Mr and Mrs K's New Journey to a Debt Free Life.

Granariesgirl

:TI'm with you all the way on supporting local business, Alex! :T

I actually find that the local butchers / fishmongers / farm shop etc. is not more expensive than the equivalent in a supermarket unless you're buying unidentifiable meat labelled as beef or whatever but actually God knows what... but then we don't mind eating the cheaper cuts of a good quality locally reared & killed animal.

Our meat is mostly bred or caught & killed within the county (including the fish) - less suffering for the animals & better taste for us. Eggs are from a mile away; milk, cream & butter, 2 miles. Yes it is more expensive than supermarket's cheapest but it supports local business & we know it's not adulterated with unidentifiable carp in order to make a fat profit for the shareholders... (dioxins in your milk anyone? mmmm! )

If we support our local farmers, they won't go out of business, jobs will stay local & their land won't be sold to build dormitory "executive" estates for the nearest city - everyone wins - except the developers of course!!:D
Also if you buy local produce & support local jobs, there will be less local people on the dole with all the hardships & social problems that brings; & you will be paying less taxes to pay to support them while eating better food...
SO BUY LOCAL AS MUCH AS YOU CAN!:D

Remember everyone, something like 70p of every pound spent with a local company stays local. Can you say the same for Tesco, Amazon et al?

Right, now just let me tidy away my soapbox & normal service will be resumed...:cool:

AlexLK

heartbreak_star wrote: »

Soup's dead easy - I didn't realise how easy till I tried! Put things into pot. Make stock with stock cube (I like chicken stock). Add to pot with a spoonful of veg bouillon. Wait. Blend with stick blender A favourite of mine is a carton of chopped tomatoes, a diced red pepper or two, and a spoonful of hot chilli powder!

Supermarket meat's fine, I eat it practically every day. Butcher meat is too expensive near me so it's a treat.

Actually Alex, I've just thought...the wine-loving side of you might approve of this - I have 5 (uh, 4 1/2 now ) bottles of delicious Chardonnay in my fridge for the princely sum of £8. Yes, the homebrew worked!! And it's REALLY nice.

Apparently my friend made a great blackcurrant wine from Ribena so I'm going to try that too, and also Wilko's black cherry red.

Maybe I should take a tip from you and go self-employed with a microbrewery

HBS x

HBS: Bring me some of that delicious sounding homemade soup along with a bottle of your homebrew. I'll tell you if it's any good or not.

Seriously, thanks; I'll have a go at some soup one day and make Mrs. K. take it with her to work ... just to see her horrified face.

hohum wrote: »

Hi Alex, just wanted to chime in re food shop reducing. I am a big foodie and there are some things I won't scrimp on, however Asda, poundshops and the local market do see me right.

I feed two of us on £150 a month which includes our lunches. I could probably make it less but frankly I prefer to prioritise having some nice stuff.

My menu for this week is:

Spinach and cottage cheese lasagne (cheaper version of spinach and ricotta lasagne)
French onion tart ( pizza dough pastry) with tomato salad.
Kedgeree.
Home cooked ham, salad & lentilles vertes.
Home made jerk chicken, salad and festival dumplings
Pasta and chickpea tomato sauce

And last week included cheese souffle, persian chicken with saffron rice pilaf, minced turkey kofte with homemade naan & herbed couscous, chilli salad bowls and...beans on toast!

I never throw food away, it either gets frozen or I take it for my lunch at work. Or I make big portions and we eat it. That's the problem

I will admit I spend quite a bit of time cooking, probably more than others but I enjoy it.

It's totally possible though to keep enjoying nice stuff, you just have to shift a little. If you buy at a butchers it might be moving from prepared cuts eg chicken breast, to the whole bird. If you're up for jointing a chicken yourself this definitely is a cost effective way of using it. You get stock plus 2 meals for 2 people from a small chicken (£3 from the butchers in my local market, probably £5 elsewhere). Or don't joint and you have roast chicken 1 meal, chicken leftovers second meal, stock and soup third meal.

I won't lie, there are some foods that end up being occasional rather than regulars. I haven't had steak in blummin ages. I do miss it! And celeriac and fennel, I definitely can only have in season now. Nuts I don't eat as often as I'd like as they're pricy. If I do have them it's in something else rather than a snack. Cheese I stick to more standard varieties, would happily eat the stinky unpasteurised more often but difficult to justify budget wise. Prawns I eat less often. Smoked salmon is one of my 'only if it's on offer' foods. Parma ham, mostly because I eat it like a bag of crisps in slices and that is an expensive snack!

Meal planning is the key. And planning lunches too. It's a bit relentless when you have an erratic schedule but the savings are worth it.

I was also bought a breadmaker about 9 years ago which I totally recommend should you ever get your hands on one.The cost of the loaf is probably about the cost of cheap sliced bread, but the taste is of fancy bakery bread

Oh and poached egg on toast is a great option. Love eggs. Frittata, omelette, souffle, scrambled eggs....one of the best budget protein options!

Thank you for such an informative post, I will certainly take note. Your menu sounds very exotic, in fact I don't even know what some of the meals you mentioned are.

