bettycrumble eats her way to her own home

bettycrumble

I have a dream.

That dream is to one day own my own home. I don't at all desire anything fancy... just safe, small and manageable.

In these times it's difficult to see how I'm going to do it. The only budget that can be cut is the grocery budget. Therefore, I plan to eat my way to my own home.

I'd like to share recipes, tips and ideas that I find that allow me to make some savings. I'd also like to share the dream along the way to keep up my motivation, plus other money savers or income boosters.

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Tonight we're having a meal of left over chicken made into a curry and boiled rice.

My challenge is to find out how to make a curry from basic spices as opposed to ready made/jar food.

bettycrumble

I'm scrapping the idea of own made curry because Asda have curry sauce in a jar for 23p.

Many of the recipes I have come across require many, many ingredients and I think it would come to more than 23p.

Tonight I will use up my pataks expensive jar and restock with 23p jars of curry sauce.

LAM2011

Good luck Bettycrumble - keep your focus on your dream and hopefully you will achieve it.

Have a look at the old style money saving part of the forum - further down - lots of good posts on saving money on food and in the home.

Surveys, Swagbucks, Ebay - all other ways of making little bits of extra money.

bettycrumble

I've sat and worked out a 10 meal rotation plan. That way I only need to buy in the ingredients for a handful of meal idea.

1) chicken, yorkshire pudding, carrots, broccoli, peas, gravy
2) chicken curry (onions, curry sauce) boiled rice
3) mince (lentils onions, gravy) dumplings, peas
4) beef casserole (onions, carrots, casserole mix) mashed potato
5) nachos, sour cream, jalapenos
6) chilli (mince, lentils, kidney beans, onions, chilli mix) boiled rice
7) cheesy, broccoli pasta
8) spag bol (mince, lentils, onions, pasta sauce) spaghetti
9) mince cobbler (mince, lentils, gravy, onions) cheese scones, carrots
10) toad in the hole, gravy, broccoli

I think I have squandered a lot of money by buying ingredients to try out different meals. I have a cupboard full of opened bottles and packets that I'm chance to not use again.

Verbatim

bettycrumble wrote: »

I think I have squandered a lot of money by buying ingredients to try out different meals. I have a cupboard full of opened bottles and packets that I'm chance to not use again.

Have fun thinking up meals to use up everything you have in your cupboard and freezer. Those are the most imaginative and if they're not all perfect culinary masterpieces you'll still have the virtuous glow of someone who hasn't wasted anything! :A
Enjoy!

bettycrumble

Thank you. Fish sauce frightens the heck outa me :rotfl:

Just joined the NOvember thread. Absolutely no unnecessary spending for me in the month of November now

WantToBeSE

Hi Bettycrumble, fellow NOvember challenger here

I agree with Verbatim, make up some funky different meals with whatever you have, it'll be fun (honest!!) and you'll use it all up. Some of the yummyest (is that even a word??) meals that feature on our weekly meal planners are ones that i have come up with by doing that.

Subscribed Feel free to check my diary out, it has photos and everything, hahahaha!!

bettycrumble

I love a candles, so relaxing. I've two on tonight with a couple of tealights. I've also got my real fire burning logs and crackling DVD on. Bliss. Ebay £1.59 inc postage

I've just downloaded a free kindle book (I don't have a kindle but use the app on my laptop) called Bah, Humbug, a romantic Christmas novel. It was free. No doubt a bit on the twee side, obvious and not at all very exciting... but a freebie that's about Christmas and romance? Got to give it a try huh?

bettycrumble

It's that time of year again. Halloween.

Having 2 young children I do something small for them. I have some decorations in the house today, they've put up some pictures they've drawn and I'm taking them to Halloween crafts later this morning.

This afternoon we're pumpkin carving. I'm keeping the flesh to make into pumpkin soup with homemade wholemeal bread buns sprinkled with pumpkin seeds and then a sweet pumpkin pie, with a dollop of custard.

I'll show you my makes.

bettycrumble

I didn't get the pumpkin pie made. The soup used up all the flesh.

The pumpkin seed bread buns went down very well and so did the soup actually.

It was a no frills recipe of onion, pumpkin flesh, veg stock, salt and pepper and a splash of double cream.

I had everything in stock apart from the double cream. So todays meal (excluding the cost £1.50 of the halloween pumpkin) cost £1.05 per 4 people.

Not a bad meal for 26p per person.

(I can't post photo's yet )

bettycrumble

Well, end of the month and I've had a look at my account... the mortgage deposit fund has begun. All £22.35 of it :rotfl: