Frugal Living Challenge 2011 - part 1

Lily_The_Legend

pink_numbers wrote: »

have tried that... SOMETHING must've gone wrong, they were terrible!

I just found this online as I wasn't sure you could freeze them raw. Apologies in advance if this was what you did!

How To Freeze Carrots
Scrape the surface off of the carrots and wash in cold water. Small carrots can be frozen whole but large carrots should be sliced. Place them into boiling water and boil at a high heat for 2 minutes (known as blanching) for sliced carrots or 5 minutes for baby whole carrots. Drain off the boiling water ad run them under cold water for a minute.

Drain them well and dry with absorbent kitchen paper. Pack the blanched carrots in a freezer bag separating usable portions with cling film. Place the labelled and dated bag in the freezer. They will keep for 3 months in a standard freezer.

mooomin

NualaBuala wrote: »

Would you be interested in the Payment a Day challenge? I think that's the name of it - it's on the Debt Free Wannabe section. I don't know how your debt is set up but the idea is to challenge yourself to pay something daily off your debt even if it's just a few pence found on the ground. Some people save it in a jar until they have a decent amount they can lodge to the account and others do it through their online banking. But if it would put you under too much pressure with an already tight budget then obviously it's not a great idea.

A Payment A Day - Click Here!

I've been a regular on that thread since I joined MSE and through using that method have repaid over £9,000 (!!!) of unsecured debt and become debt-free apart from my mortgage. I'm now "PADding" into my savings accounts to build up a cushion in case of emergency and will be looking into paying extra off the mortgage this year too.

I'm currently the "counter-upper" on the thread. Last year the PAD folks repaid over half a million pounds

mooomin

I was so close to a NSD today.

We had Sunday lunch at Mr Fresian's gran's house, so no cooking costs for me and the heating was off as we were out of the house for most of the day

Mr Fresian's sister drove us down there (an hour each way) so I didn't have to put any diesel in the car

We went all the way there and back only to discover that we were nearly out of milk. Bah! £1.30 spent today then which isn't too bad at all really!

twiglet98

ceridwen wrote: »

Right - I'm getting it worked out what to do in future years about preserving:
- tomatoes get frozen (or bartered if there are simply too many of them still)
- apples get dried
- carrots don't get preserved AT ALL in any shape or form

I'll get this all worked out yet...:rotfl:

I'd cook up great batches of mashed carrot (some with swede) and freeze the mash.

Apples get cooked in crumbles or cakes and frozen, or just peeled, sliced and frozen ready for another crumble.

My cherry tomatoes split when frozen - do you know a way to avoid this? They're ok for cooking but don't look good!

NualaBuala

Wow FF, that's incredible! :T:T:T You are a great ad for that challenge! I didn't join officially gut it did inspire me to put small amounts here and there off my loan and it shaved years off it! :j

Lily_The_Legend

flying_fresian wrote: »

I was so close to a NSD today.

We had Sunday lunch at Mr Fresian's gran's house, so no cooking costs for me and the heating was off as we were out of the house for most of the day

Mr Fresian's sister drove us down there (an hour each way) so I didn't have to put any diesel in the car

We went all the way there and back only to discover that we were nearly out of milk. Bah! £1.30 spent today then which isn't too bad at all really!

Perhaps we should have LSDs... low spend days! :rotfl:

It'd be a bit odd if someone posted saying they'd had a LSD though! :eek::rotfl:

Lily_The_Legend

twiglet98 wrote: »

I'd cook up great batches of mashed carrot (some with swede) and freeze the mash.

Good idea Twiglet! :T Carrot and swede mash is really tasty!

Erme

ceridwen wrote: »

On a different tack - think home-made yogurt probably comes into the WAY cheaper category. Just need to find a way to do it that is WAY easy as well (I don't want to faff round with checking out whether the milk is exactly the right temperature/now where did I put that thermometer again?).

I know yogurt can be made in a crockpot/slowcooker. Has anyone done this and if so how please? I assume that I just put a tablespoon of live yogurt and a pint of milk in a crockpot and cook on "low" for 8 hours and thats it? Is that correct? Also - can I use any type of milk - without having to bother about whether its skimmed, semi-skimmed or full-fat? (I would only use "proper" milk - I don't use UHT milk or powdered milk....)

