Make do, Mend and Minimise in 2015

camelot1001

Exciting times for you Bluegreen, hope you enjoy your new home and get into the swing of all things MM&M.

I used up loads of veg in a big stir fry last night and felt so much better for it, the end of term for us and there are too many temptations in the staff room! I'm glad to be off now to give my stomach a rest.

I've harvested 3 strawberries from the garden, not many I know but they were so delicious. There are lots of flowers on the courgettes, if it ever stops raining and we get some sunshine maybe I will get some to harvest!

117pauline

Does it count if I minimise my Tesco clubcard points ??

My old slow cooker died after too much hard work and approx 15 years. I have been looking for a good quality one which allows me to alter the temperature by degrees rather than hot, medium and stew.

So I treated myself to one in the Tesco Boost. I had accumulated the points via survey sites so I reckon I have got myself a bargain!

Hope the house move goes well tomorrow BlueGreen. It is an exciting time - moving into your first own home and expecting a little one. Enjoy!!

misstara

Viv, your food bill for this year so far makes for very impressive reading.

Welcome bluegreen and congratulations, sounds like you've got lots going on at the moment.

Tea tonight was salad using up a heap of leftover bits in the fridge and I made croutons from the heels of the bread. I also attempted some chocolate chip cookies and they tasted lovely but were very crumbly. I just substituted GF flour in my normal recipe but wonder whether I need to add something else to get the right texture.

I took out the recycling and emptied the food bin. Planning on doing some cleaning in the morning as I'm on the late shift tomorrow. I got a bag of books which I'll drop off at the charity shop.

[Deleted User]

Bluegreen How wonderful a new house and a new baby I wish you and your OH the very best in your new adventure.I'm sure you will enjoy the friendlieness of the people on here,we have all been where you are honey and any help just ask.no question is daft or silly and someone will always come up with an answer for you.
I had a good day using up some left over pastry from the freezer and there is enough quiche left for lunch tomorrow with some salad again.So no spending for me this week.I should have a bit more to go into the holiday fund by the end of the month .Still working my way through the food mountain in the cupboards at the moment
Onwards and upwards chums
JackieO xxx

Lynplatinum

Hiya All

It just occurred to me that we have pasted the solstice and that in a few days time we will be at the end of the 6th month of the year!! Look at us - MM&Ms - £79 + pence for food for half a year from Viv (Valhalla - sorry spelling not my strong point!) - Jackie O - keeping her purse shut - tips on food - yummy recipes - lots of gardening tips - knitting patterns - guiding each other to excellent money saving web sites - DIY garden furniture from pallets WOW

:A BIG PATS ON BACKS EVERYONE :A

One of the things we do best welcoming new folks!

Hiya Bluegreen - your pasta reminds me of one of the things we ate a lot when the kids were small and we were on benefits. It was called 'Oh my God Pasta' and we had it on a Wednesday It consisted of any veg (including cucumber and tomatoes) and any meats (ham, salami, one rasher of bacon) - all this saute'd lightly - if required -mixed with cooked pasta and lumps of cheese and left on the hob for a couple of mins. Why Wednesday? Because I got my benefits money on a Thursday and everything had to be used up and not wasted! :rotfl:

Pauline - using Tes!os vouchers is part of MM&M!!!! I get mine because it is the cheapest local place to get petrol - they then provide enough to enable me to buy my underwear and all of my washing tablets for the year!!! (I use them when they have the clothes booster on - sometimes this can extend to clothing type presents for folks too e.g. comedy socks!)

MM&M today - am still painting my kitchen - I only get a couple of hours a day to dedicate to it - I reckon that half an hour tomorrow will finish it (behind the stove and a troublesome pipe - needing a 3rd coat!!) So food has been freezer meals I have previously made myself! Today was a bit of a cheat - chip from a chipshop that I had previously frozen (freeze very spread out - microwave and then grill to crisp) and hot dogs from a can. Just fancied a treat high calorie treat! Nearly out of bread rolls in the freezer (which I need as I eat lunch on the run 2 days per week) so will have to go out YSing again this week!

Tomorrow Im gonna have chicken soup made in the winter that needs eating up - Im not going to have a hot drive tomorrow but be sitting in my nice cool house - and catching up with neglected paperwork!! and e-mails!! Tea will have to be a use up but one that requires cooking - Freezer is getting so empty that I will have to get back to my old trick of filling it with bags of scrumpled newspaper so that I am not trying to cool air all the time (saves energy)
So frugally on for the next 6 months :-) folks :A

Bluegreen143

Thanks for the warm welcome all! I've just been sitting making a mealplan to cover Sunday onwards in the new house. We will need a decent sized shop as we've eaten down our freezer and other stores.

