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

jamanda

Gailey, butterfly cakes are simply a fairy cake with the top round bit cut off. Cut the offcut into two and you have the "wings". Bung some buttercream or something in and plonk your wings on top to make butterfly.

rachbc

Gailey - for packed lunches I reckon about 50p-£1 too - dd had cream cheese sarnie (cut in heart shape lol), - maybe 6th packet of aldi cream cheese and 2 slices aldi bread (20p ish), aldi apple (15p), carrot cut into sticks (5p), yeo choc mousse (25p rare treat - usually has a yeo tube or hm jelly made with juice juice). My poor kids don't get crisps, sometimes hm biscuit once or twice a week but not everyday.

Mon they had potato and sausage salad, tomorrow pasta and tuna salad. Try and do sarnies 2/3 times and soemthing more interesting rest of week

shandyclover

saratoga wrote: »

Before I go to bed...... They are good kids really,the youngest is 9 and Autistic but beautiful in so many ways,one is Home Educated ,one is at primary school still,and the other three although only 14,15 and 16 are at college already because they were Home Ed too.Two boys are doing Plumbing and Building and my 16 year old daughter is doing Carpentry so they are all spread out doing different things!!

Long time lurker here.
Just curious Saratoga, I have a 15 yo DD I'm trying to get into college. Also Home Ed her whole life. How did you manage to get yours in before 16? (She was supposed to join school in Oct but was so put off by the head of KS4 rude manner and being treated like a potential liability to the school she decided to stick to Home Ed or go straight to college.)

hornetgirl

Hello all and hugs to those that need them.

Feeling a bit sorry for myself at the minute. I went to the dentist this morning. Appointment was at 9.15 and my face is still numb. I did just try to drink a cup of tea but dribbled quite a lot of it
I have a £10 off a £50 delivery from S, so will have a look at that in a minute to take my mind off my tooth. I might struggle to spend £50 though, thanks to OS we're pretty well stocked up at the moment.

Good to hear you're on the mend Taurusgb.

sammy_kaye18

taurusgb wrote: »

Am very interested in the weight loss posts. I've needed to lose weight for years and never shifted more than a lb or 2 which once lost usually went straight back on again. Have now lost 1 and 1/2 stone - eating very little and vomiting every couple of days is not the best route to weight loss though! Yesterday I was genuinely hungry for the first time since before I went into hospital mid December and just could not stop eating. Don't want to put weight back on but need to eat to get my strength back. Haven't lost any more weight in last couple of weeks even though still wasn't eating loads, didn't know about not eating enough stopped you losing weight until I read Sammy's and Preparedathome's posts, can anyone fill me in on this please?

Like many have said - if you eat too little the body thinks its starving and holds on to every and any calorie it can and stores it up as fat to be used at a later date. Plus without the right intake etc you'll find yourself tired, fed up etc. Like previously said Im on 3 meals a day now and two snacks and feel much better for it and I have suffered horribly with anaemia (most on here will remember my pregnancy/iron transfusion saga well) and Im sure its helping that no end!

DS2 came home from college yesterday (he's doing a Countryside Management course) and told me to get stocking up the cupboards. Given that his usual response to my large stocks (which have dwindled a bit while I've been ill) is to laugh and tease me, I was for a moment speechless. Turns out one of his lecturers had been telling them about the dire consequences of this mild spell on our this years harvests and how it is likely to drive prices through the roof this summer/autumn as well as cause big shortages. Food (forgive pun) for thought maybe ladies?

I do really need to replenish my cupboards one I am paid on the 17th - my freezer is seriously run down to the point I can now see the bottom! :eek::eek: and its making me nervous! I do have a half decent amount left in the cupboards though but think since Ive been healthy eating I have used so much more veg - hence the needing to get my greenhouse and growing sorted - asap! Have also found a nice place for my greenhouse to sit and hoping to get planting in there asap. Plus I need to pick up a compost bin at some point - all these veg peelings can go in it and give me some compost for my new project - I figure if I can at least grow half my dinner it will save in the long run.

gardenia101 ~ sound like my mums house - cannot count the times I came down from a bath to find someone sat in the living room. I wouldnt dare leave my door open here though - we have had burglaries galore the last few months! A man at the end of my street came downstairs to get a drink at 2am to fin a strange man stood in his kitchen, and a mum two streets over was asleep upstairs with her two kids and came down to find she had been burgled in the night and had no idea.
Am very fortunate to have my little pooch Bruno about - although he'd lick people to death or run and hide - but keep telling Owen I would like to get a second dog as an added security feature for me and the kids.

gailey ~ Wales is beautiful. I will never dispute that even though my view is of a big smoggy steel works but I do love it here in my little welsh valley but it is very hard for people to find work. We do have a local market which is ok and there are lots of shops in our town closed down/ boarded up/ or in the process of closing which is horrid and pushes everyone further afield to get what they need.

Also to all on the board - I wanted to ask an opinion. We are eating a lot of fruit at the minute and Im debating buying an apple tree - Im thinking golden delicious as I think they are fairly good all round apple. Ive found a tree for £14.99 - obviously Id need a big pot for it to go in and soil etc but do you think it would be a worthy investment?

ginnyknit

Taurus, great to hear you are feeling better :T:T

OH is doing ok but kept me awake for most of the last 3 nights and I am so weary. Just crawled to Mr A for cornflakes for him and now want to sit down in a dark corner and rock gently :rotfl: Need to take my multi vitamins and eat something.

