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

poohbear59

Just a quick Hi1 Our internet has been of again for two days but I have been following the plan the best I could without exact recipes as I had not printed them all off. We had me norml chilli recipe last night and today have found it is almost identical to yours weezl.

I have dinner to make and then lots of catching up to do. The men are still enjoying the meals. One thing we haven't tried yet is the liver pate and they are looking forward to it. The nut butter has all gone but I did only make half a batch to try to make it last longer:)

artybear

TBH Weezl -you are unusual. Theres no two ways about it :D

You have lived off 50p a day and have a passion for reducing debt and food.
This is no bad thing at all but I suppose in doing this you and your family have grown accustomed to eating meals that maybe are a little bit different.;):)

What I would normally eat is weetabiz for brekkie( I force it down as i dislike it)/mr weezl has porridge or special K

Lunch would be sandwiches with ham/cheese/salad/covent garden soup (uber expensive)/mackerel on toast/cheese on toast etc....

It's just getting used to it I suppose...

(hope i havent offended you weezlie:o:()

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weezl74

artybear wrote: »

TBH Weezl -you are unusual. Theres no two ways about it :D

You have lived off 50p a day and have a passion for reducing debt and food.
This is no bad thing at all but I suppose in doing this you and your family have grown accustomed to eating meals that maybe are a little bit different.;):)

What I would normally eat is weetabiz for brekkie( I force it down as i dislike it)/mr weezl has porridge or special K

Lunch would be sandwiches with ham/cheese/salad/covent garden soup (uber expensive)/mackerel on toast/cheese on toast etc....

It's just getting used to it I suppose...

(hope i havent offended you weezlie:o:()

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I'm not at all offended arty

I'm confused about how these more normal diets would work on 80p a day.

Like, I think I could design a planner for 80p a day with boursin and cucumbers, but I don't think it would have strictly enough omega 3 or something vital...

Does that make any sense?

Or it could be a more normal brekkie and lunch but then the evening meals would suffer. But maybe that's what folk are saying would be better?

artybear

Um.....to tell you the truth I think you will probably have to leave it Weezl-the trouble we went through with the planner shows that it is not possible to have what you particularly *love* all the time and the food will have to be slightly different to norm or it wouldnt be cheaper.

I know with me this planner is actually much healthier, I eat the right amount of calories and am having a more balanced diet than normal.:j However it is not necessarily my fav foods all the time. BUT I think I need to learn that just because at the mo I am lucky enough to afford my expensive cheese I dont actually need it every week.

What I am trying to say but not in a very good way is that as a society I think we have to focus more on what's good for us and in our budget rather than what we could have or like all the time.

(Lol I feel like I am channelling Ceridwen:D:rotfl:)

So to summarise I think what I am saying is leave it as it is....

Allegra

And the thing I will definitely be taking away post-plan is the sandwich fillers and toast toppers. Evening meals are already not that hugely different to what we normally eat - the only thing I'd do away with when this is complete is reduce the frequency of the meals served "with two veg" - one pot meals are much more my forte, especially when you bear in mind that I will already have a couple more on the go for DD. The washing up is killing me !

shanks77

Weezl i like everything and will carry on with most of it but to please ex who hasnt complained will put a bit more meat in our diet and add more veg (varieties not quantities). The toast toppers are lovely but as i have said before just not enough for me however after reading Arty who says she has 4 slices for brekkie this is maybe why as i have 2.
So for me i would stick with the porridge and again as said before if it helps me get my vits, piece of fruit or whatever i would put some of the apple curd on top. The pate is lovely just a bit livery for me ex thinks its perfect the way it is. The risi was fine after substituting sweetcorn for peas and i personally think agree that the planner should stay the way it is. Has everyone forgotten omegagate and calciumgate? If we pitch the plan to Shirley explaining why we have the things we do in the order we do then it is up to her if she wants to change things. You can lead a horse to water etc..
Ex has been remarkably happy with planner was not sure at start due to lack of meat but has been pleasantly surprised by the quality and quantity of the meals and not really missed the meat.
Please can we get a way to stop me rabbiting on:)

weezl74

ah! ok guys I think I get it, you're not saying 'make it more normal for shirley' you're saying 'since I do not HAVE to live like shirley- I will keep these bits but not these other ones'

And quite right too.

If I had to have value tea bags and no nice coffee I would definitely be saying, 'I can't wait til the months over so I can have a decent cup of coffee!'

Is it like that?

I think I got confused because I thought we meant for those who had to live on 80p a day.

weezl74

shanks77 wrote: »

Weezl i like everything and will carry on with most of it but to please ex who hasnt complained will put a bit more meat in our diet and add more veg (varieties not quantities). The toast toppers are lovely but as i have said before just not enough for me however after reading Arty who says she has 4 slices for brekkie this is maybe why as i have 2.
So for me i would stick with the porridge and again as said before if it helps me get my vits, piece of fruit or whatever i would put some of the apple curd on top. The pate is lovely just a bit livery for me ex thinks its perfect the way it is. The risi was fine after substituting sweetcorn for peas and i personally think agree that the planner should stay the way it is. Has everyone forgotten omegagate and calciumgate? If we pitch the plan to Shirley explaining why we have the things we do in the order we do then it is up to her if she wants to change things. You can lead a horse to water etc..
Ex has been remarkably happy with planner was not sure at start due to lack of meat but has been pleasantly surprised by the quality and quantity of the meals and not really missed the meat.
Please can we get a way to stop me rabbiting on:)

hello shanks, did you see my post where I confessed to having made a boo-boo on the pastry?

Please forgive me, I think it was me that's made your last 2 attempts go bad

poohbear59

weezl. I agree with what has already been said about the evening meals. Most are not very different from those we normally eat. The huge saving for me has been on the lunches We ate more fish to make sure we had enough omega 3 but you have come up with a much cheaper and equally effective way to incorporate omega 3 into the diet.

Breakfasts have been a bit of a problem here as you know my boys/men don't eat porridge but they have enjoyed lots of toast and nut butter and flim flam on toast too. They often don't eat breakfast but eat mid morning. They have eaten loads more cake than they have ever had. I am still looking at ways to get more ready brek into them. Yesterday it was in the chilli. I have always put porridge oats innto meals so it was a bonus having the extra vitamins.

I think where we have probably managed better than some others with lunches is that we are all at home at lunch time and we have our own hens, so when I haven't been here they have just had egg on toast etc.

I think maybe I am more like weezl but needed the extra push to spend less than I usually do. All of us are enjoying the plan here:)

Allegra

weezl74 wrote: »

If I had to have value tea bags and no nice coffee I would definitely be saying, 'I can't wait til the months over so I can have a decent cup of coffee!'

Is it like that?

Totally like that. Except I've been having my coffee, having stocked up when Asda were selling the ground for 67p Would be rude not to, innit.

But - and this is the crucial bit - if we had to tighten our belts to fit Shirley's lean waist, we could easily follow the plan - all three of us, albeit DD with some adaptations. I just can't emphasise strongly enough how amazing this thing you have created really is - perhaps not al will eat your fish just as you caught it, but I think all will be learning from your example how to fish for themselves. And that's what it was all ultimately about, wasn't it ?

So, remember that every time one of us says "I think I will replace A with B" or "X is going to work for my family better than Y", you should not be thinking "Oh no, I got A or X all wrong", you should be thinking "Fabulous, my campaign to teach the multitudes how to fish is really working !".

All right ?