My challenge - living on virtually nothing!

System

And the more nutrients you feed your body from the "good" things, the less your body will crave the "bad" things - and the more chance you'll have of making some savings.

It's just a slow period of re-educating your body.

I haven't eaten a packet of crisps for about 2 years, or a bar of chocolate for about 18 months.

skintchick

I sometimes defrost stuff like curries simply by putting them in the pan as a frozen lump and then using a low heat. Stuff keeps for months in the freezer - I use it however long it's been there, unless it has got frost burn, which you can see on meat eaily

Food-wise, each day I buy two carrots, a banana and an apple to snack on at work. Also take Tesco Value Jaffa Cakes and have four of them as a treat. Take my own sandwiches and a packet of crisps bought in a multipack. Breakfast is cereal kept at the office, although obviously that involves dairy.

It's just a matter of discipline really. And you need to like veggies as they are great for making cheap meals.

One of my faves is veg chopped up into cubes (usually onion, courgette, pepper) and sweetcorn, fried in a little oil, add tin of value toms, herbs, and spices, simmer of 20 mins and have with rice or pasta.

You can keep adding new veg to keep it going for days!! Add water if the sauce gets thick, and a stock cube if it gets tasteless cos there's too much water!!

Only limit is you imagination - throw in chicken or bacon or whatever.

Another idea is value toms and cubed bacon with garlic simmered till thick and put over pasta. Great for lunch cold taken in a tupperware.

ms_london

8pnoodles wrote:

Missing breakfast, then at work eating a bag of mini cheddars, monster munch, a bar of Thornton's chocolate, a pepperami, a banana and some prepacked melon chunks. No sandwiches as I ran out of bread yesterday.

Jeese, I bet you're really thin too!! Grrrrrr!!!

To be honest though, that junk food as well as being unhealthy (tasty), it is also expensive, you could definately eat 3 square meals a day on the same cost I would imagine. If you dont enjoy food though, I expect thats the hard part.....

I live with 2 girls too (both vegetarian, one healthy, one not so :0)) and we have the smallest kitchen ever!!! It tends to work quite well though as we stagger our meal times, and it usually works out that if one of us is cooking, the others are eating frozen (homemade) meals cos we're being lazy :0) Its not fair for them to hog the kitchen though, perhaps you should have a word, or work around each other.....

xx

System

Tondella wrote:

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!

Thanks for that! But I'm no saint and succumbed to an eccles cake - for the first time in about a year - the other day! Call the police!

The basic principles of the diet I found really easy to stick to and then just kept adding more and more. The naughtiest thing in my cupboards now is probably decaff coffee, and I can't give up "normal" tea either.

For Moneysavers it's good, because fruit and veg have a relatively short shelf life, and so are always likely to be reduced if you shop at the right time. The staples like grains and pulses are the lowest priced foods anyway, and you generally steer clear of expensive ready meals and things like red meat and alcohol. I spend alot less than I used to on food and yet the cupboards and fridge are always full.

And I'm never hungry.

But I agree, it's not for everyone.

8pnoodles

Back to the kitchen issue... it's my own fault really. I have started cycling to work so I don't have to share lifts and pay petrol money. So now I get home a lot later and the other two don't eat until late. I used to get in early and eat straight when I got in. I've only been cycling a few days though, so hopefully things will fall abck into place.

Getting excited about going home and being creative with my food now. Might even write myself out a meals list. My mum used to have one, listing the meals we'd have each day a week in advance. Helps with planning and budgetting.

carol_a_3

If you like oats but not porridge I'd recommend home made meusli. Take some oats in a large bowl, mix in anything you fancy in the nuts, seeds, dried fruit line, some wheatgerm if you like and then store in an airtight "Tupperware" type box. Serve with fresh fruit and milk, rice milk if you can't have dairy, soya milk, yoghurt or even moistened with fruit juice. Really full of nutrients and filling too.

apprentice_tycoon

You've had tons of useful food advice and suggestions to look at Old Style (I see you have already - great!) the only thing that I can think of at the moment is that you said you have some 'teach yourself german' tapes....can you copy them onto some defunct tapes lying around then sell them on amazon or ebay? I noticed in your blog that you are an old hand

edit - I put that in a very clumsy way! I meant keep the copies and sell the originals...I really should read what I write, you can't all be in my head can you?...dohhhh

brokenwings

you might need to be careful with copyright though.

edited to say:
ok strike that - sorry - thought you meant sell the copies - i guess you mean sell the originals...good idea!!

brokenwings

yes i realised what you meant as soon as i posted AT, sorry

i edited my post but would someone please tell me if it is possible to delte your own posts on this forum?

brokenwings

thanks very much!