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

Onebrokelady

Deleted_User said:

A gentle reminder to analyse your live TV and iplayer use to see if the (increasingly high) cost of your TV licence is worth it. A crude analysis 18 months ago showed we needed a licence maximum of twice per month, meaning each viewing cost around £6. We got rid of it and genuinely don’t miss it at all.

I do pay for Netflix, at £6.99 PCM, but we use the on demand services for ITV, channel 4 and 5. Don’t miss the Beeb at all. Just something to think about for those on very limited budgets xx

I would like to get rid of my licence but I'm confused about what you're allowed to watch or not. I haven't actually switched my tv  on for about three weeks and very rarely watch the normal channels, I have got Netflix and do watch some things on that but not a lot. I used to watch the news in the morning and evening but have stopped that now and I can't remember the last time I watched a BBC channel 

YoungBlueEyes

I agree OneBrokeLady.  I used to watch news morning and evening but don’t now. I do watch some normal telly, but it’s more often QI on Dave, or something interesting on PBS/history/yesterday channels.  

I would ring them and say “please give my licence money back, I promise I don’t watch BBC or listen to BBC radio, or have the news app on my phone anymore - but I don’t think I’d get very far ha haa! I mean, how would they check?! 

Onebrokelady

dreaming said:

halfamo said:

Hello, just popped in for a quick Skim though...
Did anyone post their favourite vlogs that are about frugality in the end?
My favourite uk ones are 'what vivi did next' and 'frugal jo'.
There's an interesting American couple called 'under the median' that are quite down to earth too.

I too watch Vivi and Frugal Jo. 2 other favourites are Claire's Journey, and Tess-Frugal Living. I have recently seen a couple of Shoestring Jane but don't always watch her posts, and Frugal Queen in France.

I've just started watching Claire's journey and like her because she seems relatable to me. I also watch Shoestring Jane and quite lie hers,I tried the Frugal Queen in France but couldn't relate to her at all 

Onebrokelady

YoungBlueEyes said:

I agree OneBrokeLady.  I used to watch news morning and evening but don’t now. I do watch some normal telly, but it’s more often QI on Dave, or something interesting on PBS/history/yesterday channels.  

I would ring them and say “please give my licence money back, I promise I don’t watch BBC or listen to BBC radio, or have the news app on my phone anymore - but I don’t think I’d get very far ha haa! I mean, how would they check?! 

I'm am of the generation that used to watch the adverts on the telly about getting caught without a license so I'm terrified of doing something wrong and getting a huge fine which I wouldn't be able to afford to pay, they have their ways of checking people. I've never had the news app on my phone mainly because it's too small to see properly 😀

London_1

I live alone now and eat one main meal and a snack type meal and can usually more than manage with the 2 pints per week milk for just myself.
I rarely eat breakfast ,although in the winter I do like ocassionally porrige for breakfast.The rest of the time I normally only have a cuppa or a black coffee at breakfast time .

Today I had a cuppa before I went to coffee morning around  7.30 then out by 9.30.Home by 12.30 and another cuppa.I had my main meal around 1.30 which was a Cottage pie from the freezer, HM in one of those rectangular freezer boxes.I had some steamed brocolli with it.
When I batch cook them I will put a layer of cooked mince in first then a tablespoon or two of baked neans spread on top then top it off with cheesy mash so its quite a substantial meal when defrosted and cooked in the microwave.

For pudding I had a couple of dessert spoons of tinned fruit topped with some custard I had made ealier. Its now almost half five, and apart from a coffee and a couple of biscuits arond 4.00 I've not eaten anything else Around 6.30 I will probably have cheese on toast with perhaps a poached egg on top and a piece of fruit and then thats it until tomorrow .But I don't have a big appetite at all and I'm not in the least bit hungry.

Not everyone eats like this but as an elderly lady I find this is sufficient for me, but if I wanted more then I would cook and eat it, but what I have is more than enough.I would probably need more if I was working or rushing around after children , but those days are past and I lead a far more sedantry life now  

I'm not a fan of pasta per se, and never have been.probably two drumsticks would do me with salad for a main meal (I don't eat chinese food at all) but I could rustle up a reasonable curry with a couple. I do like HM soup and chuck anything I can find in it and when I make it I will make a large potful that does me at least a week of lunches with cheese and crackers .

