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

foxy-tigger

MRSMCAWBER wrote: »

Hi walmerstores
in fact thankyou for mentioning treacle..nust put an order in with my mum for some bonfire toffee.. my mum makes the BEST bonfire toffee in the world..the really dark proper stuff-not that namby pamby golden stuff :T

Ooh! Mrs M!!!!
Can you ask your mum for the recipe for Bonfire Toffee? I LOVE it and so does my dad Would love to make some for him!
:A:A

shaz_mum_of__2

BASHFUL wrote: »

Hi all....so here is my first week of meal plans (dinner)......just wanted to know if anyone had any ideas how I could make them cheaper.

Cottage pie, Spaghetti Bolognaise, Sausages mash and peas, Pork and pumpkin (indian type dish!!!), coloured rice (indian type dishe!!!), HM pizza and HM potato wedges, Roast Chicken. OH has to have meat in every dinner otherwise he says its not really dinner, and he eats a huge amount, so costs a lot to feed him!!!! I have started putting lots of oats in my bolognaise, so I use less meat now so there is a saving, but are there any tips that I could use for the others such as the cottage pie and pizza????? Thanks in advance you money saving experts!!! was going to list my whole 28 day meal plan and ask for tiips on saving but thought it would be a bit much!!!! :-)

Hiya

there is a shepherdless pie on the recipe index you could do this and add a mit of mince my lot didn't notice it was veggie the brown lentils look like mince

I add red lentils to bolognese,mix swede with potato for the mash topping if you must have a maety pizza you dont need much and lidl and aldi do good salami/pepperoni stuff i cut it really thin and freeze whats left or add it to a tomato based pasta sauce ,same goes for tuna and black olive pizza topping

are you making the base for pizza ? a tablespoon of italian seasoning adds a lot of flavour

Shaz

frugalswan

I'm still lurking and trying to adopt Weezlish ways into my lifestyle, but I've not been well lately. Now, I'm having to revise all of my mealplans from scratch, too, because I still want to fit into my wedding dress next year (it arrived, yay!) and the other half isn't feeling good about his appearance. So, I'm going to be looking back through the thread to see what I can adapt or turn frugal.

I've also been making some suggestions to my mum and sister for my birthday present (a ways off yet). Last year they got me a hamper with lots of useful storecupboard items of different varieties that I wouldn't normally try, and lots of jars of different mustards for flavourings, etc. I loved that present, and it was honestly and truly the best one I've ever had. My sister got me a similar one but with lots of different kinds of chocolate; in truth, I think she has enjoyed my ventures into testing the best value kinds as I have. I'm already making meal ideas for the days after Christmas.

I find doing the maths difficult with regards to costing meals, but I'm proud of myself with regards to the offcut bacon I got. My local market sells packs of the bacon that isn't pretty enough for the supermarket or the end bits, etc, and it works out at 2 large packs (about a lb each) for £2. I break it down into small, 2-person packs of part rashers (when they're cooked you really can't tell the difference) and chunks for roasting or adding to dishes, and because I got 11 packs from it, it works out at about 19p a pack. I'm very happy with that! He's a lovely chap, also told me about his mother's recipe for pasta all'amatriciana

foxy-tigger

frugalswan wrote: »

I've also been making some suggestions to my mum and sister for my birthday present (a ways off yet). Last year they got me a hamper with lots of useful storecupboard items of different varieties that I wouldn't normally try, and lots of jars of different mustards for flavourings, etc. I loved that present, and it was honestly and truly the best one I've ever had. My sister got me a similar one but with lots of different kinds of chocolate; in truth, I think she has enjoyed my ventures into testing the best value kinds as I have.

That is SUCH a good idea!!!!
I think I will be making suggestions to my family as it is mine and Hubby's first Anniversary soon! Really cool Idea!
Thanks for that.

BASHFUL_2

Thanks everyone for such good ideas to cut the prices of my meals down.

I Usually just put peas in my cottage pie, but will now be putting a carrot and brown lentils in....where would I get brown lentils???? That will definately cheapen it up, as I usually use 450/500g (whichever size the pack is) of minced beef for the two of us :eek: Cant put the swede with the potato though, as OH can't stand swede, I think its yummy

As for spag bol, I will put a load of oats and a load of lentils in. That way, I could use 500g of mince for 2 meals rather than 1, that should be a saving of £2 or £2.50 I think, well I'll have to buy some lentils so not sure what the saving will be actually

All great ideas, will definately be posting up my next 7 days of meals . Thanks again, and thankyou so much for whoever suggested doing to the dinner plans for 4 lots of 7 days, this will be a lot easier for me to stick to and avoid getting chinese takeaway, which is my all time favourite. Its also encouraged me to get recipes for my fave takeaway meals and I will definately be trying them out asap nomnomnom.

