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

cw18

Thanks for that Shall wander off for a looksie

Bunny200

Afternoon, had a fruglish day today, made carrot & lentil soup which I then had for lunch with HM Bread rolls which costs 5p per roll. Put 2 more portions in the freezer. Used 4 carrots, 8oz of lentils, 2 stock cubes & about half an onion, this yeilded 3 portions which by my calcs is 24p per portion! I know its only soup but I find it very filling and I've never costed out a meal before a la Weezl! The stock cubes where the most expensive as they were Knorr ones, Mr T would be cheaper but couldn't get any the other day.

Also made 2 loaves of HM bread which worked about at 21p per loaf!! Now I've got my Kenwood, I'm having way more success with breadmaking than trying to knead myself, I jus don't have the knack!

Tea is a Turkey Leg on the recommendation of La Weezl which has been roasted in the oven and smell gorg! At £1.29 I can't believe the price, first time we've had it so we'll have to see if everyone likes it and how much we can get out of it, 2 adults & 2 kids. Will be having roast spuds, broccolli, carrots, red cabbage etc. Hopefully most of those things will be coming out of our garden next year!!!

phizzimum

cw18 - you've been doing brilliantly. funny when spending 52.3p instead of 50.2p seems decadent! you're still doing better than me.

going to make Mrs M's chicken and leek cobbler tonight (well, in a minute, soon as I get off here) DD has been fascinated by it all day. We usually have chicken pasta bake the day after a roast chicken, so she was quite put out when I told her we were having chicken cobbler. Especially as she thought it might be served with custard! She's been asking all day if she can help me make it - maybe she wants to know what's going in it! So hopefully if she's made it she' ll enjoy eating it too. Just pulled up a nice big leek from the garden - it smells really lovely (in a leeky sort of way!)

went for a walk this afternoon and came home with one pocket stuffed with pinecones (for the fire) and the other with chestnuts (for roasting on the fire). First time I've ever attempted roasting chestnuts so I've just looked up how to do it on WikiHow.

cw18

phizzimum wrote: »

cw18 - you've been doing brilliantly. funny when spending 52.3p instead of 50.2p seems decadent! you're still doing better than me.

And I'm on my way to pulling it back

Picked up two lamb hearts just before closing today -- whopping price tag of 23p the pack of 2 (75% off)!! With the bacon in the fridge that needs using and some of a whoopsy pack of sausage meat (that I need to pull out of the freezer) that's braised lambs hearts -- recipe from packet -- for tea tomorrow. And I'll bake the rest of the sausage meat on Tuesday, along with some oven chips (a family favourite).

Actually kills 2 birds with 1 stone, as DS has been hinting about SM and chips for a couple of weeks. But I've been working on reducing portion sizes, which means the pack of SM is actually too big for the three of us now -- but as it's frozen I can't split it without defrosting first, and that means using it a couple of days close together for different things

Tomorrow is being very brave though, as I've never had heart in any form before. Just hoping neither DH or DS finds them at the back of the fridge before they get cooked -- I know that if they do they'll refuse to even try it, 'cos they're awkward like that with new things :eek:

weezl74

you're all doing so well! I love reading about how the living frugally lark is going for others.

CW the thing that makes me so excited reading yours is that when we first met, you had already pulled your metaphorical belt in so much, and I remember you saying that it just seemed impossible to get the food spends down lower:eek:. It's been brilliant that there have continuously been little ways to shave off pence and pence each month.

Good on yer! :T:T:T:T:T 'specially as you've done it in a climate of massive food price inflation.

bunny200, that's very cheap doing it in the BM, they must be quite big loaves too? Our HM efforts are only maybe 2/3rds the size of a BM one! Hope the turkey leg goes well, I found that the tip of another OSer on here made it seem to go further, she kind of shreds the meat into a big pile and dresses it with the gravy, and then everyone gets a big pile of meat! Sorry if you already know that!!

phizzimum, will look forward to hearing how the chetnuts and the cobbler go. Your DD sounds all set to take after you in the frugal lark, you must be really proud of her.:D

Big hello to everyone else. :beer:

My parents were staying last night, and have been so lovely and helpful. I've been finding it overwhelming to be pregnant, working and getting the house to be clean, and they came over to help, which was brilliant! :D:D:D

It also means there's some lovely red wine left over for a hard working Mr Weezl to enjoy this evening. I'd like to join him, but fear it would make me sick!

Love to all, and do keep posting your frugal tips and tricks, they are so motivating. Thank you.

Weezl x

cw18

weezl74 wrote: »

CW the thing that makes me so excited reading yours is that when we first met, you had already pulled your metaphorical belt in so much, and I remember you saying that it just seemed impossible to get the food spends down lower:eek:. It's been brilliant that there have continuously been little ways to shave off pence and pence each month.

Good on yer! :T:T:T:T:T 'specially as you've done it in a climate of massive food price inflation.

