Is it possible for this girl to be permanently OS?

jollymummy

Forgot this bit, my DS is 4 and not a big meat eater so we often have pasta/egg or potato based dishes and this really keeps the bills down.

Sublime_2

jollymummy wrote: »

Hi Jo
We've been on a big economy drive for a while now and I find if I shop online I spend MUCH less, just top up with lovely fruit and veg from local greengrocers. I also meal plan every week and do a full cupboard and freezer check before I do my online order.
x

Totally agree. I always spend less if I shop online too, even with a delivery charge. I can see exactly whats on offer, and avoid impulse buying. I am fortunate enough to have a local butcher and greengrocer, who are alsovery good value, and sell locally produced food. I tend to go to them before I do my main shop.

Ilona

Only shop between 6pm and 9pm, the later you go the lower the prices. I don't care what I eat as long as it is cheap and not meat, so I don't do shopping lists or menu's. I don't buy junk, there's whole aisles I miss out completely, don't do biscuits, cakes, ready meals, etc.

Have a veggie meal every week, you don't need to eat meat.
Ilona

misskool

I don't meal plan, i buy meat that's got a yellow sticker on and whatever veg is cheap from the market that weekend.

then I mostly invent meals around them. It sounds really complicated but it's easy when you've got things in the freezer to mix and match.

If you love to go shopping, why not set yourself a challenge? Allow yourself to spend £10 and only on reduced items and they have to fit with the meals already available at home?

Good luck! Slow steady changes means you'll keep to it, anything drastic feels like you're depriving yourself and you'll relapse.

jo1972

It's taken me ages to catch up with all your responses properly, thanks to all for the fantastic advice and tips.

Flying-Fresian, I also love M&S meat but it's too far away for me to do a quick visit, plus I'd have to pay out for parking which isn't very MSE

Brighterfuture, My OH is the same, he is not OS at all. I was with him when we did our £100 and our £65 quid shops over the weekend, he loves shopping, could easily spend 2 hours in Mr T's or Sainsburys.....possibily 20 minutes alone in the condiment aisle :eek: I have to reign him in quite often, caught him putting quails eggs in the trolley yesterday, he just wondered 'what they taste like' Half of my problem will be turning him into a OS'er!!

Chivers, sorry I missed your STTTTTTOPPP message, I'm all ears now!

Gigervamp, 1 breast of chicken for 1 meal :eek: :eek: I just don't get it, I so want to get it.

Glamazon, thanks for the great tips on how to bulk out a meal with grated carrot, porridge oats (do they need to be soaked??) etc.

Kazmeister, yes we struggle to pay the bills at the end of the month (well actually the middle) so spending less will help us out all round, I love your meal rota and will use that I think to keep the meals varied everyday. I subscribe to Easycook as it's full of cheap and quick ideas for meals. Thanks also for the easy pie tip!

Ilona, I don't mind not eating meat too often, in fact now OH needs to lose weight and has high chorlesterol it would do him good.

Bella, I bought a couple of pots yesterday for DS to start planting, he chose a mixed flower pack of seeds and a pack of coriander cos he said he wanted to grow something I use a lot!

Sublime, chicken carcass I would have no idea what to do with a chicken carcass, this is what I'm hoping to learn!

FUAS, hiya hun! Great idea about going to the butcher and getting him to cut a chicken up.

Owens3116, blimey, you have so much food in, can I come round to yours for dinner lol! With the lamb mince I would make either Lamb Koftas or Lamb Burgers. With the chicken legs I would do a curry, if you've a slow cooker I'd do it in there (which is what I'm about to do for tonight!) or cook it very slowly on the hob.

MissKool, I hate shopping with a passion (unless I've got money to waste ) and I'm a little worried about this meal planning thing as I'm bad enough when I take lunch to work, I don't fancy it when I get to lunchtime....I'm a very impulsive person and need to change this otherwise I'll be meal planning then not wanting to eat what I've planned!!!

Right, I've done a quick inventory of the kitchen, didn't take long as I've hardly anything in, call me a blank canvass :rotfl:

First for the non-OS stuff:

Pataks Tandoori paste Jars x 2
Swartz Morroccan Lamb Casserole packet
Swartz Morroccan Bombay Potatoes packet
Levi Roots Carribean Curry Sauce jar

In Freezer:

Pork Ribs X 2 (probably 8 in pack)
Diced pork leg X 2 500g
Pork Joint (big enough for family Sunday Roast)
Pork Belly Joint (quite small and kids don't like anyway)
1 pack of mixed veg
3 garlic bagettes

In cupboard:
Baked beans x 4
8 tins of soup, all value, chicken and tomato
Tinned Spaghetti x 2
Various spices and herbs, probably got everything in there, too many to list as I've around 40 different jars :eek: mostly Indian spices.

