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

shanks77

On the milk front have you thought of using the packs of UHT stuff it is fine in tea and coffee and i cook with it all the time. It last for ages once opened though i might not drink it "straight" as a bit of the watery side but for everything else its fine even ex doesnt complain so it must be fine!!!!!!!
Mr A does a 1lt pack for about 54p

weezl74

Penelope_Penguin wrote: »

Be careful switching pickle-vinegar for vinegar in a recipe. It may have been diluted with water. Have you a recipe to start with?

OH no! Gutted if I can't use that we're not gonna be able to have chutney with the sweetcorn fritters. All the money is accounted for. And I can't lose any of the F and V

However I am mighty impressed with how we're doing and really want to respond to loads more posts, but DH is being stern now since I've been up since 4 so I really must go to bed, but will launch more recipes and respond in the morning

SunnyGirl

Penelope_Penguin wrote: »

Be careful switching pickle-vinegar for vinegar in a recipe. It may have been diluted with water. Have you a recipe to start with?

I'm following this recipe. I was just going to use some of the pickling vinegar for the added sweetness but I'll reassess that now I think Any advice please - all gratefully received

nicki_2

shanks77 wrote: »

On the milk front have you thought of using the packs of UHT stuff it is fine in tea and coffee and i cook with it all the time. It last for ages once opened though i might not drink it "straight" as a bit of the watery side but for everything else its fine even ex doesnt complain so it must be fine!!!!!!!
Mr A does a 1lt pack for about 54p

I use Mr A's smartprice UHT milk - I buy it in bulk usually when I'm needing toilet rolls and potatoes and put in an online order :rotfl: The delivery man laughs as he only delivers here every 8 weeks or so but remembers me every time because of the way I put in bulk orders :rotfl::rotfl:

grandma247

Weezl can I but in here about vinegar ? So long as it says it is 5% it is fine for pickles and chutney. The 29p bottles in Lidl is 5%. I find pickling vinegar which is 6% is too sharp for us even after a few months.

homegrown_life

I've put the list into MrS's on MySupermarket. Came out at £114.66 and 747 F&V portions. Not sure how to copy and paste it, but might try in the morning. Lack of Smartprice options don't help especially with porridge, beetroot and frozen veg. might have a think about how to tweak things later.

One thought I had about bread - assuming you're planning on it being made yourself (no yeast on list though and not all supermarkets give it away free, might be best to assume our impoverished family won't have that option??) but possibly the bread might work ok with half strong and half plain flour? Might save a few pennies.

weezl74

grandma247 wrote: »

Weezl can I but in here about vinegar ? So long as it says it is 5% it is fine for pickles and chutney. The 29p bottles in Lidl is 5%. I find pickling vinegar which is 6% is too sharp for us even after a few months.

Thanks, I really hope it works, *looks for a fingers crossed smiley*:)

nicki wrote: »

I use Mr A's smartprice UHT milk - I buy it in bulk usually when I'm needing toilet rolls and potatoes and put in an online order :rotfl: The delivery man laughs as he only delivers here every 8 weeks or so but remembers me every time because of the way I put in bulk orders :rotfl::rotfl:

Thanks nicki and shanks77, I had ruled it out on the strength of my DHs reaction to UHT, but I think we can probably include it as one of our 'cheaper swaps'

homegrown_life wrote: »

I've put the list into MrS's on MySupermarket. Came out at £114.66 and 747 F&V portions. Not sure how to copy and paste it, but might try in the morning. Lack of Smartprice options don't help especially with porridge, beetroot and frozen veg. might have a think about how to tweak things later.

One thought I had about bread - assuming you're planning on it being made yourself (no yeast on list though and not all supermarkets give it away free, might be best to assume our impoverished family won't have that option??) but possibly the bread might work ok with half strong and half plain flour? Might save a few pennies.

Apologies, you are all right, I have actually posted an older list it doesn't have the yeast or oranges and is the wrong carrot. Will amend now...

PS don't worry about the F and V counter, yours is correct. The formula used on that site is not correct for pulses or dried goods, but fine for fresh and frozen. You need to put all your fresh and frozen stuff in, observe the number and then manually add the pulses and dried things.

I'm going to write to mysupermarket, but other tasks are more pressing!

But if anyone else would like to, be my guest! :beer:

weezl74

misskool wrote: »

Sorry weezl, I'll be back on track with recipe testing soon.

Off topicness is welcomed especially when it's thought-provoking! it's really only when we're feeding back thoughts about the recipes that I think we need to stay focussed on our mythical Family

Penelope_Penguin wrote: »

I've been wondering about this; I know that pulses can only count as one portion of 5-a-day, but could you not stretch to 2 portions once or twice a week, if you;re eating 7-a-day :think:

It does actually seem tricky once you get to 7 a day to not have some repeats of the colours, or of the groups which oughtn't to be doubled, and regular 7-9 a day ers must sometimes do repeats?

Penny do you manage to make your 9 all different colours different fruit and veg and not have juice or pulses counting more than once? If so, WOW, and I really need your help!

Looking at the scientific rationale it seems that this is more geared towards people who only manage the 5 a day, but I don't think the masses will let us get away with doubling up if it doesn't say so it the rules:o:). What do people think?

weezl74

jenid wrote: »

In the meantime Weezl I was thinking would it be useful if we thought of some alternative receipes for your listed ingredients so that you could add alternatives for your family if they didn't like one receipe.

For example I make a cheap and easy onion soup, and also an onion pizza, would these recipes be any good for you?

Do please post any recipes. I can't guarantee I'll have the headspace to use them in this monthly planner, but I feel strongly that this plan would fail if we told a UK family that they had to endlessly repeat one month's eating! So I think in my heart that if successful we have to have lots of frugal recipes up out sleeves. Also this is a thread for everyone's benefit, so by posting a frugal recipe, we can all nab it!So yes yes and yes, and that goes for you too :Aprincess Loki, do post your inspired idea here for all to see if you'd like to

nicki wrote: »

Well I'm going through Wheezl's shopping list and trying to make it lower fat (particularly saturated fat), lower sugar, lower sodium & wholemeal for as close to £100 as possible. I'm within £10-£20max ATM but I've made a few personal substitutions (like lost the beetroot & red cabbage, but supplemented frozen mushrooms & Peppers). Also trying to make choices based on what I can get in my local store which appears to be different to those on the list *rolls eyes* I'm actually quite surprised as I thought eating healthier would be substantially more expensive.

Hi nicki, are you thinking of an alternative version for people who will sacrifice other things in order to make the meal plan even healthier, that's fab! I wonder how many standard British users would click that option?

nopot2pin wrote: »

I would quite like to do this Weezl :j:j, if no one else wishes to ...

I shift work, so although I am all up for testing recipes, sometimes work gets in the way *rolleyes* and cooking/cheffing has to wait till days off
But I always manage time for the computer :whistle:
And I feel a spreadsheet opportunity is in the air :j:j:whistle::rotfl:




Marks out of 10 for you ??
Marks out of 10 from your family/DH ect ect ??

potty that would be great. Why don't you trawl through for the tart one and the Carrot cake and see how long it takes you, Doing all of them seems like a lot of work! If this thread grows at this rate we'll be struggling to hunt for the individual feedback.

Phizzimum I think you suggested that we highlight which recipe we have tested in our post, I think this is an excellent idea and I shall add it to the 'rules'

More news, Sarah Joanne has had her baby :T:T:T:T so I'l not expect any batch cooking/testing for a wee while! Consider yourself exempt lady, and congratulations

weezl74

phizzimum wrote: »

well, we had the onion tart for dinner tonight and the girls were very excited to be testing a recipe for the 50p lady!

MSG for Phizzimum's children,


Hiya!

Thank you very much for being testers:j:j:j. We are trying very hard to come up with something which everyone will like to eat, whether they are young or old. I only have a baby to try the food on and he's so little he can't have cake! Please stay and do more testing?

Love from the 50p lady xxx