Make do, Mend and Minimise in 2016

Cappella

Lynplatinum - your muesli sounds good. I use a muesli base and add nuts and dates. Never thought of dried apricots and we have a huge bag in the pantry. Will drag it out when I make the next batch

I minimised and made do yesterday by NOT sticking to my meal plan. We had cold new potatoes and veg left in the fridge from earlier meals this week, as well as a few mushrooms and tomatoes so I used spray light and did quick roasted vegetable frittata with cous cous and salad. I'd made a stew in the slow cooker the night before but just froze it in individual portions. It will be great when I'm on my own here or MrC comes in tired after the long drives he's having to make at the moment. The frittata used up lots of leftover bits too, and tasted better than it sounds.

Mended a blouse by replacing a lost front button with a button from the cuff which matched the front buttons. Took the other cuff button off to keep as a spare. Replaced both cuff buttons with two from the button tin that nearly match the originals but not quite. The difference doesnt show on the cuff Really happy because it's a blouse I really like.

HOWMUCH

Hello everyone, it's a lovely sunny but windy day here in Yorkshire we had a bad frost this morning. I've only had to take DGS to nursery this morning and no childcare for 3 weeks. DD is on annual leave next week and the following 2 weeks he will be staying at his dad's. So I am footloose and fancy free. We are dog sitting though for those 3 weeks as she still needs looking after bless her.
Make do: I've cooked a big batch of chilli tfhis morning, mince and mushrooms were from the freezer, if fact the mushrooms were free from DD mince was YS. I'm also going to turn some of the beef bourguignon I did the other week into posh meat n potato pie and savoy cabbage.
Mend: nursery school aprons stitched a load of straps back on them. Knitting baby bunting bag, I'm now on the front sides.
Minimising: food out of the freezer and kitchen cupboards

I've got some MrT club card vouchers that need using before the 29th so I'm having a look at what I can boost them to, I normally turn £2.50 into £10 vouchers for eating out. But it always pay to check any new comers to the deals.
Have a good weekend fellow MMMer's

VJsmum

I use Mr T vouchers for meals out too. or DS and DD use them for a local theme park.

I am still making do with freezer stocks, but we are nearly out of actual meals now. At a push i could still do another week, but there would be some interesting combinations. Freezers still look quite full though - there is a lot of soup, bread, soft fruit, cake. i will do my first "big shop" in about a month tomorrow, so I have done well. I used to spend £100 a week on food (for 4 of us, now only 3 most of the time as DD is at uni) - in the last few weeks i have spent around £30 a week on "fresh" stuff.:T

No mending, no minimising. Though i need to sew on a button and clean my boots......

mrs-moneypenny

Afternoon all
Been out for the dad with my dad and step mum as its his 80th at the weekend. While with them step mum asked if could mend dads jeans and put him a new zip in as he hasn't had them long. So I bit of mending added to the pile.

Hope all are well.

THIRZAH

Managed quite a bit of mending today including putting new elastic into a pair of PJ trousers and darning a sock-it was a nice hand knitted one. While I was rummaging around for elastic I found a pink cord curtain tie-back so I used the cord to replace some rather tatty cord round a cushion.
This afternoon I knitted another jacket for the neo-natal unit. I'm slowly getting through the wool stash. The only problem is that our local wool shop is the collection point for the neo-natal knitting and I find it difficult to go into the shop and not buy anything.

We had a butternut squash and spinach lasagne for dinner from Jamie Oliver's latest book. It was very good but next time I'll make the tomato sauce a bit runnier as the top layer of lasagne was a bit dry.

misstara

Evening MMMers
Haven't managed to post for a few days as busy with work but have been reading along. Today I got some good news - my secondment is being made permanent and I'm getting £319.62 back from a reviewed PPI claim Went for a drink after work to celebrate.

Tonight's tea was nachos using up dips from earlier in the week plus the ends of a couple of different cheeses. Am working all weekend so will get my meals free at work, saves a bit of cash. This evening's lovely task has been tracking down all of OH's socks and pairing them up, really don't know how he manages never to put a pair in the wash together :rotfl:

FairyPrincessk

MissTara my OH also has that problem. I don't understand it--surely he takes them off at the same time and in the same place so how does one make it into the wash one day and the other turn up a few weeks later? What was it doing all of that time???? I'm beginning to think we have an underfloor sock pub in our house where they sometimes nip down for a pint or two on the way to the wash basket!!!

OH is a bit poorly today with a cold. I've a few errands to do. Lunch will be soup from the freezer and some YS wraps I got for 19p last night. Tea tonight is Dhal and OH said he will pop around the corner where we are lucky enough to be able to get 4 naan breads for £1 from the bakery. We've never had a takeaway from there, but the naan bread is a real bargain and freshly made to order.

Hard_Up_Hester

Socks were the bane of my life when my kids lived at home, hubby and 2 sons wore plain black only, 2 DD's wore white ones, I had hundreds of the blighters.
Making do, we had 10yo and 11yo DGC on Thursday & Friday. hubby tends to go overboard, he wanted to treat them to a takeaway Thursday & pub lunch Friday, I put my foot down on Thursday, I had 2 portions of spag bol sauce, I stretched it to feed all 4 of us by mixing the sauce with cooked pasta, so the pasta was coated, making up a load of garlic bread with HG garlic and putting a big bowl of grated cheese on the table along with a bowl of coleslaw. Even hubby was stuffed and it was cheaper than a takeaway.

HOWMUCH

HH it is tempting to spoil the GC hubby is a it like than with DGS when we take him away, but like you I think of other ideas to make him special memories. They'd have loved the spag Bol more than a take away cos it's home made and everybody loves a spag Bol. It's not what you have it's who you enjoy it with that counts. When we take him to the Country Park to feed the ducks ice cream is at home because I can get 4 magnums for £1 and the cafe charge £1.75 each. I just announce let's go home for ice cream and a warm. During the summer we take them with us in a freezer bag we are only 2 mins away by car.
Bet you all had a whale of a time. x

savingpennies

Afternoon all.
I've been busy doing various things over the past few days. DD1 announced that her work shoes (2 pairs) needed throwing out as they were 'ruined'. When I had a look the insoles were falling apart and they did look scruffy. Ten minutes later I had them looking like new and she couldn't understand what I had done. Easy - I cleaned and polished them with some scuff stuff I had and replaced the insoles with new ones. She now says they fit better than before and are a lot comfier. I remember my dad soling and heeling our school shoes himself as the 'cobbler was too expensive'. How times have changed.
Friday I filled my SC with Bolognese and froze half and converted the other half into chilli, again for the freezer.
Today I'm going to have a go at making fishcakes. I watched the hairy bikers make them during the week so with some fish bits I have in the freezer. I'll have go.