Food Crunch Hitting Hard, HELP!!?

Question

Okay so we have been hit had by price rises etc. We don't earn much but we do try and budget. now we only have £25 a week for food and thats it literally.

I have been loosing weight recently, and I am always hungry. What are some filling healthy ideas for food? We already buy own label brands which are cheap, but they don't fill us up. i don't want to become a skeleton.

Any ideas? (And btw I am sick of pasta really really sick of it I have eaten like a tonne recently.)

Answer 1

Bread is a really good filler, and potatoes. You can do lots of things with the potatoes & bread:

POTATOES: Jacket potato, chips, wedges, mash, boiled potatoes, roast potatoes, potato soup, potato salad, crisps,

BREAD: sandwiches, toasties, toast,

Try to cook more stuff at home and grow your own vegetables. I grow runner beans, tomatoes, cabbages, carrots (although they are thin!) and potatoes.

I also bake my own bread.

Sorry to hear you are struggling for money, try to just be more careful with what you buy, also look out for reduced things and buy one get one free offers.  

Answer 2

I was on a pasta diet too cause i was sorta stuck for money once too,

Okay sounds dorky but try the 99 cents stores. I dont know if they have em where u are but in NYC u can get food in them and pretty decent name brand food too. U can take 20 dollars and buy grocerys for the hole week

Answer 3

Dried beans and peas are nutritious and cheap.  Eggs are pretty cheap.  Pancakes and eggs make a good dinner.  

Answer 4

How available is mountain bread in your country? It's cheap (here at least), and incredibly versatile, and so filling while being super-healthy, unlike most pasta! You could also make it yourself with minimal ingredients - Cooks.com has a few good, simple recipes. I use it for breakfast toasties, lunch salad wraps, for dinner a layered Mexican bean pie/lasagna, and it's also good to make bread puddings for dessert. And the flavour is subtle enough that it adopts the flavours of the other ingredients, so you don't get sick of eating it regularly.

I would also vote for rice - the low GI versions, of course. I love to make a salmon/tuna pie with a Basmati rice shell - you just cook the rice and then spread inside a pie dish and cook til crisp, then add your fillings - I use tinned salmon or tuna, and cheese, sometimes potato to thicken the filling up. And then cook again.... It lasts for days in the fridge, too.

Lastly, when I know I have a long day of teaching between breakfast and lunchtime, I power-breakfast with a slice of toasted mega-multigrain bread (the kind with so many seeds that you can barely spot the bread fibres, yum!) and a soft boiled egg. It doesn't look exciting but if you invest in some quality bread and keep it in the freezer, you only need one slice to satisfy you, and the runny yolk helps the toast slip down.

Ultimate cheap and filling snack - banana chips. Keep them in an air-tight container and you've got energy in a can! Dried fruit of any kind is always good to stave off hunger pangs, and will probably help alleviate the weight loss.  

Answer 5

my husband and I have the same exact problem here. we do not have enough to get some basic stuff for around the house. despite my illness i am being forced to look for work though we doubt anyone will hire me.

i am highly allergic to peanut butter and all treenuts too. i have found a soyNut Butter subsitute that is safe for me to eat. it really keeps me full for a very long time. so i would suggest a nice peanut butter and jelly snadwich. i am sorry if you have already done this, but hey it's good for you and it's very filling. worth a try to mention it.

canned beans, chili and stews are good. we have canned pasta. it works. soup is cheap too and most of these come in store brands if it makes any difference.

omgosh get big bags of potatoes, y ou can fry them, make soup, mash them, make fries (baked) potato salads, mix with pasta ( i know i know.....sick-o-pasta.....)......canned meats like tuna and chicken are good too for sandwiches or salads. and a salad can be anything you have on hand. my grandma makes a frozen pea, chuncks of cheese and chicken chunk salad mixed with mayo.

stuff tomatoes with a tuna mix. it's good.

i am sorry things are so tight, i understand where you are coming from. i hope you do find something that will work for you. good luck.

Answer 6

I see that you are being a smart shopper by buying the supermarkets own brands. I do the same, I find also that if you pop into the supermarket in the evening say 7pm - 9pm you can get bargains as some food will have up to 90% knocked off because it is going out of date. I always buy food thats going out of date and stick it straight in the freezer. Therefore the food is very cheap and will not go out of date as it has been put in the freezer.

Answer 7

Pasta (sorry but its cheap and fills you up)

Baked Potatoes

Beans

Rice

All not very expensive, but make sure you are still eating healthily. I know fruit etc is expensive but even just making sure you have an apple or a banana a day is beneficial.

Answer 8

Fiber rich and bulky foods are great to fill you. Oatmeal, barley, rice, beans, bread. Chili is cheap and filling with a side of rice. A good hearty chicken soup with barley is great for you and will last a few meals. Tuna can be made for a sandwich or a casserole, or in a salad. Another idea is some sort of pot pie, you just need what you want to fill it with and place it in a pie crust. It's healthy and also filling. Hope this is some help.

Answer 9

Awww I'm so sorry! That sucks I totally know what you are going through though because me and my husband are in the same bind!!!! And When I first read this I was gonna mention pasta but then I finished and haha i guess that is a no no!!! Rice and beans (i'm a mexi so i eat mexi food) But  if you go to google and type recipe zaar there is this big collection of recipes and i'm sure you'll be able to find something!

Good luck!! and if you find anything yummy email me!! I need the help too!!

Answer 10

What??

Answer 11

I think Polenta/Maize Meal or brown rice are alternatives that are cheap and won't bloat you as badly. Or buy some flour and water and make your own pizzas. Have you been to LIDL or ALDI?