Ultimate Challenge. 457 days / £16600!!!

NinjaSavingKat

Next lentil recipe for Lilt and anyone brave enough...

Ingrediants... (made last night and measured )

• 100g green lentils
• 1/2 red onion
• 1/2 can chopped tomatoes
• fresh corriander
• cumin seeds
• paprika
• salt and pepper..

1. Cook the lentils until they break a little - usually 20 minutes or per pack instructions. Do not use canned lentils - the taste is different.
2. Gently fry cumin seeds until brown in a little oil - won't take long.
3. Add finely chopped 1/2 red onion until a little golden.
4. Add lentils after draining them well.
5. Fry for a few 30 seconds although don't let pan go dry of oil.
6. Add half tin of chopped tomatoes. Add a little of the juice too but you don't want it being too sloppy.
7. Add a few gently shakes of paprika.
8. Generous shake of pepper or as per taste and salt.

Serve with a warmed pitta and dollop of yoghurt on top. This would serve two as a main meal is a little less.

This cost 86p to make. This is two meals for me. So 42p each meal. The corriander was too expensive for my liking at 89p per pack but this is the break down - I am now obsessed with food ala Jack Monroe.:T

• £1.89 for 500p lentils. 100g used = 37p
• 35p for tin of tomatoes. Half used = 17.5p
• 3 onion pack for £1. 1/2 onion used = 16p
• 89p pack of corriander. Under 1/3 used = 15p.

Yoghurt bough at £1 for a kilo. 1 dollop is pennies. Cumin seeds bought at 89p. 2 shakes is again pennies or much less...

With this however I had tabbouleh... as follows...

• Quinoa
• Lemon juice
• Flat leaf Parsley
• 1 tomato

Cook 1 cup of quinoa to 2 cups water. In this instance I used well under a cup and it yeilded more than enough for two meals. Last attempt at a full cup was too much. I would guestimate my measurment at 50g.

Chop tomato up and remove seeds ( not to be wasteful these were added to my already bubbling lentils but will be added here for ease ).

Fistful of parsley roughly chopped.

Quinoa is cooled - add everything with a generous squeeze of lemon (quinoa is very bland) and blend well. No oil, no salt, just natural flavours.

So the break down...

• £1.69 for 300g Quinoa. 50g is used = 28p
• £1 for 4 tomatoes. 1 is used = 25p
• Entire £1 flat leaf parsely plant (disgraceful I know ) = £1
• 85p for three lemons. 1/3 of a lemon is used = 0.09p

Due to the hefty herb price this came to £1.62 - again for two meals making each one 81p.

So lentils @ 42p and tabbouleh @ 81p = a very very tasty meal for £1.23 using fresh ingrediants and will be repeated tomorrow..
And that stupid plant will grow back eventually so money saved.

Sorry for the long post but am super happy with this.

NinjaSavingKat

Bean and falafel burgers worked out @ 16p each ( I made 8 )
8 wholemeal baps @ 0.03p each
Banana cake @ 65p
Oatmeal cookies - barely ledgable price...

his_missus

Well done on the £100 from the Halifax to get rid of bike loan :j:j

NinjaSavingKat

HM I just have to wait until after work tomorrow to get it out and walk it to the Nationwide!!! But I can't wait... massive shout awaits confirmation of payment made..lol!

Letter written for the Student Loans people, sealed and stamped.... looks like according to what is on it and Aprils payment I may only have £12 left to pay and not the believed £63!!! Am asking them to cease all payments now and let me pay the rest over the phone whatever that might be - why pay £63 online when it might actually be £12...

Fingers are crossed... and messaged the old LL to get my desposit back asap - it's been two weeks now...

liltdiddylilt

The stew was LOVELY!!! No kidding about it being hearty. I am taking some to work with me tomorrow hopefully this will stop me being starving all day (especially if I have porridge for breakfast!)

I have carefully copied and pasted each recipe so I can get on it & save money too. Very glad to see Jacks blog has inspired you!

