Cooking ingredients: where to spend and where to save

Following on from her kitchen equipment list, here are my chef sister's suggestions on how to eat well, where to economise, and where not to, when food shopping:

It is obvious and much repeated but if you only shop in season you’ll get better value for money. Buy English strawberries only in mid-season and you can eat them every day. Asparagus just coming in is expensive, but hold on a bit for the price to go down.

Investigate the end of line baskets at supermarkets, they often have interesting random vinegars etc in their fancy foreign muck sections which don’t sell, so end up going cheap. The same goes for bin-ends for wine - you can find some interesting things.

Do what peasants around the world have been doing forever – just use a little meat in a hotpot/stew/whatever as a flavouring. One of the loveliest things I ate on a very greedy holiday in Andalucia was a stew of mostly potato, onion and pepper, with just a little pork, all cooked in delicious stock. The potatoes took on all the meaty flavour as they cooked.

Do not scrimp on:

Bread – it is such a major part of our diet but most people make do with the dullest, cheapest stuff.  Don’t put up with it! Buy the nicest you can, and then ‘something on toast’ is transformed.

Pasta – don’t ask me why, but supermarket value brand stuff is just not as good as more expensive versions.

Baked beans and tomato ketchup – only Heinz will do in my opinion.

Potatoes – have realized why the value bags are cheap – they sometimes seem to be a random selection of diff varieties and all cook at different speeds, so you end up with a pan of falling-apart and rock hard. Disaster.

One-off actions and easy habits

I can be lazy, so I like the kind of frugality where just one initial set-up action is needed, with maybe the occasional review.

Some examples of one-off actions that I have taken:

• Getting a water butt for the garden several years ago.  I like this because it is environmentally friendly, while also providing free water, enough for all our gardening needs. (Though my mother would say that I don't water the garden enough, so that may be why....)
• Working out the cheapest way to pay regular bills - for most bills this is by monthly direct debit- and setting up payment accordingly. I first did this many years ago, and do now review the situation every so often.
• Putting dryer balls (mentioned in an earlier post) in my tumble dryer.
• Fitting water-reducing devices into our lavatories years ago, which saves a considerable amount of water.
  

We also have some habits which are so simple, and so ingrained, that they are now almost automatic:

• Using second-class stamps for all non-urgent post
• Putting the end of a loaf of bread in the freezer for later use as toast, before it goes stale
• Using plastic carrier bags as kitchen bin liners
• Putting vegetable matter, tea leaves, and coffee grounds onto the compost heap
  
• Contributing a proportion of our income to our pensions, whenever we are paid, at the same time we save money for tax.  (This doesn't happen automatically, now that we are both self-employed.)

Many of these actions and habits won't result in large savings, but the effort involved is minimal, and over the years these small things add up.  What am I missing?  What habits or one-off actions have you taken?

Unseasonal home-made baked beans

It seems a bit unseasonal now, as it is really hot - for England - here at the moment, but last week I had a go at making baked beans in the slow cooker, something I had been meaning to try for a while.  It worked rather well; recipes abound, but I chose one from the useful site  All Recipes. Just don't do what I did initially when making the beans and forget to add tomato ketchup and mustard for the last hour of cooking, as without these flavourings the treacle flavour is overpowering, and the dish tastes rather odd.  Leftover beans went nicely with pasta and some grated cheese.

Smart shopping tips revisited

Thanks to those who commented.  From feedback received, my own ideas and habits, and some reading I have done, I have come up with the following:

• Buy-one-get-one-frees: only buy if you have cash, space to store, and the items won't go off before they can be used.
  
• If you haven't much space to store bulk-bought items, consider clubbing together with friends or family to buy them between you, and share the benefit of the discounts.
  
• Consider own brands vs branded items: compare the price per 100g, but generally own brands will be cheaper, and taste just as good.
  
• Plan meals, even roughly, before you go shopping, bearing in mind how many meals you need to cater over the week, and buy only what you need for those.
  
• If you eat a lot of ready meals, consider cutting those down and cooking more; this will be cheaper as well as healthier.  Something on toast, e.g beans and poached egg, will cost less and be quick to prepare, as an alternative to a ready meal.
  
