Where do we go from basics?

dandy-candy

We are having a good crack at homegrowing veggies this year to save money - esp the salad stuff (onions, lettuce, tomatoes) which seem very overpriced nowadays! I am also reading up on preparing veg/fruit for freezing/bottling just incase we get a glut (fingers crossed).
My son does cooking at school and we buy the ingredients and he brings his "creations" home for us to sample!!
I don't mind other families having cooking lessons at taxpayers expense if it means a family is having a hot meal that night. Child poverty is very under reported in this country, my SIL is a child theraphist who works in poor parts of south London and she's had children coming in who don't have shoes - i'm not kidding - it's hard to imagine that is still happening in this day and age.

threemuttleys

Im just doing my store cupboard Tesco stock up, and I cant believe how things have shot up in price since I last did a mega shop. It wasnt that long ago that Value OJ was 49p a carton, is now 65p, sponge scourers are now 14p, baby wipes are 26p. I just that god, that I can at least cook, bake bread, and we arent materialistic. Going to have a rummage in the airing cupboard see if I have any old sheets that I could cut up as wipes for my little man

[Deleted User]

Being broke is relative I think to the times you live in. I was brought up with rationing, and some of the stuff we ate I wouldn't now give to the cat, but eat it we did and were jolly glad to .How my poor old Mum managed to feed her three hollow-legged kids I'll never know .She had no fridge/freezer/microwave or anything resembling the modern applicances we all take for granted, but feed us she did .Breakfast was usually porridge or in the 1950s sometimes cornflakes (no choice of cereals ,just eat it or do without) Lunch time was usualy some sort of sandwich, whose filling you often didn't really want to know, and some cake if you were lucky.Dinner was whatever she could sweet- talk the butcher into letting her have;) as meat was strictly rationed, and often not a lot went a very long way.
Definitely never had crisps (Mum thought a tiny amount of fried potato sliced thinly in a bag a total waste of money apart from anything else .) snacks were unheard of as well,breakfast lunch and dinner if you were lucky, and just before bed cocoa and on a Saturday night toast in front of the fire on the end of the toasting fork ( a bit sooty at times but has a taste of its own):D.She was good at HM soups ,most of which had some sort of potato base to it plus buckets of veg as we had a very large garden which both her and my Dad were keen on .Puddings were usually rice,sago, tapioca or on Sundays apple and blackberry pie in season as we also had apple trees.
My Dad also made jam, and lots of fruit was bottled or made into jams.Mum made soda scones on a 'girdle' which were delicious when toasted after they had gone a bit stale. We had quite a few tomato plants in our garden and in the summer had tomatos sprinkled with a little sugar if it was spare as a pudding.My Uncle Robert had a market garden which we visited via the steam train to Herne Bay and we always came home loaded down with fruit and veg. Nothing was ever wasted at all,it wasn't called recycling in those days but a normal way of life as everything was in short supply.In those days we also kept a couple of chickens for eggs as my mum thought it disgraceful to have to pay 2d for an egg:eek:.You could buy them seperately then as well so if you only wanted three eggs thats all you bought.Storage was a problem so shopping was done on a daily basis and often I would be stuck in a queue with no idea what I was queueing for whilst Mum queued at another shop I can't see those days returning thank goodness although I can appreciate how tough it is for people who have been used to just being able to shop for what they want whenever they felt like it .Lack of funds will slow down the supermarket trolley dash I think for a lot of people .
A treat for us kids was a bottle of Tizer when my eldest brother started work.I used to get the 3d back on the bottle if I was quick :)

catznine

Loving this thread! :T

I was born mid 50's so went to school in 60 - 70's and so was lucky enough to have domestic science lessons which included making items for the home from very little, recycling before it became fashionable! We would make wastepaper bins from old party 7 tins (huge tins of beer you could buy in those days) and a remnant of fabric - sometimes taken from an old dress if the pattern took our fancy, aprons from old sun dresses, peg bags and cushion covers from old curtains etc., I once made a smock dress (very fashionable then and I didn't have the money to buy one) from my Aunts old dirndil (sp?) skirt as it yielded loads of material! Jumble sales were a wonderful source of materials, Mum used to buy stuff for the buttons and zips. We are trying to get our Church to hold jumble sales again but it seems the problem is storage leading up to the event.:( We also used to unravel knitted jumpers to make new ones.

Cooking was very much from scratch, I remember the tedious making of puff pastry and was so glad when you could buy it frozen and ready to go. On one memorable day a friend of mine pulled her sausage rolls out of the oven to find they had melted away!:rotfl:think she added too much fat! We got into trouble for our fits of giggles that day!

