Very new to this and wanting advice.

K2t

Hello everyone!
So... My OH and I are expecting a baby girl imminently, we are currently living with parents (but do cook ALL of our own meals and buy all of our own food etc) but we are moving out imminently into a 3bed house.
I want to begin on a low budget so that I do not get use to overspending! I have found recipes (have to be gluten free and vegetarian ahhh!) and I am in the process of making a meal planner.
If anyone has any tips it would be really appreciated.
Also, cleaning products and star drops and soda crystals?! What can you do with them and how? Where sells them?
Also, I've always brought tinned pulses, dried are cheaper, but how do I use dried?!
Any tips would be amazing.
Many thanks everyone, have a lovely day x

Lazy_Liz

For meal plannning, first I made a list of the meals/recipies we like, I also have a list of what's in the freezer/fridge and a knowledge of the basics in my cupboards. From these lists I compile a list of meals for the week and then make a shopping list for any items I don't have. As you get practiced with it you can cook something that can go into the next days meals eg roast on Sunday and curry or chilli with the left overs for monday (sorry just remembered you said vegetarian, substitue as applicable). Baked potatoes with a casserole one night, bung in extra spuds and do stuffed baked potatoes the following night.

Soda crystals, use disolved in water to clean almost anything, very good de-greaser but quite gentle. Add to washing up liquid or any other detrgent to boost its power, I belive some people even put it in the wash. Search on Old Style for lots more ideas.

Pulses, soak overnight in cold water rinse then put in a pan cover with cold water and bring to the boil. Simmer for the time stated on the pack, cooking time depands on the pulse. Fresh dried pulses cook more quickly than old ones. Red and brown lentils don't need to be soaked.Remeber to bring kidney beans to the boil and boil rappidly for a few minutes to remove toxins. This is particularly relevant if you uses a slow cooker as at the low temperatures the toxic ingredients are not broken down.

PipneyJane

Dried are easy to prepare but take time and a little bit of planning. I batch cook them then freeze the excess because it takes as long and about as much power to cook 200g as it does to cook a kilo. Say I've got kidney beans, this is what I'd do:

1. At any random time of the month, when the freezer is looking a bit empty, soak 1kg of dried kidney beans in fresh water overnight/for a minimum of 8-10 hours.
2. Drain the beans into a colander, rinse well.
3. Ladle the beans into an old/recycled/reused bread bag, tie or clip the top and freeze for at least 24 hours. This helps to break down the cell walls and cuts cooking time.
4. Defrost the beans or wriggle them out of the bag somehow, then cook. Now, I have a pressure cooker so it's a matter of covering them with fresh water (at least 1 inch more than the beans), bringing the cooker up to pressure (highest) and pressure cooking for 30 minutes. After that, switch off the cooker and allow it to depressurise naturally over 10 minutes or so.
5. If you don't have a pressure cooker: put the beans into a really big saucepan, cover them with fresh water (you need an inch or two's clearance), bringing the whole lot to the boil and boil for 10 minutes to destroy toxins. Then turn down to a simmer and simmer for an hour or so until soft.
6. When the beans are cooked, drain them in a colander. Ladle into (recycled) take-away containers, cover with the lid, lable and freeze. I put the container onto my scales, zero the scales, then ladle in the beans. That way, I know exactly how much is in each box.

Note: 250g cooked beans is the equivalent of 1x400g tin of beans in water. Also, 1kg of dried beans will give you approximately 2.5kg cooked beans.

ladylouise62

A useful tip to speed up soaking.
I'm always forgetting to start it the night before, so in the morning I add a teaspoon of bicarb to water and it softens them beautifully. On Sunday I didn't put my black-eyed beans in to soak until about 4, cooked them at about 8 and they took about 35 mins I think.

Oh, and don't use salt whilst cooking as it toughens the skins, only put it in when they are at the end.

Horace

Star drops can be found in B&M Stores as well as Home Bargains. I use concentrated Stardrops to clean my work surfaces and I also use it as washing up liquid.

You can buy reasonably priced and good food in Aldi and their own brand green washing up liquid (looks like green fairy) lasts a long time far better than the washing up liquid that is lilac or yellow or pale green. It is also cheap.

adelight

I've bought Star Drops from Sainsburys recently and seen soda crystals in lots of supermarkets, both really worth investing in! I add soda crystals to make washing liquid/powder last longer (you need less) and sometimes even use star drops, soda crystals and essential oils instead of washing liquid/powder. I don't think it's cheaper than using value powder but it smells nicer!
When you find cheap gluten-friendly meal bases like rice, spelt(i think?) and dried pulses stock up! Find your closest market and visit there in the afternoon for cheap fruit and veg. One pot meals that are good hot or cold (especially stuff where it's a grain with vegetables and herbs) are good for batch cooking, do enough for dinner + lunch the next day + an extra portion to stick in the freezer. Most batch cook meals can be improvised to be vegetarian and gluten free, like vegetarian bolognaise or vegetable curry base.
Make your own nut butters, hummus and bean pates and keep a tub in the fridge and a few tubs in the freezer. They're good easy snacks.

If you cook LOADS of beans at once I personally would do this:
use some in bean chilli with carrots, peppers, spices, tinned toms
use some in a chunky vegetable soup
turn some into refried beans
turn the rest into bean pate
and freeze qwhat you won't use in the next few days