2024 Frugal Living Challenge

willow_loulou

Thank you! Yes there’s a lot of questionable advice out there! It’s very unnerving when your options are limited financially! I’m prepared to spend more if I need to but sheesh! 

leftatthetrafficlights

willow_loulou said:

Thank you! Yes there’s a lot of questionable advice out there! It’s very unnerving when your options are limited financially! I’m prepared to spend more if I need to but sheesh! 

To be honest, it's actually a really cheap way to eat if you have the time/inclination to cook; I have an instant pot so can pressure cook beans from dry within around 45 mins - they can be cooked in bulk and frozen in portions. They will also keep in the fridge for several days. You can do the same with grains - I cook these on the hob as the pressure cooker tends to make them a bit 'claggy' and I prefer my grains to be more free moving 😉 If you don't have a pressure cooker, I'd strongly suggest that you cook dried beans and grains in batches - it will save you time and money! Dried beans and wholegrains work out very cheap - it doesn't take a lot of them to feel really full without being bloated or heavy and it takes a considerable period of time before you'll feel hungry again. 

I know that you're getting £1 bags so your veg/fruit costs will hopefully be kept low but look at frozen veg when it's on offer too - nutritionally it's often superior to fresh as its frozen very quickly following harvest as opposed to hanging around the supermarket supply chain for days. 

It's also worth growing a few herbs even if you're limited to a windowsill - they make such a difference to meals and are quite expensive to buy! 

Prudent

I have just updated my signature to reflect money spent on some bark chipping and compost sieves for the allotment. I will need to order some more compost too. Last year we were lucky with wood chips as the council cut down some nearby trees and we were able to take wheel barrow loads away to add to our paths. 

Other than that I haven't added anything further to my totals. We have a new freezer arriving this afternoon. This comes out of the 'house & garden maintenance and purchases budget' which is £200 a month. This covers everything from a new vegetable peeler right through to a new sofa or kitchen and also includes the boiler service and any workmen's bills. I haven't listed it below as it is a rolling budget. We have never, as yet, overspent it. It sometimes builds up and sometimes depletes depending on whether we have bigger projects going on. If we feel it is building up more than needed, we book a caravan or a cottage and have a holiday.

 I spent several months looking for a second hand freezer but couldn't find one as I  specifically needed a Beko. They can cope with temperatures down to minus 15c and as this one is going in the garage I needed something that could cope in winter. I am hoping it will pay its costs as it will allow us to freeze allotment produce. I have a small kitchen so space was too limited in the house. I have waited a long time for this freezer as until last summer that garage space was taken up with a bathroom suite I won in 2012! I had only refitted the bathroom in 2009 and wasn't prepared to fit it again so quickly, so the suite spent 11 years in the garage. It looks great now it is finally installed and came with all the fixtures and fittings, so the only cost was wet wall and fitting.

willow_loulou

Missed the food place this morning, I didn’t wake until 9:30 when it was about to close! I do wish they would do some afternoon things. 

I’ve paid a few things, set some money aside (still waiting for my council tax update after they got it wrong) and popped a few £ into savings 

This leaves me £60 for food and household shopping for 4 weeks. That used to be so easy but not so much now! I will set some aside when I get paid next week just in case but will put it in my not so easy to get account. Will be setting an alarm for the next £1 bag day! 

I do wish I liked more food, but textures and dairy intolerance really impact what I can eat. 

willow_loulou

I just spent £60 on food! But the majority of that will last the month. In theory all I should need is one more lot of bread and a lactose free or oat milk plus anything I can get veg wise at the £1 bag place next week. With any luck there will be bread there so I’ll only need to get milk 
Be Interesting to see if I have planned well enough, but it will be a fun challenge. 

Frugaldom

Hi guys, I'm not managing to get on here very often so haven't even managed to update my totals below. I'm flat out with work (unpaid) and more on the way while having next to no mobile signal so I tend to dedicate my screen time to keeping our support group up to date. Thank you to those here who also follow Frugaldom there. 😊 
Food prices are going astronomical, especially for those of us already on the stores's own bafic unbranded foodlines. Olio is out only hope of staying within agreed budgets. 

Weather has been atrocious here with not a dry week since about last July, or at least it feels that way. Really must get my act together with garden stuff but I'm still looking after 8 ponies and a goat do it doesn't leave much energy for anything, especially on a bad diet if mainly free carbs. Must make improvements there, too. Unfortunately, I'm really not a beans and pulses person not do I like much by way of leafy greens. Eggs it will have to be.

AnimalTribe

DH has to go into the city today - a 100 mile round trip, so not something either of us does very often. He’ll make the most of the trip while he’s there and I’ve asked him to get me a big selection of cheap Easter veg. Most of the supermarkets seem to be doing 15p veg so it’s a bargain I don’t want to miss.

Prudent

I have stocked up on the cheap veg too. I now have a full box of it in the garage. I will making up some of into soups,  etc over the weekend and then freezing. I will make some root vegetable mash for freezing too. I was able to get to Aldi, Lidl, Morrisons and Asda so quite a good selection. I didn't go to Tesco but I think I have already got all the veg they have on offer elsewhere. The parsnips were not marked as on offer in Morrisons but scanned through at the reduced price. My £1 veg bag this week contained salad and fruit so there was no overlap.

I had intended making some soup this afternoon. However I got the chance of a pair of free tickets for a musical this evening so I am resting this afternoon. I need to pace myself carefully due to illness and rarely go out in the evening. I don't think we have been to the theatre since covid and we used to love going.

mumf

There are some nice ideas here. I find it interesting too that poorly people are ( obviously) contributing particularly because of costs. I too am in that club! The cheap vegetables are a great point,so we shall acquire some and concentrate like many ,upon making some soups. We can freeze them too.

nannygladys

I'm another one who has been buying the cheap veggies. I only bought the ones I wanted and didn't go too mad, but I will need to do some freezing over the weekend and may do a bit of dehydrating too. I still have a bit of Xmas veg left over and even green beans from the garden last year. Someone of facebook put a list for what the various supermarkets have on the 15p offers and they're mainly the same at each one, just the odd difference on a couple of items.
Ive been having a few odd jobs done around the house, things like powerwashing the slabs front and back, as they are getting very slippy and new bathroom sink taps and mending few leaks etc, Ive been saving for months for these but underestimated how much everything is to buy, so I need to rein other spending in so I can afford all that needs doing - there not wants but needs!