Hungry - Moderator warning in post #1

Blossomflower

Hi I'm just wondering if anyone out there Is in the same position and could offer tips or advice I'm a mother of 3 and things are very tight at present like plenty of people I'm sure bills etc.... Anyway I budget as much as I can weekly on groceries but trying to make sure the little ones have a dinner and breakfast every day they always do but I'm lying In bed here and I'm hungry what I have is for my children and it's measured out to make sure iv got enough but I'm actually really really hungry I feel weak.. My little ones ask me when I serve them up their dinner where's your dinner mammy and I just smile and tell them iv already eaten ��. I can't afford any more than I buy.

Moderator warning :
I know lots of people will want to help the OP. Please stick to offering practical advice on agencies to contact, meal and planning advice. We cannot facilitate offers of cash. This is to protect both the OP and our regular posters from getting involved in a situation that could become difficult to walk away from.

Thank you.

Mr E

Hi Blossomflower, I'm going to move this to the Personal Issues forum where you should get more responses. Best wishes to you - look after yourself.

Teyla Emmagan

Have you spoken to the Vincent de Paul? Get onto them and they will bring you a regular grocery shop. They may be able to recommend other local agencies who can help too.

Staplor

Mr E wrote: »

Hi Blossomflower, I'm going to move this to the Personal Issues forum where you should get more responses. Best wishes to you - look after yourself.

Contact SVP, nobody in Ireland should be going hungry in 2018. Great to see you taking such good care of the kids though. You'll need to start meal planning and figuring out how to use things like lentils.

dmm82

If your kids will eat it then I've found that soya mince is a great replacement for normal mince. You can get a bag of it in Tesco for around €3. Its great for spag bol/ lasagne/ chilli etc

Tenigate

Maybe post to the nutrition forum with your budget.

Tenigate

dmm82 wrote: »

If your kids will eat it then I've found that soya mince is a great replacement for normal mince. You can get a bag of it in Tesco for around €3. Its great for spag bol/ lasagne/ chilli etc

Normal mince is cheaper and more nutritious

Stheno

Hi blossomflower

There is a forum called living frugally that might give you some tips

https://touch.boards.ie/forum/1530

And as others have said get in touch with st Vincent Dr Paul your local groups details will be on their website

Best of luck

SusieBlue

Get straight onto the SVP in the morning, they’ll give you food.
It’s an absolute disgrace that in this day and age things like this are happening.
I feel sick to my stomach thinking about you starving, no one should be in that position.

<Snip>

SimpleDimples

Please don't be going hungry as there is help out there.

Go to the food bank at Capuchin Day Centre and to SVP. They exist to help.

I find bulking up meals with vegetable is a geat way off saving money. It's also nutitional. Lidl & Aldi have cheap veg offers every week.

https://www.lidl.ie/en/super-savers.htm

https://www.aldi.ie/c/groceries/super-6

Addle

The SVP will help you OP and also your Community Welfare Officer.

Tenigate wrote: »

Maybe post to the nutrition forum with your budget.

This is important too.
What are you cooking?

njs030

Perhaps if you saw what your budget is and what you're spending it on people can help?

Are you working? Are you getting all the money you are entitled to?

There's no reason for anyone to be hungry.

onlyrocknroll

Hi blossomflower. That's really awful, I'm so sorry for you. You genuinely deserve a medal for doing so much for your family. The below advice might not apply to you or might be stuff you already know but just in case.

Do you work? If you do you might be eligible for family income supplement.

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/social_welfare/social_welfare_payments/social_welfare_payments_to_families_and_children/family_income_supplement.html

If you're on some social welfare payment maybe you could go to your nearest citizens information centre and see if you're eligible for any additional payments like household benefits package or fuel allowance.

koumi

I second bulking foods with vegetables, also pearl barely and lentils are great for getting protein by way of soups casseroles and stews. You can do a lot and be creative with minimal ingredients if you have some good basics and staples, herbs and spices are a must and it doesn't have to cost a lot. (spices and herbs from as little as 80c and last a long time).

