It is tough NOW. So how are we coping

mummysaver

Hmm, I seem to be going for most posts in a row! What I actually came here to say was that whilst in Asda last week I noticed that the sp rice had gone back up to 97p, now this might've happened a while ago as I have been using up my stockpile from when it dipped in price briefly! Anyway in Mr T's last night they had 5kg bags for £4.99, big flash on the pack saying special offer, they were next to 5kg bags for £9.99! Both were basmati, but I figured £1 per kg for basmati is excellent value.

I also picked up some reduced cranberry sauce, in date till Aug 2010, unbelievable that there was none on the shelves in the shop in the week before Christmas, delivery issues apparently! Anyway it was 24p, bargainous and worth keeping an eye out for any. I use it in open tarts, puff pastry, spread a bit of cranberry, top with turkey leftovers!

I also got some shortcrust pastry mix for 20p a pack, not something I would normally buy, but since you just add water it's a great storecupboard standby.

Our local Mr T's and the one I work in both have shelves full of reduced foods from Christmas, worth a look if you're passing. I grabbed a few High School Musical cracker things filled with choc for 24p, think they were £2 originally, will be fun treats in dd3's party bags - dated till May, and her birthday is April! Just have to hide them now so she doesn't discover them and all I'm left with is empty cardboard tubes!

Oh and 400g cheese (think it's Cathedral City) is on offer at £2 at the mo, my freezer just needs a tiny space so I can grate some and squeeze it in!

Popped into Asda to check out the £1 bargains that were much talked about! Not much that I could find, but onions and carrots were cheap! But their magazine has made me smile, all sorts of money saving tips! And they've started doing a cook one thing and stretch it into more meals bit - this time it's beef stew, stretched into goulash and then Moroccan beef. Nice to see some ideas for rubber beef, especially since I have some beef leftovers in the freezer, and the Moroccan recipe looks simple and tasty, just the sort of thing my kids like to eat. I can do rubber chicken and streeeeetchy mince, so it's nice to have a bit of inspiration with a different meat!

MRSTITTLEMOUSE

mummysaver wrote: »

Sylvan - I used to have a yoghurt maker with glass beakers when the kids were tiny, my MIL thought I was joking when I said that was what I wanted for my birthday when she asked, so she gave me a boots voucher, luckily they sold the said yoghurt maker! It was used constantly, oh how my ds used to love yoghurt, funny cos he hardly eats it now! Anyway what I was getting round to saying was that I make yoghurt most days now and just use a large flask, easy to clean and doesn't take up much room! I use a litre of UHT milk, warmed to blood temp in the mw, pour in, add a small pot of live yoghurt or 5tbsp of old hm yoghurt (does get sour if you do this too many times), then add between 4 and 8 teaspoons of milk powder depending on how thick I want the yoghurt, weekends we have it thick cos it's nice with honey, like Greek yoghurt then. I put on the lid, give it a shake and leave it for the day or overnight. Sometimes it can look a bit lumpy and liquidy when it's poured out, but a quick whisk sorts it out, then I bung it in a lock n lock box in the fridge. I make it at the same time as I put the bm on in the mornings usually.

You can strain it for a couple of hours to get it like fromage frais, or overnight to turn it into a soft spreadable cheese, we flavour it with garlic and herbs! I use a piece of muslin inside a sieve over a bowl in the fridge.

Mummysaver I'm going to try all of the above,sounds great.
Do you think it would work if I used that activia yogurt or an actimel drink as it's the only yogurt I seem to have in the fridge.
I like the cream cheese idea,endless uses.

Caterina

mummysaver wrote: »

I also picked up some reduced cranberry sauce, in date till Aug 2010, unbelievable that there was none on the shelves in the shop in the week before Christmas, delivery issues apparently! Anyway it was 24p, bargainous and worth keeping an eye out for any. I use it in open tarts, puff pastry, spread a bit of cranberry, top with turkey leftovers!

Hi Mummysaver,

feel free to stock up on cranberry sauce regardless of expiry date, it keeps FOREVER! I still have a couple of jars lurking in the cupboard from sometime in the late 90's :eek: when I picked up a crate because they were reduced to 10p per large jar. Because I make HM jam I don't always use the ready made stuff, that's why we still have some, but it is still good to eat!