• Keep a running shopping list on the fridge and add to it as you run out of things, so you don't forget anything when you go shopping.  
  
• Don't go shopping when you are tired, hungry, or in a hurry.
  
• Set a cash budget for food per week; take cash out at the beginning of the week, and use this to pay for groceries until it runs out. (This will help with budgeting, and also it is psychologically harder to spend cash than use cards.)
  
• Try to last one day longer than you think you can manage without going food shopping, and make that last meal with what you have left in the cupboard.  
  
• Try and make enough food for two or three meals, in one go: e.g make enough spaghetti bolognaise to turn this into chilli the following day, or freeze half of what you make for another day.
  
• Pick-your-own fruit and vegetables when it is cheapest, and store in the freezer or use to make jams or chutney.
  
• Even if you don't do PYO, then still buy fruit and vegetables that are in season.
  
• Keep cleaning products to the basics: supermarket own-brands will generally be much cheaper and no less effective than branded products.
  
• Buy Christmas paper, cards, and birthday cards when you see them on special offer, if you can store them.  (Or make your own.)
  
• Check washing instructions before you buy new clothes, and avoid those which need dry-cleaning.
  
• Buy shoes with soles which can be repaired or replaced.
  
• Sign up to receive nectar or clubcard points, don't buy things in order to get extra points, however. 
• Processed cereals are expensive and not very nutritious; porrige or homemade muesli are filling, cheap and healthy.
  
• Avoid, or minimise, fizzy drinks.  Squash, or one nice idea I read, lemon juice and sugar, make an alternative soft drink.
• Compare prices online before you go shopping, e.g at http://www.mysupermarket.co.uk/
• Watch the cash register and look at your receipt before you leave the shop, to avoid mistakes.
  
• If you are going to the shop to buy a pint of milk, don't pick up a basket; if you are planning to buy a few items, take a basket rather than a trolley.
  
• Toiletries will likely be more expensive in a supermarket than chemist.
  
• Check whether loose or packaged fruit and vegetables are cheaper; loose generally cost less.
  
• If you do buy bags of fruit and vegetables then weigh them to ensure you are getting the correct weight.
• Instead of cooking large portions of meat, cook pasta, rice or beans to accompany a small amount of meat. 
  
• If you are a meat-eater, try having a few meatless days a week.
• PS - If carrier bags are charged for where you shop, take your own.  Otherwise, use the free ones for reuse as bin liners.

My sister, and spending money on food and kitchen equipment

My sister has been staying us for the last couple of days, with her baby girl, as my brother-in-law, whom I interviewed in an earlier post, has gone away on a job for a few weeks.  

As I may have mentioned before, my sister is a - very good, though I'm possibly rather biaised -chef.  She is therefore slightly horrified, though I think interested, by our £50 a week food challenge, as her standards of food and cooking are rather higher than ours.  We are still sticking to our food budget, by the way, although occasionally it is a bit of a stretch.   

My sister and I talk quite a bit about food, what is worth spending money on, and where economies are feasible.  Despite her training and general preference for use of the best quality ingredients, my sister and I are both influenced by our grandmothers' wartime and austerity Britain recipes.  Yesterday, we attempted to recreate one grandmother's flapjack, which had a treacle-y, chewy toffee-ish texture that we have not found in flapjacks eaten since.  We read through dozens of recipes, then made two batches, using slightly different proportions of fat, sugar and oats, in an attempt to create the perfect flapjack.  We do not yet know if we've achieved it, as one thing we can recall about our grandmother's method was that it involved leaving the flapjack to go chewy for several days before being eaten.

I've asked my sister to contribute some thoughts in future posts on economical eating, areas where she feels it is particularly worthwhile to pay for high-quality ingredients, and also to comment on the best, minimal, kitchen equipment she can recommend, and where it is worth spending on high quality. Whenever she cooks at my house, I'm always a bit ashamed of my rather blunt knives and scrappy baking tins, and so once she's formulated her list, I'm hoping to persuade her to come shopping with me to help me choose a few new pieces of equipment.  

More to follow in due course...

