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.

Blossomflower

There was one comment about making home made soup from butter and vegetables if I made a large pot of this can it be frozen so I can use in portions?

Stheno

Blossomflower wrote: »

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.

Good for you, very best wishes that things get easier

Airyfairy12

Blossomflower wrote: »

There was one comment about making home made soup from butter and vegetables if I made a large pot of this can it be frozen so I can use in portions?

Ive often frozen homemade soup in small plastic lunch boxes - they last ages, lasagna is another cheap option that can be frozen, ive been unable to afford the tomato sauce at times so made my own with leftover tomatoes, oil, garlic, onion and some herbs and it was really nice.

koumi

Yes you can freeze soup, which is handy for a night like the one where you're looking for something to eat and you realise you have a container of soup right there. You can find some tips online as to how to.
I know you can get 2-3 days (I would max at two just for the sake of freshness) out of a large pot but absolutely feel free to freeze some containers if you have them.
Glad to hear you're feeling better and hope things start picking up for you.

Whispered

Glad to hear op. A thread in the cooking forum for budget food planing might help if you start one. People could put up weekly meals based on current offers. Actually would be great to see what they have to say over there!

You'll find yourself getting better and better at planning and I sound like a sad old woman but the satisfaction of planning your shopping and wasting nothing is huge.

Tenigate

Blossomflower wrote: »

There was one comment about making home made soup from butter and vegetables if I made a large pot of this can it be frozen so I can use in portions?

Almost everything can be frozen. Especially soup, stew, Bolognese sauce, chili con carne.

In tesco i regularly see large chickens reduced to €2.50. these can be frozen and defrosted for sunday.
Nice sunday dinner. You'll probably get sandwiches and a pasta bake out of the leftovers.

If you have leftover cooked meat, slice it and cover it with gravy or sauces and freeze it (stops the meat drying out when you reheat it).

Fill up on bread, rice, spuds and pasta. Buy veg that's on sale. You really don't need a lot of meat.

There's plenty of websites on thrifty meals. Ignore the overcomplicated recipes.

NeonCookies

Edit: Sorry double post - see post below

NeonCookies

Toots wrote:

My 'Poverty Chilli' recipe from the 'What I had for Dinner' thread

400g mince beef 2 medium white onions 2 cans kidney beans 7 sweet mini peppers (those little packs you get in Lidl) One chilli (I used a fresh jalepeno cos that's all I had in the house) 4 cloves garlic (or less/more to your own taste) 1 tsp chilli flakes 1 400g tin chopped tomatoes 1 tbsp tomato puree 300ml beef stock (oxo cube) 250g red split lentils 2 tbsp paprika 1 tbsp sugar Salt & pepper

Brown mince and add it to slow cooker, then dump in the chopped tomatoes and kidney beans. Slice up the peppers and roughly chop the onions, throw those in. Add the beef stock, chilli flakes, paprika, sugar, salt and pepper. Carefully slice and de-seed the chilli pepper, then either chop extremely finely (I put it in a mini blender along with my garlic cloves) I wear disposable gloves when cutting chillis cos I've nearly blinded myself by touching my face too many times. Add chilli and garlic (minced or crushed) and salt and pepper to taste. Give it a good stir and cook on high for about 3 hours. If it's looking very watery at the end add some gravy granules to thicken it up.

Serves 7-9 people (I'm using it as dinner for 3 days for me, hubby, and our 4 year old)

This is a recipe I saved from the Food forum's Slow Cookers thread last year (thank you to Toots!) and it's gotten me through some very lean weeks! I don't have a slow cooker so have just made it in a big pot - frying mince and onions first, then throwing everything else in and letting it simmer for about an hour.

It makes a TON of very filling chilli and reheats and freezes very well in individual portions - it even gets better when reheated! Serve over rice or a baked potato. I sometimes add cheese on top if I have any going!

I'm glad you're getting some helpful advice OP. I've spent many Saturday mornings meal planning based on offers etc.. you get inventive! Search google using terms like "cheap family meals" or "student meals" for inspiration. A bag of porridge (v cheap in Lidl) and milk will get you a good breakfast every morning. Hope things start to look up for you xx

sunbeam

I would recommend having a look at the Old Style MoneySaving board on the MoneySaving.expert.com forum. It's UK based but there are lots of great ideas for frugal cooking. You may find some of their other forums helpful too.

Cheshire Cat

I would recommend to have a look at Jack Monroe's website, too.

There are quite a few cheap recipes to be found there.

https://cookingonabootstrap.com/category/recipes-food/

Blossomflower

NeonCookies wrote: »

This is a recipe I saved from the Food forum's Slow Cookers thread last year (thank you to Toots!) and it's gotten me through some very lean weeks! I don't have a slow cooker so have just made it in a big pot - frying mince and onions first, then throwing everything else in and letting it simmer for about an hour.

It makes a TON of very filling chilli and reheats and freezes very well in individual portions - it even gets better when reheated! Serve over rice or a baked potato. I sometimes add cheese on top if I have any going!

I'm glad you're getting some helpful advice OP. I've spent many Saturday mornings meal planning based on offers etc.. you get inventive! Search google using terms like "cheap family meals" or "student meals" for inspiration. A bag of porridge (v cheap in Lidl) and milk will get you a good breakfast every morning. Hope things start to look up for you xx

Thanks so much your chili receipe sounds wonderful I'm definitely going to try this for sure thank you

Blossomflower

I'm am amazed at how many ideas iv gotten from everyone it's so much appreciated. I'm feeling like this is going to go wonderfully and the recipes on budget foods are great. I stocked up on pasta rice bread and frozen vegetables and am going to plan out meals so we all get something. Your all wonderful thank you

LynnGrace

Please do make sure that you are getting whatever help is available also from Social Welfare, SVDP etc.

vandriver

Blossomflower wrote: »

I'm am amazed at how many ideas iv gotten from everyone it's so much appreciated. I'm feeling like this is going to go wonderfully and the recipes on budget foods are great. I stocked up on pasta rice bread and frozen vegetables and am going to plan out meals so we all get something. Your all wonderful thank you

You really need to look at your budget for the month and work out why you have no money for food.Is is really not a normal state of affairs.And while all the suggestions on this thread are surely welcome,almost anything small is going to blow your budget and leave you back at square one.

Redser87

Not sure if anyone mentioned this already but Mabs published a great cookbook last year based on making nourishing meals on a budget. Maybe if you phone them or drop in to a centre they would have one to give you.

fineso.mom

just another idea op, porridge is really cheap in Aldi or lidl and it will fill you up on its own or add a spoon of jam /honey/a banana or stewed apple etc to make it tasty. I know what it's like to feed the kids and not yourself, it will get better. Please make sure you are getting any benefits you are eligible for. mind yourself.

shesty

I freeze anything I think might last.You can buy plastic boxes in Ikea/dealz/dunnes anywhere for fairly cheap.Or you can buy disposable foil containers but they would be a weekly expense.At home our freezer contains several boxes of chilli, lasagne, and bolognese, in one portion boxes, plus about five boxes of veg soup.I also have a box of homemade buns on the go at the moment (8 oz self raising flour, 4oz sugar, 4oz margarine, 2 eggs, all into a mixer together to mix them well then into an oven for 15 mins at 200 degrees-add raspberries, blueberries, chocolate chips, or lemon/orange rind, icing if you want to mix it up a bit!!).I work full time so the more back up I have in the freezer the better.
Don't bother with jars of pasta sauce etc-a packet of mince, two tins of chopped tomatoes, a carrot, celery (optional), mushrooms,some garlic, onion and a large pot will get you a much nicer bolognese.Let it cook for ages on a low heat, well over an hour.Add salt, pepper, basil,maybe some bits of rasher to taste.You can get two days of a dinner out of that, with a big bag of pasta, or make a lasagne with it too.Chili is similar, as someone else posted.
I freeze anything mince based, the odd chicken dish, (hit and miss) and any sauces that I can.I also have a recipe for crunchy chicken strips (using cornflakes, flour and eggs) that you can pre-make and freeze while the chicken is raw, then stick in an oven when you need them.
I hope things get better OP.Another good resource is Jamie Oliver's Ministry of Food book, for simple recipes for everyday meals,and a good comprehensive list of basics for your cupboard.
Best of luck to you.

