From Frugal Foundations to Fortified Family Future

lucielle

it’s says to add a 440g tin of puy lentils I’ve only got dried

L

Greying_Pilgrim

Ah, Ok, I'm with you. What is the drained weight of the lentils - I'm gonna assume about 240g….. ball park? Right, puy lentils don't expand as much, but i don't think you'll need as many - IF you are aiming for 240g, then I would cook 150g - 175g myself. But check the drained weight on the tin, first - see what you're pitching for.

Greying X

Greying_Pilgrim

Is this website any help?

Lentils dried to cooked weight

Greying X

Greying_Pilgrim

If the website is right, you would need 125g dried lentils to get 240g. I have just had a look at my MrL tin of green lentils and the tin is 390g and 235g drained. HTH

Greying X

EssexHebridean

Ahh sorry Greying, crossed wires I think - I was responding to the comment that Blackcats had made rather than specifically talking about LG's individual situation, as I thought they made a really excellent point generally about the issues around people having stuff, particularly in light of the environment we find ourselves in here with "stuff" causing financial issues for people! Sorry - probably shouldn't have gone off on a non-related conversation on your diary.

Greying_Pilgrim

Ah ha! I've learnt something. The highstreet newsagent (name change) is stocking the WBD books from Thursday - no wonder they weren't on display.

I got the washing in before the school run. Not as successful today. a) it wasn't as breezy, b) it was mizzling off and on, barely discernible, but wetting none-the-less. Still, it's on the airer now and in front of the dehu. It's had about an hour, and stuff is responding well, so fingers crossed I might get away with 2 or maybe 3 hrs.

LG has had an 'ok'ish day. Show-offy kiddo was still showing off, but LG seems to be compartmentalising it as not relevant to their well-being, so fingers crossed. The disruptors disrupted, so I'm not too sure how much learning took place. No wonder homework is getting onerous. Talking of which, we've not done some of the homework set for this week. LG knows it should be done, but I'm not pushing. There doesn't seem to be a penalty for not doing it, and no real praise for doing it either, so I figure I'll let it slide.

I got some…… school iced cake?? from hB today. They were selling a load of shortdated packs for 25p. I don't ever recall having that type of cake when I was at school. Iced buns yes, but not sponge with icing and sprinkles. But it set off a thought in my head about my aunty, who was a school cook. I wondered if she used to make it. She's no longer around to ask. Funny how it's the oddest, most inconsequential things that you just want to have a natter about with someone - who'd know the answer, or give you an entertaining yarn about summat in the same vein. Sheep invading the kitchen in a snowstorm, when the vicar and the mayor were attending lunch for prizegiving day, and the stove blew out, halfway through the sponge being finished, or somesuch 😂 LG and I sat and munched a square each when they'd got home from school. Another little memory moment made.

Greying X

badmemory

The problem with the disrupters means that more homework will need to be set, which the disrupters will not do, meaning class gets held up meaning more homework needs to be set. It is a vicious circle. But LG isn't going to be the one cleaing toilets for a living. Have you figured out the job I hate most?

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Evening MFW'rs

Tea has been munched. I eventually decided to do a chickpea and pasta soup. I can't say where it was from, it was in my old, old, recipe log - at a time when unfortunately I wasn't thinking ahead, and didn't realise the need to log where it was from. However, it is likely to be, either from a generic "italian cooking" book from the library, or more likely from a story book - fact or fiction - that included recipes. However, as it turned out, I used it as a lift-off point and used up what I had. I started off the pasta in the PrC, and cooked it for a couple of mins. I lifted the half-cooked pasta out of the PrC, leaving the cooking liquid in situ. I added in the cauliflower core, a stick of celery, an onion, the last bit of the Christmas swede, a couple of tatties, a couple of small carrots and some garlic. I cooked this up for 10 minutes and then blitzed it with the stick blender. I then added the pasta back in, along with a couple of (drained) tins of chickpeas. Warmed it through again, and added in some dill, some parsley, a little black pepper and then used the juice of half a lemon left over from our fishcake supper on Sunday. It made exactly 3 big bowlfuls (I'm getting good at this 😁😂), and it tasted nice, and used up the cauli and the swede, so they did us well and offered tremendous value for money. I'm glad I went off piste and did the more "creamy" base stock - it worked well with precooked pasta and chickpeas, and gave a 'luxurious' feel to what is, in fact, a very, very economical soup.

Pud was spiced blueberry steamed pudding, served with yoghurt. The pudding cooked well. I think I've got better at putting enough water in the SC. It was cooked on the low setting for 4hrs. There is half the pudding left for another day.

I've just put the washing in front of the airer. 2 hrs in front of the dehu has made it mostly dry - I'm pleased with that, as it didn't get any help from Mother Nature today.

I still haven't sorted out my spending totals - must get on to that.

Ta for popping by. Greying X

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning MFW'rs

Think it'll be a damp one with us today (certainly that is what is forecast), but thankfully I'm 'sort of' caught up, so I'm not going to attempt any washing today.

I did update my spending figures, so that's all up to date. I suppose notionally I'm a third of the way through the money (food), and we're over a third of the way through the month, but it still feels like money is coursing through my hands like water. And yet we're still eating frugal fare, I don't get it 🤔 Never mind, it's a challenge I accept, and I still like us to try to eat healthily, most of the time, so I will carry on. I was watching a vlog yesterday - the vlogger is UK based, and they were talking about food waste stats. There is a figure - I'm sure it's correct, but it's that average food waste per household, per month amounts to £80. The vlogger pointed out that they could feed their family for a week for that amount. £80? Really? Is that like literally stuff that has been bought and you just throw it out in the packet? It's not veg peelings, or apple cores, or a mouldy bread crust? If we don't throw anything like £80 worth of food away (and I bet all of you are saying 'us neither' to the computer screen), what is the true average 😱

I haven't thought about tea, but I'm going to start with a shufty around in the freezer, as I know I've got quite a few prepped meals/leftovers now, so I want to make sure I know what I've got and either use them or have a plan for them - I won't not use them, and won't throw them out (!), but I just need to be more aware of what I have. For example, DH and I can have a portion of bobotie for tea tomorrow night, but I will need to prep some baked tatties to accompany, so I must remember to get the SC on etc

Lucielle - did the dhal work?

Greying X

rtandon27

wow GP - I'm amazed that anyone could afford to throw out that much food in a month! Surely reducing what is bought would be the foregone conclusion? I rather throw 80 quid at my mortgage than in the bin!