How to survive on what’s in the store cupboard (plus a little money)

wannabee_in_credit

Hi BR
Nice to see you over here :wave:
I read and post here too, although I'm more of a lurker here. But there are fantastic tips and you really will be amazed with what you can get out of your cupboards and freezer etc.
Good luck with it.

You know I keep reading about star drops and thinking I've seen them for 89p somewhere - are they really the wonder cleaner? Might be worth a try for 89p.

BitterAndTwisted

Wannabe-in-credit: soap is soap and with some hot water will clean most things. The only difference between lots of them is the colour and the scent but it obviously suits the manufacturers to persuade us that we need a different product for every single cleaning-job. Even before I discovered the joys of Stardrops I used to clean my kitchen floor with washing-up liquid.

BlushingRose

oooh, what's stardrops?

merlot123

http://www.google.co.uk/products/catalog?hl=en&rls=com.microsoft:en-GB&gs_upl=3977l5074l0l5675l10l8l0l0l0l4l250l1273l0.7.1l8l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&biw=1366&bih=643&q=stardrops&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=14353617110901169954&sa=X&ei=h5X_TtrhBsWj8QO14oC5AQ&ved=0CCMQ8wIwAA


A pic of Stardrops, you could at one time get it in wilkinsons, but I personally don't use it, I think its expensive. (I buy daisy kitchen cleaner from tesco 46p, and empty half of it into the old bottle and top each up with water, two for 46p! (DO NOT use any other bottle other than an empty original bottle - COSHH (risk assessment bit!).


Hi Blushing, I posted on your thread a while back on DFW, its lovely to see you over here too. You are doing really well. It's a natural reaction to have wobbly moments when you start out on your Debt Free journey, but if you follow the advice on here and post a list of stuff you have in your cupboards, the peeps on here will help you meal plan.

Have a wonderful New Year, and I wish you all the best.

merlot123

tigerfeet2006

Do you have a slow cooker (SC)? Here's something I did this week in mine. It's what is generally known on the board as Rubber Chicken

We are having rubber chicken this week.

I bunged a whole chicken in the SC, ground salt and pepper over it, then covered it in dried coriander leaves and put 6 or so crushed garlic cloves on it. Went on high for and hour or so and then down to low, was in the SC for around 6 hours. Served it with boiled potaoes, tossed in butter with a grinding of salt and papper, carrots and french beans and gravy made from the juice and the carrot water.

Next meal will be a chicken and leek pie, with the rest of the gravy as the liquid.

Then I will either do a curry or a rissotto with what is left.

The carcass will be bunged in the freezer and when I have a couple I will do a soup.

The chicken was a 3kg one that was reduced to £2, managed to grab two in the scrum. We are a family of five so it is a very cheap meal. I find putting any meat in the SC means that you get more off it.

ETA:Tonight I did lamb cutlets. The left over (lo) potatoes from the chicken meal were added to a few more and I did cheesy mash. The lo french beans were sliced with some savoy cabbage, bacon and garlic and done in a wok.

We will have the pie on Monday with the lo cheesy mash which I will add a bit more too, I have some lo grated cheese from tonight. I will also do some carrots to go with it.

So there is no waste at all.

merlot123

tigerfeet2006 wrote: »

Do you have a slow cooker (SC)? Here's something I did this week in mine. It's what is generally known on the board as Rubber Chicken

We are having rubber chicken this week.

I bunged a whole chicken in the SC, ground salt and pepper over it, then covered it in dried coriander leaves and put 6 or so crushed garlic cloves on it. Went on high for and hour or so and then down to low, was in the SC for around 6 hours. Served it with boiled potaoes, tossed in butter with a grinding of salt and papper, carrots and french beans and gravy made from the juice and the carrot water.

Next meal will be a chicken and leek pie, with the rest of the gravy as the liquid.

Then I will either do a curry or a rissotto with what is left.

The carcass will be bunged in the freezer and when I have a couple I will do a soup.

The chicken was a 3kg one that was reduced to £2, managed to grab two in the scrum. We are a family of five so it is a very cheap meal. I find putting any meat in the SC means that you get more off it.

