2026 Frugal Living Challenge

PipneyJane

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81903995#Comment_81903995

Lentils are gluten free, @Auti. However, the company processing/packing them may use wheat in other products so have to protect themselves by stating “may contain gluten”. To do the batch labelled “gluten free”, they have shut down the factory and then do a special clean of all their machinery, which adds cost. Plus they can’t process anything else during that time to prevent cross contamination.

The risk of a regular bag of lentils containing gluten is extremely low. My sister is coeliac and never has a problem eating “regular” lentils, dried beans, etc. The things that give her issues are foods with hidden thickeners/stabilisers that may be derived from wheat, e.g. many brands of yoghurts.

HTH

• Pip

MayDogsandCoffee

@Auti The general consensus on Coeliac pages is just pick over and rinse several times - there are a large number of us who do just that with no ill effects.

Nelliegrace

Well, here is another reason for watching the pennies.

Pricey muesli ‘just as unhealthy as children’s chocolate cereal.’

Which? has found that several branded mueslis contain as much sugar and saturated fat as Nestlé’s chocolate and wafer KitKat cereal

The healthiest mueslis were the budget options, such as Asda Just Essentials, which scored 80, Morrisons Savers and Sainsbury’s Stamford Street Co. The value mueslis performed well because they were “built around simple wholegrains with modest amounts of fruit and nuts”, the report said.

Article in The Times today by Eleanor Hayward, Health Editor.

We buy the basic muesli, eked out with some budget porridge oats, and serve it with a teaspoon of Aldi mixed seeds and a bit of fresh fruit. We have half an orange each instead of juice.

mumtoomany

Morning all. Just dropping in to say so sorry for your loss, @Penny2myname. Be kind to yourself.

Been a busy weekend. Spent all of Saturday morning helping our neighbours to put 152 ewes through the scanner. Hard work when 1. they don't want to go, and 2. three of the five of us are the wrong side of 65 and one of us was only 10. We got very wet!

Today I've been polyfillering. Next onto cleaning ready to start painting. Around 12 rooms to do. Tart the place up, ready to move.

Right coffee finished, back to the grind stone. Hugs, mumtoomany.xxx

PipneyJane

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81905823#Comment_81905823

Very interesting @Nelliegrace, although it doesn't surprise me. Sugar is cheap and is a good lure to get people to eat more, or come back for seconds, since it's addictive. (Good old fashioned marketing putting the insulin cascade to work for the cereal manufacturers.)

I do something similar to you with my breakfast cereal. Currently in my cereal container is 1.1kg L!dl's no added sugar muesli, mixed up with a 500g box of their cheapest bran flakes and a 200g packet of their mixed nuts. I serve it in 40g portions, to which I add a tablespoon of their mixed seeds, before pouring over skimmed milk. I eat breakfast at around 7am and don't get hungry again until 11:30-ish.

Next on the breakfast menu is Lidl's Tropical Granola. Again, I'll mix it with bran flakes and a packet of their mixed nuts, before serving it with mixed seeds. It'll be a month before I start on that mix, so hopefully I'll remember to note how long it takes me to feel hungry. (What can I say? DH did the shopping. He calls my choice of cereal "cardboard" and complains loudly when he has to eat it.😁)

• Pip

Penny2myName

I have decided to allow myself one month subscription to the pro tools on Ancestry. Between my mum's, aunts and my own, there is a few duplicates of people. So since it is just me now, I am going to tidy it up. I must admit I have also splurged out on two packs of biscuits, a bar of chocolate, and then a Garlic bread with chips and onion rings for myself and son to share.

Shopping starts coming in on Wednesday.

On the savings side, I have been distracting myself by using some of my fabric up and making myself a skirt. I just need to hem the lining now. It doesn't quite fall right, but it is my first time actually cutting on the bias.

Also used Olio to rehome some of my mum's christmas decorations. At some point I will look at the boxed up fairies and see if they are in a good enough condition to offer.

Nelliegrace

“I serve it in 40g portions.” @PipneyJane. Such a simple idea, but it makes a huge difference to health and budgeting. Alpen gave away plastic, pouring storage containers, tall and cumbersome, designed perfectly to serve far more than necessary to increase sales. I use old sweetie jars and a small scoop for portion sizes.

We had a bowl of small cubes of bread in hot milk, with a sprinkle of sugar or cinnamon when we were children, before there was sliced bread. Some WW2 recipes suggested pieces of toast or baked bread rusks with milk. The bread then was wheatmeal fortified with vitamins and calcium, and was not rationed until July 1946, ending in July 1948. I suppose these were the original idea for more profitable boxes of wheat cereals.

joedenise

I remember having "bread and milk" when I was growing up. Remember my mum used to make it for me when I wasn't well. Not sure I want to eat it for breakfast though!

fluffycatling

Question ❓

I was curious yesterday and checked Olio about 10pm and noticed loads of things offered by FWHs. Some of them have info on their profile that one can collect until for example 11.45pm. Are people really collecting that late? I mean I understand why as a lot those items were use by the same day but it just made wonder, that's all.

kimwp

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81906310#Comment_81906310

Funnily enough I found myself thinking that the seeded oatcakes were really yummy and I should get some more. I eventually twigged and looked at the ingredients - oats, palm oil, then sugar - no wonder that they are tastier than my normal ones!

My breakfast is a mix of rolled oats, mixed nuts, ground mixed seeds, a couple of squares of dark chocolate and a banana. The first time I ate it, I couldn't hack the lack of sugar and needed to do a mix with my (then) normal granola.