Frugal Living Challenge 2011 - part 1

inspirespirit

What is AF Redglass?

Cheryl. how old is your son? If he comes back home to live he will have no chance of getting council accomm. Do you know which bidding band he is in? i know quite a lot about this as I have had to go through all this myself over past 3 years and thankfully, was re-housed last month into a house suitable for people with disabilities. I have owned my own home all my life, but due to divorce and business closure I was left in the position where I had no option but to rent privately. Thankfully, after going through the bidding system for 3 years and being put onto gold band for disability, we now have a lovely home that hopefully cannot be taken away from us.

Lesley_Gaye

Mushroom Bhaji
Serves 4
3-4 tbsps oil
1 med onion, finely chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, peeled & crushed
½ tsp ground turmeric
½ tsp chilli powder
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
¾ tsp salt or to taste
1tbsp tomato puree
225g mushrooms, in med sized chunks

Fry the onion until lightly browned. Add the garlic, turmeric, chilli, coriander and cumin and over a low heat stir and fry the spices, adding water if they look like they might stick (and burn). Continue doing this for about 5 minutes to cook the spices.

Add the salt and tomato puree, mix well and add the mushrooms. Simmer for 10 mins. The dish should have a gravy, so if it is on the dry side, add a little water

I costed this at 15p a portion, but didn't include the spice cost, so need to add a few pence for those. The cals are 143 if serving 4

you could use any type of garlic, I have a huge tub of dried garlic 'chips' so use those in everything. Used a bit of dried chilli grown in the garden last year, and for the tom puree, I used some juice from a tin of whole toms

landregistrylass

Evening all. I agree with the posts ref thanks etc. Sometimes things can get taken too personally - I could have been really upset when I asked recently if anyone had missed me and NOBODY said yes lol. I have been listing on evilbay all day and my back is killing me. Good job I am just heating stew through......no actual work required. It has been a lovely sunny day hasn't it? I went down to our local town and scoured the charity shops. I got a lovely book for my DD from her boys for Mothers Day. Brand spanking new and very appropriate. Tomorrow is car boot sale day and I am looking out for summer clothes. Wish me luck. Have all my meals for the week in the freezer for DH as I am away on business for several nights. I like to make sure he has good food whilst I am not here............I know he is a grown man and all that, but its a partnership isnt it? He does all the things in the home he is good at, and I do mine. (How do you push a lawnmower, clean a car, etc etc lol?????) Budget is being augmented by evilbay sales -thank goodness. Hope everyone has a fab weekend and that the freecycle queen is good to everyone.

Lesley_Gaye

Tarka Dhal

Serves 4

225g masoor dal (red lentils)
570ml hot water
½ inch cube of ginger, finely chopped or grated
¼ tsp ground turmeric
2 ripe tomatoes, skinned and chopped
4 fresh green chillies, whole
¾ tsp salt or to taste
2 tbsps oil or ghee
1 tsp black mustard seeds
10-12 curry leaves
10-12 fenugreek seeds
3-4 dried red chillies
1 tbsp chopped coriander leaves

Simmer the dhal, water, ginger and turmeric for about 15 minutes until the dhal is tender. Check the water every now and again as there isn’t any spare and it may all be used before the dhal is cooked.

Add the tomatoes, green chillies and salt, stir and simmer for a minute or so.

Heat the oil/ghee and add the mustard seeds, cook until they pop, add the curry leaves, fenugreek and red chillies

Stir the hot oil seasoning (the tarka) into the dhal and garnish with the coriander leaves

I tend to keep fresh ginger sliced up and in the freezer, but on this occasion, I used a tsp of ginger from a jar.

Used a whole tomato from a tin. Didn't have any fenugreek seeds, but did have ground fenugreek, so used that. Used a bit of dried chilli (don't like chilli hot food)

this one is 360 cals if serving 4, and 22p - again need to allow a few pence for the spices

rubytuesday

Yah welcome back Laushappy!

We're all friends here and friends don't always agree and hopefully are not always just like us!:rotfl:

Lesley_Gaye

Gobi Aloo

Serves 4-6

3 med potatoes
1 med cauliflower, cut into florets
5 tbsps oil/ghee
½ tsp black mustard seeds
½ tsp cumin seeds
12-15 fenugreek seeds
1-2 dried chillies
1 med onion, chopped
1 fresh green chilli, chopped
½ tsp ground turmeric
½ tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1¼ salt or to taste
1 tbsp chopped coriander leaves

Boil the potatoes on their jackets and peel and chop in to large chunks when cool enough to handle. Blanch the cauliflower for 2 minutes

Heat the oil/ghee, add the mustard seeds and cook until they pop. Add the cumin and fenugreek seeds, then the red chillies. Add the onion and green chilli, stir and fry until the onion is golden brown.

Add the cauliflower, reduce heat to low, and cook for 6-8 minutes. Add the potatoes, turmeric, cumin, coriander and salt. Stir gently, cover and cook until vegetables are tender. Stir in the coriander leaves.

again, ground fenugreek, not seeds. Bit of dried chilli, didn't have any coriander leaves, so left them out

230 cals if serving 4, 24p, and allow a few pence for the spices

Lesley_Gaye

OH wanted basmati rice as well as all the below, so had to get some from the CoOp as had run out

it was FOUR TIMES the price of the brown basmati I get at Mr A EEEEK :eek:

cw18

inspirespirit wrote: »

Cheryl. how old is your son? If he comes back home to live he will have no chance of getting council accomm. Do you know which bidding band he is in? i know quite a lot about this as I have had to go through all this myself over past 3 years and thankfully, was re-housed last month into a house suitable for people with disabilities.

I've been through it before, when we 'evicted' my DD just before she had my second GD. Took the letter from me to get her bumped up the list, even though the lady we spoke to could see we were at absolute maximum capacity for the house (me and DH, younger DS, DD, GD and baby 'due any day' with 4 bedrooms, so all in use with the babies having to share which I realise isn't unreasonable) - and she also accepted that very young children (elder GD was 19 months old) don't fit into a household with someone who works permanent night shifts (my late DH), which was the basis for the eviction notice, as he'd got a temporary change to days while she was with us 'for a few weeks' which also meant a drop in his income.....


I've actually advised DS to get his friend to give him an "eviction notice" this weekend, take it to the coucil on Monday, and then stay put until the date in the notice.

He's 22 (as of last Sunday), but supposedly has priority for housing as he's just come out of the Army (his last day on their payroll was last Saturday)



No "muscle" jobs I really need/want doing - but if he does end up back here he can mow the lawns. And he can at least walk the dog on my full days at work (2 a week), as I really need to work on my running..... after several weeks of maximum hours at work I'm struggling to do 2 miles (have done a couple of 10km races, which is just over 6 miles) and have a half-marathon place booked and paid for which is only 13 weeks away tomorrow so need to get up to 13 miles in one run :eek:


But next week is the last of continuous overtime, as the lady who's been off since an operation (about 7 weeks now) comes back on Wednesday - so I should be able to work on the running even round walking the dog from a week on Monday

I'm still needed this Thur/Fri to make it easier for her as the other morning lass is on holiday next week, but after that it will be a case of very little and very infrequent. Looking at the leave chart I may be asked for 2 or 3 mornings in May, but that's over 2 different weeks that are a fortnight apart.

inspirespirit

Fair play to your son and I really hope he gets housed quickly.
If he is on priority it should only take literally 3/4 weeks. I was put on priority between christmas and new year and on 21st January we were offered a house to take up tenancy on 31st january. It happens really quick once you are on priority.

tumptyteapot

as a newbie could someone please explain the ettique around the thanks button please