Hopefully debt free before Mortgage renewal in June 2026

Tezzadp

Tesco food shop day today. Total spent was £34.83 (more on this in the next post.)

No direct debits today

Natwest CC Daily payment £2.64 Total daily payments made this month £31.02

Total of all Natwest CC payments, including weekly and monthly payments made this month £112.05 leaving a balance of £3732.93

*This month refers to 30th May to 29th June (the day before pay day)

Tezzadp

So as you can see, i got some ingredients to try to make Spinach soup/broth while i was shopping today. While i was there i decided to get some diced Beef to maybe add to it and make it more of a casserole type dish and less of a soup to make it more filling. This is basically what i normally make when i make Staffordshire lobby anyway, but without the Spinach and i use beef stock cubes instead of Veg.

I couldnt find any Lamb stock cubes so i got some Veg ones and i already have some beef ones in my cupboard so i can add one of those in instead, i didnt really want to spend another £2.50 on chicken cubes just for 1 or 2 cubes really (i could maybe get those next time, as i wouldnt have to buy the veg ones as i would still have some left over from this packet). 

When i normally make my Staffordshire lobby i buy veg the lazy way which is a mix of veg already chopped and diced from Tesco in a bag and you simply open it and tip it into the pan..... unfortunately they didnt have any of these in stock today, so it looks like i will have to actually do some peeling and chopping myself this time around haha   

My total for my shopping this week including these ingredients was £34.83. So still roughly within my budget. I bought less ready meals and i did pay an extra £4.50 on the diced beef which i didnt have to, so it would have come to roughly £30 which is like my spend to be around if i can. Also with my 10% discount these ingredients came to a total of £10.92 - 10% (£1.09) = £9.83. So if i can get 5 meals from these ingredients it is a cost of £1.97 per meal. Which is roughly the cost of a ready meal. And if i didnt add the diced beef then the costs would be a lot less, almost half the price, but i wont add any figures for that and bore you with them as i have bought it now so it is irrelevant.

So tomorrow after work i will attempt to "cook" and see how it turns out .......... Wish me luck   

Tezzadp

joedenise said:

I think a chunky soup is much more of a meal than a blended one.  I tend to only have blended soup as a lunch rather than a main meal.  You can't really go wrong with soup unless you add too much stock so it's better to use a bit less than you think as you can always add some more later if needed.

Yeh i like chunky soup a lot better as it is a lot more filling. I will bare that in mind with the stock, thanks for the tip

Tezzadp

daisy_1571 said:

That does look complicated but go for it and see how it goes.  I think the spinach recipe i noted is so simple, (literally just bag of spinach, 1 onion, 1 or 2 potato if they are a bit smaller, stock cubes and water)  I always enjoy how it turns out and it freezes well but of course yes the beauty of soup is you can add anything you have in the cupboard   😀 

Daisy xx

Yours sounds really easy, i might give that a try too sometime. do you dice the potatoes? so its chunky? 

daisy_1571

Tezzadp said:

daisy_1571 said:

That does look complicated but go for it and see how it goes.  I think the spinach recipe i noted is so simple, (literally just bag of spinach, 1 onion, 1 or 2 potato if they are a bit smaller, stock cubes and water)  I always enjoy how it turns out and it freezes well but of course yes the beauty of soup is you can add anything you have in the cupboard   😀 

Daisy xx

Yours sounds really easy, i might give that a try too sometime. do you dice the potatoes? so its chunky? 

Yes, cut into smallish cubes and I shove the stick blenders in to smush up the spinach leaves, this also smushes up the potato making them spread throughout the soup so its all sort of one consistency.   I think the potato gives a creamy taste to it.  (I've tried it with beef and I didn't like it, I prefer lamb or chicken but you might prefer the beef stock. )  you can get much the same effect with potato masher and then scissors to cut up any remaining pieces of stem if you don't have a blender stick or similar.

