Friday 12 April 2013
Free days out-whats free where you are?
Dear reader,
First things first, I must say hello and welcome to a new follower, Janice Piper. I'm not sure if blogger puts the followers in order so I may welcome you more than once.
Many of you commented on my last post about fast food. I think we all agree how much food outlets have grown over the years and there can't be many high streets without several take always.
My food shopping budget has just been completely blown since I started the diet. I am buying a lot more chicken and have had to go to Asda to get the specific diet foods that I need. I'm really cross.
I only lasted one week with the envelope shopping system as I just couldn't get to a cash point.
I think I will just get a lump sum out for next month and keep it for the whole month. When it's gone it's gone. I would like to keep our food bill to a maximum of £250 per month. Is that reasonable for 2 adults, three meals a day including cleaning stuff and toiletries?
Have gone slightly off the menu plan. Big man fancied pizza tonight so we are making our own in true frugal style. No £30 pizza being delivered here! Can't believe that's what they charge for 2 large pizzas. I have made the dough and it is in a bowl by the log burner hopefully doubling in size.
We will be having BBQ chicken with vegetables and mozzarella. I may have a small one as a treat.
I find that if I am rigid with my dieting I get the hump and go on a splurge. My jeans are much looser though so I am pleased with that.
We both have the weekend off and will be National Trusting somewhere tomorrow, weather pending. We both love to explore the houses and gardens and are looking forward to taking picnics in the summer. One of my readers, (perhaps Karen at Chelmarsh Chunterings? ) takes a proper cream tea with her when they go to National Trust properties and has it on the grass. How lovely.
We still try to do free things at weekends and days off as we just haven't got an entertainment budget.
We like walking and cycling. I like bootsales but the increasing cost to get in annoys me and I always spend money on stuff I never knew I wanted.
The weather has been so grim it has stopped us getting out and about as much as we would like. We will be walking the neighbours dog and exploring the countryside. I like to get out as much as possible and do things so I feel like I have done something on my days off.
I am always looking for free days out and would love to compile a list from your ideas so wherever you are in the country or world, please drop me a comment and I will make a list.
Have a wonderful weekend.
FIB. X
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Don't give up on the diet, or the budget - it will take time for it to fall into place. We had a cash budget for food over the past four years, it started £50 per week, but that did not work as some weeks I needed/wanted to buy more so changed it to £200 per month. That did seem to work better, as it allows for spending more at the beginning of the month. I have not adjusted the amount, but we were travelling for the last year and think now it would not be so realistic to buy enough healthy food for that amount. We are now back in the UK and 'fixed' until the autumn and aiming for the same budget, but is is very early stages; not currently using a cash system but think I may have to resort to that as it is too easy to overspend when using cards! Enjoy your weekend. X
ReplyDeleteHi Alison,
DeleteI totally agree that a card makes it too easy to overspend. I have to do,packed lunches from that and I usually do salads or sandwiches, fruit and cereal bar. Have you found the UK more expensive now you are back from your travels?
FIB. X
To be honest I have found myself saying "wow that has gone up by x amount since we left" (March 2012) but really only on a few things. Also, food in most of Europe is more expensive than UK (or it seemed like it to me) Being away for so long meant that I worked out the cheaper ways to shop and after a couple of months found it easiest to do most of our shopping at Lidl - definitely cheaper and mostly the same stock all over Europe. I bought basic ingredients and cooked every night as if we were in a house in UK! It is interesting to compare what is cheaper in UK and what is cheaper in Europe (I still think our fresh fruit and veg is cheap here) - overall, travelling around in the motorhome we definitely found it cheaper to live in France than in UK (actually most of Europe) and of course they have lovely bread, cheese and wine!!
DeleteBread, cheese and wine! I wouldn't come back. Yes, I like Lidl and Aldi, I can get loads in there for the same amount in another supermarket.
DeleteDid you see the National Trust Free Weekend 20/21st April ? KKWF
ReplyDeleteHi KKWF,
DeleteI have got to ask where you got the name from?
We have yearly membership for the two of us. It was a bargain at £66 and we got that back after 2 visits. Do you visit?
FIB. X
Have a nice day out - I hope the weather holds for you xxx
ReplyDeleteThank you Trudie, here's hoping.
DeleteX
I spend around £100 per month for 3.5 adults ( I feed daughter's boyfriend several times a week). J and I don't eat meat, fish or dairy, KL and her b/f eat mainly veggie meals with the occasional piece of fish. That makes a huge difference to being able to stick to a low budget, but isn't for everyone.
ReplyDeleteWow Scarlet, that's brilliant! I'd love too see a weekly meal plan, I could use some ideas for cutting back on meat.
DeleteYep, tis I who takes a cream tea to NT places, we always take a picnic and a flask. We do sometimes have a nice pot of tea for 2 in the cafe and pretend we are posh lol
ReplyDeleteYou can't beat a free day out, we always look for them in the Information places when on holiday in the caravan. If there are any music festivals in your area they sometimes do free events round the town which can be great fun. Local libraries are a good place to find out about freebies. If all else fails you could go for a long walk... simples :-)
Cash is my safe way of staying within my budget, as you know its £50per week which is ample just now while stocks are plenty, I think it would be harder if I had to buy everything from scratch every week.
Karen x
I thought it was you. I remembered thinking what a good idea it was and to make sure we did it as a treat in the summer.
DeleteBlasted comments box keeps freezing!
DeleteYes we like to walk and nice round here. I do have stocks in so will have to try the cash again and not shop when hungry!
My budget is £300pm which includes everything, baby products too. Baby 'stuff' alone usually comes to around the £50ish mark, so we're working towards a similar budget.
ReplyDeleteWhen I had a weekly budget, I found I often overspent, but working on a monthly budget gave me that little bit of movement to stock up on good deals etc. As I do online grocery orders I move money to a specific account each month and take some cash out for top ups (milk, fresh produce etc). We use an envelope system for this, along with fuel and leisure activities. All the cash is taken out at the beginning of the month and all receipts are kept when money is spent. Cash works for us so I'd say taking a lump sum out from the cash point next time is definitely a good idea. Give it a go and see if it works for you.
What diet are you on? It's been years since I've officially been on a diet, but I found Slimming World was one of the few that worked for me (points etc were always too much hassle for me!)
Food-wise, what I found has worked for me (and I know you're already doing at least some of this) is:
* experimenting with value/basics products. Some have worked for us and some haven't.
* meal planning
* using leftovers for lunches (this works for us since I'm at home and the Mister has the use of a kitchen at his work so he can easily heat up foods). Regular lunches for us are soups, pasta, salad, sandwiches, quiche, sausage rolls (yep, not all diet food!)
*cut down on meat and bulk out a meal in other ways (veggies, lentils, beans, rice etc). We also aim to have one meat-free meal a week.
* utilise the freezer - this has been a huge help for me. I've fallen off the bandwagon since the sickness bug struck us, but before that I spent at least one day a week doing some batch cooking and I'd aim to multiply our portions by at least 3. This meant that 3 meals were put in our freezer (the plan being we could eat that meal again in a couple of weeks and there was also another two 'ready meals' sitting waiting for us for the following month). We have 2 freezers and don't mind eating the same food regularly so this works for us, but it isn't for everyone.
Pre-2012 I was living in Edinburgh and it wasn't until I'd moved away that I began to appreciate how many free activities I had at my doorstep - museums, galleries, the beach, parks, botanical gardens, walks by the canal, walks in the old town (and the new town), city farms... I could go on and on!
Other than walks (which there are plenty of) I'm struggling to find free activities now that we are living in a rural area. It's difficult, especially when you can't depend on the weather to be in your favour to be outdoors all the time! We do venture to the garden centres fairly regularly, without buying anything - we like the relaxed atmosphere and the kids love it. Although technically not free, I'm hoping we'll be able to go berry picking during the summer months too.
Apologies for such a long comment - I'll stop here before I think of something else to say! Have a good weekend!
No don't apologise I was intently reading it all, please make as lengthy as you like.
DeleteWe are more rural now so it is usually walking, boot sales and like you, garden centres.
Yes, I am doing SW as I couldn't do the points counting either.
Another freeze on comment-sorry.
DeleteYou do very well with your bulk cooking, I never seem to make enough, maybe we are just greedy and eat it all. I do make faggots a lot in batches of 25 and freeze them. What sort of meals do you cook? I will definately do more veggie meals and wean big man off the chicken a bit.
3rd time lucky.
DeleteI will take your advice and withdraw the whole food budget when we get paid next and try it that way. Thanks so much for your help, I appreciate it.
FIB. X
We are plain and simple eaters. We usually have mince in some shape or form each week, be it lasagne, shepherds/cottage pie, meatballs or plain old mince & potatoes (think the last one's a Scottish thing though). We bulk ours out with red lentils & extra veg - I'd say we're now at a point where we've doubled the amount we make by doing this, but if I'd bulked it out that at the start, the Mister would have grumbled that he was being deprived from his meat. Spag bol and chilli con carne is popular here too, as is a pasta with pretty much anything!
