Weezl's phase 1- recipe testing and frugalisation- come one, come all!

weezl74

Avocet wrote: »

I'm afraid I have to say that I think there are too many cakes and biscuits -- they account for more than 13% of the budget. Do people really eat so many snacks of different types in a day?

A million, million thanks Avocet

Sorry you've had a hard day, and certainly sorry you had to fit all that in it too.

We're all working really hard at the ministry of food aren't we? I think we need to have a team fun day instead! Lets eat enormous amounts of the carrot cake and chit chat about twinkle's wedding

but you raised the important issue of cakes.

I think that was my response to a few posts about hungry teens. I may have misunderstood, but I was certainly surprised by how many snacks were needed. Not cos I didn't believe people, just that my 11 month old isn't a voracious eater yet! It's absolutely possible that I overdid it. Which is why I need you lovely lot to keep me on track.

artybear

Hello everyone!!!!!!!

Iv been busy all day but my mind kept wondering off onto frugal plans-not good when discussing architectural history lol!!!

I think snacks are needed in terms of teenages-for example my OH eats on a normal day

Porridge

Half a pack of biscuits

Noodles for lunch

Half a pack of biscuits

Dinner such as spag bol with garlic bread and veg

Some chocolaty rubbish

Bout midnight cheese on toast

He probably eats between 4000 and 5000 calories a day. and many of my male friends do so too.

Sooo its better to have the snacks worked into the budget than Shirl being annoyed all her food is disappearing.

artybearXXXX

FrankieM

Teenagers....I have 3. 2 girls and 1 boy and they have weetabix/porridge/muesli for breakfast. A sandwich and a piece of cake ( sometimes a piece of fruit) for lunch. Usually a couple of pieces of toast and a cup of tea when they get in from school and an adult portion of tea, maybe a yoghurt for pudding.
Mine don't seem to eat anywhere near as much as others suggest teenagers eat.

phizzimum

Sian_the_Green wrote: »

Have we considered scones?

personally, I have considered them far too often for my own good

Avocet wrote: »

I do hope it's right. It's been rather a bad day, and I don't have time to check this thoroughly.

well done Avocet, I found reading that list exhausting let alone calculating it!

morag's comments were very interesting...I think a poll in DFW and the Arms would provide some interesting research and maybe some helpful contributors too.

got a half batch of cereal bars ready to go in the oven so will report on them later. for what it's worth I think the amount of snacks is a minimum for a family with kids. my girls would easily eat that much and they aren't teenagers.

System

weezl74 wrote: »

I think that was my response to a few posts about hungry teens. I may have misunderstood, but I was certainly surprised by how many snacks were needed.

Snacks, yes -- but cakes and biscuits, not too often. If mine are hungry, they eat fruit, yoghurt, carrots, toast, leftovers from the last meal, bread and butter, bread and jam, bread and peanut butter, bread and marmite (bread and bread, my son has just offered!). Once or twice a week we might have sweet things like cakes and biscuits, but I would worry about (a) their teeth, and (b) their future eating habits on leaving home!

Mostly we confine food to mealtimes, and I wouldn't like to give the impression that there is constant grazing going on. But teenagers do eat snacks (my daughter is growing out of it now that she appears to have stopped growing). Both children used to eat something when they got home from school, unless it was late and close to their evening meal. My son often has elevenses and supper as well, if he's building up to a growth spurt. But in general it's always fairly healthy stuff, not crammed with fat and sugar. We have biscuits and cakes as treats, not as standard. But maybe we're weird.

Lesley_Gaye

weezl74 wrote: »

My sense of it, for what it's worth is that we may end up with 20 recipes for shirley month one, but an extra 100 for something else equally magnificent I'm amazed how healthy and frugal we have all challenged ourselves to be, and we have suceeded

And I'm gonna get your crumble on one of the meal planners if it kills me :rotfl:

Ha ha, I get like that with a recipe I especially want to do, I'm glad you like it

I have opened another Word doc for all the lovely recipes we have come up with here as i wanted to keep them separate.

The cereal bars are much liked here. I did a half qty in a baking tray/swiss roll tin. Would have easily cut into 16 portions about 2.5" sq. OH fell on it straight from the oven and cut himself a large piece off, and had some more once it had got cold. We both like oaty things a lot, so that's another keeper! He said how it wasn't very sweet, but I like it like that as I am trying to train my taste buds away from sweetness, and I'll ask him again later when he has cogitated

I made some roasted yellow pepper soup with some 5p peppers from the bashed box and added some white beans. Had some beans leftover and I have been thinking that they would probably work really well in the spicy batter that we do the sweetcorn fritters in, so I'll try that and see what they are like

phizzimum

good point avocet - my girls do have either a cooked pudding or a cake/biscuit after our evening meal everyday but other snacks are savoury/fruit/yoghurt. but...the portions of the cakes on the planner are small in my opinion.

Lesley_Gaye

weezl74 wrote: »

Any chance of a recipe How would it work as the base sian, would it be scone based and pastry sides, or no sides? Am a bit dumb about sconeshaving never made them

I have used scone type things quite a bit. Any savoury mix can be put on a scone base, or topped with scone rings (cobbler) to make it go further, same as making a pie using pastry to do the same thing, or a veggie stew can be made more interesting with little dumplings. Will look out a recipe if you still need one later, am just doing a quick catch up then back to the sofa, this flippin' cold is really knocking me out

Edit - see you have a recipe

On the teenagers thing, when my 6ft DD was a teenager, she could eat her Dad under the table.She would have a gigantic bowl of cereal before school, take several pieces of fruit with her for break, eat a full lunch at school, have 4 pieces of toast on getting home, eat a full dinner, then scavenge whatever she could find for supper. Now she's an adult it's a LOT less

ceridwen

FrankieM wrote: »

purpleivy wrote: »

I think what Ceridwen said about leading a horse to water is a good one and perhaps people will just tweak it for their own personal preferences.

I live in the Midlands, I don't know if area makes a difference to what people are used to or willing to eat.

My personal feeling is that there are some differences between areas as to food preferences - I just dont know quite how big they are. We do still have some "regional" foods for instance in different parts of Britain. It may be that there are some level of differences as to how much effort people are prepared to make towards cooking their meals. I dont know...just my suspicion. We dont really have any way of telling.

but - I'll go back to my comment about "you can take a horse to water but you cant make it drink". Having reached a "certain age" - I frequently quote this one to myself these days in a variety of different contexts - not just this one.

But - if we put all the details of our Plan "on the table" then many people will duly take it up, lots more will try various recipes from it that they like the sound of and it will be well worth doing.

ceridwen

Sian_the_Green wrote: »

I think a chutney is more than manageable with those ingredients!

I agree that people will be picking up the parts of the plan that work for them and think that the basic plan will be adaptable for others. e.g. a plan for free range egg buyers for £110, one for £120 which allowed meat twice a week (only an extra £5 per person) etc etc... I think the costs are so low that people will be able to tweak a little out of their 'treats' budget if needs be. I'm sure for most families there will be meals out or friends around or birthday parties which will mean a little extra in some places and a little less in others. If our teenage kids have paper rounds etc then they can add as many bags of doritos as they want

Have we considered scones? The savoury ones I made the other day were really really good and we could even make a scone base for the onion tart to make it go a little farther.

For me, the priority of the plan has to be calories as then we are not actually going to kill them in the near future, then nutrients that will lead to major problems later e.g. protein, calcium... I am unsure on the omegas, seems like for a basic plan like this it pushes out a lot of the things which make it plausible for most people. I wonder, given your posts earlier whether this is where cost comes in for you Weezl? If you want to keep the £100 amount it seems like something has to give, and if you want the omegas then the meat etc seems to have to change.

Hmm... Will feedback on anything else I cook

Hope all are well, congrats to newly engaged people, hugs to those who need them!

Good post.

My feelings exactly - ie that we lay our £100 (give or take a few pennies) Plan on the table and some people will try it to the letter, many others will find an extra £10 or £20 or however-much per month to add in a few bits that are vital to them personally and they have managed to grab those odd few £s from some other household budget. People will be more or less strict with themselves according to their own personal circumstances and priorities.

At a personal level - if I got SO SO desperate for a month or two that I had to follow our vegetarian version when it comes out - then I would be thinking "a quarter of a £100 for just me is totally astoundingly incredible anyways - so I'll follow the basic plan and add in the coupla bits that are vital to me personally (ie freerange eggs and decent coffee) and it will still be way way cheaper than i currently spend and help me a LOT".