SmlSave MFW diary - where to start?

poppyoscar_3

Sounds like you're doing really well SmlSave!!

I've had other things on my mind so I don't feel like i'm doing quite so well this month!!!

But I'm still on target for my £2000 this year!

PO xx

SmlSave

Morning Poppy, you seem to being well to me too!

I overspent on the food shopping :mad: It was my own fault. I shouldn't have bought - £20 alchol, £7 duck... there were other things but I can't remember them at the mo.

So... I'm on the storecupboard challegne from now on! I'm going to go through the freezer (full) and the cupboards (half full) and see how many meals i can make out of the stuff in there. On working it out from what I can remember there are definatly 20 meals that I can think of off the top of my head.

Sighs...bashes head against desk..."I must do better"...

So weekend things to do are: -

1. Go through kitchen and list meals that can make.
2. Hide some alchol for 'emergancys'
3. Get some free manure
4. Build 2/3 small walls
5. Measure garden for paving (paid for by bro as b-day pressie)I do love him sometimes!
6. Tidy the house

And will have a NSD today and tomorrow

SmlSave

I have been reading "Feed a Family of Four on £20 for a Month"

I am mortified at my spending

MissusF_3

heya smlsave,

we all need an indulgence now and again...don't worry about the overspend (unless it was £1,000's!), a guess a little treat now and again is allowed!

Happy freezer munching - we're doing that too!!! I've got stuff in mine i have forgotten about!!!

Catch you later x

EssexHebridean

I sympathise over the food spending - this was one of my main target areas to crack down on and having done so it's really made a difference. Our freezer also seems to be constantly full - I really have to work on getting it a bit less so as it desperately needs a defrost!

setmefree2

I've stopped using my freezer. When I came back from holiday I never turned it on. I havn't missed it so far and I've saved alot in electricity. If I can get through xmas without using it, I might give to freecycle....;)

Good Luck:D

StuartGMC

Smlsave
If it makes you feel better, our weekly spend on food and alcohol for three (inc lunches for dd and OH, although the alcohol is mainly mine!) is averaging £74.30, with a further £10.85 on toiletries and cleaning items. This has been running from June in my spreadsheet and we also keep a record of a few "alternatives" we have tried, just 4 items saves us £93.72 per year. Continuing to monitor of course.

I've glanced at some of the "ultra low" feeding budgets; our preference is to home cook but of high quality. We enjoy steak from the local butcher, duck, venison plus good fish, excellent curries etc for our "non-busy" evenings and weekends. If you and the family enjoy the meals together both as food and for interaction and don't see them as simply "sustenance" then think about the "value" this adds to them.

Horses for courses, but don't get too beat up about spend. If you have already reviewed your spend through monitoring, and then make some changes which you can observe through continued monitoring, then that should be your focus IMO.

SmlSave

Thanks you guys! you really cheered me up. you angels :A

SMF2, Going freezerless sounds really scary to me, I bulk cook at lot and it all goes in there.

I went through the whole kitchen and worked out meal plans with what's there. I should have the basics for 5 weeks worth of meals easily and am going to give it a go.

MissusF, I found a misc bag of brown stuff in the freezer - scary :eek: - defrosted it turned out to be curry! Very nice with homemade bhaji's. Have sworn to label all bags from now on. Any surprises in your freezer?

I'm glad I'm not the only one EssexH. Do you have any tips on how I could reduce my grocery bill that you've found helpful?

Thanks StuartGMC. I love my food and eating just to live seems a shame to me when there's so many nice things. Explains why my food bill is higher than most!:oI do love my butcher and the drink :beer:

I was feeling very down on Friday, OH dragged me to the cinema to try and cheer me up (The film was ok) and I hugged a couple of cans of cider:rolleyes:

Saturday started really well with me losing 2.5lb:D and then the sun came out in force :j I love the sun!

All the walls are now built in the garden and the paving is ordered too. No manure was left out at the farm but I didn't waste any petrol as Mum checked it out when she walked the dog. Thanks Mum!

I didn't tidy the house, so no ones allowed to visit till I do!

Oh and anyone thinking of setting up a new acount with Alliance & Leicester - DON'T - I've had nothing but hassel. I'd better get my £100!

EssexHebridean

Like Stuart, we also believe in eating well. Our meat all comes from the farmers market, we don;t have anything like his budget to work too, so we eat far less meat than we used to, but of a much better quality. I only ever buy free range eggs and chickens, and we also like to know the provenance of the meat we buy. I use Tesco for general week to week fruit and veg, milk and other dairy produce (our milk & dairy is all organic - we have certain moral objections to the way non organic dairy herds are kept). We make our own bread (our breadmaker paid for itself inside 6 months!) also rolls, pizza bases etc. I make cakes rather than buying......

I reckon I spend about £100 per month tops in Tesco, and we spend £30-40 per month at the farmers markets - this includes all our meat and eggs, and sometimes extras like cheese, fruit etc. I can't be as precise on the spend as Stuarts figures, but I can say confidently that we spend at the most £35 per week on food for the pair of us - this includes home made lunches.

StuartGMC

EssexHebridean wrote: »

Like Stuart, we also believe in eating well. Our meat all comes from the farmers market, we don;t have anything like his budget to work to

Gulp - I don't have the courage to let OH see that comment on the budget for three of us (:eek:). Daughter even at nearly 11 eats similar quantities to OH, so perhaps it would be nearer £50 for two but still much more than EH..

Seriously though EH, I agree it is far better to eat well and to do so in keeping with your own budget than to drop to mediocre throughout.

We make our own bread (our breadmaker paid for itself inside 6 months!) also rolls, pizza bases etc.

This regularly crops up on these boards... perhaps I should discuss further, but that would be another item in the kitchen. Although it seems more likely to give a return than the juicer I think. I'll chat to OH about this but don't worry it won't be her Christmas present

I make cakes rather than buying......

You can't beat homemade; daughter has been also baking cakes since she was 3 or so, and now at 10 1/2 can knock out some of the best cakes you'll get, and virtually knows the weights by heart for sponges! She also happily cooks raw meat, fish etc so she has her mother's skills in that respect and our love of good quality items too.