Greetings from a New-Oldstyler !!!128522;

Countrywife

Hello all,

I have been a long time lurker so thought it about time I joined up!

A bit about me - I live in the country with my husband and 3 rapidly growing children. I have a very strict budget due to extending our home and being desperate to get the debt paid off as soon as possible! Any money saving ideas always welcome. I enjoy cooking and cook from scratch wherever possible but not enjoying this heat so we are living on salads and cold cuts at the moment. I love autumn/winter food and adore my slow cooker so if anyone could point me in the direction of recipe threads that would be great.

Despite having more rooms now we still seem to be hopelessly cluttered so my mission is to turn my attention to that after the summer hols - I've already decided we are going to cut right back on Christmas this year - my kids are still opening craft kits etc they got last Christmas!! I'd love to do some homemade gifts for family this year so again any tips of where to look for ideas would be very welcome.

Anyway, just wanted to say hi so if you see my name pop up I'm not a total stranger!

[Deleted User]

Hi and welcome Countrywife ,what a lovely name pop in and visit the Love Food Hate Waste forum we are always willing to 'see' a new face there
JackieO xx

YorksLass

:hello: Hi Countrywife. I'd second the LFHW thread and would recommend the monthly Grocery Challenge too. You might not want to join in the grocery budget challenge bit but at the beginning of each month there are links to lots of recipes that you might like.

There's also a Xmas thread that has links to ideas for home-made gifts and recipes that might be helpful.
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5763929/rocking-around-the-christmas-tree-its-the-2018-christmas-chatter-thread

Good luck with your efforts.

Countrywife

Hi JackieO and YorksLass,

Love Food Hate Waste sounds right up my street so I'll be sure to check it out and the Grocery challenge is definitely worth a look and again thanks for the Christmas thread link - I must be mad thinking about Christmas on the hottest day of the year!!

Off to make a cuppa and have a read.

meanmarie

Welcome Countrywife....you will like it here.

Marie

buildersdaughter

Welcome!
Immediate tips:
Tell everyone (fairly soon!) that you're cutting down on Xmas so it's clear. One friend has a family agreement that everything must come from a charity shop and cost less than £10.
I buy small gifts all year round when I spot them at charity chops, craft places I visit etc. And I make a lot of things. Lavender bags and dollies at the moment.
Wrapping is plain brown or white tissue paper, tied with fabric left-overs etc.
Load more ideas on here.
Preserving can be a bit 2 edged:a good idea in principle, but potentially expensive and not to everyone's taste. So ask on here, give it some thought, and experiment small scale!
I have a small freezer, so I bottle a lot of fruit that I am given in the late summer. I have acquired the jars gradually over the years (look in Wilco for bargains). I do some peaches (if / when cheap) and pears in alcohol (usually a gift or raffle prize that isn't to my taste) so that's posh puddings for the winter.
I'm sure you know that blackberries freeze beautifully, so bottled apples + frozen blackberries = crumbles all winter long.
You'll find lots more!

Mummy2cheekymonkeys

Hi countrywife. I'm relatively new on here too and this is definitely the best board! Everyone is lovely and I've picked up some wonderful tips already x