2014 Frugal Living Challenge

bassitt74

@abby1234519. Do you like curries?

Leftover lamb rogan josh

INGREDIENTS:
2 tbsp. oil
2 red onions, chopped
2 tsp. Schwartz Garlic Mill or 2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tsp. Schwartz Turmeric
1/2 tsp. Schwartz Chillies Crushed
1 tbsp. Schwartz Medium Curry Powder
1 tbsp. Schwartz Coriander Ground
1 tsp. tomato pur!e
450g lamb shoulder, diced
200ml (7oz) water
4 tomatoes, quartered
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tbsp. Schwartz Coriander Leaf
Schwartz Sea Salt to season
Pilau rice to serve

METHOD:
Heat the oil in a large heavy-based saucepan, add the onions and Garlic and cook for 10 minutes.

Add the Turmeric, Crushed Chillies, Medium Curry Powder, Ground Coriander and the tomato pur!e and cook for a further minute.

Add the diced lamb, water, tomatoes, lemon juice and Coriander.

Simmer for 15 minutes, then season to taste and serve with Pilau rice.

pm2326

abby1234519 wrote: »

I have two questions actually.

Can you freeze spaghetti hoops? We buy small tins for LO's Wednesday lunch (he is at home with Daddy every Wed) because we used to buy big tins and half would go to waste. Its cheaper to buy a big tin if you are going to freeze it. But I've never frozen spaghetti!

Secondly please suggest a recipe to use up leftover roast lamb that isn't shepherds pie or a curry. I need to find a way to use some of the lamb up on the 4th day and I've run out of inspiration

Hi

I found this recipe the other day for left over lamb, I haven't tried it yet but I think it sounds yum and cheap to make as I have all other ingredients in the store cupboard!

Lamb Crumble
Serves 4

350 g (12 oz) cooked roast lamb
1 medium onion, skinned
3/4 cup (75 g) 3 oz plain flour (All purpose)
1 level tbsp (15 ml) tomato puree (paste)
1 1/4 cup (300 ml) 1/2 beef stock
salt and freshly ground pepper
1/2 stick (4 Tbsp) 2 oz (50 g) butter
2 oz (50 g) Cheshire cheese, grated
2.5 ml (1/2 tsp) dried mixed herbs

1. Mince together the meat and onion. Mix in 15 g (5 oz) flour, the tomato puree, stock and seasoning. Turn into a shallow ovenproof dish.

2. In a bowl, rub the butter into the remaining flour until it resembles fine breadcrumbs, then stir in the grated cheese, herbs and seasoning. Spoon the crumble over the meat.

3. Bake in the oven at 190°C (375°F) mark 5 for 45 minutes-1 hour.

Hope this helps

Frugalsod

SarahB1989 wrote: »

Feeling quite proud of myself - had 250g of mince and from it have made 3 portions of spag bol and 3 portions of chilli. Used a mugful of lentils to stretch it out and then another half mug of lentils made 2 portions of soup. Reckon thats about £4 for 8 meals there In pre-frugal times I'd have turned my nose up at the lentils and that amount of mince would have done 2.5 meals!

I get a similar ratio of meals for the amount of meat by bulking up with kidney beans, carrots, mushrooms potatoes and lentils. It is also a great way of cutting down the red meat in your diet which can increase heart risks. So is healthier as well.

SarahB1989_2

Frugalsod wrote: »

I get a similar ratio of meals for the amount of meat by bulking up with kidney beans, carrots, mushrooms potatoes and lentils. It is also a great way of cutting down the red meat in your diet which can increase heart risks. So is healthier as well.

Picked up a big bag of mushrooms on YS yesterday for 20p so they went in there too! The heart risk (as with the cancer risk etc) is mainly from processed red meat so I doubt it'll make a great deal of difference.

TM6

abby1234519 wrote: »

The problem I have is that I live in Harrogate. The town where discount shops do not exist. I used to live in Leeds, Home Bargains was my most bestest favouritest place ever.

We now have a Poundworld which proved useful for baking parchment (however someone cleared the place out of it!!!!!!) and a few other bits although to be honest I don't frequent it that much. I haven't worked out what actually is good value that I need. I bought tupperware and now the lids don't fit.

