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

Definitely get on Too Good To Go of that's available in your area, avoid restaurants/cafes but lots of people in my area are constantly giving away food they won't use for free. I'd probably keep it very simply, porridge for breakfast, if you have honey/sugar or can get own brand peanut butter or bananas. Supermarket own brand loaf of bread and cheese to make toasties for lunch, you can probably do a cheap tomato soup to go with. Jacket potatoes and beans/tuna/sardines or pasta, sauce and sausage for dinner. Spaghetti, lentils, cheap tomato sauce and cheese. Cheap pack of chocolate biscuits for a cup of tea. I go back to basics on weeks like these because I find if I batch cook something, it will just be eaten ahead of time, where if someone makes an extra slice of toast I can replace a loaf fairly easily! Sorry you're in this position OP I know it all to well.

Lidl has boxes of past its best fruit and veg for free after the check out. It’s generally not great, but fruit could be stewed and vegetables could be used in soups or sauces.

Depending on your location there are still blackberries to be foraged in my area. Depending on the age of your kids they might enjoy that - can make a blackberry and apple crumble if you have the other stuff

Community fridge or ollio app. I've just been given 4 bags of mixed veg and 5 packs of celery which I've chopped and frozen and will pad out bolognaise/shep pie/stew/soups

I'm in a similar position so thank you for posting as I will be using a lot of the tips on here too xx

Visit a food bank

If you haven't already, maybe try the Olio app or the toogoodtogo app. If your kids are school age, perhaps speak to the school and see if there is a way the school could provide the kids with lunch for the next 2 weeks to take some pressure off. Our school has a "Friends of X school" charity which has discretionary funds available for things like this, so might be worth asking if there is anything the school can offer.

Do you have any friends or family that could help? If not, 40 breakfasts, 40, lunches and 40 dinners is doable, but there will be lots of repetition and lots of very basic meals. I would say go through your cupboards and freezer first and see what you have. There is an app that you can enter your ingredients and it will suggest recipes. If you have nothing in the cupboard, I would suggest getting the following: bread, eggs, potatoes, pasta, rice, cheese, UHT milk, frozen mixed veg, canned tomatoes, beans, fruit (look for yellow sticker stuff if you can).

Porridge for breakfast every day. It is filling and cheap. Sandwiches for lunch every day. Egg fried rice with frozen veg stirred through jacket potatoes and beans, pasta and sauce (made from chopped tomatoes and frozen veg), chilli and rice, macaroni cheese with frozen veg, repeat.

Jack Monroe's website has some helpful recipies. https://oursouthend.wordpress.com/

Good luck 🍀

My neighbour collects from Olio, this week she’s given me 3 pots of very fancy hummus, 2 huge bags of Danish pastries, lots of bread and salads. Oh, and flowers! Please do olio, it’s free food. Would second porridge oats, not just breakfast but flap jacks, muffins and really interesting pancakes and biscuits. And community orchards for apples.

It's literally insane that it is 2024 and there are families of 4 having to survive on 18 quid to last 10 days. I'm sorry OP. I hope these suggestions help you out.

Cheap sausages could see you through a couple of meals too- toad in the hole if you’ve ingredients for Yorkshire pudding (bonus points if you have some bisto in the cupboard and some frozen or tinned veg); sausage pasta another night with tinned tomatoes, herbs, garlic and a sprinkle of grated cheese.
Pancakes are a child friendly choice if you’ve a couple of eggs/ some flour/ possibly some milk left. Fill with ham and cheese, or mushrooms or Nutella or stewed fruit or jam or lemon/ orange and sugar.
Loaded chips- top with any leftover chilli/ curry/ tuna mayo/ pasta sauce/ shredded chicken/ grated cheese/ whatever.
My dc are guaranteed to eat chips/ noodles/ pasta and soup so these are safe bets even if not the healthiest options.
If you have a tin of corned beef lurking in a cupboard corned beef has is an option.
Or bubble and squeak (with hp sauce if you like, or an egg on top).
Think of meat as flavour (chorizo, bacon etc) and use beans/ lentils for protein

List all your food? And people can help plan. Powdered milk, oats and cheapest jam for breakfast. Or even good old rice pudding with jam. (Can be done in slow cooker).
Sack of potatoes and a big tray of eggs. Endless possibilities.

Use Too Good To Go app and find supermarkets that are offering bags for a few £ and buy one. Remember much of what is in the bag needs using on the day, so google recipes and freeze anything you can't eat.

Ramen noddles with frozen vegetables is really nourishing esp if you add an egg or chopped cold cuts.

If you've any bananas and rasins/nuts, make some no added sugar banana bread for dessert or make some biscuits - I'm assuming you have some staples - sugar flour and oil to do this.

Cereal is a really nice supper treat.

Cheesy beans on toast for tea.

Jacket potatoes with bolognaise filling or even pasta with bolognaise can be cheap - pasta is less than 40p in aldi, white rice is 53p. Buy pork and beef mince - it's a big packet and less than a £5 per kg, so 2 or 3 meals if you bulk it up with frozen veg which is £1.

