A new 'tougher' thread... and so it continues

lizzyb1812

Softstuff - when you have run out of turkey try brie and grape. Yum

Softstuff

lizzyb1812 wrote: »

Softstuff - when you have run out of turkey try brie and grape. Yum

Well, I've got a 3.4kg turkey defrosting in the fridge right now and 2 wedges of brie and there's only 2 of us.... so I have a feeling the brie will run out first. I'll bear that in mind though, thanks!

I'm also planning asian style turkey rice paper rolls this year, turkey satay noodles, creamy turkey pasta and some sort of turkey soup.... then there's always turkey pie, the ever faithful turkey curry and the plain old roast turkey dinner.

It was the same price for a 3.4 kg turkey frozen as a 1kg turkey breast piece. And given that I can boil the bones for stock and use every scrap of meat, I thought the 3.4kg bird was the better deal. It'll be cooked and then frozen in pieces, so we won't have to eat turkey for days on end, but we do love turkey meat anyway.

FlyingDonkeys

fuddle wrote: »

Well I'm pleased to read it's not just me attached to a thread and pining it's death. Rather embarrass-some should I be alone :eek: but I'm not

The budget. I know. I trimmed every thing that is not necessary ages ago. We don't drink or smoke or even go out. We don't indulge in clothes buying or DVD/movie nights. We sound very boring! I suppose we are but we have to be to keep afloat. The TV and Internet is our entertainment along with the library for books. We walk with the children and dog. We make do with a smile on our face even if sometimes it's false and inside we're feeling like woe me.

The only thing I can shave off extra money off is the food budget and that is becoming so much harder now. I can't even cook from scratch anymore, seriously! A good fish pie or shepherds pie costs me more than Aldi chicken dippers, beans and a slice of bread and butter. Our diets are slipping and I'm worried about that. I think for me I have to learn and quick how to cook with veg and pulses for a healthier diet.

I made a delicious hearty soup the other day, minutes to prepare. a few Carrots, 2 onions and couple of garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped. All fried til onions softish, add potatoes peeled and sliced, a couple of tablespoons of lentils, a vegetable stock cube (chicken will do too) and couple of litres of water, simmered for 25 mins and then added Borletti beans. Cannelloni will do too. Chuck in some paprika, and some chilli and it makes a huge spicy soup. Its all rough and ready but tasty and good for you and makes huge amount.

fuddle

I'm awake. I have my mum staying. She snores. My children are sharing a bed and are unhappy so I have given my bed up for one of them to sleep on my side. I'm sat downstairs now, wide awake.

Mum is over because we watched our little ones do their Christmas performance. My eldest is labelled 'gifted, able and talented' at school. I'm so proud of her (and myself, a young mum at 24, felt looked down upon as we weren't married and we both still lived with our parents. We now have 2 very lovely clever, polite children and in a marriage that feels so comfy so at 32 feel I have proved my doubters wrong, mainly 'professionals' I worked under who sought to belittle me for not going about kids/house/marriage the correct way. You can still be bullied as an adult. Yeah I am bitter about that but hey, look at me, my childen, my husband now I digress again! lol) er, clever girl. Yes, she's a very competent reader. School sent home her script as the narrator for the school production and I was shocked at the words that she had to read. Yes, she could read them but did she have the confidence to stand up infront of all those people and talk loudly, reading with expression. Wow, she did it and she enjoyed it. A super little pro but it got me thinking about the pressure she might have been under, especially if she wasn't happy or secure in what she was doing. There's part of me that thinks they have used her talents in a way that looks good for them. That's the cynical me. The proud me was very teary watching her. She has a quiet confidence that is a joy to see. On the flip side, my little one was in the same production with her nursery unit, helping to sing the songs. The nursery unit didn't get a mention by the headteacher at all. Unfortunately this wasn't an oversight as there had been 2 previous performances, each time the nursery children's participation was ignored. So that left me seeing a huge applause for my eldest child and nothing for my youngest. A very sad little girl who felt she wasn't as good as her sister. I'm not at all happy about it.It matter to children, even at three, even though they may mutter and mumble through songs and do a stiff bum wiggle for a dance - they still took part, they still learned the songs, they still deserve recognition. I spoke with the nursery teacher about it and she too was very cross. Sometimes it is all about those who can isn't it. Way of the world.

