How long can I make £187.15 last?

mumtoomany

Just posted, but it seems to have got lost!!

Yesterday's tea went well, nine empty plates.

Today I'm roasting a leg of HG pork, with roast potatoes, carrots and HG kale.

£3.30 spent on milk, DD1 picked it up for me. 

Hugs to all, mumtoomany.xxx

thriftwizard

MTM, I can just about smell that pork - delicious! 

Your example has inspired me not to gallop up to W8rose today; OH suddenly announced that we were "almost out" of sliced bread - he won't eat the real thing, it hurts his teeth - & I only have 68p left in my November grocery budget, plus I'm busy making gnomes for a Christmas market next weekend. So I informed him that he could make do with a "rapid" loaf from the bread-maker; we have plenty of flour, yeast etc. To be fair, I could have given him the £1 I found in the washing machine this morning, and told him he could go up there himself, but he was busy mending a drain in between World Cup matches. 

mumtoomany

Well done, @thriftwizard. I noticed today I've only got one more loaf left in the freezer, just taken another out. I think i'll be making a loaf on Monday. I don't normally, as i only pay 20p per loaf from the cash and carry. 

Tea all eaten, including seconds! Back to only feeding seven for tea tomorrow. 
Hugs, mumtoomany.xxx

London_1

I have been following your journey with great interest, you are doing brilliantly, and now only have 34 days to go, inspriring many people on here no doubt to cut back on shopping and use up what you have instead of buying even more. 

Often folk go to the fridge and if they glance in and think 'Oh i don't feel like cooking /eating that' then go out and buy more stuff they possibly will not cook or eat, and end up binning perfectly good food. I'm sure at time in the past we have all done it.

But focussing on what you have, and not 'what you fancy' is a good way towards less waste.

I do try to utilise every scrap of food I can ,especially when 'running down' my fridge, which I will be doing in December as I shall be too-ing and fro-ing between my two daughters houses over the Christmas and New Year period.

I'm also using up some stuff from the freezer as in January, when I eventally get back to my own house I do a 'big shop' using up the left over cash squirrelled away from my last 6 months of budgetting. Ive not done too bad since June and have around £110 so far tucked away.

This will buy the extra bits and bobs that I buy only every 6 months or so, plus and left over Christmas bargains in the shops. I usually get my mincemeat and stuffing packets at reduced prices in January, and they last me until the following Christmas Last year I bought a delicious large panettone reduced to 50p from £6.00 which lasted for ages and I used in several things.

So this month I have been really strict on what I have been buying, and buying literally by essential needs only foodwise at least.

So I will have a few more pounds to go into the 'Big Shop Stash' I like to try and have some wriggle room in the freezer as well in case there are, as often noticed some reduced meat bargains to stack away for the cold hard months of January and February when the weather isn't great.

I use a stick to walk with, and try to do very little food shopping at all when the weather is cold and icy, No point in falling over and ending up with broken bones for the sake of a jar of jam or a box of tea bags  

But well done, as you are feeding a lot of mouths on what you have done this year, and have managed it brilliantly, and hopefully have got more folk interested in how you can and do 'eat well for less'  

JackieO xx

littlemoney

mumtoomany said:

Hi @Floss and @cbsexec. Thank you both for taking the time to reply. The problem is we bought the car from Mr A who was selling it for his OH. What we didn't know at the time was that Mr A's OH has never registered the car as hers, nor had she taxed if in the time she owned it. The slip from the V5 we were given came from the last time it changed owners. This came to light when we tried to tax it online. The website said that if we printed off a form we could tax if at the post office. The post office said we had to send the form off, and pay £25, to change the owner. Until then we can neither tax nor SORN it. I suppose this could be to prevent fraud of some sort. Mr A, when we spoke to him, said his OH had now sent off to get a V5. The DVLA website is now showing that the car has a change of ownership, don't know if that's us or her, but hopefully the new V5 should be here soon. Watch this space. 

We managed to get carrots and potatoes last night, the chemist was open late, and DD and S-i-L were both home, so a choice of cars. I also picked up a lot of cream. Total for these was ,£15.45. We now have 10kgs of carrots and 25kgs of potatoes. Hoping these will see us through, with the addition of more milk, till the end of the month. 

Going to raid the freezer, and put a name to tea. 

Hugs to all, mumtoomany.xxx

Hope your potatoes are better than mine.  I purchased a sack from a farm shop and I am throwing half the potato away. Each potato I cut has brown spots inside. I was pleased when I found the farm shop was selling unwashed potato as I know washed don't keep. But these are a waste of money. It would be cheaper to regularly buy from the supermarket but I was trying to winter proof some of my food shopping.

mumtoomany

Hi, @littlemoney. Sorry to hear you didn't do well with your sack of potatoes. I normally buy mine from the local vegetable shop. Never had a problem with them. If you are close to the farm shop, I'd think about taking them back, or complaining. The ones i picked up last week from the garage are fine too. 

 Hi, @London_1. lovely to see you following me, and cheering on from the sidelines. I've been having to be more creative with food ideas and recipes. I've not managed to find reduced mincemeat for several years now. I do, however, normally go to Aldi and Lidl as soon as they open on Christmas eve. Often get many 75% off bargains, especially meat and fish.

Tea is chicken, onions, mushrooms, peas and corn, cooked in white sauce, served with rice. Off to dish if of now, hugs, mumtoomany.xxx

Longwalker

littlemoney said:

mumtoomany said:

Hi @Floss and @cbsexec. Thank you both for taking the time to reply. The problem is we bought the car from Mr A who was selling it for his OH. What we didn't know at the time was that Mr A's OH has never registered the car as hers, nor had she taxed if in the time she owned it. The slip from the V5 we were given came from the last time it changed owners. This came to light when we tried to tax it online. The website said that if we printed off a form we could tax if at the post office. The post office said we had to send the form off, and pay £25, to change the owner. Until then we can neither tax nor SORN it. I suppose this could be to prevent fraud of some sort. Mr A, when we spoke to him, said his OH had now sent off to get a V5. The DVLA website is now showing that the car has a change of ownership, don't know if that's us or her, but hopefully the new V5 should be here soon. Watch this space. 

We managed to get carrots and potatoes last night, the chemist was open late, and DD and S-i-L were both home, so a choice of cars. I also picked up a lot of cream. Total for these was ,£15.45. We now have 10kgs of carrots and 25kgs of potatoes. Hoping these will see us through, with the addition of more milk, till the end of the month. 

Going to raid the freezer, and put a name to tea. 

Hugs to all, mumtoomany.xxx

Hope your potatoes are better than mine.  I purchased a sack from a farm shop and I am throwing half the potato away. Each potato I cut has brown spots inside. I was pleased when I found the farm shop was selling unwashed potato as I know washed don't keep. But these are a waste of money. It would be cheaper to regularly buy from the supermarket but I was trying to winter proof some of my food shopping.

I think we are all going to be struggling with potatoes this year

Too much dry matter which happens during very hot summers, causing bruising and black when they are cultivated

I work in a vegetable processing plant and the potatoes are going black on us within 24 hrs, the drivers are getting so many returns ( and these are treated processed potatoes, should be grand for 5 days )

mumtoomany

Thanks for that @Longwalker about the potatoes. I've not had any problems this year, maybe because we are in Wales, it's never dry, always seems to be raining!! I'll keep an eye on the spuds now.

Tea went well, DGD1 helped me make coleslaw for the jacket potatoes and so ate it. Pizzas were good, some left for lunch today. 

OH and I spent most of yesterday changing the clutch on DD3's car. She rewarded her dad with a case of beer. That won't need to go on the shopping list now. Also found the receipt for last week's shopping. I'd remembered wrong! I now have 20p more left than I thought! I'll change the signature in a moment.

Got a letter about the car. We will get a V5 after the sixth of December, why not send it now?? And can tax the car then. 

Tea today??? I'm going to look for something to throw into the slow cooker. Watch this space.

Hugs to all, mumtoomany.xxx

thriftwizard

@littlemoney, our last sack of spuds also had a fair few with brown spots; I'm afraid I just cut round them & we ate them anyway! They cooked & tasted fine, but I must admit the brown patches went into the council's compost bucket, not into our own compost. Just about to open the next sack, which should see 3-5 of us well into January; they're Wiljas, and the last sack were Maris Pipers. I'd always rather have Desiree but rarely see them, except on my allotment, where they seem to come up of their own accord (along with Pink Fir Apples) ever since I actually bought some to plant about 3 years ago. Evidently they're not so popular with farmers, though, maybe because you seem to have them for life, once planted - I've even found some lurking in a hanging basket, along with some pretty blue pansies & a stunning begonia. 

@mumtoomany, I'm crossing my fingers like mad for you, that that £29.65 sees you through. What an inspiration you are!

beckstar1975

We get ours from Riverford or the local Community Farm and I have to say they've been far worse than normal - nearly every one has had to have something cut out from it. They've also said they have a glut of green leafy things due to the drought/deluge/warm autumn - but it's hard to use up chard/greens/spinach/cabbage (as in all of them) plus celeriac and parsnips (which DS is allergic to) in teen friendly meals. I am trying though

What's the budget at now @mumtoomany?