The thriftyish way to debt freedom

f0xh0les

Your food spends are not too bad, you are just over £10 a day for 3 meals a day for 6 people! Most people would be happy with that.  But then we are not most people are we?

I am a bit extreme, and I just happen to be at the s/m after my volunteering shift one day a week at y-s o'clock. and then I meal plan around what we have left over in the freezer and in the pantry.  Always shop from the cupboard first (or at least know what is in there and g00gle recipes based on what you have).

Herr Liddle do a very nice choc puffed rice, choc hoops and frosted flakes - I think their own brand is Cr0wnfield for much less than £1.98.  I bought brightly coloured chunky coffee cups (a bit like soup mugs)  from £land/£world and have told the kids they need to use those instead of the pasta bowls they were trying to fill with cereal. They were eating the equivalent to 4 portions in one go, so between the 4 of them, the whole 16 portion box a day and just under 2 litres of milk.  

If your kids like jambalaya party rice, then maybe they would like a biryani style flavoured rice, those Hairy B1kers have a good recipe.  So ridiculously cheap to make and a 20 minute cook time plus it is gorgeous. Also have you tried a pearl barley risotto? It is called orzotto and is totally unfaffy and ridiculously cheap.  You will need something to use up all those courgettes - carrot and courgette fritters/bhajis made with gram flour are brilliant for it.  Also cost pennies to make.  Enjoy your bike ride and good luck with the blackberrying.

Bluegreen143

I think @f0xh0les has a brilliant way of looking at it as £10 a day for food. We spent £85 a week/£12.15 a day for food last month and there are only four of us, and two of them are tiny 😆 so I think you are doing really well! Good luck reducing it further, you are so motivated I’m sure you will smash it.

Well done paying off the credit card! 🎉🎉🎉

thriftyish

@MagicCat I don't think there is much difference in the uniform, I wouldn't worry. We are awkward just for sizing really, and we loved the TU polos for washing well and staying navy, but now we are white I don't think it will make a difference!

@Lookafterthepennies2020 Thanks for that, I will have a look when I am next in HB! 

@Bluegreen143 Thank you £12.15 a day is good too, ours is creeping up!

@f0xh0les   When you put it like that, it doesn't sound bad! I've been YS shopping a few times recently and found zilch, Mr T's tend to do a fairly pants 15% markdown the night before, and it looks like lots of the stuff has been hovered up then recently. Morribobs is usually good for 5p bread, but not much else. I've added the biryani & orzotto to our list meals of things to try.

I am getting slowly better at shopping the cupboards and freezer, though I have put more in the freezer this month than I have taken out! The £1.98 was on LIdls home brand milk choc pillows, I am sure that we have had them before and not paid that much - DS had requested! We also got the choc rice too, we love their cereals though prefer Ald1 we3tabix, which the DDs live on.
Your cereal cup idea is AMAZING, I will see what I can find. I weighed the remainder of a new box after they had all had a 'portion', there should have been 16 portions and were 3 left, so almost 3 portions eaten each, can easily see it reaching 4 as they grow! DH thinks I'm a cereal scrooge, I'm not so worried about the cost as I limit what we buy, but more worried about the health aspect. I was brought up with my gran, whos love language was food, she preceded to let me eat exactly what I wanted for years then call me fat in my teens. DH, on the other hand, tells tales of having a mixing bowl for cereal and eating 8 slices of toast for breakfast, still has a big appetite now and his weight hasn't changed since he hit adulthood.

Food
The jambalaya was picked and poked at, it was a bit spicy. I decided against stuffed peppers as realistically only DH and I would have eaten, so chopped them up and added some and froze the rest. DH has two portions for work next week, and I have two portions for lunch so none will be wasted.

Sprained Ankle
We decided to take the children for a quick bike ride to the park at 8pm last night, as Mr Loki our Labrador needed a walk. It was lovely and quiet and nice to let them all play without me panicking about distancing. Then our eldest DD sprained her ankle, so the bike ride tomorrow is cancelled - shes okay but a bike ride would probably be too much.

Food budget
I went to the ice freezer shop, to find their 5l bottles of malt vinegar to continue with the big beetroot preserve. They had none, so I ordered 20l from amazon for £13.50. A huge spend, but should hopefully last 2 years or longer. Came out of ice shop with x 55p reduced milk so the children could have milkshakes with milkshake stuff my MIL sent. Also ordered another 'tgtg' box for tomorrow and small spends in Tesco & Morrisons while Y/S hunting. Which takes us to £283.75, and after the 'tgtg' box is collected tomorrow we are only buying essentials for the rest of the month.

