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

Buy a bag of red lentils (£2, Asda), some cheap bacon (£1.55 Asda), a couple of onions, some pearl barley (90p), tub of cream cheese (£1.50) and some soup mix (£1).
With stock cubes, spices and olive oil that can make dhal (lentils onion and spices), lentil and bacon soup (1/3 of the bacon, lentils, garlic powder, stock), pearl barley “risotto” twice (1/3 of the bacon, onion, 1/2 the cheese, 1/3 of the pearl barley, stock and add any tinned veg you have), veg broth (soup mix, onion, lentils, any spare veg)…. So 5 mains for just over £8, plus you have 3 meals worth of stuff in the cupboard. For the last 2 meals I’d go egg-based- egg fried rice (chuck in any frozen or bottom of the fridge veg), egg and cheap oven chips, omelettes, super noodles with yellow sticker eggs and a boiled egg. That should be no more than £5.
Lunches: use what you have- pasta salads if you have spare pasta. Soup in a thermos if you have soup and a thermos. Do you have dried fruit for kids lunch boxes? If not use the last £5 and get some fruit on offer and a loaf of bread (Lidl is cheapest own brand at 65p!). Sandwiches with jam if you have it are ok for short term, peanut butter if allowed it, or the leftover cream cheese. Wafer thin ham is cheap, or if you bought value eggs you should have some leftover. If you have cordial or similar freeze some lollies for when the kids ask for snacks (mine never stop asking!). If you have butter and syrup or honey get some cheap oats (under£1) and make flapjacks.

Have you tried the Too Good To Go app?

£1.50 Lidl fruit and veg boxes and £2 Sainsbury's Taste Me Don't Waste Me boxes. You'll get a good lot of fruit and veg to make quite a few meals. Yellow sticker food at the end of the day, often milk is reduced and eggs too. Our Asda reduce all their bread to 10p from about 7.30pm. There are still plenty of apples and pears on trees, so look out for them, and it's sweet chestnut season. Then just buy oats, rice, lentils, chopped tomatoes and oil, and you should make it through. Good luck!

Do you have any supermarket reward points? Even boots points could help as you can often buy fresh milk with them.

Beans on toast
sandwich and soup
scrambled egg on toast
big pasta and sauce bake
chios and runny fried egg

Do you have a community fridge?

Hi lovely. Pasta with grated cheese and tinned tomatoes..a 1kg bag should stretch for a few days., chuck in garlic and mixed herbs. Breakfast can be just toast , cereal and a piece of fruit.
Morrisons give out free fruit as well. X

In times of hardship people crave sweet stuff so a jar of jam, homemade no-cook flapjacks or some cheap extra-sweet biscuits like custard creams might relieve the boredom of lentils, bread and porridge.
(I got a few strange looks at the food bank collection last Saturday when I donated sanpro and sweets!)

You should not have to make it last bless you, is there not any way you can get food from a food bank.
People should not have stress like this in this day and age.

Oats with mashed banana and own brand Nutella stirred in. I have a 2 yo and 4 yo - one small cup of oats, 1 banana and one tablespoon of chocolate spread does both of them for either breakfast or lunch. Healthy-ish, but I can only risk buying things that may or may not be eaten just after pay day! PLUS, oats and chocolate spread last for ages, so you don't get any waste.

Any old stuff lying around you could sell to add to your money stash? Clothes you or kids have grown out of, unused toys etc?

Call the school and explain and I'm sure they'll squeeze the kids in for fee school meals. Ask around/local church for the nearest food bank, go on Olio. Some great very cheap meal ideas on this thread.

Any uncashed reward points will help. Sorry you’re in this situation.

one of my favourite meals (very cheap but I also like it when I’m not hard up) is lentil dhaal. Fry onion, if you have garlic add that, add any sort of curry spices you have. Add red lentils, tinned tomatoes and water. Simmer for as long as possible, or cook until boiling and then turn off and leave as it all comes together on being left and reheat to eat. The quantities are very flexible, it’s hard to fuck up and you can make loads and freeze it. Serve with rice. Or another time make it wetter and you have a soup.

A big chilli. Beans (black, kidney or even baked beans will do), tinned tomatoes, whatever veg you have (onions, mushrooms, peppers, tomatoes, spinach, anything) and any lentils or meat you have.
Chuck it all in a pan, season, serve with rice. Will do 2 main meals for a family of 4 providing the kids are wee. Tasty and filling and will keep you warm.

Ask on Nextdoor, local Facebook, Freecycle if anyone has a glut of vegetables or fruit from their garden or allotment.

Join golden hearted on Facebook, access to food and you can post also

When I've found myself in this position over the years I usually eat toast most of the time and child has things like pasta with frozen veg and grated cheese, tuna pasta, asda quite often do 5 frozen for a 5er and similar in Iceland so you can get frozen pizza, peas, nuggets etc.

Are you sure you don't have someone you can ask for some food? Neighbours or friends and family.
If you post which town you are in I bet posters could suggest places.
I volunteer at a place that makes meals for anyone that turns up. They have to come to the venue to eat or collect the food but there is no other requirement. You don't need to be referred and there are absolutely no questions asked. The food is really good too.

It's not going to be identyfying as you have given no other details.

Don't be suprised if you get some sceptical replies as there have been way too many fake begging posts on Mumsnet in the past. (Usually plucky single mums) So I think some posters are wary.

Hello Fresh occasionally offers “First Box Free” if a friend refers you.
Then you just freeze your subscription (done that).

There is no shame in asking for help when you have children to feed. Local “warm spaces” will have information.

Please speak to your children's school - we can do food bank referrals, check FSM and maybe access a local charity. Best wishes to you.

Please go to your school, speak to the office or the pastoral support. They can help with food bank, and food for the half term.

@rainbowslate

Could you get a voucher for a local food bank, just to make things a little easier, OP?

https://www.trussell.org.uk/emergency-food/get-a-food-voucher

Join the Olio app, at the very least you'll get bread.. There's always lots of bread left over in my area. That will help with packed lunches. You can make a savoury bread pudding with a couple of eggs, milk and cheese. Pizzas on French bread/baguette bases.

There's a Facebook page called Feed Your Family for £20 a week

They have costed out meal plans - including some very low cost ones for emergencies - on their site.

Super handy when you need to stretch the money

I do that in my slow cooker and it is so tasty, even more flavourous the next day. Was going to ask if the OP has a slow cooker, I make pasta sauce in mine by bunging a tin of chopped tomatoes in, some frozen garlic, red lentils, whatever veg i have hanging around that need using up, tomato puree, some dried herbs, basically anything that I think will be tasty. Leave it on low or high depending on how much time you have to spare. You can add quorn mince, a tin of tuna, some grated cheese, maybe a can of chick peas.