DeleteOver the winter we ate a lot of casseroles & stews (and still are until we get into the warmer weather - please let that be soon!) I either buy the meat on special offer when I do my online shop, or I find it reduced at our local co-op, and mix it in with cheaper supermarket own brand meat.
I am aware we do get through our carbs though as we always have pasta, rice or potatoes with our main meal.
We go through a lot of soup in the house too. Mister doesn't think of this as a main meal, but it's great as a filling starter for him (and therefore helps him with his portion control).
Pies are another thing we make regularly (although we buy the ready made pastry, so I don't know if that really counts as 'making a pie'). Again we bulk out the fillings with extra veg. Not great for a diet though.
I bulk buy on tuna when it's on offer as that's a hit in our house and can be used in lots of ways. I'm always on the lookout for reduced fish as the Mister is a fan (me not so much)
When I first started menu planning it was more to have a varied diet for my child(ren), but I still work on the same principle to have a red meat meal, a pasta dish, a meat-free meal, a poultry meal and a fish dish once each week, then use leftovers for the remaining meals. This seems to work for us.
If you can think of two or three meals in each of these categories,then see what you have at home already to make the dishes & only shop for the items you're missing, you're well on your way to getting into budget (in my humble opinion).
I've made myself a master shopping list, which lists all the things we regularly use & I've scribbled on it at what quantity - from toothpaste and deodorant,to meat and fruit & veg. It took a while but that helps me to remind myself of what I have in stock at home and what I need for shopping. My one would be completely different to your needs but I could email a copy if you think it could help? If so, drop me a quick comment on my blog to let me know (as I'm likely to forget to come back here and check for your reply!)
I'm very strict & only buy what I need when I do my online shop (excluding things which I see to stock up on). But this means there's usually only some cheese and some veg left in the fridge by the time I'm ready to do my next shop. I usually get deliveries on a Thus or Fri which means mid-week is spent using up the contents of the fridge. It's became a game for me.
We don't have desserts. The little ones have fruit, a yoghurt or fromage frais.
Cutting out snacks was a big help to us for cutting costs. We ration what I buy, but if we eat them up sooner, then tough - they're gone! I make basic biscuits, cakes and scones. To be honest, we don't miss the snacking - it was out of habit or boredom more than anything else.
Veggie meals are something we need to do more of too. The Mister is coming round to the idea the meals don't always have to include meat so it's something I need to get better at!
Hi Sara,
DeleteThank you so much for taking the time to go through your meals for me, it's really helpful and I would love a copy of your shopping list. We eat a lot of the same meals, lasagne, chilli I love mince and potatoes but haven't made it for a while. We don't have any goodies in the house, no biscuits or cakes as we just don't really eat them, especially now I am on the diet. Have really upped our fruit and veg in the last 2 weeks.
Sorry for the split replies, I keep getting frozen out. I think my budget has been blown as I have bought branded goods from Asda instead of my usual Aldi shop to comply with the dieting.
DeleteI really like the red meat, veg, poultry variations that you do. We seem to eat a lot of chicken, we even had it on the pizzas last night that I made. I will pop over to your blog and message you about the shopping list if that's ok.
DeleteThanks again Sara.
FIB. Xxx
Great replies Sara, and almost mimics what we do which is a great confidence boost! We have slowly cut down our intake of meat, bulking it out with vegetables/pulses (or oats for mince meals) and now are starting to find the portion sizes slightly too big too. Really cut down on 'treats and snacks' and very rarely eat a pudding. As a result we have both lost some weight and eat more fruit than before. I too did a 'stock' list which makes shopping planning so much easier. We do have pies, usually using only one layer of pastry, so puff pastry to cover beef or chicken pies and (home-made) shortcrust for a quiche, which I think makes a really cheap meal. I know we are all watching the calories, but we would only have a pastry meal once a week, and I will not eat potatoes or other carbs with that meal. I think I will pop over to your blog too for a look ....
DeleteWe are fellow National Trusters. Our membership was a gift and we take our own picnic. Lovely walks for free. It does me so much good and I love nosing around big houses. Last Sunday we did Coughton Court (Redditch Way) it wasn't the best we have been to, but we enjoyed getting out without too many layers of clothing for a change. If you are ever out our way, Buscot Manor and Coleshill estate have lovely grounds to wander around. There is a NT carpark in Buscot village too and a walk down to the Thames and Buscot Lock.:)
ReplyDeleteHi Janice, I will look those up. We thinks its great value and the gardens are always lovely. We also love the big houses and its a nice way to get out and get some exercise too.
