'Survive' on £7 a week?

misskatibear · July 2012

Hey!

So I'm not going to go into a depressing/grim/sympathy story or anything, but I'm homeless technically and crashing at my brothers girlfriends house. They told me a few weeks ago they're going to put the rent up, which I'm going to struggle with as I'm also unemployed (hopefully not for long).

Do you think it's possible to survive on £7 a week on food/general groceries? Bearing in mind I usually spend about £35-40 every 2 weeks on food/grocery(shampoo & things too), and I'm usually almost running out of food by 1 and a half weeks.

I don't really know what else to do, but I am crapping myself a bit! I'm also a vegetarian so some veggie stuff can tend to be more expensive, bah!

Anyone else in or been in this situation?

sweetsarahj · July 2012

My best advice is to plan to eat pasta and rice. Beans are excellent sources of protein and fibre too, if you buy them dry and cook yourself they are cheaper. Also, if you aren't too embaressed about it, how about a food bank? It's there for people who have ended up in unfortunate circumstances, and I think you should use it if it's available! Good luck !

determinedbutlazy · July 2012

ALL the fruit and veg section of Aldi is your friend. I was very poor in my second year of uni and managed to spend less than £10 a week on food, they also do cheap staples like rice and pasta.
Also, go to the job centre and sign on for job seeker's allowance. If you can't feed yourself, you need help. If you're paying rent to someone, you can get help with that too. You can apply online and they will call or email you or text you with an appointment.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/prod_consum_dg/groups/dg_digitalassets/@dg/@en/documents/digitalasset/dg_200090.html

misskatibear · July 2012

Thanks sweetsarahj I had not actually heard of a food bank so I will look that up! I do stock up on tinned assorted beans but i'll look into dry ones like you suggested.

determinedbut, I am already on job seekers (it's horrible!), that's where I do get this money from already. I had a 2nd interview at waitrose last week and hearing to hear if I got the job, so I'm really really hoping. Fed up of Job seekers!

I also put bids into council houses and have done since August last year but no luck yet

I'm not sure I can get housing benefit though

Jacwhite22 · July 2012

ramen noodles....lots of ramen noodles.

EmmaM2211 · July 2012

You can definitely get housing benefit. I have a friend lodging a room from me since she cant afford to rent a flat (she's also on job seekers but is starting a job next month) and I think she gets about half her rent paid by the council. Go in and have a chat with someone. x

Edit - my lodger didnt think she could get housing benefit either until I practically bullied her into going to the council. The job centre are crap and you have to go direct to the council offices for housing benefits. Good luck!! xx

XXXMinnieXXX · July 2012

You should get more than just jsa if your paying rent. Go talk to someone at the job centre for advice£7 is virtually impossible. Aldi is great! But £7 cannot be right. Get dressed and straight down to the job centre for advice. Also have a little chat with your room mates. Explain the situation x

sunshine_gem · July 2012

Asda supersavers stuff is really really cheap. Not the best quality of stuff but if it's just for a short while (fingers crossed for you getting the job) it should be ok. I used to live off the stuff and as long as you're not too picky you can manage it. And no, if you're just contributing rent to someone then you won't get housing benefit. You might if you do get a council house though and you're on a low income, especially if you've been out of work for a while. Good luck!

shaynak112 · July 2012

Pasta, rice, and beans. Try getting some of these things in bulk. It's more expensive one week but then you won't have to buy it again for a while.
Good luck!!

snoozypoo · July 2012

Can you not claim housing benefit?Or go down to housing and declare yourself homeless?Even a hostel would be better then £1 a day for food.
You could buy pasta or rice and cereal and live on that if you have to - 2x big pasta £3, cereal £1, milk £1, tomato pasanta 72p for 3 small cartons and £2 for maybe bread and soft cheese (supermarket own brand).
You can also look at a benefit loan and you used to be able to get a deposit through a charity but can't rememeber the name.

Try contacting shelter for advice as although you could eat on £7 it would be barely

Good luck

darrensurrey · July 2012

It's very possible to eat vegetarian or healthy or unhealthy or any diet (except the Caviar and Champagne Diet, I suppose) and not spend a lot.