I have a rough food budget of around £60.00 per month for food only and this month had just over £7.00 odd left which has been squirelled away to refill my freezer when I come home from my holidays mid July I work on a three month rough budget of £180 and left over from the april to June I have around judt under £70 put aside to buy a big shop for batch cooking for the freezer once home.

I do use a lot of herbs and spices, but this week as I'm going away next week I am running down my fresh fruit and veg and have worked it out my fridge will be empty by yhe end of this month.
Zero food waste is my aim and nother gets binned that I have bough to eat . It works for me ,although it may not work for everyone I batch cook quite a bit and home bake cakes and biscuits.
I swap some of those for windfalls from my neighbours apple trees and my grandsons and I still forage for blackberries when the time is right I but fruit and veg in season and nothing goes to waste at all. I am happy to eat veggie severla times a week and have cut back on meat quite a bit Cooking bacon is a must for quiches and omelettes, and a small gammon slow cooked is a cheaper and nicer option than the plastic ham from the supermarkets

JackieO xx 

euronorris

Thanks for the suggestions @Siebrie sadly nothing much brings relief at the moment, other than when we have cooler days, or I'm in an air conditioned place.

I have a half day tomorrow, as DH has another follow up eye appt at 3.10pm that he won't be able to drive himself back from. That means I'll be finishing at 12.15pm, so my plan is to start on my meal plan for July. I'm going to try and cost it all out from there as well, to see how much it costs from scratch (ie, as if we didn't have any of the ingredients already in). Just for curiosity. For the reality side of it, I will work out what I need to get to fill the gaps, and then figure out cheapest place to get it all from (which is no longer a straight forward answer!).

All this stuff takes so much time though! It's easy to see how some people struggle to get their food bill down.

Bluegreen143

My nana (who has now passed away) used to eat like a bird and she always said to me you don’t need as much as you get older. I suppose I never thought of the silver lining of saving money buying less food!

I’m probably the target audience of the mealplan in that we have two adults in the house and a 6 year old and a 3 year old. Or maybe it’s aimed at preschool children though my DS and DD eat approximately the same at these ages tbh. 

Definitely wouldn’t be enough for us - I do have a big strapping 6ft 4 husband who works a physical manual job and I can only imagine his face if I gave him a single drumstick or 1 scrambled egg! 

Agree the whole pack of pasta thing is weird. We do 1/2 the pack at a time which gives generous portions, my children love pasta and can eat huge quantities 😆

On another food related note, I’m REALLY pleased as I used the leftover stripped meat from Sunday’s roast to make a mild curry (loosely based on butter chicken with green beans and chickpeas added) and my children ate it! They picked out the green beans but ate the chicken/sauce/chickpeas, some rice and naan, and nibbled the broccoli I put on the side. Really pleased as I’ve not been doing curries with leftover meat due to the whining, but will add them back to the mealplan as a nice cheap meal. 

skogar

Interesting seeing the meal plan especially as it's been costed but certainly seems sparce when you look at the quantities of food actually bought. Assume the 42p tomatoes are a single pack of 6 but there are 3 salads for 4 where it is included and then the suggestion that you might have some left for the sandwiches, similarly it seems short on bread - nohing lef for filling up on. Not sure that 200g of cheese is sufficient for the number of things it is used in. Certainly doesn't seem filling enough even if the children are quite young and although the person doing it has clearly tried to include some fruit and veg in there it is far from ideal.

Did others when growing up have main course, then bread and jam (now realise this was to fill us up). If you were lucky there might be a pudding. i never thought about it as a child as it was normal procedure for week day teas.

boultdj

It was a slice of bread to mop the gravy up with in our house, Mum made a big square fruit cake on a Sunday and that was for pack up for 3 of us and as a pudding.

newlywed

Ah, so glad to read the comments on that meal plan….

coz I did start to wonder if I’m just greedy and basically eat too much every day!!