How long did it take you...

emay

Esor wrote: »

Basically, started cooking from scratch recently (having always been a disaster in the kitchen before) and it's going really well thanks to this board and all of your support.
!

I knew there was something else I meant to add to my post!!
I've always cooked from scartch (always used to help my mum cook when I was younger), but I now do freezer cooking too which has saved loads. As there are only 2 of us I always had to buy packs of meat bigger than we needed then have to split them down into smaller sized packs to freeze, now I just cook the whole pack in one go and freeze the 'ready meals', and on days like today when I'm off I just do loads at once, currently got a sausage casserole going in the slow cooker, and when I do tea tonight will double the amount of mash and stick that in the tubs too, got another pack of sausages I'm gonna turn into meatballs (take sausage meat out of skin and ball up, cook in oven, add tomato pasta sauce and serve or freeze!) and while all thats going on will probably do some mince and gravy cause that only takes seconds. And as I only do shopping every fortnight by middle of next week veg won't be looking to healthy, where before I used to have to go buy more and bin what I had, now perfectly fine veg is already cooked and ready to eat!

frugalswan

Even when I was growing up I liked to pretend I was an old-fashioned housewife, cooking everything from scratch and baking, and was always into my fabric crafts. My nan taught me to knit (the skill was forgotten for a few of my teenage years but has resurfaced with a vengeance now!), I love to cross-stitch, and I've a dab-hand with most fabrics.

I think it's always going to be a lifelong thing for me. For as much as I try to be as Oldstyle as possible, sure, I slip from time to time. This month is a valid case in point; having to pull out of the Grocery Challenge thanks to not having enough time, spending more than I'd like in spite of my best interests, but wanting to make this year REALLY good, and other things like that have all contrived to make it difficult. I think the most Old-Style thing is that we keep trying. And slowly, certainly, but surely, it is becoming more of a way of life for me.

I think it'll take me a while to get there fully, but I'm embracing it every step of the way.

x Frugalswan x

juliapenguin

purpleivy wrote: »

Went into Woollies on Fri as friend wanted a look, but we both decided there was nothing that we wanted so much that we were prepared to queue right to the back of the shop! So we went home!

I guess if you live in Cheshire JuliaPenguin the stock may well be similar - you didn't miss anything at all!

I didn't seee anything at 50% off , some was 10% the rest I saw was 20% off.

I am indeed in Cheshire (Northwich). How cheeky of them to trumpet the fact that it was 'up to 50%' and then have nothing at that discount. Grrrrr.

Now I would have liked to go into M&S when it was 20% off everything, because I'm a greedy piggy and have never had any M&S food I didn't like :rotfl: but there's no way I could have fought through the crowds, not even for Raspberry and Mascarpone Pavlova (drool).

Barneysmom

I just been re-reading this as I'd clipped it onto 'my favourites'
I think I'm fully conditioned to the cult that is the MSE :cool::cool:
I can't think of any other way of putting it.
It's a way of life, and a belief that I don't think I'll ever want to lose.

I make my own curtains, cook from scratch, and spend as little as possible on groceries.
When I see friends in new clothes I secretly congratulate myself, knowing I could never spend loads of money on a skirt and top for everyday use.

msgnomey

An interesting thread, thanks for raising it!

I guess I have always been frugal due to necessity, of late I haven't needed to be so OS but have actually enjoyed it, although there are many areas I could improve on!!

VickyA_2

Oooh, I don't know why/how I missed this thread the first time around.

I suppose I had my OS lightbulb moment soon after going out with Mr VickyA. I'd always endeavoured to cook from scratch, but was always partial to a meal out or 10 during the week. It came to a head when I was taking money out of the bank using my credit card. (I KNOW!!!)

I wasn't heavily in debt, but I realised that possibly my money management was possibly sailing a little too close to the wind, to say the least. So, I made a concerted effort to begin my "journey" down the OS route. I'm not a proper OSer as I only sew occasionally etc, but practically every meal is cooked from scratch now, I go to the library more often before I pop to the shop because I "need" that book. I swap books via www.readitswapit.co.uk, I look for cheaper ways of doing things eg I volunteer at our community cinema (free film for me!) and through that I've been volunteering as a steward at our local (classical) music festival - free culture!

Actually thinking about it, buying The Money Diet from Amazon back in 2004 helped my lightbulb moment... and I've been on this website ever since! I now tut at other people in the supermarket for having the "wrong" things in their basket or not using their local butcher (admittedly, we're lucky enough to have 2 local butchers...) and making sure that the vast majority of my basket is own brand goods. I don't know the last time that I bought proper Weetabix etc.

Patchwork_Quilt

My Grandma was famous for being frugal. During WWII she kept her family on next to no money, knitting vests and making sandals for my Mum and her sister in a street where some of the children were so poor that they had no underwear.

I don't think Mum ever forgot that and she too saves everything and cooks from scratch, though she is not as frugal because she does not need to be.

It does mean, though, that I've had a good training and more importantly, the confidence that it can be done if necessary. As other people have said, once you start thinking OS, it gets so much easier.