OH gets excited about anything that is cheap and 'tasty'... bear in mind he is utterly happy with 11p super noodles and 22p cans of beans and 'sausages' made out of lord only knows what. He really enjoyed it. The less meat we can eat, the more we will save as it really is ridiculously expensive. Usually £15-20 of my £40 weekly shop is meat :eek: Last week I managed to pick up some of the 3 for £10 and 2 for £5 meat I normally get weekly, on the whoopsies section for £1.09 per pack! I stocked up but my microwaved size freezer (LL's vintage conked out fridge freezer is only 2/3 height!) could only take so much, even after I removed it from the packaging and bagged it up! Must eat some of the ice cream... Hahaha

So excited about the Halifax money!! How swiftly it went into your bank! Was the super cute man happy to take just 2 DD's across, no questions asked?

P.S what happened with pretty kitty and the fox? Did you post that on your challenge?

NinjaSavingKat

Lilt - am SO glad you liked the stew. I stupidly bought 2KG of red lentils and ate them for two weeks in soup and then needed a long break but haven't had this stew in ages... It freezes really well too.

I didn't want to bore anyone with cat stories but honestly can't remember where I wrote it..! Lol!.. She went out at 0500 when for a run around the garden and the LL would let her in around 1000. 20 minutes later I hear an almighty crash. As my bedroom over looks the bedroom upon peering out she is sat on the other side of the neighbours garden balancing on the fence and Mr Fox is just below my window looking a bit bemused. She must have moved fast.. so I hissed at him:rotfl: and he ran off leaving me in my rollers and dressing gown running outside to tempt mog back in doors...

Hottie McHottie Tottie says I get to choose...;-)..they send a tick list and you choose which are coming across. My bank called today and asked if I wanted to leave them, I said no. Still got £100..;-)

I am watching Extreme Couponers... these people are nuts. They have a shed in their garden that looks like a small house to house all the trash they got "free".. fair enough I am bad but this is a complete sin and waste... unreal!

Lilt I am so happy you have an MSE'er OH. It's so cool. I dream of finding a boy that's as happy with cheap things as I am, that likes cats and vintage dresses....lol! Meat is SO expensive now so I honestly don't know how the meaty folk manage it on a budget.. but so impressed with your meals.

I copied my "What's Left in the Cupboards" list and added it onto my spreadsheet for the month. I will be ticking off items as I move through listing after each baking session and will keep you all posted. Maybe I am the opposite of extreme couponers who have a lot in their house whereas I have very little...; - )..

Right I need to dry my fur and snooze.. busy day ahead tomorrow. Another session at the gym...**groan**...

Onwards and Upwards.

Siouxsie32

Loving the babies ladies, cool chicks and cook cats

Fab news about the £100 kat :j Even fabber news about the cute young chap (I'm partial to cute young chaps myself !). Go back in and find an excuse to chat Still no news from Nationwide re my account (I was waiting in my PJs at 3pm for the postman to arrive -I was snoozing after a nightshift/he was late). I have a sinking feeling that I'll not get the overdraft, but that's still okay as a 5% interest paying account to stash my tax money is still a good thing!

Had a real MSE evening vegging out on the sofa - bagged £15 free train travel via redspottedhanky.com/Tesco, a free 2 month Family Rail Card, got a 5p off per litre voucher for Shell, bought £10 Starbucks credit for £5 (yes, I know we all disapprove of the Starbucks spends, but sometimes I need a makeshift office when I'm out and about and £10 will get me 5 visits so I figured it was better to speculate than to be caught short and spend ten actual pounds in the place). Oh, and I got a free porridge box from graze. Not bad for a lazy evening on the sofa :money:

Yummness to all the recipes - I must [STRIKE]find[/STRIKE] make time to get cooking, although I still have a weeks worth of food in the freezer. I dug out some split pea soup from the freezer that cost next to nothing to make (200g green split peas, an onion, a bit of garlic and 2 stock cubes makes 4 portions and probably costs less than 40p to make) and added a few chives to make dinner tonight (the perks of working nightshift. I had breakfast when I got up this afternoon and just fancied soup for dinner....the downside is the chocolate cravings mid-shift, otherwise I'd be a healthy skinny minnie ). Ooh, maybe a bit of kat's hearty lentil stew would see me through the night!

I noticed the price of your lentils kat - I bought lentils from Wholefoods (yes, inside me is a posh cook trying to get out!) and they were 65p for just under 400g...green split peas 59p for 450g! They were from the pick'n'mix style help yourself section (and the plastic tubs you can put them in make excellent free storage jars). I go in there quite a lot. They just started a pick'n'mix style vegetable section which is great for kale and ready chopped squash (have you ever tried buying kale for one?). Yes, some of their stuff is outrageously expensive, and you'll never see a yellow sticker, but for staples I find them really reasonable. In fact, they were one of my 10 letters from the April challenge

So, apart from an injection of Jack-mania, getting free stuff and walking babies, what else have I missed? Oh yes, the mortgage talk. Bad news his missus re the extra 5% you'll need, but as lilt said, there are some 95% mortgages out there. The best thing you could do is carry on with your plan and get all your foundations in place (groan). New products come out all the time and things change. Is the governments new Help To Buy scheme (or whatever its called) of any use to you?

liltdiddylilt

Good morning ladies

Siouxsie I can really recommend the stew!! Sounds like your evening exactly mirrored my own! I bagged the porridge and red spotted hanky stuff... Left the rest as I have about £15 Starbucks credit as it is!

I'm sure Nationwide will give you the OD don't worry. First direct didn't acknowledge me at all until the card came through the door, complete with the limit I asked for!

I've woken up this morning with a fat lip, nose and eyes. Turns out I am allergic to the artichokes on my pizza express lunch yesterday. Last time I didn't link the two things but had a weird reaction, not involving any swelling. This time it's much worse and the only ingredient not normal, is artichokes

Kat so sorry your kitty had a run in with a fox. Round one to NSK & cat though!

I keep forgetting to watch extreme couponers. I read about this kid who saved his mum £104 on her shop.. But they admit most of it is stuff they won't use, like Veet cream.. So what is the point in giving up a bedroom to it!!??

NinjaSavingKat

Siouxsie32 wrote: »

Loving the babies ladies, cool chicks and cook cats

Nooooooooooooooo don't cook cats!!!! :rotfl:

Morning ladies... I am aware budgets are tight Siouxsie but really - your worse than Mr Fox! :rotfl:...meow... Although I understand what you mean by nigth shift munchies. I always make sure I bring a LOT of food... I saw this and thought of you...lol!!...:EasterBun<

---

Siouxsie

On a more serious note I too bagged the RedSpottedHanky promotion and the 2 FREE month travelcard although this is not what I was after. It's the £10 off the NetWorkRail card. If I buy this my trips to the airport will be cheaper as will Mumsy's visit to me since she informed me she is planning one soon - sneaky penny-pincher Mumsy! :T

Lilt _pale_...you poor snuffling thing. I LOVE artichokes and they were the only thing the Italians thought to offer on a vegetarian pizza when I was away. Big hugs to you..:grouphug:.that couponing program was just plain nuts. These two women got their shopping from $677 to $44. Which is all well and good if you plan to sell it on to make hard cash but these two have a shed near the size of a bungalow to house it all. hey bough 98 bottles of fizzy drink - I saw no vegetables etc so am hoping they were bought elsewhere...And that kid is not selling anything either - the kick is from something free. Logic goes out the window as to "only buying what you need". Even the woman on the TV last night has thousands of sanitary items but has had a hysterectomy so said she will "find another use for them cause they were free"..

My lentils were a guestimate I must admit but looking on the Tesco website I may have purchased 500g for £1.29 instead. This was back in the day where I wasn't so vigilant and my Jackscope wasn't in use... Siouxsie I am tempted to locate one of these stores as lentils are now going to feature quite heavily in my diet....

Use that spicy lentil recipe on top of brown rice and some cheese on top of the lentils. You may need some more tinned tomatoe as it might end up quite dry - this was simply "rice and lentils" to me and my brother and my Mum would know what it was... although cheese was a must for us Mother would compensate with a reem of broccoli on the side. Sneaky penny-pincher Mumsy!:T

Next recipe to arrive later tonight as I need to check a few things with Mumsy - this is beans though not lentils...(breath a sigh of relief)..

I am going back to the Halifax today.. to get my £100 out .. I might do my hair and make-up and sashay in there but I was going in anyway....ahem...

I had a text from the FREEcycle Breadmaker woman and I might be able to pick it up tonight - cannot wait. Have white flour (naughty) and yeast ready to go...:T:T:T

Onwards and Upwards!!!

NinjaSavingKat

Quick girls lets go .. get those "bags for life" ready...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2324519/Crashed-potato-Traffic-chaos-overturned-lorry-spills-44-TONS-spuds-busy-A-road.html

EDIT: Rats just read they have been cleared already..