Fiscal Fast – 7 days no spending (at all)

Frugalsod

peony40 wrote: »

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.

One thing that I found that works well is a chilli, with lots of veg. I make mine a little on the watery side so that it does not burn so easily, as it can circulate. The excess liquid actually makes great soup. I use a ladle or scruddle to get the excess liquid out first and that goes into soup containers and if you take out as much liquid then it can get to the right consistency. I tried with a small slow cooker but found that a large slow cooker gave me plenty of soups and even more chilli which I can then freeze. I am also looking into a dehydrator to make some for camping trips.

camNolliesMUMMY

I'm wanting to have another attempt at this but because I have little ones I've aimed for 5-6 days at a time to start with. I'm on day 3 I will need milk tomorrow and bread but I've just found some expired wholemeal bread flour in the cupboard (oct 2013) going to dig my bread maker out tomorrow and make a loaf, just hope it comes out ok?

I've been scrimping on food, leftovers either eaten or frozen but will get used in the next week.

I do need peas which I will need to get but washing up liquid can wait till shop day on Thursday so I'm gonna top it up with a abit of bubble bath?

So far it's really opened my eyes!
I've even started putting my tea bag in a bowl for a free second cuppa lol

I'm also trying to use the separate purse technique. I've got £3.86 left in my grocery account £5 I've just counted in 5p, 10p's & 20p's hubby has £2 in his car. This should be plenty to last till Thursday. He has my joint bank account card which bills and wages go into we've both agreed to not use the account. Tax credits go in my account I save £30 behind for shopping a week and transfer the rest to our joint account. What we've decided is if any thing is left over the day before hubby gets paid it goes into another account for emergencies or towards paying off something.

I just hope we can stick to this! We've got a lot of outgoings as we are renting our council flat but we've bought a house that's being renovated. We will hopefully move at the end of the month but finances are tight at the moment.

boultdj

peony40 wrote: »

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.

Thanks for heads up on the weekly meal plan thread:) and I will also look at start of the grocery challange thread, see what I can use my mushy pea mountain in, apart from SW curry, and I'll apologise in advance for the extra wind coming from the midland's:D:o

[Deleted User]

I too have a mushy pea mountain from the Mushy Pea war last year between the big supermarkets.I have a stash I got at 3p a tin :):).
Day six today and another NSD as I am at DDs with my four DGS as its their last day of the school holidays .Far too wet'n' windy to go anywhere near a shop(not that i would as I really am shopping seriously from the cupboards.)
Dinner tonight is tuna and sweetcorn salad with yoghurt for pudding.
hang on to you pennies chums its going to be a long month
JackieO xxx

peony40

Good Morning,

Frugal, many thanks for the tips on using the slow cooker, i never would have thought of using the chilli liquid for a soup, excellent idea!

Boultdj, i have mushy peas too in the pantry to use up, got them a while back when they were ridiculously cheap in t*sco. I have never had them before but I did see a recipe on here that used them in a pea and ham soup. If i find it I'll let you know where you can find the recipe.

Hello Cam and need to be thrifty. It is nice to read everyones posts to know that i am not alone in doing a fiscal fast/watching the pennies.

Well today will be day 3 of my fiscal fast, although I am expecting my grocery shop that gift vouchers has paid for. So off to have breakfast shortly and then get going with general housework.

Hope you all have a good day.

Peony x

Need2bthrifty

Day 4 and motivation is still strong, despite or maybe because of doing a review of my annual budget yesterday.

My heart did sink….just for a moment today, when I thought I was going to have to go and buy 1 stamp to post a birthday card.…for goodness sake - 1 stamp.…but luckily I found one - all sad and lonely - in the Christmas card box :j.

Like JackieO I had been stockpiling and thought it’s time to make use of things, as long as I have 1 or 2 of each of the items I use regularly and replace when used then that is sufficient for me.

Today I’ve had some soup from the freezer for lunch; de-frosted a couple of chicken thighs – one to be stuffed with the last of the soft cheese and wrapped in prosciutto for dinner tonight and will just roast the other and have it cold with salad for lunch tomorrow.

catznine

I can't believe it's day 6 already! Today I had an unexpected extra guest for lunch but thankfully had made plenty of vegetable soup to go round but needed to pick up some bread rolls as had no time to bake any. Extra guest is diabetic so had to be careful about what was dished up. A large tin of apricot halves in fruit juice was found and plenty of tea and coffee, Think it went well! Phew!

Tonight was leftovers night, Mr Catz got the leftover stir fry so that is the last of the sprouts gone, they did n' t taste like sprouts iyswim just greens and the chilli and prawns were the main flavour so I would definitely use fresh sprouts in a stir fry again. I had leftover pasta with chopped oddments of veg, peppers, tomatoes, onions and some cheese, and chilli sauce for a kick, was quite nice! So a vegetarian day for me which makes tomorrow a fish day. I try to alternate a meat day, veg day and fish day every 3 days which helps me to menu plan. Last day tomorrow but will try to go longer as I had a couple of fails.

Catz x

Frugalsod

peony40 wrote: »

Good Morning,

Frugal, many thanks for the tips on using the slow cooker, i never would have thought of using the chilli liquid for a soup, excellent idea!

Glad you liked it. Try it and tell me what you think of it. Make it as spicy as you like.

The fact that you can drain as much excess liquid to make soup means that you can make the chilli to a consistency that you like. It also makes burnt slow cooker pot much less likely, and free soup as a double bonus.

You could also use the chilli in a lasagne if you are adventurous. I have not tried that yet, but am looking to make my own lasagne at some point.

boultdj

Yesterday and today out of the way and all pennies kept under lock and key.

Need2bthrifty

Day 5 :j – whilst having my yummy chicken salad lunch I decided to re-jig this weeks menu plan.

I had opened a packet of prosciutto to wrap around my stuffed chicken thigh for dinner last night and although I will freeze most of the packet I decided to use another 2 slices tonight along with a leftover egg yolk from earlier in the week when I made a broccoli souffl! and make a spaghetti carbonara type thingy along with some more of the broccoli, which is starting to go pale green but not quite yellow yet .

Working through my freezer stock list I now have lunches and dinners planned up to the 15th, that’s using up the soups and ready cooked meals I have – haven’t started on the uncooked meats yet .

I doubt that I will manage no-spending until then though - meeting a friend next week and we always do coffee/lunch whilst touring the charity shops :cool:

I’m on a mission now though - don’t know where this discipline/determination has come from - but going to give it my best shot.