Oops! I've fallen off the OS wagon.....

niklepic

kitschy wrote: »

Congratulations :T

I find joining a challenge has helped me stay focused. I used to lurk and do the challenge myself without joining in on here and declaring my target or how I was getting on. But, then I'd lose focus halfway through the month, tell myself I obviously wasn't cut out for this lark and give up. But knowing that when I pop those extra few bits in my trolley I have to come and update my Grocery Challenge total stops me picking them up! There is lots of encouragement and everyone helps you stay afloat by suggesting amazing ways of stretching your pennies!

I think there's a list of challenges on the DFW board (it's a sticky) which I am going to choose another one from when I have got on top of Grocery Challenge (in addition, not exchange!).

I also have a business card size picture of my dream house with "or would you rather have me?" printed over it in the photo bit of my purse, next to my debit card. It works for me!

That's exactly what I've done in the past. Think I'm going to see what I have in the freezer and cupboards and sign up for the Grocery Challenge. :eek: Wish me luck!

foxgloves

Just stop! Your wedding is a lovely incentive and getting it paid for so that it doesn't leave you starting your married life in debt should keep you going. Takeaways can, I know, be a big temptation when you've had a busy day at work & feel you need a bit of a treat, but their appeal is very short lived (i.e you eat it & it's gone!) so try thinking how much the take-aways or whatever it is will cost then think what you could buy with that for your wedding. Added together, those £50 splurges will add up to quite a bit & you'll probably find that as the wedding fund grows, you'll find that's additional incentive because it shows you can do it.

mineallmine

HI all,

I've been rather missing in action (MIA!) on the OS front too. Far too many takeaways, not meal planning etc etc.

First thing I need to do is stock the freezer with easy takeaway alternatives. Yes this will involve some convenience food initially (but way cheaper than takeaways). Then hopefully as my confidence grows I can attempt home made pizza and curries that sort of thing. We did chicken chow mein yesterday and it was gorgeous! http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/database/chickenchowmein_89258.shtml

Love the idea of having a picture of a house in the purse as inspiration to get on straight and narrow - am going to nick that idea!

Best of luck OP will be following your progress, thanks for the inspiration.:beer:

zippychick

Hi Niklepic:hello:

Congratulations on your upcoming nuptials:j

Could you maybe work out a shopping list and meal plan and see how much you would save in the next month just by doing majority OS?

Could you tot up your average takeaway cost over the past month and see how far that wou ld go towards the wedding? Really, you need to kick yourself up the bum, and have yourself a lightbulb moment. Fact is, as a bride, I'm sure you have ideas of everything and imagine if it comes to the wedding and you have to sacrifice your flowers for the cheaper ones, and change the main course as you can't afford the X right now? Or you could put it on credit I suppose:eek:

Just think how far two wastes of £50 a month would go? That could pay for your X? Maybe carry a list of things still to pay for and their cost - so if you feel takeaway tempted you can grab the list and see how far that takeaway money could go.

It's really about being organised so you need to get yourself a plan

There is a thread as people go through this all the time, so do read through and Ill add your thread to that one later

[STRIKE]if you need any meal planning threads or bulk cooking ideas, just shout and we can find you some[/STRIKE]Stuff it, you're getting them anyway!:rotfl:

Meal planning - how do you do it

Batch cooking ideas please

meal building blocks for the freezer


Thanks
Zip

babyshoes

I second having a freezer full of take-away alternatives, even if it is just the leftover bolognese or pasta sauce from last week - it means you don't really have to 'cook' when you get home from work, just grab it out the freezer and nuke the &*^$* out of it, and while it is doing that boil up some pasta. 10-15 mins of minimal effort and voila - a home cooked meal!

The only thing you need to be organised about is making sure you have leftovers for the freezer. I do this by firstly bulking out my meals where possible, using extra tins of tomatoes (OH won't eat baked beans, or I would add those too) and sometimes a handful of oats in mince. Secondly, I dish up the leftovers that I want to freeze immediately and put them aside to cool, so there isn't a load of leftovers left in the pan to pick on afterwards - we are very bad about eating everything, even if we had planned something to last for lunches/another meal, so this method is good for our waistlines too!

Another thing I do is plan 'easy' meals for during the week. These are things which need minimal prep and don't need lots of attention while cooking. A typical easy meal consists of chops or sausages bunged under the grill, a potato cooked in the micro served with a dollop of philly or some cheese, and some veg also cooked in the nuke-o-matic.

Even easier (though not cheaper) is the freezer-to-oven meals, such as frozen kievs, which I have sometimes served with pre-made aubergine bake and a baked potato. 2 things straight from freezer, quick scrub of spud, all on one baking sheet in oven, and forget for an hour. I have done something similar with frozen cauli cheese (cheap in Iceland).

Of course, it is ideal in terms of OS if you can make all this stuff yourself and freeze it, but I find having a few pre-fab bits goes a long way to helping with the rest of it, and some things are actually so cheap (like the big bags of cauli cheese) that it doesn't seem worth it to make from scratch...

Good luck with saving for your wedding, and congrats!

mineallmine

Thanks to this thread I've now stocked the freezer with takeaway alternatives - will look to make some home made pizzas when I have a bit more energy.
Plus meal planned a basic meal for tonight. Baby steps.:beer:

zippychick

mineallmine wrote: »

Thanks to this thread I've now stocked the freezer with takeaway alternatives - will look to make some home made pizzas when I have a bit more energy.
Plus meal planned a basic meal for tonight. Baby steps.:beer:

Aw bless! :A Here's another couple of links - I am sure there are more.

When only takeaway will do

Chinese food

:beer:

mineallmine

Thanks zippychick, much appreciated. I'm buzzing with ideas now. :T

I remember once seeing our local kebab shop owner get in his VERY nice BMW convertible and I thought, mmm, I probably own part of that...:o

Hope you're getting lots of inspiration niklepic!

Mags_cat

Best advice I've picked up from here is "Don't try and do it all at once".

Pick a couple of things you can do (e.g.deliberately making leftovers and freezing them and maybe taking lunch to work rather than spending £4/day on a sandwich) and make them habits - they say it takes at least three months for something to get ingrained. Then pick another couple of things.

If you try to do them all at once, you'll *fail* at something, which is likely to make you think "sod it, let's have a take away" or similar.

Easy does it - and there are always loads of helpful people on here :T

boo81

Hi

I used to come on this board quite a bit but things have been manic over the last year and ive let things slip, including the cooking and the budgeting. So im getting back on the wagon and was wondering if you could help me reduce my bills.

Firstly I am going to grow some of my own veg and herbs this year. Im going to get 2 raised beds and some hanging baskets. Hanging baskets for cherry toms, planters for herbs, salad leaves and possibly strawberries too.

There are only 2 of us, we try to follow a wheat and dairy free diet as much as possible and I wont eat cheap meat that is unethically farmed. We do have a fresh fish delivery from the boats once a month (so dont know what im getting!) and a fresh veg box every other week.

We both take packed lunches - my fiance has fruit, oatcakes with bought vegetarian pate (although thinking I could maybe make this at home), lentil dahl, chickpea stew, tinned fish sandwiches - all very budget friendly really.

I am sometimes good and sometimes not! I used to take soup but I got bored and used to sneak out a lot, avoiding bread is difficult too and I do need something quite substantal. Salads seem to work out expensive and I find them quite uninspiring too.

Ive drawn up the cheap meals within my repertoire and hoping somebody can add a few for me - pork cassoulet, steak and ale stew, lentil dahl, lentil shepherds pie, meatballs and rice, tuna pasta, fritatta, ratatouille and a chicken thing I cook - like a tomato stew using thigh meat.

I would love some more suggestions and also tips on where to buy things. was thinking of downgrading my tinned tomatoes and getting a cheap brand but not sure which ones are good ie not all water and no tomatoes.

Please inspire me - oh and I have a slowcooker :-)