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

nicki_2

ceridwen wrote: »

So - at a practical level:

1. give those weekly shopping lists (broken down into days)

2. give substitutes by ingredients (so that people are aware that, for instance, canned butterbeans would substitute for canned chickpeas if need be)

3. forget the "family politics"

4. list equivalents for equipment people might be missing (whether it be equivalent equipment - eg use a small rinsed-out baked bean can with the top cut off instead of a mini pudding basin OR use an empty wine bottle instead of a rolling pin)
OR alternative recipes they can use - eg a cottage loaf type bread recipe, as well as the standard type of bread recipe that requires one to have a bread baking tin.

Are you reading my mind?!?!?:rotfl::rotfl:

jojotoo wrote: »

This thread is really interesting, thank you Weezl for making me think more about what we eat. I cook from scratch and hide extra veggies in things but hadn't really considered the colours before.
This will be a great resource, people will be able to either follow the plan exactly or use it as a starting point and tailor it to their family circumstances.

This is what I was thinking too.

Weezl - I can't wait to try the cereal bars! When I'm at work (in a school) I always have a snack at break time to stop the embarrasing rumbling tummy before lunch. I normally buy the smartprice ones with yoghurt on, if I could make my own that would be great Then when we get home we have either another one or an apple while I make dinner. I also agree with aless02 when she says the lunches would be a bit small for me. If I treat myself to a Co-op lunch then I usually get a low-cal/fat sandwich, a low fat pudding, a packet of skips & a bottle of water, homemade ones are usually a sandwich, a cup-a-soup (I don't want to spend most of my lunch hour waiting for the microwave to be free!), and at least 2 pieces of fruit.

One thing I am also finding annoying is that a few months back I was able to buy a 500g bag of frozen chickpeas from Asda (they're still in my freezer ) and now I'm wanting to make stuff with them I can't seem to find them anywhere :mad: They're brilliant for me as I only have a small food cupboard but a big freezer. Guess I'll be spending the Easter holidays buying them in bulk dried and making my own as I can't afford any more shopping this month

HOWMUCH

Mushy peas..... I use Batchelors quick soak (2hrs) only 31p at Mr T and Mr S

poohbear59

Lesley_Gaye wrote: »

OH is not keen on beetroot, aubergine or red cabbage, he hates blackberries, I've never seen purple peppers. Think I need to use red cabbage more and get beetroot and aubergine in as often as I can. OH won't complain if I use them in mixed things (except beetroot, it musn't touch anything else as it colours it and makes it look 'horrible' his word). Purple grapes I have when they are ok pricewise, but they are often twice the price of white grapes. Have blueberries in the garden, and frozen ones are not too bad pricewise. We have smoothies fairly often, so I could get some in there too.

I need to think about the colour issue I think and make sure we get the right balance

I buy the frozen summer fruits from Aldi, a little goes a long way. Sorry I don't know the prices and I live 20 miles from Aldi so can't check quickly for you. DH is allergic to aubergines so we have none in our meals. We only have puds on Sunday but I try to have some fruit available for breakfast to go on cereals etc.

weezl Just thought I should say that my sons seem to think I have changed my menu plans to suit your plan but they are exactly as I wrote them before I found your thread!

nicki_2

I buy the frozen fruits from Aldi as well. If I remember correctly they're definitely under £2 (maybe even less - not had room in the freezer for them due to Xmas stuff & whoopsies :rotfl: ) and I remember doing the maths and they worked out cheaper than similar stuff from Asda. I use them to make crumbles or just warm them up and serve with ice-cream so they're a real treat :drool:

nopot2pin

Weezl.....

Thats the carrot cake survey tweaked...
I had to delete your response, so that I could add more questions
Do you wish to have a look at it before I post the link ?
Or shall I just crack on and post it ?:D

boredofbeingathome

Been having a wee think and wondering along the flexibility lines.

I did think about including smart price/value fish fillets. The mythical family can make a multitude of meals with those...i especially think about fish fingers, fish cakes etc. A tin of salmon also goes a long way with these as well..considering the price of basic fish fingers and the amount of fish in those ..bleurrgh! Just a thought as they can be pre made up and served with mash, HM chips and veg.

Also have bought some value Tesco Tea bags today, same price as the Asda one...i am well known for consumption of tea and a bit Typhoo fan. But i quite like them and could happily drink away...so that would have been one of my non compromise things, now i have compromised

Off to make carrot cake and fritters- i already have a glut of chutney in, but will be making some more at some point.

Will publish recipe later.

T'other Bob

Lesley_Gaye

just got back from shopping. Got 2 rump steaks for tomorrow and the ingredients for Delia's chocolate bread and butter pudding, neither frugal at all but will be a lovely treat.

Popped in the Heathfield greengrocer and got a huge red cabbage which we had some of in the coleslaw with the 2nd half of the onion tart which was just as delish cold as hot.

