2022 Frugal Living Challenge

tooldle

From what my mum has said over the years, the majority of meals her family (extended) ate during the war years were vegetarian. Vegetables were plentiful for people who grew their own, as everyone was encouraged to do. Taking it a step further wartime recipes might provide some inspiration. 
My dad often talked of being made to eat whale meat as it was off ration and plentiful. Incredibly chewy apparently.

spudsmum

tooldle said:

From what my mum has said over the years, the majority of meals her family (extended) ate during the war years were vegetarian. Vegetables were plentiful for people who grew their own, as everyone was encouraged to do. Taking it a step further wartime recipes might provide some inspiration. 
My dad often talked of being made to eat whale meat as it was off ration and plentiful. Incredibly chewy apparently.

Yes @Toodle you are probably right - I meant vegetarianism as a moral choice rather than from the scarcity of meat but from what I understand it was very much eat what is there, no matter what that was, or go hungry so he never would have had the option to "choose" to follow his principles.

I always remember my grandad eating brawn and dripping on toast and loads of offal as he said it was wrong to waste parts of the animal that could be eaten due to his experiences with rationing - wouldn't find many people who'd be willing to eat those things these days.

I do love the idea of looking at wartime recipes for inspiration though - I'm sure I have a book somewhere 

never_too_old

Afternoon all
I'm trying to reduce my shopping bill to pay off my OH's CC.So far im doing ok and still eating well.Olio is serving me well ...as well as my 10% of what i collect im requesting more bits from other collectors which is really helping.Visited a lovely zero waste shop today and picked up only what i needed quantity wise and helped me still maintain my desire to be plastic free.

Mummy2cheekymonkeys

Its very difficult with fussy eaters. I know that both my boys who are autistic could be starving to death and they would still not entertain eating a lot of foods. When its a sensory issue it doesn't matter how hungry they are they will just not eat it. They will eat their own body weight in things like crackers though. I'm trying to bake as many snacks as I can that are cheaper and more filling and nutritious. It's so frustrating.

elbree

When I was weaning 8yo I read somewhere that a diet doesn't necessarily have to be varied in order to be balanced. I didn't worry too much after that if there were things she didn't like as long as she was getting a balance.
 Of course that doesn't really help with cost/time when favourites are expensive or time consuming to make! 

willow_loulou

MazzieD said:

Thank you again for all your good wishes.  At least I'll have time to keep up with this thread!.  I'll be reading along until things settle down a bit.  I  have a lovely purring furry hot water bottle on my lap, preferable to a hot water bottle as no hot water required!.   Having a cat in this cold weather is great!.

@willow_loulou Hope you're ok,  really wise words in your post about not rushing to return to normal.

Life is always up and down for me! But I’m good thank you. I worry so much about people ending up as weak as me, it’s really not where anyone wants to be. Rest well lovely x

spudsmum

Mummy2cheekymonkeys said:

Its very difficult with fussy eaters. I know that both my boys who are autistic could be starving to death and they would still not entertain eating a lot of foods. When its a sensory issue it doesn't matter how hungry they are they will just not eat it. They will eat their own body weight in things like crackers though. I'm trying to bake as many snacks as I can that are cheaper and more filling and nutritious. It's so frustrating.

Absolutely - I have this issue with my youngest who is on the autistic spectrum. He eats cheese, cheesey Crisps, pasta and nuggets - that's it - if those are not available he would rather starve than eat anything else - it's not just fussiness it's a lot more extreme than that. 

Bluegreen143

That’s a good outlook @elbree though you’re right, it doesn’t help with budget.

I’m teaching my kids that they need to have protein/dairy + veg/fruit with each meal or snack, so like tonight we had chicken fajitas which Monkey are fine, his sister wouldn’t touch anything but I told her that when she had eaten the tomatoes, chicken and cheese on her plate she could have her sweet but I wasn’t bothered whether she ate the actual wrap - let’s face it she gets enough carbs 😂

spudsmum

Well my husband gets paid tomorrow and I HAVE DONE IT! 28.14 Left in my food budget and £17 left in my purse - not as much as I was hoping for due to needing too buy antibiotics etc but the first time I've come in under budget for months and months.

Husband also has had a payrise - not a massive one but an extra £45 after deductions so I'll add that to one of my budgets.

Nsd here today (actually 50p for tooth fairy duties but I'll let that go  )

Finally ordered my son's disability buggy last night  - as luck would have it the one I wanted was out of stock until April so they suggested an alternative model and I saved £75 - result.

Tea was fridge gravel again - I had a roll of puff pastry from the pantry so I made a Mediterranean tart type thing then used the off cuts to make pasties with some leftover minced beef from the night before. 

Excited for my budgets to reset tomorrow to see how much I can save next month! 

Bluegreen143

Yay well done @spudsmum!!