Old Style in 2014?

Gwendolyn

I can't cook as such which makes OS hard for me. However, what I can do is feed my family from scratch ingredients - nothings a receipe, it's all random but it's food. My husband does most of the cooking - we do buy the odd quiche or pudding but mostly we buy raw cuts of meat and fresh fruit and veg. We also buy tinned tomatoes, beans and things like oats, flour and pearl barley. We keep chickens and grow fruit and veg.
In terms fo craft, I make do and mend where possible. However, I tend to find this works best with better quality items in the first place. Adjusting a well made wool skirt works better for me than adjusting a cheap skirt. So I buy quality pieces from ebay or charity shops! My children all wear hand-me-downs though I do have to buy a bit for my eldest.
I've tried to give away all my baby stuff recently but nobody was interested - there are at least 10 people having babies in the village in the next 8 weeks but they all want "new" which I think is understandable plus everyone gets given huge piles of things when they have a baby. So I have taken all the fabric items to be recycled at the tip.

Florenceem

Gwendolyn wrote: »

I can't cook as such which makes OS hard for me. However, what I can do is feed my family from scratch ingredients - nothings a receipe, it's all random but it's food. My husband does most of the cooking - we do buy the odd quiche or pudding but mostly we buy raw cuts of meat and fresh fruit and veg. We also buy tinned tomatoes, beans and things like oats, flour and pearl barley. We keep chickens and grow fruit and veg.
In terms fo craft, I make do and mend where possible. However, I tend to find this works best with better quality items in the first place. Adjusting a well made wool skirt works better for me than adjusting a cheap skirt. So I buy quality pieces from ebay or charity shops! My children all wear hand-me-downs though I do have to buy a bit for my eldest.
I've tried to give away all my baby stuff recently but nobody was interested - there are at least 10 people having babies in the village in the next 8 weeks but they all want "new" which I think is understandable plus everyone gets given huge piles of things when they have a baby. So I have taken all the fabric items to be recycled at the tip.

Did your local charity shops not want the baby stuff?

bladerunner73

Another option for giving unwanted bits away is Facebook, in my local area we have several groups where people post things for free or post if they are in need of something so far it seems to work quite well.

Angel_Jenny

My sort of old style is a bit of the sort of make do and mend, using things up, buying less, and simplicity, plus a little bit of Kirsty Allsopp / twee on top!

One of my resolutions is to learn to cook - and to be confident about it! Even if I just have a couple of recipes that I know I can do and that I know turn out well I would be happy. I have a bad habit of deciding I won't be capable of something before I even try it ....

Made beef stew and cheesy herb dumplings yesterday which turned out pretty well and I want to get the slow cooker that belongs to my parents out of the back of the cupboard where it has lived for a few years.

Frugalsod

Angel_Jenny wrote: »

My sort of old style is a bit of the sort of make do and mend, using things up, buying less, and simplicity, plus a little bit of Kirsty Allsopp / twee on top!

One of my resolutions is to learn to cook - and to be confident about it! Even if I just have a couple of recipes that I know I can do and that I know turn out well I would be happy. I have a bad habit of deciding I won't be capable of something before I even try it ....

Made beef stew and cheesy herb dumplings yesterday which turned out pretty well and I want to get the slow cooker that belongs to my parents out of the back of the cupboard where it has lived for a few years.

My suggestion is to think about what is irrelevant in some recipes. I have looked at quite a few in the last few months and found that so many have added things more as a copyright issue rather than essential to the recipe. For example I made a cream of tomato soup, and missed out three ingredients and still cannot work out why they were in the recipe to start with? If you can see something that is superfluous then it makes it even cheaper and without ruining the taste.

Uniscots97

OS for me this year is definitely trying to make more from scratch, I got into a bad habit of eating out every weekend with OH. Its not on, can't afford it at the moment as my job finished just before Christmas.

Frugalsod

unixgirluk wrote: »

OS for me this year is definitely trying to make more from scratch, I got into a bad habit of eating out every weekend with OH. Its not on, can't afford it at the moment as my job finished just before Christmas.

My efforts are currently around making more food from scratch. My current objective is to eliminate as many processed foods from my diet as practical. I am not doing too bad so far. One thing that I have discovered is that as I cut the processed foods out the food bill is falling and I can actually use some of those savings to improve the quality of the food I buy.

HOWMUCH

I have always what use to be termed as careful with money, but this year I'm going to be very frugal. I knit and sew, going to teach myself crochet. I cook all our meals from scratch. I'm hoping to semi-retire next year when I'm 60, dam and blast the government for changing the state pension age for me to 66.

Uniscots97

Thanks Frugalsod, at the moment for us cooking from scratch means not spending as much money as we simply don't have it at the moment (although I am getting interviews now).


Howmuch, my Mum is the same age as you. She's wanted to retire for a couple of years and finally retired a few weeks ago. She worried about money but decided she was better off out of where she was working. She shops in Aldi, barters for some goods in her local community (i.e. my Mum can sew and they have hens so eggs or sewing get swapped for fish, beef, milk etc).

[Deleted User]

I have always been a frugal sort ,being brought up during and after WW2 meant not knowing anything other than rationing and making do and mending.My late Mum taught me to cook and knit and I can turn up trousers and sew a button on at a pinch but to me a sewing machine is a whole other country.luckily my oldest friend is excellant at sewing and tailoring so I will bake for her (which she hates,but likes the end results, and she will sew stuff for me) I think a lot of people will be tightening their belts even more this year as the results of the flooding on the food supply start to bite .I know we're not self-sufficient in the Uk for food but a lot of stuff that we enjoy will become more expensive as we will have to import it.Animal feed will rise in price and the farmers already hit by rising costs will struggle to raise cheap crops.So more home baking will happen I think and for a lot of people streeetching their pound will become a way of life ,as it is for many now