Live on £4,000 for a year - 2009, Part 3

sophiesmum_2

:j:j:j:jYay my canner has arrived in the UK:j:j:j:j
Had to pay £22.70 in vat and charges but I am so relieved that it has arrived at all, and OH rang and paid the charges with his debit card so it didn't cost me anything
Just cooked lunch for the oldies and eaten with them so will just be having a snack later tonight now.
Planning a batch cooking/chutney making and practice canning session now for the weekend:j:j:j

sophiesmum_2

BigMummaF wrote: »

I missed the protein debate on here yesterday as I must have been posting in Weezl's thread about the self same thing!
We were watching 'Bank of Mum & Dad' t'other evening & the chappie on there was spending horrendous amounts on food each month, under the laws according to "body building". [I try to get the offspring to watch these kinds of shows to highlight the error of spendthrift ways! ]The show got hold of a former female champ who did it all through diet--as opposed to protein powders & stuff--& she is now a nutritionalist[?]. Anyhooz. She was saying that 50g of kidney beans had as much, if not more, protein than a tin of tuna & obviously cost a lot less. Really pleased we watched it so now I don't have to be so careful about hiding pulses in their dinners any more.

Don't forget chick peas they have 16g of protein in every 200g serving so right up there in terms of protein levels,:D I chuck them in all my casseroles,curries etc and humous is yummy too and easy to make.

Blairweech

Hey folks,

Michelle - Do not panic, you will be fine - we are all here to support you.

Cannot remember what else has been said - sorry!

Looked at Mr M offers just now - they are doing their £3 BBQ meal deal again, so chicken pieces for 50p, rolls for 50p etc. Plus 2 x 500g tubs of Anchor Spreadable for £3. Might pop down tomorrow night, if not definitely Saturday morning as am having a haircut. It was at 1, but I had it rearranged to 8am _pale_. Will try and go to the butchers as well - that reminds me, I must do another freezer inventory.

Received a Farmfoods circular today, with some coupons in. Are they any good? I was actually looking at the frozen chicken breasts etc, but see they have added water? Not sure if I want that.

Other than that, not much going on here. I am pretty fed up atm - have been reading more and more about financial independence, self sufficiency etc and I just feel so far away from it. I am getting increasingly fed up with my job too...considering moving back with the parents sooner rather than later. Will have to wait and see what the uni says on the open day.

No real plans for the weekend - is meant to be chucking down on Sunday, so will have to think of something 'indoors'. Lost all control of what I have spent in August, so will just say £400 and be done with it.

Have a good one

cw18

Blairweech wrote: »

Received a Farmfoods circular today, with some coupons in. Are they any good? I was actually looking at the frozen chicken breasts etc, but see they have added water? Not sure if I want that.

I used one of the vouchers for the first time ealier this month (did a £25 spend). They do frozen sliced mushrooms (which are something I used to buy regularly from Mr T, but they disappeared from there several years ago!) which are great, as is the frozen diced rhubarb (made a great crumble).

As for the chicken, I got 3 bags of the 'mini breast fillets' which are meant to average 20 fillets a bag - have opened 2 and each has 18, but still happy with that. Roasted up all the pieces from one bag (they didn't actually shrivel too much at all) then refroze them - these are for defrosting 1 at a time and using with salad for my lunches. The other I've pulled a few out of to make curry for DS (and the freezer ) - much more economical than using a breast fillet from Costc0 which is the only other chicken breast I have in.

Only problem I can see is that the mini ones have salt as well as water (whereas the larger ones just declare water on the front of the bags ), and they're actually a shade tooooo salty for me - but then I never put salt in or on anything (other than in my bread machine), so I tend to notice salt that's been added to anything !!!!

sophiesmum_2

Good evening frunchkins:D

Haven't tried the chicken from farmf00ds, but have used the rhubarb many times for crumbles for the oldies and it is lovely as Cheryl says.A lot of the foods there are processed stuff, but some of the basics are okay (veggies etc) and they do have some good deals usually on milk,bread stuffs,bicuity things and some tinned foods.I don't usually buy most of these but for a family that does there could be some bargains to be had.

I've just been given a carrier of bramleys from someone's tree so will either be jam or chuney making with those over the weekend, also plan to do some minced beef based batch cooking to fill up the freezer. Then might try a few things in the canner - starting with water:rotfl:... must get more jars!

BigMummaF

lyndasharp wrote: »

BigMummaF, what breed is your puppy? My Nan's last dog, a Springer, had so many problems with grass seeds - in the ears and in the legs. It was a little better after she started trimming her coat, so might be worth you trying that if your dog is fairly hairy?
He's an English Bull/Staffie X--apparently Staffs are especially susceptible --so not in the same league as a Springer hair-wise. Thanks for the tip tho, I'd asked the vet about wiping his feet with a damp flannel after being out but she said it would probably cause more of a problem as it would encourage patches of moisture...
SFT, sorry to hear about the roof, but I'm glad it's all getting sorted out.
Oh yes...meant to say in yesterday's post....what a :eek: Is the former inhabitant still going to contribute to the bill, given she was verging on negligent in the upkeep of the property? And would you also have some kind of redress on the Surveyor; not that I know anything about it, but this is far too major to be considered "an over-sight" surely :mad:
I'm feeling slightly better today, first morning that I've managed to get out of bed without taking a dose of Neurofen!
:joooooohhhh, doesn't it feel good too...like you've won the lottery
We're still getting the visitors for the weekend,...
In that case, I hope your recovery is swift:happylove .

No explanation was given as to why my card had been stopped so a letter is winging its way; thankfully the Branch Manager let me draw some cash at the counter so I'm up-to-date with the vet till the morning.
Pup has another dressing change that will hopefully be the last, as it seems the wound is healing well. Because he's a little balooga taking his meds, the vet has agreed to give him the antibiotics by injection which--apparently--are cheaper than the tablets :huh: In true mse style, I negotiated & they've agreed to refund the cost on the tabs we haven't used so I must put them in my bag ready for tomorrow.
Y'no when folk get all excited on New Year's Eve & look forward to the future...I gave up saying it can't be any worse than what's gone before, as I am invariably proven wrong :doh:I say this now because I was going to say I can't wait till this month is over, but I don't want to tempt Fate

cw18

sophiesmum wrote: »

I've just been given a carrier of bramleys from someone's tree so will either be jam or chuney making with those over the weekend!

And I've been to see a crafting friend this afternoon - she only has a small back garden, but has a plum tree, a pear tree and a Bramley tree in it...... and all have given bigger crops than she can use this year!!! I've come home with quite a few Bramleys, a large plastic bowl worth of plums (she made two large jars of jam using the same qty yesterday, but I'll probably have another bash at the Dowerhouse Chutney - just with less sugar this year as it was/is a tad sweet for me) and a huuuuge carrier bag of pears. Not sure what to do with the pears, other than some kind of sponge pudding and/or a crumble

slowlyfading

Where do you all live where you get given nice, free fruit from everyone?! I wish I lived near someone who would do that

thriftylass

Good evening!

i'm sending hugs and virtual support to all that need it just now :grouphug:

The last couple of days have been great, hardly spend any money (although the first two weeks this month have been bad enough ). Made a lovely rhubarb tarte for the charity cake sale tomorrow and the last week managed to make a nice new evening meal every day with freezer/cupboard stuff. Before I always ended up doing little top up shops to supplement what we had whereas this week I typed ingredients we already had into the bbc food site and made a novel meal each night. Hopefully that will continue in September. Only got one weeding next month so hopefully I'll be able to keep the social spending down too. We might go on holiday for a week but we're not sure yet, depends on the weather which is rubbish atm.

thriftylass

cw18 wrote: »

... huuuuge carrier bag of pears. Not sure what to do with the pears, other than some kind of sponge pudding and/or a crumble

How about caramelised pears with vanilla ice cream, pear cider , pear and almond cake, pear and lemon jam, pear butter or pear chutney.