FRUGAL LIVING CHALLENGE 2010, part 1. (Living on £4,000 a year)

chika

Arrggghhhh what do you fellow frugallers do with unexpected visitors? I just had a mate round and I've had to feed him. I felt a bit bad sitting there stuffing my face so I gave him the second portion of yesterday's pasta. Do you keep some meals frozen that can be quickly defrosted or whip something up quickly? I'm not moaning it was lovely to see him but it means I may have to start eating chickpeas sooner than I thought...

spookycat_2

we are having Jamie's lentil and chicken hotpot tonight. Leftover veg from Christmas shop, chicken pieces from previous roast which we stockpile and some passata-type sauce that Dh cooked up from the glut of tom's we got.

Cost- nowt!

Will have this tonight with bread and tomorrow night with roast potatoes, yum!

Do you all ebay too?

spookycat_2

edaniels1983- jamie's chicken & lentil hotpot

edaniels1983

chika wrote: »

Arrggghhhh what do you fellow frugallers do with unexpected visitors? I just had a mate round and I've had to feed him. I felt a bit bad sitting there stuffing my face so I gave him the second portion of yesterday's pasta. Do you keep some meals frozen that can be quickly defrosted or whip something up quickly? I'm not moaning it was lovely to see him but it means I may have to start eating chickpeas sooner than I thought...

i tend to cook too much so there is usually spare but a sandwich would always surfice or beans on toast.

visitors usually come to see YOU lol not be fed, although i have friends who turn up when they know i am having a rather delicious meal in the hope of getting some !!!!! they even text when on their way to say get a plate ready! cheek of it lol:rotfl:

grandma247

jtb2412 wrote: »

I love spotted di*k (didn't think it would let me write the rude word lol)

Well it didn't like my c0conit so you have no chance. I still can't think why

grandma247

the_cat wrote: »

Just a quick note re watering down milk. For some strange scientific reason semi skimmed and skimmed milk has less fat but not less calcium and other goodness to full fat milk

By watering down full fat milk you will also dilute it's goodness. As long as you are getting enough goodness from the rest of your diet, no probs. Perhaps needs to be done in moderation for young children though?

Calcium needs fat to be absorbed by the body and although skimmed may have more calcium less of it can be used unless you also eat something with fat in it. Ladies of a certain age should have full fat to help prevent osteoporosis and by the same token so should young children. Personally I think it is better to cut down fat on other things. Crackers and crisps are loaded with fat.

knithappens

spookycat wrote: »

At six months I do baby led weaning (blw), no mushed food. Steam broccoli, carrots etc in sticks that can be grasped and sucked until there is no more

Sometimes I'll mooli Sundays dinner for them, but generally they have exactly what we have but grabby-stick style. Exception is thing like chilli, curry etc at 8 months, then it's more rice/couscous than sauce iyswim. They just grab handfuls and shovel it in.
Melon, apple (cooked), soft pear, banana etc all the same way, cut into fishfinger-ish sized piece and hand to baby. Most of their nutrients are still gained from milk and the food is more do do with texture and taste rather than nutrition.

i do a mixture of this and puree's, mainly as LO wont take a bottle and very little from a cup, so i will be reverse cycling, so baby breastfeeds more at night, that way i can make sure she still gets her milk when at the childminders when i go back to work, so looking or mashed up foods she can eat when i am at work ( i that makes sense lol)
i dont want to give her jars, as i want her to know the real taste and texture of foods even if mashed up a little.

at the moment she has pear, apple, potatoe sweet potatoe brocolli, parsnip, pimpkin, natural yogurt, banana. etc, looking or everyday o the shelf oods that we can all eat, like weetabix etc, as i want to be able to still give her milk or her breakast while at work, but dont want to mix with rusk etc. it is 7 year since my last one so i am drawing a blank.

Nessa56

Hi all

Well I still haven't managed to get my head around the excellent spreadsheet sent to me but I will when I get half a minute to myself, honestly for someone who lives on her own I dont get much time to myself amazing !!

Anyhoo, I have roughly worked out with everything my budget will be £10,500.00

Now as I said that is rough and I may have to change it once I do get to do the spreadsheet, so please bear with me

Good luck to everybody and I will report in as and when I can

Off to do my Signature now

v
x

FrankieM

edaniels pies...either pastry or mash on the top. I tend to use pastry and then serve potatoes of some description on the side to be more filling.
I've generally done chicken chassuer in the slow cooker with chicken on the bone portions, so I imagine thighs would be fine. They may just take longer to cook.
I don't have a bread pudding recipe but there is sure to be one in the Oldstyle Index. There are loads or recipes in there. I make my oldish bread into garlic toast to go with pasta dishes. Its like garlic bread but crunchier!
Lentils...I just put these in most minced beef dishes, especially Bolognaise/lasagne and cottage pie. I also put them into sausages casseroles in the slow cooker and use them as a base for my veggie meals. I imagine they could go into most things..worth a try!

chika could you have just done coffee/tea and cake for your friend. Cause we are a family of 6 most of my meals can feed an extra or two. If you're doing a pasta thing or have a pasta thing already you could just put another tin of tomatoes in it or serve it with some sort of bread and salad or a pudding afterwards to pad it out a bit.

grandma247

knithappens wrote: »

looking or everyday o the shelf oods that we can all eat, like weetabix etc, as i want to be able to still give her milk or her breakast while at work, but dont want to mix with rusk etc. it is 7 year since my last one so i am drawing a blank.

If you have a food processor you can put a cup of oats in and grind it to a flour consistency and use what you think she will eat as a smooth porridge. Or you could whizz cooked porridge with a stick blender.
semolina or tapioca is also good for a change with a bit of fruit.