2025 Frugal Living Challenge

Nelliegrace

It seems strange to put a restaurant meal under frugal living but considering the price of a junk food delivery or a takeaway coffee or meal-deal habit, this lunch, cooked and served by the college students, seems excellent value. The food yesterday was seasonal and delicious, beautifully presented by enthusiastic young people.  
Living frugally is about spending money wisely. I do the healthy, economical cooking from scratch, and the flask of coffee and packed lunch. For an occasional celebration, do consider what is available at your local college. 

MayDogsandCoffee

@Nelliegrace that is a fantastic menu for £16.50, and you are helping train future chefs.  I have been diagnosed Coeliac recently which has had the bonus of saving me cash from my coffee and cake trips.  I often take a flask and pack up - even on the work trips when I could claim (limit no longer covers the basics).  I can guarantee good coffee on my travels.

MayDogsandCoffee

Yet again work is reinventing the wheel and changes are coming, we won't get any chance of redundancy, voluntary or otherwise (too expensive) I think they are just trying to break morale so we leave.  So even more determined to go early, I am scouring through my budget to see where I can reduce excess spend without going down the hairshirt route.  I had been thinking about relocating to release some funds but a recent hospital trip has shown what an amazing circle of friends and support group I have here - to quote an advert "priceless".  I have caring responsibilities too now, which means nothing can really change for now.  One thing that does get to me:  I am now in the fortunate position were I could have that bit of land and animals but physically it would be impossible without the lottery win to have help.  So everyone, try to get that dream fulfilled even if it is only 10%.

Nelliegrace

We couldn’t do the John Seymour dream of a smallholding and some livestock, either @MayDogsandCoffee. Our garden is not very big, but we did what we could. We grew some vegetables in raised beds, tomatoes in small greenhouse, and had fruit bushes and some small fruit trees. We had a few hens and ducks, with quail and rabbits in the garage. Our first beehive was in the garden for season, then on the allotment, and then we had another four hives on a farm. 

We joined the Smallholders’ Association and had a lot of fun on practical days. I can say that I have delivered lambs, milked a goat, and grafted fruit trees. We did the Beekeepers’ Association courses and even some exams, and helped with collecting swarms. 

The advantage of our garden farm was that we could discontinue things quite easily when they became too much, and recoup a lot of the cost of equipment. 

DawnW

@kimwpwhy not try cherry tomatoes? It isn't too late to sow those. I grow a variety called Garden Pearl which are very reliable. Mine have just come up. They can't go out till late May anyway, and the plants get too big if you sow them too early. I do mine mid to late March every year.

kimwp

DawnW said:

@kimwpwhy not try cherry tomatoes? It isn't too late to sow those. I grow a variety called Garden Pearl which are very reliable. Mine have just come up. They can't go out till late May anyway, and the plants get too big if you sow them too early. I do mine mid to late March every year.

Ooh, I guess because they are smaller, they'll start ripening sooner! You've inspired me! 

I did end up with many windowsills crammed with leggy tomato plants last year, compounding the issue by not realising I could lay the stems flat when I potted them on. It was a learning curve!

joedenise

kimwp said:

joedenise said:

Green tomato chutney is the way to go @kimwp.  We had loads of green ones last year and the chutney is just coming to an end now.

Nom nom. What do you eat it with? I'm trying not to eat cheese (environmental/animal pain considerations) and my chutneys have remained uneaten.

I like it with cold meats or cheese on toast/toasted cheese sandwiches!

Gem-gem

Good evening everyone, 
@kimwpwhy I have never hear of laying stems flat. Please tell us more. 

I spent majority of the morning cleaning the windows. Outside at the back and inside throughout. We only pay the window cleaner to clean the front and side of the house- so they can be done if we are out. Also it saves money. 

This afternoon, I baked an almond and cherry cake, I used ground almonds that are going out of date this month and used up half a pot of cherries that have been lurking in the fridge. I have frozen half of the cake.
Dinner was mainly sourced from the freezer - Rogan Josh Curry, rice, cauliflower, vegetable samosas and a Nann bread.

kimwp

Gem-gem said:

Good evening everyone, 
@kimwpwhy I have never hear of laying stems flat. Please tell us more. 

I spent majority of the morning cleaning the windows. Outside at the back and inside throughout. We only pay the window cleaner to clean the front and side of the house- so they can be done if we are out. Also it saves money. 

This afternoon, I baked an almond and cherry cake, I used ground almonds that are going out of date this month and used up half a pot of cherries that have been lurking in the fridge. I have frozen half of the cake.
Dinner was mainly sourced from the freezer - Rogan Josh Curry, rice, cauliflower, vegetable samosas and a Nann bread.

I recommend that you research it before trying it in case I have any of the details wrong, but basically when you pot on tomatoes (maybe the non- hanging ones?), if you bury the stems, then they will grow roots from the stems and become more robust. I was buying deep containers to bury the stems, but then discovered that you can just lay the stems flat when you bury them, gently bending the leafy bit up and it has the same effect without having to buy really tall pots or dig far down.

Search planting tomatoes sideways or trench planting.

Gem-gem

Thank you Kimwp. I will research.