Living on the Bread Line

How to manage on a small amount of money can be quite a challenge. The easiest way to approach this is to divide the weekly allowance for one (say £21) by seven (£3 for each day of the week), and that by three (for the three meals of the day) then at least we have a guide to how much can be spent per head, on each meal. With breakfast, this need cost no more than 25p. Porridge, made with milk and water costs very little and is one of the best breakfasts you can have, substantial enough to last you through to lunch. Or instead eat toast, choosing from a variety of toppings - baked beans, scrambled or poached egg, tomatoes, or mushrooms. Or boiled eggs on their own with 'soldiers'. Brown bread is far more filling than white so you don't need to eat so much. With breakfast costing so little, there will be 75p left over to add to the main meal of the day.
An inexpensive lunch will be soup, again eaten with bread. So again, more money left over to add to supper (do allow for any tea and coffee that will be drunk during the day). This probably means there will be now around £2 to spend on the main meal. Easy enough once you know how.
Here are three soup recipes I've discovered that are interesting to say the least. They also work.
Bread Soup - a traditional French soup. To serve four.
i/2 lb (250g) bread, broken into pieces
1 1/2 pints water (or milk, or stock)
2 oz (50g) butter
1 egg, pinch salt
Put the bread and water in a saucepan and leave to soak for 30 minutes. Add a pinch of salt and half the butter and simmer for 20 minutes, breaking the bread up with a spoon and, when quite smooth, break the egg into a soup tureen, drop in the last of the butter, pour in half the broth and stir well, then finally stir in the last of the broth. Serve hot.

Onion Soup - said to dispel the affects of intoxication (also called drunkard's soup)
Saute one onion in a little butter, stir in 1 tsp flour and cook until the onions are dark golden.
Add 15fl oz water and cover pan. Simmer for 30 minutes. Put a thick slice of bread into a soup tureen and pour the soup over the bread, season with a sprinkle of salt. Serve hot.

Boiled Water - said to have extraordinary virtues. A translated proverbs says that "boiled water" saves your life.
In a pan put one pint of water, 6-8 garlic cloves, a pinch of salt. Bring to the boil. After 10 minutes add 1 bay leaf, 1 sprig of sage, and 2 tblsp of olive oil. Cook for a further five minutes then remove pan from heat cover and stand for 10 minutes then strain. Put a couple of slices of bread in a heated soup tureen, cover with grated Parmesan cheese and pour over the 'boiled water'.
Tip: Do buy the best bread you can afford. Peferably brown or granary. Even better make your own. The French often use stale bread as it soaks up more liquid, and they believe that bread should be up to five days old to count as stale. Have you noticed the cheap flabby white wrapped bread hardly ever goes dry? It stays damp so quickly goes mouldy and no use to anyone.