Is frugal the new normal?

Popperwell

I have a kind of foodbank which I started for the times when
a)I worried my income would stop/be too low(and I still never know what's around the corner with this government)

b)mobility issues means sometimes its a struggle to go out

c)if the weather is bad especially in Winter I can stay indoors

d)I tend to usually only buy frozen or fresh food on a regular bases

e)if its tinned or sealed food I have a variety of items and can choose what I want on the day

f)I don't need to buy too often because as long as I can stay where I am and they don't make me move I have a big supermarket, a discount supermarket and a frozen food store within 5 mins of my home so I can leave much food in their freezers/on the shelves until I need it.

Regarding the using of food and avoiding waste the following is quite a good article.
http://www.fao.org/zhc/detail-events/en/c/286563/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social+media&utm_campaign=FAOnews&utm_content=ac

I do think for many if you've been brought up in a home where food was scarce for various reasons people may be more likely to store it. However, talking to a few people over the months anecdotally there are many who do store food or after talking of doing so say they are going to. Often if they have family or friends it gets shared with others.

I'd happily share but being single and with many neighbours being families it doesn't happen. I sometimes wish that we had some kind of network where we share meals when we cook too much. Or could share the task to avoid cooking every day, it may even save each of us some money.


We don't always want to and like our own company but it could even mean that as you share your food, you mix with others and socialise. Either just by having a talk with someone as you take the food around or you could actually stay and eat the meal with them. Especially good if that person is alone and see few people.

grunnie

GreyQueen wrote: »

Suki, you don't have an excess of salmon, you have an insufficiency of cats.

If you don't have a cat, just open a tin of salmon out of doors and you'll soon find a furry friend will pop by looking hopeful.

haha read this just after I had a tuna sandwich and my stray cat got the last of the tin to eat:T
I don't think of myself as frugal I think of myself as thrifty ( or maybe they are the same thing).

GreyQueen

grunnie wrote: »

haha read this just after I had a tuna sandwich and my stray cat got the last of the tin to eat:T
I don't think of myself as frugal I think of myself as thrifty ( or maybe they are the same thing).

They do that thing with their eyes which hynotises you, don't they? The you-will-give-me-the-tuna-human 'fluence. The parental cats are so accustomed to tinned fish that they thing any can being opened presages a tasty treat; their disappointed little faces if it turns out to be baked beans, bless them.

I went to the tip this afternoon with two Ikeya bagfuls of seeding weeds like fat hen etc, and spotted a rather nice wicker laundry basket perched in the timber bay. Perfect nick. You're not supposed to take anything out of this tip but it was so excellent that I had to be cheeky and ask if I could have it. And I could.:j

It's parked in the bath tub drip drying after a wash and brush up. I shall stand it in the sitting-room to keep my yarn stash in, which is currently in a bin bag and the linen bin.

I may or may not be 'normal', depending on who you ask, but I am certainly thrifty.

pm2326

GreyQueen wrote: »

They do that thing with their eyes which hynotises you, don't they? The you-will-give-me-the-tuna-human 'fluence. The parental cats are so accustomed to tinned fish that they thing any can being opened presages a tasty treat; their disappointed little faces if it turns out to be baked beans, bless them

this describes my cat perfectly....it doesn't matter where he is. Garden, upstairs, on the drive...if I open any type of tin, when I turn around he's normally sitting right behind me waiting to see what it is...he's even been fast asleep on sofa, dreaming about chasing something (you can tell by the varied leg movements) and he'll still be sitting behind me minutes later:rotfl::rotfl:

Nargleblast

Picture 2 cats asleep upstairs on a bed in Chateau Nargle.
Downstairs in the kitchen Nargleblast quietly picks up a bag of dried cat food, taking care not to rustle or rattle the contents. Immediately there is a bang on the ceiling followed by the thundering of paws down the stairs, along with the jingling of bells - no, not Santa's sleigh, just two very greedy mogs who can hear a bag of cat food being opened before it's opened......

pm2326

Nargleblast wrote: »

Picture 2 cats asleep upstairs on a bed in Chateau Nargle.
Downstairs in the kitchen Nargleblast quietly picks up a bag of dried cat food, taking care not to rustle or rattle the contents. Immediately there is a bang on the ceiling followed by the thundering of paws down the stairs, along with the jingling of bells - no, not Santa's sleigh, just two very greedy mogs who can hear a bag of cat food being opened before it's opened......

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

I made the mistake of storing catnip in an old margarine tub....can't make a sandwich now without company :rotfl:

GreyQueen

I'd only just pierced a tuna can with the can-opener, hadn't even turned the handle twice, and Wild Thing was standing on my foot gazing up at me in anticipation. Kicker was, she wasn't even in the house when I started opening that can............!

If tinned fish haven't been forthcoming in a few days, the cats feel that the haven't had their due. In lieu of speech, they will stand in front of the cupboard where the tinned fish live and stare at you significantly until you give in and open some for them. Manipulative little blighters.

[Deleted User]

I don't own a cat,or for that matter any animal,but my neighbour next door does, and her cat will sit hopefully gazing through my conservatory window in the summer on the windowsill if I happen to be sitting there eating anything fishy in a sandwich,tuna,salmon etc. As for fish pie I swear that cat knows when I'm making one.She always stretches out luxuriously on the patio when the sun is out sunning herself and now and again opens an eye to see if I'm likely to be giving her a morsel of my food (the cat ,not the neighbour) The reason I own no animals is because of my busy life and quite often I am not around to feed anything I'm sure it would worry me, and being tied to a routine is not for me.
Yet I do go and let my DDs two mutts out at lunchtime and make sure they have had their food at 5.30 every night.So I have the best of both worlds my DDs dogs and my neighbours cat :):)

Islandmaid

We now have 4 cats, most recently adopted a Mum and daughter from Cats protection, and the 2 boys we,ve had from kittens. The are still quiet guarded with each other - until tea time - as other,s have said they have a 6th sense and just know your about to serve up, and it's like a stampede....

Keeping it frugal - due to the increase in fur babies, I swapped to Aldo,s own tinned food - half the price to old brand, and they love it - bonus!

ivyleaf

GreyQueen wrote: »

They do that thing with their eyes which hynotises you, don't they? The you-will-give-me-the-tuna-human 'fluence. The parental cats are so accustomed to tinned fish that they thing any can being opened presages a tasty treat; their disappointed little faces if it turns out to be baked beans, bless them.

I went to the tip this afternoon with two Ikeya bagfuls of seeding weeds like fat hen etc, and spotted a rather nice wicker laundry basket perched in the timber bay. Perfect nick. You're not supposed to take anything out of this tip but it was so excellent that I had to be cheeky and ask if I could have it. And I could.:j

It's parked in the bath tub drip drying after a wash and brush up. I shall stand it in the sitting-room to keep my yarn stash in, which is currently in a bin bag and the linen bin.

I may or may not be 'normal', depending on who you ask, but I am certainly thrifty.

I had to open one of the emergency cans of Wh1skas the other day because the cat got so excited when he saw me pick up a can of soup.