Please help me get BACK TO THE BASICS of os moneysaving

milasavesmoney

Tabithabooboo wrote: »

I am loving this thread!! Living in Scotland & it is week 5 of the summer holidays, 3 more to go & really struggling financially to keep the kids amused. This thread
has inspired me to look at out spending & habits generally. I really want to go back to basics & install these values in my children. Are there any threads you would recommend for recipes/food planning, I love to cook but have got out the habit.

August 2016 Grocery Challenge has lots of recipes. It's worth a look through.

[Deleted User]

Honeylife indeed need and want are two diferent emotions along with 'God I'm overdrawn' and 'Why on earth did I buy that' .

I keep a purse with my food budget cash in, and use only hard cash to buy anything in the edible line. I shop if I have to, around 7-10 days and as for looking at a £50.00 dress !! thats almost a months food budget cash down the Swannee so its just not going to happen.:)

I cook from scratch, and any left overs that aren't going to be used for next days lunch if possible will be frozen for when needed.I don't do take-aways as I can cook twice the amount for half the cost plus I've never been that keen on them anyway :):)

Menu plan for the week,I have been doing it for the past 50 plus years on a Sunday morning, I try to base it around what I already have in store, what's in season at the time, and any Y/S stuff I can find.

I made a big pot of carrot and coriander soup on Saturday which will do for several lunches this week Cost me 29p for the Y/S carrots and a couple of stock cubes and a decent dollop of ground coriander powder a couple of peeled spuds and a few sticks of diced celery.All cooked up in about half an hour until soft and whizzed in the blender made two litres of very tasty soup Cheap as chips :):)

Daniella500

I cannot believe how many people eat takeaways on a regular basis - even several times a week, or eat at a restaurant. This is an incredibly expensive way to feed yourself and your family. Cook your own meals from raw ingredients, not ready meals from the supermarket, or jars and bottles of sauces, which contain too many additives to be good for you. Batch cook, and freeze what you don't use at once. Don't overload plates so that you end up throwing uneaten food away. Cut down portion sizes so that you eat it all. Take a pack-up lunch if you're going to work or out for the day. Take a bottle of water and resist the temptation to spend mega money on ridiculously complicated cups of coffee.

PenniesMake£s

Jackieo your soup sounds lovely. I have all those ingredients in, did you not use an onion or leek?

Lynplatinum

Hiya all

Those of us who have been through counseling will be familiar with the above term.

It means looking at things another way.

So, for example, milasavesmoney, re your vet bill knocking your savings back. I can see it is fustrating. But reframe it this way 1) you have not had to search arround for the money - you had it there, ready to go - you could have your beloved dog treated, knowing you could afford it! 2) Imagine that you had got to get a loan for that amount or use a credit card - you would have had to pay between 16.5% and 1750 % (dependent upon where you got the loan from and your credit score). If you have time or need to give yourself a giant pat on the back - calculate how much your dog's vet bill would have cost you in total (if you include the interest on the loan you would have been likely to get).

So milasavesmoney should be giving her self a giant 'PAT ON THE BACK' and a big 'WELL DONE' rather than feeling a bit glum!

I hope, milasavesmoney, that you dont mind me using you as an example?? But I had a similar thing where I never gave myself enough credit and or praise for my efforts but didnt want to sound boastful!! But last year I managed to save £3,000 but did not earn enough to pay very much tax. Its all down to the great folks on here :A and Martin's :A advice as to how to get bills down etc. When I tried to get a re-mortgage they did not believe how low my bills were!! e.g. £67 for gas+electric £10 for water per month (others on here can do better than this!!) So I should PM-on-back!!

So let's give ourselves some praise and congratulate each other and encourage each other! :A

Great advice on here too.
Night all!

milasavesmoney

Thank you Lyn! You are so very right!! It does feel good to be able to cover this unexpected vet bill. It's a marvelous change in perspective and a great one to incorporate into our lives. Very healthy thinking!

[Deleted User]

PenniesMake£s wrote: »

Jackieo your soup sounds lovely. I have all those ingredients in, did you not use an onion or leek?

No I didn't bother,but if you feel you need one then by all means do so,or if you have it a decent spoonful of Lazy Garlic or garlic puree.It was a case of using up what I had in store rather than going out to buy more The spuds peeled and diced and cooked in the soup, when whizzed in the blender thickens it up a bit(not keen on watery soup IYSWIM) But I throw anything I fancy into soup.The tail end bits of a pack of pasta will give it ...body and turn it into a hearty meal that fills you up at lunchtime. Once the basic stock and veg and flavouring is in there a half hours simmer enough to cook down the veg is more than enough.Youn can make soup from almost anything in the cupboard and with a roll or the end crusty bit of bread to help mop it up you are soo filled up I don't eat bread at all but I break and scatter some crackers in there and it does the same thing.Real chunk soup in the wintertime I will throw chickpeas or any tinned beans in to thicken it up as well. I know exactly whats in the soup not additives or sugar or chemicals to make them 'enhanced ' just plain veg and a few herbs and spices.Even a spoon of turmeric will liven any soup up.I often will save several chicken carcass to chuck in the SC overnight with a couple of diced veg and make my own stock for free,every tiny bit of chicken gets cooked off and drops into the stock for flavour.
Why pay 75p for a tin of mass produced chemicals when you can make three times the amount for half the price and without any additives unless you put the herbs in yourself

Soup basically cooks itself

Fruball

Thanks for posting this OP. I desperately need to get back on the MS wagon myself after a couple of years of indulgence.

I eat out way too much but cooked a lovely curry tonight and made cookies after. I've not baked cookies for months and months. Tomorrow I will be using up the stuff in the fridge instead of binning it and eating out :eek:

I love to make HM soups too so will make a big pot of lentil and carrot soup tomorrow.

OP, how are you getting on?

kat360

Cheers for posting this OP, I'm currently trying to get back to basics too. The past few months have been really hard on me, My husband is RAF and was away for 4 months combined with me being on anti-depressants. Now he's back I don't have to rely on having shopping delivered, I got really excited because I can go to Aldi again.:o

We go through a lot of food, having 4 young children that never stop eating. I dread to think what they will be like as teenagers:eek: Hubby has a brilliant metaboloism too, they eat every 3 hours! We go through a enormous amount of fruit and veg because they prefer it to sweets and cake.

So I came up with a list of things I need to get back to doing, if anyone can add to it please feel free

• Look for ys items when at the bigger supermarkets
• Shop at aldi for the basics
• Meal plan!
• Bake more often
• Try to get to the local market
• Fill up freezer with home cooked ready meals for my bad days
• Cook from scratch more
• Utalise charity shops more

PenniesMake£s

I have stopped the excessive small impulse purchases (amazon:o) and I am focussing on using up what's in the fridge and cupboards but we've had a few big expenses unfortunately (boiler repair, car repairs) so the bank account is not yet looking any healthier and my husband is getting worried about Christmas expenses and the impact of this in the year ahead.

I am really appreciating the wonderful advise and encouragement on this thread and it is helping to focus my mind and give me ideas.