Prepping on a Low Budget

[AlohaMolly]

The prepping boards have been extremely useful to me over the last year, but I feel a bit lost as to what to do next.

I’m in the tourism industry on furlough and also in one of the devolved nations. I’m on a low wage anyway, but feel I’ll be on furlough till the very end and then either made redundant or struggle for business until at least easter 2021. I want to continue my prepping but have to balance the cost of replenishing stocks/building supplies with continuing to save for what will probably be a hard winter.

Does anyone want to join me for a low budget, long term prepping thread?

I could magic chicken when I was well and everyone ate meat. (you just added a little bit for flavour and based the meal round the veg/sauce/etc. now though I pick at it and feed chunks to ds who is definitely not vegetarian.

red lentils are my go to now as they are quicker to cook and use less fuel. put a lid on the pan and that is even better.

home made christmas presents: (not that I have made any)
sock bears
homemade jam
homemade wonderbag thing (use old kids coats?)
I plan to use the sleeve of one as a pouch for a flask as an extra layer of insulation.
elasticated bag tto keep carrier bags in for shopping...
knitted/crocheted scarves/gloves

@Kitkatandcoffee Last year I made some peg art. Got the box frames from Ikea and some felt, it was super easy! This year I might do some pebbles. I've attached some pics (not my own work, just some examples) if that gives you some ideas?

I'm also quite a good copier so I tend to make our own Christmas cards. And that's reminded me to pick up some art supplies!

For sewing you absolutely can't go wrong with some rude cross-stitch.

I am into card making and have a large stash of card making stuff.😃
I loved your peg art.😍 Don’t know if I would be talented enough for that. It looks as if you put in a lot of hard work on them. Thank you for the ideas. I like paper cutting, matting and layering. Think I will try that in box frames. The stones look good so could try something like that.

@Kitkatandcoffee Oh goodness no, the Incredibles aren't mine! I just used those as an example. But aren't they great?

Yes. They are great. I thought you had made them.😃

@Kitkatandcoffee I can barely get DP to make a chicken last two meals I buy a large one thinking there'll be plenty for him to eat at one meal and save leftovers for another two or three... no, he scoffs the lot!

The Thrift Book is a great one for ideas on sewing and crafts, and general money saving. I'm so desperate for our library to re-open as I have a long list of books I'd like to borrow, saves a good few £££ especially for the DC's books!

I am interested in all the posts and ideas BUT please could someone tell me what exactly you are all preparing for?

@WalkingInTheAir13 Each person will have their own goals or worst case eventualities in mind when prepping. For me, I'm prepping for the possibility that there are food shortages and no delivery slots (again) due to a second wave of the pandemic and/or a no deal Brexit. But I am also prepping for the complete loss of income, which for a single parent who is self employed, is possible. So we will be able to live on our food stocks for a bit while spending very little - if need be.

I personally, now, am mostly prepping for a winter of being told to self isolate for 14 days. DS is 4, has been off school since mid feb and will be returning to school in September and I can only imagine what a hot bed of germs it will be I’m in Wales, where the current advice is, if your child has a cough/temperature, self isolate for 14 days and order a test. We are a low income family, one self employed and the other receiving only SSP and I’ve seen a price increase across all food types. I usually shop in Lidl to keep to my budget and if we have to self isolate, I’d have to get shopping delivered from one of the bigger brands, which I can’t really afford, so having a good supply of food that I can use for 14 days without having to smash by budget puts me at ease.

Similarly, we are a very outdoors style family and Wales is continuing with blended learning for at least part of the autumn term. I want to know I have stuff in to help with his school work and keep him from going stir crazy if we are in the 14 days position.

At the end of this year, and the primary reason I started prepping back in August last year, was the idea of No Deal Brexit, joking the prices up again. If I can supplement a food shop with stuff I already have in, it will take the heat off while things settle down.

Oh, on top of that, DS is gluten free. I had been building up a stock of GF bread, pasta and flour since Christmas and I’m glad I did, because I couldn’t get any GF products for at least the first four weeks of lockdown and they are still in short supply now!

The two things I learned are
a) don't wait until you're on your last tube of toothpaste, bottle of washing up liquid etc - try to get ahead by buying slightly early so you always have one in use and at least one on the shelf (this doesn't 'cost' any more in the long run) as it won't go off, but you need to find a bit of cash to buy ahead once (then replace as you use up, just as you usually would). BOGOFs can be good to get this started.

b) don't get food you wouldn't ordinarily eat just because it's cheap/good VFM. If you don't much like liver, it'll feel like penance to have to eat it because you got it in, and if you keep putting off eating it, it'll go to waste in the end

Many thanks to Op @AlohaMolly and @RhubarbTea for enlightening me.

It all makes sense now and many of the tips and ideas are excellent. You can even steal the Boy Scouts motto - Be Prepared

@WalkingInTheAir13 I'm self-employed and live in a rural area where jobs are hard to come by. I've already lost clients because of the lockdown and I've no prospect of regaining them (my work is linked to the education sector).

My DP lost his job immediately at the beginning of lockdown and has had to move into a different sector in a part-time position.

So I'm trying to futureproof myself a little. Get in a supply of food and essentials in case of future shortages/unemployment/enforced isolation/no-deal Brexit.

That’s exactly how I like to think of it, as being prepared. Last year, my DF died and it completely floored me. I couldn’t take time off work and obviously life has to carry on for DC etc, but I really could have done without the grind of shopping and cooking etc. Now if we are feeling shit or low, we’ve got enough to see us through there as well.

@Rubyslippers77 my library has online availability, not a full selection but may keep you going in the meantime, even if it's just you and not the kids. I just needed my library card number to sign up.

Hello everyone waves

I’ve been unfurloughed now and had some bad news re my wages. The ‘from home’ element of my job has been removed, which means I’m effectively £50ish worse off a week, and with added petrol costs again, I’m bringing home about £130 a week

I’ve had my eye on these on amazon for a while and they’re £11 down from £18ish at one point. It’s a box of 71 biscuit bars like kit Kat, breakaways etc. It says snack size, but £11 for 71 is a good deal I think and will save on my weekly shop for a while! I didn’t actually spend my own money either, as I am squirrelling amazon vouchers from survey sites/Quidco etc

www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B07LD4HWCX?ref=ppx_pt2_mob_b_prod_image&tag=mumsnetforu03-21

Did you buy the Amazon deal @AlohaMolly? I was just wondering if it would still be cheaper to buy (for example) Lidl chocolate bars and use the Amazon vouchers for birthday/ Christmas presents for your DS - there are some great ideas on the Christmas bargain threads here. I'm assuming from what you've said before that your DH would moan a bit at the own brand stuff, but he might just have to get used to it if you have less money coming in really sorry to hear about your wages by the way; would there be any opportunities to find a better paid job? Or any chance that you'll get a pay rise eventually?

I do have the online library service @sexesam but ours changed not long before lockdown and isn't particularly good! There's a lot of books they only have physical copies of, annoyingly, and still no date for the library re-opening.

Hope the gift making is going well @Kitkatandcoffee and @FloggingMoll

Hi @RubySlippers77 and everyone else. I have been moving everything in my craft room about. I have sewn some masks for shopping as we are in Scotland. My husbands work is finished this week. We will have to manage on my part time minimum wage.

My DP finishes work this week too @Kitkatandcoffee he hopes to pick something up again soon but we could do with knowing when!!

Could you sell some masks to make a few extra £££ if you aren't already? I tried to buy some reusable cloth ones today and couldn't find any at all in town

@RubySlippers77 Wrote a long post and lost it.😲We will manage
He had a phone call from hospital today. He has to self isolate as he has a date for an op so has to self isolate for 2 weeks before it.
My budget is sorted. We will manage but no luxuries really. We will have lots of days out when weather is nice on my days off.
We live in a beautiful part of Scotland so lots of days out with picnic lunches. Have a little gas stove for making coffee or tea. So in many ways we are lucky.
Have a couple of things to sell nearer Christmas games console and games, I know they will sell well then.
I am going to start my card making to sell some. Also anything for craft sales. My husband can make some wooden candle holders from staves of whisky casks. I can sew some things too so will potter along.

