It is tough NOW. So how are we coping

pagangirl

Noticed in our local Mr A - I buy their smartprice paper for printing - it's been £1.73 for about 9 months - went in there last week and listed as one of their 1000 rollbacks is exactly the same paper rolled back from £1.90 to £1.73. They did have FAIRy wash-up last friday @ 50p bottle so got 2 (can dilute to 4), was going to get some more to stock up but some bug*** has put 'em back up to full price! (Lucky I got the first two, don't usually go in on fridays)

Thanks to whoever mentioned keeping a book and updating the prices as you go along - it's saved me ££££'s (with my memory, I need the book)

bellaquidsin

Kittie, why are you making 16 duvet covers? Are you going into business?

Bella.

Edited to say, is it the rolls of fabric you have 16 of? I could envy you for that.

Gigervamp

kidcat wrote: »

I been very busy today too, although I feel I have achieved nothing. My youngest (two) has stomach bug so have spent all day clearing up and washing. The house looks a right state even though I havent stopped all day!
At least dinner in SC and that is one thing I dont need to worry about.

Sorry to hear about your little one. Hope s/he's feeling better soon.

Bogof_Babe

I was shocked today to find Sainsburys Basics Baked Beans have gone up 60% overnight. From 18p to 29p. My husband only discovered that he liked them last week, so I was going to stock up :rolleyes: .

elizabunny

mummysaver and kidcat -thanks for your advice. It really does look as if I had a bad batch of flour. Think my loaves would have made better building bricks:D . Poor DH looked a bit bleak when he cut some slices for his sandwiches tomorrow:eek: .

kidcat -Sorry your youngest is poorly -tummy bugs are the worst aren't they, you seem to spend all day just going round in circles cleaning up. Hope things improve soon.

Charis

elizabunny wrote: »

mummysaver and kidcat -thanks for your advice. It really does look as if I had a bad batch of flour. Think my loaves would have made better building bricks:D .

Are you sure it's not something wrong with your yeast?

Gigervamp

Toatally OT, but the tele is on and the prog is one of those *buy in another sunny country*. They're looking at a house that's 1.2 million!
!!!!!!!

elizabunny

Charis wrote: »

Are you sure it's not something wrong with your yeast?

Hi Charis -I don't think so, because I'm using the same yeast I used to make loaves earlier in the week and they turned out fine. It really all seemed to go wrong when I used the MrA flour which I have never used before. However, I agree with you, yeast could have been the possible culprit as this has happened to me before.

mummysaver

Kidcat - I hope that your lo is better today, bugs are horrible when they're that tiny, not a whole lot better when they're bigger either!

Well I am on a moneysaving pudding drive at the mo! My friend and her boys are coming to stay for half term, and her boys are used to treats from the shops! So I am planning on plenty of delicious puds so that they don't feel deprived or go into a total culture shock lol!

Yesterday I tried out thriftlady's choc fudge cake, wow! It's fab and far far superior to any shop or restaurant one that I've ever had! I suspect that if I served this every night after dinner, there would be 6 very happy children lol!

Now in the past I would probably have done a combination of hm and shop stuff, but as things are tougher it is going to be cheaper to do it all hm! Besides my friend wants to learn to cook some more meals - we did meatballs and burgers last time she visited for a weekend, and her ds2 turned out to be a whizz in the kitchen, he has now taken over these meals at home apparently, bless him, he's only 8!

So I thought that I'd organise a meal plan, print off the recipes and laminate them so that the kids can take charge of puds each day! Yep, I'm in the children should help around the house and with the cooking camp!

So we shall be making D&DD's apple braid and iced buns, thriftlady's choc fudge cake, apple/fruit pie, cheesecake, jelly, ice cream, steamed sponge puds in the mw, proper suet puds and steaming them. Any other suggestions would be appreciated!

Dinners will be proper meals, my friend wants to learn how to meal plan, so I'm going to show her what I do! She has a sc, so we shall be doing stretchy mince and also rubber chicken - how attractive do they sound if you don't know what they are!!!!!

Lunches will be quicker and easier and hopefully I will have made enough freezer space to get at least some of these done in advance! I'm thinking of simple things like burgers in buns, pizza, pasta bake, soups (and NannaC's cheese and onion is def on the list - the kids loved it, thanks so much!). More lunch ideas are needed I think, might have to get going on some sausage rolls and pate/sandwich fillings.

Breakfasts will be cereal, fruit and toast as is usual here, that way the kids can do it themselves!

If anybody has any ideas or tips I'd be very grateful, there will be 6 kids plus any assorted ones that my kids have round, or who belong to visiting friends of mine, so meals that can be stretched are good! Kids are my ds 15, dd1 14, dd2 11, dd3 7 and my friends ds1 11 and ds2 8. Mine are all good eaters and will try most things, but only dd1 likes fish a lot, my friend's boys are improving eaters, they used to be fussy but they are much much better now!

DonnaP

Hi

Can you point me in the right direction of the choc fudge cake recipe please? It sounds lovely.

Donna