Live on £4000 for a year - Part 3

weezl74

nykmedia wrote: »

... Weezl's thread for a chocolate dessert made from store's own brand cooking chocolate and saver instant custard, both of which I have in store cupboard - must try that out, as it sounds delicious! Mmm... imagine that served with some whipped cream on top? ....

Hello lovely!

Just a quickie to say, don't risk it with cooking chocolate! It wasn't so nice:o, so I upgraded to their dark eating chocolate, 70p in asda or 40p in Ikea of all places!

Great thread guys, keep up the hard work, you're all admirable and inspiring :T

Weezl x

Frugaldom

weezl74 wrote: »

Hello lovely!

Just a quickie to say, don't risk it with cooking chocolate! It wasn't so nice:o, so I upgraded to their dark eating chocolate, 70p in asda or 40p in Ikea of all places!

Great thread guys, keep up the hard work, you're all admirable and inspiring :T

Weezl x

Thanks Weezl, I have Mr T's own milk chocolate, which I like, so will try that and let everyone know how it turns out. Got 4 x 100g bars for less than £1 last time. :T

sukielou75

Hi Nyk,
What about this recipe below? you can substitute any of the veg with the veg you have in store.

COUSCOUS WITH CHICKPEAS AND VEGETABLES
(COUSCOUS B'LHUMMUS KHODRA)

"Here's a spicy, colorful Moroccan stew of garbanzos and root vegetables. The list of ingredients appears long but is not complicated. Use what's in season. This dish reheated well ('better'). Could use this for a party; make the day before."

1/2 cup dried chickpeas
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 onion, chopped
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 carrots, sliced 1/4-inch thick
4 baby turnips
4 cups sweet potato chunks
1 cup tomato juice (or less)
1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
3 sliced zucchini (courgettes)
1/4 cup dried apricots
8 button mushrooms
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
salt and freshly ground black pepper (to taste)
1 cup water
1 1/3 cups instant couscous
3 tablespoons golden raisins -- (sultanas)
chopped chives (for garnish)
yellow rose petals (optional, for garnish)

Rinse chickpeas and sort. Place in a bowl, cover with boiling water and soak for a t least 1 hour or overnight.

Drain, place in a large saucepan and cover with fresh water. Cover (lid) and bring to a boil. Cook over medium heat until tender, about 1 hour. Drain and set aside.

Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan over low-medium heat. Add the garlic, onion, cinnamon, paprika and cumin. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is soft, about 3 minutes.

Add the carrots, turnips and sweet potatoes and cook, stirring continuously, for 5 minutes.

Add the tomato juice and stock and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Add the chickpeas, okra/squash, apricots, mushrooms and parsley and simmer until the vegetables are tender, about 10-12 minutes. Season to taste with the salt and pepper.

Bring the water to a boil in a large saucepan. Add the couscous and sultanas and mix well with a fork. Remove the pan from the heat and let stand for 2 minutes to allow pasta to swell. Add the remaining oil to center of the couscous, return pan to heat and cook over medium heat, stirring until heated through, about 4 minutes.

TO SERVE:
Spoon couscous around the edge of a serving dish. Garnish with the chives. Spoon chickpea and vegetable mixture in the center and sprinkle with rose petals, if using. Serve immediately.

VARIATIONS/SUBSTITUTIONS (seasonal ingredients):
- water and a low-sodium vegetable bouillon (for the vegetable broth)
- 1/2 cup V8 plus 1/2 cup water (for the tomato juice)
- 4 ounces of okra (instead of zucchini)
- rutabaga (instead of turnips)
- yellow and green summer squash (instead of 1 color)
- 1 yam and 1 russet, white potato (instead of the sweet potato)
- 16 ounces canned chickpeas; drained, rinsed (instead of the dried, cooked chickpeas)

Boomdocker

Hi Nyk, no need to soak the green lentils I had in the cupboard. The recipe can be found in the index in Weezl's thread, sorry not sure how to do a link.

milliemonster

morning all, well I need to have an NSD today, hiubby took the kids out for the day yesterday and spent a grand total of £8.98 on them, not bad I guess considering they had a full day out for that lol!, need to take that off my total though

Marru

YAHOO!! I have won second quiz courtesy of Curly in a month! :j Shame that they are out of MnS vouchers as I would be now a proud owner of £40 worth of them.

Nothing exiting happening today, rotating piggies in outdoor runs and walking a dog (and leaving my purse home).

Lunch: leftovers with srcambled eggs, Supper: tuna and veggie pasta

Unfortunately I have to take a break from my MB as need to wait money coming from the bookie and go back to BF as I have been winning at bookies and losing in BF so BF account practically empty.

DD came into my bed this morning, gave me a cuddle and said that she was my friend. So apart from serving her breakfast from wrong bowl we have been ok today.

Have a great day everybody!

Marru

Frugaldom

Good morning to all,

It's dry here today, blue sky and looking like it could be a lovely afternoon. Just about to hang out a washing then need to make the custard for the frugifle (frugal trifle) and then make up the veggie lasagne. Friend is on her way now, should be here early afternoon as it takes about 2.5 hours to drive here. I invested in some semi-skimmed milk and a couple of extra tomatoes for doing salad sannies but, other than that, I think I've plenty in store for fixing up meals.

