Live on £4000 for a year - Part 3

Frugaldom

Thanks for that, Sophiesmum I do cook with a lot of veggies and we eat quite a bit of fruit by way of puddings & desserts. It's the quantities that get confusing, though... I don't have plates big enough to fit all that on if I go by the amounts stated on the NHS website. :rotfl: Breakfast, lunch & dinner - Breakfast here is cereal or toast, so I need to carry at least 1 of the 5 forward to lunch, which could be wholemeal bread served with lettuce, cucumber, cheese and a tomato, but then I have at least 2 to complete the minimum RDA - meat and 2 veg without counting potatoes - umm... roast chicken, a scoop of potatoes, 3 HEAPED TABLESPOONS of carrots AND 4 HEAPED TABLESPOONS of green beans plus gravy... I need bin lids, not plates! :rotfl:

System

weezl had a good post a few days ago, about the cheapest way to get 5 a day, covering full spectrum of colours, worked out at about 19p or something!

sorry i dunno how to do links yet...

Doom_and_Gloom

nykmedia would it not be possible to have beans on toast (bread wholemeal or granary) for breakfast? The beans would count as a one of your 5 a day for that. It's a very nutritional breakfast and would be more likely to keep you full for longer in the day as well .

MrDT

nykmedia wrote: »

2008/9 ISA is filled ('stoozed' it) and is now increasing by £45+ per month in interest alone.

Really? Based on £3600 stashed that's like an APR of ~15%!? :eek:

Is that the interest on just the 08/09 ISA, or are you counting interest from previous years allowances too?

If I've not misunderstood, and you're really netting £45+ a month from a £3600 investment you need to tell us all the account name so we can get in on the action

Frugaldom

MrDT wrote: »

Really? Based on £3600 stashed that's like an APR of ~15%!? :eek:

Is that the interest on just the 08/09 ISA, or are you counting interest from previous years allowances too?

MrDT, that's not £3,600, that's since beginning my frugal challenges and I've been setting these challenges since 1999, so I haven't saved very much. :rotfl: However, during that time I have had to buy 2 cars, pay for 8 house moves (2 of them over 300 miles apart), DD's 21st & engagement, and I am still setting aside money for DS's 21st whilst trying to save for DD's wedding next year and my own longterm plan is buying a house without a mortgage. I have been 'stoozing' for years, but it wasn't called stoozing back then when there were no BT fees. I began life as a Cyberdosher, then became a Motley Fool and then braved the financial elements to become an MSE'er That's the history of NYK. :rotfl:

MrDT

nykmedia wrote: »

MrDT, that's not £3,600, that's since beginning my frugal challenges and I've been setting these challenges since 1999, so I haven't saved very much. :rotfl: However, during that time I have had to buy 2 cars, pay for 8 house moves (2 of them over 300 miles apart), DD's 21st & engagement, and I am still setting aside money for DS's 21st whilst trying to save for DD's wedding next year and my own longterm plan is buying a house without a mortgage. I have been 'stoozing' for years, but it wasn't called stoozing back then when there were no BT fees. I began life as a Cyberdosher, then became a Motley Fool and then braved the financial elements to become an MSE'er That's the history of NYK. :rotfl:

Thanks, I read it as "I have filled this years ISA and that £3600 investment is now earning me £45+ a month in interest" not "I have filled this years ISA and that along with other savings from previous years are earning me £45+ a month in interest" :rotfl:

I figured if there was some superISA I'd missed out on I needed to know about it though so figured I bestter ask!

I used to be a Motley Fool too Well, more of a Motley Lurking Fool, I used to read the DWD and LBM boards daily Cyberdosh must have been before my time

edit: Buying a house without a mortgage, now that's an ambitious target! I'm thinking my new aim of buying with 25% deposit down is a big ask, good luck! :T

Brighton_belle

Got my own mini challenge going on here - trying to last the rest of the month food wise on the £15 I have left in the £200 food budget. Once I've survived this month I think I'll join the grocery challenge - as I'll have an accurate starting figure for this month as I have written everything down.
Butcher was so helpful yesterday - I usually buy 2 lamb chump chops to have with our HM Moroccan stew but they are pricy. In stead he sold me 3 rolled lamb breasts for a £5er. Roast one for the 2 of us and it was an absolutly fabulous flavour, so meat for meal was 1.65 rather than 4.40:j . And the lamb was reared locally and of course well looked after (that's why I've switched to a butcher from supermarket. And although the meat is pricier, I learning more about cheaper cuts of meat so overall MSE). Also bought 2 free range chickens for £12 and am aiming to get 12 meals (or 6 meals for 2)out of them having just cut them up into differnt portions/meals to freeze.
Just made soup with a packet of split peas i bought by mistake several months ago - with a sweetpotato added, absolutel dleish for lunch and 3 portions to freezer.
Nyk, I've got a Jamie Oliver recipe somewhere than show how you can cook up a huge pot of loads of veg, with tinned toms, then blend it for lasangnes/pizza's etc as it look like tomato sauce but is secretly packed full of veg goodness, as a way of getting more veg into the family without them knowing. With the NHS portion guidelines, when thay say tbsp - I would assume that is a measuring sp not one of the huge old style tablespoons. Would that bring the portion size you had in mid down?
I want to try making my own greek yogurt, which means straining my HM yog through muslin - any suggestions where I can get some muslin
?
Marru - hope you feel btter today - that sound a horrid situation to be in.
And Lynda - I'd go for the interview if you can and see how you feel when over there, and how excited the job makes you feel if you are offered it. If you don't get it, it's still good experience towards getting the next one and solves your immediate dilemma. And if you can avoid meeting his mum on your own, it might be best, so you can focus on the interview and your own feeling about the place. Goodluck.
Off to find the famed twinks hobnob recipe now:o

Frugaldom

Brighton belle - yes, when I read 1 heaped Tbsp, I assumed it meant one heaped tablespoon, as it does in recipes. You mean to tell me that someone changed the size of a table spoon? :rotfl: I hope not, as that's how I measure (I use the term very loosely) most things like flour, sugar etc for baking. I do cook loads of veggies most days and we do eat beans on toast, but that would be a lunch for us rather than a breakfast. Breakfast is very much an 'everyone help yourself' affair, depending on who is working where and when.

Has anyone noticed that the labels on Branston baked beans does not state type of beans or that they can be included as part of your 5 a day? They don't even state what percentage RDA each of the nutrients represents! (Can you tell I had beans on toast for lunch today?) I would like to see a full list of EVERYTHING that the government health officials recommend we consume and how they count it up to the necessary 2000 or 2500 calories, 5 a day, 8 glasses of water equivalent, low fat, low sugar, low salt, low cholesterol diet with no smoking and minimal alcohol content that these people recommend. Does anyone know if there is an easy to understand page / dummies' guide anywhere? I always thought of my household as being fairly healthy eaters but it looks more like I'd need a Degree in nutrition to perform such a culinary trick.

Brighton_belle

nykmedia wrote: »

Brighton belle - yes, when I read 1 heaped Tbsp, I assumed it meant one heaped tablespoon, as it does in recipes. You mean to tell me that someone changed the size of a table spoon? :rotfl: I hope not, as that's how I measure (I use the term very loosely) most things like flour, sugar etc for baking. /quote]
Nyk - I was just basing it in on the old spoons my mum always used when I was growing up as 'table spoons' - massive things. Where as the measuring tble spoon is much smaller, but obviously that is what you use anyway.

wendywitch

Has anyone noticed that the time is out on here? My posts are showing an hour earlier that I post them.