Does being OS get you down?

maypole

nixinix wrote: »

Thank you everyone for taking the time to reply.

I am a SAHM mom with two pre-schoolers and I love being able to put homemade food on the table - though I am not OS enough to attempt homemade jam I just sometimes wish I had someone to do it for me LOL!

I have recently started meal planning and can find that hard sometimes, but my biggest change is because until really recently I would only use the breast of a roast chicken and throw away the remainder without a moments thought (I now know that was a huge waste). Now I enjoy the challenge of getting three meals from one chicken which I also thought would help save me money however I seem to spend as much as ever and this can really get me down as I still spend nearly £400 a month to feed the four of us, (aaarg)though I do eat mainly organic...

Oh homemade jam! easy peasy, if I can do it anyone can. You just have to have patience while it bubbles away in the jam pan. You can find recipes anywhere.

grannybroon

No, OS doesn't get me down. I am fortunate that I wouldn't necessarily have to watch every penny but there are so many offers and bargains out there you should go for them. I love it if I can get some meat items yellow stickered for next to nothing or anything else for that matter. I always try to get BOGOF stuff that suits our personal needs. We tend to stock pile if we can when offers on and Buy for freezers too.

DH a pensioner and I am on a limited budget but it makes it easier for us to not have to penny watch more than we have to!

GB xx

grannybroon

Loup

When we had our children almost 30 years ago I remember feeding them well and DH and I having beans on toast. We were caught up in a huge mortgage interest leap at the time 7 years into mortgage!

Do you know because we met and married within 10 months folk thought I was pregnant. DS arrived more than 7 years later - long pregnancy what!!!!!! If I had become pregnant sooner, well, don't know what I would have done!!!!!!!!!

GB xx

champys

DenBo wrote: »

I But I would love to look in my freezer/fridge and find an M&S chicken pie in there........................but I know full well for the price I can buy a whole chicken and make it last days, and be nutritious. So that's what I do. But have you tried M&S ready cooked chicken pie?? Gorgeous! (Well it was two years ago, when I last bought one!)

I am well out of reach of M&S products where I am. But I do work in the food industry, and I can't help relating any processed food I see in the supermarkets to the typical food factory 'shop floor' production environment, big stainless steel vats, a precise ingredients list (usually containing colorants, preservatives) food being dropped into moulded packs by robotic arms, conveyor belts, packaging tunnels etc. Enough to put me off enjoying the end product. I doubt whether the M&S production plant is any different. Plus the 'green' factor: I know how much energy is used to produce factory food, polystyrene, cardboard, printing ink, factory light & heat - I could go on and on.
Thinking all that motivates me well enough to rummage around in my own snug kitchen where I cook to order. Every day again! I know what I am doing, I know what I am eating and I minimise waste, food miles, CO2 emissions and pollution as much as I can. I do find that very satisfying.

angelatgraceland

Well I don't have to be OS(within reason)but I choose to be OS generally, although I do lapse now and then. Being able to take time off and have a treat, a meal out, or do one of Delias "cheats" just takes the pressure off at times. Unless it is essential it should never make us miserable.
OS is definitely preferable though. Id rather spend any leftover money and a day out or something than ona a lot of junkfood which is only going to make you feel grotty(well it does me anyhow). Its all about balance I feel-rather than extremes.

maypole

champys wrote: »

I am well out of reach of M&S products where I am. But I do work in the food industry, and I can't help relating any processed food I see in the supermarkets to the typical food factory 'shop floor' production environment, big stainless steel vats, a precise ingredients list (usually containing colorants, preservatives) food being dropped into moulded packs by robotic arms, conveyor belts, packaging tunnels etc. Enough to put me off enjoying the end product. I doubt whether the M&S production plant is any different. Plus the 'green' factor: I know how much energy is used to produce factory food, polystyrene, cardboard, printing ink, factory light & heat - I could go on and on.
Thinking all that motivates me well enough to rummage around in my own snug kitchen where I cook to order. Every day again! I know what I am doing, I know what I am eating and I minimise waste, food miles, CO2 emissions and pollution as much as I can. I do find that very satisfying.

I agree, I have heard that M&S have their own "corner" in factories where food is made to their precise recipe, but it doesn't take away from the fact that it is still mass produced. We visited the Baxters soup factory years and years ago in Scotland and they told us they also made soup for M&S but to Marks own recipe. I know some of their food is lovely, but my own is much better;) I could never ever eat a bought pie.

maypole

nixinix wrote: »

Thank you everyone for taking the time to reply.

I am a SAHM mom with two pre-schoolers and I love being able to put homemade food on the table - though I am not OS enough to attempt homemade jam I just sometimes wish I had someone to do it for me LOL!

I have recently started meal planning and can find that hard sometimes, but my biggest change is because until really recently I would only use the breast of a roast chicken and throw away the remainder without a moments thought (I now know that was a huge waste). Now I enjoy the challenge of getting three meals from one chicken which I also thought would help save me money however I seem to spend as much as ever and this can really get me down as I still spend nearly £400 a month to feed the four of us, (aaarg)though I do eat mainly organic...

I have sent you a personal message with an easy recipe called Potted Raspberry jam. It is simple, no boiling this one and delicious.

Greenqueen_2

I dont particularly like ironing but I DO love the feeling I get when I think about each item in turn. Around 85% of my pile consists of things that were gifted, were won in competitions(mostly old t-shirts) or bought in a charity shop. Those items which I actually paid for are from discount stores or January sales. The chore becomes much more rewarding when you look at it like that.

lil_me

I think we're here out of choice, we could as before still be spending £800+ a month on groceries but chose to change what we eat and how we spend, I do now enjoy watching the savings increase and my DPs debt fall (mine are gone) It was more of a choice because of what goes into foods than what the cost was. I was barely cooking, buying readymade things inc mashed potato and really wanted to improve my cooking skills, eating out costs were huge aswell, I got more nectar points in Brewer's Fayre than anywhere else. Somewhere I let things slip, before we were 'ok' financially we managed on very little, I cooked most things from scratch, I made all of the childrens baby foods etc they were even in terries which people seem shocked by, then when we were better off financially I let things slip, buying because I could and seeking comfort in very full food stocks (still have an issue with this).

I'm still unsure if many would call me OS as I still buy things like 'Lemon Cheese' I am tucking into now but it's about 3-4 times the price of a value one from a supermarket. I just can't make it as yummy as they do I use OS ways to help me buy better quality and make more with it.

I started joining in with flylady after my partner suggested a cleaner....

The times when it gets me down a little is when family members turn up at something I'd made, ignore the effort I have made and time I have spent etc.

dolly_day_dream

I am OS out of necessity but also inclincation. I have a food budget of less than £50 per month for myself. This is easily achievable with a vegan diet. I don't consider myself deprived at all. I have a freezer full of meals, plenty of clothes to wear - all from the charity shop or home made, a warm and peaceful home and I am lucky enough to have a garden as well. I was lucky enough many years ago to work as a nanny to a very wealthy family. Lucky because it helped me to realise that money just does not buy happiness just a different set of problems.

It may be an age thing - I am in the second half of my century -but I feel that not having money to spend frees me. I can laugh at the advertising and ploys by the shops to try and part me from my money when you have so little you are so much more discerning where you spend it. But I can honestly say that I don't feel deprived. I had a total of £3 to spend last weekend and magaged to buy food for a meal, a treat - some doughnuts:D - a book to read and a stamp to post a homemade birthday card. I had satisfied all of my needs and still had change.

Maybe I do suffer from an over active imagination but I frequently consider the millions of people all over the world and in this country who do not have what I have

Sorry I don't mean to sound preachy about this. OS is a choice that we make. Remember that we are proving that we don't have to spend lots of money to get good quality food (BTW having had a son work in the food industry it is really easy to avoid restaurants/ready meals) Likewise you do not have to spend lots of money to enjoy life - as a single parent there was very little money for my three children but they tell me that their childhood was good. When I look back our best memories are moments - not things.

One final thing before my divorce my ex would insist on steak and chips each Saturday. We became blase about it. After the divorce it was out of our budget, but somehow I had managed to get some one week. The kids thought that I had won the lottery! I thought that they would really enjoy it as a treat - they thought it was OK but were enjoying the more varied diet we were now eating.:o