Old-Style Case Study / Action Points

floss2

FireWyrm wrote: »

I use the whole chicken in a roast. Chickens arnt that big and I'm only having one for the month. The bones that are left are stocked and frozen for later use in anything like stews or soups....I use ice cube trays for this.

The cooking juices from a roast make the gravy. I think it might be pushing it to get any more meat out of the poor thing, but, you might have noticed my pot luck stew in the middle of the month? That's where the mid month left over meat and veg goes. Any veg that's looking wilted, or is left over from the steamer goes into a slow cooker with the chicken stock I'm making after the roast and any left over meat from cooking or plates that was frozen until then.

How many are you feeding, and how big a chicken are you buying?

If you buy the small, 1.25kg chuck, then yes, they aren't very big, but even I can get 2-3 meals for 2 adults + stock from a small one, if DS2 & his GF are around then I buy a bigger one about 2kg. That will do a roast dinner (padded out with bread sauce and / or stuffing, potatoes & lots of veg), cold cuts with fried potatoes or salad, then colda agin or added to ceasar salad / sweet & sour / curry / lasagne with roasted veg. The stock will be used with the last trimmings to make soup or risotto or frozen for future use.

FireWyrm

seraphina wrote: »

COuld a mod maybe split out the OS recipe challengy conversation that's happening? It's very interesting but maybe diverting from the OP's point.

To the OP - can you cycle anywhere at all? Maybe arrange your work so you can have at least one day where all your visits are in a cyclable distance? Otherwise, are you jumping in your car without thinking about it at the weekends, as you're so used to it? Cycling makes a huge difference to my petrol bill.

Thank you Seraphina but I would like to disagree with you here. This thread it a split from a thread on Debt Free and Adam PMd me to have this discussion here. I admit the challenge was unforeseen, but this conversation I believe is assisting him as requested. He was particularly interested in the actual mechanics of feeding a family for a month on a budget.

Adam, please feel free to chime in here....do you want to split this conversation?

floss2

ceridwen wrote: »

Fair 'nuff...:)

Well...those courgette thingies I mentioned. I'm 99% certain that I got the recipe from Old Style somewheres....

COURGETTE DOLLOPS (for 2)
225gr grated courgettes
50gr grated onions
50gr self-raising flour
75gr grated cheddar cheese
2 eggs (beaten)
dash of milk (would imagine its perfectly possible to use an "alternative" type milk)
seasoning
oil for frying

- Mix all ingredients well.
- Heat a large frypan with a little oil or butter in it.
- Place heated tablespoons of the mixture in pan and cook 2.5 minutes till brown.
- Turn over and cook the other side the same.

***************

Ooh, courgette fritters - or the veggie version of loaves & fishes coz one courgette makes loads of them! DH likes them cold the next day, but I prefer them warm with chutney!

floss2

seraphina wrote: »

COuld a mod maybe split out the OS recipe challengy conversation that's happening? It's very interesting but maybe diverting from the OP's point.

FireWyrm wrote: »

Thank you Seraphina but I would like to disagree with you here. This thread it a split from a thread on Debt Free and Adam PMd me to have this discussion here. I admit the challenge was unforeseen, but this conversation I believe is assisting him as requested. He was particularly interested in the actual mechanics of feeding a family for a month on a budget.

Adam, please feel free to chime in here....do you want to split this conversation?

The moderators will make the decision to leave / split according to their guidelines - there are several other challenge-type threads, along with other "how do I do this on £x" type threads.

FireWyrm

floss2 wrote: »

How many are you feeding, and how big a chicken are you buying?

If you buy the small, 1.25kg chuck, then yes, they aren't very big, but even I can get 2-3 meals for 2 adults + stock from a small one, if DS2 & his GF are around then I buy a bigger one about 2kg. That will do a roast dinner (padded out with bread sauce and / or stuffing, potatoes & lots of veg), cold cuts with fried potatoes or salad, then colda agin or added to ceasar salad / sweet & sour / curry / lasagne with roasted veg. The stock will be used with the last trimmings to make soup or risotto or frozen for future use.

Hmmm...two adults and two children. I hear what you say but I just can't seem to get big enough chickens. The expensive free range ones are tiny and the battery stuff is bigger, but not as tasty in my opinion. Well, I'll have a go and see what I can get out of one. Your meal ideas are great and every meal is another day. I'd just like to point out that I'm doing this for a reason and not just because I can or as an achedemic exercise. I'm moving by the end of the month and have expenses and have to bridge two houses for two months, so trying to save myself some pain later. I'm determined not to reach for the credit card and pay off the overdraft too.

floss2

FireWyrm wrote: »

... I'd just like to point out that I'm doing this for a reason and not just because I can or as an achedemic exercise...