DeleteFIB. X
My husband and I get paid once a month (pensions). I, then, take out cash to fill the various "envelopes" in my budget. These include groceries, gasoline for the minivan, etc. We are a family of 2 seniors and 4 grandchildren we are raising, ranging from 5 to 14. Our grocery/paper products/toiletries budget is $1200 a month. I know that sounds like a huge amount and it is but I sometimes run out before the end of the month. The children have various allergies and so my shopping for food has to be very specific. I cannot always take advantage of sales. For example, if Primo pasta products are on sale, I cannot buy them because I can only use Catelli products due to the ingredients. With growing children and a teen boy "who has a hollow leg" I need a lot of food in the house. The envelope method works for me and it has actually cut down on my grocery bill. Myra from Canada
ReplyDeleteHi Myra,
DeleteWow you must be organised with 6 of you in the house. I struggle with just the two of us. I am going to get our full budget out at pay day and it will have to last us. Thanks for sharing the way you do it and lovely to hear from Canada.
Much love to you all
FIB. X
We often make stir-frys, chicken and vegetable in black bean sauce is a popular one, and when zucchinis are in season, we do a mushroom chicken dish (you can find the recipe from Rasamalaysia http://rasamalaysia.com/mushroom-chicken/).
ReplyDeleteThe good thing about stir-fry dishes is that they are one-pot meal (meat and vegetables in one), you use less meat and more vegetable (our ratio is 1:3) and thus save on buying less meat. The leftovers are eaten either as lunch or dinner the next day.
In my uni student days when an empty pantry is often the norm, I like to make a pasta dish which consist of cooked pasta with a dollop of minced garlic, dried thyme leaves (or fresh if you have a garden) and olive oil (I bought those in the Lebanese shops which are much, much cheaper than supermarkets). At the time, it was just a yummy and frugal stomach filler, but just recently, I was gratified to find it in an Elizabeth David's cookbook!
Hi,
DeleteWe have Indian and Polish shops here where things are much cheaper to buy than the supermarkets. I am bulking out our meals with lots of veg and sometimes add lentils to thicken things. I love all types of pasta so will look this up.
Thanks
FIB. X
We have a budget of £190 a month for food, cleaning products, rabbit food, some household stuff (cleaning cloths, pegs, binbags etc) and basic toiletries.
ReplyDeleteLike Sara I have a master list with all our staples on, it works with the price book and it helps me to keep the costs down as I buy more expensive stuff when it's on offer and not at other times. The menu plan is tweaked accordingly - if we run out of something and I think it's too expensive then tough!
In terms of batch cooking and making enough I think knowing your portion sizes really helps. I weigh things like lentils, pasta, rice, potatoes etc so I know I have enough and I always measure portions out with the same spoon so I know we're not overeating. I think my top tip would always always always parcel up the stuff for the freezer before you serve up what you're going to eat that night, stops portion creep and seconds!
Oh, to help with the envelope system I keep an "in case of emergency" envelope. It has £20 in and cannot be opened before the last week of the month, it really helps to know it's there.
That's a very good budget, will try to batch cook more.
DeleteI am keen on the enveloping, will try again.
Thanks
FIB. X
Hello, just popped by to say hello,As a fellow slimming worlder, mum of 4 teenagers, and always trying to reduce food costs. I love cooking, but don't find meal planning easy - though having got back onto the s w wagon, I have to try harder! Our shop budget is £150 a week which seems a lot, but with 3 hollow legged boys and a cyclist husband ....!We eat very little red meat apart from mince,lots of rice and pasta, and get through loads of fruit and bread (packed lunches). Slimming world makes it a bit more expensive, I find. Anyhow, I'm enjoying your blog!
ReplyDeleteHave well and truly fallen off the wagon this week. Aaaaagggghhhh.
DeleteNot the same doing it online, not a fan.
FIB. X
Oh dear. I,m at the end of week one and have lost 5lbs. Delighted with that, but I know its the easiest week. I have not joined a club - I really can't justify the cost. So I have reread the stuff from last year, dusted down the Wii, and primed my family to help keep me on track.now just need to keep going, and keep food planning!
ReplyDeleteWow Kate, that is fantastic!
Delete