Old style ways for first house

meritaten

its cheaper to buy couscous in its plain form than the packet type which is flavoured - but having said that I buy the roasted veg and lemon couscous from Aldi and is so delish - I have never come near replicating those flavours!

Trixsie1989

What do you put with it though ? Xxx

meritaten

Fuel bills - do not divide your parents bills by half - in fact take them as a ball park figure for your own bills. heating a house cannot be divided by the number of people in it! it costs the same if its one person or ten persons!

meritaten

couscous is a lovely alternative to rice. I prefer it as its 'softer'. and I can even eat plain couscous with a nice curry. and its very fuel conscious to cook. just boil a kettle add the recommended amount of boiling water to the couscous, cover, and five minutes later its 'done'!

Trixsie1989

Definitely gonna add this into my shopping list then. Now just gotta find out a bit more about lentils and pulses :-) want to try and get away from eating so much meat and really want to lose some weight. Trying ATM but as we live with mother in law and she does all the shopping we have to eat what she buys and working the shifts we work don't help coz of eating late :-( still got to persevere with the exercise and just try to maintain my current weight until jan :-) xxx

Trixsie1989

Where do I start with herbs and spices? Xxx

meritaten

ok - if you plan on using lots then buy the 'pots' of fresh herbs (but only until you buy the seeds and get your own pots going on the kitchen (or bedroom) windowsill.
dried herbs - 'Parsley' and 'Mixed Herbs' are good to start with! Used 'mixed herbs' lots of times in recipes which call for one of the herbs! just remember that if a recipe calls for a tablespoon of fresh chopped herbs - then use a 'teaspoon' of dried! in salad recipes you DO need to use the fresh herbs though! sounds obvious - but I didn't know that when I first got cooking!

Trixsie1989

Yeah I was thinking about growing my own tbh are supermarkets best to get them from? And then having some dried as a back up until they grow through xxx

katyboo123

if you want to lose weight, i'd be careful about replacing meat or moving away to pulses and grains. Unless you intend to burn it off, a massive amount of carbohydrates aren't really condusive to weight loss. do some googling.

i have lost 4 stone over the last 2 years following weight watchers, without much exercise, all through changing my diet. if you think about your plate, as a general rule, quarter meat / fish / dairy / eggs / etc, quarter carbs, and half veg / salad. Unless you plan to burn it off, then eat extra carbs.

replace meat with quorn as it's high in lean protein and low in everything else, but be prepared for a bit of wind... :rotfl:

seriously, read up on it. pulses, grains, pastas, etc all have the same weight watchers points, so a 'portion' is about 60g. This isn't a lot. You need to bulk it up with lean protein and salad / veg. and lots of it.

HTH

Trixsie1989

Thanks Katy although wind in this house isn't an issue tbh xxx