I don't know if you work or what kind of income you are on but maybe gets advice from mabs, you can get rid of some bills you might not need and maybe look for savings on others. (I got rid of tv so no tv license, and got rid of tv service, I kept BB and use that for pretty much everything and got a deal on lower bandwith package and just use pay as you go phone for everything else)

Do suss out what entitlements you might not be claiming for and as already suggested, contact SVDP, they provide vouchers for food items on a once off basis. best of luck

Airyfairy12

If you can afford bags of frozen veg theyre great and last ages, you can use them to make soups, stews, stir frys. Noodles are great too especially mixed in with soups and stir frys. Big bags of potatoes also last ages and can used for a multitude of things like homemade chips, sausage and mash ect. Bag of flour you can make pastry for veggie pie, pancakes. Cans of tuna - tuna pie.

As others have mentioned, go to your local vincent de paul. I wonder if you wrote a letter to your local TD explaining your situation would they offer you assistance? Worth a try.

Blossomflower

Thank you to everyone for the advice and the time you took to share. I'm sure I'll get by iv contacted svdp so hopefully they come soon. Things will get better just takes time I really appreciate the advice thank you all

Jurgen Klopp

You poor thing but absolutely fair feckin play to you for having 3 what I'm sure are great young lads and doing your best for them

If it's not too nosey what is your weekly food budget? Some of us here might know a few deals in shops you might not have noticed?

Do you have a phone or internet bill? I often see people unaware of cheaper better deals

If ya want throw it up and a few of us will throw our heads together here

shesty

Many of the big supermarkets sell stuff cheap in the evenings too, the likes of Tesco etc.If you go in after 5/6pm, you'll find heavy discounts on loads of stuff.Make a big pot of veg soup for yourself if you can, and freeze it in portions if you can....just boil potatoes, carrots, onion and celery together, or any other veg you can lay your hands on.Even one sweet potato added to it would really bulk it out.Mince is great to make a huge pot of chilli/bolognese/lasagne, throw loads of veg in and a few tins of chopped tomoatoes, and you have dinners for a few days.
There's a good website called BiaMaith.ie, check it out.It is run by a chef and it started a few years ago in the recession and the focus is on providing recipes for people on really tight budgets to feed families.It's a great resource and could help you with some food ideas and ways to stretch your budget.
Try not to deprive yourself too much of food OP because the kids need you healthy and there.If you don't eat, your health will suffer.I know where you are coming from, am a mum myself, but try to look after yourself too.

Big Bag of Chips

shesty wrote: »

....just boil potatoes, carrots, onion and celery together, or any other veg you can lay your hands on.

Just on this point.. don't 'just boil' a load of vegetables together. That's how I used to try make soup and couldn't understand why it never turned out as soup! Put butter in the end of a saucepan heat it until it's foamy and then add your chopped vegetables. Stir them occasionally and after 5 minutes add in the water and stock.

A lovely, really simply soup I make is Darina Allen's Leek and Potato.

St. Vincent de Paul are great and will help you. Also, go to MABS and see can they help you to sort out any bills or debts you have.

LynnGrace

Hope that you get help soon, OP.
Some great suggestions here already.

As has been mentioned, if you are around Dublin, the Capuchin centre will give you food. Also there are volunteers who give out food every night in the city centre.
Make sure also that you are getting whatever benefits you are entitled to.

Take care and I hope that things improve soon.

jigglypuffstuff

Calorie dense foods are your friends in this case

Buy full chicken's instead of cuts ( 3/4 euro)
Mackerel is your friend
If red meat is your thing...Lidl beef stir fry is incredibly cheap
Fibre rich foods (beans lentils oats)
Opt for frozen vegetables and whatever is in the weekly offers
Tomato passata and coconut milk for bases.. boiling full chicken's will also give chicken stock
Peanut butter and nuts.... you could also find innumerable receipes for peanut butter oat bars (chocolate chips option)
Let's not forget eggs and cheese

Key is focus on calorie dense foods...stay away from convenience foods like frozen pizzas etc ..they are usually lacking in protein, fibre etc

Hope this helps OP

shesty

Big Bag of Chips wrote: »

Just on this point.. don't 'just boil' a load of vegetables together. That's how I used to try make soup and couldn't understand why it never turned out as soup! Put butter in the end of a saucepan heat it until it's foamy and then add your chopped vegetables. Stir them occasionally and after 5 minutes add in the water and stock.

A lovely, really simply soup I make is Darina Allen's Leek and Potato.

St. Vincent de Paul are great and will help you. Also, go to MABS and see can they help you to sort out any bills or debts you have.

