What do you buy to feed yourself to save money to keep your horses??

S

Sharonr

Well-Known Member
Joined
18 May 2008
Messages
368
Location
Scotland
Visit site
Just a musing as I've just had yet ANOTHER vet bill which will require payment and have no additional money to pay for it!!

I'm trying to think of ways to save money to pay this bill and the only way I can think is to eat porridge for a month as it's filling and cheap to buy!!

So made me think, what does everyone else do?? I never treat myself as such to nights out or takeaways. What do you do without/put up with to ensure that you've got money to pay for everything for your horses???
 
We spent over a year eating milk; potatoes and onions from farm gate shops; tesco value cheese, bacon and tinned tomatoes; eggs from our hens; fruit and veg was grown in our garden.
 
We don't go short on anything, that wouldn't be fair to the other people in the house who don't give a toot about the horses, I wouldn't dream of making them suffer to pay for my pets. Family comes first every time. If I couldn't afford to feed the horses I would sell them.

We have ducks, so they produce eggs and meat.
I rear goats - so I always have a goat in the freezer.
I swap a meat goat for a pig.
I swap a duck, or eggs for produce.
I have a milk goat for the kids, but if we really needed milk, it is there on tap as it were.
I have been known to barter a horse for a steer.
 
I barter too, I raise sheep and pigs for meat and chickens for eggs and meat plus growing lots of veggies and will swap all sorts rather than part with cash

I recently had a sick pig and someone came to check her over for me on the condition that in the future I owe them a favour - the joys of living in a close knit community!

Failing that one of the biggest savings I can make is on fuel, I spend £300 a month usually on diesel but being light/heavy footed with the accellerator can plus or minus that as much as £50 in either direction

Every day practical things can be not getting shop made sandwiches, freezing bread and only defrosting what you actually need, drinking squash rather than fizzy drinks, using mince rather than cuts of meat, buying potatoes in sacks not small bags (if you use a lot) no prepacked salads

I get most of my groceries (that I dont grow myself) from farm shops - these may seem more expensive but you arent tempted by lots of stuff you dont need. I do a 'big' shop every couple of months for odd things like kitchen roll, foil, spices etc and I do a shop once a year for eco washing powder and products by mail order - usually after I have had some sort of small windfall!
 
I've lived on baked beans and toast for an oh so long time, and plain veg - stew, may sound dull, but it helped pay the horses feeding bills/farrier etc and helped me drop the odd pound or two! :)
 
I have to say that our dire budget was not as a result of keeping horses, merely as a result of the rise in mortgage interest rates to over 17%! If we wanted to keep the house we had £10 a month to feed us and two kids:(
 
We have had six vets bills this last month, all unexpected, all not covered by insurance, all over £80 and we are also economising like mad this month - sometimes things just hit you again and again when you are already down.

Its sods law and doesnt mean you dont have the money to keep your pets the other 11 months of the year

I am sure if the OP is not normally in this situation and has just had a run of bad luck
 
jemima*askin said:
I have to say that our dire budget was not as a result of keeping horses, merely as a result of the rise in mortgage interest rates to over 17%! If we wanted to keep the house we had £10 a month to feed us and two kids:(
Click to expand...

Good grief :(
 
I've not always been honest with the OH on how much it actually costs to keep a horse (I would never have been allowed one otherwise) so there are plenty of times when i do the grocery shop that i will do a meal planner and feed the both of us for under £20 for the week!

I actually like the challenge of eating for less so I love the A Girl Called Jack blog and Im always on Money Saving Experts forum looking at ways people reduce there grocery bills because i enjoy cooking and I enjoy the challenge of cooking on a budget.

My frustration with the OH is that every evening meal MUST contain meat and it makes me so angry when i can budget breakfast, lunch and dinner for two for a week on about £15-£20 but thats if we go mainly veggie :o
 
I live alone so no one else to suffer!
Not all of my lack of eating is financial either, I often can't be bothered. Yesterday I only had toast and a couple of bananas
Often have toast and later a cheese and onion sandwich
Then some times I treat myself to fish and chips
I know I'm bad and I often start to eat well but then stop again
 
If it was just me, and I didn't have meat in the freezer and eggs on a shelf in the tackroom (don't ask ;)) and I had to shop to feed myself - as I have done before, at one time I was so broke I considered going and standing on a street corner - that is how penniless I was :( I didn't have a horse at that time. It isn't much fun.

I would buy end of the day, going soft fruit and vegetables for pennies, in fact anything that was on the bargain shelf. Ditto offcuts from butchers shops.

I purposely found myself a job at a hotel, I got fed then and didn't have to buy food. :)
 
I've not got a horse but on a low budget and training for bodybuilding competition so I've looked at many different ways to save money on food.

Buy in bulk, I can get 5kg of chicken breasts for £20, yes it can be boring just having chicken but you can change it up differently. Freeze everything down, you get about 25 chicken breasts :D

Meal preparation is awesome! Meal prep for 3 days, keep in fridge and then its all done and you know exactly where you are at. No waste or anything.
Buy frozen veg if you can, not as good for you but saves money and waste.

