Frugal, thrifty, make do, mend! Let this debt come to an end!

Elisheba

Morning, frugal friends 

I think today should be a no spend day. I have a potato and veg curry on the menu for dinner today. I'm wondering if I should heat it up at lunchtime, and try to make a haybox out of my camping cooler box? The potatoes are already cooked so they wouldn't be an issue. I'm just not sure I have a dish with a lid that will fit in the cooler. Oh well, I can have a look and experiment and see how it goes  . As someone who very much enjoys reading about the Home Front, it's quite exciting!

Other than that, I might take my dog a walk this evening where I can collect some apples. Thinking of making lots of portions of apple sauce to freeze for crumbles. I would try and make a chutney but I don't have enough jam jars after making plum jam last week.

This weekend coming I want to:

Do a bit of a clear out of the cupboard under the stairs,

Drop some things off at the charity shop

Weed the drive

Clean out the car

Collect more apples and make apple sauce

Take a bit of time to read my book. 

That'll do for now, although no doubt I'll add things as the week goes by. 

Just remember it's shared lunch at Quaker meeting this Sunday. I have some new potatoes so can make potato salad. Not sure what else I can make. I really am an uninspired and rubbish sort of cook! I'll have to have a think. 

Deni_debt-free_dreamer

Hi Elisheba
I did veganuary this year. It was hard for me as cheese is my fave food! The only dairy alternative milk i liked was a coconut one. The recipes i enjoyed were puff pastry tarts -  roast tomatoes in the oven with oil, basil if you have any and onion and cook the puff pastry separately then put the tomaotes on top of the pastry, you could also include courgette and pepper etc. I also did a recipe with grains (they were from a packet) and chick peas and tomatoes which you put in a pan to heat through with a bit of harissa paste - that doesn't last long so i bought harissa spice and mixed it with a bit of oil. You can then put mashed avocado on top - but if you are being environmentally friendly you might not want that. It is nice with scrambled egg if you are not being vegan. I agree with Cheery that vegan alternatives can be expensive. I like veg hotpot & they are good to cook in bulk then heat up. I also did a lot of stir fries. I also love sprout curry but that might not be for everyone
love Deni 

Elisheba

Thanks,. Deni.  Those are some good ideas to try.  I'm feeling a bit more positive about being vegan, or predominantly vegan today.  Although my tea currently tastes like coconut because I couldn't find reasonably priced oat milk so not hugely impressed by that!  I also love cheese.  Apparently there is a new plant based Cathedral City just released and the vegan chatboards are going mad for it.  I have yet to try it so I'll withhold judgement for now.

As long as I have time to prepare and cook its fine.  The problem comes when I am super busy or feeling overwhelmed and then I need very quick, easy comfort food.  And also I really shouldn't go shopping hungry     

kiloranbay

@Elisheba if you're missing oat milk, you can blend/mush a big tablespoon of oats and water in any ratio between 1:4 to 1:12 to get a few cuppa's worth. Only a quick blitz with a blender (a few pulses, under ten seconds) or it gets slimy for some reason! Strain it, and use within a day. The oat remnants make a nice moisturising addition to a bath, so if you strain them with cloth or netting (or old tights) you can knot it up and pop them straight in, or use it like a loofah in the shower.

It's definitely a more frugal way of getting by. I like my frothy lattes and the home-made stuff doesn't foam, so I only do it when store bought is unavailable (or own-brand, anyway! I don't count the £2.10 stuff!), but that's been a fair bit over the past few years. 

jokono

I spend an hour or so at the weekend to bake a few potatoes and boil some rice or quinoa for the week. Then in the evenings I either make a salad or stir fry with whatever's in the fridge to have them with, or the quickest option is to just have them with half a can of beans. My favourite dinner though is fried mushrooms on polenta, takes about half an hour to get on the table. A new favourite is 'Easy Cheezie Chickpeas' - quick and delicious but uses a lot of nutritional yeast which is not cheap, so I don't make it very often.

Elisheba

Thanks, @kiloranbay. I sort of knew you can make oat milk but I've never tried and it had slipped my mind. Maybe thats what I should do in future, as it would be a lot cheaper than 89p a litre to make. I'll give it a go once I've bought some new oats and see how it works out. And a good idea to keep the oats for the bath! Now I don't use bubble bath I'm always looking for something to jazz up my bath a bit more than boring old bicarb. 

Those sound like good ideas @jokono, although I wasn't fond of sliced polenta when I tried it. But even fried mushrooms on toast is very nice! 

kiloranbay

I get dried petals from my mum for my bath when I'm lucky, marigold and lavender are faves, rose too of course

I had mushrooms for a main meal quite a bit last summer when I was walking past elder trees that were growing wood ear mushrooms. (Aka "jelly ear fungus" - jelly ear fungus soup sounds much less appetising though)

Elisheba

Yeah @kiloranbay probably best to stick with mushroom soup  . I have a mushroom ID book and a foragers guide book, but I just don't trust my IDs enough to go mushroom picking!

sunshineli

I’ve been vegan for almost 7 years now and as much as I love the exciting convenience foods, I don’t think you can beat a simple lentil stew.

Onion, garlic, celery, carrots and lentils in a pan with herbs, stock and a tin of tomatoes. Left to simmer for as long as possible and served with mashed potato or crusty bread. So affordable and straight forward to make.

Re the oat milk I have mine delivered by the milk man. It’s certainly not cheap though but I allow it as one of my few luxuries in life 😂

Elisheba

Evening, all. 
I feel like I've been quite busy today. I did the haybox cooking of a curry at lunchtime, and it went beeeeeautifully! I'm delighted. Found a casserole dish with lid I'd forgotten someone gave me that is perfect for 2 portions, and it fitted in the camping cooler box perfectly. A cushion below, the dish wrapped in a plastic bag and an old wool jumper, and a cushion on top, and voila. And always nice to have a cooked dinner to come home to after my dog walk. 

Also got a load of washing done and hung up, a pile of dishes done, various things tidied and a good long walk with my dog. And I've kept it a NSD as well, so a cheap day at double the price   

Oh, and I've been doing a bit of Prolific again and am up to just over a tenner. I'll wait until the end of the month to cash out. I really do hate the badly worded surveys though, that take forever to work out what they are on about. I have to remember to avoid them in future - although they often do pay well 

The temperature is starting to drop a bit. I needed my jumper on on my walk tonight, and have put a blanket over my lap tonight. I do love the colours of Autumn, and although we are not quite there yet things are starting to get beautifully warm toned. 

I'll need to hoover tomorrow, get some clothes out away, do a few dishes and change the cat litter. All my meals are already cooked and just need heated so that will be nice and simple. I really should get started on some mending as well, but I keep putting it off. It's so very dull, but I could get quite a few more clothes back in circulation if I just sat down and did it for an hour or two a week. 

I hope every one has a lovely evening and pleasant dreams!