The ladies of Cranford: role models for the 21st century?

I haven't been around much lately; a combination of freelance work, financial capability training, and other bits and pieces have taken up my time.  For a while, however, I have been meaning to review one of my favourite books, Cranford.  (There is also a very good BBC television series, starring Judi Dench, which is true to the books in spirit, if not in the letter of the plot.)

Elizabeth Gaskell's wonderful town of Cranford is populated almost entirely by lone women. Miss Matty Jenkyns and her sister Deborah are the main characters when the stories begin. They are the daughters of a clergyman, with limited means, who live in a small, comfortable house in the centre of the town. They are generous, thoughtful friends and hosts, but there is no formality or grandeur about their lives.

They have a single servant, and practice economical habits - Miss Matty for instance being particularly concerned about not wasting candles. New dresses are a rarity for them and their friends, although Miss Matty relishes the process of choosing a dress when the occasion arises, and the ladies buy the occasional pretty new bonnet for variety, and to show that they are following the fashions.

After Miss Deborah's death, and a subsequent disaster, Miss Matty's financial resources are reduced considerably. Movingly, Miss Matty's friends, themselves all relatively impoverished, contribute without her knowledge to supplement her income, and Miss Matty sets up a small tea shop from her home, which she runs quite successfully until she is rescued from her financial troubles...

'There [in Cranford] economy was always 'elegant' and money-spending always 'vulgar and ostentatious'; a sort of sour-grapeism which made us all very peaceful and satisfied'.

I am thinking of adopting the Cranford ladies as my role models in their approach to life, as well as their finances.... They enjoy life, adapt to changing circumstances, are imaginative, thrifty, creative, and charitable. Within the limits of their society and time, they take control of their lives.

Getting my car back

I've mentioned in earlier posts that I had to manage without my car for several weeks, because of bad service by my insurance company.  During that time, I practised living without my car, and found it surprisingly easy, and occasionally actually liberating.  Now that I have my car back, I am making some use of it, but am definitely still considering selling, and having us move to a one-car lifestyle.  I know that there are some times, like today, when I drove over to my parents' house twenty miles or so away, when it would be very inconvenient not to have my car - I could get to them, but it would involve at least a two stage train journey plus bus or taxi -  but I'm still weighing up whether those times are worth the cost in money, and also importantly in time and trouble, that having two cars between the two of us necessitates.  

I've been reading 'The Power of Less',  by Leo Babauta, which I'm sure I will review in more detail soon, but some of the ideas he puts forward, including looking at what your key priorities are and getting rid of other things,  are encouraging me in my view that getting rid of my car might be quite a good thing.

I've also been reading Wojciech's posts at Fiscal Fizzle on his car-related thought processes and decision, and those of his readers, with some interest.

Lessons from February

I like the way many personal finance blogs, particularly US ones, include a goals and net worth update at the end of each month. I'm a bit too inhibited to do the same, even anonymously, but this month felt I'd learnt various financial lessons, and had a few small successes, which I thought I would document. This may even become a habit....

Here's my list:

• Joined a local oil-buying consortium and cancelled my oil direct debit
  
• Continued using up toiletries, cleaning products and freezer contents
  
• Kept within our £50 a week food budget
  
• Saved most of my freelance earnings
  
• Experimented successfully with life without a car for a few weeks. (The experiment continues, beyond my control...)
  
• Learned that if an oyster card is not swiped firmly enough, the gate may open, but extra money will be deducted from the card as a penalty. (I got most of the extra few pounds re-credited when I queried how my card could be down to a £0 balance after a very few uses, but am not sure I have heard many things as nonsensical as this explanation. Others may not be aware of this quirk in the system....)
  
• Was charged interest in a catch-22 type situation by my credit card - but managed to get it deducted after pointing out the unfairness of the charge. (I had been asked to re-register my payment details after a new card was issued, did so immediately, but not in time for the next payment due date, and my payment was therefore inevitably late.)
  
• Discovered the dangers of buying cheap car insurance through a broker. Next time, I will check feedback on car insurers before renewing, rather than just going for the cheapest quote, as my current insurer was, for many days, completely failing to progress an insurance claim. (It is now ongoing again, after much pestering from me, thank goodness!)
  
