Old style ways for first house

Trixsie1989

jackomdj wrote: »

If you are on Facebook I am a member of a group called "slow cooker saddo's"! So many great ideas, I am making cinnamon swirls for pudding in the slow cooker today.

Ooh I'm gonna join that now :-) xxx

maman

I'd suggest that when you're ready to stock up your cupboards and freezer you get all you can from places like Aldi and Farmfoods. Aldi is great for all the basics (pasta, rice, tomatoes, red beans, mushy peas, basic herbs and spices), excellent for fruit and veg and pretty good for meat and cheeses. Same is true for cleaning materials. Farmfoods have great frozen veg, good cheap, good quality loo rolls and kitchen rolls and other bits and pieces.

A decent freezer is essential then you can portion up your batch cooking so you don't have to eat it day after day. I do a weekly meal plan that's a mix of HM ready meals from the freezer and things from scratch to allow for days when I'm short of time or CBA. Unless you have really cheap, subsidised facilities at work then start taking packed lunches too.

At one time I would have said get a decent cookery book but these days you can google anything or come on here and ask!

Good Luck, sounds really exciting.

lindsaygalaxy

One thing I always hide (something I don't even like!) is mushrooms. Sliced up very small they go in most dishes and you don't notice they are there.

Trixsie1989

Madman, I've been looking in Aldi and lidl when I've been popping in for stuff but I can't tell if some of the stuff is going to be an alright quality.the prices are brilliant tho! Been given some farmfoods vouchers aswell which will help :-) I already take packed lunch to work it's the oh that's a nightmare, he likes to get a burger on way to work and a pack of fags. Hopefully he's quitting smoking soon and cutting down on the junk food. I don't spend anything other than what I need to on bills ATM and the rest goes into savings so it's really upsetting that he's supposed to be saving and he's blowing his money on junk! Xxx

Trixsie1989

Lol Lindsay I love mushrooms :-) so no problem there but that's a good idea for oh although I might have to invest in a chopper to get it small enough so he don't notice xxx

Gigervamp

A mini chopper and a hand blender would both be handy to have.

My eldest hates the texture of onions, so when making something like spagbol, I wizz up a carrot, onion and stick of celery in my little chopper. It chops it all up into a mush.
It's also handy for making breadcrumbs and grating cheese. I got mine from Lidl for about 8 quid.

A hand blender is ideal for blending soups or whizzing up smoothies and milkshakes.

maman

Trixsie1989 wrote: »

Lol Lindsay I love mushrooms :-) so no problem there but that's a good idea for oh although I might have to invest in a chopper to get it small enough so he don't notice xxx

I add mushrooms to most casserole/sauce type dishes. They tend to have a meaty texture so you may get away with that plus saving on less meat.

Trixsie1989 wrote: »

Madman, I've been looking in Aldi and lidl when I've been popping in for stuff but I can't tell if some of the stuff is going to be an alright quality.the prices are brilliant tho! Been given some farmfoods vouchers aswell which will help :-) I already take packed lunch to work it's the oh that's a nightmare, he likes to get a burger on way to work and a pack of fags. Hopefully he's quitting smoking soon and cutting down on the junk food. I don't spend anything other than what I need to on bills ATM and the rest goes into savings so it's really upsetting that he's supposed to be saving and he's blowing his money on junk! Xxx

I'd say that Aldi (and Lidl too but they don't seem to have such a wide range of stuff) is better quality than any of the basics ranges in major supermarkets. Why not start with things like rice and pasta, tomatoes and red beans, milk, eggs, veg, fruit etc so there'll be no brand conflict at all. Then over time you can try other things.

Have you and OH had a conversation about how you're going to do your budgeting when you move? There have been many threads on this and it can get quite emotional. Some people seem to think that when you're in a relationship you have to have one big shared pot of money??? Personally I'd suggest you have a shared pot for all household bills including food. Then hopefully one for regular shared savings for holidays or a house deposit or whatever. Then I'd have a separate one each with an allowance per month personal spending. This is where your OH's fag and burger money goes. You have a matched amount. If he wastes his that's his problem. I'd be offering him a packed lunch from the food budget but if he wants to spend his own money on burgers then let him!

If you manage to save on the food shopping then that can go in the savings. If you save on your own personal budgets then that's for you to decide.

Trixsie1989

Gigervamp wrote: »

A mini chopper and a hand blender would both be handy to have.

My eldest hates the texture of onions, so when making something like spagbol, I wizz up a carrot, onion and stick of celery in my little chopper. It chops it all up into a mush.
It's also handy for making breadcrumbs and grating cheese. I got mine from Lidl for about 8 quid.

A hand blender is ideal for blending soups or whizzing up smoothies and milkshakes.

I've got a hand blender which was on sale at 4 quid coz the box was broken :-) gonna keep an eye out for a mini chopper tho :-) xxx

Trixsie1989

maman wrote: »

I add mushrooms to most casserole/sauce type dishes. They tend to have a meaty texture so you may get away with that plus saving on less meat.



I'd say that Aldi (and Lidl too but they don't seem to have such a wide range of stuff) is better quality than any of the basics ranges in major supermarkets. Why not start with things like rice and pasta, tomatoes and red beans, milk, eggs, veg, fruit etc so there'll be no brand conflict at all. Then over time you can try other things.

Have you and OH had a conversation about how you're going to do your budgeting when you move? There have been many threads on this and it can get quite emotional. Some people seem to think that when you're in a relationship you have to have one big shared pot of money??? Personally I'd suggest you have a shared pot for all household bills including food. Then hopefully one for regular shared savings for holidays or a house deposit or whatever. Then I'd have a separate one each with an allowance per month personal spending. This is where your OH's fag and burger money goes. You have a matched amount. If he wastes his that's his problem. I'd be offering him a packed lunch from the food budget but if he wants to spend his own money on burgers then let him!

If you manage to save on the food shopping then that can go in the savings. If you save on your own personal budgets then that's for you to decide.

Il have a good look at Aldi next time I'm in at the stuff and add those to my list.

We have had a conversation about budgeting and I mentioned a joint account for the house, which he said there was no point in but he's changed his mind so that we can put the same amount into that for everything and then we can put some away into our own savings accounts. He's just a bit naive with money and budgeting where I over compensate and budget for every single penny but being in debt for a long time will do that for you. Just can't wait to get moved so he can see how much everything really costs and where the money all goes etc. he's said he's not having burgers on way to work now and he has taken a packed lunch today so just gotta see if he sticks to it and hopefully he's on his last pack of fags and back into his efag now (we've got loads of spare refills for it) but I've given up trying to talk to him about it. He had an allowance for this month that he set himself and it's all gone already, he asked me for money out the savings and I refused to take it out. If it was something essential I would've but not for fags etc when he's had his allowance. Not my problem he's blown it :-) I've spent mine too but on things for the house so I don't need to spend anymore money this month until payday anyway.
I do the 52 week challenge and that goes into an account I can't see on my net banking so I don't even know how much is in there, he's getting the new xbox next month so the same amount will go into that account for me so when I want something I can get it, I quite like having money stashed away tho tbh. Just in case something unexpected comes up xxx

Frugalista

jackomdj wrote: »

If you are on Facebook I am a member of a group called "slow cooker saddo's"! So many great ideas, I am making cinnamon swirls for pudding in the slow cooker today.

Any chance you could post that recipe on here, please.

I'm not on Faceache and OH loves all things cinnamon.

Thanks in advance .