Live on £4000 for a year - Part 3

weezl74

nykmedia wrote: »

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!

hello Nykmedia,

sorry to butt in on your thread, but wanted to show you this helpful linkie (hopefully!) it says that baked beans do count, as they are a pulse, but you can only count pulses once in your 5, even if you have them more than once. As long as you have 80g (less than a quarter of a large can) you'll be fine!

HTH,

Love Weezl x

lyndasharp

nykmedia wrote: »

LyndaS - I am so sorry to read your post about BF Vs job dilemma! It sounds like you may be faced with the prospect of making the ultimate decision re choosing between him and your job. Or maybe he can't face the prospect of choosing between you and his son but can't see an easy way around it. Has be made any alternative suggestions? Perhaps it would be better to go for the interview on your own, without meeting his mum, and then decide for yourself what means more to you? Not much help, I know, but it does sound as if there may be tough decisions to make with little space for compromise owing to distance and family commitments. Good luck, hope everything goes the way you would like it and I'm sure everyone will agree to my sending you :grouphug:(dodgey hugs) of support on their behalf

Thanks for the dodgy hugs! I'm trying to find out if I can get expenses from the university for a hotel for the interview. Bf has two daughters in Derry, so although it would mean leaving his son he'd get to see them again, and he's been talking about going back there ever since I met him. Seems like his ex (and mother of his son) has had a real go at him about him for even thinking about leaving, and so that's what's caused the problem. Ooops, burning smell from kitchen... runs off to check.
Rescued my dinner just in time! Better go and eat it :T

Iguana

I want to know if Martin's going to do a book on this thread (and the previous ones)???

Frugaldom

Iguana wrote: »

I want to know if Martin's going to do a book on this thread (and the previous ones)???

This challenge has already been serialised & published elsewhere and this year's is all on here where everyone can see it for free.

Marru

Iguana wrote: »

I want to know if Martin's going to do a book on this thread (and the previous ones)???

I might be too unbeliavable even for a book

Frugaldom

My frugal basics for a healthy diet, based on Mr T's current prices.

3 x Onions 0.54
3 x Carrots 0.24
1 x Tin of Tomato Puree 142g - 0.17
1 x Tin of water to dilute - 0.00
Tin of value Plum Tomatoes 400g - 0.19
3 x Mixed Peppers - 1.38

Total: £2.52

I have just made a batch of sauce using all of the above ingredients. Tonight, we had it with pasta (19p per pack, used half) served with a sprinkle of grated cheese (or parmesan) on top for added flavour (approx 5p per serving). The above provides our household of 3 adults with 2 lots of meals, thus costing approx 50p per serving. I don't normally weigh ingredients but, in the wake of the 5-a-day discussion, tonight I did. The tomato & veg quantity weighed in at just over 1.2kg. According to the Govt figures, an average serving weighs 80g, so that equates to 15 portions of F&V. One serving provides half of the daily recommended minimum requirement.

The above is the basis for most of my tomato based sauces that can then be served with pasta or seasoned according to whatever dish is being served. You can add oats (59p per kilo) to bulk it out if you want to reduce the overall cost per serving. You can add practically any type of vegetables you have, or chillies, kidney beans, mince, ham, diced chicken, chopped pineapple (substitute the water with vinegar for sweet & sour), spices, herbs, soy sauce etc, etc, etc... and, better still, the basic sauce seems to freeze without a problem, even with the oats.

I also had a look at a few of the tins and half a standard tin of baked beans provides 1 serving according to the tin. Sweetcorn requires one small tin per person to equate to 1 of the 5-a-day. Different websites suggest slightly different amounts but the general theme seems to be that 80g weight is equivalent to a single serving, more than that if it's soaked in juices and less than that if it's dried, like sultanas or raisins. With this in mind, I am going to spend the next week counting up all the fruit & veg to make sure everyone in the household is getting their RDA.

Edited in: if serving above recipe with pasta (19p per 500g) then the cost is approximately 45p per person per serving. If you are lucky and have homegrown peppers, carrots, onions and tomatoes, this will be an amazingly cheap dish to make and a great way of preserving the veggies for throughout the year of you have a freezer.

Frugaldom

weezl74 wrote: »

hello Nykmedia,

sorry to butt in on your thread, but wanted to show you this helpful linkie (hopefully!) it says that baked beans do count, as they are a pulse, but you can only count pulses once in your 5, even if you have them more than once. As long as you have 80g (less than a quarter of a large can) you'll be fine!

HTH,

Love Weezl x

:rotfl: Thanks for that Weezl, that's the same site I added into the thread a few posts back. I then got distracted by reading the contents of my cupboards to see what was counted as a portion - my beans are just ordinary tins, so they say half a tin is equal to one serving. (Those are the saver variety, the Branston ones just don't say anything about the 5-a-day).

Frugaldom

wendywitch wrote: »

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

Mine are showing the correct time - have you checked your settings to see if they they are on BST or GMT?

System

Iguana wrote: »

I want to know if Martin's going to do a book on this thread (and the previous ones)???

would it not just sound like a big ramble if it was in a book?

they should make a film

Frugaldom

Jumble-Bee wrote: »

would it not just sound like a big ramble if it was in a book?

they should make a film

Ooh, excellent idea! Who would you get to play the part of you?

I'd like someone like Sandra Bullock to play the part of me and I'd like to see her make the giant jaffa cake as her screen test please! :rotfl: