2008 - Live on £4000 for a full year.

Jay1_2

Lollopybear please can you share your sandwich tips (or even better your sandwiches ) My biggest unfrugalising is buying sandwiches, partly coz I'm too lazy to make them myself but also coz I don't like mine as much as the ones from the nice shop across the road . Oh and Happy Thinking Day (I'm a Brownie Guider).


:easter: This should actually be saying "Goodnight Nyk, thanks for being such a good mother hen", but I think its getting excited about laying choclate eggs!

andromache_2

tryingtodobetter, hope you're recovering from having your tonsils out. Going for a nice walk sounds like a lovely way to recuperate.

LollopyBear, I hate going back after a holiday! Somehow everything seems more tiring. I hope your work level evens out and you don't feel so exhausted next week. At least this half term is pretty short!

I totally sympathise with you over the expense of train travel!! Being in an LDR means I'm constantly having to fork out for tickets to go visiting on the weekend and it's not cheap! On the plus side, I've only spent £3.50 so far this week, all on food, and my parents are coming to visit tomorrow and take me out to lunch :T

Have a nice weekend everyone x

LollopyBear

Jay1 wrote: »

Lollopybear please can you share your sandwich tips (or even better your sandwiches ) My biggest unfrugalising is buying sandwiches, partly coz I'm too lazy to make them myself but also coz I don't like mine as much as the ones from the nice shop across the road . Oh and Happy Thinking Day (I'm a Brownie Guider).


:easter: This should actually be saying "Goodnight Nyk, thanks for being such a good mother hen", but I think its getting excited about laying choclate eggs!

Hi Jay,

Happy Thinking Day to you too! Did you wear your uniform to work? I thought about it, but then wasn't sure if it was allowed at my school. I didn't see anyone else in one, so I think I may have felt a bit of a plonker if I had been the only one!

My sandwiches aren't particularly exciting, as I'm a simple kind of girl, so I don't know how many tips I have. I do make my own bread rolls when I can summon the energy and I find when I do I only need one roll for lunch as they are much more filling than normal rolls. For fillings, I mostly use a nice, strong, cheese. I try to go for British and good quality because I then don't need so much inside them.

I also have tuna mayo - which I make up the night before in a bowl in the fridge to save time in the morning, and chicken mayo if we have leftover chicken from Sunday (free range, organic). I don't particularly like a lot of extra bumph in my sarnies!

I have to say though, once you've made your own for a week or so it quickly becomes a habit in your morning routine, and the supermarket sandwiches taste quite stale and not very nice!

LollopyBear

andromache wrote: »

LollopyBear, I hate going back after a holiday! Somehow everything seems more tiring. I hope your work level evens out and you don't feel so exhausted next week. At least this half term is pretty short!

I totally sympathise with you over the expense of train travel!! Being in an LDR means I'm constantly having to fork out for tickets to go visiting on the weekend and it's not cheap! On the plus side, I've only spent £3.50 so far this week, all on food, and my parents are coming to visit tomorrow and take me out to lunch :T

Have a nice weekend everyone x

Thanks, Andromache! I think it is a case of increasing my stamina, then once I have just got used to the new amount I get some more classes added and it all begins again! I think next week will be easier as I'm off timetable on Weds and Thurs with a special project for year 8, so that's two days less and I should be able to catch up on some more work. I'm counting down to Easter already! For me it is only 17 school days and then I have 2 days back at uni.

Congratulations on your frugalism this week. That is fantastic! May I ask what meals you've had on that budget? I find it difficult to be creative with food and menu planning.

Mollymop5

bails wrote: »

Congratulations Aunty Mollymop! Best wishes to everyone. I also have a second Frugalbaby to report - my best friend gave birth yesterday to Amelie :j

Great news.All this baby talk is making me broody........Not! It's great to have a cudle then hand them back.I have spent a few ponund over the last couple of days.Had to buy pink lol

mini_huny_money

hya all.....hope everyone is looking forward to the weekend, someone asked what we;re doin this weekend......welll hang on to your seatbelts folks, mine's is goin to take your breath away!!!!!!

Tile removal and strippin....:rotfl: Ive got a wall of tiles to remove .....luckily its a window wall and just above the door, though theres tiles behind the washing machine and behind the cooker.......losing my cooker .....aaargh. I took mince out the freezer for tomorrows dinner then was standing there ......how am I gonnae do this?????

