£50 to feed two adults till Sept 27th

fletch3163

Hi again

Still watching to see how you're doing.

Someone at work today queried a client's uncashed cheque and I said "I wonder if Bramble's cheque's cashed?" My coworker thought I'd lost my mind.

I can't wait to hear what you bought today. How said I am, being all interested in someone's shopping. For the record, I have the same unhealthy interest in looking in people's windows as I pass on the bus. I do find closed blinds VERY rude :rotfl:

LizzieB

Hi everyone - Bramble, I am so glad that things are more positive for you - keep your chin up!

Would you mind if I joined in a challenge with you for next month please? Found out today that the job OH had been promised (and had been actually working for the past four weeks) is 99% now not going ahead (it's a long story, we're both in education) so his wages will now only consist of a bit of teaching in term time (and that is set to decrease as the year progresses..... ). Probably why I'm up fretting at this time (and I've got a lesson at 9.00!)

However, I do have a guilty little secret - my storecupboard. I'm not a hoarder, honest - however, due to very lean times as a child I have a tendency to keep a lot of food 'just in case'. So therefore, I intend to go for a complete 'no food spend' month. As well as my dried and jarred stores - gulping as she prepares to confess! which include 64 tins of beans, 8kg of pasta and 9kg rice (I know, it's terrible...:(), I also have a full freezer (meat, veg, fish) as well as a sack of onions and my breadmaker.... Would you guys mind if I tried this out and fed back on here?

We were planning to begin overpayments on my student/personal loans with OH's 'new' job, and I think that if I actually start using some of the stuff I have, I can still still do this.

Ramble over. Goodnight all and here's to porridge for breakfast!
LizzieB

bramble1

Hey lizzie you are more than welcome to join in!!

So i did my shop last night, i don't think i've filled a trolley as full as i did last night!! it was a struggle to get it all in the car 88 items for £83! i bought the value clothes powder etc for cleaning and that should keep us going for 2 months atleast then in terms of food...

peppers (can freeze), potatos, bananas, bag of onions, parsnips, 3 quiches (reduced to 15p!) sweet pastry (reduced to 30p!) sausage meat, bacon, mince, stewing steak, 2 x chicken breasts, chicken drumsticks, breaded chicken (for a cant be bothered to cook day) lunch meats, stork, spread, cheese, milk, rolls (reduced!) rice, tinned toms, stock cubes, lea and perrins, curry sauce, jerk seasoning, beans, soups, cuppa soups, noodles, crisps, chocolate (For baking) sugar, tea, jam, marmalade, chips, fish,lentils, and probably more!!

I'm going to town tonight to try get more meat as there wasn't a great variety last night and then hopefully we'll be set.

Going to bake a carrot cake this weekend and sausage rolls, bread rolls and a lasagne

I didn't buy pasta as i have a pasta maker thing so am going to do homemade!!

Allegra

LizzieB wrote: »

As well as my dried and jarred stores - gulping as she prepares to confess! which include 64 tins of beans, 8kg of pasta and 9kg rice (I know, it's terrible...:(), I also have a full freezer (meat, veg, fish) as well as a sack of onions and my breadmaker.... Would you guys mind if I tried this out and fed back on here?

Sorry, but that's not terrible - that's sensible :T As well as this thread, there is a storecupboard challenge thread on here that sounds right up your street at the moment, plus if you are thinking of utilising any recipes from the CFR website, don't forget to hop over to "How much you've saved" (Weezl thread) to talk to people who are doing the same recipes

And best of luck - I am currently trying to run down our freezer, as I could not store a matchstick in there right now if I needed to :eek:

Aesop

LizzieB wrote: »

However, I do have a guilty little secret - my storecupboard. I'm not a hoarder, honest - however, due to very lean times as a child I have a tendency to keep a lot of food 'just in case'. So therefore, I intend to go for a complete 'no food spend' month. As well as my dried and jarred stores - gulping as she prepares to confess! which include 64 tins of beans, 8kg of pasta and 9kg rice (I know, it's terrible...:(), I also have a full freezer (meat, veg, fish) as well as a sack of onions and my breadmaker.... Would you guys mind if I tried this out and fed back on here?

