Put away your purse & become debt-averse

foxgloves

Oh for the love of cake, will the woman not shut up & go away?! Just to say that I've had a look at our March grocery budget & worked out that if our final grocery shop of this cycle comes in at £66 or below, there will be sufficient money left also to pay for the fresh fish box delivery we had on Monday. This is costed into the budget but in addition to the regular grocery budget. It's hard to integrate it because it is every two months ( a little less in the depths of winter) & takes up too big a proportion of  the food budget on the months it is delivered iyswim. Of course, April will see council tax & water rates DDs going out again, plus horrendous energy bill rises (still haven't been notified of our new monthly dd amount for that) so being able to incorporate the cost of this fish box into March's grocery budget will make me feel I've mitigated some of the other stuff a little. So I've meal planned as follows (honestly, only on here could one post a meal plan!):
Sat - Mr F's awesome cauliflower cheese on jacket potatoes (potatoes need using up)
Sun - Gammon slices (freezer) with parsley sauce, roast potatoes, carrots & peas.
Mon - Cajun pork (freezer) with jackets or home made jacket wedges
Tues - Veggie fajhitas with salad (Home made refried beans from freezer, l/o wraps from freezer, home made spice mix)
Weds - Salmon (freezer) with giant savoury couscous (the 'savoury' element being provided by a round-up of veggies)
Thurs - Home made ham & pepper pizza (diced l/o ham frozen last time we cooked one, l/o diced peppers saved from fajhita night as I shan't need 2 whole big ones for those) & salad, possibly home made chunky coleslaw if I feel like making it.
Fri - Fish & chips (freezer & more using up of current potato sack)
So no roasting joint/meat to buy or other main meal proteins. Will need a few bits & pieces for making packed lunches, yoghurts, cat meat, cheese, spread, a big cauli (Mr F will make enough cauliflower cheese to freeze & a work lunch portion), a bit of greengrocery & that should be pretty much it. I haven't checked for household goods/cleaning stuff yet, so that could possibly add a couple more items. 
I do feel we all seem to be cranking up our thrifty habits at the moment & rightly so, given all that is happening. I could have cried this morning, on reading an article in the Guardian about some food bank users apparently refusing potatoes because they can't afford the energy to cook them. So sad & wrong, especially as the ingrained inequality in this country was well in place before the pandemic, inflation & war. It makes me feel grateful for all that we have, but worried for the many people who have found that their lives are now even more of a struggle. 
I wish it could be different.
F x

Four_Seasons

I read that as well its unbelievable in 2022! It's definitely a count my blessing moment. Thank you for the meal plan its lovely to gain ideas and also ideas for chard can I grow it in pots? Away to Norfolk next week for a few days holiday has been moved several times because of Covid. Hope your back gets better quickly, take care x

QueenJess

Four_Seasons said:

I read that as well its unbelievable in 2022! It's definitely a count my blessing moment. Thank you for the meal plan its lovely to gain ideas and also ideas for chard can I grow it in pots? Away to Norfolk next week for a few days holiday has been moved several times because of Covid. Hope your back gets better quickly, take care x

One year I threw Chard seeds into a trug on the patio mostly in shade, forgot about it, got distracted with a million life things and never looked after it or watered it and it still grew.  So definitely will be fine for a pot and I plan to put mine in a pot on the patio this year to look pretty next to some flowers.

Four_Seasons

Thank you queen jess I will definitely give it a go x

ladyholly

Just listened to rishi . I am afraid there is little to help those who can't afford to cook potatoes. 

foxgloves

I didn't watch it, @ladyholly, I knew the whole shebang would wind me up. I'll catch it later. Too many millionaires in the cabinet  even to begin to get a handle on how so many people are forced to live. The UK childhood poverty rates are an utter disgrace. Even non-political commentators, such as Martin Lewis himself, of course, are now openly saying that the UK's economic problems are structural & predate Covid, the Russian invasion of Ukraine & inflation. There is absolutely no getting away from the fact that the system in the UK - the last vestigial remains of medieval feudalism - is preserved solely for the benefit of an exceedingly small percentage of the population. As with all things, just follow the money. Who donates the largest sums to keep these people in power? Of course it it those who expect certain policies & favours in return & it doesn't take too much reading to discover that they get them. Poverty on this scale is a political choice & one of which I will never willingly be a part.
F

Four_Seasons

Rishi in wonderland I think she got it about right x

Baileys_Babe

foxgloves said:

Thanks, @Baileys_Babe, it was. I've grown chard before but up to last year, I always grew the multi-coloured or ruby red varieties. While they are attractive in the veggie garden, I didn't find I was using them as frequently as the variety I started growing last year, which is called 'White silver 2'. This has white stems & glossy green leaves and unlike its brightly coloured cousins, doesn't stain sauces etc a red colour. What we're cutting at the moment is still last year's crop. It stands through all but severe winters & gets back into growth as soon as the temperatures rise a little. There's still plenty to use. I expect it would bolt this year if I left it, but I have already sown a new batch & intend to use all of the existing crop before that happens. Mr F can't stand beetroot (I'm sure he must have been force-fed it by an elderly granny at some point in his childhood, though he says not!), not just the flavour, but the red juice leaking onto everything on his plate, so the 'White Silver 2' variety is perfect for us & very easy to grow. I use the leaves shredded for curry greens instead of buying bags of baby spinach & it's very nice stir-fried with garlic &/or chilli or steamed as a dark leafy green side veg. I haven't tried the stems in cheese sauce yet or making it into pesto, but I do intend to do so this year.
Actually @Baileys_Babe, as I type this, it's occurred to me that I think you have said in the past that you're not really a gardener? If I've remembered that correctly, this will be a very boring post to read - sorry!
F x

You are correct @foxgloves I am not a gardener, I wish I was. I wish I knew somebody as knowledgeable and as nonjudgemental as you in real life who would take me under their wing and help me learn to garden.

I found the above talk about chard fascinating and it sounds much more versatile than I would have imagined.

QueenJess

@Baileys_Babe I don’t know anything either about gardening, but as with anything (eg cooking), I read what I can online and then the rest is just trying stuff and seeing what works. It all seems quite trial and error. I’ve asked for advice at the odd garden centre too.

I definitely know more than I did, but lots left to learn. I think it’s half the fun!

Baileys_Babe

QueenJess said:

@Baileys_Babe I don’t know anything either about gardening, but as with anything (eg cooking), I read what I can online and then the rest is just trying stuff and seeing what works. It all seems quite trial and error. I’ve asked for advice at the odd garden centre too.

I definitely know more than I did, but lots left to learn. I think it’s half the fun!

Thanks for the reassurance @QueenJess partly it is a lack of knowledge, even though I do read about gardening, lack of confidence and due to long term fatigue, I am reluctant to expend energy that might be wasted (Yes, I am my own worse enemy).

I am going to investigate no dig gardening some more along with square foot/meter gardening and see if these can be combined as might work better for me. Our soil doesn't drain well as it is very heavy clay. In the past, we have dug and cleaned clay from the garden which we and the children have made pots and other creations out of before firing in a homemade kiln.

If any of you folk have links to websites, blogs, channels or book titles that could help please share, also if anybody has some better suggestions on suitable gardening methods that might suit my situation.