Also got some red grapes which were on offer, so there's several purple portions. That red cabbage is going to feature highly over the next week!

Phizzimum - got some Cox in the grocers and looked in the bashed box and said oh what are these apples in here are they Pink Lady, I could cook with those. The woman in the shop said, you can cook with Cox, here have some of these ones, the English apples we get always look like someone has played football with them, otherwise we would sell a lot more English apples. So I had about a kilo of Cox for 10p a pound and then she said, here have some of these Pink Lady from the box as well, I won't charge you for those. Result!

Also picked up 2 bags of parsnip at 28p a bag in the CoOp, so the next soup will be curried parsnip.

And the CoOp had 18 Velvet loo rolls for £5 so got 6 lots - they will go in the loft to last us a while, even tho OH uses loads of loo roll, and yes I have tried squashing it, he just unsquashed it again and asked me not to do it.

Sian_the_Green

weezl74 wrote: »

Morning shaz! Shall I just be a bit more bossy then? :rotfl:

Can someone risk a chutney experiment?

It would need to be someone who has made various pickles and chutneys in the past and is fairly up for a lob it in the pan and see what happens approach

Sian_the_Green wrote: »

Hey all. I had a bit of an experiment in chutney making.
I used...
400ml of vinegar from cabbage jar (jar was 700g)
180g red cabbage, half the jar I used
90g chopped onion, 1 onion.
190g chopped apple, 2 medium sized apples
70g sultanas
100g sugar
1 1/2 tsp garam masala


So, I put it all in a pan and cooked it up with the lid on as there wasn't a lot of liquid.
I used a medium heat for about 40 minutes
When it was all softened I took the lid off and cooked it for another 20 minutes.

So, it tastes pretty delicious but is not jam-like. Have eaten 2 dessertspoonfuls straight off the spoon, I think the amount I made would do about 8 side portions
I wonder if maybe more sugar would have made it more syrupy...

Umm, wasn't sure if you had rejected my attempt as I had said it wasn't as jam like as I would have liked. The next night I added another 50g of sugar and cooked up and it was really nice, great as a side to something more 'bland' like bread or cheese or onion tart or sweetcorn fritters

twinkle_star_2

weezl74 wrote: »

I think people are saying that there are simply too many variables to make this work for a stated price. People don't all live near the same supermarkets, they don't live where I do in the country, they don't have the baking equipment I have, they don't feel confident just chucking veg, vinegar and sugar in a pan and hoping for a chutney like I do baking bread is an unheard of for them.

In addition to that, foods vary seasonally and also Asda are forever introducing roll backs here and sudden rises there, that within days of us going live with something it would become obsolete.

Hello Weezl and all,

Apologies for what's about to come.


I really think we're getting waaaay to bogged down in all the details here. There is no way on the planet that we're going to make a list that always come out at £100 a month in all supermarkets and cater for everyone with different tastes/dietary needs/family size.

Now fair enough lots of people might not have several bread tins or similar but I think a lot of said people might not be willing to cook from scratch for every meal in the first place. If this is the case then damn whether they have the tins or not.

Just having a complete monthly meal plan that is both super frugal and healthy is going to help a freaking shedload of people. Yes, it may cost a little more if you have to buy 4 x 500g packs of chickpeas rather than 1 x 2kg pack but it'll still be cheaper and healthier than buying a month of ready meals or more luxury items.

I'm aware that this sounds ranty and to be honest it is a bit. :eek: I just don't want to see what could be a really could resource disappear because we're all coming up with too many problems.

Also, what I'm assuming to be one of the original inspirations for this plan - Hillbilly Housewife's $45 dollar emergency menu - is now waaaay out of date but still useful to lots of people. It's still called $45 but when repriced in 2009 it cost $70 (and it's less healthy and only for 1 week).

So what I'm essentially getting at is lets just get the reource up and the Bob and Shirley's of the world will make it fit their families themselves.

Right, sorry. Calmer now. Apologies again.

P.S. If we're worried that there isn't enough food then couldn't we just include a section similar to HH's $45 plan on how to easily up it to 6 or a hungry family of 4 e.g buy X number of bags flour rather than Y.

P.P.S I'd be happy to try chutney recipe.

purpleivy

phizzimum wrote: »

hi got it spend it, it's something DH makes - not particularly frugal and definitely not subsistence so I won't write it all out here.

the recipe is rick stein's moroccan lamb tagine with buttered cous cous (sorry can't do link but the recipe comes up if you google it). DH makes it with extra sauce, so we eat the lamb for one meal then keep the leftover sauce as soup.

talking of DH - I printed out the spreadsheet meal planner and he was very interested. would like a bit more meat but he said that he would happily eat just about everything on there.

I think Delia's Libyan spicy couscous soup sounds like it's similar, made with a small amount of lamb mince, chickpeas and couscous in it. My ds's fave soup! Deffo for the meaty soup eater.