• Learnt much about the handling of debts, budgeting, and the UK benefits system, as part of my financial capability training course. These budgeting tools from Martin Lewis's site were recommended to me; I intend to try some of them out in the

Bartering and swapping

I was getting my hair cut earlier, and we were discussing the hairdresser's holiday plans.  She mentioned that to get to her holiday location, she needed another vehicle, ideally a people-carrier to fit six people.  Apparently, in August, at school-holiday time, hiring a people carrier costs a massive £400 for a week!  We discussed whether she could borrow one from someone, and we thought it would be great if she could barter for it, maybe offering some free haircuts plus use of her small car, in exchange for the use of their large car for a week.  I guess such an arrangement would only work in a fairly small community - you would want to either know the other party, or know a friend of theirs - as it would involve quite a bit of trust.  But it would be great if such an arrangement could work.  I think I might ask the person who runs the local oil-buying group - which we have now joined - if he knows of any bartering groups in my area.  If not, maybe we could set something up.   In the meantime, the hairdresser is going to sound people out via Facebook.

Anyone else have any experience of bartering, and if so, how did it work out??

Could I manage without my car?

Thanks to some idiotic behaviour by my insurance company – for the sake of my blood pressure I will not go into the details - I do not have a car at the moment.  Anyway, I’ve decided to use the opportunity to see how I get on without a car for a little while.  We live in a fairly rural area, and I had, until recently, never seriously considered whether we might be able to get by on one car long term.

My husband needs his car for work – he has to make visits to patients during the day – so my dropping him off and collecting him in the evening won’t work.  I work from home several days’ a week.  At least once a week, I get the train to London from the station about 10 minutes’ drive, and 4 miles, from where I live.  On at least one other day, I need to get to a nearby town in the morning. 

Until yesterday, I thought that there was perhaps one bus a day in each direction to my nearest town. However,  I have discovered that there are three buses a day each way, and they go first to my nearest small town – where the station, dentist, supermarket, public library etc are – and then on to the much bigger town. The bus even stops a few minutes’ walk from where my sister lives! 

So I am considering reasonably seriously whether we could sell my car, and get by pretty well on one car.  

My thoughts so far are as follows:

• On days that I go to London,  J. already usually drops me off at the station and collects me in the evening.  (This saves us about £6 a day in parking costs, and is reasonably convenient for him.) So not much change would be needed there, except that he would always need to collect me, or I would have to take a taxi home if he were not available.
• On days that I go to other places to work, I would need to plan my journey ahead, and either a) get J. to drop me at the station or bus station b) take a taxi part or all of the way, c) get the bus into my local town and take a bus or train from there, or d) for major expeditions, maybe hire a car for a day.
• If I were working at home and either needed or wanted to make an expedition into town, I would need to time my outing to catch the bus either both ways, or bus one way and taxi back.
• We might occasionally have to make use of online supermarket shopping, something we have not really done so far. 
• For holidays, evening or weekend outings, we already generally use J's car as it is more comfortable than mine anyway, so no change would be needed there.
• The main difficulty I see is in my going on a spontaneous outing during the day, or in getting to certain work locations if they are far from a station or bus, but perhaps I just need to become used to taking the bus, or using taxis.    
  

It is very nice having my own transportation, but I am not sure whether that comfort and convenience is worth the nearly £3000 a year I estimate that my car is costing me.  (I do not have a car loan, but that figure takes account of car tax, insurance, servicing costs, petrol, and an estimate for depreciation.) 

I wonder if it is mad of me to think that I can manage without a vehicle, living where I do, or whether this could actually work?  Further consideration is definitely needed, but advice or comments from others would be welcome....

The cupboards are feeling bare...

I've mentioned that we've implemented a cash food jar each week; although we've managed to stay within budget - £50 - every week so far, one of the side effects is that we have been using up some of the odds and ends in our larder and freezer, to keep within our cash limit.