That's it, not much to be going on with and there seems to be a pork theme going on

OH is a nightmare on the shopping front, he loves the reduced section and will buy stuff (any stuff) purely because it's cheap rather than whether we need it, he goes overboard on the organic, fat free, chorlesterol free, calorie free stuff like Benacol and Pro-Biotic stuff, I keep telling him he doesn't need it, maybe Benacol spread for his bread but just eat healthily otherwise, he's on statins anyway so doesn't need to buy into all this stuff!

He is going to Glastonbury in June and I'm looking forward to eating really cheaply for the week, I have no problem having fish fingers and chips, tuna pasta etc with the kids. He seems to always want a 'proper' meal if you know what I mean.....any tips to change his mindset would be great

Thats me for now, thanks again for all your responses, advice and tips

Apologies for the long post, and well done if you got this far

xx

mooomin

jo1972 wrote: »

I have to reign him in quite often, caught him putting quails eggs in the trolley yesterday, he just wondered 'what they taste like' Half of my problem will be turning him into a OS'er!! Can you do a secret ninja-shop without him?

Glamazon, thanks for the great tips on how to bulk out a meal with grated carrot, porridge oats (do they need to be soaked??) etc. I just pop a couple of handfuls of oats into my bolognaise/chilli/shepherds pie and haven't soaked them first. Just watch the amount you add - start off small. My last bolognaise was suspiciously oaty :rotfl:

Sublime, chicken carcass I would have no idea what to do with a chicken carcass, this is what I'm hoping to learn! In the old days I would have thrown it out. Now I put it in boiling water with some herbs for a while and make stock for chicken soup. Yummy! Other will have additional ideas I'm sure.

In cupboard:
Baked beans x 4 Someone gave me a recipe using baked beans I'll try and find it for you.
8 tins of soup, all value, chicken and tomato Good for lunches? Keep them at work with a bowl and then you have options?
Tinned Spaghetti x 2
Various spices and herbs, probably got everything in there, too many to list as I've around 40 different jars :eek: mostly Indian spices.

He seems to always want a 'proper' meal if you know what I mean.....any tips to change his mindset would be great What would he define as a proper meal?

Hey ho,

Comments above! Off to look for my baked bean recipe now...

mooomin

Thanks for this recipe go to Primula from the DFW board who suggested it to me.

MONDAY PIE

Mince
1 Onion
1 Garlic Clove
2 teaspoons worcester sauce
1 beef stock cube
1 tin beans
Potatoes

Brown the mince, onion & garlic. Add the beef stock cube (no water, just the dry cube). Add seasoning and tin of beans (the value beans are fine) and worcester sauce. Put in an ovenproof dish. Slice up raw potatoes and layer all over top of mixture. Heat in oven at about 180 for 50 to 60 mins or until potatoes soft.

jo1972

That sounds lovely FF, and very cheap! :beer: I might try it tomorrow, but must do my meal plan first!

A proper meal to OH is something that's taken longer than 20 and consists of meat/fish rice/pots and veg, but proper stuff iykwim, no fish fingers/frozen fish in breadcrumb, no waffles/oven chips, no tinned fish, got to be fresh. He's going to be an obstacle, I've just got to stand my ground!

I did make a warm tuna pasta recipe out of the EasyCook magazine last month, took me a week to persuade him that it would be nice and he really enjoyed it. I think he was thinking of the cold stodgy tuna pasta pots from the supermarket. It was actually lovely, warm pasta, tinned tuna mixed with mayo a little of the tuna oil and lemon with cherry toms, red onion and rocket leaves...mmmmmmm :drool:

I think it's a matter of disgising some of the cheaper ingredients I'm using, just like I do for the kids :rotfl:

jo1972

flying_fresian wrote: »

Add seasoning and tin of beans (the value beans are fine)

Do I drain them and rinse them, or just bung the whole tin in?

jo1972

Well I'm hoping you might be proud of me, I made a curry in the SC today with chicken legs. Bought 2 packs of chicken legs each with 3 in. Normally I would cook the lot for 3 of us and cook them on the hob or in the oven. But today I used only 1 pack for 2 of us and had loads left over, probably as I'd cooked them in the SC, I'm starting to see where the term rubber chicken comes from!!

So I have a spare pack of chicken legs which I've put in the freezer to use another time :beer: