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

FrankieM

sophiesmum wrote: »

OH likes stuff like five bean chilli with rice, potato cheese and onion scallops done in the oven (lovely winter comfort food), veggie curry, jacket spud with cheese and beans, vegetable based quiches, stir fry, pasta dishes with cheese, tomato or veggie based sauces, ratatouille, fritata,colcannon, roast dinner minus the meat,veggie lasagne, quorn based dishes, cauliflower cheese, etc

My DH likes all of those things too, just preferably with half a cow on the side!
I generally try to do the veggie meals when he's away at work but I have quite alot of vegetables in the fridge at the moment and I'm aware that my bank balance is shrinking fast, so I'm just going to keep rolling them out....he's got to eat at some point!

Could I possibly have the recipe for potato, cheese and onion scallops, please?

lyndasharp

FrankieM wrote: »

Could I possibly have the recipe for potato, cheese and onion scallops, please?

Me too please! Sounds good Shan't be making it tomorrow night though, as it's the first of the Christmas dinners, with my classic car club this time. Only £10 so not hugely expensive, at least. Just hope it's edible

We had plum tabbouleh tonight, first time I've tried bulgar wheat. It was very tasty, though Nigel Slater's recipe of 'soak for 15 mins in cold water' did nothing to soften the wheat. 5 mins in the microwave did the trick though. There are still some home grown spring onions in the garden, so put some of those in, with home grown herbs.

Well done on the job Bails!!!! :beer: Hope it's just what you want.

sophiesmum_2

Frankie It is really easy and simple, just take a casserole dish or roasting pan of some type - I use the oblong pyrex dishes, peel enough potatoes for how many people you are feeding then slice into scallops, grate a small block of cheese,(good way of using up odd ends of packs from the fridge too) peel and thinly slice a couple of small onions/one large one. Then all you need to do is layer them in the casserole dish, until you have filled the dish,add about half a pint of veg stock or water,salt and pepper to season, finish with a layer of cheese so the top ends up nice and crispy. Just stick it in the oven until the potatoes cook through and the top crisps..
The kids would probably like it served with baked beans, or you can do it on its own or with veggies.
Sometimes I also add sliced tomatoes along with the potatoes etc. Hope that makes sense to you

Skint_Lynne

Well done on the job bails, that's good news!!:j

Not much to say tonight, I am still knackered, had the same problem last night, so got some Kalms today to see if they help, but got them with my b00ts points along with some face wash.

I have sat all of my hamper prezzies out on the bed here, so will need to organise some cellophane and tissue paper to cover them up. I will still need to make some sweeties to put in them and maybe get some small bottles of wine etc. Will also do snowman soup for them.

I am going to watch Tv for a bit, might be back later. xx

cw18

2 large spends for me today.......

Buildings and contents insurance sorted. Had set budget to £350, but renewal was £362.37 !!

Have cancelled the policy and taken out a fresh one on-line with the same company..... the buildings cover is double what it was (their "standard" level, so couldn't keep it the same even though the cover on my renewal was waaaaay more than enough), but I left the contents the same (but with over twice the 'high risk' cover compared to the renewal due to the way the policies work). Did intially get the quote using the same £50 excess, but eventually decided to go for double that as it reduced the premium by £17. Had it only been a couple of quid I'd have left it at £50, but this seemed terribly steep

New policy came in at pennies under £299, so £63.39 saved - and a potential £30 cashback to come next year :T


The other big spend was food for the Dalmatian. Spent some time G00gling for cheapest prices, and then cross-matching companies against the cash-back site I use. Ended up not going through cash-back, which worked out at 32p/14kg sack cheaper than the cheapest going the cash-back route (after the cash-back, and this is the firm I ordered from last time who I've yet to see pay up what they promised). The best deal did actually meant ordering 3 sacks though, whereas I'd only have had to buy 2 the other way (to get free postage).

Only need one sack to get us to year end, so only including the cost of one (£46.21) against my 2009 budget. The other 2 will show as an immediate spend on my 2010 spreadsheet :eek:

xnatalie81x

WAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO looks like i have another little job. 1hr week for a school swimming teaching. It is while 2 older kids r at school and m littlest will go to neighbour - it is £25 for the hour yipeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee off there wed to find out all the info and complete a CRB

FrankieM

Morning,
I've been reading through weezl's foodie thread and getting some ideas on cutting back. Actually it's probably more motivation as I can't imagine my DH eating some of the stuff hers does and I have 4 children, but it does show you that you can get away with buying alot less and also eating alot less. I'm prone to over eating so I'm giving myself a stricter policy on what's allowed re breakfast and lunch. I'm going to eat the same as the children. I think that will make a difference to our food budget too.
I'm going to get my eldest DD to cut my hair, that'll save some money.
I've looked online and I have £100 to last till next payday...gulp...I haven't bought any Christmas food yet.

Well done natalie on the extra work.

Hope you all have a good day.

jtb2412

Hi everyone

Got a spare 5 mins so thought I would pop on here and have a quick skim read. Congrats on the job bails, glad things have worked out xx :T

natalie great news on the extra hours, you'll soon be doing full time hours at this rate !

cw well done on the insurance, it really does pay to shop around - my last year's renewal was higher than the previous years (by about £50 :eek: !!!). Suffice to say I went elsewhere :rolleyes:.

Loving the recipes, keep them coming . Although I will have to tweak some of them a bit so that I stay within my points for WW (which is going really well ).

Not much to report here, just busy with the season's frivolities (sp?). Almost finished my xmas shopping, just 2 more pressies to get and I've come in well under budget (even with the kids which is great !) Food shopping will be done the weekend before and I have to go on xmas eve to pick up the turkey and get the veggies (can't do before as at mum's leading up to the big day). Poor turkey has a long journey ahead of him (Cambs to W.Sussex lol).

Oh, and I'm going to be handing my notice in at work when I return after the Xmas break :j (shhhhhh lol). Decision was more or less made for me when they asked me to do half of someone else's job as well as my own as they've cut overtime :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:. I'm kind of relieved they said that really as I was still umming and ahhing over it all . I'll probably go back to ebaying (used to buy things at booties and sell at a profit ) - my friend can do £200 a week sometimes :eek:. Not that I'm expecting to make that much, if I can make £50 that will be just fine .

Budget is still WIP, and will probably be for the next year while we adjust to only one wage coming in. Things may need to be swapped around as I think the utilities will go up as I'm at home all day but food bill should go down as I'll be batch cooking more.

Allotment is still up in the air - no news yet but thinking of digging up garden instead. New plots will be further away than I can manage to bike so it might not be worth sticking with the allotment unless they can guarantee one on the site round the corner (which is highly unlikely :rolleyes:).

Right, decluttering and sorting kitchen here (might find a few things to ebay lol) ....... will catch up later ! :beer:

grandma247

Good morning. I haven't much time just now just quickly reading. Congratulations to those with good news and hope all those accident victims are feeling a bit better.

I don't know if it is in all Mr T's but our is doing 4.5kg bags of long grain rice for £3 which is just over 66p a kg. I have bought 3 so far in case I have to help family next year. White rice keeps for years if you keep it dry and in the dark.

Savvy_sewing

Just reading, to catch up! DGD watching Cbbies!. Getting Mum later, so petrol only thing I plan to use up today. Hopefully can get away with a nsd!. Fingers crossed.