ETA:Tonight I did lamb cutlets. The left over (lo) potatoes from the chicken meal were added to a few more and I did cheesy mash. The lo french beans were sliced with some savoy cabbage, bacon and garlic and done in a wok.

We will have the pie on Monday with the lo cheesy mash which I will add a bit more too, I have some lo grated cheese from tonight. I will also do some carrots to go with it.

So there is no waste at all.

Thank you, I have actually learnt how you can stretch a rubber chicken, I have read threads about it, read a few of the post, but it didn't explain what to do with the remainder, you did, thank you.

Could you explain what you do with the carcass, I read you made soup, but how? (I know how to make a simple soup, but what do you do with the carcass, does that make sense, I've had a glass of whisky:D)

merlot123

tigerfeet2006

Makes perfect sense to me as I am drinking a rather fine single malt :beer:

I put several carcass's in my SC and then put a couple of pints of water in, add a few bendy carrots-chopped and any other veg that is languishing-chopped. In the SC overnight. Fish out any large pieces and then sieve the rest. I try and pick out any last bits of chicken that are in there and bung it in the stock. This is then the base of many a recipe instead of using stock cubes etc.

This is an interesting thread with lots of soup recipes.
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/8146

rising_from_the_ashes

merlot123 wrote: »

Could you explain what you do with the carcass, I read you made soup, but how? (I know how to make a simple soup, but what do you do with the carcass, does that make sense, I've had a glass of whisky:D)

Morning Merlot - Happy New Year:D

Once you've had your initial meal from the chicken, pick all the remaining meat off - you'll be amazed how much you get off.:T The bigger bits can be used for a whole host of things (one of my favourite is Chicken & Leek Risotto https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/48018523#Comment_48018523 - really easy...) as well as loads of other things - have a look at the front of the Grocery Challenge for some more recipes.

Once picked, put the carcass / bones into a large pan, cover with boiling water and simmer for a couple of hours - you can add an extra stock cube if you like, and any veg you've got lying around that needs used up for a bit of extra flavour (don't worry about this the first time if you don't want to - you can get more adventerous as you get more confident).

Strain through a sieve into a large bowl, rinse the carcass/bones with a little bit of boiling water to get the last of the goodness out .... bingo! you're stock's done which can then be used for soup, the risotto and a whole host of other things.

If you don't want to use straight away, you can freeze (you can use from frozen if needed - put the block into a pan and turn onto the lowest heat and it will melt & be ready to use).

For my soup, I usually stick the stock in a pan and add split yellow peas & simmer for an hour(ish - until they've disintegrated - you can leave these out if you're not keen on them/want a different kind of soup) and then add whatever veg I've got lying around that needs used & some of the smaller bit of chicken if I've got them and simmer for around 45mins HTH:)

Hardup_Hester

I use the envelope system to budget at the beginning of each month. Most of my DD's come out on the 1st of the month, hubby gives me his share in cash when he gets paid. I divide the money into envelopes, petrol, milkman, food, eggman etc, what's left goes into the bank account & anything left at the end of the month get's moved into the savings account.
Hester

katieowl_2

The other thing that stretches your pennies is to see how many no spend days you can string together. I know it sounds daft/obvious but if you can keep out of the shops you aren't spending any of your £77. In the past I've made a bit of a game of it, just lasting one more day...and another. Milk is the one thing we tend to have to shop for, but I have some long life in the cupboard and the OH doesn't ALWAYS notice (shhhhhh )

TBH not every meal has to be a gourmet feast, and not everyone in the house needs to eat the same thing, switch ingredients, make a dish without buying X and using the Y in the fridge instead. Sometimes I say to DS finish this for dinner, and dad and I will have beans and jacket spuds. Or I say to them you guys have X and Y and I'll finish this/have egg on toast. It's taken a long time to get to grips with that for me/us but we really waste next to nothing, and some weeks my top up shops are very small.

Also worth figuring out when the best whoopsie shopping is to be had near you, and turning up late to see what's going cheap. We get a lot of veggies this way.

Kate