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

Gettingmyshiztogether

Hello mumtoomany,

I have just read the whole of your thread. I love this diary already and am in awe. We are a family of four, two adults and two teens, that eat as much as we do (if not more!) Our food is roughly £400 a month ish, I would love to be more prudent and get that down. I am following along with interest, eager to learn. Thank you

mumtoomany

Hi, @eat_that_frog, there seem to be a lot of English/Welsh on this site. Welcome, glad the thread is useful. "Soup box" at present has a few carrots, peas, green beans, potato wedges, diced ham (that S-i-L cut for omelette for girls, who then changed there minds!), bit of gravy. There is some lettuce in the fridge that I think may go in too tomorrow.

Hi to you too, @Gettingmyshiztogether. Thank you for the kind comments, i hope this is of some use to you.

Tea was good, there will be some left for tomorrows lunch, but the meat will have all gone by then. The dumplings were fluffy. First time in a long time I've managed to make them so that they don't resemble cannon balls! I used to use suet, many years ago, but it's become so dear. Today I froze a block of lard, (I figured as suet is beef fat and lard pork fat, they are similar), grated some onto a plate with a bit of flour on it, stop it sticking. I mixed 150gms of lard, with 300gms SR flour and 100gms stuffing mix. Cooked the beef in slow cooker, veg in the pressure cooker, mixed together in a big ovenproof pan. Added some ready cooked pearl barley, gravy granules, and the remains of the baked beans from yesterday. Put the dumplings on top and cooked in the oven. Cooked the crumble at the same time.

Now to think about tomorrow.

Hugs too all, mumtoomany.xxx

beckstar1975

That stew sounds delicious @mumtoomany. I braved the minus 2 for the hour and a half (two buses and a train) journey to the office and am on day of diet - beef stew with dumplings would be heaven. Instead for lunch I've got leftover chicken pad thai from last nights tea. I've come into the office to escape the house full of lurgy - 2/3 kids have had strep throat and think the third has come down with it and DH has some other lurgy and I've had enough of it so have happily come in to be amongst functioning people (it sounds mean but DS is 17 so pretty self-sufficient but they're just distracting when i'm trying to work as currently have no office at home.

I've got a block of lard so will try your trick next time, got some chicken thighs coming tomorrow for a stew

mumtoomany

Hi all, hope the poorlies are feeling a bit better today and haven't passed the but on to you @beckstar1975. 

Tea last night was cottage pie. Half a pack of YS mince, 250gms? I always split it into two bags before I freeze it, easier than trying to divide frozen mince! All the onions that were left, 3/4kg? maybe. Around the same weight of grated carrots, I grate them with the biggest grater, gives them a bit of bite. Add a couple of slugs of gravy browning. Cook in the pressure cooker with enough water/stock to cover. Then add some gravy granules and a couple of handfuls of oats. Cook for another few minutes, till the oats become less visible. With a sieve or slotted spoon I take the mix and put in a casserole dish, the gravy into a pan. Cover with mash, top with grated cheese. Served with broccoli and the gravy. This made enough for all seven of us, enough for four left for lunch. DGD1 said, "I don't like this tea, there's too much meat!" Don't know how! She finished first. Desert was some of the YS cakes from farmfoods.

Today there are only six for tea, DD on late shift. So I'm cooking one of the gammon joints I got YS from Tesco. 
Tea
Dentist first! I'll call into the veg shop, I need onions, I am almost out of potatoes and we have almost no fruit left. Must get coffee too, a priority, and, of course, more milk.

Hugs to all, mumtoomany.xxx

beckstar1975

More dentist!?

Do you get good satsumas/clementines? The supermarket ones have been awful this year, and DS is allergic to pretty much all fruit other than citrus and bananas. I like the really sour teeny ones, you never get them like that now

mumtoomany

Hi, @beckstar1975, yes the filling i had replaced last week, because it had fallen out, has fallen out again! Shouldn't have been back till July. I got a box of satsumas before christmas, about 25ish in the box £1. Ate the last one yesterday. I only like satsumas and proper oranges. The kids eat all the other types of small citrus though. I'll let you all know what I manage to pick up today.

Hugs to all, mumtoomany.xxx

mumtoomany

Hello everyone. 

The tooth has been filled again! Hopefully it will last this time. 

Veg shop yesterday: a box of apples, 19 large coxes, 1 bruised russet and an orange, £1. Three ruby grapefruit, £1. Three iceberg lettuce and a cooking apple, £1. Two punnets of red grapes, £3. Ten oranges £1. Four large peppers, £1. Six large heads of brocilli, nearly 2kg, £1. Twenty four big vine tomatoes, £1. Twenty five kg of potatoes and the same of onions. A bag of sweets, £1, OH came in with me! Total for the lot, £37.50. Also called into Aldi for three bottles of milk and two jars of coffee. £8.65. Total spent yesterday £46.15. Total for the year to date now, £170.32/£2640. Not too bad, less than £9 per day. Will only need milk now for a while. 

Gammon joint was nice, had an orange glaze. Served with potatoes, carrots and peas. 

Today, DD is on a late shift again. S-i-L has gone into the offices and will be back late, so only the children, OH and I for tea. I've found a pack of corned beef, dated 31st December. Going to make a hash with onions and left over potatoes from last night. Will serve it with, left over carrots, peas and broccoli. 

Hugs, mumtoomany.xxx

TheFrugalPaladin

Big fan of these posts. Long time lurker and fellow English in Wales, you inspired me to make a profile here just to keep a track of this thread. Hoping one day I can get a bit of land to make a go of semi self-sustainability!

beckstar1975

Ooh I love corned beef hash

I had a partial crown that fell off 3 times over 6 months - first after 5 months then after two weeks then after a week. Each time exposing the nerve. For the final fitting I saw a different dentist who used 2 different types of glues and touch wood it's held since the summer.

Hope they've been able to do a similar trick with your filling!

mumtoomany

Hi and welcome, @TheFrugalPaladin, I can't believe my witterings are interesting enough to encourage you to make a profile. Thank you. I hope you achieve your dream of land.

Hope both of us have no more tooth trouble, @beckstar1975. 

Both girls ate tea, I fried some tomatoes with it in the end, as well as the vegetables. (Well we have got a lot!) Grandson ate nothing! Oh well, he'll be hungry by morning! Desert, for those that ate tea, was YS cake or left over Christmas cake.

Need to think what to cook tomorrow. Also over the weekend, DD and S-i-L are taking the children away for the weekend, so only OH and I to cater for.

Hugs to all, mumtoomany.xxx