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

EssexHebridean

Deleted_User said:

It is really tough for a lot of us at the moment. I am on a very very tight budget, and personally adore this thread for the encouragement and support it offers. But this train of thought is just exhausting and a bit too judgemental, albeit well intentioned perhaps.

In this house, everybody fed nobody dead is perfectly good enough. 

Some days the children have wonderful balanced diets, other days less so. I do my best, and that’s all any of us can do. 

Stay well, warm and happy guys x

That's beautifully put - nobody can aspire to more than that IMO! And it sounds like your children will grow up with a healthy and balanced attitude towards food and eating too - or at least if they don't, you will have done everything to give them the right foundation!

I feel very strongly that there is NO place for weight stigma and food shaming on here - indeed, there should be no place for that anywhere, but as we know, wider society isn't as kind as I think generally speaking those of us on here would like to consider that we are. I'm aware of the issues with the participants in shows like Love Island although they are not to my taste at all - another example of how we're all different! The more inclusive and encouraging we can be - the more help this board and others can be to the people of all ages who turn up here looking for assistance, though. 

Back to feeling the pinch...

My heating has needed a tweak in an upwards direction in the past few days, and the last two mornings in particularly have been bitter with us - it was -5C when I left home yesterday and I suspect similar again this morning. I suspect my next month's bill is going to be my highest month so far this winter. 

Suffolksue

Do you know what kind of heating there is in (hopefully) you’re new place EH

asb I love the ‘everybody fed ,nobody dead ‘ comment ,wish I had thought of it when my kids were small 

EssexHebridean

If we get the one we're going for Sue, it will be GCH - which will be a complete novelty after 20 years of electric heating!  

Bluegreen143

Our combined energy bill was £357.37 this month (live in a small, modern, end terrace three bed) - very eye-opening to see how much more it was with the cold spell in December included. 

On the plus side it has galvanised me to be much more energy efficient. I admit I was rather lazy in the past re tumble drying everything and not really thinking anything of putting the heating on. 

I really feel for those without that kind of cash to spare, however. 

We are so fortunate that we are able to pay, and I’m getting back into good habits like hanging a wash on the airer every day, like I used to before having a tumble drier. Need to dig out the in home display for the smart meter and assess what other appliances are big energy sucks. 

I’m really pleased by how much I’ve brought down my grocery spends this month, I’ve been really on it at using up leftovers (and planning meals to allow leftovers for lunch, so I don’t need to buy much lunch stuff). 

joedenise

@Bluegreen143 - if you have an electric cooker that will be another big power user; also washing machines.  Basically anything that needs to heat up will be using power.

EssexHebridean

@Bluegreen143 - yes, JoeDenise mostly nails it - if it produces heat or cools things down, it’ll likely be a big energy guzzler. Electric showers are one of the worst - if someone has a house with the option of an electric shower or one run straight from the boiler, the advice is always to use the boiler one. Similarly if you use gas to heat your water, but have an electric immersion heater as backup, make sure the switch that allows that to automatically heat is off unless needed, otherwise you could easily wave goodbye to 6kWh a day or even more there. Older fridges and freezers in particular can also use a fair bit - bit those are difficult to really monitor without a monitor on the plug though, as they cycle in and out. 

Washing machines are an oddity.   Often they use less energy on the longer programmes as those rely more on soaking time - also, and it goes without saying is I think, if you can wash it at 30° then definitely do so. 

Bluegreen143

Thanks both. We have a shower run straight from the boiler luckily. Electric oven but gas hob. 

I had previously been using the “quick wash” 30 minute wash on the washing machine - which doesn’t spin properly so I would do a separate spin cycle after - and on researching it last week I’ve switched to doing the longer “eco” wash. Though the “eco” wash bizarrely doesn’t go down to 30, only 40, whereas the quick wash has a setting for 30C so I’m not 100% sure which setting is actually better…

Also switched to the eco wash setting on the dishwasher, again I used to do the quick wash. It’s worth it even if it doesn’t save power, as the dishes are MUCH cleaner.

Blackcats

To help with rising energy costs my friend who has 4 young children now only has "oven dinner" twice a week.  One of these is a Sunday roast and the other is the children's choice which is usually pizza or nuggets and chips.  The rest of the week is slow cooker or pot on the hob dinners or microwaved batch cooked meals.  She says it is working well and the children are probably eating a wider range of foods.  

sarahj1986

Blackcats said:

To help with rising energy costs my friend who has 4 young children now only has "oven dinner" twice a week.  One of these is a Sunday roast and the other is the children's choice which is usually pizza or nuggets and chips.  The rest of the week is slow cooker or pot on the hob dinners or microwaved batch cooked meals.  She says it is working well and the children are probably eating a wider range of foods.  

I’ve used my oven twice in a row last night and the night before. That’s only because what I was making wouldn’t fit in my air fryer else it would have gone in there. Even when I do a roast I cook it in the air fryer. I realised when I used the oven on Tuesday that I’d hadn’t used it since New Year’s Day. If I can avoid it I do, the air fryer is so much quicker. 

Interesting what people were saying about snacking. My daughter is in nursery 2 1/2 days a week. I send her in with a lunchbox on the 2 full days. They have lunch at 12 so by the time I get her home she’s usually hungry. She rarely eats all the contents of her lunchbox so I let her finish that and that will do her till dinner. When at home she can be a grazer but I try to stick to 3 meals and the odd snack here or there. 

I noticed yet more price increases on Tesco online. Baked beans x 4 tins was £1.30 now £1.50, I would get the Stockwell beans as they are slightly cheaper but I hate them. Just shocking the 20p jump. 

EssexHebridean

Aldi's own brand beans are worth trying IMO - far nicer than "Stockwell" as the sauce is thicker. The price also used to compare well although I've not bought in a while so can't be sure how it compares now.