2022 Frugal Living Challenge

Frugaldom

pelirocco said:

never_too_old said:

I am an Olio volunteer and collect from a supermarket once a week,used to do 3 but on some weeks i dont get 1 request for food.

How do find being a volunteer ?
 I've signed up ,but yet to commit to start collecting  

This is quite sad, isn't it? A friend collects and I have absolutely no qualms about requesting food but had another friend (now former friend) accuse us of taking from those who need it more. I tried to explain that this is what is left over AFTER the charities get their share and tat they cannot redistribute food late at night but nope, there was no  reasoning with said person. I've encountered it several times - people are too proud to be seen accepting handouts and refuse to look at it from the moral perspective of rescuing perfectly ggod food from being binned. Only by being part of Olio and other waste reducing projects can some of us actuallu afford to donate cash to charities. Some will never understand that and some will refuse to understand it. Most, I've found, don't actually care about the state of the planet or how much is being wasted every single day.

@never_too_old on the weeks that you have nobody requesting, do you have a local organisation that can use up the leftover food, either as animal feed or for composting? All the extras donated to Frugaldom (and we are not a charity) gets split between ponies, goats, wild birds and composting but not before I make what I can from it - mostly soup - and share with whoever is here at the time. I do have some rather cheeky (in my opinion) associates who say they will take whatever is available but they won't actually sign up to the app, request or collect it! 

EcoIntent

Only got up at half 11, slept like a log, must have needed it. Back to work tomorrow, so having a chill does no harm. Did the shopping (Asda and Lidl today) and spent £44.67 but within that got an excellent stash to follow the meal plan. We had the £10 Lidl card voucher so actually have £10 more worth of groceries included in that. Plus 2 x Astonish Bathroom cleaners at £2.52 for both. With this week's milk (we use a milkman and get organic milk in glass so pricey!) our total is at £56.98 as per day 3 of the week against a budget of £100. I go basic on some foods and have more meat free meals to offset free range / organic / higher welfare meat. Got a £1.50 Lidl 'to good to waste' box which also bulked things out.  Had a moment in the supermarket today, as a few things on my list weren't available, and it made me realise how spoilt we are re choice as a rule - all was fine and made me think of alternatives. The only thing I will need to park is the turkey chilli, as turkey mince was nowhere to be found - and I don't really want to replace that as just wouldn't be the same dish. Also was a bit sad looking at all the lettuces and all apart from one lonely round lettuce were all from Spain. All those food miles..... I bought the lonely lettuce . The focaccia has turned out lovely, Bought fresh Rosemary and Thyme (love Asda's plastic free growing herbs as usually last awhile) and also sprinkled Maldon salt on it.  New Salter scales have arrived, and tested - weigh perfectly - keeping the old battery out of the other set, so there is a spare for when the one that comes with it runs out. This item has a 15 year guarantee so need to register for this so this time have adequate protection if it breaks. Emailed them to ask re how to register, as can't find the product code on the box. I'll need to do a trip to the tip to recycle the old ones, with some vintage Halloween lights that gave up their faithful service after numerous repairs this year.  With christmas money and pre 'no buy' Jan I bought a cook book called Persiana - our daughter has agreed to start trying more new things as has got very picky of late, and so picked the recipe. She went for baked eggs -  the flavours were wonderful (garlic, harissa, coriander, cumin, turmeric, cinnamon) and tinned and fresh tomato, red onion, feta cheese and fresh coriander over the top. That with fresh focaccia dipped in was sublime. She picked well and we were all in agreement it was one to cook again. Next time though, I will have a go at the Persian flatbread recipe to go with it.

Frugaldom

WELCOME NEWCOMERS!

Three days in and no spends. I've started emptying cupboards so I can do a full use-it-up month before I start my February off-grid challenge. It is taking some preparation but once things are in place / organised then they won't need done again. I chopped a few small logs and split some sticks for kindling and I made another couple of what we call 'mishy-pods' from empty milk cartons. These get hung up and used for rooting cuttings and growing herbs etc. I've also looked out wooden poles, from old windbreaks we were given, and am using these as curtain rails. We got an old upright freezer and a sink free via Face-ache pages so the freezer is now in the barn and will provide secure storage for tins and jars. I use old fridges or freezers for the horse and goat feed, too. Ideal as they are mouse-proof.

Olio rescues included quite a few bags of parsnips for us, too, but the animals like them. I made good use of potatoes and have more to add to the woodshavings storage. I also got some mixed peppers includng chilli peppers, sprouts, easy peelers, avocados and bag of sweet potato and butternut squash. I won't be needing any groceries this week, that's for sure.

kimwp

@EcoIntent those baked eggs sound amazing!

NB, food grown in another country where it's in season then travels is more eco friendly than locally grown not in season (due to the energy needed to counteract the local weather). I really hope they start putting labels on food with the eco impact, it will make it so much easier

willow_loulou

Hello. Quiet day for me as I’m in considerable pain, but I did manage to pick up my order from the refill shop (from before new year) and got parsnips and apples from their free table. Baked apples were the plan but I’ll do them tomorrow as I’ve written today off. 

I’ve requested from olio even though it’s not local as I have an appointment near this place tomorrow. Hopefully they reply as it’s everything I need (veg,bread etc) bar sons milk but he is fine with coffee mate for a few days. It would be really lovely not to shop until Friday, so I hope she replies in time. Will go by the refill shop to see if they have anything else out too. 

My blender has died, so sad. I bought it second hand but unused a few years ago to replace the one my parents gave me that was bought to mix my formula! I’m going to use the masher for soups for now I think. 

Herbyme

cybertortoise said:

Thank you cw18 I’ll definitely try those ideas.

Herbyme I’m thinking I’ll have to do the same. I’ve decided to check which bills need to come out of the big incomes and just leave it all in a separate account. Then I’m aiming to do big shops and batch cooking so fingers crossed all will go well. It’s my first year trying to consider the entire year rather than taking things month by month.

That’s the other thing I do: I transfer money monthly to an account which I keep purely for paying direct debit‘s out of. So no direct debits go out of my ‘salary’ account at all, makes it much easier to manage

Sweetlittledaydreams

Frugal start to the year. Not been to the shops so far, have made a meal plan for the rest of the week using things I have in stock which means I won't have to do a food shop until next week, and I've signed up to be an olio food waste hero, just making my way through the short assessments. Also have an excess of chocolate from Christmas so shouldn't have to buy any sweet treats for a while and I'm going to have a look for recipes I can bake them into.

Central heating hasn't been on yet this year and I'm going to try and continue that for as long as possible by using a hot waterbottle and throw on the sofa and the electric blanket in bed (but not left on overnight). Premium bond draw is coming up so fingers crossed for a win! Especially as it seems like such a long time until payday, still another 17 days to go.

Pondering if there will be another lockdown, if there is I might see if my friend would like to rent my spare room for a fixed time period and a low price. She has hinted about moving in previously quite a few times but now I'm living on my own it's the first time I've started to consider it seriously. It could be nice to have the company especially if we go into lockdown, and a little bit extra money coming in would help, but I would have to consider how much bills would increase and if there is enough space, plus I would only want it to be short term which could become awkward with us being friends. Has anyone had experience of friends as lodgers and how did it go? 

Viking_mfw

Jellytotts said:

We've been lucky with Olio this past week and I now have almost more food than I know what to do with!One local olio lady had over 30 sacks of parsnips to get rid of, another had tons of spuds....we ended up with 15kilos of each amongst many other things...  I've been roasting and mashing and souping all weekend.  If anyone has any ideas on how to use up 5 kilos of sprouts then let me know! I've used some in a bubble and squeak style mash, some of which I've frozen as mash, some I've made into burger size patties and flash frozen, they're always nice oven baked with a bit of cheese on top.  

Spends so far have been a jar of decaf coffee and a sack on onions (to make the most of the free veg).  

We had sacks of sprouts last year from Olio. I prepped them, par boiled and then froze them and we used them up through the year in roast sprouts (halved, covered with oil, salt and pepper, roasted for 20 mins in a very hot oven). 

babs_103

I've had a look at my bank accounts and will try using them for different things, if only  I had a months worth of money as a buffer life would be easier but that won't happen  for a while so I will do what I can. I think I will have to be fugal with what I can, food shopping is expensive as I cannot shop around and have to have it delivered and we do not have Olio here. I have  no outdoor space so growing my  own veg is out of the question, as is drying washing - tumble dryer or heating will have to still be used.  This will take some more thinking about. x

Viking_mfw

DS1 (4) has got into the eating from the pantry challenge by inexplicably requesting porridge for breakfast the last 2 days. He is helpfully topping this with sprinkles his father had before I met him, bbe 2014....