Fiscal Fast – 7 days no spending (at all)

catznine

Peony if I had seen cards at 50% off I would have caved too! Definitely write and complain about the nuts though! Btw I too have fallen of the fiscal fast wagon!

Well day 3 (yesterday) went well with no spends and a lot of cooking achieved. Made a prawn stir fry using up loads and also made broccoli and stilton soup using up lots of veg and the last of the yummy stilton, but it made loads (only two of us) anyone know if you can freeze it? Talking of which this morning which is my day 4 we broke the fiscal fast to take advantage of the reduced to £1 stilton half wheels in sains, dated to 5th but I have frozen in 140g portions ready to use in soup at a later date, bargain! Only went in for the milk though!

So day 4 was a small spend, back on board now though. I think if you see a bargain/deal that is too good to miss, then you need to take advantage of it.

Today's lunch was more of the soup and dinner will be the left over Bolognese pasta bake with left over salad. The hm fruit salad needs using too.

Visited friends and their baby boy who is growing fast, we took toffees and they supplied hot drinks, so no spends there. Now to catch up on Poirot episodes and crochet the next snuggle blanket (for newest Grandaughter, from the leftover wool from eldest granddaughters blanket) while Mr Catz watches the football downstairs.

Catz x

moments_of_sanity

A NSD for me, helped by the fact it is pouring with rain and I didn't want to go outside!

Looking at my store cupboards, I should get through until next weekend without having to spend any money, I will be really pleased if I can manage that!

Going to have spag Bol tonight with some reduced beef mince from A!di's, never had it before so hope it's as good as the meat from C0stco?

Managed to do a fair bit of housework today but the kitchen still looks a bomb site, I can't even see where to start so will head off to make a cuppa and stand and procrastinate whilst the kettle boils!

Need2bthrifty

Hi, can I join in too.

I was determined to get through the first two weeks of January, at least, without spending anything, however to cut a long story short mid-week I shopped and bought more than was on my list – okay these items are going to save me money later on, but that’s not the point, so because of that little misdemeanour I have imposed a total ban on spending (not counting monthly DD’s) for 6 days at least but going to try and make it more. I thought that joining this thread would help to keep me focussed.

This is day 2 of my imposed ban and I have spent time today doing inventories and trying to menu plan creatively with the things, mostly veg, in the fridge that need using up, sometimes difficult for a singleton without it being too repetitive. I have frozen lots of the other bits and pieces but I am quite fussy about the effect freezing has on some vegetables.

So today I made some curried parsnip soup, 1 portion for lunch, 3 for the freezer. Tonight Asparagus & Bacon Tart (adapted from a goodfood recipe), using up the last of the bendy asparagus, 1 lonely bacon rasher, some soft brie-like cheese, ¼ block of puff pastry (freezing the rest), served with a salad.

The broccoli, brussel sprouts, carrots and tomatoes all bought before Christmas are still holding up pretty well but probably need to be used soon – so I may be back for some advice/suggestions, but am thinking Broccoli & Stilton Souffl! tomorrow - don’t really want to be making more soup with it as I have loads of others in the freezer and only have a small freezer so running out of space.

peony40

Thanks all for the advice on the chocolate nuts.

Welcome to all new people here.

Well, what a day. I have been good and done my freezer/pantry inventory and menu planned to a degree.

Then updated my online grocery shop which I am using gift vouchers for. Somehow or other I managed to allocate £25 too much on to the system so now I have a huuuuge order arriving on Monday. I hate to say how much the shopping is, but I am certainly going to be well stocked in tins, washing powder, toilet rolls etc. i feel for the delivery man having to carry all the bags up to the house.

Cooked extra at dinner time so have leftovers ready for tomorrow's dinner.

Feeling tired so I will have an early night.

Take care all.

sharronej

pink_numbers wrote: »

I try to do a week's grocery shop in one go. Then I try to make it last 9-10 days because I always end up buying more than we need for 7 days..... Also means I can put away a week's worth of gorcery money into savings every so often which is fabulous

What a great idea! I would like to try this although we do use a litre of Milk a day and I'd need to consider dog food (a tin a day) but other than that I think I'd like to give this a go!

peony40

Good morning all,

Day 2 of my fiscal fast and as I won't be going out I will not be spending any money. One of my weaknesses is buying books on amazon, i nearly succumbed yesterday and bought a crochet book and jack munroe's book due out in Feb. But i didn't buy either! Seeing we are looking to downsize I should be reducing my books not adding to them.

Last day of taking it easy before getting stuck into a daily routine. Quite looking forward to getting back to normality. Feel for hubby having to go back to work though, I do not miss work, I am so much happier being a homebird.

Need to start monitoring gas and electricity usage this year. From tomorrow the central heating will be off during the day as I wear my fleece onesie to keep warm and stop neck draughts.

Hope you all have a pleasant sunday.

Peony x

[Deleted User]

Day five and still no spending :):) I can really get used to this .I have enough fresh milk to last me until about Wednesday, then I am going to use up some of the long-life stuff I have in the fridge.I showed eldest DD my six store cupboards, and she agreed its time they were used up instead of just sitting there.
Lots of veg left still in my veg basket as DD donated stuff to me that she would have chucked out.Nothing wrong with it but she does tend not to keep veg longer than a couple of days !!!.I used the last of the brussels from Christmas last night along with some brocolli with my dinner and it was lovely I still have a savoy cabbage some carrots and onions and a large swede to get through.Thats apart from the spuds and in the freezer a couple of courgettes and some chopped leeks and green beans.So I have more than enough veg,I have two boxes of cracker bread and lots of smaller crackers to use up as well I no longer eat bread at all so I don't need bread.Only have three things on my shopping list at the moment and none of them are urgent at all :):)
Cheers chums hang on to your 'appenies if you can this month :):)
JackieO xxx

boultdj

Well the fast got broke yesterday, but I realy needed the legging's for work, so I'll start again, from today, been sorting my cupboard out and trying to meal plan[ not good at meal planning my mind keep's going blank and I can think of 1 or 2 dish's]

peony40

boultdj wrote: »

Well the fast got broke yesterday, but I realy needed the legging's for work, so I'll start again, from today, been sorting my cupboard out and trying to meal plan[ not good at meal planning my mind keep's going blank and I can think of 1 or 2 dish's]

I struggle too with meal planning. What I find helpful is looking at the weekly meal plan thread on old style for inspiration, and also at the recipe thread at the start of the current grocery challenge thread. Also as I am now going to try and use up my food stock it helps.

Been a busy bee today and made dinner for tuesday as I look after my mum on tuesdays and thursdays to give dad a break from being a full time carer. Not that i mind as i love being with mum and of course dad. Had homemade sweet potato and carrot soup from the freezer and leftovers from yesterday for tonight.

Jackie, your post had reminded me to check my sprouts to see if we can have them tonight.

What i need to concentrate on next is using the slow cooker as I understand it is more economical to use than the cooker.

Off to look for some slow cooker recipes that I can try out starting Wednesday.

Have a nice evening.

Need2bthrifty

Day 3 for me and another day good ticking things off my “to do” list – I’ve spent most of the day reviewing and planning my annual budget (SOA type thing)….:( groan, then some filing, shredding and a bit of de-cluttering, still need to go through CC and DC statements with a fine tooth comb and review my spending habits, at least doing the GC I have a second purse going again – so all in a good day.

Still working through the contents of my fridge and used the l/o asparagus tart for lunch. My broccoli & stilton souffl! tonight was absolutely delicious, I adapted a recipe from delia’s one is fun, but omg…..who is she feeding, the jolly green giant, the portion is HUGE – half the salad I had prepared to go with it ended back in the fridge and I only used half a head of broccoli to boot - so may end up making soup after all if I don’t get my thinking cap on.