We’ve gone (nearly) vegetarian, I make bread, pizza, soup, desserts, cake and jam myself (because they are so good you don’t notice it’s only pennies. They aren’t cheaper than supermarket bread and jam, but they make cheaper, much better meals than other stuff bought meals would) cook all our meals in twice a week batch cooks. I fast a day a week. We only drink water or milk. I grow some of our veg (a few herbs if you have a sunny bit of garden will make a huge difference to how things taste. If you can add a grow bag of tomato plants and salad leaves, or a fruit tree and some strawberries, it will lift a cheap diet immeasurably. It’s probably not worth trying to start grow a lot as an economy measure, although it’s low cost amusement for younger children) My weekly shop is £20 a week for me and DD for three meals each and two snacks for her and while it’s not an brilliant diet, either health or interest wise, it’s doable for multiple months while I weather my personal crises.
We’ve swapped our baths for showers and DIY spa-and nail bar on Sunday nights. The cinema for Netflix movies and a £1 bar of chocolate on Saturday nights, days out are country parks and a picnic with friends. DD only goes to free village youth club and after school clubs. I only go to coffee at friends’ houses. Holidays will be visiting friends and maybe some free camping. Everything is turned off at the socket all the time, the heating is at 18°C in the morning and evening for an hour and I’ve dug out every blanket and hot water bottle we own and I light candles and we pretend it’s cosy and not a bit grim (no one should have to economise so much in a first world county, British government!) while we watch Netflix, read library books and play board games, go for nourishing walks, do utube yoga and meditation and keep the dogs on DDs bed for warmth. DD relies heavily on tik tok and our daft dogs for amusement!
Then I go to bed and cry about the electric bill and the car MOT being due next month, and wonder how much longer I have the energy to be resilient and resourceful, because I’m already so tired of it. I’ll get up and remind myself it not my worst year and keep going with grim determination. Or at least, I have so far. I think we’ll make it, but I really feel for those who aren’t so resilient, I’ve had to dig seriously deep and I know it isn’t going to be forever (for me, this is a business crisis, not a cost of living one, but if it gets any worse, we’ll have to look at combining households)