could you take a look at my shopping list

angchris

charleybabes wrote: »

i love the idea though about making your own soap powder i just didnt know this was possible before
my little one does get exma so we have to use non bio soap powder could i still make this ???

you can use whatever soap you like..you could try something like a mild baby soap like johnsons or any own brand baby or mild soap. my oh likes the smell of sheild so i use that but in the past ive used them all even the green old fashioned household soap bars. the soda crystals are just a water softener so that should be fine for babs, im not sure whats in the borax somebody more knowledgable might be able to help but i would imagine that its in most laundry powders anyway.
when i make a batch of this it probably lasts me 6 months or more and it only costs pennies, well worth the 5 mins of grating the soap, just make sure you wash the grater thorougly after or your grated cheese might taste a bit rank _pale_

lilmisskitkat

Great plan Family food, same as mine - nothing too fancy! Occasionally i do make something special for me and OH but on a day to day basis it needs to be something we can all eat.

When i make bolognese i use one pack of mince (approx 500g) and add onion, grated carrot and courgette and red lentils to bulk it out to almost twice as much then use half as a base for lasagne and the rest as bolognese to eat with spaghetti. Means you get 2 meals from one lot of meat with only a few cheap extras to bulk it out. Same if i make a casserole, i only use half the amount of meat, add lots of extra veg and freeze some for another day.

I notice that nearly all your meals are meat based, ours are the same as OH doesn't think its a proper meal unless it contains meat :rolleyes: , thats why i try to make the meat go as far as possible. Theres a few threads in the indexed collection that give great tips on stretching things further

Take care

Kate xxx

lilmisskitkat

charleybabes wrote: »

as regards brand names i try not to buy to many its my H he is a bit of a food snob hence the reason we are in this mess now!!!
i dont eat baked beans but he will only eat heinz so its just not worth buying cheap brands as it will go to waste. and we are buying these for his lunch for work instead of him buying off the butty wagon!!
. but i will buy the cheap ones for my son as he can have beans on toast for his lunches
i used to eat the really cheap tuna a few years ago and it use to knock me sick.. i will buy the asdas own .. the one up from sp brand.

Ah you should do what i do (i have a brand snob here too!). Keep the cheap beans at the back of the cupboard and a few tins of Heinz at the front for 'show' lol. "Of course they're Heinz beans my love" when i give him his sausage, mash and beans

Also i have an Asda ketchup bottle, one of those squeezy top down ones but its filled with Smartprice ketchup at 24p a bottle, hes never noticed lol.

I keep cereals in large plastics containers (£1.92 at Asda) so "Of course they're real weetabix/branflakes/cornflakes my love" hehe!

There are ways and means my friend

Kate xxx

G-G_4

r.mac wrote: »

I used to have the problem that i was proud of saving money and would tel OH how much i had saved. He just sees cheaper + yuck so used to complain he only liked heinz etc.

While there a couple of things i haven't been able to get round I find that not mentioning naything is different means he doesn't notice!!!!

Yup! Same here..

If it's cheap he doesn't want to know, even if he hasn't tried it!

I just use things without him knowing now.. and I do shopping online aswell now, so he can't moan.

I did manage to get some 1/2 price cheese the other day in the reduced bargain bit at tesco and he 'let me' ie. he didn't complain too much.. saved me 50p on the pizza we made for tea.. stupid man! haha - I tell him, it was up for sale at full price earlier in the day, it's no different!

angchris

have just been out with oh and we called in to farmfoods (he takes me to all the best places!! :rotfl: ) i`ve never been in there before but will def be going back omg it was so cheap!!:j huge bottles of juicee squash £1, 5x cans of sunkist £1, 3x bottles of dr pepper £1 , 5x cans of shandy £1 ,12 cans of coke for £2.40, i dont normally buy cans of drink but at those prices you dont mind. lots of well known brand names really cheap :beer: largeish jar of nescafe orig £1.79 and all manner of goodies, i stocked up on little cake bars rammed into nice plastic boxes £1 that i can reuse as lunchboxes. everything is just so so cheap, the only thing they didnt have was fresh fruit and veg but they did have plenty of frozen but i can always get fruit from the farm shop nearby anyway.
a resounding thumbs up to mr farmfoods from me i now have a rammed chest freezer again with loads of meals all for under £50. i was supposed to be running it down and having a use up month but that lot should keep us going about 2 months :j

nopot2pin

lilmisskitkat wrote: »

There are ways and means my friend

Indeedy there is...
My ex OH never used to eat macaroni chesse. He said he hated it.
But he absolutely loved Pasta with cheese sauce. (I also put an chopped up onion through it to bulk it out abit.)

Also have you tried Branston beans ?
I know they are still a branded name, but they seem to be on offer more often than Heinz.

MushyPeas

Loving this!! My ex-OH was the same. We used to spend a FORTUNE on Coca-Cola so one day I purchased all the brands in the supermarket and made him to a blindfolded test (sad I know). He had to mark them out of 10 on flavour, colour and bubbliness

Unfortunately he picked coke as the winner.......damn!!!

nopot2pin

MushyPeas wrote: »

Loving this!! My ex-OH was the same. We used to spend a FORTUNE on Coca-Cola so one day I purchased all the brands in the supermarket and made him to a blindfolded test (sad I know). He had to mark them out of 10 on flavour, colour and bubbliness

Unfortunately he picked coke as the winner.......damn!!!

Goooooood idea
Bummer
Best out of 3 ??:D

MadMonkey

I have just made a huge amount of tomato sauce stuff for freezing and using in spag bol / chilli / lasagne.

I managed to sneak vast amounts of veg in and no-one noticed;)

I used carrots / parsnips / courgettes / 1/2 bag of frozen peppers / chopped onions. Boiled it all up and then blended it with 6 tins of plum tomatoes and a tube of tom puree, herbs e.t.c.

There is roughly enough there for 8-10 meals !!

I am really chuffed with myself as it means I now have the sauce packed with veg ready to eat whenever we want to - spag bol is a favourite in this house with 3 small people.

Rowan9

i throw in a handful of pinhead oatmeal to bol sauce, or stewed mince or whatever I'm cooking. OH has never noticed - he would not be a porridge or oats eater! This way, everyone gets stuff which is good for their heart AND the mince goes further. I also add soya mince as someone else has said, + grated carrot and sliced mushrooms if i have them. I use tinned tomatoes and if they are cheapie ones i'll squirt in some tomato sauce or put in a spoonful of chutney of some kind if I have it. Does anyone add water/stock? I put in at least half a pint and a stock cube. makes a massive pan of chilli or bolognese sauce compared to the amount of mince you start with. This week i even added quinoa flakes which i had in the cupboard as i found that the soya mince (organic) was out of date and i didn't want to risk upset stomachs just before New Year! Some at the table are staunch meat eaters who will never know that a quinoa flake passed their lips