I usually sweat the onions, add the turnip and then brown the mince on the hob and then put everything in the SC to cook nicely. So now everythings in the SC uncooked......mebbe it'll turn out just as nice, but can it reallY??? I feel that sweating the onions, the turnip and browning the mince adds to the flavour......I even asked myself......:rotfl: could I brown the mince on the Forman?????

Had a good day today, did lots of window shopping .....though at the min Ive got a one track mind......vinyl flooring or tiles.....black or white......splashback or tiles........ daddy or chips!!!!

Still conscious of having to use everything in my freezer so only spent 10.11 in Morrisons today....think Im goin to be takin some strange concoctions of lunches to work next week, Ive got 2 huge bags of cauliflower to use up so cauli, cheese and bacon next week, heated up in the micro at work

still not updated my sig.....am feart to look!!!!:eek:

Mollymop5

LollopyBear wrote: »

My sandwiches aren't particularly exciting, as I'm a simple kind of girl, so I don't know how many tips I have. I do make my own bread rolls when I can summon the energy and I find when I do I only need one roll for lunch as they are much more filling than normal rolls. For fillings, I mostly use a nice, strong, cheese. I try to go for British and good quality because I then don't need so much inside them.

As it's getting to the end of the month and moneys a bit tight i was struggling to find something for kids lunch.I had dough in the breadmaker but nothing to put in it apart from a bit of grated cheese. I've made pesto pinwheels before so decided to make a variation.
I rolled out the dough into a flat rectangle shape, then i spread tomato ketchup on it and sprinkled the grated cheese ontop.I then rolled the dough to make a large sausage roll shape.I then cut it into 6 pieces popped then on a baking tray and stuck them in the oven and baked them like bread rolls.
The kids loved them!!! I will be experimenting with various fillings when I do my next shop.They'd be great for packed lunches.
Just thought I'd share with you

andromache_2

LollopyBear wrote: »

Congratulations on your frugalism this week. That is fantastic! May I ask what meals you've had on that budget? I find it difficult to be creative with food and menu planning.

Hmmm, well, I can't pretend it's that creative... *gets out receipt* the £3.50 went on 2 pts milk (76p), crisps (whoops only 18p though...), 1kg muesli (52p), 500g spaghetti (23p), some crumpets (40p), some posh-looking Indian curry sauce with veg in it at half price which I liked the look of (72p... yeah, would probably be cheaper to buy chopped tomatoes etc and make it myself), some loose tomatoes (23p), and some bananas (46p). I already had in a couple of tins of beans/lentils (3 for £1), mushrooms, a bit of broccoli, garlic, rice, penne, and a few sachets of yummy powdered soup (12 for £2). Oh, and a few herbs and things. And Flora. And squash.

Soooo as you can kinda see that makes muesli for breakfast (or a banana on the way if I'm late getting up ), soup for lunch if I don't come home or crumpets if I do, and rice or pasta with some kind of sauce/pulse/mushroom/veg/garlic concoction in the evening with a banana for afters. I quite like muesli as a snack too. I'm veggie so that makes it cheaper. I tend to experiment with different things each week (microwave cookery & no freezer remember!), so I end up having variations on a theme for five nights in a row as I use up that week's shop then something new the next week which you might find boring! And if I fancy a change I can go to hall instead - just that's a bit more expensive and also less convenient as it's only open at certain times. hmm, looking at that menu list I could be making more of an effort to eat green veg though so I'll make sure I get some from the market this week. Will have to get some more food in tomorrow though because the boyfriend is coming round and he eats WAY more than I do, plus he is unimpressed with my veggie ways :rotfl:

Hope that gives you some ideas though like I said it's hardly that imaginative!

A xx

squeaky

For those of you who make bread rolls, by far the nicest recipe I've ever tried is the Pan Amasado which is posted in the thread linked below.

The first post has hand bake quantities in, and for those of you using Bread Makers there's a modifed recipe a few posts down.

Great bread

mini_huny_money

I was looking at bread makers today and goin by recommendations from the OS thread the Panasonic was the best one ....but I couldnt believe the price 99 quid

am goin to try making my own when I get my new oven ( couldnt previously cos I had to prop a chair against the oven to keep it shut for the last 3 months)!!!!!