Make do, Mend and Minimise in 2016

e4rly

I've been following the thread this year and am finding it such a good reminder to MMM! Lots of small changes so far, but on assessing my monthly spend for January I can see it's making an impact already.

My main make do has been food. I'm aiming to extend my range of dishes, so am googling 'using up double cream' etc. A few misses so far, but a number of hits too. Cooking for me is a great stress reliever, so this is beneficial in so many ways.

Mendb is more difficult - I'm thinking about it at least!

For minimise, well I've cleaned out my kitchen cupboards, identifying that I clearly have a lentil buying addition (and fuelling make-do I guess!) and I've quit the gym, replacing it by incorporating free exercise into my everyday routine. As I went to the gym irregularly this is actually much healthier, as by planning to run home from work, I have to run home from work.

So thank you all for posting daily, you're keeping me on the straight and narrow!

Hard_Up_Hester

Broccoli soup is simmering away, I threw in some bits of cauliflower too, and as I don't have any stock cubes I added a sachet of Miso soup mix.

I realised I had 3 half finished bottles of shower gel, so I poured them all into a tall pump action bottle, 2 of them don't smell much and one has a very strong cinnamon smell, not that the perfume matters much to me.
Once I'd got as much out as I could I brought the bottles downstairs, half filled a washing up bowl with warm water, washed out the bottles thoroughly and then washed my bra's and hold ups in the soapy water.

VJsmum

Also have soup bubbling away - wrinkly parsnip, carrot and potato, with some YS shallots i picked up the other day - bunged in the end of a pepper and some past it's best kale and sprouts. Full of goodness and stuff that might previously have been thrown. Our fridge is looking decidedly bare but may see if i can go another day before shopping as it's cold out there

misstara

Morning all
A day off for me so have been food shopping and to the gym. Plan for the rest of the day is to make bread, clean the flat and (hopefully) start going through the DVDs. Took a beef joint out of the freezer last night so OH is going to do a lovely roast dinner later. There should be plenty of leftovers for meals during the week.

I'm also going to get out my stash of craft bits as there are a few birthdays coming up end of January/start of February so I want to get started on making some cards. I need to make time to do some work as well because I have a training course during the week and need to do a bit of preparation for it. So busy day - hope everyone is having a good Sunday

mrs-moneypenny

Stretched dinner with some extra veggies as dd3 and her fiance walked round in the snow.
Repurposed a pair of laddered tights yesterday as Dh needed a way of hanging a pair of speakers I his garage as they wouldn't fit on the ahelf properly so are now hanging below it - it worked quite Well.

Will do a meal plan later to minimise the freezer some more.

Still working on cross stitch panel, hoping to get it finished today so I can sew the cushion together in the week.

Stay safe and warm all, white over but thawing here

plumduff55

Hi everyone, I've had a great, very industrious day with lots of
M,M & M.

I have done lots of cooking/baking. I used to this when the children were at home - I would spend the whole of Sunday afternoon in the kitchen. Its been a long, long time since I did this and I feel happy and fulfilled. Things I've done were:

Pizza - I cooked a tomato sauce in the morning then discovered I had no yeast left so I just made a scone dough for the pizza and although the texture was a bit different it tasted yummy. I have kept some pizza for lunch tomorrow, the rest has been portioned and is now in the freezer.

Almond Slice - this is a WW2 recipe and instead of using almonds you use almond essence with porridge oats, so it is very cheap to make. Shortcrust pastry on the base spread with a little jam then almond topping.

Quiche - I had some shortcrust pastry left from the almond cake that I would normally have binned but instead I made an individual quiche that will do for dinner tomorrow.

Coconut sauce pudding - when the children were at home I would always make puddings on Saturday and Sunday. I have become very lazy and now buy myself individual puddings at the weekend. But today I baked a half quantity of this pudding, had some for dinner and there are 2 portions in the freezer.

All of the above were in the oven at the same time so minimised on the electricity. When I bought my cooker 13 years ago I bought an extra oven shelf for the oven, it has been well worth the money paid as it let's me bake lots in the oven at the same time.

I then ran out of milk and walked to the local shop in the snow and it was beautiful xx

mrs-moneypenny

https://www.flickr.com/photos/108672314@N02/24147236890/in/dateposted-public/

Made the cross stitch panel, using just stuff from my stash, will sort the fabric and pad out to sew the cushion part in the week.

Hard_Up_Hester

It's beautiful Mrs MP

nursemaggie

That's lovely Mrs MP

HOWMUCH

Welcome Dizzy Imp, Kerfuffle and e4rly .
We've got snow today so I was glad that I'd done the batch cooking yesterday. Well come 1pm the roads where quite clear so off I went to get milk etc. I was in Heron Foods and noticed they'd got jus@l pastry 1kg packets 3 for £1 so I got 3 puff and 3 shortcrust they are 2 X 500g. These will do for pies, Cornish pasties, tartlets etc.
I've been knitting for the new baby DD doesn't need much she's still got things from DGS so just a couple of new cardies in first size. Then this afternoon I've stitched the bottom row of green gingham ribbon, the widest one onto the curtains to make them look different for the nursery. Next weekend I'll do the orange gingham middle width and then I'll just have the yellow narrowest to do.
So I've done some make do on the curtains, no mending but does the knitting count as minimise because I'd already got the wool.
Mrs MP your sister will be pleased with the cushion for her birthday it looks lovely.