However, I'm now starting to panic slightly at the fact that our stores of food are running unusually low; I suppose that the only time this would actually matter would be if we were snowed in, or overtaken by some other natural disaster, and  I think that if that happened, we'd find enough to eat for quite a few - probably rather dull - meals. In the meantime, I should probably try and get used to our new 'just-in-time' system.....

P.S I am not sure whether £50 a week is a lot or a little, for two people (and one cat)?  It is definitely less than we were spending before we started this system.  We have included small-scale entertaining and wine in that figure, and lunches, as we pack these ourselves.   Any meals out come out of our 'fun' jar.

Japanese Women and their secret savings

I've long been intrigued by the fact that in Japan, it is reportedly standard for women to control the family budget, giving their husbands pocket money.

Having read some more about Japanese women and money, I've learnt a few things:

• Japanese housewives tend to control the family budget, as this is seen as part of the role of the homemaker.
• Food shopping in Japan is often done on a 'little and often' basis. This seems to be partly because of an emphasis on the freshness of food, limited storage space in small flats, but also because of a concern about avoiding waste. It seems that the Japanese would rather pay slightly more per unit, than bulk buy and then throw food away.
• Credit cards are much less-used than in the West.
• Women have traditionally made savings from their shopping budgets which are kept secret from their husbands, and the rest of their family. This money, called 'hesokuri' which may eventually be used to buy stocks, or property, is often kept in cash, in their homes.
  
• When couples marry, they are both expected to have saved money, often through living at home with their parents while earning, until they marry.
  

See recent Bloomberg articles, however, on the fact that Japanese women have had to dip into their savings, over the last year.

Is debt ok if it leads to self-improvement?

Earlier this week, I read an article in the London Evening Standard, entitled, 'Debt Hurts but it still pushes up the ladder'.  The article discussed a book by John Lanchester about the financial crisis, 'Whoops, Why Everyone Owes Everyone and No One Can Pay'.

The reviewer, Sarah Sands, suggested that, contrary to Lanchester's view, debt is not necessarily a bad thing.

She argues that she would still argue school-leavers to go to university, despite the debts that might involve.  I agree with her on that score, I suppose partly because I think that an education is an irreplaceable experience, but also because the debts involved, at least in the UK, would usually be fairly light.

However, Ms Sands also cites the example of  the writer Robert Harris, who bought an expensive car, impliedly on credit, to spur on his efforts at writing his next book, as well as of a young married couple whose career ambitions are fuelled by the debt they have recently taken on to buy their own home.  These examples do worry me; whilst I am all in favour of home-ownership as an aim, a mortgage should be proportional to one's means, and a large mortgage sounds to me not like a motivational tool but a potentially weighty burden.

Although there may be an adrenaline-based, fear-driven motivation to be gained from a fierce necessity to earn more money, I would argue that that is generally unsustainable, and that motivation that comes from within, from an interest and pride in what you are doing, is likely to be more genuine and more sustainable over the long-term. 

Quite apart from the fact that heavy debts of any kind minimise, if they do not remove, one's freedom of action, often preventing a voluntary change of job or relocation, what about involuntary changes?  Suppose that an ambitious, debt-laden person loses their job, or becomes ill; what is to happen to them then?  

My suggestion would be that greater satisfaction would be had from minimising debts, and building a financial cushion, so that work can be enjoyed for more than its money-earning possibilities.   Stability, whether financial or otherwise, leads to choices and freedom, and the prospect of a more peaceful and enjoyable life, if possibly a less exciting one.

Planning for a decreased, or decreasing, income

One of the reasons I started this blog was because I had decided to change jobs, and do something different. (More on that another time.) I have now left my full-time corporate job, and am working as part-time freelancer for my old employer. So far, the resultant drop in income has been manageable, but I am preparing for the fact that in a few months' time, I may well have no income at all for a time. And my husband works freelance, currently on a contract until mid-May. And when he finishes that, we would like to take advantage of some free time by going travelling for a few weeks.... Hence my heightened interest in saving money.

So far, we've made a few changes, which I've written about here:

-Trying to keep track of everything we spend, on excel. I think that we spend less as a result, and it is a useful exercise.