Drink green tea - don't need milk or sugar.

Make your own biscuits or flapjacks, so much cheaper then buying treats from supermarket.

Eat carbs, good ones so they fill you up.
Don't carry change with you then your not tempted just to grab a chocolate bar.

Calculate everything in terms of 'i could have this chocolate cake but its same price as a bale of hay.'

Hope that might help you :D
 
ShadowFlame said:
I thought a requirement of horse ownership was to keep a cupboard full of beans and bread to hand? :confused: :p
Click to expand...

You can bet your life on the fact I will ALWAYS have a tin of chickpeas, tin of chopped tomatoes and an onion in the house. With a few sprinkles of spices I can rustle up a mean chickpea curry for pennies per head :o
 
Invite myself for dinner at parents instead :D

When working as a groom I used to purposely bounce cheques at the co-op and then bank would take money on payday. Not the best plan ever!
 
I buy smartprice noodles to take to work for lunches as they are about 8p, or left overs. I never throw out left overs, if it's not enough for me I give the dogs for supper instead of dog food (they get proper meal in morning and think human food is a real treat, OH brings home any left over packed lunch sandwiches for their supper too!)

I like some of the own brand pasta and sauce, asda chicken and garlic pasta is pretty nice for about 50p etc. OH likes meat and veg meals which bore me so quite often I'll buy enough meat for 1 then have pasta or jacket spud myself, far cheaper and waaay less boring!

I also do sweet and sour or thai green curry with chicken but put more veg in, sainsbury brand sauces are good, buy veg toward end of day and store in fridge, it will be cheaper but last couple days. If you put more veg in and chop smaller 1 chicken breast does 2 easily in a sauce, and it's healthier meaning we get more of our 5 a day, i do give him more of the meat though as it's my horses i try to keep costs down for, that and principle which is where it started, so many kids starving in the world and we dispose of food like rubbish.

I have also found my OH loves chicken skewers, the skewers were well cheap for about 100 and 1 large chicken breast does about 5 skewers, bit of rice and some home made salsa (own brand chopped toms, chilli oil and herbs) and he's a happy bunny but very cheap.

experiment, a pack of own brand sausages does us 3 or 4 meals (there's only 2 of us) - Bangers and mash, sausage and mushroom pasta, sausage chips and beans, sausage casserole and mash. I like layered bakes, so aubergine sliced and layered with tinned toms (very cheap) with a sprinkling of cheese on top just as you finish cooking, very nice. Potatoes layered with cheese sauce and some bacon (can be cheap off cut or own brand as it's baked) is good and very cheap too, plus save a bit of the bacon and you can wrap a chicken breast in it another day. oh and the good old tuna pasta bake which complete with ready made sauce costs less than £2 and will feed 4!

Explore the own brand stuff, some of it is pants but some is nice. I try to only use what I need and plan a meal with the left overs, very rarely waste anything and I cringe when my sister in law chucks out food in its sell by just because she's used part of it for something has no meal planned for what's left.

We're not really struggling but when we were I got in the habit and when we're not I prefer to spend on other things than food to throw away - I will buy us a nice steak and selection of cheeses for after etc but hate spending on meat/veg meals that bore me or to then throw away what we don't need. I work hard for my money and I'm not throwing half of it away! For me it's not about being skint but about waste and shopping carefully.
 
Sorry to hear you’re having a rotten month. I love cooking and am often late getting home so some suggestions for quick and inexpensive meals (other than porridge!) would be:

Pasta dishes – there’s a lot you can do with a packet of spaghetti and a couple of tins of tomatoes. Carbonara or olive oil with chilli and garlic are other options for sauces.

Mince dishes such as bolognese, cottage pie or chilli con carne made in big batches and frozen. If you put plenty of veg in or bulk up with mashed potatoes/rice they go much further. They are also quick to reheat when you’re in a hurry as making properly takes a couple of hours.

Homemade soup, leek and potato, French onion or tomato are filling and inexpensive to make. You may need to beg/buy/borrow a big pan. :D

Tomato-based spicy sauce or curry (with or without meat, chicken or value prawns are nice) served with rice. (If you don’t have spices in the cupboard could build up gradually?) Works well with cumin, coriander, chilli, turmeric and garlic and would freeze for later.

It also helps to have an idea what you expect to pay for things. I started taking note when I had a voucher (spend over x amount, get y amount off and didn't want to end up 50p under at the checkout) rather than through a specific need to save money and it’s amazing how much the basics vary from week to week. Full price toiletries also add up really quickly etc.

Hope this is some help. :)
 
ha ha that made me hungry! I had an op last week and have currently got my mouth wired shut so liquids only, and thin ones at that, no nice creamy soups for me! I'd kill for a lasagne right now hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm drooling!
 
