Anyone convert an OH who is/was non OS ?

gizmoleeds

I am an appalling cook, but find pasta is generally rather easy - try him with pasta with pesto to start. There is nothing to it really - boil the pasta and stir in the pesto.

arkonite_babe

Chicken and broccoli bake? My daughter can make this and she's 12. Really easy and really tasty too, especially quick if you use the cheats white sauce.

Let us know how you get on.

Gingham_Ribbon

You can buy pizza bases in most supermarkets. If they are in the freezer, it's a doddle to prepare a tasty meal. In a rush, I'd use some tinned chopped tomato for a base sauce (it's better with garlic, herbs etc but not essential) I like to top with sliced mushroom, onion, pepper, olives, capers, pinenuts and I usually buy packets of balled mozzarella which take seconds to slice and add on top of the veg. (Or salami if he likes meat.) They only take about 10mins on 200 degrees.

A REALLY quick meal for when I'm desperate is simply pasta with a chopped chilli and a clove of garlic fried in some olive oil. Toss the pasta in the chilli oil and grate some parmesan over. I really think a decent extra virgin oil is important though, but it's still much cheaper than a prepackaged meal.

You can use the pizza bases to make garlic bread too. Just mash some crushed garlic into a chunk of butter with some dried parsley and spread it over. You can add passata or mozzarella or both.

It gets easier to whip up something quickly when you're in the habit. Slow and steady wins the race!

JillD_2

I just had a post about some stale crumpets that OH defosted and never used.

Honestly I despair at how non-OS/MSE he is. The number of value foods he refuses to eat, he won't cook anything himself that isn't in a packet, he uses tin foil and clingfilm and tissues and kitchen roll like crazy, he hates that I flatten the toilet rolls, he opens new jars before old ones are finished. It drives me mad. We aren't like really broke but we aren't flush and trying to save money for maternity leave later this year so I am budgeting and counting pennies like crazy.

He was in charge of shopping for Feb as I wasn't well enough and instead of our budget of £250 he managed to spend £525 :eek: :eek: :eek:

I used to stick our meal plan up on the fridge but he constantly complained "I don't fancy chilli tonight" etc as he would get in from work and see it written in black and white for him. If it isn't written down and he says "whats for tea2 and I say "chilli" then its fine :rolleyes: so I have to keep the meal plan secret and he doesn't realise I do it any more. Hopeless, just hopeless.

Has anyone else managed to "convert" a lost cause of an OH ?

chardonnay_2

jilld big hugs seems like your OH went mad perhaps he transposed the figures?:eek:

what did he buy? can you make it stretch to cover other months and bring your budget back on track? luckily my hubby is onboard and regularly looks for reductions, bulk cooks meals etc.

JillD_2

To be honest I don't really know what he bought. We do seem to have been able to spend less this month (well we did til last week when he managed to spend £25 on Easter eggs, frozen chips and deodorant :rotfl: )

So we have eaten a bit more exotically this month so far. But really there is sod all to show for it. I just know I added up all the items out of our account and thats what they came to. Horrific.

Actually I did an experiment at the weekend. We did the food shopping as a family on the way back from somewhere. We needed dishwasher salt so we got to that asile and I scanned the prices (40p cheaper for supermarekt own which was hiding on bottom shelf than fancy Finish or something blatantly placed on middle shelf) and said to him sort of vaguely "oh can you grab a bag of salt2 aned of course he just grabbed the expensive stuff without even looking at the price. I hinestly think thats what hedid - just bought the expensive version of everything, and also bought too much of a lot of stuff , and also bought a lot of treats as well.

He's such a fuss pot when it comes to food. Won;t eat home made stuff. I made the Weetbix brownies, wont eat them. Made the kale pesto, won't eat them. Wont eat cakes/buns unless they have ready to roll icing on them. Wont eat any value bread products, not even as toast. Won't eat home made veggie burgers or sausages. Kids and I have like own brand everything, but he has to have posh cereal, posh pesto, etc etc. He eats like a horse as well - he had massive plate of chilli for tea and 5 minutes later ate a big bag of tortilla chips. Hollow legs.

He also refuses to make himself a packed lunch (he will take it if I make it and I dont see why I should ....) so he buys lunch at the garage or whatever out of his own money (we have a pocket money allowance each month). This is fine except that he has no pocket money left as it all goes on lunch, so times like now, for example, when he needs new shoes cos his old ones are lterally falling apart, they have to come out of joint money as he has no pocket money left. all my clothes come out of my pocket money. Including all my maternity clothes which feel like they should be paid for by him as he got me into this mess LOL

Sorry to moan on but its bugging me this week. Sorry sorry sorry. I would like to say I feel better for a rant but I don't, I fear there is more steam to let off yet ......

poppy_the_saving_cat

Hi jill, my OH is exactly the same, we hav been together 2 years now and ive virtually given up hope of converting him now!!!

he uses a whole roll of my kitchen roll on his beloved car in the space of ten minutes, god knows what hes doing with it! today i spilt some pasta bake sauce down my front and asked him to get me some kitchen roll to wipe it off and he handed me 3 sheets instead of just one or even half a one!!

He wont eat any home made food and prefers to eat convenient microwave meals.

He pulls a face when i use coupons at the supermarket checkout lol and couldnt spot a special offer if it punched him in the face!!

Hes quite good at sex tho so i wont get rid of him just yet :rotfl: :rotfl:

JillD_2

LOl at poppy!!
Yes mine does have some redeeming features too. We are expecting baby number 3 in less than 4 years so he's not bad in that department either :rotfl:
And he has been fab since I've had such bad morning sickness, has got up with kids every day for about 3 months. And works bloomin hard. So I should stop moaning. But still ..... grrrrrrrrr

lambanana

My OH is pretty much converted as long as he doesn't have to do anything!! The only thing I can't budge him on is having "nice" bread (which isn't that nice...warburtons plastic rolls!) but those are for packed lunches so overall it saves on buying lunch at work. He'll eat most things placed infront of him as long as they aren't beef/lamb/pork that isn't sausages...I told him how much it could save and he got quite excited about the whole thing...I think he sees saved pennies as new games and dvds though!

JillD_2

reading your replies has made me remember that when I first started properly budgeting last year and reduced our food bill from £400 to £250 a month he was really chuffed with me . I think he has just got a bit bored of it now. Maybe I just need to try and be a bit crafty and make him think he is getting treats when really he isn't. I think next time I go shopping I will re-introduce some rubbishy treats that he likes and look for rolback priced ones and buy those.

I hate the subterfuge though. I just want him to be on board so it isn't a battle. I want him to stop wasting things like tissues and tin foil. Like if the kids spill milk he wipes it up with tissues (albeit value ones) instead of a perfcectly good dishcloth. He lines the grill pan with tin foil every time because he is too lazy to wash it and if he doesnt wash it I give off (I rarely use it, he is always having burgers or sausages or bacon, so since I dont use it I dont see why I should wash it).
Maybe I am just getting too anal and controlling about the whole thing. Hmm. Maybe thats it. Will go to bed and sleep on that notion I think.

Night night and thanks for listening everyone