Re the lovely cous cous recipe - I can cheat here! The Aynsley Harriet 'posh' stuff was on offer when I was doing the party shop, as were various savoury rice mixes, so I bought about a dozen of each. What didn't get made up for the party was split amongst DD, mum and me, so I have a few or those in stock. What I decided to do was make a list of everything that was left unused from the party and priced it off the receipts (£38.84 worth here). To keep my grocery budget fair, I have added this into my bulk buy from grocery budget and credited same to my cashback fund so it is a true and honest reflection of my overall annual spend.

On the grocery front, my 2008 annual target budget is £1000 for 3 (+ any extra visitors who stay). To 30th June, I spent a grand total of £726.77 on regular groceries and the bulk buy that filled the cupboards and makeshift 'larder'. This also included all toiletries and cleaning products to see me through to the end of the year and was done as part of a challenge within this challenge, set by Sophiesmum.

From 1st July until Christmas week my plan is to grocery spend no more than £10 per week for the 3 of us (24 weeks = £240), leaving me just over £30 to incorporate Christmas dinner for the family. This is the plan and it seems to be working. I'm not even spending £10 per week just now because the potatoes are ready in the garden and we are eating homegrown salad greens with whatever we can. :j The biggest regular expense is cheese, so I buy whichever variety is half price or BOGOF! :rotfl:

Value for money days out - Most of us on here have joined cashback sites and use these for all the purchases we can. I have used my 2008 cashback to pay for my DD's engagement party (buffet for 100+) and also to invest in an annual family membership to the National Trust, which means we can go to the castles and country parks as often as we like and take advantage of free parking and free admission. Being in Scotland, we couldn't take advantage of the cashback link bur, instead, we found an offer that allowed 18 months membership for the price of 12, so that £78 gives us all free access to any NT property anywhere until December 2009 :T We take picnics with us everywhere. My cashback also paid for a day trip to the Isle of Man during the TT and my Tesco point have been converted to Deals vouchers to pay for a trip to Ireland, where NT membership card can also be used. I can do much more now because I know I can live within a specific budget, which means I can afford far more time NOT WORRYING ABOUT WORK.

Frugaldom

Well done and congratulations Marru! I keep meaning to take Curly with me on my galavanting trips so I can take photos, but then I forget him!

mama67

nykmedia wrote: »

Good morning to all,

It's dry here today, blue sky and looking like it could be a lovely afternoon. Just about to hang out a washing then need to make the custard for the frugifle (frugal trifle) and then make up the veggie lasagne. Friend is on her way now, should be here early afternoon as it takes about 2.5 hours to drive here. I invested in some semi-skimmed milk and a couple of extra tomatoes for doing salad sannies but, other than that, I think I've plenty in store for fixing up meals.

Re the lovely cous cous recipe - I can cheat here! The Aynsley Harriet 'posh' stuff was on offer when I was doing the party shop, as were various savoury rice mixes, so I bought about a dozen of each. What didn't get made up for the party was split amongst DD, mum and me, so I have a few or those in stock. What I decided to do was make a list of everything that was left unused from the party and priced it off the receipts (£38.84 worth here). To keep my grocery budget fair, I have added this into my bulk buy from grocery budget and credited same to my cashback fund so it is a true and honest reflection of my overall annual spend.

On the grocery front, my 2008 annual target budget is £1000 for 3 (+ any extra visitors who stay). To 30th June, I spent a grand total of £726.77 on regular groceries and the bulk buy that filled the cupboards and makeshift 'larder'. This also included all toiletries and cleaning products to see me through to the end of the year and was done as part of a challenge within this challenge, set by Sophiesmum.

From 1st July until Christmas week my plan is to grocery spend no more than £10 per week for the 3 of us (24 weeks = £240), leaving me just over £30 to incorporate Christmas dinner for the family. This is the plan and it seems to be working. I'm not even spending £10 per week just now because the potatoes are ready in the garden and we are eating homegrown salad greens with whatever we can. :j The biggest regular expense is cheese, so I buy whichever variety is half price or BOGOF! :rotfl:

Value for money days out - Most of us on here have joined cashback sites and use these for all the purchases we can. I have used my 2008 cashback to pay for my DD's engagement party (buffet for 100+) and also to invest in an annual family membership to the National Trust, which means we can go to the castles and country parks as often as we like and take advantage of free parking and free admission. Being in Scotland, we couldn't take advantage of the cashback link bur, instead, we found an offer that allowed 18 months membership for the price of 12, so that £78 gives us all free access to any NT property anywhere until December 2009 :T We take picnics with us everywhere. My cashback also paid for a day trip to the Isle of Man during the TT and my Tesco point have been converted to Deals vouchers to pay for a trip to Ireland, where NT membership card can also be used. I can do much more now because I know I can live within a specific budget, which means I can afford far more time NOT WORRYING ABOUT WORK.

I banked all the points from the W*****s Crisps Days Out promo so can use lots of those for free entry into NT places which are part of promo, take a picnic and a footie, kite etc and boys are happy.

Frugaldom

Hi Mama67, great idea, except I don't buy those crisps. That'd be like me saving the 'beans' from coffee jars or the points from the cola cans/bottles - impossible, as I hardly ever buy brand names. I'm a cheapskate and should be issued with my own yellow label to warn shopkeepers that I have no intention of beaking a tenner if I don't have to. :rotfl: