A new leaf, feeling incredibly disgusted with myself.

AnnieO1234

Hi all,

I've been bobbling around the OldStyle board for a while on and off. I really need to get a handle on the food budget and more importantly waste. For the second time in six months I've disposed of an incredible amount of food from the fridge and freezer, totalling in the region of £500 worth.

It was a little over six months ago that a food bank opened up 30 seconds from my front door. I am ashamed.

On the plus side, going through one of the freezers has meant I've found weeks worth of food, but I am sick at myself for it.

So I'm trying to get back on the O/S wagon. Your thoughts and advice would be greatly appreciated. Xxx

Linda32

Okay, so first thoughts, what did you need to throw away and why?

Maybe finding that out might stop the problem happening in the future.

It sounds as if you need to break the habit of food shopping? how often do you go? how many people do you need to shop for?

AnnieO1234

2 adults, 2 kids.

Lots of stuff like yogurts/puddings/milk I can understand, but I've binned bacon, sausage, steaks, leftovers. Stuff that's been bought and forgotten.

I know I need to take better care of knowing what's in stock before buying new and if something isn't used then to do something else with it.

I've totally upset myself over it.

AnnieO1234

2 adults, 2 kids.

Lots of stuff like yogurts/puddings/milk I can understand, but I've binned bacon, sausage, steaks, leftovers. Stuff that's been bought and forgotten.

I know I need to take better care of knowing what's in stock before buying new and if something isn't used then to do something else with it.

I've totally upset myself over it.

[Deleted User]

Right enough of the beating yourself up,now you are going to make yourself feel better. Decent roll (and I mean a good make not the cheapo stuff ) of cling film and some good quality tin foil.From now on you will be wrapping and packaging anything that's freezable.Bacon,sausages virtually any meat will live quite happily in suspended animation i.e. (frozen) Soft fruit freezes Ok but gets a bit sloppy when defrosted oh and lettuce isn't good at freezing either.Cheese meat,veg will all freeze fine and from tomorrow onwards you are going to look at your freezer in a different way its going to be your friend who will help you save pounds in lost binned food.Anything your not sure of jump in here and ask.I freeze almost anything rather than bin it Even a small amount of left over mince etc will do in a small box/freezer bag as a filler for a jacket Spuds

I boil,mash and when cold freeze mashed spuds rather than throwing away as once frozen (I use an ice cream scoop to get a nice round ball shape ) once frozen they can be stored in a plastic bag until needed.

past its best veg can be turned into soup for pennies, and once cold again frozen until wanted, a soup starter followed by a main meal streetches you meal out and fills you up.
So no more negative thought tomorrow your new outlook on food will begin and you will start making your freezer pay for itself a half empty freezer is costing you money to run

JackieO xx

monnagran

Good heavens girl, listen to Jackie.

Truly your freezer is your best friend. Make it a rule to rustle through your fridge at least once a week and hastily freeze anything you have bought and not used. Also when you are cooking make a habit of doing too much and freezing the excess. When you are stressed or pushed for time it's a life-saver to be able to pull a meal out of the freezer and just heat it up.

Please label everything though. You don't want to be playing freezer roulette, that results in some very peculiar meals.

Some sort of meal plan is essential. You don't have to stick to it religiously but buying stuff in case you might use it is sheer madness and leads to a great deal of waste.

Good luck.

x

Islandmaid

All I can suggest is meal planning.

Do a stock take of what you have already in your cupboards, fridge and freezer and 'shop' from there. You should only need to buy fresh, it's hard to break the habit of buying what you fancy, or what's on offer, but make it into a challenge for yourself to spend as little as possible - you could even set enough by to buy a few bits for the food bank that prompted this epiphany

When I started on here 4 plus years ago I was spending about £500 a month of food, I now spend half of that, have lost a mouth to feed in that time (DD hardly ever home), but it's still a massive saving

VfM4meplse

JackieO wrote: »

Right enough of the beating yourself up,now you are going to make yourself feel better.

My first thoughts on reading the OP too! What's done is done, it's time to look forward now.

ancientofdays

I agree with all of the above but wanted to add always shop with a list.

[Deleted User]

Monna you are so right I sit down every Sunday morning after my first cup of coffee and do my 'menus' for the week.They are not set in stone but revolve around what I have in the fridge/freezer/cupboards and what I can turn them into. I don't have to make a Sunday dinner as I always go to DDs for that every week and Tuesdays is also a night off as I am at a quiz night where I get fed as well

So I have five dinners to sort out, and seven breakfast and lunches.I live alone so there is only me to feed as a rule. I am not keen in 'instant food' so take-aways are not on the menu's (I can make something much nicer myself anyway :))I batch cook and its surprising what can be made from a couple of carrots some chopped up onion and a pound of mince.

I make the basic mince up first,adding a tin of tomatoes,maybe a handful of lentil or porridge oats for 'bulk' then divide into three and in one third I can add some kidney beans and chilli powder and a couple of diced mushroom This will make at least two portions of chilli for the freezer.The other third I can make into a lasagne, that once cooked and cold can be divided into portions to freeze and when reheated can be eaten with salad.the last third I make into a couple of shepherds pies adding cheesy mashed potato to the top. My potioned up food will go into those plastic chinese take-away boxes that you can get from a poundshop.These stack very well in the freezer and can be got out in the morning to defrost in the fridge for an evenings meal

Adding cooked fresh veg or salad to a portion means I have some really nice 'take-aways' for a fraction of the price from a shop. I sometimes change and use a turkey leg, or a couple of chicken pieces or even a tray of chicken thighs (really good value for curries) and slow cook it and then strip all of the meat off and turn it into a decent curry to be portioned up again for the freezer.meat is just too expensive to just cook in one go and bin left overs so most of what I cook is batch cooked and portioned up and frozen.

I also enjoy veggie lasagne or curries as it uses up any left over veg that hasn't been used to make HM soup.Soup is the cheapest and easiest of things to make and is great for 'bendy' past its best veg.Three leeks washed sliced up with a couple of potatoes will make a good vat of soup for lunches along with some cheese and biscuits.I am always on the lookout for veg thats Y/S as it makes far nicer soup than tinned stuff and I know whats in it ,no chemicals or additives for one thing.

Breakfasts are usually cereal or porridge as I don't eat bread or some scrambled eggs with crackers or boiled with crackers I stopped eating bread about 2 years ago and don't miss it at all (I also lost around a stone and a half without trying )


I do eat quite a bit of fruit as I like to have whats ever i season if possible .A large pot of natural yogurt with chopped up apple and a few sultanas or any diced up fruit is lovely as a pudding or instead for a breakfast I would never buy those fruit flavoured yogurts as I just think they are a waste when you can make your own with ordinary natural yogurt(the basic stuff at around 45p a big pot is fine )

Just add what ever flavour you want to make it your own.Even chopped up tinned fruit is OK if you run short of fresh.
Its interesting to see what you can make yourself and you really don't have to be chained to the kitchen to do it My monthly food budget is around £60.00 and I eat pretty well.I don't buy or eat crisps,fizzy pop or junk food as I just think it is not only a waste of money its not good for your health


I saw in Lidls they were selling sausages for £1.69 a pack of six either onion or chilli flavoured so two packs were £3.38 for 12 sausages these have been split up and wrapped in clingfilm, and frozen 3 at a time they will make four meals with either mashed or jacket spuds, so four meals for around a pound each is pretty good value I think.. Its about making your food streetch as much as you can and getting the best value for money, as money certainly doesn't go far in these straightened times

Good luck I hope you get yourself sorted out

JackieO xx

krlyr

Also bear in mind (you may know this but I know some people don't) that freezer food keeps nearly indefinitely if packaged well. Don't pay any mind to use-by dates, once it's gone in the freezer, it's on pause. So if you bought fresh bacon with 10 days on it, and froze it, once defrosted you'll have another 10 days to use. However, you could split a big pack down into usable portions and only ever defrost as you need it - saving the worry about forgetting about the other half of the pack in the fridge.

The main issue with long-term freezing is the increased risk of freezer burn, where the food is exposed to air. This doesn't make it unsafe, just tends to have a negative effect on taste and texture..sometimes salvaged by throwing in a sauce or the slow cooker. If not, many local pet owners may be grateful for freezer burned offerings - I picked up a pack of mince the other day from someone local, to feed the dogs, saved it going to waste!