Hope everyone is well and happy today, and weather is not too bad for any of you. Hope the Weezl Monkey is filled up with yummy food

:jx x x Bashful x x x:j

In_Search_Of_Me

ta for the recipe!Reon the easy one sounds better than standing stirring for 20 mins! Lesley forgot to say that when I did LL I didnt cheat once and once the first week was done didnt get hungry until I'd lost about 5 stone and then got hungry and stopped loosing weight! Foodie hamper sounds lovely idea...althoug possible not a frugal option? Hope youre all ok. Where are you C...long time no see? Weezl hope you ok too?

cw18

BASHFUL wrote: »

I Usually just put peas in my cottage pie, but will now be putting a carrot and brown lentils in....where would I get brown lentils???? That will definately cheapen it up, as I usually use 450/500g (whichever size the pack is) of minced beef for the two of us :eek: Cant put the swede with the potato though, as OH can't stand swede, I think its yummy

:eek:
I use 375g of the cheap frozen mince for three of us with an onion of 120-130g. Then I add 120g (or thereabouts) each of peas and sweetcorn to the mix. Nobody complains about there not being enough, so I'm now trying to reduce the mince fractionally, and will be trying to replace it either with soya or lentils :rolleyes:

I can't mash swede into potatoes either..... hubby is the only person eats the [strike]disgusting[/strike] stuff

BASHFUL_2

lol!!!!! We'll both be sneaking in the lentils then!!!!
I bought 3 bags of cheap frozen mince....and when I attempted to cook it, it smelt so bad, I thought I only thought that because I was pregnant, I ended up throwing it away, now I'm not pregnant, I attempted to cook it again, and it was making me feel sick again, so I couldnt eat it, made OH try it, and he couldnt eat it either, so now have 2 and half bags of frozen mince in my freezer that will not be eaten, what a waste (not very frugal I know)!!!. Dont know if it was just that particular brand or not but have now gone back to fresh blummin expensive mince!!!!

shaz_mum_of__2

bashful

what other dinners you doing maybe we can help???

brown lentils are in all the supers sometimes called continetal lentils they look a bit like green brown flying saucers ...LOL about 50p for 500g


Managed to get lots of the 50p deals at Mr M's today i even got the bread rolls for 29p as they had todays dates

12 pack rolls
munch bunch 6's
disney water 6's
school fruit bars
kids apple bags

can't remember what else there was .....sorry

Its the party today for DS he's at pictures i have done all i can do now till they get back here around 4pm


Got to drive him to the camp/college tomorrow ....staring to get the butterflys already

Shaz

BASHFUL_2

shaz_mum_of__2 wrote: »

bashful

what other dinners you doing maybe we can help???

brown lentils are in all the supers sometimes called continetal lentils they look a bit like green brown flying saucers ...LOL about 50p for 500g


Managed to get lots of the 50p deals at Mr M's today i even got the bread rolls for 29p as they had todays dates

12 pack rolls
munch bunch 6's
disney water 6's
school fruit bars
kids apple bags

can't remember what else there was .....sorry

Its the party today for DS he's at pictures i have done all i can do now till they get back here around 4pm


Got to drive him to the camp/college tomorrow ....staring to get the butterflys already

Shaz

Aw bless ya, we'll all be thinking of you, its OK to cry your eyes out, and embarrass him a little bit!!!! I'm sure all the other mums will be doing exactly the same thing

Good luck with the party!! I wish I was as good as you.
The week of the 11th I have to look after 5 children all under 10 for a week, and I've been told I will have to do a kids party as its one of their birthdays....:eek: :eek: I'm thinking of doing a bolt for the door!!!!!:rotfl: Why did I agree to this again!!!!:p .

I will definately pick up some lentils, dont really know anything about them so will throw in a couple of handfuls and a handful of oats and hope that works!!! I doubt he'll notice, he doesn't notice when I put veg in stews that he swears he hates!!!!:D

My next week of meals are going to be Chicken, mushroom and sweetcorn pie (using leftover chicken form roast), Chicken, jacket and sweetcorn (hopefully more left over chicken!),
sweet and sour and egg fried rice (hopefully left over chicken but wont hold my breath!!!, my attempt at chinese food!!!),
Pork and rice (pork ribs cooked with onion ginger and white cabbage),
Cod and chips (not sure about this one as dont know how to batter/breadcrumb fish and whether it would be more expensive than buying already prepared, it was OH's idea for me to try??),
Lasagne,
Stew

This is good, I make a meal plan and everyone helps me to make it cheaper

Lentils are going to be my money lifesaver I think, I've never actually eaten them as far as I know, so will be interesting to know if I can taste any difference.

Thanks again Shaz and everyone else x x x :j