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

shaz_mum_of__2

Recipe Test Sheet

Recipe Used :..................................................................................





General feedback: .............................................................................







Suggested improvements: ......................................................................





Suggested frugalisations: .....................................................................






Nutritional feedback ..........................................................................




Current costings: ..............................................................................................





Recommended: Yes / No

grandma247

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.
YES Ceredwin I have long suspected that sprays and other chemical laden things are the cause of increasing cancers. Look at the Amish they eat what we would consider to be a very unhealthy diet,lots of meat, milk,butter,sugar etc. Yet as a people they are very healthy. They don't use chemicals,they eat organic homecooked meals, They preserve their own homegrown foods.

A cup of apple sauce can be used to replace a cup of oil in cake recipes like the carrot cake. I make and bottle my own.

Weezl during my 361/2 years of marriage we have had four major recessions and in three we were close to bankruptcy and dh was out of a job for two of them due to redundancy. The worst one was in the late 70's early 80's. We cut back to the bone and it took two years to get out of that mess. This last one has not affected us partly because dh has a job and I had ominus feelings nearly three years ago that the bubble would burst so I found the 4K thread and started paying off and cutting back. I am so glad I did. We have now halved the mortgage and hopefully it will be 1/4 at the end of the next twelve months.
I grew veg and sprouted beans, made my own bread, had meat twice a week, made yoghurt.I shopped at every shop in town and knew every price in those shops of the things I needed so I could get the cheapest.
I invented recipes for beanburgers,fritters, pies and pasties. My children were healthy even though the variety of fruit and veg was not great.
In ww2 they did not have the variety we see today but most people were healthier than they had ever been because they had enough.
The idea of having different families is good because the most frugal phase could be for the initial diet when things are really bad then people could go on the other phases as things get better. When you are in serious debt and you have a concience about it you do what you have to to get rid of it.
Weezl I hope you dont mind me commenting occaisionally. This thread is very interesting.

In_Search_Of_Me

well its lovely to be with you all...I've missed my weezl family while we've been "apart"..good post weezl, although how you think at that time of the morning is beyond me...re the free range eggs...I suspect weezl will know what I will say but for the rest...I cannot buy battery eggs. I know weezl will say that I'm in "s+++" so must but I cant. The thought of being responsible for allowing animals to live like that is a step too far for me. Each to their own and all that but thats my "aint buying battery eggs" vote (heels dug in, foot stomped!)! Sorry weezl...
Re the cost of the challenge what about a compromise and lowering the ammt - that way spare room for some "treats" which I'm sure people will want Weezl? As I type this I cast my mind back to a conversation trying to persuade weezl to spend the remaining 6p (or was it 16) of the last challenge...she wouldnt and put it into the pot for the next one...would have been cola bottles for me!
Shaz have a look at the knit your sqaure thread for kester "babette! blanket - suspect you will be in love too!!

SunnyGirl

Weezl I agre with you & other posters - it's a plan for emergencies and absolute shortage of money and as such certain decisions that some people find unethical (battery eggs, cheaper non organic meat etc) may have to be made for a few months. If I were the mythical Shirley I would gladly buy battery eggs and non free range/organic meat in order to keep the wolf/bailiff/debt collector from the door.

In fact in the past when we were totally skint I have bought such things. Even though it nagged at my conscience I honestly thought it was better to keep MY family well fed with proteins etc than it was to be ethical. Now I buy less meat but what I do buy is happy meat. But if I absolutley had to I'd buy non happy meat/eggs again.

Shirley can take the basic plan as you have written it and choose whether she wants to follow it to the letter or have some extras and cut down from another budget. It'll be the choice of the person doing the plan.

Hope all this rambling makes sense It is a fantastic thread and thank you for all the time you & the other posters are putting into it. It's good to read so many opinions and views

weezl74

shaz_mum_of__2 wrote: »

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

I love you too shaz. Did the postie come with anything exciting yet today for you?

Hmmmmn, feedback form, good idea.... What did people think it needs to contain?

knithappens wrote: »

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.

Yes, I think that's how I picture it too, like you could click whether you'd do without meat, or fresh stuff or whatever and then the menu plan would change accordingly...

Penelope_Penguin wrote: »

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

If you mean my personal budget, then yes I would!:) If you mean do I feel it's better to create a resource which offers people healthy but low cost food plans, or to raise the cost and only stipulate Free range eggs, then I'd say I'd offer the lower price food plan to help the greatest number of people.

But of course anyone who read it could easily think to themselves, 'yes, shifting the debt is important but I won't sacrifice my free range' and I wouldn't dream of stopping them, even if I could. Does that make any sense at all?

Your second point is interesting too. I'm not sure if you read my long and controversial post about subsistence living and why I feel there needs to be investment into researching it and teaching it as was done prior to the late 1950s, and probably this isn't quite the place for a rehash:o, but in a nutshell that's why I've set the budget I have to this challenge, because I'm persuing a moral/political personal imperative.

That doesn't mean at all that I'm not interested in hearing other views or that I will ever dream of telling anyone on here what to eat. But if people are willing to test recipes, irrrespective of whether anyone thinks the rationale behind it is a bit bonkers (to quote shaz's lovely term:D), then that's ok, I don't mind at all and I welcome all pals along the way.

I see myself as a bit of a cassandra figure, but she was lonely. And I'm too extravert for that! I think I'm going on a 1000 mile journey here and I don't expect anyone else to be motivated about doing the same. I think what we have here are friends who will walk the first 10 miles (recipe testing) and that's brilliant.

Do I expect that if I want to take my funny little journey further and lobby government about subsistence or write a book, or somesuch other mammoth undertaking that you would all come with me?

Heavens no! I'd have to find a much wackier forum to recruit those friends :rotfl:

weezl74

In_Search_Of_Me wrote: »

I cannot buy battery eggs. I know weezl will say that I'm in "s+++" so must but I cant. The thought of being responsible for allowing animals to live like that is a step too far for me. !

apologies for giving the wrong impression, I hope this that I posted earlier clears that up:

weezl74 wrote: »

That doesn't mean at all that I'm not interested in hearing other views or that I will ever dream of telling anyone on here what to eat. But if people are willing to test recipes, irrrespective of whether anyone thinks the rationale behind it is a bit bonkers (to quote shaz's lovely term:D), then that's ok, I don't mind at all and I welcome all pals along the way.

weezl74

PS sorry shaz, just seen you've already done a feedback form

weezl74

Penelope_Penguin wrote: »

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:

I was just experimenting to see if the roast meals could be cheaper, I would still be really interested, and find it most useful if you thought 100g per person of belly pork would suffice if with the veg potatoes and stuffing I listed earlier

Lesley_Gaye

Hi Weezl, my that was a heavy post for such an early hour of the morning.

My thoughts, for what they are worth.

You are creating a great resource that people can use if they want to, in a paint by numbers way, to keep their expenditure to the absolute minimum. What you won't ever be able to do is create something that everyone will be happy with, it just isn't possible, people vary too much.

Once we have the full plan for month one, we will have a step by step plan to spend £100 and keep body and soul together for 4 people for a month. If people want to have FR eggs, more F&V, or whatever it may be, there won't be anybody standing over them.

I think the strengths of this resource are that it can be done on a budget that is a lot lower than the majority of people would think it can be done on; it can be done healthily; it can be done without spending the entire time trying to find bashed box bargains and skip diving; it is a gift not a diktat for those who need it, esp those who may not have the experience of regular OSers

I admire your generosity of spirit in creating it, and I for one, am enjoying it immensely

Lesley_Gaye

I made the chick pea crumble yesterday and will be having it tonight. It looks and smells good, so I'm expecting (hoping?) it will taste good too.

I added some garam masala to the chickpeas for some extra flavour. I'll let you know how it turns out and what the final recipe was