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

Floss

We (3 siblings with 5 years between us) would often have our tea before Blue Peter time, often something on toast (as we had school dinners) followed by banana & custard, rice creamola, angel delight, jelly & custard, pink or chocolate custard & icecream... thinking back there was a milky theme!

As we grew up & the older 2 went to secondary school, we ate with the parents but there were still puddings to fill us up, or occasionally a paper-wrapped Club or Penguin biscuit.

JIL

I also read the meal plan and thought it  egg heavy with too much bread. Although I can see it will help some to think about how they can adapt it to suit their own circumstances.
Get some lentils in there 🤣

zcrat41

What are you all eating on these hot days. I find I'm great at cooking meals like spag Bol, curry, Dahl etc but we just don't fancy them when it's hot. 

Kids (9&7) are fed up of chopped up cucumber/tomatoes/peppers and it's only June!!! 

Brambling

zcrat41 said:

What are you all eating on these hot days. I find I'm great at cooking meals like spag Bol, curry, Dahl etc but we just don't fancy them when it's hot. 

Kids (9&7) are fed up of chopped up cucumber/tomatoes/peppers and it's only June!!! 

What about making pizzas I tend to buy cheap cheese and tomato ones and add additional toppings if you don't want to make the kids could add their own toppings. You could use the mince to make burgers with a pice of cheese in the middle serve in a bun and make some wedges or sweet potato chips? I make 'fried' chicken in the air fryer but there are recipes on line to bake in the oven maybe with corn on the cob, HM coleslaw 

Florenceem

I have been to a Corps Council meeting at my SA today. The demand for food parcels is way more than the food donations that we are receiving. Corps are spending £300 a week on items to make up the required food parcels.

-taff

Onebrokelady said:

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 😀

They have NO way of checking apart from to come to your house,ask you if you watch tv, ask you to let them in to check and then you say, I don't, and no you can't. Which has never happened to us in seven years of living here. Then they will send you letters for six months, each more threatening than the last, then their computers will click over and start addressing letter to the 'occupier' or the 'legal owner' and the letters will go on a loop forever.

http://www.bbctvlicence.com/

Bluegreen143

I have friends and my sister who don’t use a TV license (because they don’t watch live TV or BBC) and they haven’t had any issues once they phoned them up to explain. I didn’t have a TV license one of the years I was a student as we didn’t own a TV and it was before smartphones etc to use the BBC apps. Again no issues. As long as you are genuinely not cheating the system you’ve got nothing to fear! 

We do use iPlayer and the kids watch CBeebies so we pay for our license.

tooldle

My folks had issues for years with tv licensing. They didn’t own a tv but received regular visits asking if they did. This was thought to be down to another person purchasing a tv and giving my parents address. 

London_1

Florenceem its sadly a sign of the times and I have a feeling it will get worse as the year goes on. I feel for those with children especially who are struggling and if there is a two for one in the SM then I will always pop the extra into the food bin by the door in the hope that it may help someone out .
Not a lot when we all have to watch the pennies but even an extra tin, or toothpaste or something will help a bit.My DD usually puts a spare sanitary packet in when they are on offer ,as she says although she's hopefully coming to the end of needing them, there must be thousands that haven't. 
Tesco's usually have  couple of bins ,one for humens and one for pets as pets are part of peoples families as well. it would be fantastic if ,bearing in mind we seem to have National Days for almost anything in this country there was a designated national Day for food drop offs and every customer who used the big supermarkets (There are four within a mile of my house ) all dropped one thing into the basket by the door Even a bar of soap for less than 50 p might help some poor soul out Think of how many food parcels could be filled by a tiny act on a designated day, perhaps the 1st of the monthwhen folk are maybe a little more flush than usual if they have just got paid Perhaps called "Help your citizens day" I know every penny counts at the moment but even a tin of beans for 22p wouldn't putmany of us in the workhouse ,but could help a really hard pushed Mum to feed her kids,just a thought . 
We seem to have the daftest of 'National Days ' for the daftest of things, whereas this would actually be a day to help your felow citizens without too much effort What do you think ?

JackieO xx 

dreaming

Onebrokelady said:

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 

Frugal Queen in France does slip into "schoolmarm" mode at times (her previous occupation) but she does make some very good points and I certainly admire her for living according to her (and her husband's) own principles. I struggle with some of the American frugal vloggers as their experiences don't really relate to my life as a single 60something woman but again do still pick up tips from them. Apart from frugal vlogs I love watching Acre Homestead which is American and more about being as self sufficient as possible but is a bit of "escape from reality" watch for me. I also watch Handcrafted Homestead (I think there is a bit of a theme there) which is set in the Czech republic, although the family lived in the UK for some years. I seem to be watching an awful lot of Youtube at the moment as I can't do a great deal with my health condition, but I would rather be gardening.
I'm just trying to meal plan for the next few week and setting up a grocery delivery. I was hoping to last out till July but I am low on cat food and a few other bits. Not being able to drive at the moment is getting me down as I used to be able to just nip to Morrisons - I had gotten into a rhythm of shopping every 12-14 days but can't always make up the list enough for delivery that often (plus paying the delivery charge) so it's tended to be 3-4 weekly instead. I invariably forget something and then have to decide whether to get it at the local Tesco Express which can be quite expensive.
My gas and electric company are telling me I can reduce my direct debit from £79 to £63 as I am building up a credit but I am leaving it as is to counter the rises due later in the year. I have solar panels so am benefitting at the moment with all this lovely sunshine.