Neither am I hun! I've brought up 2 teenage sons on my own and a very tight budget and am now in a position with my lovely DH that we can afford to eat well without always thinking about the cost, but I don't like to give all my hard-earned cash to the supermarket bosses so I shop as I always have and look for bargains. We make what we have work for us, always home-made deliciousness whether it be from full cost foods bought by DH or yellow-stickered bought by me

floss2

FireWyrm wrote: »

...I hear what you say but I just can't seem to get big enough chickens. The expensive free range ones are tiny and the battery stuff is bigger, but not as tasty in my opinion....

Battery are always going to have less flavour, but you can add things like dried herbs, lemon, garlic, soy sauce, chilli or plenty of black pepper etc to them to give them more taste.

Where do you shop - butcher or supermarket? I know our local butcher has small F/R chucks, but will always get a larger one for me if I ask mid-week, then I can pick it up on Saturday. He has the advantage of being just down the road AND opens at 7.30 every day. However, I always pick up F/R chickens when they are reduced in Tesco and freeze them for our next roast or joint them & freeze the portions - always works out cheaper than buying separate portions and you've got a carcass with meat on it that can be stripped when you've made stock

One last thing - there is a LOT of meat in your month of meals......do you have many veggie meals in your repertoire? We have things like roasted veg (peppers / onions / aubergine / courgette) stirred through pasta, or made into lasagne with h/m white sauce; roasted tomatoes make wonderful pasta sauces; veggie risotto with tomatoes or mushrooms (leftovers can be used to stuff peppers & roasted); green lentils with tomatoes & peppers; aubergine stew with a tin of tomatoes. We also often have Nigella's sausages with lentils (adapted to suit what we can get - always green lentils but with whatever flavour of Tesco finest sausages had yellow stickers on!) and risotto, using whatever is around which can be a small bit of salmon, chicken, veggies, or even just plain with plenty of parmesan & black pepper.

seraphina

To the OP: there's a whole page on Old Style "for beginners" here:Quick guide to Old Style

debbym

anguk wrote: »

Welcome to all who are new to Old-Style, you seem to be doing very well.

One tip I must share with you is "The Takeaway Secret". One of the first things that is normally cut back when trying to save money is takeaways and you can crave them at times. There's a brilliant book called The Takeaway Secret that has recipes from all the major takeaway/fast food outlets, Indian, Chinese, McDonalds, Kentucky etc. The beauty of the book is not only is it sooooo much cheaper to make your own takeaways but it's much healthier too.

There's a huge thread about the book, including pictures here:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2665259

And the book is only £3.66 with free postage from Amazon (in my opinion it's worth it just for the Big Mac & Donner kebab recipes alone):
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Takeaway-Secret-Cook-Favourite-Fast-food/dp/0716022354/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1309172882&sr=8-1

Another great book if you are a Indian takeaway addict is the Curry Secret by Kris Dhillon http://www.amazon.co.uk/Curry-Secret-Indian-Restaurant-Meals/dp/0716021919/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1309293797&sr=8-1 for about the same price. We bought the Kindle version whilst we were living out in Germany and missing our local takeaway - we now use it every week and have an almost identical meal to our local for about £8-10 rather than £30.

Kimitatsu

adam_devon wrote: »

Hello,

I'm new to old-style, and am keen to read, learn and take action. I would love to be less wasteful.

Following a discussion on DFW - FireWyrm highlighted how effective old-style thrift has been in recent advances towards becoming debt-free.

I'm wondering if this thread might serve to allow some people to post case study's of thing they have tried - what has worked, what hasn't etc.

My biggest expense is petrol - due to commute and rural community job requiring travel to people's houses. So I'm keen to hear about car savings.

I have a big chilli being cooked at present - with 5lb of mince, so I'm hoping that'll be meals from the freezer for a good few weeks.

Hoping to learn from some of your successes, as well as discussing what action points old-style newbies can make.

Adam

Hi Adam

welcome to the boards

From your post I assume that you work full time, and it doesnt say if you have a partner at home etc. For me the thing about OS is being organised! Meal plan for the week, take packed lunches and bulk bake/cook at the weekends and freeze as much as you can. Doing this just once a month can save you a fortune. The takeaway secret is a great book - we dont buy takeaways at all nowdays, because its quicker and cheaper to make at home.

If you have a breadmaker use it, with my breadmaker I can programme it to cook overnight so I wake up to the smell of fresh bread in the morning (its fab!).

Cleaning materials - dont bother buying expensive stuff, white vinegar, bicarbonate of soda, some essential oils to make things smell nice and a lemon are really all you need. I chuck sponges for the washing up in the dishwasher along with brushes etc to make them last longer.

Petrol - wish I could help you on this one to be honest as this is my biggest expense too! You can check petrol prices in your area with the price checker website http://www.petrolprices.com/ and try to plan your journeys so that you can get petrol at the right time, but its still difficult. Ensuring that the car is operating at its optimum is all I can suggest but its one of those things that you will find difficult to alter. IMO you will be better to save in other areas where you CAN influence the outcome.

Check utility bills and snap up the energy saving gadgets which are currently being given away free - some areas do a free energy check, if you contact your local council they will tell you what they have on offer. Dont leave anything on standby, switch it off, and switch suppliers as and when you need to.