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

Baileys_Babe

When including meat with a meal I find you can reduce the amount of meat by it being chopped and incorporated into the dish where possibly. If you serve a whole chicken breast or similar it is obvious you have cut a chunk off or it is absent, if it is chopped up you can serve smaller amounts on each occasion meaning it will last more portions/days.

If someone is able to rephrase this so it makes sense that would be appreciated. 

Kakiste

I follow Jack Monroe on twitter and she posts recipes there frequently. Randomly, she once sent me a pack of chocolate biscuits as she'd tweeted that she was going to the shops and 'did anyone want anything?' I jokingly said biscuits and she DM'd me and asked me for my address to post them! 

missymoo81

@rugbymadfamily Ah thank you for the reminder! OH happily has cheese and beans in a jacket potato. And he would have a lovely omelette with mushrooms, tomatoes, spinach and cheese.

@Baileys_Babe Thank you for that. I think what I'll do is whatever i make for OH I will try and cut his chicken up and incorporate it somehow then he won't be able to tell how much meat he's actually got.

@Kakiste Thats amazing! I'm going to find her on Insta as I'm not on twitter.

Had to pop to the shops to get some stuff for work, but the children didn't want to go to Tesco so we went to Lidl. I haven't been for months and months. I got:
chocolate bars
sun lotion
kale
kidney beans
vinegar (for descaling the kettle hopefully)
butter beans
coconut milk
chickpeas
expensive yoghurt for OH
hay fever tablets
low fat marg (very happy at the cost of this, half the price of I can't believe its not butter`)
bananas
wraps
bread
paprika
baking powder
celery
peppers
butternut squash 
all for £13.45!!!

Forgot what great value it was! I have a little more time with the way I'm trying to schedule things. I am being a little bit more selfish and spending less time at work. I used to just spend the time there to see OH and train later in the day, then wait around for an hour before i picked the children up. but I'm trying to train straight after the school run in the morning, which gives me a lot more time during the day. Which gives me more time for things like cooking and recipes!!!

jwil

Glad you are finding time for yourself and to do stuff!

joedenise

Well done on rescheduling your day to make time for cooking and relaxing.

missymoo81

Thank you I feel so much better for it! 

I’ve finished my work and am now sat on the sofa, fully pyjamad up, glass of wine in hand (from a bottle from last week), note pad in hand, and Jamie Oliver on the tv. Although I’m watching ‘money saving meals’ and I’m not sure Jamie’s idea of
money saving is the same as mine! Buy a whole side of salmon to save money..... hmmmm....

I keep marvelling over the prices in lidl compared to Sainsburys, and I actually enjoyed wandering around!

I made butternut squash pasta thing for dinner. It was ok, definitely edible just not enough flavour! Going to serve it up with chicken for OH later.

Going to sit and write a meal plan and what I need to buy.

Things I want to make are:

teriyaki tofu and noodles https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/teriyaki_root_vegetable_15473
greens pie

https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/green_vegetable_and_feta_02850

omlette
mushroom tofu pasta https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/creamy_mushroom_pasta_41818
Spiced rice https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/smoky_vegetable_43212
chipotle chilli https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/chipotle_pinto_bean_stew_94139
vegan meatballs (sausage MBs for OH) https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/vegan_meatball_one-pot_53421

Cheery_Daff

Some tasty stuff there! 

I always find tofu quite expensive in the supermarket or health food shop, but if you've got a local Chinese supermarket anywhere nearby, it's often much cheaper. One of the things I miss about not living in a city! 

And to buying a whole side of salmon to save money Definitely a different audience to us lot  

rugbymadfamily

I've made that Chipotle chilli before  it's excellent! I can highly recommend the BBC good food app, its easier than the website as you can flag you favourite receipes. And they have something called "cook mode" so your phone doesn't go onto standby while in the middle of cooking which is clever!

Baileys_Babe

I'm seeing "cook mode" or the equivalent on more and more online recipes, my OH was very impressed when he found it on a recipe he was going to use recently.

I'm going to have a look at those recipes and see if any will work for us, they all sound yummy.

WelshKitty85

Have you downloaded the Lidl plus app? We find it's definitely worthwhile for the extra coupons to use on your shopping.