Tesco Value Rice: 40p per kilo dry weight. Most Tesco Value and Sainsbury's Basic stuff is really cheap and is fine to eat. Sure, you won't find it served at the Ritz but that's life. Value/Basics frozen veg is pretty cheap and lasts, too. Depends how much you eat, I guess. And their own version of instant noodles is about 20p a packet. That's 20p a meal and a scary load of calories. Throw in some veg for interest.

Good luck with the job search. Keep applying, stay positive and be willing to think outside the box.

jesshall281 · July 2012

Are there any family members you can stay with? Or anything you can sell to get some cash for a while?

Also I see you do graphic design, when i was low on money, I did freelance graphic design and got about 25 pounds a week. Get advertising your design services on Gumtree or something.

I wish you the best of luck and remember, nothing is forever!

lottycat · July 2012

you can do it. It won't be easy or much fun, but it is possible. Bulk buy lentils, they are massively cheap, filling and full of protein. Pasta, Rice, Cheap versions of supernoodles, tins of beans and like someone else suggested the fruit/veg section at Aldi is amazing. Don't buy any Quorn or anything like that. Also go to Markets and carboot sales and get chatting to the fruit and veg people. I have a good relationship with a few and they will give you fruit and veg that is about to go off if you wait til the end of the day. You need to use it quick, but sometimes that can encourage creativity in the kitchen. Good luck x

Lazytoad2001 · July 2012

Not easy but possible, as said by others rice and pasta are your friends boring as they are. Also the reduced items in the supermarket should help too, I usually pop down about 8pm and most of the veg is reduced if its near its date. This week I got bags of carrott and swede reduced to 10p each, I boiled it and mashed it and got about 6 portions out of 60p worth

Might be worth a mooch around poundland too especially for shampoo etc the have alberto balsam shampoo and conditioner in for £1 at the moment big bottle lasts ages.

Good luck, I hope things improve.

babyshambles11 · July 2012

Apply for Jobseekers Allowance and Housing Benefit until you find a job?

SurfinBird1981 · July 2012

Tesco value, Asda smart price and Netto/Aldi style cheap shops until you get a job, good luck and I hope your situation gets better soon!

Keep smiling

carysj · July 2012

I'm vegetarian and lived on approx £7 per week during my first year of university but am an example for how not to do it. At the time the supermarket price wars were going on so my main diet consisted of toast (20p for a Tesco Value loaf) and beans (9p per tin, remember those days?). I was my lowest ever weight but looked really unhealthy and developed crusty sores on either side of my mouth due to vitamin deficiencies. Please be more sensible than I was and make sure you get a good balance of vitamins/minerals. Good luck, and I hope your situation improves soon.

misskatibear · July 2012

Thank you all for your replies! Wow, wasn't expecting so many

Thanks really appreciate that!

I love the suggestion of noodles, and rice and pasta. Although I'm a bit worried about all those white carbs! But I may just have to put up with it!

I think I'm eligable for housing benefit, but there are other reasons why I can't go on it (not because of me, but who I'm currently staying with) - So that's a bit frustrating, I don't want to go into it because I don't wanna get anyone into trouble! But it does make it harder for me because of that.

I'll definitely try looking in Aldi there is one really near to me, so thank you to those who suggested that!

Unfortunately xxxzaraxxx my roommates are my brother and his girlfriend and they know exactly what my situation is

@justgemmy @snoozypoo
I've been down to the council and declared myself homeless since august last year. I even tried getting into a hostel, I told them I LITERALLY had no where to go, they just told me they couldn't do anything about it - Honestly, I'm not even joking - I was in bits! I was put in a hotel for ONE night (for free) but that was it. And I'm signed up to my local council housing list, but have been trying to get a council house since august as well. There's not a lot of help for people who are 'alone' out there, but there's a lot of help for couples or families (understandbly)

@darrensurrey I already buy frozen value veg and its really useful! I do have a limit on how much frozen I can buy though I only have one small top draw to myself in the freezer, grr.

