Help make £18 last 10 days

[rainbowslate]

Please can you give me any ideas how to make £18 last 10 days. Family of 4, 2 adults, 2children.
Should have enough fuel to last, so just lunch boxes and evening meals really
Thank you in advance

Can you start by doing a list of what you have in the house already that could be used? For example any random tins, do you have flour, pasta, rice etc?

Do you have anything in your freezer? Are the children primary school age?

What do you have in?

Yes, I have some tins and pasta. I think I can make two or three meals out of what I have already

Yes primary age children

Pasta with sauce made from tinned chopped tomatoes and whatever herbs lurk at the back of your cupboard.

Egg fried rice with whatever odds and sods you’ve got in terms of ham, frozen veg etc.

Chickpea and potato curry with a powder sachet of curry flavouring.

Beans on toast

How many lunchboxes?
What tins do you have, and how much pasta? Do you have bread/ cheese/ eggs/ soup? Herbs and spices? Lentils? Bacon?

When I'm running low I do pasta with a jar of this, I don't usually do ready-made jars but this is nice enough. I throw quorn mince in and usually frozen onion and frozen peppers and a.sprinkle of cheese on top if I have it
And a cheap 60p garlic bread.

Sorry this.

Vegetable soup using whatever vegetables you can get cheaply plus throw in some red lentils for protein and to help fill you up

Jacket potatoes topped with tuna or a lentil bolognaise mix

Lunch just sandwiches and spreads

Try the Olio app for free leftovers.

Wishing you all the best OP

That will be a stretch if you haven't got much in. Could you visit a food bank? Do you have any vouchers for anything? Asda or clubcard points?

Lots of pasta and bread. Some tinned tomatoes. Maybe some cheese and eggs and some apples/bananas.

My kids love tuna pasta in their lunch boxes. Tuna, pasta, sweetcorn and mayo. You could do something like this. I think pasta will be one of your best options here.

You could go to the CAB and ask for a food bank referral. Also Oli app might help. Find out if you have a community fridge.

Do your children qualify for free school dinners? Might be worth a check.

Thank you all. Some good ideas.
I have plenty of herbs and spices and some lentils and rice.

Veg soup I will definitely do as have some leftover bits

Can you make soup if your children will eat it and you have some cupboard staples like stock cubes? You can normally get reduced veg pretty easily. Loads of bread.

We do eggy bread too as the kids always think it's a treat. Risotto, egg fried rice, sausage pasta.

Jack Monroe has some good options but I know she's not everyone's fave on here.

I am so sorry you only have £18 though. Is there anyway you can get a food parcel / contact a local charity for one off help?

Pasta with frozen veg, tinned tomatoes. I like tinned sardines for protein and they are cheap.

Cheese sandwiches in the lunchboxes. Apple or banana and carrot sticks.

Beans on toast with scrambled eggs.

Porridge for breakfast. Oats can be made into flapjacks if you can stretch to golden syrup and butter (Stork is fine).

Yes definitely try the Olio app.

Can you also see if you can access a local food bank. No shame in accessing this if things are tight.

Best of luck OP.

Do you have a local food pantry? Otherwise as PP said, Olio can be helpful. Best wishes OP

Are the children entitled to free school meals? Can you get a food bank referral? Anything you can sell for extra cash?

I would be doing a lot of soup, bread, and possibly home made pizza but not sure about that as you’d have to have something with it it could just be flour and water to make it you could do pizza with tinned tomatos as a base with some herbs mixed in with home made chips which could just be sliced potatoes rubbed in oil and a bit of tin foil and roasted don’t know if that’s any help

Op where do you live? If you live near a Sikh gurdwara go there. There is food there. They don’t usually allow you to take away but you will get a hot meal. If the kids don’t like curry they can have chappati and yogurt if nothing else. If you are in the West Midlands I have food you can have and will drop it to you. Dm me if you want me to.

You can make a few £ very easily if you sign up for websites like Qmee. Very boring and repetative surveys but they do pay up straightaway. You will not get rich but it can add a tenner to the pot which helps.

Look for a food pantry or community larder in your area. You do have to pay but usually only a small amount like £5 for a basketful of food.

Do you have ingredients for pancakes (can have savoury fillings)?

I think this can be done with £18 if you shop around (but will need to be shop brands)

bag of frozen chicken pieces or fresh chicken thighs
bag of frozen sausages
frozen peas, mixed veg
jacket potatoes
potatoes
chickpeas
tinned toms or cheap pasta sauce
baked beans,
bag of apples
Bunch of bananas
cooking apples
3 loaves of bread
Large bag of porridge oats (for breakfast and homemade flapjacks)

Evening meals
Jacket potatoes and baked beans
sausage and mash
sausage casserole with lentils
pasta with chicken and garlic bread
?homemade pizza if you have flour/eggs
chickpea , potato and chicken curry

Optional extra dessert : homemade apple crumble (make a couple in large dishes to serve for a few days)

Lunches
sandwiches (presume you may have marmite or peanut butter etc?) and flapjack

breakfast
porridge
toast

repeat a few of the evening meal options to see you through (or make double portions of your favourites).
if you need to “pad” the meals out, get some cheap bread rolls to accompany

goodluck

I think it’s perfectly doable, you’ve got some stuff in the cupboard and £18 goes a long way with basics/value ranges and yellow stickers. I’d just live on pasta and tomato sauce, cheese sandwiches and rice pudding.

For extras, cashback apps like Shopmium often have freebies (I got a free pack of oven chips today). You can get free food on Olio and Freecycle. You can redeem any loyalty card points you have. You can sell a couple of things on Facebook marketplace if you want. You’ll be fine.

Let me think.
breakfasts
I like to make a berry crumble, really simple, frozen berries, butter, oats, some sugar. You could probably make about 3 crumbles with a block of butter for that.
you could do pancakes, flour, milk, eggs
lunches
get a bag of dried broth mix, tinned tomato’s, some stock, and some bread. If you can, get some veg on offer to go in.
pizza, just flour and water base, tinned tomatoes, herbs, and some random
vegetables as toppings. When desperate, I have used breaded fish for meat instead of salami. Sounds weird but it was fine. You can put anything on it. Get a bag of potatos and tin foil, slice the potatos, rub oil on the potato slices, put them in tin foil, season, and bake.
omelettes
Dinners
a stew? I like to make a sausage stew, haven’t made it in a while. Tinned tomatos, leeks, stock, etc.
spaghetti bolognaise with lentils, beans and mince to stretch it. Sounds weird I know but it can be ok.
Hope that helps