2020 Frugal Living Challenge

Frugaldom

Couldsavemore said:

@Frugaldom and @mumtoomany
Thanks for the welcome.
I'll look into the olio... but... err... should I be using it if I can afford to buy food? As others not in my situation may need it more... could I have some support on this moral dilema?

@Couldsavemore Olio is like the last chance to rescue the food from the bin. It is what cannot be handed to the food banks because it has reached its use by date. Food banks and food-related charities will only take fully sealed, long shelf life dried, tinned or fresh goods with several days remaining on their use by date. Frugaldom has become a bit like a laIt literally is a last chance food rescue and has nothing to do with money or status. It s about helping the environment, saving things from going to landfill. There are also non-food items that private individuals and the supermarket list. I have rescued pot plants for the pots (but the plants lived - bonus!) and other items just to keep the plastic containers from being binned. Hope this helps.

Frugaldom

Viking_mfw said:

We had a sort of turkey cobbler largely based on leftover gravy with leftover stuffing balls halved as the dumplings. It was astonishingly nice.

I've finally got hold of some veg on Olio (it's mostly bread round here and as I am gluten intolerant we don't use that much). @Frugaldom how do you recommend drying mushrooms? 

Well done on rescuing some Olio goods! If you have ever baked meringues, you'll know it is about low heat and slow, slow, slow... when I dry anything in the oven, I slice and lay them all out on baking trays then leave them in a low heat oven for several hours until they have dried out properly. If the oven is on, I'd also put in a tray of homemade croutons or similar, anything to fill all the space and take advantage of the cooking time. I now have a proper dehydrator that I managed to get through a local free-ads site so that gets left on overnight when I have herbs, fruit or spare veg to dry.

Viking_mfw

Frugaldom said:

Viking_mfw said:

We had a sort of turkey cobbler largely based on leftover gravy with leftover stuffing balls halved as the dumplings. It was astonishingly nice.

I've finally got hold of some veg on Olio (it's mostly bread round here and as I am gluten intolerant we don't use that much). @Frugaldom how do you recommend drying mushrooms? 

Well done on rescuing some Olio goods! If you have ever baked meringues, you'll know it is about low heat and slow, slow, slow... when I dry anything in the oven, I slice and lay them all out on baking trays then leave them in a low heat oven for several hours until they have dried out properly. If the oven is on, I'd also put in a tray of homemade croutons or similar, anything to fill all the space and take advantage of the cooking time. I now have a proper dehydrator that I managed to get through a local free-ads site so that gets left on overnight when I have herbs, fruit or spare veg to dry.

Thank you! That sounds ideal. I am really looking forward to a food processing afternoon!

Frugaldom

mumtoomany said:

New recipe to add to the repertoire . "film" soup! What's that? I hear you shout. It's made with "The Remains Of the Day". Turkey stock, left over veg chopped, left over cream, season, serve. mumtoomany

Love it! I am now humming the tune suggested by @Blackcats after making soup. A frugal friend dropped off some vegetarian lentil soup today so I added grated carrot and a pack of 'pigs in blankets', courtesy of Olio, and that became dinner. Gonna use it up, cook it out, ain't nothing in my fridge that I will throw it out.... or something like that   Thanks for that, guys! 

Frugaldom

rolorich said:

Hi I’m looking for a friendly group to keep me focussed in 2021 to use what I already have and spend a lot less including paying off debts.   I’m guessing you are continuing with this group next year, will there be a new thread?  🙏 

WELCOME TO FRUGALDOM   This is the link to page 1 of the 2021 challenge. It's moving quite quickly over there but we'll all catch up as soon as this year ends. Hope you have a great time taking part and will share your journey with us.

patentgirl

Getting through leftovers Turkey and Gamon  pie with last of gravy last night Turkey curry tonight few veggies left and some pigs in blankets  never thought of adding to soup will be throwing everything else in on last legs for  todays soup will have to think of song that goes with it. Was trying to keep out of any shops till January but low on milk and bread so will have to give in today. Budget done for 2021 will put on new thread.

Viking_mfw

patentgirl said:

Getting through leftovers Turkey and Gamon  pie with last of gravy last night Turkey curry tonight few veggies left and some pigs in blankets  never thought of adding to soup will be throwing everything else in on last legs for  todays soup will have to think of song that goes with it. Was trying to keep out of any shops till January but low on milk and bread so will have to give in today. Budget done for 2021 will put on new thread.

I was also trying to keep out of the shops but we've run out of hot chocolate and DS1 is an addict!

Frugaldom

I wish some of you lived close enough for me to share all the bread that comes our way. The Christmas weekend 'haul' if Tesco leftovers was eye watering. (I put the photos on my Facebk page). Getting a bigger freezer may be an option but I don't really trust the power supply about here enough to risk losing that amount of food. Our good waste service by council stopped as soon as Covid began and has now been completely discontinued but we do have a wormery at Frugaldom. This, along with a fair sized composting area plus a couple of compost bins should take care of most things. Hoping to continue in the zero food waste path. Today's dinner will be mini fish pies. Again, this is something I would never buy and I have never previously tried. I'll let you know how they taste. Free usually tastes ok, even if I need to add seasoning or garnish if some description.

mumof3.12kindebt

Hi everyone 
Hope everyone is well. I've decided from now till the end of January my main focus is going to be getting the house squared up and selling stuff and obviously trying to have as many no spend days as possible. 

I'll try to catch up on posts later. Off to get some jobs done 

Have a lovely day everyone 

Couldsavemore

No leftovers for us... have eaten all that I brought back from my sisters and used up some parsnips and butternut squash to make soup.
I've also repaired a couple of pairs of my sons joggers for dog walks, biking etc rather than bin and buy new.
I'm actually going to meal plan properly and buy the bits I need to make a few tasty meals.
Just out of interest..
1 adult, 1 child ( he gets cooked meals at school and tea and Gran's during tge week) We are vegan... How much would be a sensible food budget for a month in frugal land?