Thriving not just surviving in 2025

Rosa_Damascena

retiredinfrance said:

Have you tried borrowing DVDs from your local library? Or a Charity Shop? The thing about Charity t is that looking for something takes time - if you’re working that’s an issue and also it costs you money. 

But there is something incredibly joyful about chancing upon something in a chazzer that you always wanted! The serendipity is worth the wait.

London_1

When lived alone, which I did for many years after my late husband passed away I was pretty good at streetching food and keeping costs done.

I now house share with my DD and son-in-law so life is a lot easier with shared bills.
As I retired in 1995 I don't work but it doesn't mean I can't enjoy myself I neither drink nor smoke but my hobbies are knitting ,reading ,jigsaws ,crosswords and chatting:)
Where I now live on the IoW having moved from Kent last year the locals are very friendly, and everyone says good morning and gives you a smile which is lovely.

I'm not a big breakfast lover but I have found ,especially more so in the winter porridge is my go-to breakfast. Tesco actually do a pack of quick cook with 8 sachets for a pound so there's 8 breakfast at 12.5p per breakfast add some milk and a sprinkle of cinnamon and it costs 15p for the meal with perhaps a cuppa as well. Lunch is usually soup and two slices of bread and butter the soup is home made by me from past their best veg the bread I buy a loaf and divide it up into four slice portions and freeze as I only have a couple of slices a day with my soup or 2-4 cream crackers and some grated cheese
.When I was a little girl my late Mum used to spread a little jam on the crackers and some grated cheese on top and it really filled you up I usually have a small piece of fruit an apple or orange afterwards.

I cost my lunch at around  50p at most so I'm up to 65p.

 Dinner is what my son -in-law cooks and I costed it ,depending what we are eating as its the main meal at maybe £1.00 odd per person as my DD is home from work so there are three of us .

We have a chicken on Sunday and any left overs make a decent sized curry and a 1,5 kilo chicken will do us for Sunday dinner plus left over curry so at least six meals.

 Last Monday he had so much chicken and some left over veg ( I'm the chicken stripper )I there is very little left on the carcass once I've stripped it that there was enough curry left for me to portion up two portions for the freezer.My son-in-law like me, adds veg to the curry as well as the chicken pieces. so last Sundays dinner did two days plus two surplus meals for another day in the freezer.
   If we have a bit of beef then any left overs get minced up for cottage pies or pasties.wWe have fish once a week and pasta once a week at least or sausages and mash. but as he does the cooking I do the costing .I can usually get our main meals down to around a pound a day each so i I just took my food on a daily basis its under £2.00 a day.
DD buys the detergent etc, and I get from Amazon a delivery of 5 dozen loo rolls that cost £18.00 that lasts us a good while. They buy their dog food as they have only now two dogs (one she sadly lost before Christmas.

Its very rare we get a take away as I'm not keen but if they want one they buy it as i'm happy to dig something out from the freezer.

We seem to manage quite well on very little to be honest but then I'm not a big eater and like me they enjoy fresh veg
I do buy ginger nut biscuits to have with a cuppa and I treat the two dogs to a packet of rich tea ones and thats their treat after dinner they get one each and they follow me until I get them ,but I never feed them I give them to DD to break up and feed to them the two dogs sit patiently awaiting their nightly treat 
But cake or pudding I make myself for the three of us

 This weekend I will make a trifle that will do us a couple of days as I make a big one with thick creamy custard topping. We still have a few bits left over after my four grandsons went back to the mainland so we are using them up as we go along 

Shortly I'm off into Asdas to see if there are any bargains available there, but only if they are yellow stickered will I get them and only if I know they will be eaten. We don't keep a big stock of food in the cupboards anymore as there is a large Tescos about a mile away so we never run short of anything really I always make a list of what we NEED to make sure its not bought and then thrown away
£20 sounds eminently doable but beware od shopping too much I literally only go when running very short of stuff and not because I just fancy a mooch  

Good luck and I hope you have a great time in Holland Its a beautiful country and I have visited many times and is the only European country I would ever want to live in, as the people are so nice and friendly, and for me its walkable as I use a stick to get about.

I do envy you your trip

JackieO xx 

Keeptryin2

Your thread is an inspiration and im looking forward to reading about your progress.

