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Weezl and friends Phase 2 -giving it a whirl for Shirl! Testing meal plan for a month

edited 5 April 2010 at 7:54AM in How much have you saved?
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  • weezl74weezl74 Forumite
    8.7K Posts
    BOB and shanks have also been writing some thoughts about what to do if different family members don't like particular things, so I look forward to developing those further, and perhaps DD1 and DD3 will be able to chip in too :)

    my initial thoughts are that maybe Bob and shirl and Jenny and jason would sit down together and say:

    Jenny: I don't like carrot cake, can I give you mine dad, and have your boodle biscuits and savoury bites?

    Shirley: ok so none of us like butternut squash. Shall we have our omelette with sweetcorn in and our risotto instead?

    bob: ok I want extra liver pate sandwiches nomnomnom, who wants my applecurd ones?

    Jason: me me me!

    Or something a bit like that?

    Am I being hopelessly naive and unrealistic?:rotfl:My babies are at the small and very compliant stage frankie, so I haven't really got a clue :o:)

    :hello:Jonathan 'Fergie' Fergus William, born 05/03/09, 7lb 4.4oz:hello:
    :)Benjamin 'Kezzie' Kester Jacob, born 18/03/10, 7lb 5oz:)
    cash neutral gifts 2011, value of purchased gifts/actual paid/amount earnt to cover it £67/£3.60/£0
    january grocery challenge, feed 4 of us for £40
  • HowlinWolfHowlinWolf Forumite
    498 Posts
    Weezl, yes I went and bought extra ready brek yesterday just in case. PS It had better not have lard in it.
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  • weezl74weezl74 Forumite
    8.7K Posts
    FrankieM wrote: »
    Has anyone made the savoury bites?

    I was wondering the chickpeas need to be crushed and if the lard needs to be melted?

    yes and yes :)

    another method that could do with some reworking :D

    :hello:Jonathan 'Fergie' Fergus William, born 05/03/09, 7lb 4.4oz:hello:
    :)Benjamin 'Kezzie' Kester Jacob, born 18/03/10, 7lb 5oz:)
    cash neutral gifts 2011, value of purchased gifts/actual paid/amount earnt to cover it £67/£3.60/£0
    january grocery challenge, feed 4 of us for £40
  • weezl74weezl74 Forumite
    8.7K Posts
    HowlinWolf wrote: »
    Weezl, yes I went and bought extra ready brek yesterday just in case. PS It had better not have lard in it.

    Ah! Drat it does, I based it on susan's baked porridge which uses lard. I would say try it with oil, but I think that might affect end result too much :(

    OK I'm going to get my head down for an hour, I really hope no-one hits any cookery emergencies in the mean time! :eek:

    :hello:Jonathan 'Fergie' Fergus William, born 05/03/09, 7lb 4.4oz:hello:
    :)Benjamin 'Kezzie' Kester Jacob, born 18/03/10, 7lb 5oz:)
    cash neutral gifts 2011, value of purchased gifts/actual paid/amount earnt to cover it £67/£3.60/£0
    january grocery challenge, feed 4 of us for £40
  • HowlinWolfHowlinWolf Forumite
    498 Posts
    I could make it with butter. The texture would be the same.
    Sealed pot member 735
    Frugal Living Challenge 2011
    GC 2011 404.92/2400
  • AllegraAllegra Forumite
    1.5K Posts
    Oh yeah, I never said why I was doing this, did I ? To be honest, I don' really know. It seemed like a good idea at the time :eek: Seriously, though, I will need some time to type up my thoughts, but I will report back with them over the next couple of days.

    Also need to add - I am doing the whole plan, except I am swapping four of the evenings with another four, to accomodate the fact that DH does not eat anything eggy (I will be having onion tart and spanish omelette when he is away).

    Frankie, regarding the batch cooking - when I was full time, it was the case of finding the time - a couple of hours at a time, usually - when I was at home and not otherwise occupied. As I also worked evenings and weekends, it wasn't always easy - that's when I devised my "different levels" method - tick off the essentials, then it would not be a disaster if other stuff was left til the next time when I had a bit of time.

