50p a day til christmas, healthily?!-Weezl's next challenge (part 2)

frugalswan

Bunny200 wrote: »

Wow, can't believe what I've acheived this morning I've made:-

bread rolls
fruit scones
cheese scones
cheese & marmite twists
fairy cakes (loads!)
cooked some mince with lentils, porridge oats, soya etc to go in the freezer as base for chilli, bolegnese, cottage pie, etc
blitzed loads of bread bits into breadcrumbs

just having lunch then gonna make sausage rolls!!!

I never thought I could get so much made in a morning but I've been really organised and thought about the best order to make things, dependant on my kitchen equipment, I've also cleaned as I go which is something I never normally do, maybe I'm a cook after all:T

I do still lurk and read this thread avidly, and just wanted to post here Bunny, well done! Baking is the one area of cooking I prefer the most, and think I'm better at. It's satisfying for me to have baking days. I spent most of Saturday in the kitchen preparing for Mr Frugalswan's birthday bbq, and I made a coconut cake that just went. It's not too frugal but isn't too bad for a birthday cake, and it went completely with people asking for more. I had to save a couple of slices until his birthday on Tuesday! This is the cake:

http://s526.photobucket.com/albums/cc345/frugalswan/sweetstuff/?action=view&current=CoconutCakeSlice1.jpg

I'm still working to keep things as frugal as possible, but it's not really been possible lately. I've been stocking up wherever possible though.

Hope things are going well for Weezl and AM.

Frugalswan

cw18

Have come to the conclusion that my taste buds are changing along with my shopping habits !!!!

Did a chicken chasseur tonight using a packet mix I've had in for a while -- and it tasted that artificial I had to pull the packet out of the bin to make sure it was still in date (still had 10 months on it!). Used to be one of my favourite meals, and it was one of two brands I've always used too :eek:

In_Search_Of_Me

Just popping in to say hi...hope Weezles are ok? Been a bit quiet...hugs all - esp weezles. My friend safely delivered her little boy about 24 hrs ago...thinking as I type that she would have been in final stages of labuor 24 hrs ago!!

phizzimum

Ahh... that's great news ISOM

Bunny - how did you make the cheese and marmite twists? is it just bread dough with the other ingredients mixed in?

MRSMCAWBER

Here you go Phizzmum

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=11278831&highlight=cheese+marmite+twist+recipe#post11278831

Bunny200

Thats exactly the receipe I used, kids love them and they are a good after school snack, thats if I can wrestle them away from DH!!! He requested I make them!

I was knackered yesterday evening, I have no freezer space left and no tupperware boxes left but at least there stuff to eat when they ask for something to eat, DH is the worst, always snacking! I might do it once a month and keep things topped up, might not do quite as much as I did yesterday but enjoyed it!

I'm making space in the freezer today, had HM tomato soup (from the garden) and hm bread roll for lunch, dinner is lentil leftovers so might be able to rearrange a few things and get some space!

jtb2412

Hi everyone

ISOM - how wonderful and exciting - a new baby :j ! I'm thinking he'll be getting lots of cuddles over the next few weeks !

Should be a new addition to our family at the end of October (my cousin) and we're all really excited ! I'm taking the nappy cake down next weekend and giving it to baby's grandma so she can give it to the happy parents once he/she arrives.

Hope everyone is well, hows bump coming along weezl - cooking nicely !?

Been a busy morning here (trying to stay away from the allotment and get some housework/baking done ! :eek: ) Weather is glorious again, despite the forecast but it is rather chilly, must remember to fish out the gloves from the back of the coat cupboard !

I have a kilo of beef shin in the slow cooker (we won't eat it all at once :eek: , the rest will go in a suet crust pie for tomorrow's dinner :drool: ). Will serve on it's own with roasties and veg.

Also baked some chocolate cupcakes, some vanilla and raspberry cupcakes (raspberries from garden) and done a big coconut cake. No wonder I can't lose weight, I keep trying them as they come out of the oven to make sure they taste ok ! .

Washing is also out on the line with another load ready to go out in about an hour.

Oh ! I nearly forgot. I picked up an absolutely brilliant cookbook at the carboot last weekend (as well as my slow cooker - had a good day !) The Readers Digest Cooks Scrapbook is fab ! Got loads of old fashioned recipes in it (they're the best though !) and at the back it has a section on what's in season at certain times of the year (including fish and wild game). Also a section on cooking from foraged food (sloe gin etc etc), and a few pages on how to prepare cuts of meat, portioning chickens, preparing shelfish and the list goes on !