I'm all embarrassed and a not-very-becoming shade of pink now

I must confess that it wouldn't be possible if I were at work...... the thing that's made the biggest difference in our budget (other than trying out tips like sneaking lentils into mince dishes -- haven't yet been asked "what's this?" ) is being able to check the Whoopsies in our local Co-Op and Somerfields several times a day. But reducing portions is also making a difference -- pennies between us for things like rice, pasta and potatoes, but more significant amounts for meat.

DS looked at the stewing meat in the pan last night and declared there wasn't enough for all of us -- even though he's not a fan of stews or casseroles. He was horrified when I told him there was actually enough there for 6 portions (12-13oz, and I was always told 2oz of red meat provided enough protein), and visibly relaxed when I said I didn't plan to share it between more than the three of us for last night. I think this conversation was actually a good one to have, as he didn't complain about how "little" was on his plate.

I also sneaked some finely diced (Whoopsied) swede into the stew alongside the normal carrots to make it look more (something only DH eats) and no-one said anything about that..... but TBH even I couldn't tell what it was from the taste. I'd diced about a quarter of the swede, but on putting it into the pan I decided half that was enough -- so I tried it out on our raw vegetable fan (the dalmatian) and he gobbled the rest that was chunked (so 3p for a treat for him )

Does anyone know if I can freeze the rest of the swede if I chop it up? Would I have to blanch it, or can I just lob it in raw?

On a weekday I generally check Co-Op at around 8:30am (I collect elder GD from across the road, so give myself time for a quick check first), then check S'flds around 10:30am (25% off). If there's something at a fairly good price at that point (and not much of it) I pick it up then. If the price isn't quite low enough (or I can afford to gamble on there being some left later) I don't bother. I then check both stores around 2:15-2:30pm (just before the school Mum's pass through on their way for pick-up), by which point S'flds are generally at 50% off. I again make judgment calls, but if there's something I still can't stretch to but fancy (or still loads of something I can live without) I leave it again until...... Tea at 6, and final check of the stores at around 7pm. This covers final markdown at both stores (S'fld at 75%, Co-Op at various from 50% off to just pennies to pay).

Also has the added benefit of forcing me to get more exercise. It would be soooo easy to sit around the house doing nothing, but that's not a good thing for my back condition.....

With the majority of our meat now being at least 50% off and almost all the lunch-time bread rolls at least 50% off it makes a big difference to my grocery bill. DH really only likes one sort of rolls, which are £1.60-£1.70 a dozen (which generally lasts us 2-3 days). I don't think I've paid more than 82p for the rolls in the last couple of months, and the dozen I picked up from Co-Op this morning (and squeezed into the freezer) were just 20p :T

Bunny200

weezl74 wrote: »

bunny200, that's very cheap doing it in the BM, they must be quite big loaves too? Our HM efforts are only maybe 2/3rds the size of a BM one! Hope the turkey leg goes well, I found that the tip of another OSer on here made it seem to go further, she kind of shreds the meat into a big pile and dresses it with the gravy, and then everyone gets a big pile of meat! Sorry if you already know that!!

Not in the breadmaker, don't have one of them, mix the dough in my Kenwood chef and then put them into loaf tins to rise. They aren't very big loaves but they work well for the kids, trouble is I realised after that I forgot to put the salt in doh! I'm hoping it will be edible tho!

Turkey leg had mixed results, OH and DD2 thought it was ok but DD1 and I didn't like it. I roasted it in the overn but I think I'll try it in the SC next time which is what I intended to do but forgot to put it in this morning. Haven't written off turkey legs completely so will try again!

suzywoozy_3

I normally do the turkey leg in the slow cooker. It's much easier to get the meat off and it's lovely and tender.

meanmarie

cw18...think that you would need to blanch the swede...or it will keep in your fridge for ages if you think that you might use the other half in the next week or so.

Haven't seen turkey leg for ages...except stuffed and then they cost €6.99 in our local Eurospar, so I would not consider it a good buy at that, used to be able to get turkey drumsticks for a couple of euro and that was fine.

Determined that in November I am going to cost all our meals and see how much I am spending per person...think that I will be doing well if I can get the main meal to €1 per head...from looking at prices I think that even taking the conversion into account our prices are much higher than in UK
Marie

cw18

meanmarie wrote: »

cw18...think that you would need to blanch the swede...or it will keep in your fridge for ages if you think that you might use the other half in the next week or so.

Thanks Marie -- guess I'd better blanch it tomorrow then..... If I leave it in the fridge DS will see it, and then he'll start to investigate the contents of every meal !!! It's a pain having family who are fussy (says she who isn't exactly a 'try anything' person -- though I'm getting better now I can see the difference some of them make to the grocery bill :rolleyes: )

ATM it's hidden in my cloth potato sack (ran out of potatoes last night)