Help! £40 to feed family for the month

mioliere

mummysaver wrote: »

Moliere - thanks for the idea about pre-cooking lentils, again, I add them to the slow cooker usually or soups done in the remoska that are going to be blended, but pre cooking them means that I could just throw them in stuff done quickly on the hob as well! Will be cooking some up and freezing in ready portions I think, will also do the yellow split peas, trialling those as they are half the price of lentils!

Hi Mummysaver - just a word about lentils. On my packet (dried red split lentils from the Co-op) it says you have to rinse them then boil for ten minutes because they are not safe otherwise, especially in a slow cooker! The ones you use may be different but please check the packet first - I have no idea what unboiled lentils do to you and would hate you to risk your health. You've reminded me about split yellow peas so I shall look for those when I am shopping today!

mummysaver

Moliere - think it's mainly things like kidney beans that you need to be really wary about boiling and cooking properly, as they contain some kind of poisonous compound! I always just chuck my lentils into stuff, will have to read the pack and see what it says - might have a look on Weezl's thread too, she knows an awful lot about these things or at least she enjoys researching about them! Thanks for letting me know though, best to find out, though after years of doing it I haven't poisoned anyone, but I don't want to start killing off anyone just yet!

Edit: have had a look around the internet and can't find anything that says you have to boil lentils, have found plenty of info about growing them though, lol, my kids really would think I'd lost the plot if I started growing my own, can just see them out harvesting them for me! Will carry on checking though!

Edit again: have posted a thread asking for info about whether lentils should be precooked!

mbaz

KiKi wrote: »

I haven't posted in here, but I have been following the thread, and just wanted to say a HUGE well done, I am just so so impressed with the way you've stayed cheerful and managed to feed your family on what you had. It is seriously inspirational.

Out of interest mbaz - and forgive me if I missed this elsewhere in the thread! - how much have you spent so far? Do you think you can do it in under £20?

Well done!

KiKi

Hiya Kiki,

I've already blown my budget I'm afraid and spent £23.49plus I'm sure I'll need more milk before Thursday - to be honest it is milk that has blown my budget really as I vastly underestimated and cant belive how much we get through!

should do it for under £25 though I think.

DianneB

Hi, I haven't posted before but have been totally inspired by this thread. Mbaz you are amazing!! When I first started reading I thought "that's just not possible, it can't be done!!". I have never been so pleased to be proved wrong and have really enjoyed all the tips from the other OSers, you are a great bunch. Keep going Mbaz you are an inspiration to us all.

What I would like to know from the rest of you is how to vote this thread of the month? can anyone vote?

Also re: Lentils and boiling first - I also just bung mine in and we haven't suffered any untoward effects - YET!!

Dumyat

a lesson to us all mbaz indeed.

blue_monkey_2

Not read all of this thread but you can get some value spaghetti for 30p and then a carton of passata for 30p - chuck some herbs or veggies in if you have it but it does for us as a family.

Oh and not sure where you live but 'scrumping' is a good past time, or going for a walk around a local village, this time of year lots of people will put bags of apples, pears, plums, etc... outside their houses for people to take, or for sale for a very low price, rather than them going off.

Put your fruit and veg in the fridge, it lasts much, much longer.

Will catch up more of the thread later.

ceridwen

blue_monkey wrote: »

Oh and not sure where you live but 'scrumping' is a good past time, or going for a walk around a local village, this time of year lots of people will put bags of apples, pears, plums, etc... outside their houses for people to take, or for sale for a very low price, rather than them going off.

.

Now I'm a bit confused about the meaning of "scrumping" - I thought it meant going onto peoples property and stealing fruit off their trees. I stand corrected - there must be some other meaning - as obviously you wouldnt be advocating theft. Errr....what other meaning does "scrumping" have then please ?

I'm envious about the comment re people putting fruit outside their house for others to take or buy at a low cost - had a quick checksee - you live in Herefordshire...ah....I see...perhaps its just a custom in that area....as I've never noticed in my part of the world - darn it . It sounds like a good idea though - it is annoying to walk past houses with various fruit trees in their garden and they are obviously just leaving the fruit to rot...when I'd be glad of a little and I'm sure others would too.

EDIT; just found this:

http://ask.metafilter.com/58105/Does-scrumping-happen-outside-the-UK

as I went off looking up the meaning of "scrumping" to see if I was wrong...

mummysaver

Scrumping always meant climbing over someone's hedge or fence and pinching the fruit off the trees when I was younger! Not that I ever did such a thing, but my gran often used to send my mum and her brothers and sisters to the orchard down the road to get some fruit for a pie for tea! lol!

We have lots of people who put excess apples and other produce outside their gates for free as well, as well as a few people who sell their excess very cheaply - also see eggs out next to honest boxes quite often round here.

Just been to check my lentil packs and don't have any in the cupboard, eek! They've all been decanted to a big storage pot already! Oops!

ceridwen

mummysaver wrote: »

Scrumping always meant climbing over someone's hedge or fence and pinching the fruit off the trees when I was younger! Not that I ever did such a thing, but my gran often used to send my mum and her brothers and sisters to the orchard down the road to get some fruit for a pie for tea! lol!

We have lots of people who put excess apples and other produce outside their gates for free as well, as well as a few people who sell their excess very cheaply - also see eggs out next to honest boxes quite often round here.

Err...well...I was just pretending to be naive....ie being rather tactful in how I phrased things .....I cant speak for previous generations...but there is no excuse for theft now (every child a wanted child ever since about 1970 - courtesy of the Pill/legalised abortion being available to prevent the others)...ie not so many mouths to feed...

I know my father went scrumping as a child (but he was born into a large poor family in the 1930s). I could have done (as a product of the 1950s - ie pre-1970 - but it was a smaller family - two children...so not so many mouths to feed). If I had ever had children they would have been the product of a two child family and born in the 1980s - so would have been told off in no uncertain terms if I had ever caught them out scrumping - they would have been informed "You were wanted - that means I CAN afford to bring you up - so cut it out ....or else".

Re your area also having boxes of free fruit outside houses.....now even more envious...which part of the country is that then? (now beginning to think my part of the country is particularly "mean" :cool: )

mummysaver

I live in Somerset Ceridwen, so not surprising that many people have a surplus of apples, lots of old orchards round here! I drive past a lovely one on my way to work, all the trees are bursting with apples and they just seem to be munched by the sheep, often wonder how many of them get picked and used. I get all my apples from a friend with a lot of apple trees in her garden, her oh doesn't like them, but is thinking of buying a cider press to use them up - I've offered my labour in return for some of the results if he does!

Just popped some more stewed apples and blackberries into the freezer, old marg tubs are just the right size for a portion that fits nicely into a pie or crumble to feed us all. Free food is even better than cheap!