Newbie looking for help :0)

Scared1980

Hi guys,

I am really new to this old style money saving and would realy love some advice on where to start....

I live with my partner and our two gorgeous girls (4yr old and 18month old) and I would really like to start preparing meals in advance etc... I can bake but I can't cook if that makes any sense :0)

I work 4 full days a week so time is tight, hence the preparation in advance... I have a bread maker too... but I haven't used it yet as I am a scaredy cat

Any advice gratefully recieved....

Lyns
x

Rowan9

Hello and welcome
Lots of lovely people will come on and give you advice.
I'd say to get hold of a basic cookery book from the library, or look up some recipes online (maybe start looking at recipe threads in here?). Make a list of things your family eats and then have a stab at cooking some of them yourself. Start easy on yourself and you won't burn out! Maybe learn to make a pot of soup or a stew and make loads so you can freeze some for busy days. Once you have a list of meals, just make that the basis of your menu plan and do your shopping for that only. That keeps costs down as you won't be tempted to buy things that just look good at the time (well...that's the theory!).
Keep us posted in here and we'll help as much as poss.
Maybe even start by listing a few meals you normally serve up - ready meals or whatever and people will come on and tell you how to make it old style (from scratch).
Good luck
w

purpleivy

The more you surf the threads here the more you will get into it I think. Just don't try and start everything at once. I started by monitoring how much I spend on food and avoiding buying ready prepared dross, even down to biscuits. If I don't make them we don't have them! IF you try and do everything at once, it might be hard to keep up.



..... and get the breadmaker out,

ubamother

my first advice would be to start small - start prepping one meal a week - and use the baking skills you have. How about something like savoury mince (onions, garlic, mince, toms, anything else you fancy!) pre-cooked, add a cheese scone or pastry topping and you've got a gorgeous meal ready for the oven. When something like this becomes normal for you - make double portions, store one in the freezer - then prep another one - then you've got two for the next week -and so on and so on. Planning ahead too. There are some wonderful mealplanning experts on this forum who hopefully will add their meal planning advice much better than I could! Good luck!

Scared1980

Thanks for the reply...

Right..erm.. I would like to do things like cottage Pie, Lasagne, Pasta and chicken and stir fry.... they would all go down well in my place...

I am awful at knowing what I can and cant freeze... I would like to make my own chicken nuggets, but I have no idea if I freeze them before or after they get cooked... see told you I was a REAL novice

Thanks in advance

Lyns
x

NoahsPennilessMummy

Hi Lyns
If you are looking at getting cookery books I have (amongst my vast collection) the 2 Dinner Lady cookbooks by Jeanette Orrey.....they are brilliant for family style meals and baking, even for novices and she gives lots of advice re freezing etc....will be on Amazon 2nd hand.
And as others have said check the recipe threads on here and the mealplans are useful for ideas when you are getting stuck in a rut

good luck
claire
xx

squeaky

Take a look here:-

Welcome to Old Style - (BRAND NEW "Read me first")

And the link that is likely to help you most from there is:-

Getting Started on Old Style

HTH

angelnikki

Scared1980 wrote: »

Thanks for the reply...

Right..erm.. I would like to do things like cottage Pie, Lasagne, Pasta and chicken and stir fry.... they would all go down well in my place...

I am awful at knowing what I can and cant freeze... I would like to make my own chicken nuggets, but I have no idea if I freeze them before or after they get cooked... see told you I was a REAL novice

Thanks in advance

Lyns
x

These links should help:
Chicken Nuggets You can freeze the chicken nuggets before cooking them if the chicken hasn't previously been frozen, if it has you need to cook them first before freezing.
Shepherds Pie/Cottage Pie
Lasagne

Nikki
x

ETA Search Here

Scared1980

Thanks for all the replies and the links... I have some lovely bits to try now :0)

I will make sure I get my BreadMaker out over the weekend... its one of those Morphy Richards FastBake ones... so any tips would be great...

Oh and any advice on getting a rug clean (general childrens spills and dirt) would be fab too :0)

Thanks again guys :0)

Lyns
x

vivw_2

I'd really recommend the following book
How to Feed Your Whole Family a Healthy Balanced Diet, with Very Little Money and Hardly Any Time, Even If You Have a Tiny Kitchen, Only Three Saucepans ... - Unless You Count the Garlic Crusher...
by Gill Holcombe

Its really simple to follow the recipes and a very good place to start

squeaky

Scared1980 wrote: »

Oh and any advice on getting a rug clean (general childrens spills and dirt) would be fab too

And also check our other cleaning indexed collections listed here:-

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=235198


You can ALWAYS find them again easily enough...

You can find these via my signature any time you see it or...

..you can use the Indexed Collections link in the Start Here Bar at the top of every page which looks something like this:-