Ok, here goes nothing!

LauraB89

Oh and just saved £20 a month on my Sky bill woo hoo!!

Bobarella

Thanks for the chicken thigh tips, good to know! Stir fries have sort it slipped off my radar at the moment. I don't know about you but I end up running with a staple of about 5 meals on a loop...it's terrible really as pre kids I was a total foodie (kind of hate that word) and we used to go to a different top restaurant most months and shop at the farmers market. Now have no time and definitely no money to waste on such fripperies

With your old veg is it ropey or just close to sell by?

LauraB89

Ahh a bit ropey but nothing too bad! I love a stir fry - my go to is a bit of honey, soy sauce and chilli with any old veg chopped up, and a few noodles!

I caved today and went food shopping- only spent £33 for a weeks food shop, this week we have (drumroll please):

- homemade fish fingers
- spag bol
- roast chicken
- stir fry
- homemade sausage roll

Yes I love my food - not a fan of the "foodie" word either!

I've downloaded a new spending tracker too - so now I have a running total on my spending for the month to keep insure my budget.

Happy about my sky bill though another £20 a month to my goal of spending £100 less on my regular outgoings. Cut out getting my nails done too - so I'm halfway there!

Hope everyone is having a great Sunday!

You having a roast bob?

I know what you mean about a rota of dinners- I really have to think hard about doing different things each week. Looking at lidls special offers before I go is definitely a good way of shaking things up for me!

Xxx :T

Bobarella

No roasts here today, we had my sons birthday party at ours yesterday, so have been eating up party leftovers. I have got the fridge down to jars of half used sauces, condiments etc and we are having a use it up spagetti dinner consisting of chorizo, onions, thyme, tomatoes, feta and chopped parsley. It's a good excuse to clean the fridge too which I have now done.

Your menu sounds good, what fish do you use?

Well done on chopping another £20 off your regular outgoings.

-taff

Using up manky veg in soup is good, add a couple of tins of borlotti beans and you have instant heartiness. Or a handful of rice, or a handful of pasta. Thickens it up too.

LauraB89

Mmmm- party food is the best! I love cocktail sausages lol - such a child inside!!

I just use whatever fish I can lay my hands on, we have cod, but salmon or pollock or anything works! Easier to cook if the fish is frozen - slice with a sharp knife into chunks. Dunk in egg - then coat in breadcrumbs (you can add cheese to this, or just some herbs or whatever you fancy!) Then spray a little oil and cook in the oven for maybe 15 mins or so. Delish! And much better than store bought ones! Use up some stale bread too. If I'm feeling naughty I'll make batter and fry like the chippy! Ohhhhhhh so good! Make a battered sausage on occasion too.

Great tip taff, I love a good bean in a soup! Gives a nice flavour and really good for you

-taff

My soup making is very hapahazrd but my favourite is veg and bean...so be prepared for a recipe [I have kale in the garden BTW which is why I'm including it in this, I know the shops love to charge the earth for it]

2 sticks celery, one big onion, maybe a leek as well, 2 or three medium ish carrots, six or seven leaves of black kale, one courgette or two, up to you, two tins of borlotti beans, two knorr veg stockpots [usually on sale in one of the supermarkets], little bit of salt, just enough water to cover. Add the beans just to heat not to cook. Much better the next day too.
Chop everything small, don't put too much water in, you want it dense. If you have some parmesan to grate over the top in the bowl, so much the better.

This will make enough for a few days, so reduce quantities if you don't want to eat it lots

LauraB89

I have all those things bar kale (got some cabbage though!) I'm going to be making me some soup! Thanks

Bobarella

LauraB89 wrote: »

Mmmm- party food is the best! I love cocktail sausages lol - such a child inside!!

I just use whatever fish I can lay my hands on, we have cod, but salmon or pollock or anything works! Easier to cook if the fish is frozen - slice with a sharp knife into chunks. Dunk in egg - then coat in breadcrumbs (you can add cheese to this, or just some herbs or whatever you fancy!) Then spray a little oil and cook in the oven for maybe 15 mins or so. Delish! And much better than store bought ones! Use up some stale bread too. If I'm feeling naughty I'll make batter and fry like the chippy! Ohhhhhhh so good! Make a battered sausage on occasion too.

Great tip taff, I love a good bean in a soup! Gives a nice flavour and really good for you

Thank you for the tip of using frozen fish that's handy to know.

Have a wonderful Money Light Monday (see what I did there) :rotfl:

LauraB89

Money Light Monday - I like it! The best I could come up with was miserly Monday! Maybe No Money Monday? Either way, loving the creativity!

Come back from work where I have been double checking my budget for next month based on my payslip and I have £100 more than I thought!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, I think I will split it 50/50 with Christmas/Credit card

Which is excellent news - just been double checking my numbers and it is looking good people - I am saying goodbye to BOTH of my overdrafts tomorrow - I cannot wait to update my signature!

Managed to save a sneaky £7 or so in my savings account thanks to my bank doing a "save the change" - so any card purchases it rounds up to the nearest £ and the change goes into my savings - pretty neat

Cannot wait for payday, how sad is this - I am excited to update my signature..!!!

I have also worked out that by the end of the year, I will have tipped the scales and have more in savings than in debts - ah-maz-ing.

Thanks to all of you on here - reading your diaries is a big, big motivator!

xxxx