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

weezl74

revised recipe list: Also at post 2

List here of recipes I'd like to frugalise:

thick onion tart (like an oniony quiche, delia originally)

carrot cake

sweetcorn fritters (not the ketchup)

chick pea curry

veg risotto

home made chutney

pork and apple burgers

spicy tomato meatballs and pasta

pasta, pesto and green beans

borscht

roast turkey leg and trimmings (very straightforward, just need an idea of whether the portions are adequate!)

roast belly pork and trimmings (as above)

HM pizza with gammon and onion (on top!)

carrot and chick pea veggie burgers

corned beef hash

oaty raisin cereal bars

weezl74

1.8Kg ASDA Braeburn Apples by Weight (100g) 2.70
2 x ASDA Smartprice Oranges (6) 1.36
2.9Kg ASDA Carrots by Weight (100g) 2.03
2 x ASDA Smartprice Beetroot (500g) 1.08
8 x ASDA Smartprice Brown Onions (2Kg) 6.24
4 x ASDA Smartprice Potatoes (2.5Kg) 3.36
2 x ASDA Smartprice Salted Peanuts (200g) 0.54
7 x ASDA Smartprice Raisins (500g) 4.55
4 x Batchelors Bigga Dried Peas (250g) 0.96

Dairy


4 x ASDA Whole Fresh Milk 4 Pints (2.27L) 5.00 any 2 FOR £2.50 - valid until: 16/02/10
1 x ASDA Cooks Value Medium Eggs (30) 2.98
4 x I Can't Believe It's Not Butter Spread (500g) 3.00 any 2 FOR £1.50 - valid until: 30/03/10
1 x ASDA Smartprice Mature White Cheddar 4.98

Meat, Fish & Poultry


700g ASDA Boneless Pork Leg Roast by Weight (100g) 2.03
4 x ASDA Smartprice British Beef Mince (400g) 3.88
2 x ASDA Smartprice Turkey Drumsticks (700g) 2.94
2 x ASDA Sausage Meat Pork (454g) 2.42

Frozen


2 x ASDA Fine Whole Green Beans (1Kg) 2.00
4 x ASDA Smartprice Cauliflower Florets (907g) 3.16
4 x ASDA Smartprice Peas (907g) 3.48
4 x ASDA Smartprice Sweetcorn (907g) 3.44

Tins, Jars & Cooking


1 x ASDA Pure Sunflower Oil (1L) 0.93 was 98p
1 x Gia Garlic Puree in Vegetable Oil (90g) 0.59
1 x Rajah Garam Masala (100g) 0.56
15 x ASDA Smartprice Baked Beans in Tomato Sauce (420g) 4.35
14 x ASDA Smartprice Peeled Plum Tomatoes in Tomato Juice (400g)
2 x ASDA Smartprice Corned Beef (340g) 1.98
1 x ASDA Green Olives Anchovy Stuffed (340g) 0.84
1 x ASDA Smartprice Red Cabbage in Vinegar (340g) 0.40
2 x ASDA Green Pesto Sauce (190g) 1.00 any 2 FOR £1.00 - valid until: 02/03/10
1 x ASDA Smartprice English Mustard (200g) 0.40 was 44p
1 x ASDA Stock Cubes Chicken (12x10g) 0.76 any 2 FOR £1.00 - valid until: 31/12/10

Packets & Cereals


2 x ASDA Wheat Bisks (24x18g) 2.00
3 x ASDA Smartprice Porridge Oats (1Kg) 1.74
2 x ASDA Smartprice Self Raising Flour (1.5Kg) 0.86
9 x ASDA Strong White Bread Flour (1.5Kg) 5.49
1 x KTC Lemon Juice (250ml) 0.44
1 x SuperCook Bicarbonate of Soda (200g) 0.56
1 x Thomas Allinson Dried Active Yeast (125g) 0.47
2 x Silver Spoon Granulated Sugar (1Kg) 1.50 2 FOR £1.50 - valid until: 23/03/10
5 x ASDA Smartprice Pasta Shapes (500g) 1.60
5 x ASDA Smartprice Long Grain Rice (1Kg) 3.65
1 x Natco Chick Peas (2Kg) 2.53
4 x ASDA Smartprice Sage & Onion Stuffing Mix (85g) 0.64

Drinks


1 x ASDA Smartprice Tea Bags (80 per pack - 250g) 0.28

total £100.04

weezl74

Rats! Not enough flour.....

Back to the drawing board.....

Penelope_Penguin

Weezl - do you never sleep :A Love the long post and your explanation :T

I'm going to cook a variation on this recipe today - any comments or tips from anyone ETA - no I'm not - pork belly has been replaced by pork leg :huh:

In_Search_Of_Me wrote: »

ahh!! Wasnt sure you knew she was with sprog!

Sorry, I didn't; I thought that the Weezl-Monkeys were expecting their second baby

In_Search_Of_Me wrote: »

ok up to page 4 and will finish tom as MUST start kesters babette blanket

Ooooh, you know a Kester; I thought the 2 I know are the only ones in the world :cool:

Penelope_Penguin

weezl74 wrote: »

Rats! Not enough flour.....