It can be a bit dearer starting to fill store cupboard ingredients so apologies for getting you buying things you don't usually,  but once you have them you'll only be buying them one at a time in future so back to spreading the cost.  You'll have to persevere for the lamb, no shop ever seems to consistently stock it.  Its definitely worth having tge range of them in the cupboard, as the dont go out of date for years and they each taste differently so better used in different things.  We don't add salt to anything so I often use the lower salt cubes if I can get them otherwise soup can be a bit salty for us.

Mr daisy likes a cup of what he call boxo in wintery afternoons, a beef oxo cube in a mug with water and a little sprinkle of pepper, stir it up and its his warming comfort drink on cold days.

That stew I'd just cook as stew, water, a beef and a veg cube, half an onion.  Slow cook till tender, a teaspoon of cornflour mixed in little bit of cold water and added keeping stirring till gravy thickens.  Mmmmmmmmmm, portion it up and freeze and you have a gorgeous meal ready for another day.  Can have with chips, potato, on a slice of bread, a little bit frozen veg quickly heated in micro or even chucked in the pot and heated while you heat the stew.  Unfortunately its as cheap to cook 4 or 5 portions at once and have loads for the freezer, especially if you see it reduced, than it is to cook one portion but im aware that throws your weekly budgeting out.   Similarly nowadays I try to cook a whole bag of potatoes when I get them and portion them into freezer.  I find they are sprouting in the drawer before we get to them otherwise.  We must be eating less just now for some reason.

Sorry, my posts are turning into the cooking channel 😆   I'm not a fanatical cook honestly!,  I cant be bothered a lot of nights, thats why I like stuff in freezer, Mr d can have something more substantial and ill have a plate of alpen or porridge some nights 😆 

Take care all

Dxx

Tezzadp

No money spent today
No direct debits today

Natwest CC Daily payment £2.65 Total daily payments made this month £33.67

Total of all Natwest CC payments, including weekly and monthly payments made this month £114.70 leaving a balance of £3730.28

*This month refers to 30th May to 29th June (the day before pay day)

Tezzadp

daisy_1571 said:

Tezzadp said:

daisy_1571 said:

That does look complicated but go for it and see how it goes.  I think the spinach recipe i noted is so simple, (literally just bag of spinach, 1 onion, 1 or 2 potato if they are a bit smaller, stock cubes and water)  I always enjoy how it turns out and it freezes well but of course yes the beauty of soup is you can add anything you have in the cupboard   😀 

Daisy xx

Yours sounds really easy, i might give that a try too sometime. do you dice the potatoes? so its chunky? 

Yes, cut into smallish cubes and I shove the stick blenders in to smush up the spinach leaves, this also smushes up the potato making them spread throughout the soup so its all sort of one consistency.   I think the potato gives a creamy taste to it.  (I've tried it with beef and I didn't like it, I prefer lamb or chicken but you might prefer the beef stock. )  you can get much the same effect with potato masher and then scissors to cut up any remaining pieces of stem if you don't have a blender stick or similar.

It can be a bit dearer starting to fill store cupboard ingredients so apologies for getting you buying things you don't usually,  but once you have them you'll only be buying them one at a time in future so back to spreading the cost.  You'll have to persevere for the lamb, no shop ever seems to consistently stock it.  Its definitely worth having tge range of them in the cupboard, as the dont go out of date for years and they each taste differently so better used in different things.  We don't add salt to anything so I often use the lower salt cubes if I can get them otherwise soup can be a bit salty for us.

Mr daisy likes a cup of what he call boxo in wintery afternoons, a beef oxo cube in a mug with water and a little sprinkle of pepper, stir it up and its his warming comfort drink on cold days.

That stew I'd just cook as stew, water, a beef and a veg cube, half an onion.  Slow cook till tender, a teaspoon of cornflour mixed in little bit of cold water and added keeping stirring till gravy thickens.  Mmmmmmmmmm, portion it up and freeze and you have a gorgeous meal ready for another day.  Can have with chips, potato, on a slice of bread, a little bit frozen veg quickly heated in micro or even chucked in the pot and heated while you heat the stew.  Unfortunately its as cheap to cook 4 or 5 portions at once and have loads for the freezer, especially if you see it reduced, than it is to cook one portion but im aware that throws your weekly budgeting out.   Similarly nowadays I try to cook a whole bag of potatoes when I get them and portion them into freezer.  I find they are sprouting in the drawer before we get to them otherwise.  We must be eating less just now for some reason.

