Watering down milk.....

sammy_kaye18

hi peeps

ok here i smy question -i literally have £1 to last me until tuesday morning when my child benefit comes in.

Thing is we have alot of things, tinned beans, tinned veg, frozen veg etc - not alot of gas on the meter though (£2) and about £3 on the electric so i need to be super frugal if i can.

Anyway i am running low on bread, but i have no milk at all. I was just wondering if i brought full fat milk and diluted it with water - would it be ok and would it go that little bit further?? any ideas/experiences appreciated.

tru

I'd dilute it, half milk and half water. If you're used to semi or skimmed you won't notice but if you used to full fat it'll probably seem a bit weird at first lol.

Queenie

I've never diluted full fat milk, so I don't know how that would taste No reason why you couldn't try it.

I *do* know I've had tea and coffee black or resorted to plain water when things have been ultra tight and not enough milk to go around.

When you write out your shopping list next, have a look around for dried skimmed milk, worth having in the storecupboard. Now, I *have* diluted milk with dried milk and once it's well chilled, you don't really notice it.

As for the bread, do you have lots of pasta, rice, potatoes that you can use instead? Filling and cheap.

Queenie

sammy - how long with £3 on the electric meter last? How long will £2 on the gas meter last??

lil_me

I do without milk too if we're short, cereals included, just drink water instead of tea and coffee usually not keen without milk, have watered down full fat before without problems, pointless in tea/coffee etc just use less of it instead, use dried sometimes too kids don't mind it either if it's got a teensy bit milkshake in.

If the gas and electric gets very short (under 50p I think it is) I know it's a fib but you can tell the company you have lost the key/card and they'll usually come out and put emergency money on it and send you a new one. Ok it's a fib but something a friend of mine has done and got away with it, several times. Make sure everythings switched off when not in use, not on stand by etc, maybe use PC at library if needs be (saves your electric) £3 should last ok until then I think. Gas probably ok too as it's warm. I can only compare to friends usage who has one little one about same age as your DS and in a flat, she uses £6 a week electric and £4-5 gas when it's good weather so hope my esteimates are right. Would it be better for you to be on monthly DD payment with normal meters, prices are cheaper, then never a concern of running out of either. Especially with a little one in the house.

oldMcDonald

I often dilute to 1/2 milk 1/2 water when we get to the end of week. I try to put a bit by for my 3YO first as I believe that if they take milk under a certain age (I think 5?) then it is recomended that they have full cream, but everyone else has either my soya milk or the diluted stuff.

How long will the leccy / gas last? Do you have any emergency credit available? (I know this costs more, but if it is only for half a day or so and you dont have any to put on the key/card then there is little choice )

Is it possible to pop into a nearby shop / supermarket at about 5ish? Full fat milk freezes ok, and you may be able to pick up some coming to end of date (and some bread?) and stick it in the freezer to cover the next day or so - trying to get as much out of the £1 as poss?

Thinking of you - horrid feeling when you are on the last pennies and trying to get by.

webitha

ive had to do this and its not a problem

oh and make sure your freezers full put in bottles of water, bags of clothes (done this too) to fill it as it is more ecomnomical and uses less leccky when full

lil_me

Oh good tip with the freezer, never thought about that, I do it when running the freezer down or skint.

lynzpower

def try to get hold of some dried milk next time you are shopping. We buy the value one for the BM and Ive certainly used it in tea, for making white sauce, pancakes etc with. Its not the same on cereal, but in other things its fine.

lil_me

Another thought, if you have a weigh and save type store near by they usually do dried milk, that way you can buy less (enough to get through weekend) instead of a large box.

pol

Do you have a tin of evaporated milk in your storecupboard? This dilutes with one and a half tins of water to make the equivalent of fresh milk.

pol