Tips and Quick Questions on “How To Start Being Old Style”

Wealthy_woman

That is a fantastic tip Memory Girl :j will have a go at this at the weekend.

Rage_in_Eden

Welcome FairyFace - we're a nice bunch on here (some of the forums I belong to you need full battle armour to go on and post "hello" :rotfl:). All I can say is that I echo all the advice given above and remember it doesn't have to be all done at once, baby steps are the way....and chocolate, obviously

Personally I find that having a visual aid like one of those "church steeple fund" things is good, as long as you remember to fill it in Good luck you can do this!!! :j

Living_proof

When making your own joghurt if you strain it to get it thicker then keep the whey in the fridge and use it instead of water in bread mixes, or in soup, etc. It really does make such a difference that I probably make joghurt as much for the whey as the joghurt itself!

patchwork_cat

NEVER mix bleach with any other cleaner as bleach gives off chlorine gas when it reacts. Chlorine gas is poisonous.

Pink.

patchwork_cat wrote: »

NEVER mix bleach with any other cleaner as bleach gives off chlorine gas when it reacts. Chlorine gas is poisonous.

I couldn't agree more. Bottles of bleach state clearly that it should not be mixed with other products.

There is some discussion on mixing stardrops with other chemicals on this thread: WARNING! Mixing Stardrops and Zoflora

Pink

Seakay

fairyface wrote: »

I only started this thread last night, and am so thrilled with the replies, I have got out of bed the sun is shining and I am putting my plan into action,digging out my slow cooker, and making a beef curry(the meat was reduced), and then I am going to make some cakes as I have a teeanage boy who is always looking for a snack, I purchased an easiyo yogurt maker, although I thought the yogurt sachets were a little expensive, they actually go a long way, and I thought it would keep me away from shops, as I am always running out of yoghurt. I will keep checking this thread for more advice, thanks so much, have a great day:j

I have an Easiyo and make yoghurt with cold UHT milk and a couple of spoonfuls of live plain yoghurt, and then the next couple of times a couple of spoonfuls of the last lot of yoghurt that i made.
You have to add your own flavourings if you want them, but much cheaper than the sachets.
If you want to use ordainary rather than UHT milk then boil it and then let it cool to blood heat or less.

Nicepeach

Hi, I acquired an Easi Yo system today for £3 from a CS - thought it was a good price. It comprises of the white drum, two cannisters and an instruction/recipe booklet.

The two cannisters have white, flip-top lids. Can I make the yoghurt in these or are they only for storage? As the assistant in the store advised me that it wouldn't work with these cannisters and I needed the ones with the red lids?

Any help/advice gratefully received.

By the way, before I purchased the system I checked out the prices for the sachets in our local shops but could only find them in the national chain of the healthfood type store Julian Graves and they have got all the different types of sachets & the machines and extra cannisters etc. on offer - BOGOF if anyone's interested. So I managed to get four sachets of mix for £7.50.

*stargirl*_2

afternoon all,

thought it was time to start posting, ive been a lurker on here and also on debt free wannabe for years. last month paid my last bit off debt off (it was almost £5000 to start with) and im just really happy and now am trying to get some money in savings for maybe a little holiday at the end of the year, my DD has never been on holiday so im using this as my motivation but im hoping the sun will run their cheap holiday thing again this year!

i can totally credit MSE and its forums for getting me through this, being in debt can be a very dark and scary place but the practical advice thats given on here, as well as a bit of a giggle just provided so much support for me.

i was hoping all you lovely old style peeps could help me with this. i have listed below all the food in my house. i live with my dd who is 22 months and she has 10- 15oz of milk a day so i will need to top up on that as and when we need it. but for the most part i'd like to see if i can get to my next payday (june 22nd) with buying the minimul amount. bearing in mind ive already spent £40 this month...(how...i have no idea)

i have a bf who stays over and eats with us about three times a week. he's pretty good in that if we need something he can pick it up on his way , ie- mince for chile etc so i can ask him to get some things for us.

my dd doesnt always eat the same food as us, but she does always eat with me/us and we dont have dessert. DD will have a mousse or yogurt with fruit for hers.

i tend to buy three to four types of fruit a week. i find that i use to buy a huge variety every week and it would mostly end up in the bin. so i try and get DD a big selection over the whole month, but for example this week we have got blueberries, pineapple and strawberries, next week we will get something different.

can you help us live off this for a month?