JackieO, I freeze leftover pastry too, even just little scraps, it makes it just as convenient as shop bought to always have some in there. 117pauline - I'll be after your tips on getting a slow cooker as I've never had one before but have asked MIL for one on my birthday in August. I do have a pressure cooker and adore it but think the slow cooker will e really handy when the baby comes along.

nursemaggie

Welcome Bluegreen Hope you move goes OK and your morning sickness stops soon.

DD sent me my e ticket for Malta, so glad I don't have to print it. I can't get any ink for our printer only on line so even if I order it tonight it wont come in time. Spent my vouchers on two nighties for only £10 and some flowery trousers. Got a three quarter length sleeve top in BHF shop so that's me covered from the sun. We still have not had any sun to speak of it just stays very overcast.

Got my Euros today only just over a week to go now really looking forward to seeing my DD, SIL and DGS2. Not been on holiday for 6 years.

[Deleted User]

Good Morning all,suns up in Kent and woke me by shining through the windows not a bad thing after the miserable spring we've had.
nursemaggie I hope you have a great time in Malta,one of my favourite places to go to,although I've not been there for many years My late OH had around 8 Matltese working for him at one time and said they were the hardest working people he evr employed(as long as they could have a siesta at lunchtime:) seriously we used to go to Malta three time a year when the girls were small,guaranteed sunshine and lovely welcoming people.We were there when the British pulled out of Valletta and Dom Mintoff took over.To go to a Maltese 'festa' is quite a great evening .Back in the mid 1970s Bugibba was only a tiny fishing village then and we had some amazing Maltese friends.I hope you enjoy your stay, i really envy you:):)

Today I am trying to minimise some of the paperwork in my study, I have my friend coming on Monday and she's brilliant at de-cluttering and I daren't let her see the state of the room at the moment ,its chocablock I shall make do with something from the fridge for lunch,left over from yesterday no doubt.
lyneplatinum what a long journey we have had over the past six months, but think how well we have all done.My purse is like a man-trap, in that it snaps shut on a regular basis :)I am pleased with the amount I have saved since January and the holiday spending fund is boosted by an extra bit every month.
Bluegreen Great investment a slow cooker I save bundles with mine I do a whole chicken in it and the amount of meat that just falls off the bones is amazing,great for making up into curries for the freezer,plus the stock makes a good basis for soups.My big cooker only goes on for baking really as I have a Remoska which I use daily, and a steamer for my microwave, helps with the electric bills as a slow cooker costs buttons to use.I do mine overnight so a casserole or chicken is done by the morning ready to portion up once cool for the freezer :0
right time for a cuppa I think
Have a good day chums whatever you are doing
JackieO xxx

celtic_moon

Good morning All!

Welcome Bluegreen. You are more than welcome to pull up a chair on this thread - everyone is helping each other and you sound like you're in for some BIG changes. Good luck with the move and keep us updated with baby news

I have to say, I am popping in to say hi and ask for a few prayers/thoughts etc. We seem to be on the verge of either something very big and the business takes off or losing it all. I sincerely hope it is the former as the latter is unthinkable! We have had a production run fail and it's cost us several grand in lost revenue and the bills are mounting. We are putting our best foot forward and storming on with another batch but we are relying on the goodwill of our suppliers - some of whom seem to be short on it understandable in the current climate but....

We will be able to recover from it - given time, but this is the key..... We are trading every weekend between now and the end of October and we have some very interested people who can give us some good work. However, right now, we are on our backsides looking up at the stars......

On the up side, we are doing ok on the MMM side. I have one more day of work tomorrow then nothing until September - the joys of the academic year! We have dramatically reduced the amount of food we buy and the freezers are stocked so we are good for that time. DH is 50 in a few weeks and it's going to be a home made job but we will get to spend some time with friends we rarely see which is the point of it all.

I have made some little sachets out of old muslin cloths. I am going to fill them with the dried rose petals from flowers DH has given me in the past and use them as drawer smellies. If I get better at them (it's been a while since I hand sewed and I now have tendonitis in my wrists) then I might do some for gifts too.

Thanks for listening and much love to you all xxx

[Deleted User]

Stale bread and teacakes today........=BREAD PUDDING for tomorrow!!!