2014 Frugal Living Challenge

Mrs_Cheshire

SarahB1989 wrote: »

Not close enough to use regularly but there is one in town. Are they good for cheap meat?

Yes it'd worth keeping an eye on the website to see what's on offer. I got boneless pork leg joints today for £3.49 per kg. I bought 2 large ones and cut into 2 so now have 4 roast dinners sorted for about £8.
They also do small packs with just one piece of meat in for about £1-£1.50 depending on what your buying so it may be useful for you if you don't have much room in the freezer, they usually have 3-4 days on them too so you could keep a few days worth in the fridge.

skintygerlinky

Evening Frugalites xx

FINALLY a NSD hurray!! Think it's the only one this week, oh dear! Will consult cash book on Friday, all the evidence is written down in there :eek:

Lovely day today - given myself a weekend off from uni work and have sorted out some admin and spent rest of the time cooking and reading! Mushroom soup for lunch after buying a mega bumper load of yellow sticker 'shrooms this week! Was really filling so I've just had cheese on toast for tea, with a slice of lemon cake I've made from a packet mix lurking in the cupboard.

Found a 'spotted !!!!!!' mix in there too
Deffo gonna make that! Love an old-school pud with an amusing name (am a complete child, sorry!).

Went round to sis and bro-in-law's house last night with mum and dad for tea and holiday chat. We're all planning short break away in October as mum and dad are both 70 this year and my nephew turns 18. We were looking at flights to the usual suspect Euro cities but they were looking really expensive. In the end I said 'look shall we just all be honest? Can we afford to go abroad?' and suddenly we were all laughing and saying 'well, NO!'

So glad I spoke up. We started looking closer to home and will probably have 2 or 3 nights in a part of the UK we've not visited before. My wise 15 yr old niece said 'well wherever we go it will be fab as we'll all be together'.

Awwwwwwww!! Talk about perspective.

So, here's a lovely tune (which helps me alleviate my Scouse guilt at snubbing the Beatles yesterday!!) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zicw_dVwhfM

SarahB1989_2

Mrs_Cheshire wrote: »

Yes it'd worth keeping an eye on the website to see what's on offer. I got boneless pork leg joints today for £3.49 per kg. I bought 2 large ones and cut into 2 so now have 4 roast dinners sorted for about £8.
They also do small packs with just one piece of meat in for about £1-£1.50 depending on what your buying so it may be useful for you if you don't have much room in the freezer, they usually have 3-4 days on them too so you could keep a few days worth in the fridge.

Thanks for the tip Mrs C! We only have a little fridge-top freezer shared between two of us so small packs that I can rotate through the fridge are a great suggestion. I'd forgotten M's had started doing delivery so can have a proper hunt through their virtual shelves now before venturing over there!

Edited to add - having a quick look at their site now and noticed they have really cheap frozen mince, does anyone know if it's worse quality than fresh? Would it be safe to freeze meals made from frozen meat?

cw18

SarahB1989 wrote: »

Edited to add - having a quick look at their site now and noticed they have really cheap frozen mince, does anyone know if it's worse quality than fresh? Would it be safe to freeze meals made from frozen meat?

It's absolutely fine to refreeze providing it's been properly cooked after being defrosted and before being put back into the freezer.

I assume you mean their value frozen mince? It's almost certainly the same as Mr T's frozen free-flow value mince, and when I tried that I ended up with a pan of fat and a few bits of floating mince. I certainly wouldn't use it again.

SarahB1989_2

cw18 wrote: »

It's absolutely fine to refreeze providing it's been properly cooked after being defrosted and before being put back into the freezer.

I assume you mean their value frozen mince? It's almost certainly the same as Mr T's frozen free-flow value mince, and when I tried that I ended up with a pan of fat and a few bits of floating mince. I certainly wouldn't use it again.

Not the value one, their own brand lean lamb mince? It's this one.

cw18

SarahB1989 wrote: »

Not the value one, their own brand lean lamb mince? It's this one.

Haven't used minced lamb of any kind in years, and never frozen.

Looking at the nutritional info the only comment I'd make is that the frozen is likely to be considerably fattier. The fresh has less fat raw than the frozen has cooked, and the fresh would lose some in cooking meaning it's lower again once cooked. And in my experience of frozen beef mince, the frozen will also lose a fair bit of water meaning it'll shrink more than the fresh from that as well (so the cost per kg cooked weight isn't likely to be as big as the cost per kg raw).

tatabubbly

Planning a NSD today after an unvirtuous spend day yesterday. Gah.. Well onwards and upwards!

Been looking at our savings and this month they have to start in ernest. I'm sick of worrying over how we are going to have a wedding and afford our own home. well, affording our own home is the important bit tbh..

mrsinvisible

Needed milk and bread yesterday, so not an NSD but refused to be tempted by ys cake.
Got 2 big cupboards decluttered and the 'stuff' got redistributed between Fave Cous, DD and CS so nothing to landfill, encouraging me in my delusion of not buying rubbish. (of course it is rubbish if I don't need/use it!)
Today I have to collect a parcel from M&S I am not taking my purse so I wont buy anything else. Near the end of the month and still have a little cash left, how amazing is that?

Frugalsod

Last SP was Saturday and planning to get through to next Saturday before shopping again. Overall the month was not brilliant but after a bad start it improved towards the end. Now to keep that going.

abby1234519

Urgh, I've worked out I need to make another £240 per month to pay for our wedding before August. Thats going to be a struggle! I really don't know how I can manage that. We are already being frugal with most things, food, energy and the like. The issue is the debt and childcare, I pay about £450 a month out on debt and then £667.25 on childcare. I get about £400 a month towards the childcare from the government however in April that will go down to about £173. I am wishing the months away till next September when he starts school. I had considered sending him to a childminder but I think the disruption would not be fair.
Yesterday we cooked a lamb leg, got it half price (reduced at the co op) as well as a 20% discount (employee card on saturday after being paid means co op staff get 20& discount, every other day its just 10%). So that was a 2.5kg lamb leg for about £4.80. The not so frugal part was having guests round for dinner, as well as my other half wanting lots of meat. But still, I think we can get 3 days out of the rest of the lamb and that is including having my dad round for tea as he drives back down south on wednesday. I have left over mash from yesterday so will make bubble and squeak with the lamb. Nothing special!
I also made carrot and lentil soup yesterday, I hope oh has remembered to have it for lunch. If he forgets I will smite him.
I've sold two photo albums for £1 (were free so quids up) on a facebook group and also a blender I no longer use for £4. That £5 will go into the wedding fund.
I have budgeted £50 for next months food AFTER the approved food order. so that should cover milk! Oh I also bought an electric carving knife on Saturday. I checked the price out at Argos (£19.99) which was the same as at the Co Op. I was waiting for a 20% discount day! But it got even better as the shelf label advertised it as £17.99 so I point blank refused to buy it at £19.99. Not sure whether they should have knocked it down to £17.99 my understanding is a shop don't have to sell it at the shelf price? But then with discount it came to £14.40. I used it to cut the lamb up and it was beautiful. I actually think it will save money as its easier to cut smaller slices so I am not cutting big chunks off and giving people too much! Also intend to use it for homemade bread, which was the original idea. I have a pullman loaf tin which I love as it creates perfect sandwich bread. However I really struggle to cut slices. Hopefully this will mean I don't waste anymore