@jesshall281 I'm already staying with family

I was staying at my boyfriends parents for about 7 months but we were sharing a single bed and I didn't move from his room (im shy) so didn't cook, thats how i put all this weight on! And I ended up moving where I am now with my brother and his girlfriend. My dad fled to thailand and my mum runs a guest house so those two are a no go, hah!

@lottycat I'll try not buy quorn for a while -_- its so tempting but I think yeah its just way too expensive!

@lazytoad2001 Going at 8pm for veg sounds excellent. I do usually look in reduced section but always tends to be middle of the day. Thanks!

@babyshambles1 I'm already on jobseekers, and housing benefit is a no go really

@carysj Haha okay i'll try not! I know how much sugar is in those beans! >< And yeah I can get easily ill too if not getting good nutrients. So okay :P Thanks!

caraiselite · July 2012

find a food charity in a church.
sometimes they can even help you find housing. churches are usually pretty sympathetic!

caraiselite · July 2012

getting a job in restaurant would help a ton, even if its fast food (no fries, no bread tho!)

you'd make money and have food to bring home.. or at least eat while working =] or even waitressing.

misskatibear · July 2012

getting a job in restaurant would help a ton, even if its fast food (no fries, no bread tho!)

you'd make money and have food to bring home.. or at least eat while working =] or even waitressing.

Hmmm never thought about a church, not sure if that would happen here, i've never heard of that!

And yeah! The job I applied for was a cafe assistant and I'm hoping to hear from them this week *fingers crossed*
So that would be ace, may end up just eating all that food ¬_¬

natpalit · July 2012

Dumpster diving! This is actually a serious suggestion :
http://www.ranprieur.com/misc/dumpster.html
http://matadornetwork.com/bnt/dumpster-diving-the-easiest-way-to-find-free-food/

Also, I go to my local sainsburys at the end of the day, they used to have whole loaves of taste the difference bread reduced to 10p. You can get a lot of fresh fruit and veg much cheaper than it usually is too. And it usually tends to be the high quality taste the difference stuff that gets reduced, as no one buys it at the full price!

Good luck, hope everything works out okay.

cersela · July 2012

Dried beans and grains, textured vegetable protein, seasonal greens and fruit from a farmer's market. I spend $20-$30/£13-£19 a week on groceries for two.

Coco_UK · July 2012

You should get more than just jsa if your paying rent. Go talk to someone at the job centre for advice£7 is virtually impossible. Aldi is great! But £7 cannot be right. Get dressed and straight down to the job centre for advice. Also have a little chat with your room mates. Explain the situation x

This !!

You will NOT be able to feed yourself and buy toiletries... like toilet paper?

janehen12 · July 2012

do you have freezer accesss? tesco bread goes down to about 40p when its about to go off, but you can freeze half. I know how horrible it is, i've had (almost) nothing but pasta for a week because we were a bit unlucky with money. thankfully ours is just temporary because of how our paydays worked out, and its SO hard. iceland do frozen veg for £1 as well.

I swear by tesco value, the pasta sauce is really cheap, but nicer than brand stuff, pasta is about 40p

Add me or message me if you want any more help/support x

misskatibear · July 2012

Dumpster diving! This is actually a serious suggestion :
http://www.ranprieur.com/misc/dumpster.html
http://matadornetwork.com/bnt/dumpster-diving-the-easiest-way-to-find-free-food/

Also, I go to my local sainsburys at the end of the day, they used to have whole loaves of taste the difference bread reduced to 10p. You can get a lot of fresh fruit and veg much cheaper than it usually is too. And it usually tends to be the high quality taste the difference stuff that gets reduced, as no one buys it at the full price!

Good luck, hope everything works out okay.

Luckily for me a sainsburys is just opening up by me

But I think I'll give a miss on the dumpster diving, and I blame @caraiselite !! Since she educated me about 'blowflygirl' I don't think I could ever go near a dumpster again!

We share toilet paper, I buy one lot then they buy one lot. I just bought Tesco value toilet paper which cost me like 70p lol...so I do try buy as cheap as possible! But I am on job seekers allowance and can't get housing benefit because of the other person I'm living with (bros girlfriend)

MrsPixelbark · July 2012

What you need to do for the next week is find out what the closing hours are at all your local co-ops, tescos, asdas etc. Then you need to get there about two hours or so in advance, and find out when final reductions are. If you can get there at the right time- you will find reduced bread, fridge bits and more for all under 20p a pop. However, you may need to hang around for a while: ideally the idea is to check the shelves around 5pmish to see what the first set of reductions are, and then gauge whether you're going back from there.

When I was extremely poor, we did this every night. We basically went from shop to shop for an hour and built up our freezer: most nights we were happily eating for under 50p for the pair of us, and to be honest we weren't eating THAT badly as we managed to pick up loads of reduced meat and veg. Lots of bread though- expect to see shelves of the stuff reduced every night.

Be warned though, expect quite a few other people there for the same reasons, a fight broke out at our local tesco last week over a packet of 15p nectarines!

Ejwelton · July 2012

Is it that friends you are staying with don'twant to declare the additional income from your rent, and that's why maybe you feel you can't claim benefits? If so it's a little unfair of them to put your rent up!

As you're not working for now could you offer to do cleaning etc for them in return for some of your board?

harrietlg · July 2012

iceland literally saved my life this year there was so much that was only a £1 quorn is £2 so yu could make a spag bol and eat for a few days? but yeh rinse the reduced bits at the end of the day, so much cheap stuff!

dhakiyya · July 2012

Back in 1996-2999 I was surviving on five pounds a week for food in London, not all the time but for some of the time during those years. I nearly got malnutrition because I didn't realise tht white rice didn't have the same amino acids as brown rice and couldn't afford animal protein. My meal plan went like this:

- strongest/hottest curry paste that I could buy (so I could use one teaspoon for as many meals as I could)
- tomato puree tubes (cheapest i could find)
- cheap vinegar
- fresh veg from the local greengrocer
- big bag of rice
- big bag of lentils
- cheapest orange juice that actually had vitamin C in it
- tins of tuna or mackerel when I could afford them
- extra money would be spent on bread, cheap meat, pasta and similar

then I'd eat a concoction of rice, lentils and vegetables flavoured with curry paste, tomato and vinegar. It would have worked better if I'd used brown rice instead of cheapo bulk buys of white rice. Brown rice was unfortunately significantly more expensive than white rice and not available in big bulk packs. I was deficient in protein (because of the white rice) and didn't get enough calories.

Anyway I wasn't eating like that permanently during those years, because I'd have phases of having more money where I could eat a wider range of foods although I frequently didn't manage to eat enough.

To answer the question - that was 15 years ago, the price of food is much higher now in the UK so I highly doubt you can survive off seven pounds a week, but if you follow the above kind of menu planning, i.e. buying very cheap staples, including vegan sources of protein (much cheaper than animal produce) and find ways to make them taste interesting without spending too much money, you can eat really cheap.

misskatibear · July 2012

@janehen12 Luckily I do have freezer access, but just one drawer and that drawer is very small. I'm quite happy eating pasta all the time, I actually adore pasta both white and brown, but I worry about all those carbs. I think I would live off freezer food if I had more space, my boyfriend works there and gets 10% off, so it's frustrating I can't fill my freezer with it haha.

I do usually buy tesco sauce as well, and completely agree, it's so yummy! The garlic and onion one is my fave. Thanks for your post

@Mrspixelbark Sounds like a good idea and since I have no job at the moment I DO have that time to waste hehe. Thanks

@Ejwelton Yeah, that's the case. Although not friends, family

And it's a bit unfair too I think considering they know my position, but there's not much I can do! And I do actually do the cleaning already! Haha, I love cleaning, and they are pretty damn messy, so I'm constantly cleaning up after them and doing dishes. I also baby sit now and then if she asks.

@harrietlg Wow Quorn stuff is really £1 in Iceland? My boyfriend works there and gets 10% off! Although I can't fill my freezer up on it but that's useful to know thank you!

@dhakiyya Thank you for your informative post! Some good suggestions in there. Really appreiciate it. And it frustrates me that brown rice/pasta is more expensive - they want us to be healthier but they make it harder for us! *shake fist*

Thanks again everyone!

'Survive' on £7 a week?

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