I'm a little stressed out. Okay a lot stressed out. Kind of worried about how we're going to make it through the next week. I have $8 in my wallet and $28 left in the bank. This has to last until next Friday. (The 22nd.) At least $20 will have to go into my hubby's gas tank so he can get to and from work next week.
I picked up a few extra hours at work. I worked last night, working tonight, possibly Saturday night, and I have a big shift Sunday night. I work 2 miles from home, so I have enough gas in my van to get there and back. Luckily there's no preschool next week as well, so we can stay home, or walk to the park for entertainment.
I have enough meat to last us for a while, but I'm running out of veggies. I don't even have canned or frozen ones. I do have lettuce, so salads will have to do. I think we will live if we have to eat salad as our veggie for the week. If I make it to the food bank tomorrow I'll get some onions and celery and carrots there, so I can make something with those too. (I don't usually go to the food bank, but I think this is a time where I could use some help.)
I'm just so stressed and I don't like being spread quite this thin. I'm hoping that I can really get my crap together soon so this doesn't happen again.
Has anyone else been in a similar situation? What did you do?
Hugs to you. I know a few years ago when we were clawing our way out of debt, there were a few weeks were we only had a couple of dollars to last until the following week. Do you have a save a lot around you??? they have canned veggies pretty cheap. At least you have meats to make it thru..and don't forget beans are pretty cheap and can feed a few people. hang in there, sweetie...you will make it thru!!! tons of hugs to you and yours
Food bank was my first thought - that's what it's there for. And yes, we have been in your position. You have layed out a great plan for the next two weeks - a plan for success. My best suggestion - follow your plan - and also plan for a low energy week - breathe slowly and deeply - this is the perfect time for smelling the roses or any other flower around - clean air feels great too - and check in here often - one day at a time. Take care my friend.
Actually, I have this Little Tikes castle slide thing that I was hoping to sell for $20 at our Yard Sale a few weeks ago but it didn't get sold. I will snap some pictures of it and see if I can get $20 or even $15 for it.
Yep, we've had lots of weeks where our pockets were completely empty these past 3+ years. Beans are good, so are pancakes, french toast and peanut butter and jelly. You asked what we do? We pray.
Worse comes to worst, I don't think it's going to hurt anyone not to have vegetables for a few days. Just make sure not to go all atkins on them so that you can avoid any short term issues. (Beans and lentils will have a lot of fiber and carbohydrates. I'd try to space them out over your meals if you have meat to last you till then.)
If there's any possibility that your family won't eat an entire serving of vegetables, I'd reduce the portion you give them just slightly to avoid waste. Don't waste any fat or bones from your meat. If you roast a chicken, boil it and save the water and use that to cook your beans in. If you're using ground beef, I'd do the boiling thing rather than fry it, and then use that to cook things in. (Like beans or rice.) If you're making something like a casserole that calls for ground beef, you can probably reduce it by a half or even more, or sometimes leave it out completely.
Here's a recipe for snobby joes, which call for lentils. You can probably adjust it according to what you have on hand. Snobby Joes Happy Foody
I'd also water down what's left of your milk, depending on what kind you have. If you have whole milk you can probably water it down quite a bit and not notice. Skim milk probably won't tolerate any water.
I'd start looking right away for things that you can make with the ingredients you have left. Someone posted this in another thread: Supercook: recipe search by ingredients you have at home (Thanks to whoever did.) It looks for recipes based on the ingredients you have.
I really think you'll be fine with a trip to the food bank and the money you have left over. Good luck.
Also, I never soak my beans. I just leave them on high all day rather than low and they're always done by dinner. (You should probably stick to what works though, so I'd only attempt this if you really forget to soak the beans.) I'm pretty sure that lentils do not need to be soaked.
I'm just so stressed and I don't like being spread quite this thin. I'm hoping that I can really get my crap together soon so this doesn't happen again.
Has anyone else been in a similar situation? What did you do?
Let it go. You are where you are. Stressing over it won't gain you anything. You have $8 or $10 for groceries, and that's not a bad thing. Between that and the food bank you ought to be ok for a week.
Fortunately the spring season is here and veggies are getting cheap.
You have eight dollars , that's should get you by. Since your work is two miles , could you walk it to save the gas?
Do you have flour and sugar? If you run out of eggs and milk I could probably help you figure out how to make whatever it is that you want to without using either one.
The only reason I would not want to walk is because I work until late at night. I could possibly ride my bike. Not sure I am in shape enough yet to do the hills, though. Hehe!
I have flour, but only a tad bit of sugar left. I do have some all-natural sugar substitutes though. I have tons of eggs, and a bit of milk, but I do have a free coupon for Silk almond, coconut or soy milk. We really don't use much milk at all though. I have no cereal, but I have oatmeal, eggs, bread, etc.
Oatmeal is great. We've eaten it for every meal. Not all in one day or anything, but my kids like it so much that we've occasionally had it for dinner. My kids have taken to school as lunch. There's no reason that any breakfast food can't be dinner.
Depending on how old your bread is, you might want to put some of it in the freezer. That way it won't go bad before you go shopping again, and you can always pull it back out of the freezer when you need it. You might consider doing that to anything else that needs to be rationed but at the same time might not make it till pay day.
Whisk it up good. Pour some oil in an omelet pan / small skillet. turn on flame to heat the oil up. Add egg mixture. Cook on one side for a minute or two until light golden brown and set. Flip over and cook other side. Remove from pan and pat with paper towels (careful, may be hot from oil). Spread with a little sour cream or jam (I prefer jam, but my sisters loved sour cream), roll it up jelly roll style and eat. Yum!
