50p a day til Christmas - healthily?! Weezl's next challenge...

Plum_Pie

IIRC, Weezl usually has a piece or two of toast (home-made bread, 1 penny per slice?) with low-fat spread or a poached egg. Her blog has a link to 'bread of heaven' which is her 'no-knead' method.

Money_saving_Diva_2

I just wanted to share how we were doing here - I am not attempting to be anything like as clever as some of the people on here (I am so in awe!) but my OH and I have been eating our way through the store cupboard and freezer this last fortnight as he was on holiday from work. He does all the cooking as I am not able to stand for long, so any changes in our eating has to be passed by him!! However, he sees the sense in money saving so is really helping. (He draws the line at certain things but I shall keep working on him!)

So for the last two weeks we have eaten some pretty odd meal combinations.. We had several packs of savoury rice and pasta in sauce in the cupboard as I used to take them to work. He always refused to eat them but in the spirit of frugality, this week we have eaten our way through most of them! I find the rice a bit strong so we throw in a handful of normal rice and it makes a nice big filling lunch for us both. (I am 6ft tall and 'pleasantly plump' and he is 6ft 4 and usually eats enough for a football team!). We have also eaten all the bits and pieces we had in the freezer - odd burgers and veggie stuff we had in there, and used cheap tins of potatoes from lidls which he sliced and fried up like lil chips which were rather nice! We had salad leaves growing in the garden which was a nice addition.

Anyway, we made it through the entire fortnight only spending about £25 on milk, bread, some fresh veg and of course cat food! (can't persuade the cat to eat value cat food so she is still being spoilt) So we are really proud of ourselves and now we are off to get the ingredients for lots of the cheap meals etc I have found on here and hoping to make each meal about £1.25 each - not sure if we can get it down to £1 just yet, but that will be our target. Hopeless compared to some of you amazing people out there, but a big step for us, especially as we will have to cut out our weekly takeaway from the chinese that often came to over £20, and his posh coffee he used to buy on the way to work. We dug out an old flask and he will be taking his own now.

So that's us - trying hard to be more frugal and feeling rather pleased with ourselves that we spent probably only a third of what we would normally pay out without thinking, over a fortnight. Reading this thread always fires me with enthusiasm, so thank you to all of you, especially the lovely Weezl.:T

cw18

Money_saving_Diva wrote: »

Anyway, we made it through the entire fortnight only spending about £25 on milk, bread, some fresh veg and of course cat food! (can't persuade the cat to eat value cat food so she is still being spoilt) So we are really proud of ourselves and now we are off to get the ingredients for lots of the cheap meals etc I have found on here and hoping to make each meal about £1.25 each - not sure if we can get it down to £1 just yet, but that will be our target. Hopeless compared to some of you amazing people out there, but a big step for us

Sounds like you've done brilliantly well this last couple of weeks :T

We use a couple of packs of the beef savoury rice alongside a dozen of the Mr A Smartprice bangers to feed 3 of us -- it seems to have become a family favourite, and is one of (if not the) cheapest meals I make

As for the target -- I feel that the thing I love best on this thread is that there are loads of brilliant budget ideas which (though not all would fit in with our Weezls budget) certainly help the rest of us cut back..... and no-one gives anyone a hard time that they're not attempting the same figures as Weezl.

So hear's a huge thanks to everyone for all the encouragement :beer:

newlywed

cw18 wrote: »

and no-one gives anyone a hard time that they're not attempting the same figures as Weezl.

That's probably because no-one else is really brave enough to roast a whole pig head and scoop out the brains and eat them

So no-one quite expects to get to as frugal a level as weezl

BASHFUL_2

Thanks cw18, never tried packet savoury rice, but it sounds quite nice, will definately try, another cheap meal for the week :j.
Will put the pigshead on hold though methinks!!!!! It does taste yummy but thats when someone else has done all the work!!!!!:o
Thanks everyone for all your great ideas, I too am nowhere near as frugal as the lovely Weezl or anyone else for that matter, but I am having fun trying.
Will be attempting the bread and hobnobs over the weekend!!!! And I have blackberries growing over my fence from the overgrown garden next door, so will be picking them when a bit riper and making a jam , so proud of myself!!! Thanks again everyone, I love this thread

Seakay

Nettle stems are no good for food (but can be used to make a linen-like fabric and paper, apparently). Wear marigolds to strip off the young leaves and give them a very good wash as they can hold a lot of dust. I think that they would be fine added to stews as they are, or you can cook them as you would spinach - ie with only the rinse water that clings to them, and then chop the resulting mush (stings gone by then) to make sure that there are no tough fibrous bits left and use the puree to add to anything you fancy.

BASHFUL_2

Money_saving_Diva wrote: »

but a big step for us, especially as we will have to cut out our weekly takeaway from the chinese that often came to over £20, and his posh coffee he used to buy on the way to work. We dug out an old flask and he will be taking his own now.:T

I too love my chinese takeaway.....so I was thinking maybe one of the lovely people on here, would have a recipe for anything chinese to try that would be cheaper than a takeaway:D (says in hope!!) Our chinese takeaway costs us about 12 or 13 pound but if i can make it myself I'll give it a go!!!! But I'm a sucker for prawn crackers !!!!

ashia_2

I have had a hellish few days:eek: :mad: :eek: , we lost the modem (well,, it died) and now we're both recovering from a flu-ish virus...ain't life grand. Had a really bad money saing week, so I've decided that since I get paid tomorrow, I'll sort myself out then, coz this is the funky month when I start my Chrimbo stuff...yes ermmm start (what he doesn't know won't hurt him right?!?)

Everyone else seems to be doing really well:D and Im gonna have to try the choc fudgy cookies....mmmmm chocolate.

P.S Bashful, you can buy the discs at the chinese supermarket...mine where like £1 for a massive bag and you just drop them in the deep fat fryer or a wok of oil...they're so much fun watching them puff up

BASHFUL_2

ashia wrote: »

P.S Bashful, you can buy the discs at the chinese supermarket...mine where like £1 for a massive bag and you just drop them in the deep fat fryer or a wok of oil...they're so much fun watching them puff up

Sorry you've had a bad week! Onwards and upwards though ay!!! I'm starting my chrimbo shopping soon too. Got lots of ideas on the special occasions thread for hampers, which I'm going to have a go at making!!!!!
Would love to try the prawn crackers. Can't believe you get loads for a £1:eek: . Do you know where I would find a chinese supermarket???? I'm in Essex. I'm sure I;ll find one if I google it though.....oooh great.....!!!:j I've got egg fried rice down....and it was quite yummy, even if I do say so myself!!!! Next stop.....sweet and sour!!!!!

BASHFUL_2

ooooh.....this website has got recipes.....not sure how frugal they are though www.wingleehong.co.uk