It's getting tough out there. Feeling the pinch?

Slinky

We had the mad situation in our house, I had an oil filled radiator in my bedroom, but wasn't allowed to use it because of it being a potential fire risk.....  My mother won an electric blanket, but that wouldn't be used for the same reason....... So we lived in a freezing cold house with unused immaculate condition means of heating.

Happy_Sloth

Slinky said:

We had the mad situation in our house, I had an oil filled radiator in my bedroom, but wasn't allowed to use it because of it being a potential fire risk.....  My mother won an electric blanket, but that wouldn't be used for the same reason....... So we lived in a freezing cold house with unused immaculate condition means of heating.

haha that sounds like my house, mum was terrified we've burn it down. 

littlemoney

I met some one today with more money than sense. They had purchased an iPhone 13 and complained they hadn't much money to spare. I thought you would have if you had purchased a cheaper phone, but said nothing.

cbsexec

I am lucky to live near somewhere with 2 independent butchers, 2 small grocers, local bakers and no large supermarket chain.  Meat is from local farms and veg also.  There is also an local market garden supplying veg, eggs and meat.  During lockdown they all worked together to form a home delivery chain.  Larger supermarkets are not far away by car if needed. Unfortunately local planners have not learnt the lessons that the pandemic should have taught us about community and want to allow a large supermarket.  This will probably drive these smaller businesses out.  Madness.  

OrkneyStar

Rosa_Damascena said:

OrkneyStar said:

tooldle said:

All this talk of hot water bottles made me think of electric bed warmers. I had one, acquired from a jumble sale in the mid 70’s. It was pink in colour and basically a metal shell with a light bulb inside. Probably about the same diameter as a dinner plate. 

Never heard of such a thing - did it work well? We never really had electric blankets as kids, rarely hot water bottles either, it was just another blanket on the bed. I don't remember feeling that cold. We did have double glazing, but didn't use the heating that much (it was air vent things that blew out hot air), I did have warm pyjamas and I remember drinking hot Ribena to warm me up. My teeth suffered from the Ribena, but otherwise good memories. We were happy.  

My parents had an entirely different solution - my sister and I had to share a bed and it wasn't pleasant.

We shared a lot of stuff, even though my sister is 5 years older (so in essence sharing often meant a hand me down for me), thankfully never beds though!

Doom_and_Gloom

My slow cooker was on during the cheap time (still cheap time right now and I'm charging my tablet and headphones to take advantage of that) and now I have many portions of vegetable stew and herby dumplings cooling on the side. That used up some carrots, parsnips, a swede, a large leek and some celery that was in the fridge needing to be used up.
Added 2 tins of tomatoes, a vegetable stock cube made up, a good amount of soya chunks, about 150g of red lentils, a splash of soya sauce, a little vegan Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder and mixed herbs from the store cupboard.
From the freezer a couple handfuls of peas and sweetcorn.
3 hours on high with just the above then added the dumplings. 
The dumplings I made with some gram flour, nutritional yeast, baking powder (I eyeballed this as am used to doing so but I'd guess a tsp), mixed herbs, some ground pepper, 1tbs of oil and 150 ml of vegan milk.
30 mins, still on high, then turned the dumplings. I did use some cornflour slurry mix to thicken it at this point also. 30 ish mins more and done.

This was very cheap as the parsnip, carrots and leek were bought back when they were 19p a pack... The swede was left over from an o~box I had ages ago now and needed to be used. Honestly I'm not sure of cost but I doubt, even with electricity, that it would be more than £6 and my slow-cooker is a 6.5L one and it was as full as you can get it!

I'm actually amazed at how much food I still have in despite my OH being away since the 14th and no shopping has been done at all by me since he left. Yes we did make sure I had certain items before he left but still. 
Still quite a bit of veg left; mostly root veg but I do have half a gem lettuce that is still good, one large tomato and a small portion of cucumber. 
I'm low on fresh fruit. Mostly have apples and bananas left. The bananas will be turned into banana cake tonight in my multicooker when cheap time hits so my OH will have that when he gets home. For some odd reason he loves banana cake even though he hates bananas. 

I'm sure most of us have more in than we realise. This has made me question just how much food we really need to buy. While I will be buying fresh fruit and veg in the coming days (hoping not until Mays budget) I will be more aware of just what is needed. 

cuddlymarm

Hi guys
Its my day off today so I’m off this morning to collect my new work shoes. I needed to order them in as the only pair they had were the display pair so I’m using the last few minutes of my weekly tram pass to collect them. A full week only costs £2 more than a 3 day one which I’m finding quite useful. I need a decent pair as shop work is hard on the feet but these had 20% off which was well worth waiting.
I can go for days without using much out of the tins and packets cupboard but have a blitz week occasionally where I use up from there. I rotate weekly so the cupboards stocks move down and the freezer stocks move to the top if that makes sense.
I’ve cut back on the types of fruit and veg I’m buying to make sure they get used. I’m in our local town most days so can pick up anything I desperately need.
Now the better weather has arrived our electricity seems to be around the £2 to £2.50 mark so hopefully our monthly payment will give us a bit of a buffer in winter. 

I work in a pie shop and we’ve always had some of our oldies stocking up on ready cooked pies and reheating at home but it’s seems to be getting more common now. A quick blast in the microwave costs less. We’re a budget brand shop but decent and at least they’ll be getting something hot I suppose.
Anyway better get on
Have a good day 

London_1

Just spent some time peeling and dicing some onions that were in the veg box.All packed up and in the freezer so no waste.

Also sorted out the potatoes Half I have peeled and put in water in the fridge to use this week, and the other half I peeled boiled and mashed with some grated cheese, and have 8 portions in the freezer. So no waste there either They were just starting to sprout a little. Using up what I have before buying more is working very well at the moment.

I have a bag of brussels in the freezer left from Christmas, and also a bag of broccoli as well, so no need for any veg this week.

Today's lunch will be some more of my spicy carrot soup I have enough in the fridge for today tomorrow and probably sunday as wellI go to DD late sunday afternoon for dinner in the evening so have a light lunch of soup and a sandwich as a rule.

Fruitwise I have three oranges and 6 apples left so more than enough until next week I also have a large carton of OJ in the fridge so OK for that. I will probably make a trifle this weekend to take to Dds as my contribution towards Sunday dinner.

Freezer is getting a little more wriggle room, and I am hoping to be able to defrost by the end of next month  

JackieO xx

Rosa_Damascena

Managed to get my energy bill for April down to...(drumroll) just over £25.

[Deleted User]

Another tip to avoid waste - don’t bother peeling spuds. I never peel them even for mash. It gives the mash a lovely consistency as so much of the goodness is in the skin xx