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

Siebrie

We had to change to a variable electricity & gas tariff last February (an oversight from me in November 2021, when I didn't renew our fixed rate in time) and our monthly payment went up by €70/month. We were in a bit of a shock, and finally husband was on board to pay attention to all the little ways we were wasting electricity and gas. It has paid off! We have just received an email that we will receive a refund of €346! This means that we will have paid €43/month more than the year before, but that's nowhere near as crazy as I have heard from others. And our quality of life has not really changed.

sammy_kaye18

YorksLass said:

The rice pudding I made the other day is going down a treat - as well as using up surplus milk, it's taken care of the last bit of lemon curd from the fridge, the last few grapes and tonight we'll have it with a dollop of hm blackberry & apple jam that I made in the summer.  We don't mind eating it cold - it's just as good as the shop bought tubs of the stuff that comes with fruit and far cheaper.  

Today I've made a vat of tomato & red pepper soup, just what we need for these chilly days.  Tea tonight is sausages, cabbage & mash.  There'll be a couple of sausages left over but we can have those cold, sliced thinly for sandwiches with mustard.

Florenceem said:

I am doing no spend January like Frugal Queen in Franc.

Longwalker said:

Before Christmas the new butchers had a deal - £25 meat pack - choose 8 items - only double up on some, so I thought Id give it a try. For my £25 I got two 1lb packs of steak mince, 4 pork chops, , 4 chicken fillets, 1lb of steak pieces, 1lb of pork and leak sausages, 1lb of pork and cranberry chipolatas ( lush with the turkey dinner ) and a stuffed pork fillet sold in a tray with the roasting veg. None of it was pre- packed. It all came off the counter and labeled - came to just over £42 if I had paid individually 

Another excellent buy was from Home Bargains. Im probably really late on this one, but I admit I wouldn't usually buy fresh food from there, but they do big packs of back bacon, Thick cut, 20 rashers for £3.99.

@YorksLass -  well done on using things up. I am trying my best at the minute to not buy things unless I need to and using up every little bit I have - including scraps. Im even considering using the peelings from my veg this week to freeze and make peel soup at the weekend. 

@Florenceem - I have been watching her doing her no spend challenge and although I have royally messed up the beginning of January by not being prepared - I will definitely be attempting it a fresh in February by being better prepared. 

@Longwalker - Thank you for the recommendation about the bacon. My boys are both keen mountain bikers and sometimes in the morning they leave early so bacon and wraps are a stable in our house as a quick breakfast for them. Do you know if these packs freeze well?
Also thats a great deal from your butcher! I will have to see if our local butcher does a pack like this. I know we have a butchers van who drives around so I may see if they can do me a deal like this as well to help fill my chest freezer. 

Tea for us tonight is a small gammon joint that I managed to pick up from Asda. I have a large sweet potato in the fridge that I will cut into rounds and then will serve with some roasted carrots and parsley sauce for husband. Im not a gammon fan so I have some small frozen chicken chunks that I will use up. Not sure of a pudding yet but I seem to have a few tins of cheap rice pudding to use up so may well be that with a dollop of jam. 
I also noticed I still have a large tub in the freezer of blackberries so I may spend tomorrow making that into jam and crumbles as I seem to have quite a few apples in my fridge that probably have seen better days and need using soon.  

YorksLass

@sammy_kaye18 - I'm with you on using up scraps, it's surprising what they can be turned into.  Bread crusts usually become breadcrumbs (for coating) or used for stuffing but I also keep some in a bag in the fridge for when we have soup.  DH calls it "the bird bag".  

Next week's soup will be leek & potato to use up a bag of sliced leeks from the freezer.  And I'll be making a batch of fishcakes instead of buying the ready made ones I usually buy.  They've gone up 50p a pack (for two), there's less fish in them than there used to be and the breadcrumb coating is far too thick.  I'm sure I could make something better.

And yes, packs of bacon usually freeze well - just remember to portion them up before freezing so you can defrost only what you need.  I often buy packs of cooking bacon (85p for 500g) - it's a bit pot luck what you get but, even if it's only to cut up into lardons, it's a saving.  I render down any fat and use it for frying eggs, roasting potatoes or making pastry for savoury pies.

Usual weekly trip to the Coop today where I picked up ys fine green beans, a jar of peanut butter that was on clearance (not sure why, it's dated bb Aug but at £1.60 instead of £3.60 I wasn't going to ignore it) and also used two 50p MOCs, one on fresh cod fillets and the other on a tin of sardines.  Total savings £3.39.  I'm going to have to go back tomorrow though as I picked up the current TV guide instead of next week's - aargh!  Never mind, the walk there and back will be a bit more free exercise.