Have a look at the cost per kilo of a joint. I think spatcock chicken was less than £4 per kg - that's poss 4 meals if you add inexpensive veg, a sauce and potatoe, noodles, pasta or rice.

Or go vegan. I recently made a cauliflower curry, it was so filling and cost less than £1.50. There was loads of it too.

Sandwiches for lunch, or soup with a slice or two of bread.

Good luck xxx

eggs,bread ,flour,milk,porridge,is "plunder season"do it
food bnk

Lentil and potato curry? You can use some curry powder, ground cumin and coriander. Just fry off an onion then add potatoes and lentils. You can use a tin of tomatoes or one of coconut milk if you want it more creamy. That with rice would be good for a couple of days.

If you've got flour and yoghurt you could make flatbread? If you've got yoghurt that can be used in savoury dishes mixed with cucumber and garlic, as well as for puddings with fruit. Tinned fruit can be ok with it. Or just jam or honey.

I love making cheese toasties with cheap sliced bread as well. You can use quite a small amount of cheese or add leftover meat/veg. Also jacket potato with baked beans is always a winner. jazz it up with some paprika if you have it.

Also- tinned chicken supreme (£1.80) is easily doubled in size if you adde added a little stock and a couple of handfuls of frozen peas or a tin of sweetcorn. Stir in garam masala, cumin and garlic it actually makes a nice creamy curry that could stretch to 4 people if you have rice.
Another tin could work as a pasta sauce (possibly with spaghetti- value stuff is 35p and would do 2 meals). Thats £4 both meals assuming you have rice and peas. If not, peas or tinned sweetcorn would be another £1ish, and you could do curry on jacket potatoes or mash or even pasta.

French bread pizzas with yellow sticker baguette from the night before, tomato purée or salsa and cheese?

Gousto food app do 60% or 70% first box, so when we first signed up (Jan) it was £17 for five meals - this is maybe slightly out of budget but some meals are cheaper so you could take a look in case you can get a good deal.

also prolific academic is a website where you can take part in studies, most are about £10 an hour and you can do them in your spare time so eg maybe when the kids are in bed? Two hours and you’ve have doubled your money.

Good luck OP! Its so rubbish that people are stretched this thin these days 😔

Go to local fruit and vege shops and ask for a box of their disgarded or reduced fruits and vegetables.
Make soups, pasta sauces, pita bread pizzas etc. with vegies and chop and eat fruit with yoghurt and breakfast cereal and milk.
Go to local bakery and ask if they have any day old bread for sale. Sometimes they sell it very cheaply or give it away for chook food. It is usually very healthy and lovely to use when toasted, added to baked custard and often tastes fine enough for sandwiches too.
Buy packet of lentils or wholemeal rice to add to casseroles.
Buy a packet of SKIM MILK powder to make up many litres of milk. Skim milk makes up to taste almost like fresh whole milk.

Ask the butcher for a half kilo of low fat chuck steak or casserole meat. Use it as a source of protein...or use canned tuna, half a dozen eggs or a couple of chicken marylands.

School lunch boxes:
Any left overs, or grated vegies and cheese in a pita bread wrap.
Yoghurt recanted into small plastic container.
Piece of fruit or vege.
Can of chick peas made into homus and decanted into plastic container.
Do you have ingredients for Anzac buiscuits? They are nutritious and one recipe makes many.

biscuits, sorry.

Agree with everyone else.

Talk to the school.

Go on all the apps. Olio, to good to go, Facebook, even freecycle.

Check locally for food banks / larder / community shop, my community shop charges £5 to join but makes sure you leave with at least £5 of food.

They also do specials of what needs to go before the weekend. So a couple of weeks ago it was £8 for a joint of meat, potatoes, veg, stuffing and gravy granules.

Gurdwaras all offer vegetarian food. You can offer to help prep it if you don't feel comfortable just eating.

You might find local churches and mosques also do some form of food.

I have found Muslim shop owners to be quite generous, I think there is an obligation on Muslims to offer some form of charity and this can be giving you a basket of veg or a few tins.

Do you have an oven? A large Yorkshire pudding or toad in the hole is cheap to make and any left over batter can be made in to pancakes.

BBC Good Food vegan pancakes are good for breakfast or dessert (you can use normal milk if you prefer) and are extremely cheap as don’t need eggs. www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/easy-vegan-pancakes

Do your kids school lunches have to be paid in advance or at the end of the week ?
I would give them school lunches. At least it's a hot meal and pay it off when you get you paid.

Really skint meals in our house included

Depression cake...no eggs or butter. Oil and vinegar replace them.

Pesto and pasta

Dal...

Tomato & lentil soup

Swamp soup.. whatever is in the fridge

I second checking reward points ~ I often forget I have nectar/Tesco points building up. Check your Costa/McDonald's/whatever treat apps as well if you use them ~ you'll need a mid-week pick me up!

If that £18 is on card, do you have any coins lying around at home? Any leftover birthday gift cards you can sell online or use?

Do you have any local food larders/Community larders/food hubs?

https://www.shrewsburyfoodhub.org.uk/

Do you have a local food hub? This is our local one and they share food out from supermarkets that would otherwise go to landfill. This isn't just for those with food vouchers anybody can show up.