really old style living?

ceridwen

westcoastscot wrote: »

Hope it's ok to bring this thread back?
I've been shopping weekly for some time now, and it's been going well. I can take advantage of seasonal produce - we don't have big supermarkets locally so don't have offers as such, but do have a smallish co-op and a good greengrocer, butcher and deli which I use. Our grocery bill has sky-rocketed even so, and I really need to address it.
I've been thinking back to how my mum and dad lived - I recall going shopping for mum and buying a pound in money of cheese each week - the piece getting smaller and smaller over time - we spent the money we had, and when prices rose our choice of food lessened - less meat, more pulses etc. I really need to look at the food we're eating and see where we can cut down the price but not the quantity nor the nutritional quality. I'm feeding myself and two grown sons, one a fisherman who can really eat and needs a lot of calories in a day, and it's getting tougher and tougher. I don't think I can make anymore savings in terms of cooking from scratch etc, eating basics - we do that anyway as one of us is allergic to dairy/eggs. I think I need to look at the type of meals we're eating - I'm thinking of making more effort to go back to old-fashioned ways of eating - soup before dinner, puddings every day for the guys, that kind of thing.

Because we have a dairy/egg allergy we eat meat 3 - 4 times a week (stews, chilli, bolognese etc) , the other days having lentil pie (nice and filling), fish dishes and baked potatoes plus beans/tuna/hummus. Packed lunches are tricky too, as they need to be meat most days to fill him up on the boat - he's out about 16+ hours. I do make pasties, sausage rolls etc too.

Any ideas? or anyone recall childhood dishes that I could borrow?

Thanks, WCS

Possible cheap filler-upper puddings could be:

- suet puddings?

- jam roly-poly?

- steamed puddings?

- bread and butter pudding?

- fruit cobbler?

They're all pretty old-fashioned now - but I did hear that "nursery puddings" are starting to come back into fashion recently....

The only one I have ever done out of that is bread and butter pudding. Fruit cobbler is still on the tryout list.

Other peeps should be able to give you how-to info though.

ceridwen

mardatha wrote: »

My kitchen isnt warm enough Ginny, I think thats why I go through so much butter - because I serve it in solid chunks on bread LOL!

I make my own "buttery" spread - from a chopped-up packet of butter/150ml oil/80ml milk (or - in my case - 2:1 full-fat milk and water).

Just lob that lot in a liquidizer and blitz and it makes a quantity to fill one of those "takeaway" size plastic containers.

It doesnt come in as much faff when I do two lots at a time - one to go into the fridge and one to store in the freezer in reserve. That way - I dont have to clean that liquidizer afterwards as often.

I do this partly because its difficult for me to find organic bread spread to buy. Also it saves me money.

The other plus point - from your pov - is that I can spread it on bread straight from the fridge. So - none of that hard chunks of butter scenario this way...

oldtractor

Well Mardatha I an slowly but surely getting to a stage of only shopping once every 12 week or so. It involves growing my own fruit and veg having a freezer and a dehydrator,buying things like flour and pulses in bulk making jams pickles chutneys cakes pastries pies bread and so on. AM a novice wine maker.i want to try beer and cider next , I also make fruit vodka sloe gin etc and also want to try making sweeties! I make laundry gloop and other hm cleaning things. BTW knitted dishcloths are excellent ,much better than any shop bought one.

ceridwen

Knitting - yikes:eek::rotfl:

I dont do things like that - but I DO take a hard look at anything made of fabric that I am about to chuck out these days (be it clothes or "household" things) and, more often than not, cut it into pieces to save the "straight" pieces of cloth from it to use for cleaning cloths of some description. My current floorcloth is part of a cut-up worn teatowel for instance. Time was when I bought floorcloths - not any more...I check the ragbag first...:)

westcoastscot

Oldtractor we lived like that for many years, we just don't have the space here for storage, nor do we have a back up generator for when the power goes out - would have hated to lose everything in my freezer. It's a really frugal way to live though - less visits to the shop means less chance to veer from your list, plus as you say bulk buying gives great savings.

I use knitted dishclothes too, I think I mentioned on another thread that I was given a small scrubbie which was hand-knit with a length of net in with the cotton yarn - really effective.

mardatha

Very impressed!

Islandmaid

WCS
I am so impressed with what you ahve said and having 3 teenagers and an OH that does very physical work, I can symathise.

I have bought back puddings to daily meals as they fill them up, can remember from whe. i was young and Dad was laid off we lived off of corned beef hash (mostly potato and onion)' and bacon and leek roly-poly, soup and sandwiches for lunches, mince and tatties, liver and bacon etc not very 'in vogue' now but I can never remember being hungry, though I can remember being told off for not eating liver
i,m sure there will be some fab ideas that come from your question and will check in to see what I can nab

mardatha

We had bacon sausage and leek fry today with mashed tatties.

westcoastscot

Islandmaid savoury rollypolly is a great idea! haven't had that for ages but very cheap and filling,and a cold slice would be nice I bet. We love liver, bacon and onions - still cheap and nutritious.
Mar we had square sausage, bacon and mushroom fry today with loads of mash. The boys had soup and half a loaf before and pear pudding for afters.
Thanks for your good ideas, its great to have something new to try.

HariboJunkie

WCS if they like offal, tesco have frozen chicken livers for 43p atm. They make a great, cheap pate which is lovely on toast as a starter.