2014 Frugal Living Challenge

skintygerlinky

Morning Frugalites xx

Some fab posts on here already today!! Happy Sunday everyone.
I've just re-arranged my wardrobe so encourage me to wear some items that never seem to see the light of day! Really don't want to spend ANY money on clothes this year so will do anything to keep that commitment up!

Anyway, lets have a song - a lovely tune for all Frugalites here, to show appreciation for the support we give each other and our overwhelming optimism!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LanCLS_hIo4

[Deleted User]

Frugalsod wrote: »

I found that it even beats SM pizza for taste even the premium brands. So I now very rarely buy pizza, preferring to make it instead. I found that using supermarket basic mozzarella is just as good.

Agreed, I doubt if we will buy a SM pizza again. We used the 44p mozzarella from Lidl with some cheddar and it tasted fab.

DawnW

NSD here today, which is just as well as I spent more than I intended yesterday at the supermarket :eek:

Still, I did buy, along with (too) much else, some ingredients to put with things I already have, that need using up! So, today I have made: a quiche, using up 2 leftover rashers of bacon, 2 mushrooms, half a leftover onion and some slightly OOD cream

Also an apple pie, using up 2 wrinkly apples from the fruit bowl and some of the excess pastry from the quiche. I also shoved in half a small tin of pears which were lurking in the fridge ; two lemon drizzle cakes, to use up 1 shrivelled lemon and half a lime, 8 mince pies to finish off the pastry, with some mincemeat left over from Xmas, and a huge pan of chilli, using some of my carrot mountain and a leftover pepper.

We had a slice of the quiche with some salad that needed using for lunch

OH is going to cook a big joint of pork for this evening which DD and her OH will no doubt turn up to help eat. There will be plenty of cold meat left over for another meal, sandwiches etc. though. So, not much cooking needed for the rest of the week after today

I have also rushed out between showers of rain to clean out the chickens' nest box, to hopefully give them ideas about starting laying again :rotfl:I still need to go out and clear up some doggy poos though, as OH hasn't been clearing them up daily this week The dog gets taken out, but is getting old and seems to prefer going in the garden these days.

I also have the kitchen floor to clean after all that cooking, and will put on the dehydrator to dry off a load of chillis that have started to dry on the plant, and give the plant a bit of a tidy up and feed. I love chilli plants! Perhaps I will start off by doing that, to hopefully motivate me to do the other 2 jobs :rotfl:

[Deleted User]

Just_be wrote: »

Yes! I totally agree that this thread and the people posting on it are so encouraging and inspiring. What I like the most is that you guys actually care and understands the significance of a NSD or sticking to the shopping budget- people in my real life, lovely as they are, just don't seem interested! It's so nice to have support

Me too, I love the support on this thread - its great to be able to be in contact with like-minded people. My family, friends and colleagues all tend to shop at M&S which I wouldn't unless it was a very special occasion or they had a great offer on, and think I am slightly mad for trying my frugal lifestyle.

My mum has recently started shopping at Lidl which is just about 3 mins walk from her home. She used to do her weekly shop in M&S which involved a 10 mile drive to the shop each way. She was telling me on the phone how she has found the stuff in Lidl to be good quality and that she thinks its better for her to buy the bag of oranges at 69p per bag in Lidl rather than 55p per orange as she used to. What has produced this change in her I do not know. I have been telling her this for years:D.

[Deleted User]

NSD planned here to today. OH and I had a lovely walk this morning - think we got the best of the weather as it is now very wet and very windy.

We did spent some cash yesterday - I treated myself to a book called 'F**k it therapy'. I am about a third of the way through and it has really helped my state of mind. Worth every penny.

I had the dentist yesterday and she has said I need to have a filling re-done which will cost £55. I couldn't get the appt to have it done until March 1st though. I will have a £30 spend at the hygienist on Thursday though.

Dinner today is slow cooker chicken curry with some tinned fruit to follow.

quidsy

I buy morrisons 00 pizza base flour, 500g for 47p. Makes 4 large piza bases. You can freeze it once it has been proved and it defrosts fine. I then get lidl or aldi full fat mozzarella and use sun dried tomato paste as a base, add ham, chopped mushrooms and whatever else is on hand cover with grated Cheddar and it makes a pizza far superior in taste to any takeaway.

cydney65

Fell off the wagon spectacularly yesterday! I have ordered yet MORE jeans costing £54.99 Tried to cancel it this morning but they have already been dispatched arghhhh. I have such a weakness for jeans probably because I find it hard to get ones to fit my height and leg length (6ft tall and 34" inside leg). I will try them on and if they fit I will have to sell a couple of other pieces of clothing to pay for them.

Dinner is rice and what ever we can find in the bottom of the fridge. Need to reign the grocery spends in as well as have spent over £130 on food this month :eek:

DawnW

quidsy wrote: »

I buy morrisons 00 pizza base flour, 500g for 47p. Makes 4 large piza bases. You can freeze it once it has been proved and it defrosts fine. I then get lidl or aldi full fat mozzarella and use sun dried tomato paste as a base, add ham, chopped mushrooms and whatever else is on hand cover with grated Cheddar and it makes a pizza far superior in taste to any takeaway.

Thanks, I will have to look for that when I go to Morrisons again (it is about 10 miles away so I don't go often). I haven't done pizzas for a while.

On that topic though, has anyone tried Nigella's naan bread pizzas? Not as cheap as HM, but delicious and takes about 10 minutes from start to finish, so ideal for a treat if you are late home

pm2326

DawnW wrote: »

Thanks, I will have to look for that when I go to Morrisons again (it is about 10 miles away so I don't go often). I haven't done pizzas for a while.

On that topic though, has anyone tried Nigella's naan bread pizzas? Not as cheap as HM, but delicious and takes about 10 minutes from start to finish, so ideal for a treat if you are late home

I always make naan bread pizza's as I have a halogen oven and it never seems to crisp up the normal pizza bases properly (didn't realise nigella had a recipe though :rotfl: )

I just top them with whatever needs using up, my favourite is chicken with pepperoni or chorizo and grated cheese on the top. As you say, takes minutes to cook.

COOLTRIKERCHICK

allie23 if your mum is anything like my mam, she doesn't listen to me, as I am her daughter, and mam allways knows best lol...


The main thing is, it might have taken years for it to sink in, but she is now shopping somewhere a lot cheaper, PLUS she does not need to use the car to get there, so saving on fuel etc...


Its so hard, and this weather isn't helping.. I know I have no right really to moan about this constant rain when other people have been flooded and their livestock sold/gone elsewhere, and the financial damage it is doing/done to them... BUT I really cant stand it any more... we got to buy another pig arc, as one of the shelters we have, is not doing well in this weather.. An necessity spend, but one I could have done without at the mo....


So good job.. I am well stocked up on food, and I only need to buy basic essentials....