Frugal Living Challenge 2011 - Part 3.

gien

Hi Hattifattener, the cloth nappy thing will save you a fortune and you can feel very good that you're not creating a load of waste to be deakt with.

Sandra, I've also had a great start to frugal 4 months - I really have surprised myself at how little we've spent.
I had to go shopping today, unfortunately at the more expensive supermarket, but I have hurt my leg and so can't go far.

LolaLemon

Welcome hattiefattener, I was also a mummy to a cloth wearing, mummy milk drinking (til nearly 3years old, cue the shocked faces hehehe), slinging baby. I would recommend , if no one else has already, to incorporate oats into ur diet. Back then, I didn't add it to my meat, but I did change to oat flakes, oatabix, make oat cakes etc.
Another area u could potentially save is on laundry powder, u could make ur own or make laundry gloop (some lovely person may provide links, I can't whilst half way through a post via the mobile) .
If u have space, u could try growing some fruit n veg, even in window boxes.
For when your baby shows signs of being ready to start solids, after 6 months old, you may be interested in baby led weaning (many books available in library) , it does save on those jars, is messy, but I personally felt for me and my son, it was the best for us.
Also, (might be a step too much lol) have a look into EC, elimination control... I was doing this before I even knew their was a name for it. I wasn't as extreme as what programs show for ec, but it did save on washing nappies all the time.

For cleaning I use soda crystals, bi carb soda, vinegar, lemon juice, tea tree and lavender oil. Saves paying for all those stinky, mass produced chemicals affecting my house (I watched 'how toxic are you years ago, and a lot of it has stayed with me)

tumptyteapot

Hattifattiner (great name!) there might be a cloth nappy incentive near you - http://www.naturalnursery.co.uk/real-nappy-incentive-schemes.html

I don't skimp on coffee, footwear or underwear though I do look out for the sales in La Sen za :-) And I drink less wine so I can drink nicer wine. I've made granola in the past, it's really easy and even nicer than the very posh crunchy stuff you can buy. At the moment we have porridge for breakfast or I've got my own meusli mix with nuts and dried fruit from the scoop shop.

Terrible non frugal day, I spent £22 in Pr i mark cos I needed cheering up after a terrible morning when nothing I was trying to do worked out, then £11 in a bookshop on this - http://www.amazon.com/Knock-Life-Graphs-Guided-Journal/dp/B004S0F4J0 which is very very funny indeed

Kerry_Woman

hattifattener - Welcome to the thread.

Sandra - Glad that you had a great day at the new Stratford shopping centre.

Erme - Thanks for the link.

23rdspiral

Sorry to post and run, but I took lamb liver out of freezer and noticed it days 'previously frozen, don't refreeze.'

Can I still eat it for dinner? I usually follow my nose, and u know I live off woopsies, but liver is still really new to me and can't risk getting sick and having time off work (as u also know!). Ta for any advice.

LolaLemon

Sorry 23rd, I have no clue, hopefully someone else will.

We awoke to see that Jack Frost had visited! I wondered what my son was on about when he said Santa had been but must have hidden all his presents lol.

Today plans; start my 30 day shred. It's the fitness DVD by jillian michaels from biggest loser usa, it is brutal. I only ever manage to do 2 days as my body severely aches, can't walk/lift arms, it is only a 20min workout, but boy does she put u through your paces! So quick sweep of the floors, exercise, make lunch, start dinner, pick up son from nursery, and might go up to Glasgow n get sorted for uni.

Edit: Does anyone have any easy recipes for butternut squash? I have been searching for 2 days now and can't find anything other than 2 soup recipes, and they have ingredients that I don't have (some type of wine was one, can't remember what the other was) .
Son made me buy it whilst in l!dl as it was Raymond from Mr Blooms nursery on cbeebies, he has drawn a face on the skin and now finished playing with him that I can now cook it.

alec_eiffel

It's pretty tough to find squash recipes that don't involve 87 variations of soup isn't it!

I made this last week and DH has already requested it about 4 times since!

BNS Casserole from BBC good food

2 tbsp oil
1 sliced onion
2 crushed cloves of garlic
1 tbsp paprika
1 tsp cumin seeds
225g cubed sweet potato
1 chopped red pepper
1 bns peeled and chopped
400g tin tomatoes
300ml veg stock
200ml red wine (or extra stock)
75g bulghur wheat

Heat the oil and cook the onion and garlic for about 5 minutes. Add the cumin and paprika and cook for 2 minutes. Add the other veg and cook for another 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes, wine and stock, simmer for 15 minutes. Add the uncooked bulghur, cover and cook until the liquid has reduced and the bulghur is cooked.

That's the recipe. What I actually did was -

Roast the squash (I sliced it without peeling as it's easier to take the skin off afterwards) with whatever other veg you have I used sweet potatoes, leeks, onion, pepper and mushrooms. I roasted them until they were about 2/3 cooked.

Put the veg into the slowcooker along with some chickpeas, about 350ml stock, the paprika, ground cumin, some smoked herbs and a big glug of passata. Cook on low for about 5 hours until the chickpeas were cooked (I added some lentils to thicken it too).

It was great because the squash and sweet potatoes melted into the sauce and made a really rich stew. The first night we had it with jackets the second time we had it with bulghur, but I cooked it separately and served it on the side.

I also like to toss slices of squash in oil and sprinkled with cinnamon, chilli and herbs then roasted for about 40 minutes.

tumptyteapot

Lola - squash is brilliant.
I make oven chips with it (skin, cut into wedges, put in a plastic bag with a little oil, salt and herbs and shake to coat, bung on a tray and bake for 20 mins or so)
It's lovely roasted with rosemary, add it to any veg you are roasting, or make up a tray with carrots, peppers, courgettes, onion and potato, coat with oil and shove in the oven.
It's nice steamed and mashed with butter and nutmeg as a side dish
If you want low fat pumpkin pie steam it and whizz it up with a block of tofu, some sugar and some cinnamon, put in a pastry case and bake until set. fab with cream or icecream.
Cut the top off, get the seeds out of the center, fill with gruere (I don't know how you spell it) and bake until the squash is soft, dip bits of bread into the fondue in the middle and scoop out the soft squash.
Mash with potato, celeriac, mustard and butter, makes a great pie topping.

SandraScarlett

Well, I've frozen fresh chicken, with the giblets within, and you usually get the neck, the heart and the liver. There is another glitch on Grabbit today. Buy 6 packets of 70g wafer thin meat, at Mr S, and 2 deals kick in, so you get the lot for £1.50! :j

This would go nicely with 3 cans of Campbells soup, cos then you'd get the lot for 89p!! And you can freeze the meat.

I have visions of DH and I having ham rolls and soup for lunch for quite a while!!

xx

paidinchickens

So quiet where is everyone???

Had a no spend day today. Went to a friends for coffee and forced her to sit in the garden as this could be the last sunny day we have and I did not want to waste it sat indoors!

DH is out on a mercy mission as my old next door neighbour left his keys in the door and someone pinched them! Well this may or may not have happened, he could have put them in the fridge or somewhere daft but for his piece of mind DH has gone to change the locks. This was three hours ago :rotfl::rotfl: That will be him topped up with war stories then :rotfl:

Hopefully he will be home soon as I am really hungry and I am not cooking twice!!

Hope your all well

PIC x