Frugal Living Challenge 2011 - part 1

gien

Hello, can I join you on this thread please? I really need all the ideas and guidance possible to manage my budget/household as I'm a rubbish housewife and spend far more than we would if I were more organised and mind full. I also don't want to waste stuff or have a cluttered house. Moneywise we want to do some work on the house that will cost scarey money so need to build up our savings.

I think I'll go and catch up on the thread a bit more now.

cw18

Welcome aboard gien - off to add you to the list now

itsallinthemind

gien and saorsie welcome!

jess Sorry to hear about your job, I know so many people facing this currently, blue chip company workers with 20 years service too, hard times

Marru welcome back!

midwinter If you have a co-op close, they have 5 items for £4 until the 18th(Tuesday) and one of them is watercress. Well done on 5th NSD

Today I got some at 10p a bag as they are clearly stocking more, but not selling as much as they thought. With the 20p cream I got yesterday(always have cream 6pm onwards reduced) I will be making soup too. Co-op bags are 75g, so my soup mix would be that, plus half a large onion, or one small, knob of butter, 125/150g potatoes, 300ml stock, 25-35ml cream, salt and pepper, if anyone has not made it. Simple and LUSH! When I ate fish, if I was not having a watercress sauce with it, I would have watercress soup beforehand, it works lovely.

dizzy lizzy Ah I dunno, you could have a mini challenge to just spend £19 the last week. Although hard, I seem to thrive on getting my spends as low as possible as well as nutritious as possible I bet you have loads you can stretch next week

Bread and Milk tend to be killers in this house. I can't make a decent loaf! The children have soya milk, I go for long life though as it is easier. But when was drinking coffee I used to consume cast amounts. It always seemed like half my bill was bread, milk, cigarettes

apple_mint

Hello gien, welcome to the frugal challenge

Jess, I'm so sorry to hear about the impending redundancy. We are in scary times. As you say, MSE is a big help. Having been made redundant in the past it has made me more determined to ensure we have a good store cupboard (and not just food) in case it happens again.

A spending day again yesterday as we restocked the freezer with meat (like thrifty). This was from money we had saved over the last couple of months for the purchase. We are now back in the position of just needing milk, fruit and veg for shopping trips in the next few weeks. I'll also look out for offers on items that I know will store well. We are still well within budget ... though it is only two weeks into the challenge :rotfl:I'll start again to put a little away from the food budget each week to build up the next freezer restock. It is nothing more sophisticated than putting money into an envelope but I feel happier when I see the funds building up.

The Scotch Broth has been in the slow cooker overnight and this now cooling ready to put into freezer boxes (individual portions) ready for our packed lunches.

Last night I cooked two dinners at once. Our evening meal and a pan of spicy sausage casserole ready to freeze. I managed to get 3 x two person sausage casserole meals to put into the freezer. I also made double mash potato - one lot for the freezer. If I'm in the kitchen watching over the main meal I may as well make the best use of my time. Creates double the washing up for the OH though :rotfl:

We plan to go for a walk this afternoon, we need the exercise and the fresh air. Free and good for us too.

never_too_old

ITSALLINTHEMIND

Bread and Milk tend to be killers in this house. I can't make a decent loaf! The children have soya milk, I go for long life though as it is easier. But when was drinking coffee I used to consume cast amounts. It always seemed like half my bill was bread, milk, cigarettes [/QUOTE]

http://www.channel4.com/food/recipes/chefs/hugh-fearnley-whittingstall/simple-white-loaf-recipe_p_1.html

hopefully this link will work, i was same with bread but its getting better, i half this recipe and put it in breadmaker on dough setting, i use plain flour as its lighter.Once the breadmaker has done its bit i knead it again pop it in a bowl and leave until doubled in size, i dont bake it like it says on hottest oven for 10 mins as i find this makes crust go too hard. oh almost forgot i put the yearst in the water first and let it activate.
as i say this method has improved my breadmaking skills.:D

itsallinthemind

NSD's are now at 11 out of 15 as I had my 4th spend day yesterday. Only the second time I had been in the shop as others were non food.

I will not update my signature as it was under £10 and I have more bits to get today or Monday depending on how I feel later. I need eggs and a few other bits for my neigbour, so need to work out the cost after they pay me. They want some of the Healthy Living Co-op Indian Sauces, they are only 54p a jar, they are a bit to frail to be carrying lots home! Ends Tuesday, so I better sort asap. I am tempted to get some myself even though I am not a fan of jar sauce, as they may be great when relatives stay and offer to cook!

