make do and mend for tougher times

Popperwell

fuddle wrote: »

That's the best recipe I've seen for them. Thank you. It says I can freeze so that may be an option.

Thanks VJsmum, I'll look canning up american style.

Looking at the price of haricot beans it doesn't look like it's a money saver to do it myself. I'm pondering. I feel an experiment coming on :rotfl:

If you're wondering why I'm up it's because youngest DD woke me up screaming as there was a spider next to her face on her pillow and then the dog was ill regurgitating a stone. I haven't slept since 1.30am.

You're like me I sometimes do things even though in reality it costs more...You do it out of curiosity and also because you can and you want to say "I did that!!":D

Hopefully you may catch up on some "zzzzzz's" later on...I know being up through the night can sometimes feel wrong. I'm glad "Archie"?(The dog)was able to get rid of the stone, hope there are no more..that can sometimes mean a trip to the vet...

Poor DD, can unsettle anyone...but when you are young...

I heard a horrible report about bed bugs on the radio at lunchtime that would freak anyone out. I thought they lived in beds but the report said they hide in the cracks and crevices of a bedroom. Come out around 3am and head to the bed for a nightly feed and they take some getting rid of...

Whatever next...

Not really want anyone wants to hear. But it does not, as many think, mean that a home is dirty, they can tirn up in very expensive, clean, posh places...

Years ago I heard that they can cling to clothes and say be carried into areas where many people are such as the Underground in London and as most seats are fabric they can survive...

Popperwell

As for the baked beans...yes I noticed that you can freeze them so that may avoid having to use jars. My local Teco was very low on the Everyday range of BB so as you suggested perhaps they are being phased out or maybe they've just had a run on them...

They are selling Cross and Blackwell Spaghetti at half price...and some campbell soups down in price too...

Popperwell

Just saw this in the Daily Mail...

What I purchased today came in at around £18 for a single person and one day I will have to be really frugal and that is too much for me...on the other hand what I purchased was on offer and in theory if I have one daily they will last nearly 25 days so really that works out more like £7 approx weekly and then it doesn't seem quite so bad...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2204502/Mothers-make-19-trips-supermarket-month.html

katieowl_2

fuddle wrote: »

That's the best recipe I've seen for them. Thank you. It says I can freeze so that may be an option.

Thanks VJsmum, I'll look canning up american style.

Looking at the price of haricot beans it doesn't look like it's a money saver to do it myself. I'm pondering. I feel an experiment coming on :rotfl:

If you're wondering why I'm up it's because youngest DD woke me up screaming as there was a spider next to her face on her pillow and then the dog was ill regurgitating a stone. I haven't slept since 1.30am.

On a regular basis Fuddle I shouldn't imagine you could make them as cheap as you can buy them....but you can certainly 'upgrade' a tin of the cheapest basics you can find, by adding other things to them - the things you'll find suggested in the recipes to make from scratch.

Kate

westcoastscot

Hi Smiley, keep your chin up - it's so difficult isn't it??? We just need to put our heads together and come up with something.I'm like you needing a relatively small amount of money each year to live on but as you say it's just making it that's difficult. I'm just there by the skin of my teeth but have nothing in my budget for emergencies, treats etc - just need a little more. As you probably know I have earnt a small amount from crafting but am planning to stop that as now i'm back at uni as well my health is suffering.
I think the best thing I did was to go to university at aged 48 - I knew I couldn't keep going long term with manual work and it has allowed me to gain work that is less phsyically gruelling, and at a decent rate of pay - would that be an option???? I know student loans are crippling, but for me I'm doubtful of paying them off in my lifetime with the hours I work and it has opened doors to avenues I wouldn't have expected to get work. I didn't actually "go" btw - used the UHI and studied full-time from home - perfect for someone in my situation.
Happy to discuss by pm or email if you're interested
WCS

ps can someone point me to the winter sowing linkie? seem to have missed it

maryb

Fuddle, I remember Shirley Goode who wrote a series of frugal cooking books in the 1970s used to extend bought baked beans by draining them through a sieve whenever she opened a tin. What was left clinging to the beans was enough. She then took the left over sauce and added cooked haricot beans to make another tin's worth. Because the sauce was the same, her fussy family never guessed and it saved a lot of money.

It's not always easy to tell if you will save money using dried beans because the difference between dry weight and cooked weight isn't always the same. Chickpeas work out much cheaper but if you can get a good price on red kidney beans it isn't worth cooking your own purely on price grounds - though I do so that I can freeze them in small quantities as a whole tin is too much for my lot who only just tolerate them in a chilli.

However if you grow runner beans next year and leave some of them to dry on the plant then pod them, that would be super cheap - you should be able to get a whole packet of seeds in Lidl or Aldi next spring for less than 50p

ETA by the way I didn't mean that runner beans could replace the beans in baked beans but they are good for stews

Possession

Interesting.....
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2204760/Delivery-fee-online-groceries-hit-15-Experts-warning-shoppers.html

mardatha

I'm still traumatised by the big fat white hellish things my mum cooked, think she said they were haricot beans. I'm coping without them thankyouverymuch. :eek:

westcoastscot

Possession that explains why they don't want to deliver here then!
Mar sure they weren't big fat juicy butter beans????? Love 'em!!!

mardatha

Whatever the hell they were I never want to see another one ta.
Reading that article posted by Possession makes you wonder who paid him to write that report. If it was the supermarkets - which it probly was - then they might be going to put prices up and using that as justification. But I see one of the comments was that one van saves 30-40 customers with cars driving up to the shop... we could use that as a counter argument against them since the SMs like to be seen as "green" .