Meter readings done and sent in - a tad over £246 (duel fuel), tbc, but £36 less than December so better than I was expecting.  Last night's heavy frost soon disappeared today so hopefully it's getting a bit milder.  I was cheered up when I noticed a few daffodils poking through the soil when I went out to read the gas meter - Spring must be around the corner!  

-taff

@sammy_kaye18 have you tried omlette wraps? Make a very thin omlette with some spring onions, a few other bits and pieces, whatever you have really, bit of cheese, chopped pepper, bit of slmi, whatever, and roll that up either in a wrap or by itself. It's an easy make.

Datchet

Really good tips and practises in this thread, thanks all. Apart from the energy saving - detailed in that thread, we’ve swapped back to Aldi weekly With a delivery top up once a month. Dieting so no treats or occasional wine. Using up all Christmas food ( mostly the boys!) re-acquainting the boys with the concept of “ there’s none left”! 😂
have stopped a couple of subscriptions, National Trust one is going to hurt. Dusted off home exercise equipment. Really focusing on car journeys & fuel efficiency. I’m sure there’s more…
( I’m chopping kindling /wood for wood-burner later, some of which was from skip-surfing!)

sarahj1986

YorksLass said:

The rice pudding I made the other day is going down a treat - as well as using up surplus milk, it's taken care of the last bit of lemon curd from the fridge, the last few grapes and tonight we'll have it with a dollop of hm blackberry & apple jam that I made in the summer.  We don't mind eating it cold - it's just as good as the shop bought tubs of the stuff that comes with fruit and far cheaper.  

Today I've made a vat of tomato & red pepper soup, just what we need for these chilly days.  Tea tonight is sausages, cabbage & mash.  There'll be a couple of sausages left over but we can have those cold, sliced thinly for sandwiches with mustard.

I don't know about anyone else, but I get a great deal of satisfaction from knowing I've used the last scrap from a bottle/jar/packet/tube or whatever, haven't wasted anything and have saved cash into the bargain.  That's where these forums come in handy with tips - some you probably know and do already, some you know about but may have forgotten and others are new.  Keep them coming folks!

On tomorrow's To Do list is take meter readings and send them to energy supplier - not looking forward to that, I shall probably frighten myself to death!     

I’m definitely becoming more “efficient” with food and how I cook it. We had some bread going stale so I usually make bread and butter pudding with it. I was going to do it Thursday but I wasn’t using the oven for dinner so I waited till Friday when I was doing the dinner in the oven and stuck it on after. It made a big portion too. I do mine with chocolate as my husband doesn’t like dried fruits. 

Longwalker

Datchet said:

Really good tips and practises in this thread, thanks all. Apart from the energy saving - detailed in that thread, we’ve swapped back to Aldi weekly With a delivery top up once a month. Dieting so no treats or occasional wine. Using up all Christmas food ( mostly the boys!) re-acquainting the boys with the concept of “ there’s none left”! 😂
have stopped a couple of subscriptions, National Trust one is going to hurt. Dusted off home exercise equipment. Really focusing on car journeys & fuel efficiency. I’m sure there’s more…
( I’m chopping kindling /wood for wood-burner later, some of which was from skip-surfing!)

Shame about the NT membership

There was a time when you could legally join National Trust NZ for about £30 a year but they have closed that loop hole

BUT there is also the choice of if you have family in Australia for instance, get them to buy you a membership. NT Western Australia , family ticket for 2 adults and 4 children -  £79 a year and it can be used world wide. 

Its only open to residents of WA, my sister lives in WA, other territories have their own so if you have a family member down under, its perfectly legal for them to buy membership - and then post it on to you 

Look at the INTO site, shows you which countries are participating members and see which country you have family living and see if their membership is cheaper 

Katiehound

^^^^
I see  membership of Scottish National trust is said to be slightly cheaper than English NT. Might be worth checking. Presumably you can buy with an English/Welsh address (for your Scottish holiday???)

English heritage membership with Tesco clubcard vouchers.

elsien

This is not a complaint, more a question. I requested a cauliflower some leeks, a pack of broccoli and a pack of tenderstem broccoli from Olio. 

They clearly had a huge surplus so I got three of each. In a single person household. With a freezer that I’m already playing freezer Tetris with. I have donated some but I’m still left with a packet of leeks,  all the broccoli and two cauliflowers. Suggestions for use that’s not going to waste it?
There’s only so much vegetable curry one woman can eat.

Katiehound

For starters can you keep them outside? It's perishing here- you don't need a fridge!
I would imagine a  cauliflower & the leeks would keep for a week? Broccoli seems to have a shorter shelf life.

cauliflower cheese
leek , ham (or bacon pieces) & pasta bake
mix veg in cheese sauce bake
veggie omelette