It isn`t tough for us. We are OS and we COPE

emmie1234

kezlou wrote: »

Same as in my house, today i have found out about 10 pairs of socks that have holes in them. Along with jumpers, sweatshirts and tops. Where did they all come from?! I'd really like to know.

The past couple of weeks we've been eating out of the freezer and cupboards. Were starting to run low, but its all good. Its a good reason to have a clear out. Next week i'll have to re-stock the store cupboard, we've ran out of plain flour. something unheard of in our house. I'm worried about how much flour will go up by, apprently on the radio this morning the price could double again by April due to worldwide floods. Most places have now run out of the cheap surplus.

Lidl is still selling 1.5kg of bread flour for 50p. I;m getting some next week, if there's any in stock.

We've just reapplied for housing benefit so hopefully we'll be granted that too, if we do its a bonus. Its hard being on a low income, but strangely enough, we had MORE money when my partner wasn't working.

wow! I haven't been in Lidl for ages, think I'll be popping in there to stock up Thanks, just paid £1.29 for Mr. T's own bread flour 1.5kg :eek:

and thanks Bella, I'm deffo going to be posting on Freecycle, I'm after an old sideboard and some shelves (need lots of storage!) and I'm hoping to paint them up in a nice cream colour. I love the shabby chic stuff so going for that look in the new place, am really excited and can't wait to get stuck in. I've already got a pine pc cabinet that I'm going to paint up to keep in my dining room to keep bits and pieces in that won't fit in the kitchen Thanks for the tip xx

kezlou

Its extortionate nowadays for flour, but at the same time its cheaper than than buying loaves of pre-packaged bread.

Mr. S's bread flour (1.5kg) is £1.28, but they own brand yeast is either 69 or 79p for 8 sachets of 7g active dried yeast. Which is better value than the allisons or hovis yeast.

I may try and have a car boot in the summer, right now i'm just selling things on ebay, giving to charity and putting on freegle.

Would love to learn how to knit, but i'm getting no where:o.
My boys just think its great that i make things for them. Making coddy (ds1) a cushion now. He wants to turn the top of his cabin bed into a sofa bed type thing. I'm using old duvets to make it. Beats buying more cushions.

seasalt_2

Two tips for making stock from a chicken carcase:

1. Strip all the left over meat from the bones once it has cooled down enough after the first roast dinner. Seems less work somehow - and you can see exactly how much you have got towards other meals and can freeze some straight away if not going to use it in the next couple of days. Put all the bones, skin, fat etc into a biggish pan as you go along.

2. Every time you prepare eg onions, leeks, celery and carrots etc, put the trimmings into a bag and keep it in the freezer. Saves wasting anything and also means that when you come to make stock you don't have to do any more peeling or chopping - just add a handful straight from the freezer. (Parsley stalks are also good but I tend not to use cabbage or broccoli trimmings etc for this as it makes the flavour too strong - depends what you want the stock for, I suppose.)

I add a bayleaf, some black peppercorns and some thyme (fresh or dried) and then simmer for a couple of hours either on the hob (we have a rayburn so it's on anyway) or in the oven with something else or in a pressure cooker (but not for so long!). Once it's cooled a little, strain the stock into a clean pan and the bones and vegetables bits can be composted (we have a green cone which will accept meat and cooked food waste) or buried, or wrapped in newspaper and binned.

Once it cools, it jellifies and you can scrape the fat off the top if you want to - good for roasting potatoes!

Justamum

kezlou wrote: »

Its extortionate nowadays for flour, but at the same time its cheaper than than buying loaves of pre-packaged bread.

Mr. S's bread flour (1.5kg) is £1.28, but they own brand yeast is either 69 or 79p for 8 sachets of 7g active dried yeast. Which is better value than the allisons or hovis yeast.

It definitely is cheaper to buy the flour rather than a loaf. The last time I looked at bread here it was £1.59 a loaf! And it's nowhere near as nice as homemade.

Have you tried the Doves Farm yeast in the orange packets. It's about £1.25, but you should get nearly 40 loaves from it.

FatVonD

seasalt wrote: »

Two tips for making stock from a chicken carcase:

1. Strip all the left over meat from the bones once it has cooled down enough after the first roast dinner. Seems less work somehow - and you can see exactly how much you have got towards other meals and can freeze some straight away if not going to use it in the next couple of days. Put all the bones, skin, fat etc into a biggish pan as you go along.

2. Every time you prepare eg onions, leeks, celery and carrots etc, put the trimmings into a bag and keep it in the freezer. Saves wasting anything and also means that when you come to make stock you don't have to do any more peeling or chopping - just add a handful straight from the freezer. (Parsley stalks are also good but I tend not to use cabbage or broccoli trimmings etc for this as it makes the flavour too strong - depends what you want the stock for, I suppose.)