All I want is a card factory, a home bargains and maybe a Farmfoods. To get to any of those I have to drive to Leeds. So its not worth it at the moment. Once I have depleted all of my food stocks I will make the trip and probably spend a few hundred quid!! I would go to Costco to top up on massive bags of sugar, chocolate chips etc and then Home Bargains for mountains of toothpaste, Card Factory for about 10 years worth of birthday cards...

Until then I have to use the main supermarkets. I actually visit them all, apart from Morrisons as I've decided Morrisons is expensive. I compared a few prices and I was not impressed. Sainsburys for lemon curd and I quite like their value range. Asda when I can't be bothered. Lidl for when I want to top up on salami and pepperoni. Oh and we have their double strength squash at 99pence which is cheaper than Asda's own.

I spend a lot of money at the Co Operative. Now on the face of it that sounds unfrugal but actually it isn't....my other half works at the Co-Op so firstly I get a 10 percent discount. On the saturday after he gets paid that goes up to 20%. So I only buy reduced meat when it gets to at least 50% off. And that means good nice meat for a lot less than even lidl. Generally it isn't worth it, pudding rice after 20% off is the same as Asda with no discount. However this weekend they are doing 4 pints of milk for £1 (same as asda and lidl) and with 10% discount it is cheaper.

Its a battle trying to save money!

I love the Costco at Leeds especially as just round the corner is Crown Point Retail Park where Poundland and Poundworld are virtually side by side

abby1234519

bassitt74 wrote: »

@abby1234519. Do you like curries?

Leftover lamb rogan josh

INGREDIENTS:
2 tbsp. oil
2 red onions, chopped
2 tsp. Schwartz Garlic Mill or 2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tsp. Schwartz Turmeric
1/2 tsp. Schwartz Chillies Crushed
1 tbsp. Schwartz Medium Curry Powder
1 tbsp. Schwartz Coriander Ground
1 tsp. tomato pur!e
450g lamb shoulder, diced
200ml (7oz) water
4 tomatoes, quartered
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tbsp. Schwartz Coriander Leaf
Schwartz Sea Salt to season
Pilau rice to serve

METHOD:
Heat the oil in a large heavy-based saucepan, add the onions and Garlic and cook for 10 minutes.

Add the Turmeric, Crushed Chillies, Medium Curry Powder, Ground Coriander and the tomato pur!e and cook for a further minute.

Add the diced lamb, water, tomatoes, lemon juice and Coriander.

Simmer for 15 minutes, then season to taste and serve with Pilau rice.

This looks yummy, although I will need to get curry powder (I used to have a massive store but ran out), I might leave out the chili so Joshi can eat it as well.

pm2326 wrote: »

Hi

I found this recipe the other day for left over lamb, I haven't tried it yet but I think it sounds yum and cheap to make as I have all other ingredients in the store cupboard!

Lamb Crumble
Serves 4

350 g (12 oz) cooked roast lamb
1 medium onion, skinned
3/4 cup (75 g) 3 oz plain flour (All purpose)
1 level tbsp (15 ml) tomato puree (paste)
1 1/4 cup (300 ml) 1/2 beef stock
salt and freshly ground pepper
1/2 stick (4 Tbsp) 2 oz (50 g) butter
2 oz (50 g) Cheshire cheese, grated
2.5 ml (1/2 tsp) dried mixed herbs

1. Mince together the meat and onion. Mix in 15 g (5 oz) flour, the tomato puree, stock and seasoning. Turn into a shallow ovenproof dish.

2. In a bowl, rub the butter into the remaining flour until it resembles fine breadcrumbs, then stir in the grated cheese, herbs and seasoning. Spoon the crumble over the meat.

3. Bake in the oven at 190°C (375°F) mark 5 for 45 minutes-1 hour.

Hope this helps

I've liking this as well. Thanks!

I've cut all the meat of the bone, the bone was quite big but I've filled 2 tubs full of meat. The tubs are big yoghurt pot sizes if that makes sense. So thats 3 meals this week sorted. Today was a NSD.

I would like tomorrow to be a NSD as well however I owe £3 to someone at work and I am not sure if I will be able to take lunch to work. I was going to make soup tonight and see if my stanley flask manages to keep it warm as an experiment. However I also have to do breakfast. I might see if I can take a pot of milk and cereal but I don't like cereal! However I am just waiting for someone to pick up baby safety items which I got for free from mum and I am selling them for £7 so the £3 is coming out of that, I will take £1 to work to pay for breakfast (64pence) and put the other £3 in the pot to pay for eggs.