I think it depends how much meat you eat, if quite a lot then you can make a drastic reduction straight away, if not much then it is a bit harder. My OH likes meat more than I do, I could go without almost all the time as I like lighter meals. I go to Aldi and stock up on beans, pasta, frozen pizzas, courgettes, frozen veg, a bit of cheese, bread, bacon, tinned tomatoes, and then some cheap lunch time type things like fake supernoodles, soup etc. Then make sure we get a few snacky things like biscuits and crisps so we have it on hand and don't feel the need to buy a few sneaky things from the shop! So we mostly have pasta based things with bacon and veg, in either a tomato sauce or cheesey. Big bags of frozen veg are great for making vegetable curry and we do buy a small pack of chicken for that sometimes as my OH isn't keen on pure veg. Sausages are really good actually if you have one person that wants meat and one person happy with veg, and cheap either way even if you get nicer ones.

We bought a pack of pork mince for 3 quid the other day and made small burgers like frikadellen with finely chopped apple and onion, they were awesome for the BBQ!

I also always have baking ingredients in abundance so if we're feeling a bit bored and demoralised I can whip up a cake or whatever I have ingredients for :-) getting into cooking makes it much easier and less boring :-)

We also hardly ever ever buy a drink or coffee or food when we are out as that really adds up, then we can usually afford a sneaky trip to macdonalds when we can't be bothered haha!
 
Last edited:
Why don't you sell up??! To sort your bills etc & get one on part loan???
Or find some
One to
Loan your horse at your yard so you don't have the financial ties x
 
I make massive batches of ratatouille and then freeze them in individual portions and then eat it throughout the week with potato or rice, in fact rice and baked potato are always my go to options because there are loads of inexpensive things you can buy or make to go with them. Apart from that, in times of real penny pinching I have eaten a lot of porridge and 9p noodles. When I was a student on a budget I also used buy and sell quite literally anything that i thought I could make a bit of money on, from cars to vintage light fittings ;)
 
We eat really well but small portions so one chicken breast does two of us a three pound pack of beef mince does 6 portions so meal for two one cottage pie, one curry, one spag bol
I buy own brand pasta and passata so for 6 pounds i can make six substantial meals for two. I use rice and potato too a portion of fish in butter sauce and potatoes will make a fish pie for two adults and three kids so it can be very varied.
Only thing I wont compromise on is real butter and fresh fruit but usually buy the close to date stuff in the reduced bit as it doesnt last long here
OH is a biscuit freak so I buy 20p tescos own rich tea sadly they dont last long either as there are only two kinds of biscuit packs in this house full ones and empty ones
OH will not eat veg so veggie is not the answer in this house
 
mollybella said:
Why don't you sell up??! To sort your bills etc & get one on part loan???
Or find some
One to
Loan your horse at your yard so you don't have the financial ties x
Click to expand...

That's harsh. Horse can always throw up unexpected bills that can mean living on a shoestring for a few weeks.

For OP

Big bag of value pasta, 10 tins of value tomatoes, a few onions and garlic bulbs. Lots of meals out of that.

Cheap 10p noodles, break an egg into them once soft, stir and cook for another minute or two. With a few slices of bread it's a filling meal.

Iceland - I don't have much meat but buy their frozen fish. 2 pieces of sole with lemon & parsley crust for £1. 2 pieces of salmon with a garlic marinade £1.50. Breaded pieces for a couple of quid. They also do a frozen mixed country veg for £1. I steam it in a metal colander over a pan for 5 minutes, put pan lid into colander over the veg, it's yummy :o) Bag of 20 Richmond frozen sausages for £1. that's a few meals and can be cooked and let go cold for sandwiches.

A tin of corned beef, few spuds & an onion. cook spuds and onion, mash together with the corned beef. Tin of beans and some bread.

Buy big boxes of cereal when it's on special offer.

Pitta breads. I think I pay about 50p for a pack of 6. That's lunches for the week as I can fill them with anything.

Hope pony is better soon and that's the last of the vet's bills for you.
 
I make big pans of soup with dried pulses & barley and whatever veg is going cheap and any bits of leftovers. Once it's cooked I freeze it in portions to stick in the microwave.
 
DabDab said:
When I was a student on a budget I also used buy and sell quite literally anything that i thought I could make a bit of money on, from cars to vintage light fittings ;)
Click to expand...

This is normally what I do when feeling super poor. I look through all my stuff and find stuff to sell! I've got years worth of bits of tack etc. and horsey stuff, if I have nothing to sell there then I go through my clothes and house and see if there's anything I don't use anymore, then chuck it on Ebay. I've got a heap of tops and shoes (most worn once only!) that I'll be putting on Ebay soon, as I also have a vets bill to pay and a very grumpy OH who is moaning about how much I spend on the horses... :( :(
 
Peanut butter sandwiches ( no butter :p ), cups of tea, no alcohol, no take aways, bags of crisps for tea, Weetabix (3) for lunch, packets of biscuits...

no fruit or veg or meat...........I could go on and on.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top