I add a bayleaf, some black peppercorns and some thyme (fresh or dried) and then simmer for a couple of hours either on the hob (we have a rayburn so it's on anyway) or in the oven with something else or in a pressure cooker (but not for so long!). Once it's cooled a little, strain the stock into a clean pan and the bones and vegetables bits can be composted (we have a green cone which will accept meat and cooked food waste) or buried, or wrapped in newspaper and binned.

Once it cools, it jellifies and you can scrape the fat off the top if you want to - good for roasting potatoes!

So, once you've done all this you'd use the stock as a base for soup? What else could you use it for? I don't love soup but I'm guessing it would make great gravy? (I use the water from the bottom of the steamer for gravy at the moment.)

*Bear with me, this is going to be a steep learning curve!

lambanana

kezlou wrote: »

Would love to learn how to knit, but i'm getting no where:o.
My boys just think its great that i make things for them. Making coddy (ds1) a cushion now. He wants to turn the top of his cabin bed into a sofa bed type thing. I'm using old duvets to make it. Beats buying more cushions.

Knitting is not particularly tricky once you get the hang of it. I think some of the best free tutorials are the ones on www.knittinghelp.com which are clear and easy to follow. If you have any wool shops locally the people who work in there will usually be happy to show you the basics and may even have a knit night where you could go and learn with others. I must say though that knitting isn't necessarily cheaper than buying, it's just that you get a much higher quality finished product and you can adjust more with sizing. It's also something to do in the evenings, I find it really enjoyable.

Something I'm not so good at is sewing, I just don't have the patience. I want some new clothes but I can't afford to buy them really so would love to have better sewing skills so I could jazz up what I have Gok style. My mum has a sewing machine so perhaps I should give it another try.

I can bake bread but my husband doesn't like it so I just try to get whatever is cheapest or on offer in shop bought. I can take or leave sandwiches (though I'd happily eat all of a homemade loaf to myself :eek:) so at least it's only him eating the bread most of the time which makes it less expensive than if it were to feed quite a few people.

My attempts at growing veggies have been pretty rubbish in the past so at the moment whilst we can afford it we get a veg box delivery. This does still save us money as I plan meals around what is in there and don't run out of veg then spend £20 at the supermarket when all I was supposed to be buying was carrots. I know growing my own would be better and cheaper but we're still saving money this way so I am happy.

I think I should probably start thinking about Christmas now, particularly who might appreciate a handknit gift (because experience has taught me who appreciates it and who isn't worth knitting for!) and what I can knit for them. I'd like to get a headstart so I'm not rushing next Autumn/Winter. Also I need to plan what would use up wool I already have so I can avoid further spending in that department, it's probably the thing I have most trouble resisting

gillian62

I'm finding it harder to manage all the time. I feel that there is a point where you find it very difficult to economise, once you have taken all the steps you can to cut back.

I now make my own bread, every day or so. My DS4 prefers supermarket basic bread so i get that for him, and the rest of us have the hm stuff. Any bread left over is made into breadcrumbs or fed to our chickens.

I am sorting and decluttering my house so I don't need to buy stuff as I can't find what I already have. It also means I can save money by using what I have.

I have sorted my seeds for this year, and swapped some for others I wanted so I shouldn't need to spend much this year filling the allotment.

So I wiull keep doing my best, andkeep picking up tips from here to help.

rozmister

I keep spending my Sundays chilling out then socialising but have decided this Sunday to get up early and declutter. I can't close my chest of drawers properly anymore which is always good motivation and I have about £120 worth (when new) of textbooks to sell as well as an assortment of clothes for ebay so it could be worth my while!

Also I thought my boyfriend would turn his nose up and my penny pinching attempts but he is embracing it now and we are eating sainsbury's basic digestives and even had a meal of sausage stir fry the other night to use up bits lurking in my fridge!

I am new to OS and not as good as most but I'm trying

MrsE_2

Great thread title Kittie:D

Very topical:(

I think the OS tips will be adopted by more & more as jobs are lost:( & prices keep rising:mad:

zarazara

I love this thread. This week is the week I "retired". Basically I grew up helping in the family shop and then married and became a SHMum. loved it most of the time. Always working with or looking after family. Time went on, children grew up and are now in their early 20's 1 is still at home. We now have a small holding and animals and a veg plot. I decided to go out to paid work as its always tight money wise. But i have health issues an lately i have been finding it vry difficult both physically and mentally. DH, bless him, helped me decide to give up the paid work route, "retire" to looking after the home and animals and growing veg, bottling friut,making jam etc. Its such a relief and this board is a God -send for support and ideas.