Omelets for dinner with a little meat (what kind of meat do you have?). Do you have any cheese?
Do you have powdered or brown sugar or honey that you might be able to sub for sugar if needed?
You have bread and eggs, which means you could do french toast for a dinner one night.
Possibly bread pudding as a dessert?
You said beans and meat - perhaps chili?
Tell us more details of what you have... We'll help you have ideas...
With all the good advice from above-you will be ok. My advice-food bank, church pantries. Google "cheap meals" & see what comes up. Excellent recipes here on FV. Sounds like you have a good stockpile to work with...
One of our favorites breakfasts is cooked rice with a little bit of milk, brown sugar and cinnamon. We also like eggs and rice, which is just a soft fried egg smooshed and mixed in with rice. Salt and pepper to taste. My #2 could eat this for every meal of the day. :laugh:
I posted a question about having no veggies and only $5 for two weeks, and got lots of great advice.
I can't say that I look forward to these challenges, but I always end up learning something through forced resourcefulness, and love that something unexpected usually ends up happening (like random $1 off $1 coupons for produce!)
1 lb frozen broccoli, 1.00
1 lb fresh carrots, 1.19
Fresh Spinach for salads, 1.99 (10 oz)
Temple Oranges, 5 for .10/ea= .50
Total 4.68
less bottle return (forgot I had these in my trunk!) -1.10
VISA Gift Card Balance (keep forgetting to use this!) -3.26
Total out of pocket - .32
Get my receipt and a coupon prints for $1 off next produce order of $1 or more!!
So I go back and buy an onion on sale for .99/ lb. Dig through onions to find one slightly over 1 lb. So add:
1 sweet onion - 1.24 lb less $1 coupon = .23 out of pocket. (.55 total for everything!)
Garlic bread
1 can spaghetti sauce
1 box spaghetti
1 container quick oats
2 packages of beef ramen
1 can fruit cocktail
1 can tuna fish
1 can chili
1 can peas & carrots
1 can corn
1 box instant mashed potatoes
Celery
1lb Carrots
6 potatoes
2 onions
4 oranges
and a whopping 15 roma tomatoes!
A friend also gave me some more bread, so we are not going to run out of bread any time soon. I've got some ground beef that is thawed out, so I think I'll make spaghetti with meat sauce for dinner.
I am glad that you went to the food bank so that you and your family could eat more balanced meals until your next payday. This is exactly what josephhgoins was referring to. I have had to on a couple of occasions use a food bank when we were faced with huge car repair bills. There is no shame in it. The shame is when you are too proud and let your family suffer by not giving them enough substance for their growth and development. Enjoy the spaghetti dinner tonight.
I'm glad you got the food figured out. We've had weeks that were pretty thin before. I also recommend Craigslist. We've sold an things very quickly when needing $$ for an unexpected emergency. Just make sure they only pay cash and have them come over when your husband is home to be safe. On our lean weeks I always getting in cleaning mode. I clean closets and take things to Once Upon a child to sell, take loads to Goodwill, etc. We spend time doing simple things like playing games, playing outside, watching movies on tv. It's a good time to clean out the cabinets and frige and eat up anything bizarre that you've been saving. Anyways, good luck. Those weeks are stressful, but in hindsight we've spent some of our best family times during those weeks too!
It looks like you have it all resolved so my advice is coming a bit late. I'll still chime in though.
I haven't just had weeks like that - I've had MONTHS. Last year when I was unemployed for nearly a year, we barely had enough to scrape by. With God's grace, we made it, though we lost some "things" like our house and car. We never went without the necessities of food, shelter, utilities and transportation, though.
What I recall most about that time is how surprised I was at how well we ate when spending only $10-20 per week at the grocery store. We completely depleted our food storage - but that is why it was there. We were able to supplement with just a few items per week. I made lots from scratch. It was rare that we had an issue of truly "doing without." Nobody ever went to bed hungry, no one went to school without eating breakfast first or with an empty lunchpail.
The gift of this time was learning how little we could get by with and still not feel deprived. It's all in your perspective - don't think about what you *don't* have - think about what you *do* have.
What happened recently? - A change of employment status, an unanticipated bill or repair?
The state aid office has cash assistance help available.
You may need to sign up for food stamps in order to get by.
Other sources of help: Church food pantries, Salvation Army Emergency Services.
Quick cash: DO NOT USE PAYDAY LOANS!
Do you have anything you can pawn or sell? The motorcycle, kid ATV, jet ski, boat, expensive electronics.
If you live in a state or city that has a 5 cent refund on bottles/cans, take long can scavening walks.
You can sell blood plasma if you need to.
Offer to mow lawns in your neighborhood or clean houses. Retired folks usually need a little more help.
I hope these suggestions help. If you didn't have any siginficant expenses or changes in employment recently, you need to change your spending, housing or employment.
I have gone through years where ends did not meet.
I do remember living off of $60 for food for a month for about two years. It was not fun but since it was just me it worked out. Was really greatful to have a sav-a-lot to go to.
Now I stick to a budget. Once in a while things might seem tight, only because I can't buy something until the next month. But I always know that the bills are paid.
Try to think of this as a breat experience to remember. Try to build up that stockpile. If that means also going to the food pantry for a while then do that. Am always amazed how I can still buy items for a stockpile when money is tight. Am not a big fan of canned produce but I do have it and do eat it. Always comes in handy when an unexpected expense comes along. So keep that in mind when you see a good sale.
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