I carried out an experiment yesterday. I turned my children's radiators up in their rooms to full and left the heating on all day with their doors closed, all day. We went in at 6pm to check the temp and to our horror they were still cold. It's obvious that those radiators aren't working properly. DH bled them on Sunday but no improvement. I took our electric radiator into one of them. Left it on for 20 mins and the room was so toasty. So come January we'll be buying 2 more radiators. They cost 14p per hour to run so not great but it least it's warmth very quickly. We'll also buy those timer attachments for the plug so 20 mins before bedtime and 20 mins getting dressed in the morning. We've spoken to the landlord who is not going to do anything about it as the radiators work (they do, there's heat there, just not enough to heat the room - small radiators) so it's up to use to make do. Ergh, hate renting at times.

I'm off with my sister into town today to get my last few bits of gifts and hoping Primark do a nice warm hat for my DH, and slippers too. I need wool to make my eldest a panda hat - they are so expensive to buy! so doing the job for a fraction of the price. I'm also noting what kind of things are in the expensive gift hampers so I can make some next year. I really don't know how they will go down with my mother-in-law, sister and mum but if they want to ridicule a person who has handmade lovingly a gift for them then that is their problem really.

Hardup_Hester

I took a gift set of smellies to work for a colleague to use in Secret Santa (she'd been out sick & didn't realise the day had changed) I didn't want anything for it as it was given to me & been in my wardrobe, unopened for 2 years. Yesterday she bought me in as huge joint of gammon, now that's what I call a useful swap, lol.
Fuddle, re making fish pie, my kids named my fish pie 'Hunt the fish pie as there was so little fish in it, I used to make mine with coley, it's always cheap & altohugh it is grey when raw it goes white when cooked
Hester

JenniO

Greyqueen - if you can't convert things using this site you didn't need it! I use this all the time: http://www.onlineconversion.com/

Mrs_Chip

GQ - 100g is roughly 4oz. There are 28g to the oz, but normally rounded down to 25 for ease - just don't mix gr and oz in recipes, stick to one or the other!

mardatha

I'm firmly stuck in lbs and oz, & inches and feet, a millimetre means nothing to me!
Woke up to 7" of snow :j:j:j and the RV noisily scraping a shovel - all the neighbours were out before 7am clearing the road.
Fuddle, I got the same pitying looks and sly smiles all my life, I just blanked them. We eloped just after my 16th birthday, and he was a biker. When we got our first flat all the neighbours were excited getting carpets and new furniture - we were excited when we got a new bike :rotfl: Between that and my "spookyness" I never had the conventional view of life and people tend to not like that, they edge away from you and it leaves you isolated.
Which is totally fine by me and much more peaceful!

VJsmum

Well, I hope they are as they've gone to school, but i wouldn't put money on it in DS case

GQ - I'd have said 100g is 4oz. Do you convert money back too? My OH will say "That's 10 bob in old money!" - he was only 12 when it converted (I of course am (nearly) far too young to remember. Well, actually I was 7)

Busy day busy day (so get off the computer then, you daft bat). Got the shopping to do - not much as it's "freezer suprise" all week so just some bits a bobs to supplement. However DD (15) declared she wanted to have a dinner party tonight, and as the only social life she has is what we let her do - and hanging round street corners is out - we have agreed. Dinner party! What happened to coke, crisps and some 45's :rotfl:

Kids finish school at 1 and she was all for going out for lunch and then shopping for the party. I put her straight - I will do the shopping and this afternoon is cooking and tidying the house. I know the teenagers won't notice - but I will! Half a dozen teenagers :eek: wish me luck...

katieowl_2

We still say stuff like that's ten shillings for a "insert overpriced object of choice" :eek: I think I was about 12 too when we went decimal.

I struggle with grams, in the end I've had to buy new scales as most of my newer books are all metric. I've got a set of 'retro' scales with both weights on, and a smaller plastic set that packs into the scoop of the scale, to weigh the smaller quantities on as the marks between the weights aren't clear enough *eyeroll* I retired my imperial balance scales, as they took up too much space in this strip of a kitchen!

DD home from Uni tomorrow. I've just got her room ready, just need to run Hetty Hoover around, and hide some pressies

Kate