-Starting a weekly food jar. I mentioned this briefly, and will no doubt write about it more at some point, but allocating a set amount of cash, and using that to pay for all food, is something we've been doing for the past few weeks. So far, it is working well and we have stayed within budget each week, and quite enjoyed the process.

-Reviewing all our regular outgoings more stringently, and making another attempt to cut, or reduce, those that we think aren't really necessary. (Having read more about pet insurance, I cancelled that, as it is true that I cannot envisage a situation where we would be able to actually claim on it. However, the cat may now develop a rare disease needing expensive treatment....)

-Saving as much as possible, and in my case making full use of my ability to contribute to a pension, while I can.

I do think that having more time to spend on watching our outgoings and planning ahead, and so far being happier and less tired, means that we 'need' less to live on at the moment. Fewer meals out, less impulsive shopping to cheer me up, more time to plan meals and so on.

If we do end up living on one income for a while, then I'm determined that even if things are a bit tight in other areas, we a) keep allowances, even if they are small ones, for personal spending, and b) that we both keep paying into pension schemes. (His is automatic, and a much more valuable scheme than mine in terms of benefits, but I will keep up a contribution of some kind even if I am not earning.)

Clothes buying, and resisting the urge to splurge

I haven't posted anything for a while, because I have been on a work trip to the US, from which I returned a couple of days' ago.

While there, I couldn't help noticing how very well-dressed and groomed the people I saw were, and possibly as a result have been battling the urge to go out and spend money on clothes, make-up and so on since my return.

I have bought a pair of pointy-toed, purple shoes, which I had had my eye on for a while and went into the sale at a very good price, and which I had money in my allowance for, but have otherwise resisted temptation.

Here are some of the things I do when the urge to buy things comes over me:

Bookmarking links to things that are of interest. Sometimes I stalk them, see if they go in the sale. By that time, if they are still available in the right colour and size, I may have lost interest in buying them, if not, I should be able to get a better price for the thing.

Writing down the details of things I want. This works both ways: if have a list of most-needed or wanted items, I am less likely to stray from it when I do come to buy something. Also, if I have somewhere to record details of things then I can avoid an impulse buy, and return to it at a later stage, if I want to.

Unsubscribe to shopping e-mails: ignorance can be bliss!

Avoid going shopping, unless going with someone else who will discourage you from buying things, or go window shopping, or go without a credit card.

Browse my library catalog if I feel in the mood for an online spree. It sounds ridiculous, but it really works. Doing this, you might rack up some reservation fees, but even if you try probably won't be able to spend more than a few pounds!

Either do something else - cooking, or housework, or reading - or give into the shopping in a controlled way, perhaps by buying something small, and enjoying the process of choosing, and the experience of going shopping.

Also, having an allowance for personal spending really helps; it means that you feel able to spend a certain amount on clothes, make-up and treats, but you know your limitations.

Reporting back on the crock pot

A week or two ago, I mentioned the crock pot we had got for Christmas. As we have been away quite a bit lately, we have only used it a few times. However, we have made two batches of chilli in it. The first time, I used a recipe which didn't involve browning the meat or onions before adding to the pot, and in which the crock pot was left on the low setting for eight hours. The result was edible, but rather insipid in taste and appearance, and generally rather disappointing.

The second time, Jian browned the meat and onions first, started off the cooking on high for half an hour, in the interests of speeding up the cooking time, as well as improving the flavour, and then turned it down to low for several hours. This worked really well, and smelt delicious as it was cooking, which was nice for me, as I was working from home that day.

The only other recipe we have tried is a 'pulled pork' recipe - not something I'd tried before - which we found on the internet. This involved no pre-cooking, but the meat and vegetables were cooked on high for the whole cooking time, for four hours or so. This was also very good, though a slightly longer cooking time would have made it even better.

In summary, so far the crock pot seems worth having, although it is another gadget to store...

Frugality versus conspicuous consumption - or what about a middle way?

I've just read Thomas Stanley's latest book, 'Stop acting rich, and start living like a real millionaire'. Although it contained some interesting information, I didn't enjoy it as much as his other work. My intepretation of his views is that unless you are a 'glitteringly rich' person, there are really two options in terms of how you live. You can either consume mindlessly, for status related reasons, or you can be frugal. What I didn't think rang true about this was that people have different priorities, and perhaps some of their consumption habits are about appreciation of real and lasting quality in certain areas of their life, for which they are prepared to pay more, while they may be frugal in other things.