We sat down earlier to work out what we will need for February. My list so far is:


Asda Smartprice Bread x 3 = £1.41
Brocolli head x 3 = £1.50
Asda Smartprice Onions 2kg x 3 = £2.94
Bell peppers X 3 = £4.68
3KG Sweet potatoes = £3.84
24 pints of milk = £5.92
Actimel Stawberry Yoghurt Drink x 24 = £4
Frozen Spinach x 2 = £2.78
Asda bin bags (5) = £4.49
Asda Toilet roll 24 = £8
Eggs from farm 60 = £9

= £48.56

I don't think I will need anything other than this, I may keep £10 aside for fruit and vegetables however its quite sporadic as to when we buy it as I have frozen veg and Joshi eats bananas and sweet clems. So I don't intend to spend more than £60. I've planned my meals up to Wednesday. I hope to send OH and Joshi to his mums on Thursday for dindins so I will only need to feed myself which I will be doing with a pasta packet I have in the cupboard. Then Friday we will probably have chops from the freezer and chips.

TM6 wrote: »

I love the Costco at Leeds especially as just round the corner is Crown Point Retail Park where Poundland and Poundworld are virtually side by side

I have to resist going to costco too much as I spend too much! I'm trying to underspend on all my monthly budgets though to save up so I can go splurge.



My next project is coupons.....I know someone who is an avid couponer, she got a £400 shop for £15. I had no idea how so I've asked, she writes to major companies so for the price of a second class stamp she gets anything from £40 to 10 worth of coupons!!

OverRated

NSD and a very productive one!

Whole house had a good clean (2BR Terrace so not a big job for two people) - including sorting out the spare-room that turned in to a dumping ground the past two weeks. The shed needs to be emptied and the garage sorted - but that is a job for the sunny hot weather!

Have a chilli in the slow cooker (freezer then meals for the week), did a make-shift ratatouille as mushrooms were turning (freezer then meals for week).

Wife cooked chicken parmigiana tonight which was lovely! The sauce left over in the pan already cooled in ice-cube trays and in the freezer - it is the most amazing pizza base for my homemade pizza!

As it happens we are both away with work tomorrow and Tuesday (same city as it turns out but different parts so different hotels). So wife has made rolls for lunch but it does mean we will both get an evening meal at work's expense plus breakfast the next day... plus as our return travel is late work will pick up the cost of Tuesday's evening meal also.

The downside of being away is we tend to spend on things like coffee and snacks but both plan to try hard to keep this down.

I do have a new mini challenge... to give up drinking cola. I did it towards the end of last year but got drinking it again over XMAS. Between the two of us it is easily cost £16+ per week... YIKES!

kb_soma

Frugalsod wrote: »

While I can do a simple Thai curry it is nowhere as good as the one in the restaurant. The same applies to my cooking of Chinese. I would happily go out and treat myself to a proper authentic meal as a treat for doing so well being frugal.

Same here with Chinese food, it's okay at home, but my downfall is the mixed meat rice and dim sum from Soho. Good job I don't live anywhere near London at the moment!

skintygerlinky

Evening Frugalites xx

Hope everyone's had a good weekend. I've got one eye on my laptop and one eye on Hugh Fearnley Thingy in his new Scandinavian programme.
NSD for me, yay! Need to buy shower gel tomorrow (I like the Palmyolives ones, usually on offer somewhere for less than a quid and even BOGOF) but really hoping to make a habit of Sun, Mon and Tues being NSDs with any more I can manage as a bonus.

Nice to see lots of recipes on here. I've made another batch of rocky road today, with half a box of chopped dates in the mix. The box was the last foodie item leftover from Xmas .
Made a cheese and leek pie for tea, will get tomorrow out of it too. Start month as I mean to go on!

Overated - I've been enjoying rocky road as a portable snack to keep me from buying them and have really enjoyed it!

OverRated

skintygerlinky wrote: »

Overated - I've been enjoying rocky road as a portable snack to keep me from buying them and have really enjoyed it!

Will have to check that out thanks