How To Be Old Style

nedster_2

Hi guys,

i've been lurking around for a while now but havn't posted anything..

i was just wondering, alot of the old style advice seem to be centred around cutting food costs etc by bulk buying/freezing.

what advice is there for someone who only has an ice box, the place is too small for a large fridge/freezer and i am having to buy fresh food and veg every couple of days..you honestly dont want to know what my monthly food bill is for 2....seriously

any help will be much appreciated

mioliere

nedster wrote: »

Hi guys,

i've been lurking around for a while now but havn't posted anything..

i was just wondering, alot of the old style advice seem to be centred around cutting food costs etc by bulk buying/freezing.

what advice is there for someone who only has an ice box, the place is too small for a large fridge/freezer and i am having to buy fresh food and veg every couple of days..you honestly dont want to know what my monthly food bill is for 2....seriously

any help will be much appreciated

Hi nedster - have a look at the OS Daily Thread - you'll find a lot of us doing things OS and succeeding in eating healthily and saving money. It's a great thread with lovely people on it who will give you plenty of advice and direct you to where all the recipes are on MSE as well as other money-saving tips and ideas and you'll get to know us! Come and join us - we have a thread every day - you won't regret it! I look forward to seeing your post on there tomorrow! You'll find it on 'new posts'; it's called 'OS Daily Thread followed by the date'.

troll35

Have you got room for a small freezer elsewhere in your home?

I'm sure with a bit of planning you do a weekly shop and manage to make a range of healthy (and possible low cost) meals that would fit in your fridge and icebox.

eg. 500g mince, onion, dry fry together in a pan, then split in half.
1st half becomes a 2 portion cottage pie when you add some gravy, and top with mashed potato.(I also add mushrooms and carrots)
2nd half can become 2 portions of bolognese if you add tinned tomatoes, peppers, mushrooms, oregano and garlic and served with pasta.

Both of these once cooked will last 3 days in a fridge or about a fortnight in an icebox (I think - you may have to see what * rating your icebox has)

I'm sure this is just the tip of the iceberg and lots of other OSers will have ideas for how you can manage on a budget when you don't have much storage/fridge space.

dannahaz

Hi Nedster

Welcome, and thank you for posting.

If you don't have any freezing capability at all then I think you'll still find lots of help, especially on the Daily thread. The guys there seem to be able to make mouthwatering meals out of all sorts of storecupboard ingredients.

Oh, and we'll also give you lots of OS tips that doin't involve food. Be prepared to learn how you can clean everything in your home with just a bottle of Stardrops, a bottle of white vinegar, and a couple of microfibre cloths. No longer will you spend a fortune on Cillit Bang, Flash, Dettol, Loo cleaner, Cif, and all those other chemicals in your cupboard.

Looking forward to seeing you there xxxx
Hazel

nedster_2

thanks guys,

i hope i will learn lots of new stuff!! things are mad for me right now, both me and other half are fulltime students and we both work p/t too, so time is of the essence, becuase of this we either eat out at canteens etc or pop into asda on the way home from either uni/work-we always end up picking things up that we don't need, and never seem to have any thing in. I know meal planning is the way forward, but it's such a struggle!!

i will visit the daily OS thread for tips and advice on all things..

we're in a 1 bed flat at the mo and looking at buying when we have a decent deposit saved, so even more reason to save money on food bills. the flat is quite small and we have absolutely no space for anything

thankyou all for the replies though, mioliere, i wont be online tomorrow, but will definately post on the daily thread soon,

thanks again

nedster :-)

mioliere

Look forward to your first post!

Gingham_Ribbon

Welcome to old style!

I found a couple of older threads about not having a freezer:
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=235969&highlight=freezer
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=224738

I don't use my freezer much any more, although I do put leftovers in it if I'm not using them within a couple of days and I need it to freeze the water for my condenser tumble drier. I tend to make fairly quick meals as I need them. Soup is quick and easy, as are pasta dishes and lots of veggie dishes. You could have a look at these 2 vegetarian meal planners for ideas as there are some quick meals in there.
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=399846
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=257885

This is a fantastic index of previous menu planner threads we've had.
And the recipes collection is very comprehensive.

Oh, All the bits in blue are links to other threads. Just click on them. (Aren't the links underlined anymore?!)

apple_mint

Welcome to OS nedster. Don't panic about not having a freezer nedster, a lot of people don't - it just takes a different way of looking at your storage. For example:

Dried foods: cous cous is quick and cheap. It takes 5 minutes to reconstitute (put in a bowl, pour over some hot stock ... made with marigold boullion or a stock cube). Serve it with whatever you have ... sausages, a stir fry of veggies and a little chicken or whatever. Any left overs can go in the fridge and be used cold next day (lovely for lunch). There's also pasta, rice, bulgar wheat etc.

Tinned foods: these are handy standby's for when you haven't had time to shop. E.g. tinned tuna, pulses (chickpeas etc), and tomatoes (I use tinned toms in lots of meals and buy them in bulk ). A quick pasta topping is a couple of onions gently sauted (not browned) in a little oil, add some tinned tomotoes (chop them up a bit if they are not chopped), a sprinke of dried herbs and gently reduce. Pour over the top of your cooked pasta on the plate. You can experiment with the base flavours with whatever you have - throwing in some chopped pepper, diced bacon or mushrooms etc as you are frying the mushrooms.

We were in a bit of a rush yesterday lunch time and I threw together for each of us:

a jacket potato (10 minutes in microwave)

over which was poured a mix comprised of:

diced onion, pepper, and bacon fried gently in a little oil
to which a tin of baked beans was added
all gently heated together in the pan

It was delicious .. real comfort food :-) ... and cheap. None of which required a freezer. There were no left overs

Edimew

Gingham_Ribbon wrote: »

Welcome to old style!
I need it to freeze the water for my condenser tumble drier.

I hope you don't mind me asking but what's this about. I have a condenser drier and we use the water to water our plants (small balcony) are there other uses?

MATH

The easiest way to be truely OS is to spend 18 hours a day reading and posting on this board while your house goes to rack and ruin and your children grow gaunt with hunger.:rotfl:

Gingham_Ribbon

Edimew wrote: »

I hope you don't mind me asking but what's this about. I have a condenser drier and we use the water to water our plants (small balcony) are there other uses?

The condenser works by the hot air from the drier hitting the ice and cooling down, forming water again. At the end of the cycle we have water again, most of which gets refrozen for next time. Does yours not work like that?