I wondered how Dr Stanley would categorise me, as I think my lifestyle is, like many people's, a mixture.

-I always pay off my credit card. have no debts apart from mortgage, save money regularly, and have always contributed fully to a pension
-I spend most evenings eating home-cooked meals and watching programmes recorded from television, or reading books - many of them from the local library
-I usually take a packed lunch to work
-If eating out, I often use vouchers when going to a pizza or pasta restaurant; otherwise I may well eat at a noodle bar for around £5 for a main meal
- I have very rarely spent more than £10 on a bottle of wine; I have recently started buying wine in bulk from Majestic.
-I buy cheap cleaning materials, tinned tomatoes, tissues and kitchen towel.

On the other hand,
-I have recently bought a new coat - written about at length here - at great expense. I bought this not for status, and in fact it does not have a recognisable label, but because it is a beautiful thing which I intend to wear for many years.
-When not eating at a chain Italian or noodle bar, I sometimes go to lovely restaurants or gastro pubs, and eat steak or venison pie.
-My last holiday was in a rented cottage in the Lake District... but I have spent a weekend in New York.
-I like buying some food at Waitrose as a treat.

I could go on. My point is essentially that I am concerned by a mentality which promotes frugality in every area of life. I absolutely agree with the view that there should be more to life than spending money, and many of the things I enjoy are free, or cost very little. However, there are experiences and possessions which can enhance life, and I would query an approach which would deny all of these to someone with reasonable financial stability. (This does not apply to anything bought on expensive credit, especially credit cards; I think elimination of such debt should always be a top priority.)

My preferred approach is to eliminate debt, establish some savings, and a pattern of saving, and to allow some luxuries, prioritising those areas where you feel that spending money will enhance your enjoyment of life, and spending less on things that do not matter to you as much. It is of course possible to minimise spending in all areas, but unless you are doing this with a specific goal in mind, or as a short-term solution, is that really going to lead to a happy life?

2010 so far: snow, food, and financial resolutions

It has been a while since I posted anything, partly because of the distractions of Christmas and the New Year, and also because of a week away last week - of which more later.

Now I am back to reality, with the slight excitement of the snow - which I for one am still enjoying - to mitigate the usual January flatness.

In terms of goals for 2010, I haven't made any specific financial resolutions, as I have noticed after many years of error that as soon as I make something a resolution, I lose all desire to do it. Instead, we are trying out some new ways of doing things.

One thing, that I started in November and am going to try and continue for a few more months, mentioned in the budgeting article, is the practice of recording all our expenses on an excel spreadsheet. This does have a slightly preventative effect as far as spending is concerned, but also provides information on where small to medium sums are going each month. (I'm noting where the money was spent, as well as its category.)

A second new thing, which I've read about in various places recently, is the idea of an envelope system for expenditure. We are already using virtual envelopes - specially-named jars within our mortgage offset account - to save up for cars, holidays and fun, but I thought that this was impractical for food, as we would be constantly transferring small amounts of money in and out of the current account for each food purchase.

So instead, we have started a cash jar for food, which we will top up with a set amount each week. The idea is to see if we spend less money because we are using cash, which feels more real than cards, and also because we know that once the jar is empty we can't spend anything more until the next week's money becomes available. This is a new initiative for this week, only started on Saturday, so it is too early to say if it is working, except that we currently have well over half our budget left, as well as over half the week left for it to last!

(Tonight's dinner, to which I am already looking forward, will be toad in the hole with green beans, from 'The Pauper's Cookbook'.)

A Christmas present crock pot

At his request, I bought my husband a crock pot for Christmas. We're trying it out today, making chilli con carne, in a break from the Christmas leftovers. More to follow on how it works in due course....

