* All currency mentioned in this post is in Australian dollars and prices are current for March 2016.

I’m sure we’ve all been in this predicament at least once in our lives. I have on more than one occasion. In my ‘care free’ younger, single days, when I was living it up, there’d be enough money for rent, electricity, phone, partying and then, oh, we forgot about buying food. I shared accommodation with my youngest sister for a few years and we were quite the ‘party animals’. Week days were for working. Weekends were for partying. We’d get around to Monday night and wonder what we were going to eat for dinner. We got by with a bulk packet of rice, bulk packet of frozen vegetables, tins of tuna and soy sauce. I think we called it something like ‘Tuna Surprise’ but we didn’t fade away and survived quite well. (We did eat better than that on most occasions but if it was a big weekend of partying, money was tight for food. Mum’s pantry was always well stocked and food was cheap at her house.) But what would you buy with if you only had $20 left to feed your family with?

Since having children and going through a separation, no income, waiting until I became eligible for financial assistance from the Government and still having to pay a mortgage and other bills, I found myself with only $20 some weeks to feed myself and my two children. Running my kitchen like a restaurant really helped on these occasions because I always had the basics like flour, sugar, sauces, condiments, pasta, tinned tomatoes and other very general basics. When I got down to my last $20, I always thought long and hard about what was going to see us through until that next bit of income came in. I never found myself this ‘hard up’ before in my life but I looked at it as a challenge rather than being ‘hard done by’. I would never let my children go without, always putting them before me. I learnt to survive on the bare essentials in my younger years but I still had to provide for the children the best way I could.

I usually broke it down into what would be the essentials for the week. The basis for working out what an essential has always been Food, Clothing and Shelter. It’s not like they were going to go without clothing in the near future. I have been a thrifty shopper all my life, always preferring to buy second hand, even for myself and we’ve been pretty fortunate to receive a lot of hand-me-downs from neighbours for the children’s clothes. I’ve always made the mortgage payment a high priority and have never been late with a payment, all my life. Even before I bought a house, rent was always paid on time. The highest priority in spending my last $20 has always been on food.

Even if I had no money left for petrol, I walked. At times, when we only had 1 vehicle when the children were quite young, I walked everywhere, pushing them both in a pram. It was good for them and me and we got by.

I don’t think I’ve ever gone any longer than a week without fresh food in the house so my last $20 was usually spent on fresh food. I’d usually break it down like this (remembering, this is in Australian dollars and at current supermarket prices).

1 dozen Eggs – $5.00

Even though I’m not a great lover of eggs, eggs used in a dish like a quiche or vegetable slice go a long way. Two eggs beaten and mixed through rice and a few vegetables, makes a substantial dish of fried rice. They are also great to make a batch of pancakes, muffins or other baked goods but there are plenty of alternatives to using eggs in baking, as long as you’ve got those ingredients in your pantry. That’s why it always pays to have a well stocked pantry with things like custard powder, bicarbonate of soda, powdered milk etc for when times are tough.

Loaf of bread – 85 cents

Unless you’re a baker of bread, you can’t really go without bread with young children. I’ve been known to give them crackers for their school lunches but sliced bread is a great standby for main meals. Toasted sandwiches, burgers made with bread, Savoury bread and butter pudding, scrambled eggs on toast or just plain toast with spread can get you out of a sticky situation. Bread slices used as pastry cases for mini pies or quiches is a great alternative to pastry. A day or so of just having a full belly and not getting the 5 food groups won’t hurt your child. 

Fruit – $5.00

Fresh fruit is pretty damn expensive, no matter where you are in the world. You can get by with just a kilo of apples if you must but it pays to search out marked down fruit and vegetables when times are tough. If the apples aren’t good for eating fresh, you can stew them and sweeten with a little sugar and cinnamon and pack in a little container for your child’s lunch box. Make a simple crumble out of sugar, butter, oats and/or flour and you’ve got a quick Apple Crumble. Thinly slicing apples and baking in a low oven you’ve got Apple Chips. Slightly cooked apples that might be going bad are great for Apple & Cinnamon Muffins. Always keep some cinnamon in your pantry. It has a 101 uses. If it’s not apples, it could be pears or whatever other fruit is affordable. Even buying a can of home brand fruit will get you by.

Meat/Cheese – $8.00

I think I’d rather go meatless for a week than try to source meat to feed the family for the week. You might be lucky to score some mark downs at the supermarket but I always prefer to buy a kilo of cheese for just under $8 for a kilo. Or buy a smaller pack and spend the rest of the money on vegetables or more fruit. It’s just a tasty type of cheese but it will help stretch your meals further and make sandwiches, cut up into cubes for lunch boxes and snacks or melt over a tasty pasta bake. If you’re thinking of meat, 2 kilos of beef sausages are available from Australian supermarkets for around the $8 mark or so is a regular beef mince. You can do so much with mince. You can make meatballs and stretch them further with the ends of the loaf of bread made into breadcrumbs. You might be lucky to have tinned fish or meat in your freezer still so forego buying more meat with your last $20 dollars and buy more fruit or vegetables.

This leaves you with roughly $1. Packets of home brand pasta are less than a dollar so are canned tomatoes. Either or. When you are financial again, please stock your pantry with the basics. You’ll find my pantry, freezer and fridge lists here. As long as you keep the basics topped up at every shop, keep to your budget, you’ll always be able to feed yourself and your family.

I must also say, that I had to let my pride go and rely on a couple local charities on a few occasions. I’m so blessed to have a few in my area that provide food parcels for $40 and some even provide a few grocery items for free. Things like toilet paper, washing powder and other essentials. Source them out in your area. I have never taken advantage of these offerings except when absolutely essential. I always give generously to these same charities when it comes to donating goods and cash. I think ‘karma’ helped me out in some really tough times and it was a great lesson to learn. My children were none the wiser of these tough times. They were always well fed, had clothes on their back and a roof over their head. Really, at the end of the day, isn’t that all we really need?