2021 Frugal Living Challenge

Viking_mfw

mumtoomany said:

While we are talking cheese recipes, any ideas what to do with a huge amount of possibly the strongest goats cheese ever made? Too strong to eat, don't want to throw it away. Thanks.

I second pizza - with spinach and pieces of fig. No, really. 

Otherwise goes well in sweetcorn fritters (mix with sweetcorn, gram flour, bit of water, form into patties and fry in butter. Yum.)

Viking_mfw

pregnancy_parking said:

With our various Christmas cheeses we made a big cheese sauce and baked loads of veg in it, mainly cabbage, topped with breadcrumbs . Called it vegetable gratin, it froze well and did us quite a few side dishes.

Thanks for all the bird tips. We don’t have leftover mash either but I will try boiling up any skins and adding them to the table and will be more adventurous (and frugal) with what I give them now. Whenever I’ve put out leftover cake for example, I must admit the do seem happier than with seeds and fat balls.
today they have some cheese rind, some stale seed crackers and a bit of cooked rice. They haven’t been yet but it’s snowing heavily! 

I had to venture out to Aldi for milk earlier, got two fishcakes reduced to 40p so just had a lovely fish cake salad for brunch and was happy to see they had lambs liver in so got a pack of that for £1.12, it’s one of our faves.

I really enjoy the prolific surveys and have £12 now. What other surveys do people do please? 

Thanks to the poster who gave the Spanish OU details, I’ve signed up! 

Happy frugalling everyone x

I have started Street bees. Some reasonable surveys, bit repetitive, but there's no minimum payout so as soon as it's approved it's in your paypal (and then, in my case, paid off my mortgage minutes later). 

pregnancy_parking

Thanks @Viking_mfw, I’ll check that out now! 

Hughesfamily

Hello all, I'd like to join if I may please?
Rock hard lemons (in fact any citrus fruits) can be brought back to life by soaking them in cold water - for about 8 hours, but they soften up and you get more juice from them. Also, if you decide to slice them up and freeze, make sure that you grate the rind off and this can be frozen and added to pastries or cakes etc - you can still freeze the slices. Same thing goes for wrinkly and floppy carrots, put them in cold water and they firm up again.
Goats cheese can be crumbled and frozen - great for adding into future cheese sauces, quiches, pizza toppings etc. You can whip it with Greek yogurt and icing sugar to make a cheese cake like topping - nice on top of any Christmas biscuits you might have left over, chopped and mixed with herbs makes a great filling for chicken breasts or peppers / hollowed courgettes etc. If you crumble it with bacon, herbs and a little garlic, you can make really nice stuffed mushrooms or mini jalapeno chillies.

welshspendthrift

Hughesfamily said:

Hello all, I'd like to join if I may please?
Rock hard lemons (in fact any citrus fruits) can be brought back to life by soaking them in cold water - for about 8 hours, but they soften up and you get more juice from them. Also, if you decide to slice them up and freeze, make sure that you grate the rind off and this can be frozen and added to pastries or cakes etc - you can still freeze the slices. Same thing goes for wrinkly and floppy carrots, put them in cold water and they firm up again.
Goats cheese can be crumbled and frozen - great for adding into future cheese sauces, quiches, pizza toppings etc. You can whip it with Greek yogurt and icing sugar to make a cheese cake like topping - nice on top of any Christmas biscuits you might have left over, chopped and mixed with herbs makes a great filling for chicken breasts or peppers / hollowed courgettes etc. If you crumble it with bacon, herbs and a little garlic, you can make really nice stuffed mushrooms or mini jalapeno chillies.

Loving all the tips in this post! Hughesfamily thank you 😀

Hughesfamily

I forgot to put my  goals and aims - I have £1600 on a credit card to be paid off (transferred today to a 0% deal), need to get an emergency fund behind me (now at £200 of my £1000 goal) and I am aiming to not use my credit card for 100 days. I'd say not use at all but I have the MOT due in March and as the car is 18 years old, I am not sure it will go through. I have just worked out how much I get paid an hour and popped a note of this in the kitchen. Every time something gets thrown away or wasted, I am going to log it and then at the end of each month, I can see how much it actually cost in time and money - might give me a wake up call and keep me on line with my mission to not waste a single thing if possible. Plan tonight is to take in some jogging bottoms that a friend gave me - they are a tad voluminous and a good wind could see me blowing down the street. I only wear them at home, but I'll be more comfortable if they fitted me better and they are my current working wardrobe as I am homebased for the foreseeable.

willow_loulou

From my last shop I got y/s figs. One was a little over ripe so I googled how to get the seeds etc so they are now in a jam jar soaking. I’m also soaking a couple of lemon seeds, I want as many trees as possible so! 

I’m on the hunt for pine cones, not sure why that didn’t occur to me when I found the helicopter seeds last year. 

Mummy2cheekymonkeys

Thank you again for the recipe for the jack monroe mincemeat pudding. We have just finished it tonight. It did all 4 of us puddings for 3 nights. The kids loved it with custard. Tonights dinner was sausages with bubble and squeak. I used a bag of brussel sprouts that were left over from christmas so they didnt go to waste.

YORKSHIRELASS

CW18 I was reading your post a bit back about hours.  I started at 30 hours, then 33, and now 35.  I have agreed to these increases purely because we need the money but there were mumblings recently about 37 hours and I put my foot down, I really dont want to do any more.

DH is home because of the weather, he cant work in the snow and ice.  His work is seasonal so he works 6 days a week in summer then less in winter, it still gets me a bit worried when I know he isnt earning, even though we save for it!

I have been trying to encourage DS1 to be a bit more frugal and after he offered to cook dinner earlier I caught him sorting through the bag of greens to sort out the bits that were usable, the message seems to be getting through.

Off to do my daily yoga.  I cancelled my gym membership in the first lockdown and now spend £15 a month on online classes, a saving of £360 a year.  I know I could probably do free classes but I get a lot from that £15 so its worth it for me.

roblou27

Hughesfamily said:

Hello all, I'd like to join if I may please?
Rock hard lemons (in fact any citrus fruits) can be brought back to life by soaking them in cold water - for about 8 hours, but they soften up and you get more juice from them. Also, if you decide to slice them up and freeze, make sure that you grate the rind off and this can be frozen and added to pastries or cakes etc - you can still freeze the slices. Same thing goes for wrinkly and floppy carrots, put them in cold water and they firm up again.
Goats cheese can be crumbled and frozen - great for adding into future cheese sauces, quiches, pizza toppings etc. You can whip it with Greek yogurt and icing sugar to make a cheese cake like topping - nice on top of any Christmas biscuits you might have left over, chopped and mixed with herbs makes a great filling for chicken breasts or peppers / hollowed courgettes etc. If you crumble it with bacon, herbs and a little garlic, you can make really nice stuffed mushrooms or mini jalapeno chillies.

Love the sound of some of these tips Hughesfamily. Thank you.