to think it is entirely possible to feed 2 adults for a month on £50

[smilingthroughgrittedteeth]

Long story short we are skint, I have some weird chronic fatigue illness (still waiting for diagnosis) so have had to drop a day at work and dp had an accident at work in January and has been off sick since then.

Because of this we are £1200 a month worse off.

I can cover all the bills and rent and dp can cover his child maintanance payment to ex and petrol for me to get to work but there is no money left after that, we have lowered all bills as much as we can.

I did some extra work on Sat and earned £50 which I plan on using for food shopping, I will be going to Morrisons as dp works for them so we get a discount, I don't usually shop there but I can't afford the petrol to get to aldi or asda so the options are Morrison's or Tesco.

Money was tight before so I've been shopping on a budget of £100 per month.

Just spoken to a friend who asked to borrow a book, I said I'd drop it in to her on weds as would be passing her house on the way to Morrison's and she asked why I wasn't going to asda as normal so I told her, she was horrified and kept offering to lend me money.

Now it's very kind of her but aibu to think that it's entirely possible for me to feed dp and myself for the month on £50? I have basics such as flour, herbs, pasta and don't need any cleaning products so will be spending the whole amount on just food, I cook from scratch and we are used to making a chicken last several meals and I split packets of mince and freeze so it does 2 meals.

We might not have any fancy dinners but we will eat or am I being to optimistic and we will in fact struggle to buy enough?

[valiumredhead]

What will you buy and what do you plan to make?

I would find it very hard.

[valiumredhead]

Also, is this just one meal a day?

[fieldfare]

As long as you're not wanting anything unusual, it might get a bit boring but is manageable.
Toiletries, cleaning products and loo roll etc would be the expensive bit. If you get staff discount too then that will help.

[AgentProvocateur]

I don't think you could eat well on less than £1 a day each, TBH.

[HormonalHousewife]

Wow. That sounds really tight to me.

I couldnt manage it but I would love to be able to.

If your DH is cooperative and not too critical then I think you will do OK. Sometimes you have to cut your cloth accordingly, which is what my mum used to say to me.

There are some fantastic recipes on here you could look at.

Good luck and I hope you are feeling better soon.

[valiumredhead]

How do you make a chicken last several meals? How big is the chicken?

Sorry for the questions, shopping threads interest me

[ImTooHecsyForYourParty]

It is certainly possible. You won't eat well but you will eat.

lots of value pasta and beans and lentils, basically.

You can get food into your stomach for that amount of money.

the question is one of nourishment. Will what you put in be rich enough in vitamins, etc.

But, tbh, there comes a point when you have to fill your stomach and forget about eating 'well', because you just need to eat.

[Beatrixpotty]

That's £1.50 per day for all food for 2 people,right?
The cheapest things I can think of are economy spaghetti at 19p per packet,economy noodles for 23p ,tinned tomatoes for about 25p,economy rice pudding for 18p..if you made these into an evening meal and ate toast for breakfast and lunch you could just about do it!Going vege might save money too

[MinimalistMommi]

This might help:
agirlcalledjack.com/
With two adults I think to will be tough. But if you already have enough staples maybe?

[GemmaTeller]

I think £50 is a bit of a stretch to do.

I think you'd have to start by planning your meals before shopping and then check out the offers v own brand.

I also don't think you're going to get three meals a day out of it but, you could skipping lunch by having a late breakfast (porridge and fruit go a long way) and then an early tea/dinner (bulked out with rice/pasta/pulses/veg).
Homemade veg soup goes a long way as well if you use veg thats in season and on offer.

We get three meals out a chicken, roast on day one, strip the carcass for curry or risotto on day two then boil the carcass for stock for veg soup on day three.

[MinimalistMommi]

agirlcalledjack.com/

[smilingthroughgrittedteeth]

In the freezer I currently have ........
a large pie (will do 2 meals)
4 sausages
2 chicken breasts
6 fish fingers
A full bag of peas
Half a bag of sweetcorn
A full bag of oven chips

In the cupboard I have.......
2 tins of tuna
4 tins of beans
1 tin of tomatoes
Rice
Pasta

In the fridge I have.........
2 blocks of cheese
Broccoli
Carrots
Cauliflower
Ham
4 pints of milk

I also have potatoes, onions, cereal, flour, herbs/spices and we make our own bread so I have the ingredients for that ( more than enough for the whole month)

[Trills]

A number of bloggers recently have been doing the "live below the line" challenge, trying to feed themselves for 5 days on just £5 of food. You are suggesting living for a month on less than £1 per day per person (although you do have the advantage of being able to buy big packs of things).