I use it like I would use jam.

mummysaver

Mrs T - I guess so long as it has a live culture then it should work? I usually use yeo valley natural yog, mainly cos it's the one that I find reduced most often! I've never used a flavoured yog to start it off, but let us know how you get on. If it doesn't work though, please don't be put off, cos it really is so simple.

The cream cheese is lovely, dd1 thinks she's in heaven cos she loves Boursin but I only buy it when it's on special, now she has a seemingly endless supply of snack cheese!

Caterina - oh, now I'm going to have to grab some more I think! At this rate I'm gonna need an extension for a storeroom! Still, come the revolution you can all come and stay with me or D&DD and be guaranteed not to starve lol! I love cranberry with deep fried camembert, oooh, feeling peckish now! Might have to do some experimenting with cream cheese and see if I can get it to hold inside breadcrumbs, I could have some for lunch then! I make lots of jams too, never thought of using cranberry like normal jam, no idea why not though, cos I love it!

tiddly_widdly

Happy new year everyone.

We had bad news 2 nights ago, my hubby is being made redundant. We hoped he was safe but a big project he was due to start work on has to be shelved for 6 - 12 months so he has to go unfortunatley. The company do still want him on a freelance basis so hopefully we will earn something.

Anyway, I use this board quite a bit but I think Im now going to be living on here. Im going to have to cut our food budget down significantly.

Thankfully I can cook from scratch. I have always done menu plans and food buying lists so I know what I spend. I dont use ready meals as my kids have some food allergies and I would rather know what Im feeding them.

So thank you in advance for all the help and advice and wonderful ideas I know Im going to find here.

lavidaloca

Just wanted to add that we are in the same boat found out yesterday. I think we could do with a seperate section for redundancy.

FrenchMaid_2

Oh dear! So sorry to hear that. My hubby hasn't been paid for 2 months and the company is in administration now, so god knows what the future holds... thankfully we can just about manage...

tiddly_widdly

Oh, Im sorry about that. Its sickening isnt it? I felt like Id been hit in the stomach when he told me.

A redundancy board sounds like a good idea although I wonder if it would get too depressing and I want to try and stay up beat if possible.

Hubby has never been unemployed before so this is new to us. Trying to find out about benefits etc in advance of D Day so we are prepared. just in case he doesnt get another job straight away. He will do anything whether its in his specialism or not so hopefully it wont take long.

We sat down last night and worked out what we need as a bare minimum to pay everything but with no leeway for emergencies. Its not as much as we thought. so Im hoping its do-able. Especially if I can do my bit and halve our food bill.

Penelope_Penguin

tiddly_widdly wrote: »

Happy new year everyone.

We had bad news 2 nights ago, my hubby is being made redundant. We hoped he was safe but a big project he was due to start work on has to be shelved for 6 - 12 months so he has to go unfortunatley. The company do still want him on a freelance basis so hopefully we will earn something.

Anyway, I use this board quite a bit but I think Im now going to be living on here. Im going to have to cut our food budget down significantly.

Thankfully I can cook from scratch. I have always done menu plans and food buying lists so I know what I spend. I dont use ready meals as my kids have some food allergies and I would rather know what Im feeding them.

So thank you in advance for all the help and advice and wonderful ideas I know Im going to find here.

I'm sorry to hear that I'll add this to the Things are Tougher Now thread where you'll get practical tips and support

Tou can find more threads on this subject on the Employment and Jobseeking board.

Penny. x

lavidaloca

Thank you Penny. I have been a lurker on that board for a while and also the daily OS one.
I had planned to cut back on things anyway but this has come as a shock. Unfortunately, we have loans to pay as he had his own business but got stung a couple of times with bigger companies not paying, going into liquidation and then starting up again with another name! We had self employed people to pay so took out loans to pay them and then dh got a job. Probably a mistake but they were just one man bands too. So I have all those payments to sort out. I doubt he will get another job because of his age. He also has an illness which is controlled and he still feels fine to work and wants to work. I was hoping he could do this at least until we pay off the debts. Still like the original op I am trying to stay positive.