Hello everyone. Have yet to start gift making, got to get my head in the game! Just feel quite tired and overwhelmed at the moment, I guess we've all been there through this! My area is quite touristy so is starting to open up again, which seems to be causing all manner of problems locally.

Some good news is that I've managed to secure a new part-time job (thank fuck) and DP might be able to increase his hours soon too.

We're continuing to prep on the basis of being locked down/busy summer full of COVIDy tourists/bad winter in any case. Just about to buy some suet! Very rock and roll.

Hi all

I'm joining in if that's okay. I'm now single mum to three kids and my previous prepper pantry has been halved due to lockdown.

I live in jersey so no cheap food shops for us here at all. Any cheaper shops are franchise so prices are alot higher than the mainland.

I started experimenting with various seedlings at the start of lockdown with the kids and they were gutted when the greenhouse blew over and we lost everything 😭 managed to buy some cheap tomato plants and grow some potato's though so should have a good crop of tomatos soon. I'm going to get the greenhouse out again this week and reset it up in a new place and weight it down properly and start sowing winter veg.

I'm on a low income as everything is so expensive over here and I'm worrying about getting my stocks back together as if there is a second lockdown (it is tourist season and we are welcoming 1000 people a week to an island nine miles by five and testing results take 32 hours and people can roam freely...) ad bad weather as bad weather stops the boats!

Hey sideorderofchips :)
We also had a few lots of seedlings go over in the wind due to the greenhouse, we’ve now anchored it to the wall with a hook and some rope, sand bags are also good around the edges.
I’m new to growing this year so not very experienced but your still not to late to grow some lettuce, spinach or carrots. I know not a great deal but will maybe help. I’ve just planted a few more potatoes too, it may be too late but thought I’d give it a go!

Greenhouse problems here too don't think we'll have any tomatoes this year, which is a shame as we had loads last year. I need to spend a bit more time sorting out the garden, DP was going to mow the lawn over the weekend but preferred to faff around and moan instead, so I'll have to stick to tidying up the pots and pulling up weeds till he finally gets that done.

I've never been to Jersey @sideorderofchips but it looks amazing - however, I can definitely appreciate that prices would be higher! We don't have any countryside particularly close so I am jealous of you and @Kitkatandcoffee

(Good news about your DH's op date, Kitkat!)

I'm looking for a part time job too @FloggingMoll but at the moment it will have to be very part time as the DC aren't full time at school till mid-September (assuming everything is back to normal by then!), and our school doesn't have any before or after school clubs running for now. PIL will look after the DC in an emergency but wouldn't want to do it on a regular basis, which is fair enough, they're in their 70s now and two lively 4 year olds is a handful for anyone! Part of me would prefer to work from home but part of me is desperate to get to the workplace for some adult company - if any workplaces are open again by then

My food stocks are very good at the moment, if we get locked down again suddenly and food is in short supply then we'll be ok for a while. It might not be a very interesting or varied diet but we wouldn't starve! Could just do with improving the finances now...

Jersey is amazing just so expensive!

I'm also an olio volunteer at the moment. Olio is an app where food waste hero's go to shops when they close (or St a certain time) to collect any unsold food thst would otherwise been binned. We list it on the app and people can request it and come. And collect.

Any use by food not collected or. Requested that day is kept and used by the volunteer thst collected it from the shop so sometimes I have food I can freeze from that which helps

@RubySlippers77 It was a relief, luckily my DD goes to nursery literally down the road from the new office. My DP would be able to collect her so that's made a huge difference.

I'm having a bit of a panic, my DSD has discovered my stash. 😂 We've got a very decent prep at the moment and she's been asking loads of questions about it. I feel weirded out by the fact she knows about it - possibly a bit judged also! I've played it down and said it's a store cupboard because we have limited space in the kitchen, but I still feel a bit

Prepping for Christmas now, going to start chutneys and cake next month! How is everyone today?