My challenge - living on virtually nothing!

Tondella

Girl you have some weird eating habits!!!

But describing today's menu has been most illuminating. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day and by skipping it you have then built up the desire to eat mini cheddars, monster munch, chocolate, pepperami and (v.expensive) melon chunks. For breakfast you need to have a good dose of carb (bread, cereal etc) and a little protein to give you enough energy till lunch. Boiled eggs and toast tick all those boxes (even better if toast is brown). I like my yolks runny, and get them by putting about 2cm of water in a pan, letting it bubble, adding egg, covering pan with lid and allowing to bubble away for five mins exactly. If you gently crack the top of the egg open (leaving a hinge) and it's all a bit too runny you can pop the lid back on and stick it in the water for another min. I used vodka shot glasses for egg cups for years, but most pound shops sell egg cups cheap, and you can always get one down a car boot sale.

Could try soy milk in porridge, gives a nice rib-sticking gloopy consistency!

Rather than buy melon chunks, buy a melon, chop it up and take bits to work each day in cheapy (or reused) cartons.

soon2bjobless

Just to wish you all the best.....

re egg cups - i have been known to use the top off aerosol cans (ie deodarant or polish - well washed of course!)

and porrige - i always make mine with water and not milk - much prefer it that way!

Tondella

voodoozoe wrote:

Use the egg box...while egg boils, get scissors and cut out its little home(you can shape it a bit if you want!!). After eating egg, throw disposable egg cup away...no washing up!!!! :T

That is genius!

8pnoodles

Not only weird eating habits, but very very expensive ones for those who hadn't noticed. Dread to think what my food today cost me.

And I know the whole missing meals = cravings thing. I have my good days then seem to lapse slowly back into this again the second something goes wrong/I am too busy/under stress/get bored of it/whatever.

I am very good at the whole nutrition thing, lost over two stone a couple of years back and have kept it off (right in the middle maybe slightly under my ideal weight for my height). I'm an ex science teacher too. I know all the stuff, it's following it that's the problem.

But money is a big big motivator for me. Fascinating how money affects and invades so many parts of your life?

Thanks for the egg cup suggestions, brilliant! Will see if our plethora of shot glasses are wide enough, if not will use the egg box. Genius! Just remembered our fridge has a plastic thing in it to hold eggs and it's removeable, might use that, then I can wash and reuse it.

C'mon anyone got advice about freezing food, how do you reheat it?

System

8pnoodles wrote:

Can't have porridge to whoever suggested it, no dairy sorry.

One cup of porridge oats + two cups of water; heat gently! (Not as bad as some people make out, honest!)

Ideas for breakfasts please? I should start eating it. I currently have toast or microwaveable egg fried rice. Told you I was weird! I went through a phase of scrambled eggs for a bit but can't seem to stomach them now.

Anyone know how to cook a boiled egg that keeps the yolk runny but the white bit solid?

Eating anything for breakfast is a good idea compared to eating nothing. Nothing really wrong with toast or rice for breakfast. Approx 3 minutes in boiling water to boil an egg - depends on size of egg.

If you want to try to get healthy and save a bit, get "You are what you eat" from the library. Some good tips in there, I've been doing the macrobiotic diet - with very rare naughty days - for over a year.

Tondella

I know it's hard to change eating habits, I read somewhere that the compulsion to eat is inbetween the compulsion to breathe and the compulsion to have sex!!!

However, you should look at this (and indeed your whole money saving strategy) as a long term thing, so you can begin to make money saving changes now and later down the line, once you have got used to them, you can make some more changes.

When i want to reheat something I have frozen I defrost it first (tempting as it is to nuke it in the microwave), so the morning of the day I want to eat it I take it out of the freezer and leave it out (if it's veggie) or in the fridge if it contains meat (will take longer this way though, but prevents bacterial growth) to defrost. Once it's back to gloopy consistency I either microwave it in the container or, for better results, put it back in the pan and reheat it that way (maybe adding a drop of water if it looks a bit dry).

Nigel slater (celeb cook) is a big fan of leftovers but recommends that you only bulk cook enough for the night you eat it plus two portions for the freezer, anymore than that and you will be sick of whatever it is you made!

8pnoodles

Not sure about the porridge thing still. My ex used to eat porridge loads and I couldn't stand the smell, does it taste as bad as it smells? I used to love oats with cold milk though before I couldn't have milk any more.

I have some oats lying around though, was gonna do flapjacks wit them, I may not be good at normal cooking but love baking cakes.

The eggs I'm gonna be eating are Tescos value ones so not very big.

Tondella

bham-dave wrote:

If you want to try to get healthy and save a bit, get "You are what you eat" from the library. Some good tips in there, I've been doing the macrobiotic diet - with very rare naughty days - for over a year.

Bham-dave I am a big fan of porridge too, eat it all year round, even on the hottest days!

Well done for sticking to a macrobiotic diet for a year, however I personally have objections to Gillian McKeith's method as I think that it fulfils alot of people's perceptions about healthy eating (ie that it is all beansprouts). Whilst it makes for a good story on telly I think that for people without the motivation of being filmed it is better to change diet gradually, taking the time to educate your tastebuds, rather then spend a months budget on alfalfa and then let it grow in your cupboards.

but i totally respect you for having the discipline to stick to it for a year, you must feel great!

8pnoodles

Tondella, cheers you star!

Ok, how long does frozen food keep for then, does your Nigel Slater comment mean I'd have to eat the same thing three nights running?

Tondella

Not at all! erm, the old schoolers will be able to give you a better idea of this but things keep for months, especially cooked and veggie stuff.