    I still work along the similar lines, only now I have more time so am not as harrassed as I used to be, which is A Very Good Thing :j

    Right, so far today I have done most of my Level 1 list - only lunchtime pate and carrot cake to go. Oh, and bread, but I did a 3-loaf batch of Paul Merrett yesterday to test it out and give myself some breathing space today, so no rush on that one :) I am going to further than Level 1 today though as I am off work for the next two weeks, and as DH is bck to work tomorrow then off to US on Sunday, I don't want to spend all day in then kitchen.

    Which means I will be disappearing soon, but will try and pop back in tonight to see if everyone is okay and if I can help in any way :)

    Good luck and fingers crossed to all testers.... :T
  • edited 3 August 2010 at 4:29PM
    AllegraAllegra Forumite
    1.5K Posts
    edited 3 August 2010 at 4:29PM
    Kitty's Breakfasts:

    Breakfasts
    Seed spread
    400g salted peanuts
    150g pumpkin seeds
    70ml veg oil (100% rapeseed)

    Blitz in a food processor until smooth. It’s fairly runny so as not to need any butter or spread with it.
    If it’s a little too stiff, just add more oil.
    Store in sterilised jars. Makes just under 2lb jar.
    Make twice in the month- allow 25 g per person per meal

    Porridge
    90g raisins
    40ml vegetable oil
    10g sugar
    215g instant oat cereal
    Pinch salt
    Mix all the ingredients together in a saucepan over a moderate heat with enough water (900ml) to achieve a runny consistency. Stir gently until oats have absorbed all the water, and mix has come together like a thick paste.

    Makes a batch of 4 bowls.
    Make this 16 times in the month.


    Pancakes
    150g raisins
    200g self raising flour
    25g sugar
    Approx 220ml water
    Pinch of salt
    Half teaspoon garam masala

    Combine ingredients in a mixing bowl, stirring well.
    Heat a little oil in a non-stick frying pan and fry dessertspoon sized dollops of the batter, until golden brown on both sides.
    Makes 4 pancakes per person.
  • aless02aless02 Forumite
    5.1K Posts
    weezl, am happy to try the soup tomorrow if you can wait that long. Have got all those ingredients and would be good the week's lunches. In fact, it's almost identical to the leek & potato one I make and since leeks are in the onion family, I imagine it'll be lurvely! :D did you also mention cereal bars with lard? can do that too, again tomorrow if you don't mind waiting.

    I'm Aless and I'm not a tester as such, though me & Mr Aless have been living off 95% weezl meal plan items for the past month and will do for the next month-ish. I didn't 'sign up' because DH is doing a marathon this month and I didn't want his extra needs to skew the results! We're doing because I needed a kick up the bum to do cool things like 100% homemade bread, homemade sandwich fillings and the like. And the full pay from my maternity leave will be ending very shortly, so we'll need to every single penny we can at that point! :eek:

    weezl, DH gives you a massive thank you...because now I have cooked and served him liver which is one of his favoritest things ever - all because a crazy lady in Wales told me too! :D
    top 2013 wins: iPad, £50 dental care, £50 sportswear, £50 Nectar GC, £300 B&Q GC; jewellery, Bumbo, 12xPringles, 2xDiesel EDT, £25 Morrisons, £50 Loch Fyne

    would like to win a holiday, please!!
    :xmassmile Mummy to Finn - 12/09; Micah - 08/12! :j
  • FrankieMFrankieM Forumite
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    My bread is stuck...I can get a knife down the sides and free it off there but it's stuck to the bottom.
    I think I'm going to have to hack it out and try again...bread was always going to be the tricky bit.
  • FrankieMFrankieM Forumite
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    I've done everything on my list except anything bread or pastry related.

    I'm not entirely sure about my Bean Pate or Houmous, but we'll soon see when I put it on peoples lunches.

    I'm not going to make anything else other than the carrot cake snack wise at the moment and perhaps do the other things as and when needed.

    I'm thinking that once I get up and running, I might bake/cook things as I run out of them. That way I'm keeping on top of things without feeling like I'm spending all day in the kitchen.
    Of course I could just feel like that today cause I'm tired, I've had enough and my bread hasn't quite turned out! :)
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