What's YOUR GYO Credit Crunch Idea?

[shirlthegirl43]

Well my growing my own has had poor results this year but there seem to be some beans appearing at last. Haven't had enough courgettes to taste never mind bulk dinners out!

I am using the oven less and making my own jams and jellies with wild produce - made rosehip and apple jelly yesterday, as soon as I have more jars will be making rowan jelly and hawthorn jelly.

I make more food than we need and freeze up individual portions for Madmax and Aranthos to take to work for lunches (they are not popular with their colleagues when they take curry in) - that saves a fortune!

[Flummery]

Now that we have a new freezer (old one died 10 years ago and we never got round to replacing it but wioth the new lottie and all....) I batch bake and cook so we have extra portions of stuff ready to go. Only one lot of cooking required.

And of course I make my own compost, grow as much of my own veg as possible, make foodie Christmas gifts and - wherever possible - I save my own seeds. Sorry, seed merchants - I'm trying to cut you out of the Credith Crunch equation for good!

[Winged one]

I am growing leeks for the first time this year (120+ for winter use, and a handful for picking next week too) and will use those to bulk out my casseroles and stews, which I will cook on very low heats in the oven to be ready when we get in from work. (And i intend using a lot more veggies and a lot less meat in them this year anyway - carrots, celery and I have LOADS of onions). And make more soups.

I am going to a local fruit and veg shop more often for the things I can't grow (or not enough of) and that is saving me a fortune (where I was spending €50 in the F&V section of supermarket, it is costing me about €20 in the F&V shop).

We are always reasonably frugal anyway compared to our income, but a few treats have slipped in over the last year or so that I need to curb a bit. We are currently still overpaying the mortgage by choice, and that can be scaled back to the actual schedule if need be.

When we got the extension done last year, we got it really really well insulated, with lots of good double glazing facing south. So there is now a heat sink in the back of the house, warming the house all day and keeping it in, and the new (the old one was knackered) boiler is so much more efficient that, even with gas prices gone up and us using gas to cook with now, our bills have more than halved.

Not so much necessarily because of the credit crunch, but I have been bringing lunch to work for the past 15 months or so - and have managed to grow the lettuce/leaves at least of that for all of this summer (past 5 months or so) and a few extra bits (I have tomatoes for the past 2 weeks and maybe another 2, handfuls of mangetout since about late June, the odd baby carrot here and there) although I am still buying some too (2 carrots, 2 sticks celery, half a pepper, a couple of tomatoes and 4/5 olives most days). But even that is saving me a lot compared to buying a horrible sambo near the office.

And we are considering going back to commuting by bus. Of our 10 return journeys in to work every week, which were pretty much all car based for the past couple of years, OH is now cycling 2-3 of those most weeks. And it looks like I should be able to move to the bus in a couple of weeks time as the toddler is changing creche (for other reasons) which is slightly closer to my office and is on the better bus route home. So it may reduce car usage to maybe 2-3 jouneys per week over time.

And the run to Newry for groceries will continue - every 2-3 months or so for a large "stock up the pantry" kinda shop, which saves an awful lot more than the cost of the petrol.

[Kristen]

I have been watching the Miles Per Gallon (elapsed/trip, rather than spontaneous) for some time, and adjusted by driving style significantly over the last 6 or 9 months.

First day back at school today (7 miles each way), thought we had everything ready, but remembered a couple of items at the last moment ... as you do!

So, left late, put my foot down, and got to school on time. 30 MPG

No hurry on the way home, so put all my "hypermiling" skills to the test and got 51 MPG (that's actually my best result ever).

I used to reckon on getting 30-35 MPG and now get 40-45 MPG - which is about 30% better. Takes some concentration to be very frugal though

[maytreefrannie]

Kristen - I know it sounds stupid, but I haven't heard this about increasing your MPG - as I understand it from your post, slower driving saves fuel - is that it?

[Starchild]

Bulk buying cleaning stuff from farmers stores. Bulk buying pasta and rice. Padding out spag bol with handful of jumbo oats (yes it does work) and a tin of lentils.
I use (and have doen for a year) washable sanitary pads (sorry boys, icky subject but hey! I wash them with the normal towel wash)

[jackie j]

Thats one saving for me dont need them anymore thank goodness

[HeyWayne]

I use (and have doen for a year) washable sanitary pads (sorry boys, icky subject but hey! I wash them with the normal towel wash)

At least it's not a moon cup! (I think that's what they're called...)

[Starchild]

At least it's not a moon cup! (I think that's what they're called...)

oooh no, I hate those things, especially as the users use them as an excuse to use disabled toilets.

[Winged one]

I am going to post up a list of ideas culled from a reasonably long thread we had a couple of years ago on MM - I've taken out a few that I know don't apply (mainly about specific shops in Dublin/Bray etc, or specific shops only in Ireland), but may have missed a few that are either out of date or irrelevant (I have tried to keep it to generalities, but the odd mention of Irish chain stores may slip in there).

And I wasn't the person who talked about growing veggies at the time, as I was only doing a few things in the back garden for pleasure, not enough scale to save any money!

But between all us mums, we did seem to come up with a lot of sensible notions (and they are culled directly from that thread, so there may also be the odd reference to other peeps on that board, sorry).

[Hilary B]

I learned low-cost living from my Mum. Difficult to apply at present, as OH doesn't co-operate.
Mince can always be 'stretched' with veggies (MUST include onions/leeks) and bulgar wheat when making chilli/cottage pie, spag-bol, etc. If i've got the time I add red lentils as well/instead. Once fully cooked down you wouldn't know they were there....
If you need to use the oven, make sure it is used to capacity, and get a slow-cooker for all 'stewish' meals and will do pot-roasts too(cheaper cuts of meat produce lovely results cooked in there).
The microwave is NOT an enemy, if used wisely.
If you have any kind of closed stove using solid fuel, all burnables other than plastics (and some plastic-blends) can be used for fuel in smaller quantities, and 'would be burnable if not wet' can be used to slow the fire down if there are reasons to keep it alight all night (our Rayburn Regent often got used disposable nappies overnight in winter).
I flexishop. Things drastically 'reduced for quick sale' are given serious consideration over 'planned menu'.

[marigold007]

Since finding out that electricity in London is half the price at night, I wash clothes and turn on the dishwasher at night and hang out clothes on the following morning.

Also, rather inadvertently, since the guy came to routinely check the gas and electric equipment for safety, my gas heaters haven't been working, and I can't figure out how to turn them back on.

[squashysu]

At least it's not a moon cup! (I think that's what they're called...)

OMG - you know about them, HW you are a modern man! Sorry but they are foulest idea ever yuk yuk yuk!!!

** SS goes off to be sick!

[lynda66]

OMG - you know about them, HW you are a modern man! Sorry but they are foulest idea ever yuk yuk yuk!!!

** SS goes off to be sick!

*joins you to puke* gross gross yuk yukkkkkkkkkkkkkkk!!!!...... so glad i don't need to think about things for those weeks any more

[Rhona]

I'd never even heard of them so I've just looked them up.

EEEEUUUWWW.........!!!!!!!!!!!!!!