OS Daily Thread - Sunday 26th July

taplady

evening all!

what a wet miserable day its been here! have done 2 of my 3 long shifts, just tomorrow to get through now(11 hours)
Have just skimmed through the thread - hope everyone is ok.

OS - dried the washing on the airer and thats about it for today.
DS2 and his partner are calling by later with my birthday pressies from last week plus a fresh cream doughnut from Sainsburys for me(his partner work there):drool::D

off for a browse now while tea is cooking x

Penelope_Penguin

randomer wrote: »

Ok a bit melodramatic but it's not really floating my boat! I've gone from thinking frugality is fun to worrying if I can make my Nigella gammon in coke last 3 meals or two,
Maybe I need to get out more.......but other than walking most things cost!

Tips please on being a jolly OS person!

Can I suggest you join the Old Style Daily thread Today's is here (I'll merge this thread to that one later), and there'll be a new one tomorrow morning.

The regulars there will give you loads of support, and help you on your way.

Best wishes, Penny. x

miss_independent

That I'm feeling very proud to be OS today :j!

I'm 25 and just joined OS this week. I've been cooking for myself from scratch since I was 13 as my parents had to work very hard (day and night) and often I had to fend for myself and I quickly got sick of ready meals! I also have food intolerances and I just feel terrible if I eat a lot of processed foods.

Anyway back to present - all week I have really committed to cooking from scratch and healthily. I'm living at home with my parents after I had to move back from London to help care for my 90 year old Gran and I try to make sure everyone eats properly without it costing the earth (we have around £80 per week for food for us all). This week I've made fresh soups and batched cooked dinners for the freezer (I'm starting my first post as a teacher in August and won't be able to cook as much as I do in my current job) and I've scoured the reduced to clear sections in the supermarkets. Today I made THE MOST AMAZING cottage pie for my Mum and Gran and I just feel really pleased that it tasted better than anything you could buy ready made, had all fresh ingredients in it and didn't cost the earth. If I can summon up the energy I'm going to make a banana and blueberry tea loaf later to use up some surplus fruit. I feel a little bit like I'm boasting but I'm sure you guys know how satisfying it can feel to be OS!

ubamother

I am, admittedly, rather childish at times, and I find it all far more jolly if I pick some particular 'baddies' who want my money - utility companies, supermarkets, etc. etc. and am ever so amused when I win and they lose! E.g. the less electricity I use, the less profit a fatcat utility company make; by not falling for a 'deal' in a supermarket but shopping craftily I win against the supermarket.

If you're in a place where it's OS or bust it can feel very wearying - turning it into an 'us against them' is simplistic but oddly satisfying!

Unless of course I'm completely wrong in my approach and really everyone else is on a higher plane of consciousness and at one with their inner simplistic, holistic, at-on-with-the-earth-goddesses and you and I are rthe only odd ones out!

maro11

Well done, OS can become addictive.

randomer

thanks people! Always interesting to hear ideas. I just seem to be doing a lot of "givingup" when I need to reframe it as changing.

thriftlady_2

Just back from a week in Normandy. Many, many thanks to Ivyleaf for your top tips they were very useful:T and I hope you're feeling better soon.

French supermarkets!! Wow!! We walked into a big Intermarche and their fish counter was amazing. Not only did they have piles and piles of shellfish -whelks (I think -bulots), scallops, cockles, mussels, all sorts but they had a tank with live crabs and lobsters swimming about. I was amazed, can you imagine Tesco doing that? I think not.

There was a tremendous choice like there is here but the difference was that the choices were all for real foods and not junk. For instance there were all kinds of fruit juices available- mandarin, blood orange, mixed citrus fruits, hundreds of different yogurts and fromage frais. The meat counter had all kinds of offal, whole rabbits complete with heads, real butchers, charcuterie of every type and free samples at every turn. There was also a lot of locally produced produce. It was the same in the small chains as well as the big ones.

And the wine was so cheap! €2-€4 a bottle.

The street markets were even better -tables and tables of cherries, nectarines, peaches, strawberries and melons, green beans, huge globe artichokes, tomatoes -just fabulous.

So I had a lot of fun food shopping and eating my purchases:D We also found time to do the history bits of Normandy some of which was very moving particularly the war cemetries.

Anyway we got back yesterday and I have been washing clothes ever since and not being able to get them dry because of the rain:rolleyes:

I've made a batch of rolls and some raspberry muffins. We had storecupboard/freezer inspired meals today. Lentil and coconut soup for lunch, spicy brown rice pilaff with kidney beans, peas and sweetcorn for tea. Creme au chocolat to follow using up the last of my French milk.

Oh, and I was able to buy raw (unpastuerised) milk and creme fraiche at a small supermarket in France.

thriftlady_2

Fab sounding food Miss Independent:T This is just the sort of thing to post on the daily thread. Boast away to your heart's content:)

ANY_CHANCE

keep going randomer I am positive that better times will be ahead for you.
When things feel so tough that I feel like giving up I just set small goals to get through, sometimes that is just getting to the next day.

Today i enjoyed the smaller things being out in the fresh air, a cuddle with my daughter, trying to cook a decent meal!!

Hang in there x

Cheapskate

Took the words right out of my mouth, any chance! I seem to spend my life making OS lists of stuff that I need to do/make etc & 90% never gets done, so I've started making lists smaller & the jobs on them more achievable - seems to be working so far. I've a new baby due in October & I really have a huge amount to do before then, but like any chance said, I've made the jobs/goals smaller so i feel like I've done something, esp if it's a day when I'm so worn out that even making tea is a chore (& I love cooking!)
Stick at it - I still have more bad days than good, but every week is better!
A xo