How did you “Eke out” back in the day when hard up?

Have you got a slow cooker dalrymple?

Good for cooking cheaper cuts of meat and cheap to run.

When DD was a student , she was the Queen of cheap eating. She had a bag on wheels which she would trundle around Lewisham market late on a Saturday afternoon. She would get a bag of onions for £1, a big bag of potatoes for not much more plus loads of fruit and veg that would not last until Monday, sometimes for free. She then sold it on to other students for a few pennies more than she paid and ate, almost for free. Some times, if she was coming home or we were visiting we would get the benefit of her astute shopping.

Aldom

HelterSkelter1

Slightly off the point, but when I spend £5 in the supermarket on hardly anything I often think of my sister newly married on £5 a week housekeeping in 1963. And that was probably slightly above average. But a good local butcher, baker, dairy and fishmonger must have helped. I can't remember much about our early married years food wise although we had several good butchers in our town I must have used together with a fish shop, greengrocers etc, but that £5 has stuck in my memory.

In 1963 £5 was worth (in today's money) £100.
So in no way a struggle to make ends meet.
In 1968, with two children we lived well on £6 a week housekeeping money. I could easily afford a whole rib of beef at the weekend.

But that was when we were importing tons of beef from Argentina together with lamb from New Zealand and Australia under the very good trade deals we had with them.

In the mid 70s, the housekeeping budget was £7 a week for 4 of us, including cleaning materials. toiletries and any other necessary household goods.

I cannot remember feeling in anyway constrained by this, although, as I have said, my preference has always been for cheaper cuts of meat, I made my own baby food because I considered tinned baby food too expensive and not worth the money

When we were first married DH was still a student completing a long professional degree. I was earning a very lowly teachers salary.
My go to recipe was cauliflower cheese with an OXO cube sprinkled over it. On Sundays we had a roast dinner consisting of a small rolled beef ( no idea which cut got rolled, but it had a fair amount of fat ) with roast vegetables. It tasted delicious. If we ever had chicken it was roasted, then eaten cold, then remains put in a pie and the carcass made into soup.

petra

Aldom

HelterSkelter1

Slightly off the point, but when I spend £5 in the supermarket on hardly anything I often think of my sister newly married on £5 a week housekeeping in 1963. And that was probably slightly above average. But a good local butcher, baker, dairy and fishmonger must have helped. I can't remember much about our early married years food wise although we had several good butchers in our town I must have used together with a fish shop, greengrocers etc, but that £5 has stuck in my memory.

In 1963 £5 was worth (in today's money) £100.
So in no way a struggle to make ends meet.
In 1968, with two children we lived well on £6 a week housekeeping money. I could easily afford a whole rib of beef at the weekend.

But that was when we were importing tons of beef from Argentina together with lamb from New Zealand and Australia under the very good trade deals we had with them.

Aldom, In 1963 £5 was worth (in today's money) £100.

I'd agree - struggle (if there is one) similar to 1963.

back in the day I always had a sack yes a sack of potatoes in the shed. cheese and potato pie with beans was filling for children.

We ate beans and rice with a little sausage or bits of ham, spaghetti and ground beef and soup, canned salmon and tuna. I shopped the bargain bins for vegetable , fruit and meat-still do.

With two pensions and no mortgage, I am now far more comfortably off than back then but I find that old habits die hard and I still economise whenever possible and feel guilty when I spend money on non-essentials. Does anyone else find this?

I stopped feeling guilty spending money on non-essentials when mr I died 20 months ago. I’m not extravagant, at least I don’t believe so but I’m more likely to buy a top or jacket because I like it than because I need it.
Food shopping similar, I’ve always preferred quality to quantity and don’t hesitate to buy good cheese or wine.
I also gave my daughters a chunk of cash - not life changing but an amount that would have really helped me when they were children
I know I’m fortunate with a decent pension and some savings, I count those blessings daily. I think if you’ve had to scrape and manage at any stage you don’t forget that. It’s wrong that we have the smallest old age pension than other European countries.

Bumface

With two pensions and no mortgage, I am now far more comfortably off than back then but I find that old habits die hard and I still economise whenever possible and feel guilty when I spend money on non-essentials. Does anyone else find this?

It depends wat you mean by economising. Being clever with your money managing it well and getting value from every penny is a way of living not just the result of money being tight.

Many a wealthy person becomes so because they are astute with money at home as well as in business. My DD who I mentioned above, as a student visiting markets late to pick up cheap, and some times free fruit and veg, is now much older and has a very well paid job, but she still haunts the reduced section in supermarkets and her favourite hobby is going round charity shops. Her house is furnished throughout with second hand furniture, china, glass etc.

I see economising as a way of life and a way of making your money go further to pay for more of the things you want to spend money on.

feel guilty when I spend money on non-essentials. Does anyone else find this?. I’m definitely getting better at it!