Sundays roast beef was always turned into monday mince by mum and (according to oh) my mil, using an old spong mincer. We loved it as it tasted much nicer than the mince from the butchers.
Apart from my freezers the 2 most useful gadgets I use in the kitchen now to save money are the slowcooker and the food processor. We make soups using up leftover veg and process them into cream soups and I freeze "past it" bananas and oddments of berries etc and blitz them in the processor with plain yogurt and a slug of orange juice (basics) to make smoothies. Also use the frozen bananas to make banana loaves in the processor.

An old neighbour of mine weighs and measures all her food when making a meal including frozen veg and reckons it saves her money! I haven't resorted to that yet but have cut down on the quantity of rice and pasta that we use. All leftovers go into the freezer for later use, love the idea of a leftovers lasagne - going to try that out soon! We often have "leftovers pie" topped with mash potatoes. Don't forget the "freezer fairy" (big tupperware container kept in freezer) to save up all savoury leftovers like meat and gravy, veg and potatoes to cook up into a surprise soup! Shirley Goode has a recipe for making soup from veg peels!

If you are not going to plant out your sprouting spuds we peel ours so there are no green bits whatsoever ( can make you sick so I'm told) and make our own hm A B***ies roast potatoes for the freezer.

Don't forget to save all your loose change and don't use the machines in the supermarkets to roll them as they take a percentage of your money for doing it! Ask at the bank/building society for the free money bags and count it yourself, it soon adds up! I didn't think I had very much but on counting it now have enough for a big bag of potatoes once they are available or a few bits from poundland!

Catz x

[Deleted User]

imogen-p wrote: »

Rigsby1967 - I tend to use 1ltr tubs to freeze things that I've batch cooked. Otherwise they get used for storing biscuits/cake. I have also used them as plant pots. A couple of holes in the base and fill with compost and you can generally get a couple of small herb plants growing in it.


I know what you mean. I've cut down loads, and am wondering where to cut down any more, (car, mobile phone, and sky tv all gone over a year ago).

It feels like when I was growing up in the 80's, contantly scraping round for coins for the leccy and gas meters, growing what we could in the garden, and getting what wood we could to feed in to the backboiler. The big storm of '86 or wsa ot '87 was brilliant, we got enough to last near a year. We managed, me, my mum and my brother, but with no washing machine, no proper heating and at one point no fridge it was hard. At least I'm not back at that stage yet.

Still with just me working, and with DH and DS at home it's not easy.

My saving things at the moment are:
Buying tea from £ shops, often have 100 brand name tbags in, and that lasts a month. Same for coffee if they have it in.
Porridge for breakfast, filling and much cheaper than cereals, and can put a bit of dried fruit/jam on it to make it more interesting.
Using half the amount of powder for washing. (I am going to try using white vinegar for softener after current bottle runs out)
Using grated carrot, potato or breadcrumbs to bulk out mince.
Buying the 5lb for £3.50 mince from the butchers, and making it go for 10 meals/30 portions. (20 adult and 10 toddler)
Buying cheap cuts of meat. (belly pork, liver or ham shank.)
Buy economy brands for things like pasta, flour, beans.
Get about to go out of date things at supermarket and either use right away or freeze.

Cheap old brown vinegar will do all the things white vinegar does for about 13p a medium bottle. It doesn't discolour clothes and is a much better toilet descaler than the expensive brands of unnecessary chemicals. There is a great thread about brown vinegar somewhere in OS

[Deleted User]

I have discovered some really good and enjoyable things since the cost of living has been rising - and ways to save money which give me a great sense of satisfaction. (it's not all scary if you have the right mindset - and encouragement from others)Here are some things that work for me and my family. (I love this thread BTW)