Haha, I've no patience for that Darina Allen recipe!Turns out fine for me the other way, it's the quantities you've to watch, especially the ratio of potato to other veg.
Anyway OP, good luck with it.

vandriver

If you have loans,either renegotiate,or simply stop paying them.

Uriel.

vandriver wrote: »

If you have loans,either renegotiate,or simply stop paying them.

Renegotiate yes. But simply stopping paying your debts is incredibly poor and unhelpful advice in my opinion. That's just going to create a whole raft of other problems. If unsustainable debt is an issue here then the OP should discuss with MABS and her lenders.

Tenigate

vandriver wrote: »

If you have loans,either renegotiate,or simply stop paying them.

Maybe talk to mabs instead of making bad decisions.

Op seems to need good advice more than anything. A kilo of rice costs €1.20. A kilo of onions costs 60c. It's almost impossible to go hungry in Ireland. If you can afford a few 15c eggs you have yourself a decent meal.

vandriver

Well if it is the issue,(and none off us know if it is),I'd rather the credit card waited than go genuinely hungry.

Uriel.

vandriver wrote: »

Well if it is the issue,(and none off us know if it is),I'd rather the credit card waited than go genuinely hungry.

The credit card will only wait so long and with interest especially at credit card rates things will spiral way out of control before too long.

There's a bigger picture in all this.

LirW

A lot is already said.
When you plan your shopping plan for the whole week. Use freezer space. Get yourself Lidl and Aldi catalogues or go on their pages. They have super savers advertised and there can be some real value there. Cook batches. Get the big bags of cheap pasta and rice. Get the veg and fruit on offer. Scrap any convenience food and cook yourself. I understand it takes time but you'll save a real fortune there!
Passata is cheap, loads of pasta sauces can be made.
Get yourself onto the internet and have a look what can be done with kitchen scraps, don't waste anything.
Pork can be had cheap, whole chickens. Look up what can be made with cheaper meat cuts. Get frozen vegetables, can be had for so little.
Get a few essential herbs and spices.
There are many many recipes online for budget cooking, start trying them out. Once you get into a routine of cooking from scratch you automatically get a feeling for cheap food and move away from convenience because you like it more.
Also involve the kids in it, it's so nice to bond and they tend to eat what they helped making a lot more.

Best of luck, such a horrible situation to be in!

xzanti

My heart broke reading the OP I hope you get on your feet soon. Lots of great advice on the thread.

A Mother's love is a beautiful thing. Hats off to you going hungry so your babies can eat but you don't want to burn out either.

Whispered

OP we're just out of a tough time financially where at one stage I was feeding two adults and a toddler on €30-40 a week. The main things I found helped, besides buying the special offers was to open up the Aldi, Tesco and lidl websites sit and plan meals and snacks for the week. I'd list breakfast, lunch, dinner and two toddler snacks for each day and stick to it. Not a whole lot of joy in cooking like that but needs must.
Make sure you plan for leftover use. For example if we have bolognese for dinner, the toddler will have bolognese and cheese wrap for lunch the next day.
If we have mash for dinner I'll make spiced potato cakes the next day. So it's not a whole lot of extra cooking to do, just a bit more planning.
Also cook everything from scratch, learn some simple cheap recipes, cut down on meat consumption and replace with lentils, beans etc and waste absolutely nothing. Make use of your freezer.
I don't know how old your kids are but my toddler is a rip for wasting food, so I portion his out and only give him a tiny bit then top up his plate as he eats. That way if he's not hungry or suddenly thinks something is "asgusting" I can put the rest away for a later stage.

Thankfully we're doing better now and have more in our food budget but the good habits of meal planning and wasting less are ones I stick with. Easier to eat healthy that way too.

Blossomflower

Wow I am amazed at how much advice and time you have all given to me. Iv read through everyone's post and I actually have been able to plan up some breakfast /dinner ideas also to freeze things so absolutely nothing is wasted. Pasta is a great idea and vegetables and their not that expensive so it can make up some filling meals. I'm feeling alot more positive and I'm sorry to any of you who have been in my position and without sounding terrible it's nice to know that others have been in my shoes and knows how hard it is... It's just a financial struggle but we'll all get there. Iv stocked up on pasta and rice and the spice jars in aldi are so cheap and will last ages. Thank you all so much for your advice.