Tzar Chasm

this is disturbing on many levels

People in this country are actually going hungry
Basic household budgeting and meal planning is not ingrained in us anymore

OP do you mind if I ask what age bracket you fall into?


Also, you might have a better chance now that you have some basic information from here before you approach SvDP, Its anecdotal but when I was younger we did some maintenance contracts for them, I was utterly disgusted by what I saw, the wasteful spending on stupid food items which was encouraged - Readymeals / Crisps / Chocolate and other stupid extravagances, we were fixing the hot water system in one place where the woman tried to put on the poor mouth to us that her Fat little kids were starving whilst they were sitting on the couch playing the latest console games (which were Very expensive at the time) and eating Magnum Ice creams amongst at least a weeks detrius of half eaten pizzas and takeaways.

You seem to be a bit smarter,as you appear to be receptive to some of the suggestions here,my advice - before you seek help Have a Plan - or at least the basis of a plan, that makes the whole thing easier for everyone involved.

If go to someone and just cry HELP, people will try to help, but many people have different ideas of what that is, however asking for Specific assistance will generate more effective solutions.

IE
I'm Starving Help
may result in someone buying you a sandwich

but

I have X quantity euros, am (1-10 proficciency) in kitchen, have ABC utensils & staples with 4 mouths to feed for Y quantity of days will generate much more tailored responses.

Oh and that Chilli thing I wouldnt use Browning to thicken it, when I make a chilli I boil some too much rice, then I have a batch from the pot right then and throw the balance of the rice into the pot, leave it for a few hours to soak and then thats what I store/freeze, bulks it right up


ETA

Cornflake chickenstrips are Fuppin delicious no matter what your budget

fineso.mom

fineso.mom wrote: »

just another idea op, porridge is really cheap in Aldi or lidl and it will fill you up on its own or add a spoon of jam /honey/a banana or stewed apple etc to make it tasty. I know what it's like to feed the kids and not yourself, it will get better. Please make sure you are getting any benefits you are eligible for. mind yourself.

Supervalu are having a free porridge day on Saturday, 1kg own brand. Don't know if it's a specific store but worth checking out

Mollyb60

Cheshire Cat wrote: »

I would recommend to have a look at Jack Monroe's website, too.

There are quite a few cheap recipes to be found there.

https://cookingonabootstrap.com/category/recipes-food/

shesty wrote: »

I
I hope things get better OP.Another good resource is Jamie Oliver's Ministry of Food book, for simple recipes for everyday meals,and a good comprehensive list of basics for your cupboard.
Best of luck to you.

I came in here specifically to recommend these 2 resources. Jack Monroe is a very inspiring person who has been exactly where you are OP so it might be comforting for you to read their blog and see how they managed to get by. Their blog also has a ton of simple recipes that can be cooked on a strict budget. If you can get your hands on their cookbook too it's really good for cheap recipes. But most of these can be found on the website.

Jamies Ministry of Food book is a godsend for anyone who isn't comfortable in the kitchen at all. I haven't seen you mention whether you're happy with cooking from scratch but this book has simple instructions for simple foods that you can use to get yourself used to cooking. It doesn't assume anything and will teach you all the basics like how to boil an egg or how to cook a whole chicken.

Best of luck OP.
And don't underestimate the power of a tsp of sugar in a tomato sauce recipe. Especially with picky kids.