Granariesgirl wrote: »

:TI'm with you all the way on supporting local business, Alex! :T

I actually find that the local butchers / fishmongers / farm shop etc. is not more expensive than the equivalent in a supermarket unless you're buying unidentifiable meat labelled as beef or whatever but actually God knows what... but then we don't mind eating the cheaper cuts of a good quality locally reared & killed animal.

Our meat is mostly bred or caught & killed within the county (including the fish) - less suffering for the animals & better taste for us. Eggs are from a mile away; milk, cream & butter, 2 miles. Yes it is more expensive than supermarket's cheapest but it supports local business & we know it's not adulterated with unidentifiable carp in order to make a fat profit for the shareholders... (dioxins in your milk anyone? mmmm! )

If we support our local farmers, they won't go out of business, jobs will stay local & their land won't be sold to build dormitory "executive" estates for the nearest city - everyone wins - except the developers of course!!:D
Also if you buy local produce & support local jobs, there will be less local people on the dole with all the hardships & social problems that brings; & you will be paying less taxes to pay to support them while eating better food...
SO BUY LOCAL AS MUCH AS YOU CAN!:D

Remember everyone, something like 70p of every pound spent with a local company stays local. Can you say the same for Tesco, Amazon et al?

Right, now just let me tidy away my soapbox & normal service will be resumed...:cool:

Mother, is that you?

Seriously, thank you for a brilliant post sticking up for local business and the rural community.

Mind, I do not always pay for our food; our eggs come from next door and are entirely free of charge. Later on in the year most of our salad and veg will be too. Who said there was no such thing as a "free" lunch?

AlexLK

Monday 28th April, 2014.

Dear Diary,

Apologies in advance for this entry as my concentration to write an articulate entry still evades me. However, I will try.

Today has been rather busy with work and school. Fortunately, the kids weren't too bad today but hearing the news about the teacher in Leeds rather shocked me to say the least and my thoughts go out to her family this evening. I hope they lock the 15 year old that killed her away for a very long time.

In other news Mrs. K. came back bearing gifts and after thinking about the future on holiday told me I'm "not so bad". Well, don't go overboard, darling. Still, I'm glad she's back and I look forward to not going to bed alone tonight. You at the back stop smirking, she's got an interview tomorrow and no, before you ask, I am not frightened of the dark, either.

Summary:
-£0.00 NSD. Yes, really.

Yours Faithfully,
Alex.

7roland8

Ah well 'not so bad' Alex - what can I say....!!

AlexLK

Roland: :rotfl:.

Not sure where my day is going today; 1pm and got nothing done that I needed to towards the business as I've been dealing with sourcing instruments for pupils. There is an awful lot of rubbish out there. :mad:

Mrs. K. has had her interview and it looks rather promising from what she's told me, funny how she wants me when she has nobody else to talk to (told work she was "going to the dentist").

dawnybabes

Perhaps absence made the heart grow stronger :-)

heartbreak_star

Aw Alex, regarding your work with the school, watch Coach Carter, (some of) Freedom Writers, Take the Lead (it's about dance - maybe relevant in a way?) and Dead Poets Society.

*wails into wine*

Had a bit of a "coach inspiration" film-a-thon, and thought of you too

HBS x

AlexLK

dawnybabes wrote: »

Perhaps absence made the heart grow stronger :-)

:rotfl: I wouldn't go that far in her case.

heartbreak_star wrote: »

Aw Alex, regarding your work with the school, watch Coach Carter, (some of) Freedom Writers, Take the Lead (it's about dance - maybe relevant in a way?) and Dead Poets Society.

*wails into wine*

Had a bit of a "coach inspiration" film-a-thon, and thought of you too

HBS x

Might just do that when I get a day off, was working until 9pm this evening. Not watched a film in a very long time.

AlexLK

Tuesday 29th April, 2014.

Dear Diary,

Once again my concentration is shot so this will be short and not so sweet but trying to update this on a daily basis to keep track of spending.

The fourth NSD was not to be. However, I reckon I've done well to get this far. I do listen to the advice I am given on here, even if it often takes me a while to act upon it; this past week or so I have been trying to use the car for less unessential journeys - getting shopping after seeing a customer or on the way to pick son up from nursery and I think it's working. Less miles on the LR, less diesel used.

Thanks for all the advice, even if it differs from my principles. I know that I'm never going to get anywhere with my life, nor that I will be able to influence Mrs. K. but it's good to know that I am beginning to live within my means. Here's to hoping it carries on.

Summary:
+£60.00 Music Teaching.
-£2.00 Bakery.

Yours Faithfully,
Alex.

Iwillsucceed_2

Hello Alex!

I was about to go to bed after researching e-journals rather unsuccessfully when I decided to visit you :-) I had a quick read through your posts and let me tell you that you brought a smile in my face! I am also very proud of you that I want to give you a big hug for making such a big progress! For changing slowly your attitude, for becoming more optimistic and positive, for trying...just for trying...
Look at the amount of debt you have! Wow is has gone down! I am almost in as much as debt as you are oops (not panicking though :-) ) ha ha ha ...Where there is a will, there is a way!!

Night,night and sleep tight!