It is simple to have a quick wash in the morning (Everyone used to by the way and we didn't smell!), rather than a shower. I wash rather than shower, shower rather than bath and bath much less. My skin is so much better now as a result.
I get hold of fabrics, charity shops, friends, old clothes and curtains etc and one or two very simple skirt or top patterns (no need to buy more patterns, just keep making variations of the one or two in different fabrics) My patterns cost 99p from ebay. Instead of watching gloom and doom TV, I very slowly taught myself to sew. Internet is great for this. It is very relaxing to hand-sew and quite simple if you take your time. I have since been gifted a machine, but still prefer hand-sewing. All the leftovers can be made into little gifts so it works out very, cheap indeed.
Our diet is so much better now we make soups and stews, packed out with pulses, lentils and leftover veg. We make lots of little cakes and biscuits in one go and freeze the rest. We make all our own jams and preserves. (DON'T be scared of this peeps. You'll never want shop-bought rubbish after. Remember home-made is thick and gloopy. Jam is not supposed to be really really set like the mass produced stuff.) Our jam has lasted a year -no mould in any jar : )
From growing nothing four years ago, now, our tiny back garden is full to the brim of tomato, courgette, lettuce, carrots, garlic, strawberries, raspberries, blackcurrants etc. It has been a learning curve, but it's SO fulfilling to see your own things growing, ready for the table.
Since the price of a bottle of wine is now silly, our next hobby will be wine-making as it will cost a fraction of the price and should be lots of fun.
Oh, I forgot to say that we make all our own greetings cards and they too, cost a fraction of the price
Anyway, these are just some things we are having fun with. I know I might be shot down in flames here, but it seems that the TV is a major problem for people as it doesn't give them any free time to discover and explore all the fun money-saving stuff, getting kids and parents out growing or crafting, brewing, baking, recycling and all that jazz.

The_shuffs

Loving this thread have read all the posts and picked up some really good ideas looking forward to reading more xx

renegade

JackieO wrote: »

Being broke is relative I think to the times you live in. I was brought up with rationing, and some of the stuff we ate I wouldn't now give to the cat, but eat it we did and were jolly glad to .How my poor old Mum managed to feed her three hollow-legged kids I'll never know .She had no fridge/freezer/microwave or anything resembling the modern applicances we all take for granted, but feed us she did .Breakfast was usually porridge or in the 1950s sometimes cornflakes (no choice of cereals ,just eat it or do without) Lunch time was usualy some sort of sandwich, whose filling you often didn't really want to know, and some cake if you were lucky.Dinner was whatever she could sweet- talk the butcher into letting her have;) as meat was strictly rationed, and often not a lot went a very long way.
Definitely never had crisps (Mum thought a tiny amount of fried potato sliced thinly in a bag a total waste of money apart from anything else .) snacks were unheard of as well,breakfast lunch and dinner if you were lucky, and just before bed cocoa and on a Saturday night toast in front of the fire on the end of the toasting fork ( a bit sooty at times but has a taste of its own):D.She was good at HM soups ,most of which had some sort of potato base to it plus buckets of veg as we had a very large garden which both her and my Dad were keen on .Puddings were usually rice,sago, tapioca or on Sundays apple and blackberry pie in season as we also had apple trees.
My Dad also made jam, and lots of fruit was bottled or made into jams.Mum made soda scones on a 'girdle' which were delicious when toasted after they had gone a bit stale. We had quite a few tomato plants in our garden and in the summer had tomatos sprinkled with a little sugar if it was spare as a pudding.My Uncle Robert had a market garden which we visited via the steam train to Herne Bay and we always came home loaded down with fruit and veg. Nothing was ever wasted at all,it wasn't called recycling in those days but a normal way of life as everything was in short supply.In those days we also kept a couple of chickens for eggs as my mum thought it disgraceful to have to pay 2d for an egg:eek:.You could buy them seperately then as well so if you only wanted three eggs thats all you bought.Storage was a problem so shopping was done on a daily basis and often I would be stuck in a queue with no idea what I was queueing for whilst Mum queued at another shop I can't see those days returning thank goodness although I can appreciate how tough it is for people who have been used to just being able to shop for what they want whenever they felt like it .Lack of funds will slow down the supermarket trolley dash I think for a lot of people .
A treat for us kids was a bottle of Tizer when my eldest brother started work.I used to get the 3d back on the bottle if I was quick :)

JackieO- I could have written this too, exactly as you say it was, my mouth is now watering for that bread to be toasted in front of the fire ,your right nothing toast does not taste the same.I too amin awe at how my Mum managed to cook and bake anything at all in our little scullery with no running hot water, she was a marvellous bread and pastry maker. It's remembering things like this that really annoy me about kids today and so much is wasted- junk food- you can keep it I never fed my kids on it and they don't eat/buy it even now ,they cook from scratch like they were taught. Hey Ho, a life time ago!

mardatha

I've been tired the last week or two and when I'm tired I can't be bothered doing good home cooked meals. I slap some tinned stuff down - and I'm really noticing the difference. Must try harder to cook from scratch even when I'm dead on my feet, it's worth it!

[Deleted User]

mardatha, I know you have a pressure cooker. Do a quick soup, all in at once then a short whizz with the blender so that it still has bits in it. That and a cheese sandwich will have you picked up in no time. It will last a while in the fridge and just ladle it as and when. Dh can have egg and bacon on top and I bet he can manage that himself