store cupboard

box of 36 weetabix
almost a full box of cheerios ( neither of us like them with milk, have them as a snack)
almost a full box of cornflakes ( for baking)
one portion of baby pasta (macaroni)
a whole packet of baby rice (not the baby rice you make up with milk, its actual rice for babies)
3 packets of basil and pesto sauce for babies
1 packet of ellas organic indian sauce for babies
1 packet of cow and gate tomato and veggie sauce for babies
2 packets of snack a jacks
loads of snacking seeds
A whole packet of ryvitas (maybe about a year old thou....oops)
Jar of tomato and bacon pasta bake
Whole packet of easy cook basmati rice (bf will not eat, i have no idea how to cook it...donated by a neighbour who was moving)
One packet of the new "my dolmio" creamy tomato sauce for pasta (for kids)
One jar of weight watchers sweet and sour sauce
One jar of tescos curry sauce
2 tubs of bisto gravy granules
2 tomato and vegetable cup a soups
1 tin of chicken and vegetable big soup
3 packets of minestrone with croutons cup a soup
One bottle of tomato sauce
3 big tins of beans
1kg of pasta
1.5kg plain flour
250g self raising flour
1kg caster sugar
250g demerera sugar
00g dark brown cane sugar
150g of fudge pieces for baking
225g packet of puff pastry mix
1 packet of strawberry jelly
thomas the tank colourful pasta (almost a full packet)
3 big tortilla wraps
3 small tortilla wraps
small jar of strawberry jam
small jar of blackcurrent jam
4 beef stock cubes
5 chicken stock cubes
3 packets of super noodles
bottle of sunflower oil
2 leek and patoao cup a soups
season and shake paprika chicken mix
sausage cassarole mix
chicken cassarole mix
1 big tin of sweetcorn ( dd likes, i hate)
whole packet of lasagne sheets
2 pot noodles
1 tin of red salmon

fridge

1 fruit corner yogurt
2 chocolate mousses
2 fromage frais yogurts
150g chedder cheese
1 portion of left over chille
flora butter
10 eggs
whole jar of strawberry jam
2.5 onions
1/2 a broccoli
4 baking potatoes
5 carrots
3/4 of a pineapple- already cut in to chunks
1/4 of a blueberry punnet
1/2 a strawberry punnet
3 apples

freezer

packet of frozen peas
packet of mixed veg (sweetcorn, peas, carrot battons)
2 croissants
3 more small tortillas ( i honestly dont know where all these come from)
1.kg of chicken drunsticks and thighs
1 packet of prawns (not sure if DD will like)
3 chicken burgers
1 hm hotpot (enough for me and DD)
1 pack of sainsburys roast potatoes. didnt like these last time i cooked them, maybe it was me doing it wrong so will try again.
frozen garlic
2 packs of smoked salmon trimmings
3 chicken and veg pies (bf wont eat)
8 pitta breads
1 packof potato wedges
1 pack of crumpets
13 sweedish meatballs
18 skinless sausages
2 covent garden soups (tomato and basil, and country veg)
3 x basil pesto pasta sauces
1 sweet chile chicken ready meal
ww medeterrian pasta ready meal
ww chicken tikka ready meal
ww beef hotpot ready meall
leak and ham pasta bake ready meal

other stuff

have got all the cleaning stuff we need (just topped up)
96 nappies (will last til payday)
5 packs of baby wipes
got all toiletries for the both of us

wow writing this all down ive realised how much we have in. a lot of this stuff was heavily reduced or i wouldnt have really bought it (ie the kids ready meals were reduced to 5p and DD will eat about a third of one with some sort of side dish to go with it, the basil pesto pasta sauce was 10p each etc).

my problem is i keep buying reduced food and then not eating it. my other problem is just deciding on a whim that i want something and then zippping out to a supermarket to get it....and a whole lot of other stuff.

so any help in what we can make from the above would be really helpful.
i do my shopping on a wedensday as that is one of the days DD is with her dad and she cant trick me in to buying things! so i can pick up any extra bits then...i think we will need some salad, milk, fruit and yogurts so far.

also forgot to say i work 5 mornings a week and DD is a nursery for 3 mornings a week. she has breakfast with me and a snack and lunch at nursery. on those days, she needs a snack in the afternoon and her tea at home. she drinks water during the day or a bit of juice, and has her milk first and last thing..

i really do want to try and become a bit more old style so i think this is a good place to start.
also any ideas on what we can bake from what we have in?

thanks so much for any help given x

saveabobortwo

im absolutely no expert lot of other folks on here are great save money by growing their own food making their own clothes make most things really anything you can think of to save a few quid they do everything but if i could make a positive start to help you it would be is to make an effort to not waste any foods that you have already purchased by cooking and freezing dishes to eat at a later date before the food goes of and is wasted.normally either freeze on day of purchase or cook up into a meal cool down cover and freeze it may help to go to your local library if you have one and borrow a book on freezing foods this is important for safe freezing , defrosting and cooking as there are a few basic rules or amazon may sell a second hand book on freezing for you to look at.best wishes:o

*stargirl*_2

thanks saveabobortwo!
great idea re- freezing stuff, will see if i can locate a book next time we are in the library, or may have a scout about on the net once baby is in bed.