2020 Frugal Living Challenge

MazzieD

Hello All

Been offline for a couple of weeks due to injuring my writing arm and needing to rest!.

Making slow progress with ongoing events.  Ended up ordering a water butt from my Water Company (why do we get a choice of suppliers for all utilities but no choice for Water!), really cheap but a long wait for it to arrive due to demand.

The smart meter saga is still rumbling on, they are getting my electricity readings now but only once a month rather than my specified choice of half hourly!.  Progress of a sort but still no sign of a bill.  I really am not impressed with eon.  I am not prepared to keep chasing, it is a waste of my time and phone bill.  I'll just keep the money in a savings account until they get their act together and actually ask for some money.

On the subject of food waste, there are phone apps available which are free.  All you need to do a search on your app store for food waste apps and a list should appear..  Obviously it depends where you live as to whether your area is covered and availability locally.  I have recently started using one just to see what it's like.  Quite impressed at the range of outlets now that lockdown is easing and more are now available but I live in a large city and quite near the city centre (15-20 min walk).  Having a car also helps as can be a limited time slot to collect   Might be worth having a look at them online beforehand as they all differ, some are completely free and some make a nominal charge for any food you reserve..

I'm another one who makes hummus, I have used tahini and peanut butter (not at the same time!!).  I just buy a budget peanut butter purely to make hummus as I don't actually like it and it's a lot cheaper than Tahini!.  Have to say I prefer the taste of Tahini though.

I'm making good use of my SC, doing all my batch cooking in it as I have a very small kitchen.  Also use a pressure cooker quite a lot for cooking chick peas, stews etc.  Meal planning is really making an impact on my grocery bill this month so quite a lot of positive changes. 

[Deleted User]

I have an abundance of alpine strawberries on my property so they're being picked daily and frozen read for jam making.

A fair few forsythia cuttings have struck so I will have more plants for privacy on our boundary.

All wobbly veg is being frozen to end up with an organic chicken resulting on bone broth to freeze for sustenance should any of us succumb to illness in the  cooler months.

  I have knit myself a hat and mittens ready for the cooler months.

Today I am taking a very large linen kaftan to the sewing machine to make it into a baggy top to wear under woollen garments. I dont like waste. It will be perfectly fine as a layer.

sashacat

Just put some beetroot in pickling vinegar for the winter and made a huge batch of broccoli and veg soup. 
A neighbour gave me 6 eggs today as they had too many so I gave them a cabbage in return. Another neighbour came with a big bag of spinach so that went into the soup so it’s really broccoli, spinach and veg....every bit from the garden....well everything except the soya beans. 
Now I must go and tackle the bag of windfall apples a third neighbour gave me...I swopped for a head of garlic.
i love stopping stuff. 

willow_loulou

Hello, 
I’ve not been well for a few days, medication I need to take upset me. But I managed to take 3 bags of clothes to recycle point where they get sorted for resale or rags. I’ve kept a few bits to repurpose into cleaning cloths. 

Ive started getting wood for the winter, a few eBay sellers are doing eco log packs so I’m getting 2 to try. I have some scavenged wood but I like to keep some handy as wood delivery services here are very unreliable. 

My prolific paid for coffee has arrived today as well, very pleased 😊

Dizzy_Imp

Evening!  Had a busy day, which is usual for me, but did manage to make some hazelnut yogurt (to the delight of DH , as it's his fave) and collect a second-hand chest freezer to use for bulk deliveries of my raw dog food.  I usually make a weekly trip to the supplier, but he has offered to deliver every three weeks to me for a small charge, which I'm glad to take him up on.  Petrol and time saved by me, even with his delivery charge.

I also made some carrot and coriander soup with some old bendy carrots, and portioned that into three lots for the freezer, which will give me quick lunches when needed.  Sold five of our pure breed chickens today which was a nice little earner.  Hubby is out in the caravan mucking about with the old incubator to see if he can get it to run steady enough to use for hatching.  The turning arm on it breaks regularly, so it's no good for general incubating duties, but for the last three days before hatching, the eggs don't need to be turned, just kept at the right temperature and humidity, so it might come in handy for that.  Our chicken empire is growing steadily...

nananibbles

Good morning all,

I made some almond milk yesterday, I've kind of got out the habit during lockdown as I couldn't get my usual 1kg bags of almonds at a price I wanted. I decided to do a price comparison and calculated that it costs me £1.18 to make a litre of fresh almond milk with 20% almonds. I can't remember the price in the shops as I've been buying it on off recently for £1 (Iknow full price Alpro is around £1.80 and home brand is about £1.50) but I think the percentage of almonds used is only around 4%. I will probably stick with mine as long as the price of almonds is right but I suppose to be totally accurate I do need to add in wear and tear of my vitamix as that a fairly pricey piece of equipment to replace.
I bartered a portion of chickpea and squash tagine for 12 fresh eggs from my friend's son - which he was very appreciative of and I also got to eat some home grown runner beans, lettuce and mange tout
Today I need to sort out my fridge and organise some meals out of it other wise the veg is likely to go limp as it full to bursting at the moment.
NN

MazzieD

It's been raining overnight here, love going out in the garden as there is a 'fresh' smell in the air.  Saw a huge hedgehog in my tiny front garden early this morning whilst letting the cat out.  Wasn't interested in the hedgehog who didn't seem bothered by either of us.   Actually saw a stag beetle sitting on the front wall, quite a rare sight around here.  I'm sure these are common events for most of you living in villages or remote areas, only the second time in my life I have ever seen either a hedgehog or stag beetle!. Anyway, nature watch over. 

Having successfully got my cat away from foil pouches which can't be recycled here and now eating tinned food which can, I have been putting them in recycling bin,  I don't buy a lot of tins apart from tomatoes but am now wondering if I could re-use some of them for another purpose.  Does anyone re-use tin cans?.

sashacat

Wow, MazzieD I love stag beetles and I live in a village and have only ever seen one and that was on the pavement of a main road in London. 

I was walking into the house from the garden yesterday when I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. I thought it would be a rat because there are horses next door (not that I have seen rats, but anyway) it was a baby mole. Obviously not very good at tunnelling. It appeared bewildered but the put it's head down and tunnelled down. And my drive is made up of little stones so I assume it now has a sore head. 

Just harvested two cucs so sales for lunch tomorrow. 

I am envious of the hazelnut yogurt. 

sashacat

Salad for lunch not sales....bloody autocorrect

nananibbles

Yesterday  I sewed up holes in 3 of my socks. I've had them for around 3 years and I'm determined not to move them to my rag pile until they are unwearable. I also dug two manky carrots and some celery, that the house owner had left, out of the compost bin and chucked them my chicken stock, luckily they hadn't started to decompose 
Today I'm making left over almond pulp energy balls from the almond milk I made - I just process it up with dates, cashews lime zest and juice and a little agave and grated dark chocolate - my DD loves them .
 Sashacat you've just reminded me to go check the house owners roof vegetable garden as I'm sure I saw some cucumbers lurking there last time I checked.
Have a great day in the beautiful sunshine 

NN