In my shop I got 3 x £2.55 packs of 9 Nouvelle toilet rolls, 2 x bags satsumas for 30p each, bag of apples 20p, 2 heads broccoli at 20p each, bags of watercress x 2 10p each, carrots 20p, cream 20p, chicken 80p!!!!!!!!!!

When I go today or tomorrow I am going to try just spend £10 more of my own cash and have a mini challenge of £20 this week. I may fail miserably, but I am doing well so far, bread, cheese, childrens yoghurts may swallow a fair bit of that though. The lovely manager greeted me yesterday in the co-op with an announcement that it looks like cheese and yoghurts will be whoopsied today as they have bags of grated and fromage frais that are not shifting and fast approaching sell by! The staff at my local know me well already for loving a whoopsie and will point me in the right direction, I'm not sure if I should feel appalled/proud lol

Yesterday was a frugal food day as my children were out most of the day. I had just a bowl of pasta with with garlic and olive oil as I am still feeling delicate, think it is just a litle tummy bug though Today I only have the children for lunch, so I will do them Roast chicken(well they will only eat a pack of cards size each max), with roasted potatoes, yorkshires, broccoli, carrots and roasted onions. I'll probably add swede and cauli from the freezer too(past whoopsies blanched). I just have the same bar meat, I'm not a nut roast/meat replacement fan, bar quorn mince! So no doubt I will find myself making dinners tonight from the rest. Fun, fun, fun! My life is so rock n roll!

itsallinthemind

l.m.hart wrote: »

as i say this method has improved my breadmaking skills.:D

I do not have a bread maker, but have book marked that to look at later, thank you:)

I really must get one, freecycle is not playing ball currently!

I keep thinking it is just my kneading! Or the fact the house is FREEZING! I find it incredibly frustrating, as I am, I admit, rather good in the kitchen. Yet it is so simple! The weight of my bread is simmilar to soda bread :rotfl:My mother is the same, bakes beautifully moist moist cakes, yet her bread would be declined by ducks. My goals for hitting 40(still years away!)are to make an edible loaf and visit morocco. More chance of the last!:o

EDITED TO SAY:I keep editing my posts as I miss letters and words, I may just give up doing this! Dyspraxia is awful currently. Yesterday I did my pasta twice as instead of pouring it in to the strainer, I poured it into the sink! Better than last year when I poured the kettle water onto my hand instead of the pasta though, I guess!

apple_mint

itsallinthemind wrote: »

In my shop I got 3 x £2.55 packs of 9 Nouvelle toilet rolls, 2 x bags satsumas for 30p each, bag of apples 20p, 2 heads broccoli at 20p each, bags of watercress x 2 10p each, carrots 20p, cream 20p, chicken 80p!!!!!!!!!!
!

Now that's what I call a bargain! Well done :T I had to pay almost a £1 for a head of broccoli the other day. These prices are fantastic and you managed to get all your 5 a day

Well I've sorted the Scotch Broth. I now have 18 x 2 ladle portions. We may be eating this for a while :rotfl: Next problem .. is there enough room in the freezer :eek:

midwinter

itsallinthemind wrote: »

midwinter If you have a co-op close, they have 5 items for £4 until the 18th(Tuesday) and one of them is watercress. Well done on 5th NSD

Today I got some at 10p a bag as they are clearly stocking more, but not selling as much as they thought. With the 20p cream I got yesterday(always have cream 6pm onwards reduced) I will be making soup too. Co-op bags are 75g, so my soup mix would be that, plus half a large onion, or one small, knob of butter, 125/150g potatoes, 300ml stock, 25-35ml cream, salt and pepper, if anyone has not made it. Simple and LUSH! When I ate fish, if I was not having a watercress sauce with it, I would have watercress soup beforehand, it works lovely.

Thanks for the heads up on the co op offers, and for the recipe too!

minnie2

lynzpower wrote: »

minnie pray tell how do you get your bills so low!

well i have a thing about electricity anyway - i dont like things being plugged in if they are not being used safety wise.

so everything is turned off unless it is being used and before bed i always go round and check every room. lights are off unless you are in the room etc.

my hubby is terrible at turning things off though so i am always followig him around!!

the only thing thats left on over night is the fridge freezer.

at the min got my phone charging, tv and freeview box all on same plug thats it in whole house oh and fridge freezer. ive taken wii and dvd plugs out of extension lead as they are not in use.

gas - dont have heating on. if it is very cold and a duvet just wont do it we put fire on for a few mins in living room, got draught excluders on the doors so keep that room warm.

when i am working and we have kids stay over we heat their rooms and have water on so we all have baths and then i use radiators to dry clothes while they are on.

erm! theres prob more things i do cant think at min