I'm back! Trying to spend less on food!

weenancyinAmerica

There are instructions online for making your own fake bacon from banana peels. Haven't tried it yet.

MissRikkiC

I have always wondered if my nan was just daft rubbing butter on a bump on my forehead as a child @mumtoomany since I’ve never knows of anyone else do it! This made me really smile 😊 

MissRikkiC

@weenancyinAmerica yes I’ve heard of this. You soak them in soy sauce first I believe 

mumtoomany

Hi all, don't think I fancy fake bacon, stick to the real thing I think. The other thing I wondered about bacon, is why some shops sell their bacon pieces as "cooking bacon". Surely all bacon needs cooking?

@MissRikkiC, glad I made you smile. I too never knew of anyone else who did this, but my mum said it was common practice when she was a child in the 1930s. 

I am now down to only two chest freezers. Still have the upright one, but it's been unpluged. The chest freezer in the ball was left for us in a house we bought twenty years ago, it was in the cellar and heavy. We've moved with it twice. For a long while the lid has not sealed very well at the front. This was solved by leaving a tin of paint on the top when it was closed. The lid wouldn't stay up, so we have a hook on a chain on the wall, to keep it open. Last week I noticed that the back of the lid wasn't sealing. When we pulled it out, we found that one of the hinges had come off. Refitted it, but then the gap at the front was about an inch! The paint was too light. I resorted to using a large bucket of sand. This worked, but was not really practical. The local appliance repairs shop told me that it was probably possible to buy a new lid and hinges, it's a bosch, but the cost was high for a freezer so old. I bought a new one instead. It is slightly deeper than the other and I've been able to get the contents of the upright into it, just! Should be cheaper on electric too, I hope. The upright will now be unplugged until near christmas.

Yesterday's tea was curry and rice. I'd roasted one of the cheap chickens, from christmas eve, the night before, and served that with roast potatoes, HG kale, carrots, and the last of the shallots I bought in december. The curry had left over chicken, red pepper, onions and cauliflower in.

Today will be chicken and ham pie, the last of the chicken with "cooking" bacon pieces and onions.

DD 1 and S-i-L are taking the children away at the weekend. So three days when i only have to cook for two. That will be different.

Hugs to all, mumtoomany.xxx

maisie_cat

Cooking bacon is all the end pieces and dregs. Perfect for soup, not so much for a bacon sarnie. We rarely buy rasher bacon, too expensive but I buy cooking bacon for bacon & split pea soup that we live on this time of year.

mama67

maisie_cat said:

Cooking bacon is all the end pieces and dregs. Perfect for soup, not so much for a bacon sarnie. We rarely buy rasher bacon, too expensive but I buy cooking bacon for bacon & split pea soup that we live on this time of year.

It depends on the pack. 

I’ve had some with lovely rashers in perfect for a plated breakfast, also had bacon chops. 

But then others have been all scrappy bits but good for a quiche, to put with liver & onions and for DH ok for a bacon bun as it all gets crispy. 

joedenise

I find they vary as well.  The last pack I bought we had a couple of gammon steaks, enough rashers or several breakfasts plus a couple of bags of bits for risottos, carbona etc.

mumtoomany

Hi all, @joedenise, I buy the bacon pieces from the cash and carry. £1.35 for just under a kilo. They are all thick pieces, never any rashers. 

Pie was good, served with mash, peas and broccoli. I also made a rhubarb pie, I found a bag of rhubarb in the freezer, from last year or maybe the year before. Also a tray of jam tarts, used up the end of all the jams in the fridge, one raspberry, two orange marmalade, three blueberry jam and six lime marmalade. 

Now just going to put the ham and pineapple pizzas in for tea, ham on its last legs and frozen pineapple. Having jacket potatoes and beans too.

Hugs, mumtoomany.xxx

mumtoomany

Hello all, how is it Thursday already? 

Tuesday we went into town. Having almost run out of fruit and salad vegetables. Spent £31 in the veg shop! This included 48 plums, 8 bananas, 15 apples, five  lettuce, 2 cucumbers, 36 tomatoes, 12 large mushrooms, a bunch of spring onions, 5 blood oranges, 25kg sack of potatoes, 10kg sack of carrots, a bag of sweets and a box of 18 chocolate biscuits. Then in the cash and carry I found reduced double cream, £4 per 2litre bottle, bought three, also reduced peanuts as a bag of frozen peas for 10p. Iceland had reduced crisps, pears and cheese. Also got the 10% discount, so got milk there. Aldi for the rest of what was needed. Total spend was £115.62. I also got OH to pick up milk last weekend. Total spend for the year now stands at £560.95/£2640. Not too shabby as I don't thing we'll need much else this month.

I used up most of the fruit left from last shop, by making fruit salad, which we had with cream for desert, and I've had with porridge for breakfast. Meals have been, tuesday, sausage pasta bake, wednesday, burgers chips peas and carrots. Tonight is pork chops.

Hugs to all, mumtoomany.xxx

mumtoomany

I've now whisked and frozen 4litres of cream. Now to clear the white splattered kitchen! Put the chops in the slow cooker, having cut of the bones and fat/rind. These have gone in the pressure cooker, with veg stock.

Hugs, mumtoomany.xx