Flying gleefully into 2009 - One Fresians adventures in debt-busting

mooomin

Right, just back from Aldi (Two huge bags of shopping for £13, woo!) so going to update my inventory to enable me to print off an accurate list on Monday.

mooomin

Meal Plan W/C 3rd August

Monday - Bacon and cheese fritatta with tomato salsa
Tuesday - Out for dinner!
Wednesday - Lemon chicken w/rice and vegetables
Thursday - Chili
Friday - Slow cooked gammon w/potatoes and vegetables
Saturday - Spaghetti bolognaise
Sunday - Roast chicken with potatoes and vegetables

geranium72

Nice!

Have you thought of Lasagne with some of the mince. Basic lasagne sheets are pretty cheap and I do a basic bolognese types sauce, chuck in some veggies of whatever type - I use think slcied courgettes last time and instead of making a bechemel, just grate some chees in the layers and on top - also freezes fine

mooomin

Evening MSE folk

The latest instalment Chez Fresian is below:

1. Nothing has been done with the living room, and it's still the midden it was at the start of the weekend. Ach well, baby steps
2. Venison was a success!! I had red wine gravy in the freezer which was whoopsied a while ago - 12p I think :rotfl: Threw the venison in the slow cooker this morning, covered in gravy and added onion, mushroom and carrots. Served with new potatoes and some sweetcorn (Forgot to get green veg) and it was very yummy indeed. Total cost of the meal will be less than 50p per person (Fed flatmate too) as the venison was free, the potatoes were 49p for 1.5kg and the sweetcorn was value

Other things:

Leftover sweetcorn has been added to M&S chicken (whoopsied) from shopping adventures today and shall be taken to work with me tomorrow to have in my tortilla wraps with some salad. I also have an amazing amount of fruit to choose from for grazing, so should be feeding myself healthily for at least the rest of the week!

I am bridesmaiding in September with a friend of mine and we needed to find a room for 2 nights for us and our other halfs. It was looking as though it was going to be £200 which wasn't the end of the world but is more money than I have spare at the moment. I managed to wangle a better deal - we booked the two nights separately on the Travelodge website - we could get the first night for £29 per room that was instead of the £49 it wanted us to pay originally. I also used a £15 off code that I found on here, so paid £158 for the two rooms instead of £196 The only better deal I had found was another 20 miles away, and who knows what time the wedding will finish so my friend wasn't keen on driving that far. We are now both happy. I am glad I've been looking to keep the food costs down for myself and Mr Fresian though as I think it's the leftover money from the grocery budget that will be paying for this little adventure

Hope everyone has had a lovely weekend, I'm off to bed now!

Night all!

kissjenn

You're too organised for words and great tips from others too.

I haven't faced the inventory hurdle yet but need to get back to meal planning. I'll get that organised for this week.

mooomin

Morning all!

Just ate my breakfast - Aldi version of Special K. Not the exact same, but also not the bland c*ap I was expecting, so woo

About to head to work early so I can print my meal plans etc. Taking with me chicken salad wraps for lunch and lots of fruit for snackage. All bought within budget and nice and healthy!

Adventures In Fritatta tonight - safe in the knowledge that we have enough cheese for cheese on toast if it's horrible :rotfl:

Don't let the Mondays get you people!

Primula

Wow, a lot to catch up on and a lot going on in Fresian Towers the last few days! You have been busy with your Inventorying and meal planning and booking rooms. I like the idea about only having one tin of something and one spare and then buying just the one, but then again it's good to stock up on beans for example when they are on special. Lidl did have 4 tins of branstons for £1 so that was too good to miss! Did you ever try making the Monday pie thing with your mince and beans?
And re Aldi, I think I would like their phisosophy of getting you through the til as quickly as possible, I always seem to end up in the supermarket beind someone who takes absolutely forever packing their bags and I get so frustrated! LOL.
PS Did you get wedding shoes?

Hopeful1

How was the frittata? If it was any good would you share the recipe

mooomin

Primula wrote: »

Did you ever try making the Monday pie thing with your mince and beans?

And re Aldi, I think I would like their phisosophy of getting you through the til as quickly as possible, I always seem to end up in the supermarket beind someone who takes absolutely forever packing their bags and I get so frustrated! LOL.
PS Did you get wedding shoes?

Hey! Not made Monday pie yet, but it's in my new recipe book, so it will be on the menu sometime soon!

Aldi is good for getting people through the checkout quickly, but it's really odd the first time!

Bridezilla has allowed us to wear our own shoes No extra expense for me :j

Hopeful1 wrote: »

How was the frittata? If it was any good would you share the recipe

Really, really, really tasty. Om nom nom. Mr Fresian was very taken with it although there was "too much veg" in the salsa, by which I think he meant the fresh coriander :rotfl: I found the recipe on here, so I will forage for it and post a link so as not to steal anyone's thunder!

mooomin

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=2626402&postcount=24

I got this from the Grocery Challenge recipes. If you click on it from there there is a whole thread that this is part of which has many yummy ideas.