The Crumpet family's journey to Mortgage Freedom:-)

RoaringTwenties

Sorry Crumpets, I was shattered last night & lgp has expressed what I was trying to say much better than I managed (thanks lgp ) That's just it, you're doing grand feeding a family of five given the cost of living :T

Crumpets

You're right there isn't much I can do about the grocery shopping, apart from making things like pizza ourselves, that is something to work on. I could do with a dough recipe where I can make a big batch and freeze it in portions.

We certainly have made the most of he holidays RT:T I'm absolutely shattered now! Today we have traipsed round a local NT proerty doing an Easter egg hunt and then sat in a Marquee type thing having a picnic despite it pouring down with rain we all had a good time, the kids even enjoyed playing on the play area we're all drying off now with hot chocolates in front of the fire:T I think I may have a look on eBay for some waterproof trousers for the kds as I think we'll get a lot of use out of them. It was a LSD, spent the last of my sundries money on drinks for us all so the rest of the weekend will have to no spend

Not much else planned for the weekend, I think it will be low key, with a bit of baking to make sure we have things for packed lunches next week. Dd also has her holiday homework to complete but other than that we will be chilling out :cool:

We've had our electricity bill in today and we are £55 in debit :eek: dh wants to have a look at getting solar panels, which I'd Love but I'm just not sure about the cost. We need to do a bit of research I think.

Crumpets x

littlegreenpeas

Crumpets are you food cupboards and freezer cleared on a monthly basis ? When I do this we save money but I am rubbish at doing it x

littlegreenpeas

Thanks rt I'm not normally good at explaining things. Lgp

Pearla*Merle

Epic Easter hols, Crumpets! Time for a holiday to recover?!

Seriously, sounds like you've all had a fabulous time :T

Crumpets

I definitely need a holiday to recover P*M...preferably without the children :rotfl:

Good point LGP, no I don't do that, when I do the meal plan for the week I tend to just think of 7 meals and get the ingredients I do try to use what we've got it but it's usually from memory rather than going through everything and meal planning from that. I'll give that a try this week. I also got the Economy gastronomy cook book from the library the other day after reading Tilly recommend it on her thread so I'm hoping that could save us a few £ too:T

Today has been a NSD :T I did find £2:30 around the house so i have a bit of cash just in case, but I'm hoping not to spend it we went to look at some wood burning stoves this morning as my dad is very kindly going to buy us one out of the proceeds from my grandads house sale we saw a really nice one and it was in the sale too:T, we haven't brought it yet but will probably go and snap it up tomorrow or Monday. Then we just need to get a quote for having it fitted (dad's paying for that too :T)

The children have driven me absolutely potty today so I'm so glad they're in bed now and I'm enjoying a nice glass of Pinot

littlegreenpeas

Try Jamie's money saving meals as well. It's in the same frame of mind. X

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS

Hi Crumpet, I like both Economy Gastronony and Jamie's MS books. I think they help you to change the approach to menu planning and make the food stretch. I must admit both books make 'assumptions' re how much we have to spend on ingredients.

I never (or very very rarely) have wastage anymore and keeping a freezer and larder inventory and planning once a month has genuinely saved me/us a fortune. I've started talking about menu planning at work and a couple of people are having a go. Given these are two who buy their lunches every day, and worry about being in debt, I'm really pleased.

Good luck with your planning and I hope it helps.

Best wishes Tilly x

greent

I personally have a mental block about clearing my cupboards etc on a monthly basis - I think it goes back to when I was a child and if we ran out of something that was it until Friday which was payday & shopping day. There wasn't any real choice of foods and certainly no extras for if you had the munchies (although that's a plus point for waistlines!!) I'm less of a hoarder now than I was, and it's rare I have any food waste. I actually have a small amount of space in my kitchen freezer at the moment and am trying to see it as a positive move rather than feeling the need to re-fill it when I go tp the supermarket later!!


I am good at using stuff up though without wastage - mainly because DS1 and myself between us will happily eat most things in strange combinations to use them all up!


I only tend to meal plan one or two days in advance - but I have the advantage of not going out to paid work, so I have the time to faff around. I'm considering returning to some form of paid employment, so would probably change this approach then!


I also agree with the cost of groceries - the 'feed a family of 4 for £40 a week' idea just seems impossible to me (although I'd need £60 a week then!) - I actually find the portions aren't large enough for my teenagers, nor are there enough snacks to keep everyone fuelled (it's like a plague of locusts when my 4 get in from school - and they have very healthy lunchboxes - in terms of content and amount - they eat a lot!) Plus they are not a massive veggie meals fan - I have 2 VERY committed meat eaters! I rarely buy meat full price, though - it's usually yellow stickered I attempt £100/ week - but nowadays rarely meet this - although that does cover toiletries, cleaning products, guinea pig food,,snacks out and Sunday newspapers - perhaps I should try tracking just food!


x

RoaringTwenties

Hi Crumpets, well done you for wringing every drop out of the holiday time and budget :money:. Tomorrow will seem very peaceful if the older ones are back in nursery/school?!

I got waterproof trousers for DS a few years ago, they were a really good purchase, he wore them for years as he's a scrawny thing and has never really had a bum By the end they were so short he looked a bit like a Bay City Roller [STRIKE]if anyone's heard of them[/STRIKE] :rotfl:

I concur with you & greent I have to say on the grocery shopping! There are four of us, I budget £100 per week for all food, household/cleaning and a meal out at our fave happy hour restaurant and every penny goes. I meal plan 7 days in advance - my head would explode if I tried to cover a month! I also find it easier to get as many different things in our diet across a week - different meat/carbs etc. I buy very little in that we won't use up in say, 2 months, and I don't buy special offers unless I know they'll be incorporated into a future weeks' meal plan. I do buy fish and meat if on offer, and freeze it in portions. I keep an emergency drawer of fishfingers/hash browns and a block of ice cream in the freezer, and when I make a casserole/cheese pie etc I freeze a portion for OH to take for lunch one day. Neither of my kids or my OH like fruit which drives me :eek: so I gave up arguing with them and bought a whole fruit juicer years ago, I'm on my third one now and they are brilliant for getting 5 a day into fruitphobics (although again, 3 melons, 3 pineapples, a stack of apples/pears and berries are not cheap!) I'm at home so I have time to bake, I prefer to know what the kids are eating cos there's such a lot of rubbish in shop-bought confectionery. I do believe that we are what we eat, so I don't buy cheap food, and other than the aforementioned items we don't eat processed food. I just buy good quality and make every scrap work for us. But it's certainly not easy these days

How exciting about your stove :T. That sounds very homely. We have an aged gas fire that looks like something a family watched Noel's House Party round about 20 years ago :rotfl:

Hope the routine gets off to a good start tomorrow x