Cost of living #2

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Shopping just arrived, of course that means freezer tetris now, but had two substitutions which went in my favour. Usual 1.5kg bag of chips became 2 950g bags so gained there, and no veggie rolls, turned into 2 boxes of veggie samosas. Downside is they have to somehow fit in the freezer!
Time to start the meal planning, spoilt myself to a small beef joint, so that's today and tomorrow, I'll freeze the rest. Friday and Saturday will be mushroom stroganoff but that's as far as I've planned at the moment.
 
I bought a returns blu-ray player😎. I'm pretty excited about it. My business electric is so expensive now, I'm not even ready to talk about it yet 😵🙁. So I've been looking to make further cuts in consumption .My new player is 11 watts ,a fraction of the Ps4 or the computer . It can also run Netflix in a pinch . My DVD player is 10 watts,so no change needed there .

I'm not sure if my beloved 4k telly is gonna make the cut .It's pretty juicy (90 watts ish). It is 'smart' though,so if I use it for streaming it could cut out hours of PC usage entirely .😕 Decisions decisions 🙄. Have got a little(24") economical screen to slot in if necessary.

In general my life is just sucking a little bit .I burnt through some wiring on my electric coat . The wall fell off my woodshed .Two skylights are leaking but it won't stop raining so i can fix them .One of the leaks totaled 2 computer keyboards before I noticed it😉. My emergency torch broke . I could go on . It's just a litany of low grade petty annoyances that add up to quite a big deal .
 
November
November
That sucks :( it does all add up
I often have a crisis of quality of life vs cost of living. I am just not going to limit my air con use at all this summer. I cant afford the downtime of heat induced illness anymore. The house and garden is already too far in a state of disrepair for me to lose any more ground on it.

Alaskan Bush People has been a fun watch to remind me that not all things need to be done neatly or nicely to be functional. I lived in a hay house as a child (loved it and the idea but thats another story) so having cardboard and things like that as insulation is definitely something I know I can live with. I've done a lot of work of sealing up gaps and windows, but this home is basically a glorified tent. If I was rich I would enclose it in hay/cob type as that would also be protective in fire. The asbestos is too expensive to remove so I'd just cover it all up haha. Honestly the rooms dont need to be this big anyway. The lounge room is almost the same size as the shed I lived in for 7 years.

The shire are really pushing fire escape plans this summer. They even gave the dogs little escape packs with their rego. Sometimes I think the government does want this town to burn down because keeping services out here has proven to be too expensive and difficult. The water is already trucked in and no one gets paid to run the relief shop or ambulance. They wouldnt waste the resources to try and save it.
 
Food is so freaking expensive now. It's crazy. I went shopping this week (trying to eat on $50 a week)

$8/lb for peppers. Insane. Bananas were cheap (.79 cents a pound) I was going to make a stir fry but produce was outrageous so I just got a bag of rice for $3.60 and some black beans.
 
Joan the Vampire Slayer said:
Food is so freaking expensive now. It's crazy. I went shopping this week (trying to eat on $50 a week)

$8/lb for peppers. Insane. Bananas were cheap (.79 cents a pound) I was going to make a stir fry but produce was outrageous so I just got a bag of rice for $3.60 and some black beans.
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That's insane. Most things are more expensive in Canada but we pay CDN $3.99 a pound for peppers and 59 cents a pound for bananas, all in Canadian money.
 
Joan the Vampire Slayer
Joan the Vampire Slayer
I know right?!
I'm doing well with food shopping, I've spent £60 for the month, and really shouldn't need to buy anything else.
I've just spent £10 (not included in the £60) on cat food which should last him a few months.
 
I've noticed that a lot of stores have removed the less expensive options of things. Also, making containers smaller....but charging the same amount (sometimes more).

Thank God Costco's rotisserie chicken is still the same price!!!!! 🐔🐔🐔
 
Joan the Vampire Slayer
Joan the Vampire Slayer
I noticed that too. There were no lemons for example.
Yay , the blu ray player talks to my tv straight out the box 😛 . Which is double handy because I didn't have any spare batteries for the remote .😀 I only need one to control both . Had a lovely evening watching Falling Skies .

Got 2 quids worth of milk free with my Asda order .Takes the sting out of having to buy another keyboard. Next week I'm doing some Xmas food for the freezer . Going for a frugal Christmas in the circumstances .Already got some turkey mince and some breakfast worthy bacon in there . Getting some butchers turkey burgers for Xmas day (they are stupidly tasty),some liver, some sausage ,some cauliflower . All in the freezer for Christmas week .
 