Back to the drawing board.....

Is there no way that you're prepared to stretch the budget a little? How much do you save by not having FR eggs?

I work advising people in debt, and presented with a budget for 4 people that only inlcudes £100/mth for food, the HMRC would negotiate on the putative £12000 tax debt, to allow more for food

ceridwen

Well - my thoughts are Weezl that "yep - I acknowledge that there ARE rather a lot of people out there with wrong priorities." I do know that there are people who would rather see hens sitting there suffering in batteries - than give up meat. There ARE men out there (and..yep...I think it probably is more likely to be men than women) who sit there and totally INSIST "Me - I'm mucho macho - must have that meat" (beating their hairy - or otherwise - chests) and many women give in to them (because they earn the major share of the "bread").

Again - there are people out there who would a sight sooner insist on running a car (whether they could actually be said to need one or no)/spend on cigarettes/spend on consumer "goodies" and then say that they cant afford to eat healthily (when actually they perfectly well could - if they got their priorities right).

But - there are many people who genuinely really simply do not have enough money to be able to afford a healthy/moral diet - even with the best will in the world and a perfectly correct set of priorities.

There are women out there letting the man in the household dictate to a large extent how the whole household eats - and for an understandable set of reasons (even though many of us wouldnt agree with them).

So - yep - I'll GO FOR YOUR COUPLE OF DIFFERENT SETS OF PLANS. Then Shirley and Bob can "do their thing" (whilst we grit our teeth about those poor battery hens) and I can eat the Hattie Barnacle version AND throw in loads of extra fruit and vegetables on top of that to get my 9-a-day (I, for one, am perfectly capable of thinking "Hattie's is basically a good plan for me - but not as much fruit/veg as I have" and adding in bits (like fruit with my breakfast and salad with my dinner).

I tend to think the emphasis on colours is a Government-led idea (to deflect us all from the real cause of cancer - ie all the darn chemicals in our environment - so the culprits can carry on as normal). They are trying to put the responsibility on our shoulders by telling us its OUR fault if we get cancer (nope - not actually - bar doing things like smoking) - in order to skive out of dealing with the real culprits. But I am well aware that a lot of people wouldnt agree with me on that yet.

So - if we have to have a coupla different plans - then I think that is how it has to be Weezl.

ceridwen

Actually - looking at Penny's point - as I understand it: I believe the standard amount of money "allowed" for food per person per week for debtors is £25 per week (which I think personally is about right).

I was talking to a couple of obvious middle-aged/elderly "housewives" in Sainsburys about this plan and the reaction was that it simply cant be done for £100 per family per month - as one of them said "I spend that myself alone".

My own feeling is that if you raised the "threshold" to say £150 per month for the mythical family - its still INCREDIBLY cheap and would probably allow all considerations to be "taken on board". Also it would involve less time and effort on the part of the shopper/cook in our mythical family - as a lot of us simply dont have the time/wouldnt do such "fine-tuning" on a regular basis.
(bearing in mind our Weezl that you like playing with figures and are very good at it - errr.....not like most of us then. The only other person I have come across on MSE that works things out so exactly is cw18 actually - who also plans everything down to the last penny). Personally - I simply dont have the time/wouldnt want to plan everything to the nearest £ even - aagh!

homegrown_life

no fireworks from me. I think if you can do it for £100, do it. Then you can show how much extra for doing FR eggs so if people do do the plan they can change it. The thing with eggs are that they are the same thing and easy to swap and change, where meat changes impact the menu plan. Does that make sense?

I suppose the thing is that things happen and emergencies come up and often people take money from the grocery budget to survive. Not always people on debt plans eitehr. It's not always every month. You see it on OS all the time where people for whatever reason find themselves extremely tight for one or two months and a resource like this would be great to keep them going healthily while they get themselves on track.

I'm looking forward to the vegan plan already

Well done for starting it all Weezl in any case! :T

knithappens

weezl I am totally with you best to do a plan for the majority, then if people wish to adapt this then they can. and costings can be added eg vegan, veggie organic. there is potential to create a monster, ii say stick to the original for now, anf variations can be added later if needed.

shaz_mum_of__2

Weezl you are bonkers ..........but i love you !!!

The eggs (whiuch i buy ) are a luxury but for the purposes of this challenge we are talking about survival battery eggs are better than no eggs

as penny says debtors are allowed more to spend on food , perhaps Shirley can decide whether to spend the extra on FR eggs (as can those of us that are following )

The one thing i learned working in catering is you cant please all the people all the time

Great community spirit going on here its fab,may try the fritters tonight

Can we turn a post into a feedback form to print off to scribble comments on and feedback to you ?

Penny weezl is calling baby Kester , which i love in case i haven't mentioned




Shaz

edited in

Weezl have done a test sheet what do you think anything need adding ?