New year Old Style resolutions...

Navsy_thesmurfette

Hello MSE!

I'm new to all this so i'm not sure if i am posting in the right thread!
I was wondering if knows what veggies i can grow indoors? My dads had a pepper plant that grew well indoors but as im a student and live in student rented accomodation i have no patch of land to grow things.

Also does anyone have any tasty cheap vegetarian and fish recipes? I normally split my food shopping with a flatmate although he eats meat we share sauces and bread and other stuff as flatsharing with 5 other people uses alot of fridge and freezer space!

Although flatmate doena a tasty meal today that i though id share with you!

He had lost of tinned sardines and mackeral that his nan gave him in tomato sauce so he layered whoopsied sweet potato and normal potatoe in a dish with a layer of the mackeral and sardines and more potato with a layer of tuna and tomato pasta bake sauce on the top and it was yum!

And i am a very fussy eater when it comes to fish so thats twice this week hes impressed me with fish meals! (earlier dish was scottish rainbow trout grilled with a spicy dressing with salad and new potatoes)

Any help will be gratefully recieved!
Thankyou!

Navs x

luxor4t

Lovely idea!
- more de-cluttering
- buy the year's birthday/xmas gifts and cards from most friends & rellies in the sales again
- set up a container garden & grow as much food as possible
- plan a capsule wardrobe,check what I have then buy what I need in the sales
- maybe do a 'flying Anthea' (= plan a cleaning routine)

lellyo

Ooo, can i join in?
- In my diary, make a list of the birthdays at the begining of each month and buy the cards, to save buying them last minute
-Learn how to use a sewing machine
-Make more meals from scratch and also do more batch cooking
-Try to buy presents throughout the year to put away for next christmas

Tibbie's_mum

Last year I bought an A4 day to page diary, so I could be more organised by:
1) keeping a spendng diary
2) having a daily to do list
3) ensuring I made of note of important dates, like library books going back, MOTs due etc so that I don't have unexpected expenses
4) menu planning

Needless to say the diary was never put to use, so this year I'm going to make a real effort to use a diary effectively for all the above reasons

Essex-girl_2

Navsy

If you look in the Indexed Collections there is loads of recipes and menu planning advice in there. Be warned its addictive and may take some time.

Someone may come along and provide a link which I cant do.:rolleyes:

Beki

Oh, i have SO many - i'm really looking forward to getting my teeth into OS next year

• meal plan, meal plan, meal plan!!!
• batch cook as much as humanly possible, and fill the freezer with home made goodies
• keep transferring money each week from my current account to my savings account and 'forget' about it (until xmas, big bill etc!)
• bring shopping bill (food, dog food, chicken feed, cleaning products etc) down to £100 per month
• start a spending diary and stick to it
• re-start my veggie patch, and eat as much from the garden as possible
• make use of all the lovely fruit trees and bushes in the garden
• for each meal (breakfast lunch and dinner), either cook from scratch or eat a meal brought home by OH (he works at a luxury handmade ready-meal kitchen and brings home huge boxes of 'broken packaging' food for £2 a box - works out at less than 10p a meal usually, and made with the finest ingredients so can't really say no). no more supernoodles for us! :rotfl:
• have at least 2 whole baking days a week, where i bake bread, biscuits, muffins, scones etc for packed lunches, snacks and the like
• sort our finances out properly so we know EXACTLY what's going in and out each month, and keep reciepts for EVERYTHING!
• try and eat as seasonally as possible and include more fruit and veg into our diets. no excuse really as we have a farm shop which sells local seasonal produce very cheaply!
• eat more pearl barley! i think i've fallen in love with the stuff!!! :rotfl: sooooo cheap, really filling and absolutely delicious in soups, stews etc! :T
• try and get on top of my housework. the house is a MESS not just untidy, but probably dirty deep down too!
• break down my 'to-do' lists into a couple of things a day. this way things seem more manageable
• start selling my chicken's eggs at the gate. in the spring/summer/autumn when they're at their height of laying, we get circa 50 eggs per week, and we probably only get through arouns 10 a week ourselves! i have to do lots and lots of baking which i don't really need to, in porder not to waste the eggs! would be so much more economical in more ways than one to seel the surplus at the gate!
• start paying my parents back in february, as much as we can spare each month, which hopefully will be quite a lot with all the saving we'll be doing :beer:

i'm sure there's more than that, but that's something to be getting on with for now :rotfl:

fedupandskint

I love reading this thread it has many ideas like my own and now i have some more motivation to make changes as others will be doing.

2009 for me holds;

dig garden and make space for veg patch
take down old damp and rotting summer house and free somemore space up for fruits and vegs (and low fence off to try and keep my excitable border terrier away!)
Do more HM baking and learn to freeze these things
Learn to make wheat free in BM if get one for Xmas:D
Stick to meal plans as have just started to try and do this
Sign up for store cupboard and grocery challenges and see what other changes I can make to my shopping habits and improve on what I have done in the last month
Clear cellar for storing veg/jam/chutney and get a spare freezer if needed
Stick to the 'do I want it/need it/will I use it mantra'!:D
Continue to declutter house and sell on ebay:D
Buy a diary for spending diary and use it consistantly to hep get me back in the black:eek:

For the first time in ages looking forward to the New Year in this respect. Not financially tho' as will be a struggle but will still work on this (eg get a 2nd job!)

shopndrop

stefejb wrote: »

Same as last year ....... cut down on Unidentified Frozen Objects by LABELLING

Totally agree. I left what I thought was soup of the freezer for lunch today. Turned out to be carrot and swede mash! They both looked the same frozen.

However, this did make me properly label my cottage pies that I was freezing tonight.

Butterfly_Brain

Great thread!
Well here goes.............

• Get an allotment and grow as much veggies as I can ( my name is on the waiting list)
• Batch cooking a must ( so that there are plenty of ready meals)
• Bake my own Bread
• Bake my own Biscuits and Cakes (for the kids lunch boxes)
• Cook as many cheap meals as possible
• Make my own yoghurt
• Make my own preserves
• I might even dabble in making wine
• Meal plan - always
• Make a shopping list - And stick to it
• Clear as much debt as I possibly can
• Do more crafting
• Only buy stardrops for cleaning
• Never use the tumble dryer
• Make sure that everything electical is turned off if not in use
• Sounds a bit daunting but I will do my best to stick to it

mrs_miser

definately going to keep a spending diary......nice fresh new start.
hoping to save my wages, child benifit so 10,000.00, but husband is self employed builder so thinks im mad, says we will be lucky to not spend any money we already have saved, let alone save more.
.start buying in jan sale for next year using boots points
.bogof on toiletries put towards mil and mums birthday/mothers day hampers.
save electric, turn off at night also once kettles boiled pour water into a flask, so doesnt go cold in the kettle
.shop at asda 3.30 pick up the yellow label discounts
generally im going to not buy unless needed.