Cooking without waste 2: Basic recipes

This is the second guest post on frugal cooking from Jian.
Every culture and person in the world is going to have a different idea of what a basic recipe is, depending on their answers to the questions in my last post. What might be best, would be for me to talk about what we tend to use, and how we've answered the above questions.
1)Penny and I chop and change our preferred recipes a lot; this comes of reading the paper and recipe books a bit too much, I guess. Still, our basic recipes tend to stay fairly stable, mainly because they're reliable, comforting, and easily made from long-lasting ingredients.
2)I'm quite an improviser myself; I prefer to learn basic principles through practice and then never follow the recipe, and don't plan ahead much. Penny follows the recipes closely, adapting and changing based on experience and common sense, and prefers to plan ahead.
3)We cook for two. It's a very easy number.
4)We have a hob, grill, and oven. We have a kettle, toaster, food processor, blender, rice cooker, and microwave. We have a fridge-freezer. We shop at various supermarkets (Sainsbury's, Tesco, Waitrose) and at the local farm shop, which I think came up in a previous post.
The basic recipes we most often use are:
1)Tomato sauce for pasta, which Penny's mentioned before. Basically needs onions and tinned tomatoes, which both keep well. Useful as the base for a hundred and one meals, including bolognese, chili con carne, puttanesca, jambalaya, vodka-sauce pasta, minestrone, lasagna, ratatouille, and bouillabaisse. Like all basic recipes, practice often to make it as reliably as possible; it's difficult to screw up.
2)Noodle soup. I suppose you could use a packet but really I mean good stock, probably some miso, and dry noodles (of any kind; egg noodle, ramen/lo men/ramyun/etc,, soba, thin rice noodles, thick rice noodles, udon, or even spaghetti or linguini). Add any chopped vegetables (spring onions, peppers, mushrooms, bok choy, bean sprouts), sliced grilled or fried meat (teriyaki beef, grilled or foil-baked salmon, marinated or char sui pork), and anything else that fits with the sort of taste you're going for (seaweed, won ton, a raw egg or two, coconut milk, ground peanuts, chilli peppers, lemongrass, ginger, kimchi) to endlessly customise into a quick, simple, warming meal. For a different take in the summer, try it with soba, cold clear stock, sliced cucumber and pear, and ice: nengmyun. Sometimes, though, only packet ramen will do.
3)Chips. By which I mean oven-baked thick fingers of potato, made like roast potatoes (which, indeed, basically differ only in shape and are more appropriate for some dishes, like roasts). Basically, take some floury potatoes (waxy ones will do, but work less well), peel, and cut into the shapes you want (more or less even and about 2” across for roast potatoes, or long and more like 1” thick for chips). Meanwhile, heat the oven to about 200 and put in a suitable oven dish with some oil in the bottom. Parboil for 5-10 minutes, drain, and then put back in the pan with the lid and shake about so it goes all fluffy on the surface. Add oil (and salt and pepper and even occasionally a dash of chili oil, but that's just me) in the pan and shake to coat evenly. Put in the pre-heated oven pan and cook for about 40 minutes, turning over once or twice, until nicely and unevenly browned and crispy. Serve with suitable main (sausages, with or without some good greens such as green beans or steamed green or black cabbage, or with braised red cabbage; steak, of course; home-made battered fish, occasionally), or as the main focus (chips with two boiled eggs and a nice salad or well-seasoned vegetable like beetroot, red cabbage, or mushy peas work very well).
4)Stew. Now, this takes a while, so it's not really one for the weekday evenings unless you have a crock-pot (which we don't) and can cook it all day beforehand. But diced floured meat (beef or lamb, usually), potatoes, carrots, onions, tinned tomatoes, stock, herbs, maybe some barley, maybe parsnips – hard to go wrong. I quite like making it with a herby scone topping (like a cobbler, but savoury), or with additional spices and flavours (they have to be fairly sturdy to make it through the overwhelming lovely meaty-vegetably goodness) like oranges, chorizo, or chili pepper. Still, a bit wintry and rib-sticking, you wouldn't want it every day.
5)Prepared food. Sometimes, you want to bake fresh bread and cook all day from scratch with beautiful organic local fresh ingredients. Sometimes, you just want beans on toast in five minutes. And there's nothing wrong with that.