Batch cooking ideas please

MRSMCAWBER

Hi there

My hubby is in the army..he has done 22 years..and should be leaving now but they asked if he would do another 5 years :j :j

I have spent 1 year over there...but befor we got married my hubby had always been there...we are off to bielefeld..sort of in the west ive been told:D

The army pay for the move and the guys that come will pack everything for you, but i do a lot myself so when i get to the other end i know what is where :T :T and we also get a disturbance allowance :j

We are so looking forward to it...apart from loving it out there...we get an extra allowance for being abroad..about £200 a month..plus we pay no car tax, no TV liecence and petrol for us is about half what we pay here..and on top of that shopping is sooo cheap and anything over 50 euros we can get tax free....so i am gonna be saving like a looney:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:
and have asked on here if i can still access this sight when i move and i can:T :T

Another couple of days and im hoping to have do what i need..than when they come and take everything away we are off for our first ever holiday abroad-2 weeks in kefalonia and then straight to Germany...so i will get a rest in between:T :T

then i can unpack all my cook books and get on with some money saving old style:T

And yes i do freeze it with egg in...i figure you can buy frozen quiche so why not...mind you i freeze just about anything

kittykirsty

Wow, sounds pretty amazing!! Never been to Germany but would love to go one day, sounds like living there will help you save quite a bit of cash too, which is always a good thing! :T :T

Can you both speak German? Do you need to be fluent, or do most people speak at least a little English? I don't like going anywhere that i don't know at least a little of the language, went to Paris a couple of years ago, and realised just how bad my secondary school French is!! And how few people speak any English! Definitely a learning experience at least!

Right, the hobnobs (minus one which i've just scoffed) are cooling on a wire rack in the spare bedroom I'm running out of kitchen space :rotfl:

Now i'm off to cut up some carrot and onions and pop in the oven with the lamb mince, back in a mo!

meanmarie

KittyKirsty...I've been here too, but as I can never remember how many tablespoons of anything weigh whatever for once I've been keeping my mouth shut..a rare thing I assure you!

Congratulations on your energy at this time of night...I used to batch cook when all my family were at home but don't do much now...just remembered I think that there is some shepherds pie in the freezer would be nice for dinner to-morrow.

Good luck with staying awake!

Marie

meanmarie

Meant to say, good luck with your move Mrs Micawber, wouldn't mind doing something like that if I were young again...but gallivanting for short trips is all I'm up for now.

Enjoy

Marie

MRSMCAWBER

I wrote the hobnob recipes down the other day to do for my hubby - they are his favourite... as long as he doesnt dunk em in front of me i have promised to make some...

My hubby has the essentials..asking for beer and food:D but he understands more than he can speak..
When i first went out there i did a house wives course...so im ok, but to be honest most speak perfect English - as long as you try to speak german they are great..but if you start talking in English they wont help at all...which i think is fair really.... when i first got there.i thought they were quite sharp and abrupt...but i soon realised that they just werent going to take any rubbish off anyone..

When they offered my hubby extra years we said yes as long as we could pick where we got sent..we could have gone for cyprus etc but we knew what a difference germany could make to us.....
By the time he finishes in 5 years all our loans stuff wil have been paid off and when he leaves his lump sum pension will pay off our mortgage..and until then the person renting is paying it :T :T
Im still gonna be keeping an eye on the spends though...its a perfect chance for us to come away at the end of it me 40 hubby 47 without a mortgage or debt...so i know how lucky that is...:T

MRSMCAWBER

Hi Meanmarie...
im no spring chicken -35, just wish i had met hubby years ago..we have only been together 5 years and i love being an army wife..i know a lot dont - but i lived on my own for years before we got together and have always like my own company..so even though i worry when hubby goes away i dont fret and panic... i cant wait to get back out there, settle and get saving....
and as a bonus out there..the cooking equipment that is expensive and usualy in specialist shops is used all the time out there...i dont know if you have a raclette machine? but i got mine over there for about £6.50...here they cost a fortune.... the only problem being me convincing myself not to buy loads more kitchen goodies

kittykirsty

meanmarie wrote: »

KittyKirsty...I've been here too, but as I can never remember how many tablespoons of anything weigh whatever for once I've been keeping my mouth shut..a rare thing I assure you!

Congratulations on your energy at this time of night...I used to batch cook when all my family were at home but don't do much now...just remembered I think that there is some shepherds pie in the freezer would be nice for dinner to-morrow.

Good luck with staying awake!

Marie

Thanks Marie!! My energy is dwindling fast, but if i didn't do it tonight, the meat would just go in the freezer as is, and wouldn't get used for ages! Sometimes we're so tired when we get home from work, we really don't want to cook and resort to takeaways; this way there'll be something easy to cook!!

Just got to remember to take it out the freezer!! :rotfl:

kittykirsty

MRSMCAWBER wrote: »

Hi Meanmarie...
im no spring chicken -35, just wish i had met hubby years ago..we have only been together 5 years and i love being an army wife..i know a lot dont - but i lived on my own for years before we got together and have always like my own company..so even though i worry when hubby goes away i dont fret and panic... i cant wait to get back out there, settle and get saving....
and as a bonus out there..the cooking equipment that is expensive and usualy in specialist shops is used all the time out there...i dont know if you have a raclette machine? but i got mine over there for about £6.50...here they cost a fortune.... the only problem being me convincing myself not to buy loads more kitchen goodies

What is a raclette machine?? :rotfl:told you i'm hopeless!!

I really admire what you're doing, would love to live abroad for a while with OH, don't know when we'll have the guts to do it though, so :T to you!

kittykirsty

BTW, potatoes are boiling away, mince and veg are in the oven browning, going for another ciggie (I'm getting through them tonight :rotfl:), and then going to clean up a bit, pop back soon!!

MRSMCAWBER

EEEEWWWW the cleaning up bit:eek: ...always the worst bit....:D

Still just think you will be able to come in from work, throw something in the oven and put your feet up...heaven..

A raclette machine...emmm it goes on the table and heats up and you drop pieces of steak, chicken and veg on the top and then underneath you have little trays where you put cheese until it melts:D ..so its sort of a twist on a fondue..indoor barbecue thing...great when you have friends n family around and you dont fancy cooking:T :T :T

I got mine on the go on new years eve and folks went mad over it..and even though you need decent quality steak -fillet really , it is amazing how quick you get full...so they actually work out really economical to use...
:T