How did you “Eke out” back in the day when hard up?

I married a soldier and our first two postings were foreign postings so we had excellent overseas allowances and lived a very good life. Then we were posted to Northern Ireland, where the cost of living was much higher than mainland Britain, and our salary went down with a bump. There was often more month left than money until we learned to trim our sails. It was then that I started to fall back on the things I had gleaned from the way my mother managed when things were tight. Fish was a lot cheaper than it is now, and we had an excellent butcher in the local village who was always prepared to advise on how to get the best out of cheap cuts. And yes, we ate a lot of mince in various incarnations, and offal which the children hated (still do!) but they ate it. It helped that DH got a good meal in the mess during the day so he didn’t need quite so much on his plate! After we left there, the government brought in what were called X factor payments to compensate for the cost of living in Northern Ireland and it seems we had been the Guinea pigs for that. As he moved up the promotion ladder we had more money live on, but I never forgot the lessons I had learned in the lean times.

The Paupers Cookbook played its part and everything cooked from scratch. A friend showed me how to gut fish and deal with a rabbit! I didn’t do that on my own I must admit. A huge bag of onions was bought for £1.lasted all winter hung up. This is all around 1970/72

BlueBelle..... What an amazing story. You should be very proud of yourself and your children!

I had three small kids and an unsupportive husband who liked to party ( in the 60 s) So mince (lamb was cheapest if I remember ) was our mainstay and chicken giblets lots of meat on them if you try I remember getting it all off the neck after it had cooked Offal kidneys and end bits of bacon ( they use to sell the cut offs ) Broken biscuits from Woolies packet of sweets only on a Saturday
All their clothes and toys that weren’t bought by relatives came from jumble sales and thrift shops I loved a Saturday jumble sale I was often praised at how well turned out my children were
We walked or biked everywhere (oldish bikes which were given to us) but they didn’t miss out on anything ..at one point after leaving the husband, me and the three kids slept in the same double bed Two up two down
They have all grown up to be outstanding humans with very good careers and my seven grandkids all have good careers too except the last one who is just coming to the end of school but she will too, I know, bright as a button

I eked out a lot back in the day I made stovies with my left over mince and it was delicious, I’m afraid I had to use newspaper for toilet paper but then hey ho you did what you had to do. As they say I didn’t have a pot to pee in 😱😱 70+ years ago. Todays a little better I’ve a good final salary pension and a state pension amongst other sources of income which I use to buy food for those less fortunate.

Rose Elliot, meals for four for 50p. That booklet saved us. We mostly ate vegetarian too via Cranks recipes

Middle 1960s with a home , husband and small child, I was given a small booklet. ‘100 meals for a shilling’. It was quite innovative and I wish I had it now.

We had little money but did have enough to buy food. I did cheap nourishing meals as my mother was a good cook with not much money either, so I had learnt from her.