Have you tried to see if you can get anything near you on the Olio app? Ive had all kinds of food for free on Olio over the last year and its saved us a lot of money as well as saving food from being wasted. 

Also on the MSE site they list all the best phone deals. I pay £10 a month but i know there are ones for £5 a month or less.
Good luck 🤞 

onashoestring2023

retiredinfrance said:

Have you tried borrowing DVDs from your local library? Or a Charity Shop? The thing about Charity t is that looking for something takes time - if you’re working that’s an issue and also it costs you money. 

ive actually been really lucky with the charity shops, most dvds are 3 for 0.50 and boxsets 1.50, ive now got a list of what i want hiding in my bag and ill just tick off when i find them lol

onashoestring2023

So far I'm not doing too badly, been keeping to my plan and started this on the 28th of dec.

i have a little air fryer, microwave and i little pan thing, it's now a slow cooker but it kind of looks like one, i found it in the charity shop for 3 quid it cooks fast that's for sure, i do have a rice cooker somewhere i just can't find it and i picked up one of those little boiled egg cooker things for 2 quid as well.

I don't have the use of a kitchen really so everything is cooked in my little room so i do have limited space, i was peeling potatoes the other day sat on my sofa and was thinking why haven't i done this before hahah.

My little fridge freezer is in the hallway so I have been met with some challenges with not using a kitchen.

I've got some boxes with my tins and packets that hide under my computer desk. I haven't actually used much any of what's in the boxes yet so I'm happy about that..

So I'm planning meals for two weeks lunches and dinners, i don't actually eat breakfast, don't think i have eaten breakfast for about 30 years and I'm actually doing the 16.8 fasting as well

Already have

In freezer and fridge

Bag of 20 sausages

2 packets of chicken breasts 4 breasts in each packet

1 bag of chips

Bag chicken nuggets

1 box fish fingers

Loads of ice lollies and ice lol

Half a loaf of bread

Half a cabbage

4 carrots

1 onion

Apple, i don't even know where this come from

3 eggs

In boxes

8 tins of tuna

4 tins of salmon 

2 tins corn beef 

4 jars of curry

1 jar of chilli

1 jar of sauce for a pasta bake

1 box of tea bags

2 jars of coffee

6 tins of beans

2 tins of spaghetti hoops

1 tin mince chili

2 tins lentil soup

13 packets of noodles

8 packets of macwave rice

1 tin hot dogs

2 Onion gravy

3 tins meatballs

Box of herbs and spices but no garlic, who runs out of garlic lol.

1 jar Honey 

2 bags of lentils

I want to try and save what I have in the boxes as much as I can for the days and weeks I just can't be bothered to do much.

Shopping list, i tend to shop at asda and sometimes aldi

This shopping list is for two weeks so ill be freezing the milk and such 

2kg potatoes £1.35

1 kg carrots x2 £1.38

1 kg onions £0.99p

Garlic powder £1.00

500g minced beef £2.49

1kg frozen mixed veg £0.99p

1 kg frozen peas £0.99

Milk £1.29

Irish butter £ 2.60

2 loaves of bread £1.50

340 jar of honey £1.75 i know i already have a jar of honey but I'm stocking 

500g spaghetti £.075

Frozen broccoli £1.45

2 tins of kidney beans £0.98

Veggie stock cubes 12 £0.80

2 Chickpeas in water £0.98

500g fusilli £0.75

Robinsons barley water squash  2 for £3.00

12 eggs from the man down the road 2.50

Taking out of the freezer, boxes and fridge

2 Chicken

2 sausages 

1 Microwave rice 

3 eggs

2 tin tuna

Packet noddles

beans

Menus 

28th sat

Lunch pea soup

Dinner sausage mash and carrots and onion gravy

Sunday

Lunch Pea soup 

Dinner Chicken breast dinner, 1 chicken dinner, cabbage, roast potatoes and carrots

Monday 

Carrot and potato soup

Spag bow and pasta, i made two and froze one used half mince for both

Tuesday

Lunch egg on toast

 chickpea, carrot curry, boil egg and microwave rice

Made two curries and whizzed one for a soup for wed.