Allegra wrote: »

Sorry, but that's not terrible - that's sensible :T As well as this thread, there is a storecupboard challenge thread on here that sounds right up your street at the moment, plus if you are thinking of utilising any recipes from the CFR website, don't forget to hop over to "How much you've saved" (Weezl thread) to talk to people who are doing the same recipes

I agree with Allegra. Your storecupboard sounds fantastic, not at all a terrible secret , wish I was as organised as you! Am slowly, slowly, trying to declutter my house, get organised, save to buy a chest freezer, then I will be able to have a fab store cupboard, make HM food and freeze and use spare money for bills etc and not worry each month how to make ends meet.

I still haven't made the French onion soup was hoping to today or tomorrow, but have opportunity to work from home through my paid job and somehow have to fit that in with my usual activities on my 2 days off from the paid job.

Anyhow, trying to get organised this morning, have banana bread in the breadmaker and slow cooking beef casserole/stew. Not sure if it should be called stew if in slow cooker?

DS loves the banana bread so healthy snack when we are out and about.

Allegra

aureol212 wrote: »

Not sure if it should be called stew if in slow cooker?

I remember a lively convo on OS regarding this a while back - think the concensus in the end was that it probably is a casserole, as it's cooked from three sides at once rather than just from the bottom, so more similar to cooking in the oven (casserole) than on the hob (stew) - but the language police will not come and arrest you if you refer to it as a stew

adelight

LizzieB wrote: »

Found out today that the job OH had been promised (and had been actually working for the past four weeks) is 99% now not going ahead (it's a long story, we're both in education) so his wages will now only consist of a bit of teaching in term time (and that is set to decrease as the year progresses..... ).

I don't know what your OH teaches but could he do some private tutoring? When I was in the first year of my degree and had some experience tutoring at a centre, I used uktutors(i think? lots of other free sites too) to find some work and charged £10-15ph. If he's a teacher people would pay upto £20ph for tuition from him and he'd get a lot more work than I did.


I'm reading through this thread and it's great, nice work bramble! If OH wants mcdonalds, see if you can get hold of a bus ticket from someone/somewhere as loads have a mcdonalds voucher on the back that gets you big mac/mchicken and chips for 1.99

mineallmine

So glad to hear how Bramble has been getting on. We had a simple meal last night of hot dogs with rolls from our bakers with loads of fried onions and some oven chips. Yum.

Hopefully a roast chicken tonight and leftovers for tomorrow.

Winged one - this is a really interesting idea of freezing crumble mix - err I feel daft asking but how do you make this? (PS I know I should know but errr your help is welcome!

Winged_one wrote: »

Bramble, if you have freezer space, you could make a large batch of crumble mix and store it in freezer until you need a handful or 2, a ziploc type bag works great for this. I made a batch about 18 months ago (blush!) - it was enough for about 6 full sized crumbles. And I have been using bits of it since. Which meant that when we had a glut of plums from a neighbour, I just threw together a crumble on a couple of different nights as we sat down to dinner, and I am using some with blackberries too at the minute (DH is not a great crumble fan, but I am enjoying making small versions for myself and sometimes DD in single portion dishes).

Best of luck Bramble and keep going. Just be careful with the treats of wine and McDs. It'll be better to spread the treats out a little bit through the month. :A

LizzieB

I'm not yet sure how to quote a passage on here so can I say thanks to everyone (Bramble, Auriol, Allegra, Adelight and anyone else) for their kind comments (if someone could point me in the correct direction I'd be very grateful ). This little 'tardis' is actually housed in the study as we have no space in the kitchen (more cupboards full...:o). I actually have a pic of this if anyone fancies a laugh - there are only two of us so I think maybe I should consider a no-spend year rather than month!!!!

Adelight, we both teach performing arts so private music lessons would be a possibility, and as we have both done this before this is certainly something to re-consider

Came home tonight and OH had tidied up and was prepping tea. Bless him, there was a half jar of pasta sauce in the fridge and he was very proud to show me the bacon and mushroom pasta bake he had prepared for tea, along with telling me that he had to 'force down' half a leftover Fray Bentos pie from last night for lunch!

So, first no food-spend day: Breakfast; Porridge for me, toast OH, lunch; lentil pate wrap (very weezl-esque!) me, aforementioned pie! OH, tea; hand-made-with-love pasta bake...

You guys on here are awesome. Rock on!

LizzieB

So, Bramble, what are you going to do with all your bargains????

Mineallmine, hope you don't mind me adding, but I make my crumble in parts of 2:1:1. Crumble for 2 people 2oz flour, 1oz sugar, 1oz butter/marg. Always seems to come out well. Brown sugar is nice as it goes a bit caramelly! I just multiply it using those ratios depending on serving size.