It's STILL tough and not getting better - so how are we coping?

Gigervamp

Same here. I picked up a couple of 3 kilo bags of pasta at Tesco last night which are £2, on special offer at the mo. I also replenished my bread flour stocks. I'm making a lot more bread now so it goes down quite quickly.

I've got tons of apples to process from my in-laws orchard. I wish that we had their house, with it's barns for storage and Rayburn! If I had a Rayburn/Aga and barns, I could dry the apples in rings or store them in freezers in the barns!
Unfortunately I have an electric oven which eats up electricity and an already full to the brim house! I did even buy a fridge freezer a few months ago to cope with the lack of space in the other fridge and freezer, but the freezer seems to be full of bags of fruit and meat with very little space for anything else! I think I need to get around to making jams and chutneys to give me more room in the freezer for the elderberries, apples and sloes that are waiting to be picked now!

EstherH

Well, glad to see I'm not on my own. I started this stockpiling when this thread began and everybody was talking about how hard this winter was going to be both weather wise and financially with cut backs. I am also trying to be a lot more organised with meal planning and cooking from scratch.

I got a couple of orders from Approved Foods but then they seemed to be lots of crisps, cakes etc which I am trying not to buy. Haven't had a look for a few weeks but now you have mentioned it....

I have got a £4 off £30 spend at Tesco so will be going there in the next couple of days. The freezer is full so can't fit any more in there so will have to be tins and packets plus fresh stuff. A lot goes on fruit but don't tend to get most of that from Tesco.

I have been keeping my receipts for the last three weeks and will get them all out when I have a months worth and try and work out a better budget. Don't know if I can face doing the grocery challenge though. It takes me all my time to keep up with this thread and a quick glimpse through others that catch my eye plus the loosing weight thread that I try to keep up with and post my daily diet on.

taplady

D&DD wrote: »

Finally caught up as soon as I sat down this morning the phone went! Wasn't re DS3 tho thankfully,he was fine today thanks for asking Taplady any news on your boys yet??
QUOTE]


glad your DS3 is doing ok:T my boys are doing great too! DS2 is going great guns at Morrisons:T:j he seems to really like it there and is coping well! DS1 is doing a months trial at the radio station - his first show is Monday afternoon 3pm till 6pm!:j

so it will be wonderful if it all works out for them both - as a parent thats all we want isn't it - if your children are happy - you're happy:)

ceridwen

D&DD wrote: »

Have more tomatoes dehydrating, Ceridwen which 'posh one' did you buy? The amount I'm drying now I'm thinking of upgrading as well now..

The dehydrator I got is the Excalibur 5 tray one with a timer - I'm still cautiously "circling round it" at the moment and getting it set up gradually. Right at this moment - I've got some blackberry and apple leather drying in my old one. I havent done this recipe before - so gave it the 12 hours minimum drying time the recipe said yesterday and came back today and thought "Right - now I roll it up into a sheet of greaseproof paper and store it" and went to pick it up and got blackberry colouring on my hands - so I guess that means I need to dry it some more yet?? I'm giving it another couple of hours at the moment.

Re the courgettes going on and on - I'm working my way through the recipes in the cookbook "What do I do with all those courgettes?" (think thats title without checking....) and theres lotsa new ideas in that...more courgettes coming up for dinner tomorrow...

Re the stocking-up - well first and foremost its to ensure we don't end up in a situation where we have to put a thread up saying "I've only got £x and a packet of pasta to last till payday - HELP!". As I've said before - we all pile in and help when queries like that come up - but (speaking personally) it feels good to think "The cupboard is FAR from bare - whatever happens I don't have to worry about whether I've got something to eat in..."

Have sent off for that "cookbook" that Excalibur recommend with it today - cant recall title offhand - but noticed comments about making a variety of cheeses with it and thought "Sounds promising..." - so thats en route at the moment.

Lindy_-_Loo

I dont know where to start with stock pilling really, we have done a month shop this month and bought lots, but looking in the cupboards as I'm adding stuff from upstairs(ran out of space downstairs!) I only seem to have bought the amount of things we need for a month. Maybe when I do the shop list again I may add an extra couple of tins and pasta etc.

I want to lessen our food budget so that maybe why I havent bought extra, but I dont want to worry about getting food when the snow arrives and were snowed in again! I also want to buy enough to not have to worry over xmas, maybe one or two weeks of food. Give us some breathing space in the budget for xmas treats and having my mum, sis and 2 grown up neices for xmas tea.

Got two more of the boys christmas presents in teh ELC sale, didnt get chance to look in wilkinsons for neices dove, original source items for a pamper hamper though, DS2 was bored so may have to wait till he starts school next month

seasalt_2

Glad your boys are doing so well. taplady - and your courgettes, ceridwen. Think perhaps i should look for that courgette book too - took OH five years to admit to me that he hated "those cooked cucumbers"! After me dishing them up in some form at almost every summer meal! He does like chocolate courgette cake though.

charlies-aunt

I'm stockpiling - ready for winter and for end of contract - I only shop once a week so its always handy to have a bit of stock to go at if something happens and I can't get out one week.
Hovis (all varieties) is still 50p a loaf at Farm Foods and I have about 10 loaves in the chest freezer ..but Aldi are doing thick & medium white bread at 30p so I've managed to squeeze a few of those in too

DH is picking elderberries, sloes and the last of the brambles and storing in the freezer ready to get the homebrew on the go when the clocks go back.

Looking for offers on washing powder, fabric conditioner etc to get a stock going for those so please let me know if you spot any!!

EstherH

Taplady - glad your DS's are doing well. Hope the trial goes well at radio. Sure it will if he did really well on his first show last week.
D&DD glad your DS was okay today too.

Have had a look on Approved Foods site but can't decide whether to order. The flours a good bargain and the Douwe Egbert coffee, but then I would have to buy loads to cover the delivery cost and there isn't really anything else that I want. Well not that is good for me anyway, could get carried away with crisps and chocholate but not going too lol. I got some really nice chilli beef soup from them when I ordered before. Still have about 40 tins stocked up for winter.

EstherH

Charlies-aunt - they had big packs of Daz in Morrisons a couple of weeks ago. 60 washes for £6 (I think) Don't know if they still have that on offer. I got three so they should last a while.

How much does everyone spend on fruit a week? That seems to be my biggest spend. I can stretch out the meat but 5 a day is 5 a day (and I know that includes vegatables).

kidcat

charlies-aunt wrote: »

I'm stockpiling - ready for winter and for end of contract - I only stop once a week so its always handy to have a bit of stock to go at if something happens and I can't get out one week.
Hovis (all varieties) is still 50p a loaf at Farm Foods and I have about 10 loaves in the chest freezer ..but Aldi are doing thick & medium white bread at 30p so I've managed to squeeze a few of those in too

DH is picking elderberries, sloes and the last of the brambles and storing in the freezer ready to get the homebrew on the go when the clocks go back.

Looking for offers on washing powder, fabric conditioner etc to get a stock going for those so please let me know if you spot any!!

I think Netto are advertising a deal on Ariel washing powder, will have a nose about and see if I can find details. Asda are also doing a ceaning event again and have some stuff like fabric softener on offer. NOt sure if washing powder in the event though.