Missy’s family of 4, paying off debts, saving for a house and just trying to survive!

missymoo81

Hi JoeDenise, no I don’t use dried beans! I wouldn’t know where to start! I’m rather unorganised and don’t know if that’s a step too far with being able to manage to cook from scratch. I’ll have a look at how the cost differs, thanks for the advice. And the grocery challenge I havent looked at for years and had forgotten it was there! I love falafel and hummus! I forget I can make things like that from scratch, I love falafel in a flat bread with lettuce and hummus, nice cheap dinner actually. I don’t think OH would eat it but the children probably would. I think what I’ll do is cook things me and OH would usually eat like Thai green chicken curry. Put lots of veg in to bulk it out and freeze one or give it to him the next day whilst I eat something veggie that I like. More work but then if we’re making twice as many meals it just means cooking twice one day instead of once in two days if that makes sense. I’m loving all of the ideas and really appreciate your comments thank you.

Im just reheating the chilli from yesterday it’s so much nicer on the second day! And then I’m going to do a quick stock take and meal plan! I’m hoping if possible to only spend £40 this week as it’s a child free week, it would be handy to have that money to carry over to when they’re here. 

Hmmm worryingly when we turned up at home there we’re 4 gas call out vans outside our house!!! Fortunately they’re doing something next door but seems a bit excessive! 

joedenise

Dried beans are something to think about in the future once you've got into the habit of meal planning and cooking from scratch regularly.  Definitely double up and either freeze half or use for your DH's lunches the next couple of days.  Once that's in place then definitely start using dried beans.  Google is your friend for timings and a pressure cooker if you have one cuts down cooking time immensely or you can use a slow cooker for some beans but usually you need to boil rapidly for 10 minutes before putting them into the slow cooker.

Glad there wasn't a gas problem when you got home.  Think I'd have been worried too!

PurpleFairy26

Dried beans are definitely your friend if you want to hit a budget. We just soak a load overnight and then cook (takes about an hour) then freeze in portions if we don't use straight away. You can add them to things from frozen. Works out at pennies per portion compared to tinned. Hummus is dead easy to make too. 

missymoo81

Thanks JoeDenise and purplefairy I will def look into it. How does it stack up cost wise with cooking etc? Ok so have just done my food plan. Breakfast: toast or porridge or pancakes with strawberries. Lunch: toast, crisps, chocolate bar. Snack: banana and cake Dinner:Fri - Steak and potato salad and salad Sat - thai green curry Sun -wedges and pizza Mon - chicken stew Tue - chicken Stew Weds - chicken and pasta Thurs - chicken and pasta Shopping comes to £40.33

missymoo81

Morning! 

Feeling happy this morning despite the gasman digging up the road until 3 am! I managed to get the shopping order done just in time last night! The sun is shining and I managed to get all of my washing done yesterday, (little things) I’ve sorted it but haven’t put it away. But it gave me time to go through the children’s clothes and see what does and doesn’t fit. The clothes that I picked up for May from a FB ad last night are perfect! 5 dresses for £10 (money already accounted for) she literally had one summer dress and that had holes in! 
I’m really looking forward to today, I’ve got work then home to shower and change then we’re going to spend the afternoon at BIL’s in the garden drinking coffee and SIL is making an afternoon tea it will be so nice to catch up. I haven’t got work tonight either, yay!
So just drinking a cuppa and watching The Gilmore Girls before I get ready for work.

So money wise, OH saw my notepad of workings out yesterday and said he’ll see how much money is left after everything Is paid and split it so everything is fairer. But any money that comes in extra I’m going to put into an old bank account as a contingency. 

joedenise

Don't know where you shop but Tesco sell 500g dried chickpeas for £1.15 and you need 100g to make the equivalent of a 400g can of chickpeas.  Canned chickpeas are 55p for a 400g can.  So you can get the equivalent of 5 cans of dried for £1.15; 5 cans of chickpeas work out at £2.75 so that's a saving of £1.60 and you can use them for loads of things.  They're even good cold in a salad.

As PF says you can cook and freeze in portions which means they are available ready cooked, just like a can.  Different beans take different amounts of time but there are plenty of charts on the web and cooking instructions are also on the bags.  My bag says soak overnight, bring to boil and cook for 40 minutes.

My favourite beans are a bag of 10 mixed beans (have only managed to find them in Waitrose) as they are great as a mixed salad just dressed with vinegarette.  Or I use them in the Jack Monroe bean goulash.  Actually it might be worth you having a look on her website (www.cookingonabootstrap.com) for some cheap meal ideas.  Most are veggie or vegan but some of her older recipes contained small amounts of meat which might suit you better with OH needing extra protein.

Sorry for the long post!

missymoo81

Please don’t apologise for the post JoeDenise, I’m so grateful for you taking the time to give me so much useful information. I will def add some dried beans/chickpeas to my next order, I have some lentils and a tin of chickpeas already in the cupboard to use up. 

So work was good and I picked up the FB T-shirts for Roo, so they are sorted for the rest of the summer, his shorts are a little tight but I can hopefully cut down his jeans if needs be. Sold some work clothing which gave me £25 cash, so that’s gone into my purse. I need to get some fuel later when I pick up my click and collect but OH’s business pays for that. 

Food wise today. I have had a banana and some banana bread and some baklava which a friend gave me. We’re off to BIL’s shortly and they’re feeding us lunch. But I might have to have some toast first as I’m super hungry.  Dinner tonight will be steak from the freezer (which I need to get out) potato salad and  salad as it needs using up. 

I was pleased with my meal plan as it uses up all the sad looking veg and some of the meat from the freezer.  Jobs for today, 3 x washing including the children’s beds and hangout. Find clothes to send back and packaging. Post letter and go to post office. Sort invoice. List bikes on EBay. 

Going to spend this evening looking up recipes! 

missymoo81

Is it wrong that I’m super excited about picking my Tesco order up, won’t be until about 9.45pm

I’ve had a lovely day at BIL’s, they’re even cooking us dinner which is lovely of them and means I don’t need to cook!

joedenise

I think shopping is the highlight of the week for a lot of us at the moment!

missymoo81

Ok got my shopping abs the total was £40.79. Remembered I actually have £9 worth of vouchers to take off another shop! Have unpacked everything but didn’t look like a lot. Mostly because I’m using up sticks of stuff I guess. one thing I forgot was plain flour. I have self raising, does anyone know if I can make pizza dough with SR flour and yeast as I usually just use Plain.

Managed to get all of the washing done apart from the bedding. And have put all of the shopping away. Have also sorted the returns and packaged them up, ready to be sent off on Monday, must remember to do this. That will give me £80 back.
hope you’ve all had a good day x