Frugal Living Challenge 2011 - part 1

LolaLemon · 21 March 2011 at 4:03PM

woohoo! just got my letter in from SAAS abt my help with dyslexia n depression.. im getting £1377 for equipment!
new notebook , load of software installed for me... costing over £400! a back pack to carry it in, a printer so i can print essays

a digital recorder too

warrenty, insurance, security, set up and delivery!
im soo excited!

just going to fone them to get it ordered and then go pick up my boy, go for a walk and feed the birds as its a sunny but windy day

rubytuesday · 21 March 2011 at 5:23PM

Brilliant news Lolalemon! x

23rdspiral · 21 March 2011 at 7:03PM

soo many pages to catch up on! good job OH is out tonight and i've nothing else to do! i think i'll do it in batches, so bare with me, or ignore me!!

hope everyone had a nice weekend? i took advantage of the sun and emptied the back door shelves out onto our patio! i reduced by 1/3 :eek:and put it all back neatly in order - camping/ bbq/ diy/ gardening

23rdspiral wrote: »

tonight i'm trying a couple of tips from on you fabulous Fruglaistas - soup & pudding... to see if it's enough, but also fun to have a propper pudding.
- curried parsnip soup from 10p/bag woopsied parsnips (recipie from on here thank you to whoever it was!)
- and that cheap cheaty sponge pudding, not with pineapple but with broken mandarin segments... might even make it a chocolate sponge if i can figure out how!

just thought i'd update and say the Parsnip soup was AMAZING. so mega thanks to whoever posted the recipie :T and i couldnt find the sponge recipie so asked my OH to look it up since he was on his work laptop at the time. he ignore me. i asked again. he ignored me. he didnt even notice i was speaking!! so i didnt bother. an hour later he asked where his pudding was... meh.

enjoyfinancialchallenges wrote: »

This jam jar explosion has really gone mad since somebody,:o I've forgotten who it was who gave me loads of ideas to pursue which worked and brought the jj mountain to Marmalade Mansion...

it was me!

you're very welcome.

enjoyfinancialchallenges wrote: »

Hi again 23rdspiral have looked to see why you didn't receive the recipe, it was because I sent it to twiglet68 instead, in all fairness though she was the one who requested it. Wouldn't life be boring if I got it right every time.:rotfl:XX

that makes sense! i didnt like to say i wasnt sure in case i'd forgotten!! still, now you come to mention it, the recipie would be quite nice to have for next year...;)

seriouslyfrugal · 21 March 2011 at 7:29PM

Hi

I have had a nice day today I was looking after a group of uni students who were doing a photo shoot at mottisfont with the theme " great expedctations" for the dickens assoc as its the 200th year ( next year ) since he was born - mottisfont doesn't have a dickens connection but the interiors where correct for them to use i'm doing the same again tomorrow and the day had gone really quickly

Nice to hear from you Frugaldom

Thinking of those who need it

I know exactly what everyone means about petrol & food prices shocking:eek:

have a great day everyone

ceridwen · 21 March 2011 at 7:35PM

tumptyteapot wrote: »

It's easy to make ricotta, £1 on milk at Mr L makes loads of ricotta - you just heat it gently, add the juice of a lemon, salt and a little vinegar, stir slowly and when it curdles pour it into a sieve with a bit of muslin over the top and leave for a few hours - you then have buttermilk for pancakes too!

I've not tried that yet.

I still tend to be a bit "precise" in my measurements in recipes - so - could I ask:
- how much milk that £1 worth is please?
- does it matter if the milk is skim, semi-skim or full fat?
- how much salt?
- how much vinegar?
- what type of vinegar (ie malt, cider, wine?)?

************************

FRUGALDOM - sorry to hear about the housing problems. What a shame - as you are so settled there....

Hope you find somewhere nice to live soon.

minnie2 · 21 March 2011 at 8:10PM

SandraScarlett wrote: »

If that's the same as Scottish & Southern, yes I have. But not without a struggle.

xx

oh dear - i am now changing to them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

tumptyteapot · 21 March 2011 at 8:11PM

ceridwen wrote: »

I've not tried that yet.

I still tend to be a bit "precise" in my measurements in recipes - so - could I ask:
- how much milk that £1 worth is please?
- does it matter if the milk is skim, semi-skim or full fat?
- how much salt?
- how much vinegar?
- what type of vinegar (ie malt, cider, wine?)?

A big plastic bottle of full fat - 2 or 4 pints. The quantity of milk is not important as long as it is over a pint but full fat is best. I honestly don't know what size milk I got, I just remember it was bigger than a pint and only cost £1.
Salt, about a teaspoon per pint
I used cider vinegar but I've used wine or white in the past, about a dessert spoon per pint and the juice of half a lemon per pint.

This is a youtube video but he only uses lemon juice http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjW4lt4tDE0&feature=related (I didn't watch to the end but apparantly he throws the whey away! Dont do that :-)

This is a recipe that has slighty more precise measurements
http://homecooking.about.com/od/beefrecipes/r/bldairy48.htm

good luck!

tumptyteapot · 21 March 2011 at 8:20PM

NSD :j
And I didn't need any shopping at all, bagel for breakfast, leek and potato slow cooker soup for lunch and pasties made from last weeks free fish from my fisherman friend that I baked and froze the left overs of, and grape cake with ice cream to use the sorry looking grapes up

Grape Cake
Oven at 180c

2oz butter
2oz sugar
cream together
1 egg
4 oz SR flour
fold in
milk/soya milk to make to a thick batter

grease a 9 inch cake tin and line with grapes to cover the base then cover with the thick batter, bake for 20 mins or so.

This worked so well I am going to try it with pears next week.