Sorry, my posts are turning into the cooking channel 😆   I'm not a fanatical cook honestly!,  I cant be bothered a lot of nights, thats why I like stuff in freezer, Mr d can have something more substantial and ill have a plate of alpen or porridge some nights 😆 

Take care all

Dxx

Ahh ok i get you, one of those blender stick thingys would be handy. I might try your simple spinach, onion and potato soup one day. That would be a lot cheaper to make.

Yeah i thought it might cost me more than it would if i cooked on a regular basis as i dont have any ingredients to start with so i have to get everything i need all at once, but like you say once i have it i can use it again in the future so future meals wont cost as much. Iwill keep my eyes out for a lamb one, ive never looked for one before so didnt realise they were rare like you say. I like salt and add salt to my stew also. So i always get the original ones as i feel they taste better. 

Yeh, i have come home from work and got straight to my stew, browned my beef off, peeled and chopped the veg, chucked everything into a massive catering industrial sized pan and im slow cooking it and letting it simmer for a few hours, i always find it tastes better the next day when it has cooled down and thickened up naturally. I havent got any cornflour but have used it in the past and i just found it went lumpy in the water and didnt really do much. I probably used it totally wrong but never mind    I will have a bowl of it before i go to bed tonight, then tomorrow i will have a serving for my tea after work. Then i will put it into servings into the freezer. I didnt think i had any tubs or anything to use to put it in the freezer but i have managed to find around 3 or 4 tubs that i can use, not very big but they will have to do. I dont know what i will put the rest in if there is any spare? might have to go into freezer bags or something similar (i think i have seen some of them in a drawer somewhere), i dont know if that will work, but it will have to do for now. I might have to invest in some tubs at some point if i can get into the swing of cooking things and it becomes worthwhile in me spending money on them instead of putting it towards my debt. Yh i find potatoes these days tend to start sprouting very quickly, so i tend not to buy them, only ones for jacket potatoes in the microwave, which i only tend to buy about 4 at a time so they dont spoil before i get chance to using them. 

haha dont be sorry, all your posts are packed full of useful tips, help and advice not just for me but for others also, so thank you. I cant be bothered some nights and also have cereal sometimes. 

Thanks again for your tips and advice. 

daisy_1571

Frezer bags are fine to use, if you use marg keep the empty tubs for freezer, they will crack eventually as they get brittle but they are fine for a while.  You can out a bag inside a box or other container, put it in freezer and once frozen lift the bag out the box and do another bag in the container.   It keeps the bag in a better shape rather than slopping about before its frozen.

Glad any tips are useful,  take what helps and ignore the rest 😀 

Dxx

Cara_

I'm just catching up on your diary. The debt figure is starting to reduce quite quickly now - your debt free date of Christmas Day will be a great present to yourself.

The stew sounds nice and I hope you enjoyed it. You've received some good cooking tips from Daisy_1571, joedenise and Spendless (& thanks Daisy for the tip re using a potato masher for chunky soup as it never occurred to me) which have proved helpful and whihc you can build on. When I began making my own ready meals it seemed to take a lot of effort but now I can see the benefit and it is second nature so it does get easier the more you do it.

Something I do is only buy joints of meat and cut them down myself so a ham joint can be turned into gammon slices and then the rest of the joint can be cooked so then you have ham for sandwiches and any bits can be added to pasta dishes, omelettes, pizza toppings or added to soup. I slice the cooked ham and freeze it which I find is OK. Although I do make my own pizza base, for a quck pizza I buy the cheese and tomato bases and if I just want a piece, I cut them up and freeze the rest of the base for another day and I find they are fine. 

There are lots of cooking tips which you might find useful on the Old Style board. Some of the suggestions won't work for you so it will be trial and error to find something you like but don't give up as the changes you are making are not just about saving money to pay off your debt in the short term but they are about making longer term changes and saving money for your future.

daisy_1571

Ooh cara never thought about cutting pizza before cooking, good idea

Dxx