Well it's maybe not to your liking Ceridwen and maybe you have me on iggie but this is how I make yoghurt in my crockpot (£5 Argos in sale last year - whoopsie spend)

1 litre of UHT milk
1/4 probiotic saver yoghurt

Firstly warm the crock pot in the kettle (don't know if this really helps but makes me feel better)...add milk and 1/3-1/2 of the yoghurt

Leave overnight...crockpot switched off

Next morning (or whenever you have a spare 2 hours - maybe less - think I overcooked it this am, best check after 90 mins) put crockpot on low for max 2 hours...then take lid off; stir add remaining yoghurt and like leave to cool...

You may have to drain prior to stirring depending on preference. Serve with honey or fruit. Low cal and cheap (who needs a yoghurt maker? I don't have room in fact

sparkle76 wrote: »

Hi all, and happy 2011!

Please can I be added to this list? Will report back with total budget for the year soon.

I would like to make th e'laundry gloop' I have heard people talking about - any recipes please? I currently use washing powder mixed 50/50 with soda crystals which saves alot, but this year would like to use the soap nuts we have (bought ages ago and only used a bit), plus the laundry gloop if I can.

Also any recommendations on how to keep the soap nuts together whilst they are in the wash?

This is easy...an old sock ..simple... Just pop the soap nuts in and knot at the end

BTW for freezing stuff I use freezer bags and like clothes pegs...good for bread etc.

Also Nuala with regards me being a wannabe sabbatarian...one will never be a 'perfect' sabbatarian in this life. My theology dictates that because even if I don't break the Sabbath physically or outwardly then I break it in my heart and my thoughts. There are varying degrees I guess of everything...I guess you'd also term me wannabe fundamentalist though I find it wise not to mention it too much on here...

For me if I were to keep the sabbath semi decent I'd not go online and not shop for anything - even in SOS...(so like today I've run out of something I think I need so it'll just have to wait till tomorrow and I'll go without and make do for example. It's not a life or death matter right now)....

So less about what's not allowed and what is allowed? Acts of mercy and necessity - so like feeding cattle for example or a doctor or nurse working at a hospital. But like working in supermarket wouldn't be allowed as there as 6 days to buy food and groceries in and this is a day for my soul.

Some folk say Sabbath could be anyday or they say it was the jewish sabbath on Saturday but the new testament makes it quite clear (acts of the apostles I think) that the Sabbath or Lord's Day and it can also be called is to be on the first day of the week which according to Jewish (I think? Not sure?) law is the day after Saturday. Or is that me provoking doctrinal debate which I said I wouldn't do :eek:

Hugs guys

E

mooomin

NualaBuala wrote: »

Wow FF, that's incredible! :T:T:T You are a great ad for that challenge! I didn't join officially gut it did inspire me to put small amounts here and there off my loan and it shaved years off it! :j

I think that the reason it worked for me is because it's so lovely and non-threatening. If I have a "splurge" month and waste my spending money on shoes and bags then I can still PAD £1 a day and nobody on the thread judges me. Some people are paid more so can afford to pay £50+ per day, but there are plenty of people PADding £1 or less.

If I paid £300 into a savings account at the start of the month for debts I would feel deprived and end up dipping into the money, but paying small amounts daily means that I can decide what's affordable each day and made me much less likely to dip into the account.

I'm still PADding but this time to savings :A

Aril

Hello:j
2 NSDs and found a penny whilst out for a walk. Spent the day sugarsoaping walls- the small person has decided that he's quite happy to have the paint in his room that we already have leftover from another project:D
We've made pizza dough for the first time in our freecycle BM- very successful. Teamed it with the leftover cooked veggies that I mixed with some black pepper and some mayo.
We've now reviewed our figs for 2010- we saved zilch:D...actually we saved £7000 which was spent on replacing our car last summer so I guess it was a cash neutral year. The solar panels came out of our savings which took a big hit but we see that as an investment in the long term

Please put me down for £17000 Cheryl- this is an all in budget and hopefully will enable us to save any money OH makes from his microbusiness. This is for 2 adults, an adult sized 12yo with an appetite and clothing size to match [and growing perpetually] and one cat who is permanently on meds. We have no debts beyond our monthly creditcard bill which is always paid off in full by direct debit and our mortage which finishes in November this year. I shall be 45 and own my own home- woo hoo!
Aril