Going to Dd's to fix her washer later, at least seeing DGS should buck me up. Apparently he is giving free kisses to anyone who wants them :j

Whoopised beef defrosting, roasties in freezer so add some veg and tea is sorted. OH laughs at me cos I have so much sliced pork and beef frozen we can have roast dinner everyday.

rachbc

Sammy an apple tree woudl def be a worthwhile investment - only thing to think about is how big it will get (go for one on dwarfing rootstock) and also how well the apples keep - some variety keep better than others.

I got a tiny tree from aldi last year that am hoping will fruit this year...also have a plum tree

saratoga

shandyclover wrote: »

Long time lurker here.
Just curious Saratoga, I have a 15 yo DD I'm trying to get into college. Also Home Ed her whole life. How did you manage to get yours in before 16? (She was supposed to join school in Oct but was so put off by the head of KS4 rude manner and being treated like a potential liability to the school she decided to stick to Home Ed or go straight to college.)

Hello! All Colleges are different,I think you should both just go to your local college and have a chat with them,they are normally more than happy to help Home Ed kids if they know what they want to do and have some kind of goal they want to achieve ie. setting up their own Carpentry business "I need to do this course so I can acheive this goal".
Some Colleges will completely fund everything ,some won't but you have to be a bit pushy and ask for everything just to get something!!Because of her age (not 16) you won't get a free bus pass,if she is 16 before September she will.
She might get treated a little differently because she is Home Ed,but my daughter just tell anybody until they asked (being all boys on her course they were'nt really bothered!!). Good Luck and if you need anything else just ask.

modern_millie_2

Hi Sammy, we have 3 apple trees, James Grieve, Red Alert (I think) and Bramley - they have been a really good investment. The first two are cookers and eaters and both fruit well - don't keep for more than about 4 months but can be cooked and frozen. Some trees need a second tree for pollination (I think - not an expert).

Gailey, don't know if your little one would eat houmus, I do houmus and grated carrot wraps, bit of a fiddle though, val. cream cheese with celery and raisins is nice and also cheap. M DD is taking these to college now, haven't costed up but think we are saving at least a pound a day.

gailey_2

Sammy k- Think tree be good as you there long term.
theres lots of apple trees in nearby lanes and pear tree in big park.

my mam moans as wales like most rural areas lacks choice and competition
only tesco metro pricey, big waitrose, iceland and farmfoods no lidls or aldis and nearest adsa /sainsburys/morrisions need to outweigh with cost of petrol..
I dont go back much as gets me down remember the thriving little high street/community that was and now only full place now is weatherspoons as so few jobs mams been made redundant twice last 4years!
She used to work rosebys then ponden mill.

discovered toddler quite likes sausages good as have another 4boxes in freezer.
At moment lifes too exiting to sit down and eat decent amount of meals.
So im always looking for healthy snacks just so she eat enough.

Baby boy being fussy mum at school gave me some leftover unopened baby food she does not need he hates the 10month+jobs but fruit 4+purees are a winner!

just had to clean up toddler broke an egg on floor wish she couldent open the fridge shes fixted with anything egg shaped.cant beive she went for kinderegg in shop today.

Not sure if all this money saving driving me crazy.

But took the tip of cutting up milk cartons plastic 4pinter.
cut at line underneath handle
gives me quite deep square shaped tub least 1litre
rinse out.
its genuis as its gived deep square shape like a tub.
with sandwich bag securly wrapped around top it be great to freeze stuff.

Main reason im exited as been wanting to batchcook but need to go up poundstretcher for tubs but 1litre tub is £1 for 4 tubs 25p a tub.

My large Lasagne splits into 8portions so least 8tubs £2
shepards pie tends to split into 6-8

the ps tubs ok but they go brittle and break after few uses and stain.
The other tupperwares too pricey as need large quantity.

but we dont just freeze meals we freeze other stuff hence why tubs exites me.:D
we recycle plastic tubs here anyway and due to high milk usage we get through 10 lots of 4pints cartons a week so thats 40tubs!:j

Also reading food board given me ideas

I need try harder shopping around for bargains.
im sure I could do better.

which thourght might set myself reduced challange next week.

like sammy k having run down freezer makes me panicky!:eek:

I need meat top make meals.

monday night going to walk to tesco express
tuesday night going to tesco metro, different tesco express, morrisions and 2co-ops maybe im gong mad but keep reading about superbargains I never seem to get !

2012 going to be year I

get more organised
more thrifty.
make as much from scratch as possible
become whoopsie pro!
need to maximise loyalty points more!
need to get printer fixed and use coupons.
enusre garden grows a lot what we need
forage more this year

2012 going to be tough and I can sit and feel sorry for myself or I can do something to beat the price rises even value lines.

Im fed up week before payday having just a fiver.

I need to find a way to manage the costs but not cut back on quality or volume.

if I could maybe do well with my plan.

cant then have £50-£100 contigency money as most months something goes wrong.

fed up of hubby running to his mum!

Dont want to get stressed all time about money.