I must remember to buy more batteries, I'll bulk buy next month I think.

Christmas food is something I'll think about when I do my next online order, but I won't get much, going to dad's on Christmas day so that's a no cook day for me. Boxing day I'll probably cook something, so I might get something for that, then back to work.

I got some mince pies free yesterday but they say not freezable so I'll be having them for work this week.
 
I'm thinking bulk cook winter veg on the woodburner Xmas Eve , then do the 'mains' on the day . Half tempted to do a youtube inspired retro kid platter on 27th or 28th . Burgers, fish fingers ,chicken nuggets,hotdogs etc...served with bubble and squeak and sauerkraut . It's a bit of fun , cheaper than dirt to do , and minimal freezer space for a lot of food .
 
Since my clothes airer now has 2 broken bars, I'm thinking about a heated one. I'll not have it on all the time, but maybe for an hour or so in the evening so it also will warm up the bedroom a bit.
 
Well I scoured the internet and didn't find a heated airer at a price I'd be happy with,so I'll keep looking on that one. Did get given £20 today, so did an extra morrisons trip for yellow stickered bargains and came out with a lamb shoulder,that's now in the slow cooker, a quorn curry, now in freezer, and a bunch of deli stuff that I'll have for work lunches, but they'll have a daily sniff test first! Chicken baked were scoffed on they way home as well. All for less than the lamb should have been.
 
Joan the Vampire Slayer said:
Food is so freaking expensive now. It's crazy. I went shopping this week (trying to eat on $50 a week)

$8/lb for peppers. Insane. Bananas were cheap (.79 cents a pound) I was going to make a stir fry but produce was outrageous so I just got a bag of rice for $3.60 and some black beans.
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Yeah. I shop at someplace where the prices are really cheap (comparatively) and even their prices are going crazy. I think it was $3+ for a dozen generic brand eggs, which is nutty!
 
Joan the Vampire Slayer
Joan the Vampire Slayer
Eggs have gotten crazy expensive. I saw some free range ones for $8!
If I get my weekly shop under $100 (AU) I'm doing well haha. Delivery is a $50 minimum with bags and delivery fee on top. Food has always been expensive here though. Its fuel that is the shocker for me now.
 
@Joan the Vampire Slayer
I noticed that too. There were no lemons for example
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No lemons here either. I had the pub knocking on my door today asking for some limes from my tree. I didnt have any fresh picked so we went out and grabbed a couple, embarrassed by the state of the citrus trees! But we got about a kilo for them to use for the weekends fish and chip rush. Usually I can pick a box off that tree, but its been so neglected.

Neighbour is gona bring some broadbeans for me once they have a few sunny days to ripen up. I didnt do any this year cos he usually grows so many more (and better!). It would be nice to be able to bring him some grapes this year so I gotta stay vigilant on them!
 
Never managed to 'like' broad beans ,it's annoying coz they fit into the UK planting schedule really well . Beetroot is another one . It's not that I hate them : it's more I don't really understand the flavours as a table veg .
 
They are that kind of polarising plant 😄 I love them and eat them raw as a snack. I've cooked them into all sorts of things too. Made a bean dip out of them last year, which was ok a bit salty maybe. Might tweek that this year if I get enough. Defo good in my sort of Mexican food. Easier to shell than peas too!

Beetroot is just annoying to prepare. Stains everything. I prefer tinned beetroot from the shop just cos its ready to eat! I'm not into preserving, not worth the risk with our summer temps.

Hunga Munga said:
bubble and squeak
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Bubble and squeak is the best from the box! I tried to make some with potatoes peas and corn today. Not worth the work. Not cheaper either! Chips are just cheaper than potatoes in general but they are getting scarce now too.
 
nightshade said:
You can buy bubble and squeak?? It's always just been a way to use up leftover veg, never made it with fresh veg.
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Yeah the patties 😀 I havent had them since I lived in the shed but I had some tinned corn that is close to use by date and a bunch of potatoes I needed using so I thought I would give it a try. Box type are MUCH yummier! Probably much oiler lol. Was so bland and my legs gave our before i could fry them so i used the oven. Should have added garden herbs! Much much cheaper to use from the box too, a kilo of potatoes is $4.99, tinned corn $2+ and then peas from the freezer, flour egg and oil, not to mention the labour! When from the box is like $2 and they are done in the oven in 15 mins.
 
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