Not when we first got married , but five years afterwards .
It was mince most days in every variation and it's probably why I hate it .
I wore my faded , shabby maternity clothes and shoes that needed a repair or throwing out .
People made comments .
My hair was untrimmed .
We couldn't afford to send our children to playgroup every day .
I loved being at home with them -so for me they were magic times .

I also see economising as a way of life and have secondhand furniture etc. M0nica.
It's the second bit, about things I want to spend money on that I can't do.

I don't run a car or have a mobile phone. The top I am wearing today is over 45 years old. I go to the hairdresser about once every 2 years. I have not been on holiday for nearly nine years. I could go on but it's too boring.

I am not boasting about this. I have a real hang-up and if I did treat myself I know that the guilt would outweigh the pleasure.

I was in a fortunate position when married not to worry about food and budgets. I have never kept to a budget.

Now I have a decent work pension, state pension+ savings but sometimes if I have an expensive meal at home one night, the next maybe a couple of boiled eggs with toast, a favourite.

Bumface if you can afford little treats I do think you should allow yourself them.

Why feel guilty about a little happiness? Do you feel guilty for the good things you have almost by default (sunshine and rain, your family maybe).
If we find happiness in our hearts it surely spreads?

If you really can't afford a holiday then maybe you can afford days out to somewhere nearby or a walk somewhere- just for a change of scenery and, as my mother-in-law would say, "and an iced bun"!

Thinking of you.

We ate beans and rice

Tricia2 my husband will still eat this combination as a quick meal, but these days it's called "Slimming World" 😁

My Mum was an expert in eking out and my go-to meal stretcher was always more vegetables.
I think it’s got more difficult since we were young. As children, we ate what there was or went hungry.

Married in 1970, husband a student and I worked. Money was in very short supply except during uni hols when DH always managed to get a job of some sort. I used to buy pork bones and boil them (awful smell) and then pick the meat off the bones add lots of vegetables and make a stew that would last us at least 2 days. I'd add dumplings to make it go further and remember it being very tasty. At lunch times I'd take a sandwich from home or buy a bread cake and a slice of some cheap meat for a sandwich. Didn't have a shop bought sandwich for many years, thought they were a real luxury. How times change.

luluaugust

The Paupers Cookbook played its part and everything cooked from scratch. A friend showed me how to gut fish and deal with a rabbit! I didn’t do that on my own I must admit. A huge bag of onions was bought for £1.lasted all winter hung up. This is all around 1970/72

Yes, the Paupers Cookboook was great.
At one stage we lived near a very helpful butcher who would show me how to do things, such bone and roll a breast of lamb, if he wasn't too busy. I had a pressure cooker and made casseroles with cheap meat such as oxtail and stewing beef, and cooked suet and sponge puddings. Also lots of cheap fish such as herrings and mackeral. Fortunately my husband likes offal so we had liver, kidneys, faggots and lambs heart, lovely and tender if properly cooked. Today we sometimes have haggis for a filling treat, a lovely meal.
I used to buy the bacon bits too, now everything is pre-packed so no "specials" like that. Even our local supermarkets have given up their butchers and fishmongers counters, so you can't buy just one thick pork chop or a big herring.
One frugal meal that we regularly eat today is boiled bacon or gammon, it lasts for ages and makes so many different meals, hot and cold.

We were all right for food in the mid-60s. We used to get half a pound of mince for 1/6 which translates to 7p! And we ate herrings and mackerel, sometimes lamb or pork chops. Nowadays, lamb is a real luxury.
What was hard to find was money for clothes when the children arrived in the early 70s during horrendous inflation. I used to make clothes for them and myself, including cutting up my maternity clothes.
I well remember making a dress with wide medieval sleeves and cutting two right sleeves. Horror! I had to go back to the shop and get another yard of material.

Bumface

With two pensions and no mortgage, I am now far more comfortably off than back then but I find that old habits die hard and I still economise whenever possible and feel guilty when I spend money on non-essentials. Does anyone else find this?

We have no mortgage, haven't for over 40 years, but old habits never die. I'm sure I'll economise forever and I don't think that's anything but good.

Well done you for knowing yourself.

Greyduster

One thing I used to cook when things were tight that I learned from my mother were slow cooked beef short ribs which were as cheap as chips. Cooked in a covered casserole with vegetables they were delicious. I still cook them but they are for high days and holidays. You need to take out a second mortgage to buy them now since they were popularised by certain celebrity chefs.

I remembered a ready meal I'd seen on the Ocado site when I read this, short ribs at more than £28 a kilo!
www.ocado.com/products/m-s-collection-slow-cooked-short-rib-of-beef-563537011

By eating a lot of beans and pulses and seasonal vegetables. Charity shop for clothes, Oxfam had started by the 1980's.

I remember in 1971 when my electricity bill was due but wages didn’t go into the bank for a week. I wrote the cheque, and ‘forgot’ to sign it. Posted off it came back to me a week later. New cheque sent - with signature this time. Problem solved!! Money was tight then.