It will be difficult.

[smilingthroughgrittedteeth]

We also have spaghetti and couscous

[smilingthroughgrittedteeth]

I don't eat breakfast (never have) and will eat lunch at work 3 days a week (am a nanny)

Dp has toast for breakfast and probably a sandwich for lunch.

We also have jam, chocolate spread and marmite somewhere in the cupboard

[Hazelbrowneyes]

I think you could do it and I think you could eat reasonably well too.

We get 3 or 4 meals out of a chicken, you can bulk up dinners using pulses (cheap as chips and healthy) and if you buy frozen veg that should keep you going.

I'd make the following:

Soup
Stew - stewing steak/leftover chicken, loads of veg. Easily make a few meals out of that
Pie - make a lot of filling using chicken/veg/whatever, freeze it in portions and just make the pastry as you need it.
Lentil curry
Chicken curry
Spag bol
Chilli
Pizza - if you can make a pizza base, you can make pizza for a fraction of the cost of buying one.
Veg risotto

Can you make your own bread? If not, buy bread and freeze it, taking out what you need as you go.

This website Budget eating is fab and has loads of ideas

[Actors]

I could do it by spending £50, but (and it's a big but) I have very well stocked cupboards atm. OP says she has many basics, so perhaps it is possible.

Porridge and lentils will feature heavily I think.

[smilingthroughgrittedteeth]

imtoohecsyforyourparty that's exactly how I feel, this month we just have to fill our stomachs if it's not healthy then tough we will survive for a month, next month should be slightly better although not much but I just have to get through this month.

We had my dsc here for half term but they live the other end of the country so the cost of petrol to get them and take them home plus feeding them (a healthy diet) has crippled us financially this month.......it cost £103 in petrol.

[Hazelbrowneyes]

Out of what you have already I?d make:

Sausage casserole ? 4 sausages cut up, 1 tin of beans, 1 tin of tomatoes, stock, serve with rice or mix pasta in?easily 2 meals there.

Chicken breasts ? curry, bulk it out with some veg and you?ve got 2 meals.

Fish fingers?fish fingers, chips and beans?sorted!

Pie, chips and peas?2 meals.

Tuna pasta bake ? 2 meals

Broccoli and cauliflower soup or broccoli and cauliflower cheese.

Is the ham thick ham? You could make carbonara with that?

Pea and ham soup is another option

Pea risotto would be up there for me as a must have meal but then I do love risotto

So you already have 10/11 meals in your cupboards? I think it?s doable, especially as you make your own bread.

[SqueakyCleanNameChange]

How much is your discount? With a 20% discount, and allowing for the fact that you've got a good week's worth of food in the cupboard then it's effectively 60 quid for 3 weeks - very doable but you'd have nothing in the cupboard by the end of the month.

[Layl77]

I don't think skipping lunch is a good idea coil you see how you go and then use food banks?
Do you have any insurance or anything

[Pootles2010]

Oh its just a one-off? And you've already got lots? Yes you'll be ok I think. But what will you do next month?

[Jux]

Buy pulses and cook them from scratch. Make large stews with them to which you can add fresh veg.

[Steffanoid]

Morrison's do some good cheap veg, they do casserole packs but also if you get things individually with your veg it works out quite cheap to do soup, like carrot and coriander, get 4 or 5 loose carrots frozen coriander etc, like someone said above also bags of frozen veg are good

me and my oh lived on about £10 week when we were in uni, big bags of pasta and rice are your friend

[smilingthroughgrittedteeth]

Discount is 10%

pootles next month we won't be having dsc so I will have more money to use for food shopping.

I did a big shop in april as dp was still on full pay so that saw us through April and may, I did a smallish shop in may as dp was then getting ssp and that was fine but now I don't have enough for June so will have to make it work, next month I will have £100 to spend on food which isn't far off what I would usually spend.

I'm not even thinking about august when we have dsc for the whole month and we have to find the petrol money and extra food shopping I'm hoping dp is back at work by then but that looks doubtful.