Charity Shopping
Before the ice shop, I trawled the charity shops. My favourite three are still closed, all the rest are open. Bought some £3 trousers for myself, they are super silky and light and look really comfortable. Amazing that I don't bat an eyelid at spending £3 on food but hum and arr on clothing for myself. It's okay because despite buying my size, they are a bit snug so will hopefully save the £3 on food trying to slim into them. Lockdown has not been good for my diet, I should start running again but any extra time really needs to be spent on the allotment:- and it is a bit of a workout.

Allotmenteering
I switched painting for allotmenteering, and picked our first set of green beans & one of my allotment neighbours gave me peas for dinner tomorrow too. I am going to repay his kindness with boiled beetroot (his wife won't let him ruin her pans, shes quite poorly now so he doesn't argue) and beetroot relish. And we have more courgettes, shocker! I need to go through my seeds, as I will have lots more space when the potatoes come up so I need to get sowing again. Will definitely sow swedes, savoy cabbage, salad leaves, pak choi and swiss chard. DH is still building the chicken coop, but flits between building the coop and perfecting the man shed, so progress is slow. He is usually mediating between four children while he works, so I guess that doesn't help.

Happy Debtbusting!

f0xh0les

Sweet dill pickled courgettes are lovely.  Mine loved courgette ribbons -just use a potato peeler (or carrot sharpener as my kids insisted on calling it) sauted with garlic and olive oil,   but their favourite was the carrot, courgette, and corn bhajis/fritters when I had a courgette glut. and you can freeze them after frying. That is the limit of my courgette / zucchini wisdom. 

thriftyish

@f0xh0les We tried the bhajis, both courgette & carrot and courgette & onion. DD1 declared she would eat them if there was a zombie apocalypse. DD2 declared she wanted to eat it, but didn't really like it. DS refused, and DD3 took so long to eat her dinner that the moment had passed and she was more interested in the pudding - they are all so funny. Both DH and I liked them, and we will keep trying the kids! We fried in oil, but will definitely try them baked in the oven too. I popped most in the freezer, they will be a lovely little extra for a curry and a fab way to use up some of the 20kg of courgette that's probably heading my way 

You can tell I was impressed with how they turned out as I got my camera out (just not impressed enough to move all the table settings, as dinner was almost ready!)


Speaking of photography, I've been asked to photograph my SILs wedding. I taught myself how to use my DSLR years ago when I used to blog about the kids, and since I've done a few weddings/christenings and have a few photos of random things that have been used for social media campaigns and magazine covers. The kid's arent as fond of the camera now they are older so I mainly photograph the allotment & food as a hobby. I would like to do more with it, but my anxiety around weddings is enormous (the panic of what if I am unwell or break a leg) and lots of events/portraitures take up weekends when I want to be with my family.

SILs husband-to-be still owes me £400 for my dad's car, which he agreed to pay for monthly after my dad died around 3 years ago - I've more chance of winning the lottery than expecting anything back now. He said it conked out on the motorway a few months after he bought and no payment has appeared. He drives like a nutcase, has been given various points and bans on his licence, he has little respect for the law, so although he could be telling the truth, who knows? And he bought it in full working order, and completed the most thorough inspection I have ever seen. The worst part is, the money isn't even mine - and I may have to replace it at some point(a long story)!  But we will buy outfits we will wear once (hopefully start shopping soon!), and I'll photograph, mostly because I like my MIL and FIL, and I love my DH.

I spent the morning at the allotment and it's looking a lot less weedy. Collected my 'tgtg' box and added another £3 spend despite saying to myself yesterday I wouldn't spend again Then spent the afternoon preparing dinner & bhajis. DD1s ankle is okay, so we went for another walk tonight, I've more beetroot relish cooking now, and have only just finished cleaning the chicks out. Still need to sterilise the jars for the relish and decant when it's reduced enough. Am shattered, I hope it's ready soon!

DayDreamerandGeneralWaster

Just wanted to say l'm really enjoying reading your diary 🙂 

Bluegreen143

You are doing amazing with all your cooking and allotment! The bhajis look phenomenal. I’m trying to ensure Red takes lunch each day when he goes back to work (he was in a bad habit of grabbing a McDonald’s or similar each day before lockdown). He has suggested he would love to take cold HM veg pakora and I bet these bhajis would hit the spot too! Think I can mass cook pakora and then freeze til needed and send with some dip and maybe something bready (strips of naan or pitta maybe) and some salad leaves if we have any in the garden and that would be a good lunch. 

Baileys_Babe

Talk to SIL about the money for the car and explain to her it isn't your money.

Could you do the photographs as a present? Which would save you needing to find the money for a present.

Choccygirl123

Morning thrifty just sat and read your journey. You're doing amazingly well and have given me loads of motivation to look at our food budget. Unfortunately, we can't grow our own but I know I can cut down our budget and eat more healthier. 

Kakiste

How cheeky is your almost Brother in law?!?! I can't imagine taking a car from a family member then refusing to pay what I'd agreed for It!