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

weezl74

phizzimum wrote: »

hi everyone!

has anyone made the borscht yet? I've got the waitrose recipe but not sure what ingredients I should be using from the frugalised list... beetroot, cabbage, stock cubes -but the waitrose recipe also has potatoes, tomatoes, onions, cream - should i just leave these out?

if there's a frugalised recipe up and I've missed it sorry! point me in the right direction

sorry, the borscht is really lacking direction at the moment! We have canned toms and SP potatoes on the asda list, also SP onions, so it's mainly the cream we're going without, I think. Does that help at all? You're the very first to try it, so it's all very new and untested :D

phizzimum

oo-er! I don't like the responsibility! I've never tried borscht before so I don't even know what it's meant to taste like, but maybe that's a good idea!

shaz_mum_of__2

FrankieM wrote: »

Hi,
I just wanted to add that you should do the 'challenge' as you first planned and make it as workable for you as possible.
People can add or take away as they want or as fits into there own budget or ethical needs.
My friend has a saying...eat the meat and spit out the bones. All information requires that we use what works for us and skip what doesn't. (to a certain degree)

Great advice tell us what to do it will be easier that way afterall recipe testings about looking for glaring mistakes not rewriting

weezl74 wrote: »

evening meals only for a 31 day month beginning on a Wednesday # 1 please be gentle with me!

weds sweetcorn fritters + HM chutney

thur chana mutter masala + rice

fri pasta Formaggi e pomodoro

sat risotto vegetale

sun roast belly pork , stuffing, veg, roasties and gravy

mon spicy sausage meatballs+ rice

tue chick pea crumble

weds pasta puttanesca

thur veggie burgers with wedges and chutney

fri chana mutter masala + rice

sat penne con pesto I Fagiolini

sun slow cooker roast turkey thigh, stuffing, veg, roasties and gravy

mon Delia's Thick onion tart

tue cauliflower cheese with green bean and beetroot salad

weds pork and apple burgers with HM wedges and veg

thur risotto vegetale

fri cauliflower cheese with green bean and beetroot salad

sat penne con pesto I Fagiolini

sun roast belly pork , stuffing, veg, roasties and gravy

mon spicy sausage meatballs+ rice

tue chick pea crumble weds sweetcorn fritters

thur chilli con carne

fri penne con pesto I Fagiolini

sat Delia's Thick onion tart

sun slow cooker roast turkey thigh, stuffing, veg, roasties and gravy

mon pasta puttanesca

tue HM pizza, garlic bread

weds pork and apple burgers with HM wedges and veg

thur cauliflower cheese with green bean and beetroot salad

fri risotto vegetale

Looks fabby

got-it-spend-it wrote: »

Just to add to the peanut butter measuring. I came in right between Sian and Lesley with 25g of crunchy on my slice of toast!

Weezl- if I buy fruit with the intention of cooking rather than snacking I stick it in the salad drawer in the fridge rather than put it in the fruit bowl, if that helps?

GISI i hide cooking fruit too!!


Weezl - theres always peanut butter cookies if you want another snack dish

Going to do the fritters tonight but wondering about the eggs i make Bhajis without egg so not sure why i need them here may try it wthout the eggs or milk just water I will use regular flour though although i would for my own purposes use gram flour

KEEP IT UP MISSUS YOUR DOING A GREAT JOB

ShaZ

Frugaldom

Hi guys, I was just researching the meaning of 'subsistence' and came up with, "barely sufficient to maintain life." Is this what you all think? I'm still confused by what you are all taking to be the meaning of "subsistence", as I don't think £100 a month for feeding 4 is subsistence level. Food prices, in general, haven't changed that much over the past 25 years, it's the range of foods that has.

I'm following this as closely as I can, time permitting, but rural living means that I'm nowhere near the likes of Asda or Tesco and our nearest Sainsburys just hasn't got the variety of goods or basic priced products that's featured on the mysupermarket website. I also need to make what I know this household will eat. For us living here, growing our own, trading with friends & neighbours and baking our own bread works out much cheaper, as does preserving all the free food that grows around us. We DO get through a huge amount of porridge oats, though, and lunches are usually based around eggs, beans or soup & pudding.

Weezl, you'll manage your £90 per month no problem and pony carrots do just fine for soups, stews, carrot cakes, salad, coleslaw, sticks for dips, steamed with dinner or, as Shaz will remind me, grated into marmalade to bulk that out too.

Lesley_Gaye

Boomdocker wrote: »

This looks good to me as my flatmate has a wheat intolerance so we can try this one in the future. I guess that is a basic pastry base that I could use elsewhere? Thanks

yes, it is, but gram flour doesn't have as neutral a taste as wheat flour, so it won't go with everything. Have you tried any gluten free flours? If your flatmate is coeliac, she can get these, and many other things, on prescription

Lesley_Gaye

weezl74 wrote: »

it does help very much:D. Sadly none of them are not just for cooking in the Bob and Shirley plan When we get to James and Kitty Davies there's fruit which can be eaten fresh though :T:T:T:T She'll have to explain that the fruit isn't for any snacks I guess?

xxx

I think explaining is the key. When I was a single mum on benefits and the girls were small, I worked out what their packed lunches would be for a month at a time, and wrote it all out on a sheet of paper which we all looked at every day at making packed lunch time. I allowed a small individual choc biscuit or a small pkt crisps or some small treat each day, which we kept in a special tin.

They absolutely loved working to this plan, making up the days sandwich or salad and picking out the chosen treat for the day and were very good about not having any any other time because they knew there was only enough in there for one each for each school day.

Lesley_Gaye

weezl74 wrote: »

lovely! Avocet, might you be willing to try a frugalised version to give us an idea of quantities?

Lesley, does it sound like it might be nice with the chick pea crumble?

xxx

Yes, I think that could work. You would probably need to have the chickpea mix nice and saucy tho as it might all be a bit dry otherwise

Lesley_Gaye

meal wise, we invariably have porridge for breakfast, sometimes Weetabix or muesli

lunches are almost always a soup and a slice or roll, a salad in summer, egg on toast or beans on toast

so no, not much variation for those 2 meals, except it's a different soup every 2 days and a different salad every time, and lots of different types of bread so it feels like it's different

dinners are very varied

very exciting seeing it all come together now with the breakfasts and lunches emerging as well as the main meals

nicki_2

FrankieM wrote: »

weezl Just to reassure you my children have either cereal or toast for breakfast. I pretty much always have either muesli or weetabix. Lunch are always ham sandwiches sometimes with some salad.
So no real variety here!

We don't vary much here either - weekdays its toast with spread/cheese spread/peanut butter (smooth one as it lasts longer ) or cereal choice of muesli/porridge/coco or popped rice. Weekends we might have a bacon sandwich or scrambled eggs or even just a few pieces of fruit.

Lunches vary a bit more, but thats because I tend to have leftovers if I'm at home, sandwiches if at work (twice a week when I'm not off ill), we're often out and about on a Saturday or have a late breakfast and Sundays DD is out with her dad so I tend to grab a piece of fruit instead. To have planned meals at lunch time would be a big improvement :rotfl::rotfl: *goes rummaging in the freezer for the whoopsied chopped pork for lunch*

phizzimum

echoeing previous comments - the breakfasts and lunches are much more varied than we generally eat, probably because I don't really give those meals as much thought as our evening meal. so I think having more interesting things to eat at brekkie and lunch should help counteract any feelings of deprivation at dinner time.

just been looking through my cook books for borscht recipes - the ingredients tend to be the same but the methods vary quite widely, so I think I'll just busk it! can't do any harm (famous last words)