Wed

Lunch curried soup

Dinner tuna fish cakes chips and peas

Thursday

Broccoli and potatoes soup

Chillie mince and rice, made two one to freeze used half mince for both

Friday

Lunch lentil soup 

dinner over my daughters tonight

Sat

Lunch lentil soup

Spag bowl from last week

Sunday

Noodle soup with boil egg mixed veggies 

Chicken dinner 1 chicken breast, air roasted potatoes, onions, carrots and mixed veg

Monday

Tuna sandwiches 

Egg chips and beans

Tuesday 

Egg sandwiches 

Veggie stew

Wed 

Lunch? Maybe noodles and something

Veggie stew

Thursday 

lunch?

Chili and chips, the chili was from last week

So i have £40 for the two weeks 

Spent £26.79 p

Leaving 13.21 for the rest of the week.

Saved 120 pounds.

The first week has actually been a little harder than i thought it was going to be, but that's mainly because of space, limited cooking and time but i think I'm gonna do it, no take aways, wine and i have walked everywhere this week no buses or taxes,  so last week i actually manage to save £120 pounds. I really do need to learn how to use this air fryer better and use it other than chips and things, maybe i should watch more Jamie .

my menus have actually been a little limited so i really need to work on that more and have a few snacky things laying about.

Katiehound

Do you need the Robinson's squash?
Perhaps just water & a squeeze of lemon (or a slice of orange) or even the cheapest bottle of fizzy water with a squirt of real juice? or a couple of slices of cucumber....

mashed potatoes instead of chips sometimes?
 Left over mash can be used on cottage pie, made into potato cakes or even potato bread or scones

Are wonky carrots cheaper than you have quoted?

remember eggs pack a punch- scrambled, poached, hardboiled etc for a modest price

chicken thighs have more flavour and are much cheaper if you buy skin on & bone in. Very easy to bone ( you can watch Jamie) use the bones for stock & roast the skins for chicken scratchings.

I see you are limited with ways to cook but Jamie had some great ideas with his £1 meals.
You can cook a whole chicken in microwave & then joint it up.

Rosa_Damascena

I'm going to have to ask - given you are living under the same roof, wouldn't it just be easier to share a kitchen and perhaps meals with your brother?  

onashoestring2023

Rosa_Damascena said:

I'm going to have to ask - given you are living under the same roof, wouldn't it just be easier to share a kitchen and perhaps meals with your brother?  

no its not possible at the moment, my bother suffers from a extreme Hoarding disorder and other mental health issues, I'm working with the mental health team and following their care plan which means for now i have to keep to my own space and he keeps to his, when we cleared out the room that i am now staying in, he had a mental breakdown which was hard for him to come back from, so I'm following his health teams lead.

onashoestring2023

Katiehound said:

Do you need the Robinson's squash?
Perhaps just water & a squeeze of lemon (or a slice of orange) or even the cheapest bottle of fizzy water with a squirt of real juice? or a couple of slices of cucumber....

mashed potatoes instead of chips sometimes?
 Left over mash can be used on cottage pie, made into potato cakes or even potato bread or scones

Are wonky carrots cheaper than you have quoted?

remember eggs pack a punch- scrambled, poached, hardboiled etc for a modest price

chicken thighs have more flavour and are much cheaper if you buy skin on & bone in. Very easy to bone ( you can watch Jamie) use the bones for stock & roast the skins for chicken scratchings.

I see you are limited with ways to cook but Jamie had some great ideas with his £1 meals.
You can cook a whole chicken in microwave & then joint it up.

yeah i do usually have other drinks, the robinsons was just my little treat instead of buying wine this week. yep I'll be having both mash and chips from time to time.

TBH its been such a long time since i have seen wonky in my local supermarkets but ill keep my eyes open for them, thank you for reminding me.

i do have two packs of chicken breasts in the freezer right now, but honestly i don't like chicken and sometimes really have to force myself to have it sometimes. they were actually given to me last week, i don't think i would had brought them lol

I'm really lucky, the old guy down the road road from me keeps his own chickens so I'm able to get 12 of his eggs for 2.50 and I've got to say they are amazing, i would actually pay more for them.

I've seen the Jamie's air fryer show didn't know he has done meals for a pound, ill have a look, thank you.

onashoestring2023

London_1 said:

When lived alone, which I did for many years after my late husband passed away I was pretty good at streetching food and keeping costs done.

I now house share with my DD and son-in-law so life is a lot easier with shared bills.
As I retired in 1995 I don't work but it doesn't mean I can't enjoy myself I neither drink nor smoke but my hobbies are knitting ,reading ,jigsaws ,crosswords and chatting:)
Where I now live on the IoW having moved from Kent last year the locals are very friendly, and everyone says good morning and gives you a smile which is lovely.

I'm not a big breakfast lover but I have found ,especially more so in the winter porridge is my go-to breakfast. Tesco actually do a pack of quick cook with 8 sachets for a pound so there's 8 breakfast at 12.5p per breakfast add some milk and a sprinkle of cinnamon and it costs 15p for the meal with perhaps a cuppa as well. Lunch is usually soup and two slices of bread and butter the soup is home made by me from past their best veg the bread I buy a loaf and divide it up into four slice portions and freeze as I only have a couple of slices a day with my soup or 2-4 cream crackers and some grated cheese
.When I was a little girl my late Mum used to spread a little jam on the crackers and some grated cheese on top and it really filled you up I usually have a small piece of fruit an apple or orange afterwards.

I cost my lunch at around  50p at most so I'm up to 65p.

 Dinner is what my son -in-law cooks and I costed it ,depending what we are eating as its the main meal at maybe £1.00 odd per person as my DD is home from work so there are three of us .

We have a chicken on Sunday and any left overs make a decent sized curry and a 1,5 kilo chicken will do us for Sunday dinner plus left over curry so at least six meals.

 Last Monday he had so much chicken and some left over veg ( I'm the chicken stripper )I there is very little left on the carcass once I've stripped it that there was enough curry left for me to portion up two portions for the freezer.My son-in-law like me, adds veg to the curry as well as the chicken pieces. so last Sundays dinner did two days plus two surplus meals for another day in the freezer.
   If we have a bit of beef then any left overs get minced up for cottage pies or pasties.wWe have fish once a week and pasta once a week at least or sausages and mash. but as he does the cooking I do the costing .I can usually get our main meals down to around a pound a day each so i I just took my food on a daily basis its under £2.00 a day.
DD buys the detergent etc, and I get from Amazon a delivery of 5 dozen loo rolls that cost £18.00 that lasts us a good while. They buy their dog food as they have only now two dogs (one she sadly lost before Christmas.

Its very rare we get a take away as I'm not keen but if they want one they buy it as i'm happy to dig something out from the freezer.

We seem to manage quite well on very little to be honest but then I'm not a big eater and like me they enjoy fresh veg
I do buy ginger nut biscuits to have with a cuppa and I treat the two dogs to a packet of rich tea ones and thats their treat after dinner they get one each and they follow me until I get them ,but I never feed them I give them to DD to break up and feed to them the two dogs sit patiently awaiting their nightly treat 
But cake or pudding I make myself for the three of us

 This weekend I will make a trifle that will do us a couple of days as I make a big one with thick creamy custard topping. We still have a few bits left over after my four grandsons went back to the mainland so we are using them up as we go along 

Shortly I'm off into Asdas to see if there are any bargains available there, but only if they are yellow stickered will I get them and only if I know they will be eaten. We don't keep a big stock of food in the cupboards anymore as there is a large Tescos about a mile away so we never run short of anything really I always make a list of what we NEED to make sure its not bought and then thrown away
£20 sounds eminently doable but beware od shopping too much I literally only go when running very short of stuff and not because I just fancy a mooch  

Good luck and I hope you have a great time in Holland Its a beautiful country and I have visited many times and is the only European country I would ever want to live in, as the people are so nice and friendly, and for me its walkable as I use a stick to get about.

I do envy you your trip

JackieO xx 

thank you for replying, your really inspiring and have really lifted my spirits, thank you for this. this is the first time I've left Cornwall in almost 30 years, my passport was only ever used for ID, i really need to stick to this plan as much as i can as i would really like to see places this year, the Netherlands is gonna be amazing, I'm scared of flying anyway but the thought of getting the train on my own is also scaring me lol. but this first trip is going to be first of many to come.