice

Tinned tomatoes (2 tins per meal)
Tinned beans (2 per meal)

Value cereal
Porridge oats

Dairy milk (for you, toddler and baby when old enough)
Eggs (as above)

Frozen chips - as cheap per kilo as fresh potatoes
Frozen peas
Frozen chopped peppers
frozen spinach - this is SO much cheaper than fresh that buying fresh on your budget is criminal - 10x cheaper!

You simply do not have enough money to support a middle class diet on a VERY low income - and minimum wage, one wage earner is a VERY small income to support a family.

he is eating the majority of what he earns, does he understand that?

I haven't read the whole thread so this is probably said but we have a bread maker which is much more filling than supermarket bread and bake our own ham. Much cheaper and nicer. My OH has to fill up on these and porridge and toast and jam. We get proper meals too but these are our staples.

go carb heavy. Loads of cheap pasta, value sack of potatoes, big bags of cheap carrots, porridge oats, apples, whatever fruit and vegetables are in season, Lentils, beans.

If youre skint, then stop pandering to special diets unless he actually is intolerant. Use cheap soya milk if hes dairy free instead of expensive almond milks etc, and sugar wont cause an energy slump if used in moderation, and if hes using substitutes instead, this is expensive and faddy. Cheap margerine is usually dairy free and you can get massive tubs of it to have on baked potatoes with baked beans etc. Soups made with Lentils and other pulses are high protien and filling, espcially with a couple of slices of bread.

I really wouldnt worry about maintaining his weight as long as none of you are hungry. He's not going to die from being skinnyif thats just how hes made.
Going without food yourself or eating crap just so you can feed your man while you yourself are pregnant is tbh ridiculous and martyrish. Have a bit of self respect.

OP are you shopping online? Only if you edit your order with morrisons after placing it you can get it to bring up flash deals of 40% off there's usually a good range and if you keep doing it you can get some excellent stuff we've got salmon. roasting beef, steak and sausages all 40% off this week and last time we had one of their new meat boxes 40% off between this and musclefoods (10kg of chicken breast individually vacuum sealed £50) is how I buy all of our meat and we only spend £70 a week for 4 of us.

These are the flash sale items I got with this delivery - all 40% off and saved £27 odd.

MUNCH BUNCH ASSORTED SQUASHUMS
HUGE TUBES 6x60g
1.20
FIRE & SMOKE CAROLINER HONEY
MUSTARD BACON 200g
1.54
MORRISONS THE BEST BRITISH
CHERRYWOOD CURED BACON &
CHEDDAR QUICHE 450g
1.80
BERNARD MATTHEWS CHICKEN BREAST
SLICES 7 PACK 140g
0.79
MORRISONS MARKET ST FRUIT PLATTER
400g
1.65
STAPLETON NATURAL YOGURT 400g 0.54
MORRISONS MARKET ST BRITISH SALT &
PEPPER BEEF SIZZLE STEAKS 400g
2.44
SOREEN CHOCOLATE 190g 0.30

MORRISONS THE BEST SWEET STEMMED
CAULIFLOWER
1.05
MCCAIN SHAKE WEDGES SMOKY
BARBECUE 300g
1.20
MORRISONS FISHMONGER SALMON
FILLET LARGE 600g
5.35
MORRISONS INDIAN TAKEAWAY GARLIC
& CORIANDER NAAN 320g
0.54
MORRISONS CHEESE FEAST DEEP PAN
10" PIZZA 335g
1.59
MORRISONS BRITISH TURKEY SAUSAGES
454g
1.42
MORRISONS THE BEST FREE RANGE
EGG MAYONNAISE 180g
1.08

MARY BERRY INDULGENT CHOCOLATE
CAKE
2.10
MORRISONS BEEF TOPSIDE JOINT SMALL
800g
5.65