I can highly recommend it and will be trying some recipes over the next few weeks so if I find a goodun' i'll pop it on here (obviously varied for copyright ).

Have a lovely day xxx

Plum_Pie

jtb2412 wrote: »

I picked up an absolutely brilliant cookbook at the carboot last weekend (as well as my slow cooker - had a good day !) The Readers Digest Cooks Scrapbook is fab ! Got loads of old fashioned recipes in it (they're the best though !) and at the back it has a section on what's in season at certain times of the year (including fish and wild game). Also a section on cooking from foraged food (sloe gin etc etc), and a few pages on how to prepare cuts of meat, portioning chickens, preparing shelfish and the list goes on !

jtb, I have a Reader's Digest cookbook called 'The Cookery Year' (IIRC). The recipes are divided by months, there are sections on baking, butchery and ingredient seasonality at the front. I absolutely love it as did some of the previous owners who have scrawled things like " X Y's book - HANDS OFF!" on the inside cover. I bought in a charity shop for 50p!

Had a funny shock just now. Was browsing through a certain well-known department store's website (I have some vouchers) and saw almost exactly the coffee table I picked up from Freecycle this weekend for £175! A further bit of googling revealed what I'm sure is that same one, self-assembly version, through a different retailer for £85. Anyway, I now feel I have got huge bargain so am even more pleased. (I'm not knocking spending money on furniture. It's just that I, personally, right now, wouldn't spend £85 on that.)

catnap53

We have had a waste bin delivered yesterday that DH ordered from the council when we got our wheelie bins a few weeks ago. He told me it is for food waste for recycling. Little does he know that he already recycles our food waste

Still, I do have banana skins, egg shells, coffee grounds (DS has expensive tastes) and the boiled away to almost nothing chicken bones to go in it.

Last night I made a concoction using 5 cooked chipolata sausages 125g (Costco, usually buy 8 thick sausages, three for him, two for DS and one and a half each for for DD and me, this time it was 4 for him, 3 for DS, two each for DD and me , leaving 5 out of the pound and they think they have had more), two chorizo sausages 100g (left over from DD birthday food 6 weeks ago and now really needed using).

Fried an onion, added half an orange pepper, 6 cherry tomatoes (gone too soft to eat without squirting the person opposite), fried for a bit longer and added the chopped sausages and topped up with a bit of water now and again as required.

I was going to add lots of herbs and/or spices, but it tasted so good without that I left it as it was this time.

Fried the leftover rice from the night before, and some stir fried veg and it was lovely. Looks like a lot of frying now I write it down, but I only used spray for the sausage stuff and a little olive oil for the rice and veg.

I did a similar thing last week, same sausage leftovers (really did buy too many chorizo in the pack), pepper and tomatoes (two big ones this time) and some Italian herb mix but I had also put a finely grated carrot in it (peeled too many the night before) and a couple of tablespoons of ready cooked lentils. I served this for three of us with pasta (DH wont touch pasta) and used the rest to make into lasagne for my lunch. DD wanted to know why it was bright orange, but I think it was that fresh tomatoes don't make things as red as the tinned ones, oh and the pepper was orange and that stains the rest, and of course the chorizo.;) I just wonder why last night's wasn't quite so fluorescent

I fell asleep at the computer last night with my barm cake dough (baps or soft rolls) still rising for the first time. It had gone cold in the kitchen when I woke up and went to bed, so I left it as it was. Shaped, proved and cooked this morning so they were ready to do lunches with before I went to work. They worked well, but I am tired again now.

Hope everyone is well and has the same (or better) sunshine as here.

Zzzz

BARGAINHUNTER!

frugalswan wrote: »

I do still lurk and read this thread avidly, and just wanted to post here Bunny, well done! Baking is the one area of cooking I prefer the most, and think I'm better at. It's satisfying for me to have baking days. I spent most of Saturday in the kitchen preparing for Mr Frugalswan's birthday bbq, and I made a coconut cake that just went. It's not too frugal but isn't too bad for a birthday cake, and it went completely with people asking for more. I had to save a couple of slices until his birthday on Tuesday! This is the cake:

http://s526.photobucket.com/albums/cc345/frugalswan/sweetstuff/?action=view&current=CoconutCakeSlice1.jpg

I'm still working to keep things as frugal as possible, but it's not really been possible lately. I've been stocking up wherever possible though.

Hope things are going well for Weezl and AM.

Frugalswan

That cake looks absolutely delicious! Any chance of a recipie?