go back to days of yore

cathy_3

recently I found a book about rationing and the war, and we decided to try eating the same for a fortnight, as my old mum is fit as  a flea and insists its the good eating she did during the war and all that.

so   needless to say we lost a lot of weight without trying and without being hungry,  then   we decided to go a step further as mum is always telling me that its banks that have caused most peoples money problems,  shes never had a bank account and lived on the money she had coming in each week without any bother, and if there was any bother -- TOUGH -- you just ride it out till next pay day.

so    instead of taking cards with me when I went shopping  I wrote a list from our weekly menu and took out £75  from the bank,  plus £20 spends for me  and £20 spends for the Old fart,

anyway  the upshot is  after a month   we have saved over £600 !!

no impulse buying,  my £20 spends is now £37 in credit with another £20 today to come, as you really think twice before buying if you only have X amount, the £75 a week is now £46-89 in credit as well, so this week we can have a nice peice of beef or go out for our sunday dinner, and still be in credit.

my old mum was right  and from now on thats the way Im going to live    we'll be rich in no time,

;D

debeast

Not taking cards with you is a great idea, if you've got weak will power like my missus with shoes!!!!

i basically budget for everything and know what 'play' money i have at any given time - works for me!!!

hellomoto

so instead of taking cards with me when I went shopping I wrote a list from our weekly menu and took out £75 from the bank, plus £20 spends for me and £20 spends for the Old fart,


I have always budgeted xamount per week for spending on things like parking, going out and general shopping but I found as I was using a card I was overspending or spending and not realising.

I have just started to pay by cash for everything except petrol and its amazing how much I am saving as I am much more aware how much I am spending and I really feel it when I hand over a crisp note and get back pennies!

System

Its amazing how much i have saved not buying 'niceties'. I buy an 21 bag of Walkers crisps a week and 21 Kit Kats, and if the kids are hungry in between they have to make themselves a sandwich. We only have 'puddings' on weekends and i dont buy sweets and chocolate to keep in the house.

I recon i have saved about £20 a week on my grocery bills and we still eat well, if not better than before.

cathy_3

I sat and wrote out the weeks meals then from that did a shopping list

stuck to it plus the usual cat food dog food soap powder etc and cut my bill down from about £80 to £34!!!

and we never ate better!!

hellomoto

and i dont buy sweets and chocolate to keep in the house.


My mum (non money saver) is really bad for that, and as the chocolate and biccies are there, you just eat them, when I lived away from home, I never kept any biccies in the house and never missed them.

System

I think it was a Tonight prog where families went back to war time days and had to survive for a month on rations and do without tv etc. The big surprise was the Mums who lost an awful lot of weight. Kids hated being without their luxury items like tv, playstations, crisps and sweets etc but lost weight through better eating and more exercise.

cathy_3

also, simple puds like jelly and ice cream, apple crumble
and nothing nicer than a jam butty after your tea save a fortune and go down a storm,

no need to go mad with cheescakes etc that cost a fortune, bread and butter pud is lovely and couldnt be easier.

---

Back in 1946, just after the SecondWorld War there were many food shortages. People were only allowed so much ofsome particularly scarce foods.


Food had to be shared out as equally as possiblethe way this was done was through a system called rationing. Every member of every family would have had a ration book and it gave precise details of the amounts of certain types of food that you were allowed during one week. Some of the amounts were;

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>

Bacon andham: 4oz (100g)
Meat: To the value of 1s.2d (6p today).Sausages were not rationed but difficult to obtain; offal was originallyunrationed but sometimes formed part of the meat ration.
Cheese: 2oz(50g) sometimes it went up to 4oz (100g) and even up to 8oz (225g).
Margarine: 4oz (100g)
Butter: 2oz (50g).
Milk: 3 pints(1800ml) occasionally dropping to 2 pints (1200ml). Household milk (skimmed ordried) was available : 1 packet per four weeks.
Sugar: 8oz (225g).
Jam: 1lb (450g) every two months.
Tea:2oz (50g).
Eggs: 1fresh egg a week if available but often only one every two weeks. Dried eggs 1packet every four weeks.
Sweets: 12oz (350g) every four weeks
Canyou imagine living for a week on these amounts of food? Compare the amount ofsweets in weight that you eat in a week with the amount allowed people in 1946for four weeks 12oz (350g).

http://www.allthatwomenwant.com/wartimerecipes.htm

misty

What a nightmare it would be to follow rationing. I'm glad I can go to Asda/Tesco. I want to save money but I don't want to spend all my unpaid time in the kitchen making cakes. In the 1940's house on Channel 4 a few years ago thye used parsnips to sweeten the cake because there was no sugar. However, the woman soent nearly all day preparing the food from scratch. My mum always made meals from scratch with fresh ingrediants but she didn't work outside of the house. I simply don't have the time even if I had the inclination.

Wishfairy

I've a couple of recipes that only take minutes to prepare - one's a really good 'steamed pudding' only it's for the microwave.

Quick, easy, cheap and much better than the shop bought ones :P

trafalgar_2

My mother used to do what I think was called Ham Hock
She'd cook it for a good sunday meal then make a stew out of it then make a soup out of it ;D
Lovely tasty food ::)
Poor peoples beef she called it