Feeding on a budget without a freezer!!

krlyr

I agree with trying to find a cheap/free freezer - they often crop up on my local Freecycle and there were tons on Ebay when I was looking. I'm selling my giant (nearly 4' wide) chest freezer to a friend for £25 - didn't pay that much more for it myself the other year. It's saved me literally hundreds of pounds because it allowed me to bulk-order my dogs' raw meat, but it must have saved me a fortune on our food too as I've never had to worry about not having room to store reduced meats etc. from the supermarket - plus it allowed us to do a monthly shop which meant we could use "£4 off a £40 shop" etc. - we'd never spend £40 a week feeding the two of us.
Also check out the auction sites for places like Comet. New items but some may have some slight damage, e.g. the odd dent or scratch.
As said, you can sell it on when you move rather than trying to move it to a new place, and recoup some of the costs of buying it.
Having just moved house and been without a chest freezer for a few weeks, we really struggled. The fridge freezer left in the house really doesn't have much space and I had no hope of batchcooking anything, we had to go shopping every few days, I didn't like it at all.

pink_numbers

Thank you so much ladies for all your suggestions. They are so helpful and inspiring.

I will definately look out for a second hand freezer. Planning for a curry and swap out to whatever cheap meat is available is a brilliant idea and one that we will use as OH loves curry.

I'm also going to give soya mince a go, since I found they are much cheaper than beef mince around here.

It makes me wonder though, how did people manage to be frugal before freezers were invented?

I_luv_cats

pink_numbers wrote: »

Thank you so much ladies for all your suggestions. They are so helpful and inspiring.

It makes me wonder though, how did people manage to be frugal before freezers were invented?

Where lots of people shop less frequently a freezer is very beneficial. In the past perhaps people shopped more frequently/locally.

The fridge (with freezer compartment) might have a freezer star rating on it so you have an idea of storage times.

Alternatively I would buy a small freezer as they aren't expensive these days. (£100)

You seem to appreciate the benefits of a freezer.

*niptuckfan*

thanks all this is exactlyt he position i find myself in but no room for a wee freezer so i am going to take on board your ideas

LondonDreamer

pink_numbers wrote: »

It makes me wonder though, how did people manage to be frugal before freezers were invented?

There wasn't really the culture of buy more to save more that the large supermarkets have brought in so they shopped more frequently in small, local stores and only bought what they needed for the upcoming few days/week. Foods were preserved or cured so they could be kept longer. Now, we still do these things but more for the flavour than out of necessity since we can get whatever we want, whenever we want.

Now having said that... I agree that you should seek out a cheap and/or secondhand freezer. Even if you're only there for a year, the benefits will offset the cost and you can always resell it when you move on if it's no longer required. I rarely keep more than about a week's worth of food in my (smallish) freezer, but it's handy to have anyway.

Broomstick

Hi,

We are managing without a freezer (just a larder fridge) at the moment while I try to decide what makes sense about getting one. We don't have the money to spare right now and if we get a chest freezer (which is what I'd like) I want to be certain that we have one that will last and can be put in a garage/outhouse if we move. I'm not going to rush into buying one just because.

What I am finding is that I'm filling our fridge to the limit with our weekly shop and veggiebox food so we can't even keep cooked food chilled, let alone frozen, for some of the week because there's just no room,

I buy bogofs and offers that can be used that week or do not need refrigeration so I can still make savings but don't throw bargains away.

I'm cooking most things from scratch (so no bought oven chips but home made ones) and fresh or tinned veg not frozen. No ice cream either but that's no bad thing!

I'm meal planning everything from week to week, trying to empty the fridge as much as possible by shopping day and have been finding that cooking double quantities so we have half the meal (last night it was a pasta bake) for supper and half cold, or warmed up, for the next days lunch or packed lunch. This means that, if the fridge is full, as ours is at the moment because I did the weekly shop yesterday, the dish with the pasta bake could just stay on the side in the kitchen as I knew it was going to be eaten up quickly.

The other thing is that I make a lot of HM soup to use up all sorts of bits and pieces but I don't cook huge quantities. My thinking is that, provided it gets really well boiled for 10 or more minutes a day, it's ok to keep a pan on the go for several days without refrigeration.

Although it's not my ideal solution, I finding that living frugally without a freezer is not too much of a problem. The biggest savings are being made by concentrating on producing the smallest amount of waste possible.

B x

*niptuckfan*

broomstick more great points! I too like soups and pastas

pink_numbers

Thank you so much for even more great advice!

I've started to shift what we buy from things that require refridgeration or freezing to things that are dried/cured. I'm giving soy mince a try since they're considerably cheaper, and won't need to be kept in a fridge - I have no idea what it'll be like, but I thought it was worth a go.

As LondonDreamer said, I think it's a matter of shopping often in small local shops. I am starting to learn what things are cheaper in what shops, and it's quite surprising. 6 non-freerange egss costs £1.50 at the nearby supermaket, whereas 6 freerange eggs cost 99p at the whole foods store (which I thought would be more expensive).

still on a look out for a cheap second hand freezer

kittycat204

have you joined free cycle? once you have listed things to give away you can request something.

krlyr

*niptuckfan* wrote: »

thanks all this is exactlyt he position i find myself in but no room for a wee freezer so i am going to take on board your ideas

Have you taken a look at the slimline freezers? We have a narrow gap between a chimney breast and the washing machine and found a freezer that would have just fitted. Unfortunately not big enough for the amount of meat I need to store for the dogs, but would have been fine for storing frozen food for us.
http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/4865595.htm
Tabletop freezers are another option to consider