FRUGAL LIVING CHALLENGE 2010, part 1. (Living on £4,000 a year)

minjara

Have been looking for cheap cheap recipes and still needing ideas of where to look for them if anyone can help. Oh they can't contain tomato, melted cheese or mushroom (for my OH).

Well its been a heatwave here today at 4C in Fife. All the icicles have disappeared from the houses in our cul de sac and the car has thawed out which is good.

Well I found a recipe for rice pudding which I just tried there. Flavour wise it turned out fine but I think some of the rice that was put in was older and therefore still had too much bite to it. I ate mine but the OH didn't like it. Oh well, my arch nemesis defeats me again. The last time I made it it came out like a brick in the oven. You could have used it as a new building material! :rotfl:

I have a sausage casserole in the slow cooker. Just 8 pork sausages (these will fall apart into bits as the skins are already starting to fall off), casserole sauce, peas and mixed veg, and going to have that with some mash. I'm a mash monster, you can't beat mash!

If anyone can direct me in the right direction for cheap cheap recipes, bring it on!!

Minjara

lynzpower

has anyone successfully made peanut butter before?This seemsto be getting more expensive by the day. Its 1.50 in iceland now and thats the cheapest. Ive bought 2 drums of dry roasted peanuts in the sainsburys clearance- and am about to get kenwood chef out to give it a whirl

http://www.allthingsfrugal.com/p_butter.htm

Thriftkitten

I did use some fresh yeast in the breadmaker last time, which was a while ago as breadmaker has been away for a year or so, cant remember the outcome but remember the last allisons breadmaker tryout wasnt very succesful either, may try sachets on next weeks grocery shop as was told today that my local Mr T's dosent have a bakery so no free yeast to give out Paaaaa!!!!

shaz_mum_of__2 wrote: »

If your not sure about yeasts "life" add a bit to some warm water with a bit of sugar and see if it froths

Do you use fresh yeast in the breadmaker then?, always thought this was a no no i buy the fast action sachets as it stays fresher as its sealed i usually get 2 loaves from 1 sachet




I only ask because it happen to us thankfully you have been brighter than we wer!!



Thanks its 10% of our mortgage so quite a big chunk its all thanks to this thread and the stoozing i did the year before last so thanks for the inspiration guys aiming for a bigger chunk next year (in addition to upping the monthly payments)


The reason for try to wipe out mortgage is so that hubby can retire early in a couple of years, the budget i have set us for this chllenge reflects being able to live on his small works pension,he has a forces pension that he will get at 60 so we may have 5 yrs on a greatly reduced income but if we have no dbts , mortgage etc we think its doable , especially if by then we have our smallholding and are almost self sufficient.

BRighton Belle - Do you think its possible to do a mosaic using x stitch patterns ?? i have some great patterns but hate xstitch and thought i could replace the stitces with a tile the same colour iykwim also wheres cheapest for special square tiles

Chicken bones and bits now cooking with some of my dehydrated veg and some approved foods broth mix as a tester for my dehydrating machines usefulness smells great so far.

Shaz

Frugaldom

Lynzpower - before you set a budget, you need to know how much you have available. I recommend you try filling all the details into the MSE free tool and start from there. It may be shocking but only by playing with what money you know for sure you have can you even begin to work out how to allocate it. Link is in post one in HANDY LINKS section.

In order for me to succeed in paying for everything in 2010, I am left with a budget of £4,000 This is what I have as disposable income after paying rent, council tax and my master plan. (For many, the master plan is to pay off debts, pay off mortgages or save for travel or wedding or holiday or house deposit etc, etc, etc.) Anyway, I have a 4k budget and this is how I have allocated it for the year. I work on a day to day basis, so these amounts are for a full year with a household of 3 adults.

Groceries £900
Toiletries £60
Cleaning £15
Electricity £1,100
Coal £150
Logs £160
Internet £240
Mobile £20
Telephone £180
TV Licence £145
Clothing & footwear £35
Gifts £200
Misc £100
Travel £120
Insurances £225
Livestock £350

TOTAL £4,000

JayneC

Hi all,

Sorry I've not managed to keep up but have had a quick read of last couple of pages! Everybody seems to be doing really well.

Minajara theres loads of budget recipes on the OS thread, especially the Grocery Challenge.

Lynzpower I'm sure that there's a recipe for the pancakes for duck on there too. Re budgetting - I think it's just a matter of trying to think about waht you usually spend and whether that's reasonable and whether you could spend less. Some things don't leave much room for manouvre but some things you can reduce. I used to just think I must spend less and would be careful but having a set budget really does focus the mind. It might be easier to work backwards - have a look at your avaialble income and then divide it up into catagories, what's most important to you, etc....

Haven't ventured out today - stayed in and baked cakes! Made a steamed sponge pudding with golden syrup, not tried it yet so am a bit scared - not made one since I was at school! Made my usual choc brownies and rock buns and have stashed some in the freezer in the hope that they'll last a bit longer! Also have an apple and banana crumble waiting to be baked.

We'll have roast chicken dinner for tea (already cooking), managed to get a free range chick for less than a fiver at Aldi so was well pleased. Am going to try a mexican styley affair with the leftover chicken for later in the week, spicy chicken tortillas - never made it before but am trying to try something new each week as getting bored of same thing all the time!

Did a big store cupboard shop at Aldi yesterday, this weather has got me worried, lol. Have jigged things about so I have a bit more storage room so can keep a bit 'in stock' as it were.... Usually run just above empty, so a bit of a departure for me. Just worry that it'll get raided because it's there if that makes sense? and then it costs me more!!

Well better go and peel some spuds for tea - what excitement, lol x

candygirl

Just got about £70 s worth of stuff for £30 from new look, ie 2 jumpers a gorg evening top and necklace, all essentials of course;)
O ther than that I have a pot of lentil n tomato soup on for tea with a bit of curry powder in for that extra kick:D:D
Hope you're all having fabbily frugal days:j:j

ram_murdock

Hi everyone - can you add me please NYK?

I'm back on page 29 and trying to catch up! On my way to work now but wil post when i get caught up again!

Ruth

Puddleglum

lynzpower wrote: »

has anyone successfully made peanut butter before?This seemsto be getting more expensive by the day. Its 1.50 in iceland now and thats the cheapest. Ive bought 2 drums of dry roasted peanuts in the sainsburys clearance- and am about to get kenwood chef out to give it a whirl

http://www.allthingsfrugal.com/p_butter.htm

Hi Lynzpower,

peanut butter is dead easy and great fun. Bung peanuts in blender with a little bit of oil, salt and sugar if you want it too taste. Blitz, scrape the peanuts off the side of the blender, repeat, taste, adjust oil, salt, sugar etc until you have it the way you want it.

I buy bags of monkeynuts from Mr A or Mr S. They get toasted in their shells before podding (or whatever you call it). The shells then go on the garden to help in the slug war which I frequently lose.

Hope this helps.

shaz_mum_of__2

lynzpower wrote: »

has anyone successfully made peanut butter before?This seemsto be getting more expensive by the day. Its 1.50 in iceland now and thats the cheapest. Ive bought 2 drums of dry roasted peanuts in the sainsburys clearance- and am about to get kenwood chef out to give it a whirl

http://www.allthingsfrugal.com/p_butter.htm

I think Mooloo has

lynzpower

Ive just done my budget and to be honest I feel rather strange about it. I basically have 55% of my income totally unaccounted for, so could be saved. I guess its "how tight do I want to be".