2020 Frugal Living Challenge

Hettyhound

Thanks everyone for your advice.  I have downloaded the too good to go app onto my iPad.  My nearest Morries is about 4 miles away but the collection slot is 4-6pm which is good for my schedule.  I might might try it and see if we can get anything a couple of times a month to help out.  Most of the other suppliers are either pubs or city centre but more may come onboard in the future 🙂

willow_loulou

Currently stressing as the loan account is showing in my app without the loan appearing in my account yet.... 😳 they never explain the process properly. Arrrgghh

EDIT. Apparently it will probably be Monday before it shows 😳 if not i ring back then. Sigh. It will be worth it in the end..... 

ldee2111

Bluegreen143 said:

ldee2111 said:

With you on aiming to reduce the food budget @Bluegreen143. We’re a family of 3 and spend around £70 per week on groceries with a maximum budget of £80.
I too have a very picky eater for a toddler - so much food waste as I keep trying to give fresh food without success yet - apart from apples.
To get the grocery shop down, I’ve been gradually reducing OH and I’s portion sizes and meat intake by bulking up dishes with veg and smaller amounts of meat, as well as buying mostly fresh and shop’s own products, and bulk buying branded stuff when I see it discounted. 

It’s frustrating isn’t it! In our case, the two year old usually eats quite well, but the five year old is terrible. It makes me very sad because until he turned three he was the most adventurous, amazing eater - everyone would comment on him trying everything in ethnic restaurants etc - I was so smug that I’d got it right 😂 and then he turned three and stopped eating well. I think in his case it began as a bit of a control thing as it started around the time his sister was born, plus I think we stopped being as adventurous in our cooking and gave him more safe options cos we were tired and busy. And from last year he’s had lunch and at lot of his snacks at nursery which doesn’t help as they fill them up with lots of easy kid food like sandwiches, toast, cereal and fruit (they give them cheese sandwiches if they don’t want the cooked lunch!) and so now he has no incentive to try any challenging foods cos he’s always full. Nursery is closed til 18th jan at least in this lockdown so I’m using the opportunity to really work on his eating at home.

One thing that helped me re the waste (though luckily the one thing he does eat in vast quantities is fruit) is I read a dietician talking about it and she said to give very small exposures of food (eg one tiny slice of carrot) and not to consider it a waste if they don’t eat it because it’s still done it’s job of exposing them to the food, it’s all part of their learning process. She also talks about some plate waste being inevitable if people are eating to their body’s cues rather than just clearing the plate (and again giving your kids very tiny portions and allowing them to ask for more reduces plate waste).

Kids eat in color on Facebook and Instagram is a really great resource. I’ve also got a great tiny wee book which is a quick and easy read called Getting The Little Blighters to Eat (it’s laid out as 30 tips, all which take just a few minutes to read over - things like not pressuring them to eat, cutting right back to sugar to retrain their taste buds, doing food adventures with them like pick your own farms or farmer’s markets). 

I’ve just been reading a book this week called It’s Not About The Broccoli which is really helpful. It talks about how when parents over focus on getting specific nutrients into their child at each meal it leads to pandering eg let’s just give them chocolate milk if they don’t drink plain, as it has calcium. Whereas her approach is much more about the habits the child is building and she would see the regular consumption of chocolate milk as setting them up for a habit of drinking sweetened beverages (not to say they can’t have it as a treat though). She takes quite a hard line on what constitutes the “growing foods” that should make up the majority of the child’s diet. (If you home made muffins with veg in she would still class that as a fun food as to a child it’s the same as eating cake, for example). But it’s really resonated with me as I completely believe that the reason my son’s eating has changed because both at home and nursery we started to rely on easier foods and it’s retrained his palate towards carby snack & breakfast foods.

Thanks bluegreen. I’ll try giving the tiny slices a go and having a look into some of the other methods. A friend recommended ‘Getting the little blighters to eat’ too. I’ve been trying out those tips with a little bit of success. I’ve caught him out of the corner of my eye putting some foods on the tip of his tongue but then sitting them back down.
 He will eat a spicy homemade curry sauce with rice (no bits!), or a slice of pepperoni, but offer him a plain old bowl of soup or a small piece of chicken or veg and he won’t touch it. I was a very fussy eater as a child but adventurous now as is OH, so hopefully he will get there. 

cw18

welshspendthrift said:

Olio only appears to have individual items maybe supermarkets here not signed up to this ( staffs / north Warwickshire border ? 

If I understand it correctly, the supermarkets don't sign up as such.    They hand the 'waste' to Olio food heroes who then list it as individual items.

welshspendthrift

cw18 

If I understand it correctly, the supermarkets don't sign up as such.    They hand the 'waste' to Olio food heroes who then list it as individual items.

Thank you cw18 that would explain it ! Still quite a distance for individual items will keep checking . 

MazzieD

@sashacat Hope your boiler got sorted out and that you have heating!.

We went from Tier 2 straight to Tier 4 on Boxing Day so no change here.  Just want to say Happy New Year if you are seeing it in and hopefully see you all on 2021 thread.  

Frugaldom

Everyone who is discussing Olio, you can always get a group of friends / neighbours together and nominate 1 to collect on behalf of you all or else volunteer to become the Food Hero who collects direct from whichever shops are using the app near you. That's how we got access to using it here in our little backwater.

mumtoomany

Another frugal recipe. Take two packs of good sausages (98p pack, reduced in Morrison's) part cook them. Slice lots ('cos they're cheap) of potatoes and cook them. Slice and fry an onion (bought before Christmas in a 20kg sack). Slice some mushrooms, 75% of on Christmas eve. Slice the now cold sausage, diagonally, the pieces look bigger that way, I get about 12-15 slices from each. Later all the above in the slow cooker. Pour over a tub of single cream (8p reduced) with some wholegrain mustard mixed in. Served for adults and three children, also all the adults had a second plate full. Total cost less than £2.50. Happy New year to you all, we you on the new thread. Mumtoomany.

Kerry_Woman

December spends were ok.  Food spends was under budget for the month.
Finalised my yearly spends, had spent less money this year.  Did not spend alot on cost on travel - bus,  as did not need to use transport as much.  Am happy with what I spent, not going to get too stressed about it.
Grateful that I managed to get through this year as best as I can considering. Have been offered some temp work for January, just waiting to hear about what days I will be working. Got an induction on Monday, will be bringing my own lunch but they are providing tea, coffee and water.  
Have managed to achieve some positive things this year, which included finishing some cottage cross stitch kits which I had for quite a few years.  Resisted some purchases.
Am planning to stay up and see the new year in.  Watch the programmes that are on, probably have hot chocolate drink as well. 
Wishing everyone a Happy and frugal New Year.  Take care.

CraftyLittleLisa

Couldsavemore I just wanted to say that I live on my own and I have a grocery budget of £200.00 a month so hopefully that will make you feel better.  I tried to get it down to £175.00 but it just didn't work last year.  I do include cleaning products and  miscellaneous items such as batteries and stationery etc in that and I also try and buy as eco-friendly as I can.  I will try and bring it down again this year but I am congratulating myself because before I joined this forum I was spending £275 a month and thought I would not be able to bring it down any more but I have.