Preparedness for when

Frugalsod

Softstuff wrote: »

Hey GQ, Christmas reduction food poker (version 1.0). Went to a local supermarket to check the reduced goods, spent about a tenner. Knew there was a reason I'd defrosted the freezer.... I bet right now, by weight, I have the same in cheap meat which I've frozen as you have in baked beans. An example, 150g cooked chicken breast pieces - 10c (about 7p). And then there's lamb, steak, pork.... We'll live like kings until about February!

I did well from the local convenience store yellow bargains. So I will have more than a few days meals provided at greatly reduced cost. Some I have put in the freezer for another day but am eating the rest as I go.

GreyQueen

Frugalsod wrote: »

I did well from the local convenience store yellow bargains. So I will have more than a few days meals provided at greatly reduced cost. Some I have put in the freezer for another day but am eating the rest as I go.

We hit up a Liddly in the hometown on Christmas Eve and got a lot of YS stuff inc salmon which is stashed in the freezer, and Finest chipolata sausages, which I shall cook up later to eke out the remainders of yesterday's beef joint.

Goshdarnit, but I lurve my YS bargains and my Magic Greengrocer, between them I live high on the hog on under £15 (sometimes very under) per week.

Softstuff, I'm slightly down on the baked bean stash anyway, am waiting for the next sales cycle on them to buy big, so will gracefully fold my Food Poker hand to your YS bargains. Since you've posted before about the high cost of living Down Under, I can guess that this has made you a happy woman. Well done!

Softstuff

At minus 5 I wouldn't be leaving bed Mardatha! Over here it's so darned hot you head to the shops to enjoy their air conditioning!

GreyQueen wrote: »

We hit up a Liddly in the hometown on Christmas Eve and got a lot of YS stuff inc salmon which is stashed in the freezer, and Finest chipolata sausages, which I shall cook up later to eke out the remainders of yesterday's beef joint.

Goshdarnit, but I lurve my YS bargains and my Magic Greengrocer, between them I live high on the hog on under £15 (sometimes very under) per week.

Softstuff, I'm slightly down on the baked bean stash anyway, am waiting for the next sales cycle on them to buy big, so will gracefully fold my Food Poker hand to your YS bargains. Since you've posted before about the high cost of living Down Under, I can guess that this has made you a happy woman. Well done!

Over here this time of year tends to be the same, I can pick up enough cheap stuff now to last us for a lot of things right through January, sometimes as far as February (I just add in milk, fruit and veg). This means I put the normal grocery money in a bit of a slush fund which helps with birthdays and so forth in the year. The ridiculous abundance we have in the shops here at this time of year (and watching people fill their trollies with the same) seems to me like lions killing an antelope. Once they have their fill, the frugal ones among us get to pick through what's left for very little outlay (yes, I realise that analogy makes me a vulture)

Today I also got the years wrapping paper and a few months of soap. It's the little bits of small annual preparedness that give me satisfaction before the s even hits the fan.

Caterina

GQ make your own baked beans! Get a bulk bag of haricot beans online. 5Kg will last you forever, at £3ish per Kg, unless you find them cheaper in Asian or Turkish shops.

Soak 1/2 Kg beans overnight, drain, rinse and cook in fresh water, just enough to cover beans and a little more.

Once beans are cooked, blend 1 tin of tomatoes, 1 onion and 2 Tbsps molasses/treacle/dark brown sugar, a splash of vinegar and salt to your taste, put in a pan and bring to the boil, simmer for a few minutes, add the cooked beans and simmer for a few more minutes. Leave everything to cool down then separate into jars or even soup bags for the freezer, it should give you at least 10 portions of baked beans, estimate cost 20p each. If you stretch it even further than 10 portions of course they are even cheaper.

I know the price is not so madly different, but the taste is, and you don't get any of the nasties like saccharine or modified starch that appear in so many cheaper tinned beans.

HTH.

GreyQueen

Home made baked beans, there's a thought. Mebbe have to try that. I buy Branston Baked Bean when they reduce periodically to £1.25/ 4 tins.

What I like to do in the first week in January is hit up an Icelandia, as they usually have special Christmas products like fancy gammons etc reduced to half-price. Haven't the freezer space to store them so it's a case of buy one and cook it immediately and eat it as cold cuts. You can get a lot of rather nice protein for a fiver.

I love gaming the sales cycles, the closing times, the Sundays, to maximise my grocery money. It requires deviousness and persistance, as well as a bit of low cunning. I'm always amused about the idea of meal planning, as my plans are highly flexible and dependant on what bargainous things turn up. I had a lot of those lovely mini waxed faloured cheddars in January last year, courtesy of Mr T as 8p each. Wouldn't have bought them at £1.25 but they tasted lovely at 8p each.

Caterina

To give your hm baked beans a Branstonian twist you can add a small splash of Worcester (or Hendersons) sauce.

Frugalsod

Until I master the art of canning, I think that for me initially the Baked bean recipe will be one for the freezer. I do like the idea of making things from scratch to eliminate the junk that is put in our food to make it last longer.

[Deleted User]

I charged it up on the day I got it, and have been carrying it in my pocket ever since, which is 9 days.

Just plugged it to give it a refreshing charge, and the green light came on in about 2 minutes, suggesting it holds its charge reasonably well.

Caterina

Frugalsod wrote: »

Until I master the art of canning, I think that for me initially the Baked bean recipe will be one for the freezer. I do like the idea of making things from scratch to eliminate the junk that is put in our food to make it last longer.

Am totally with you on this one, I fear the canning process in case I do it wrong and wipe out the whole family!

My baked beans keep well in the fridge for 4-5 days but mostly I freeze them in clean jam jars. One jar is usually enough for 3 of us and I probably can make 8-10 jars out of 1Kg, which is the quantity I make, not worth doing for smaller amounts.

Another way with beans, if not bothered about making from scratch, is Fagioli All'Uccelletto, a good and well tested Italian recipe which is really good as a substitute for baked beans at breakfast time, one tin of beans makes enough for 3 abundant portions:

Fry a chopped clove of garlic and a few crumbled sage leaves in a bit of oil, add a tin of tomatoes (chop them with scissors if they aren't already chopped) and sautee for 10 minutes. Add the contents of a tin of beans, ANY beans, drained and rinsed. Stir until beans are hot and serve on hot toast. Fried egg/bacon/black pudding etc totally optional, as the beans are a good substantial meal in their own right.

30p (average) beans, 30p can of tomatoes, 30p for oil, bread, garlic and spices, with 90p 3 people have a really nice breakfast.

BettiePage

Snowing here in South Staffs, it's sticking too. Luckily my cupboards are full so I don't have to go out in it unless I want to