£50 to feed two adults till Sept 27th

bramble1

I love lentil soup and can't wait to make some, i assume you cook the lentils in the stock?
lentil dhal sounds delish too! right up my street, might even try that this weekend, was going to do a jalfrezi so good way to test the water with OH is to try it as a side dish too!

Crumble was lovely, need to learn how to make custard and i thought i bought birds custard...turned out i got dessert topping or something so we had no custard, but crumble was good. bowls licked clean by the dog so thumbs up all round!

I have some sweet pastry, so would like to try a pie or something, but don't want to use apples again...any other suggestions?

littlemissmoneypenny

Bramble, yes you cook the lentils in the stock. I usually add onion, celery, carrots and turnip to my soup. I tastes lovely if cooked with a bit of ham in it but I've never made it like that myself.

bramble1

would be able to temp Oh with it if i put some ham in it! can't wait!

We've been growing our own chillis this summer, we had an amazing plant last year...then we got a puppy who decided he quite liked gardening (kiwi tree and raspberry bush torn up... bonsai tree taken from the living room and planted leaves down in garden.. quite the Alan Titchmarsh he is!) harvesting them currently, most of our food is too hot to eat with out a gallon of yoghurt!! but shall make lots of currys in the coming months!

LizzieB

Hey Bramble, don't forget that lentils are an excellent way of stretching meat dishes. A handful of red lentils in a cottage pie, bolognaise or chilli won't cause your OH too much grief (tried and tested on my own carnivore!) and remember, they add to one of your 5 a day!

Fingers crossed re: the speeding thing. Oh, and I have to pay the full amount on my mobile bill, so after today's fun and games at work I will menu plan for the rest of the week. I have a 'special cupboard' where I put all my soon to go out of date stores, and I'm not really using them up at quickly as I should. Already planning a veggie moussaka for tea (got eggs and pots to use) and will put the slow cooker to good use tomorrow making a farmhouse barley and veg soup. Num num!

Ooh, and i'm with littlemissmoneypenny on the ham in soup. Trimmed bacon gives a lovely flavour, but the ultimate has to be a whole pork hock/shank. Velvety, meaty soup, plus plenty left for crusty bread sandwiches or a curry...

bramble1

Oh thats terrible about the phone bill Lizzie!!

I think we are going to do something like burger and chips tonight, we tend to have a junk meal on a friday, and we have some in the freezer so will pop out at lunch to see if i can get some reduced rolls.

I was looking into our council tax band yesterday, we are a D our neighbour to one side is an A and the 2 flats the other side are C... so might do some investigation and i don't really see how we are a D!

Going for breakfast with my work colleagues this morning! usually on pay day we go for a night out to celebrate, but we are all busy next week so they wanted to go out tonight, there is no way i could afford it, so suggested a weatherspoon breakfast instead which worked!! i can afford a couple of quid for tea and scrambled egg on toast, so atleast this way i don't feel like i'm missing out!

Have a good day all!

kezlou

Hi Bramble congrats on everything so far :T you've done really well!

I'm the same £6 to last till end of month then £100 for the four of us. its carp but has to be done. The car needs new engine, new brakes, new tyres the list goes on. Bills need paying so if its okay i'll nick some of your ideas and give some of mine.

By the way i bulk out about a 500g (if i'm flush a kilo) of mince with red lentils, carrots, tomatatoes, herbs,any veg basically, i then turn it into chilli, spag bol, cottage pie, lasagne, curry loads really. My partner could eat meat all day, and even he quite likes it. One time i made soag bol without lentils and just "this doesn't right, i prefer the other one you do";) so now its lentils all the way!

Oh and red lentils work really well with casseroles as well!

Good luck hun!

gillypoof

bramble1 wrote: »

we have 160 chickens.. so plenty of eggs! but he's a contractor so we don't have a farm to make use of!

We'd need to purchase a thermos for soup...which is an outgoing i don't have this month.

How much will home made sausage rolls cost? i will start making homemade cakes for a sweet treat. I'd like to try pasties or something but again, it's cost. You can buy them for £1, they just don't taste nice.

cuboards...curry sauce, curry pasta, enchilada sauce, pasta bake, potato bake, noodles, pasta, herbs and spices, jar of pasta sauce, gravy, 3 tins of soup, marmite, cheese, marg, bread, and thats about it! oh and we have about 6 chilli plants of varying hotness that are ripening too!

Dinner ideas i have are Stew, Lancashire hot pot, chicken thighs and legs with roasties and veg, pasta...

wow with eggs and potatoes,garlic and onions you can make one of spains fav dishes.patata tortia.peel slice spuds.boil till soft.fry onion and garlic till soft not brown.beat up a load of eggs in big bowl salt pepper,add cooked spuds,pour wole lot with the onions into heavy frying pan.slowly fry,then either finish under grill,in the oven or slide onto plate and fry other side.let cool slice and serve with bread.filling tasty and cheeeeeeeeeeeeep.

adelight

bramble1, last month was such a success i'm sure another £50 month will be fine! You're getting so saavy, swapping a night out for breakfast and smuggling lentils into everything OH might like a smokey bacon and lentil soup? Chop up some dirt cheap bacon to add to the soup, you could even crisp up some bits to sprinkle on top.


All these photos of store cupboards remind me of my parents! My mum has a cupboard the size of a small oven devoted to spices and seasoning, and they have to store cereal on top of the cupboards.
My Nan's house a pantry under the stairs which is fantastic, we used to pretend it was a lift when we were kids :rotfl:

Primrose

bramble - can you get to a nearby library or charity shop to see whether they have any of Rose Elliott's vegetarian cookery books in store. She has written some marvellous books called "Not just a load of old lentils", and "The Bean Book" which are full of inspiration for using lentils, dried pulses, beans, etc.
If you like Indian food, beans of various kinds, with winter squashes such as butternut, and potatoes & other vegetables can also make some very tasty curries and you won't miss the meat

bramble1

Thanks for all your support guys! I have decided this month to keep a spending diary too..starting today.
i bought
6 x burger buns - 75p
Burgers (4 finest ) reduced to 75p
ribs - reduced to 75p
Gurkins - 97p
Lettuce - 67p
Mince - £1.20

total spend so far £5.09 but that atleast 3 if not 4 meals out the meat, and the burgers in my freezer can be used later in the month.
I am going to do a curry tomorrow so will be looking online tonight for good recipes.