From Frugal Foundations to Fortified Family Future

rtandon27

Happy to hear LG has mended well!

Of all the weird and wonderful topics we discuss on your thread, labeless tin roulette has got to be one of my all-time favorites! 🤣

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning MWF'rs

Thank you for your well wishes for LG.  Hopefully they will be much more careful in future, and look after their injury in the interim to ensure everything is truly healed and back to normal.

Ha ha - RT - you are right  👍😁  Sank Evans for mumtoomany! 😁 ♪ ♪♪ ♪♫ ♫ ♪♪

I forgot to add in last night with regards to the swede curry, I didn't do the blitzing of part of the curry once it was cooked.  I didn't think it needed it (and hadn't read the recipe that far 🙄), as the la1la lentils cook down quite a bit anyway.  And as MSE'rs will know already, I diced my swede much smaller than the 1 inch cubes given in the recipe, as swede does take a while to cook - so if you are cooking it with anything else, you have to take that into account.  If I am making swede & tattie mash, I always cut the swede up smaller than the tattie, so that they cook in the same time.  But otherwise it is a good curry, and I have added it to my recipe index, and will look to perhaps use some more recipes off that website.

I was looking to not go shopping today, as technically we don't need any food.  But DH has more or less managed to run the milk out 🙄 so pondering if I can get a milk without feeling the need to buy owt else - which in someways is easy, as I only have pennies of my February budget left - but of course, it's become a personal challenge now to try to come in under £200 - even if there is virtually nothing left for 'C4C' anyway 🙁

Obvs because we have the 29th Feb so infrequently, there are no payments due out for anything today, and all the cash movements are accounted for.  I will have to pay for the CT tomorrow.  I remembered yesterday that I need to set up a DD instruction for the CT going forward - but despite the CSA telling me he would put a form in with the revised bill, he didn't, so I will have to chase that up.

Not too sure what will end up being for tea today.  But I'll rustle up summat.  Certainly it won't be a NSD because of the milk, but no need to make whoopee either.

Right, best shift-a-tail-feather.  Daylight is burning.  Ta for popping by.

Greying X

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Afternoon MFW'rs 

So we're enjoying weak sunshine at the moment, but there is a reasonable breeze too, so my punt to put a load of washing out - that has filled the line - looks like it will pay off and everything should be 'best part' dried by the time school's out.  Phew!

I decided to walk to the M&$ at the retail park to get some milk.  I was pretty sure they price milk on a par with MrAl/MrL (I was right), and it gave the opportunity to get some exercise.  I'm not super keen walking that way, as much of it is alongside busy roads, but it varies things up a bit and is a different set of things to look at.  It's similar distance wise as if I had walked into the town centre.    Anyhoo, I managed to tear myself away from the YS'd avocados, and stomped determinately on to the milk section.  Paid for my 4-pinter and left, so that nothing else caught my attention...... I have updated my grocery spend total.

Sad news about Hairy Biker Dave Myers - 66 is no age, is it 🙁

Still haven't had any inspo for summat for tea.  And thinking about it, I should have sorted out something to prep for tea tomorrow, as we have a dentist's appointment after school. It's t'other side of town, so it's going to be a slog through traffic to get there and a slog back home 🙄

Right, best shuffle orf and have another rifle through the cupboards......

Greying X

EssexHebridean

Ahh I'd not seen that about Dave Myers - not unexpected I imagine, but still as you say, no age. 

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Evening MFW'rs

So i managed to make it to the end of February with 4pence of my grocery budget intact 🙁 Hardly cause for celebration, as it's starting to involve compromises too far.  Whilst we haven't gone without per se, neither has there been much "interesting" food in February.  And actually, I don't mean cakes, biscuits and trifle.  Even having a full fruit bowl, or a range of vegetables, is becoming a treat.  

I have just done my shopping list for tomorrow, and whilst there are several 'household' (non-food) items on the list, most of the stuff is 'stock ups'.  Mmm, I will of course give it my best shot, but I don't hold out much hope for coming in on budget for March.  Doing rough costings for what is currently on my list (which isn't necessarily everything that we need/want) I'm hovering at around £44.

For tea tonight we had fish fingers, oven chips and mushy peas.  The fish fingers were supposed to be 'new' (?) 
in the MrL simply range.  They came in a pack of 10 and were............ 89p???  (have I remembered that correctly?).  They were from MSC cert. sources - alaskan pollock.  I don't think I will bother with them again.  I mean, you can't have high hopes if something is cheap, but they did shrink quite considerably on cooking, and I think what put me off the most was that the fish inside the breadcrumbs was the most unappealing shade of grubby grey.  They smelt ok, but were just the equivalent of the 'brown meat' of a chicken I guess.  I was amazed that DH and LG ate them with no comment what-so-ever.  But I suppose whilst we can exercise some choice, I would probably not eat fish, over buying them again.  Clean plates, but not one of our more memorable teas.  

The washing did indeed come in pretty dry this afternoon.  Several items - which are slightly heavier fabric - were slightly damp in places, but overall, I am so pleased.  And still I manage to retain a desperate grip on my £2 launderette fund....... 👍

I think I am just suffering a bit with budgeting fatigue today.  Silly me, I know I am incredibly lucky in reality.

Today I am grateful for these 3 things;

line dried washing
my health
that we have enough

Greying X

greenbee

Do you have a community larder/fridge nearby? They’re designed to prevent food waste. We have one that takes the supermarket surpluses, sometimes pub/restaurant excess, and sometimes allotment gluts! I rarely get there as it opens during working hours, but the photos on FB generally show a lot of fruit and veg as well as perishables like pre-made salads and sandwiches. And sometimes cut flowers. It might be worth a look as you’d be preventing food waste as well as saving money. 

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning MFW'rs

Happy St David's Day!

Ay up greenbee 😁Thank you, yes, we do have those kind of schemes running 'relatively' locally.  I have used them in the past.  The issue I found was that whilst our schemes were (for me as veggie) a relatively good source of varied fruit/veg, as the majority of participants seemed more interested in the......... 'processed' offerings.  So I did feel I was 'diverting waste', because it was usually the veg that was passed over, never the doughnuts IYSWIM.........  However, the schemes run as a 'market stall' rather than a shop - hope I'm painting a picture here - and the one scheme suffered from the 'same few' heading up the queue each time, and with not much 'stock', those of us at the back of the queue often left empty handed.  Then the scheme started operating in an additional area - under the same distribution method, and the queue participants began to get very vocal about....... 'it being on their manor, so it was for them, and anyone that didn't live on their manor ought to beat it....' IYSWIM.......  The daft thing was, that operation usually had lots of variety/stock and again, lots of the veg and fruit was eschewed in favour of bread and cake.  I work on the basis that others need the service more than me, and I don't need the intimidation, so I leave them to it. Travel costs and monetary contributions are better diverted to purchasing items from elsewhere imho.  

Right, so I have decided I am going to change the grocery budget.  First and foremost - whilst it is rising prices that have made the most difference - I haven't, up to now, had to 'budget' for LG's school meals.  I think this needs to change.  Whilst I disagree with headteacher's assertion (there is currently a debate going on about the school meals service in the borough) that school meals are cheaper than any packed lunch costs (I can only think some bright spark has used a 'meal deal' as a typical 'packed lunch' offering.......), there are things that I sometimes use in LG's lunch box that otherwise might not be bought, and it's not always easy to make a packed lunch of 'leftovers' (the kids aren't given much time to munch their lunch, plus they all want to be outside, playing with their chums).  So, if I was paying for school meals, I would need to find £12.50 for the term weeks - so 39? 40? weeks of the year.  On that basis, I am going to start to add £5 per week (term time only) to the grocery budget to cover LG's lunch.  So that would make March's grocery budget now £215.  I think too, I am going to use the MrT clubcard vouchers for 'bulk' purchases, of perhaps rice or pulses, so the £8 for 'C4C' will come from the bulk fund, rather than the grocery budget for March.  

That's my current thinking.  I shall try to make it work, and if it doesn't well then I shall have to review again.

I have my shopping list and will venture out later to the shops after the school run.

Unless I am struck by some inspiration to make better use of raindrops in a gastronomic concoction, tea will be lentil bolognese and pasta.

Ta for popping in - and as always, thanks for suggestions, you know I will always consider options and think long and hard about matters.

Edit:  I should have added, I am well aware that I am talking about sticking to very tight budgets - but I do still retain a modicum of choice about that, as for every penny I can hold onto, that is a penny that goes towards replacement windows.  I am well aware that there are many folk who don't have that element of choice, so I don't want it to seem like I am down on my uppers.  I'm just trying to save for replacement windows in the ways I know how.  This is our life, but I am not game-playing, budgeting for new windows has implications for health, energy saving, longer term property maintenance etc hence why it is a financial priority for us at this moment.

Greying X

Cheery_Daff

No need to justify yourself lovely Greying xxx You are making good choices and being careful with your budget to be able to afford other important things. I think 4p under your Feb budget should be counted as a success! 😊 And a good idea to add in money for LG's school lunches. You're doing an excellent job. Xx

rtandon27

GP - it's lovely to 'see' & 'hear' how you work out your choices!  You always think out your moves very carefully in this chess game of life where spending too much can come far too easily!

We too choose our frugal ways when it comes to food consumed, which makes affording that which needs attention that much easier to deal with - at the moment an urgent repair to our shed roof & an overflowing gutter/drainpipe!

Greying_Pilgrim

Aw, thanks Cheery 😘

So, shopping done and CT payment done.  And elevenses coffee just made 🤣

I had a reasonably good trip to MrL this morning.  It was quiet, which i wasn't expecting.  Naturally there were precisely zero £1.50 boxes, but that is normal, so I wasn't surprised.  There was nothing for me in the PoTW today, and I didn't purchase anything that was YS'd, as nothing I wanted/could use had been YS'd.  I think the only thing of note was that I did veer off the list for a 7.5kg bag of tatties.  At £3.79 they are at the 50p a kilo price point.  I went for Arran Pilot, but probably (in hindsight and thanks to goggle) should have picked a bag of Saxon instead.  But we'll eat 'em up, so no worries.  In total I ended up spending £46.37 on food.

Nicked into HB on the way home - and promptly joined a 'mother's meeting' as half the mam's from school were in there 🤣  Spend was £4.58 on fruit and non-food household items.

So, we're off to a running start with March grocery budget - £50.95/215.  At least I felt like I had actually 'got' some shopping for my money today, more often than not it only fills two bags and yet has swallowed a large chunk of the budget.  

Don't think there is anything else MSE related to report, so better shove orf and do something.  Finish my coffee would be a start.........

Greying X