Live on £4000 for a year - Part 2

funkyfunkymonkey

nykmedia wrote: »

Giant jaffa cake madness - looks a bit on the expensive side for me to go to the extreme of making one when I can buy boxes of little ones. However, as suggested by MrDT, I still have a half price sponge flan in the freezer and I have plenty of jelly. Perhaps a giant jaffa cake type birthday treat for DS next week would be a good idea. Hmm... the chocolate might cost more than the Jaffa Cakes, though, even Fairtrade chocolate from Co-op. :rotfl:

You can stretch it further without increasing the cost by http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=9731949&postcount=94 Definitely a birthday treat.

FFM

Frugaldom

Still on the subject of giant jaffa cakes and frugal birthdays, I have a large sponge flan in the freezer from spring meadows from when they were reduced to 36p (It's the BIG, BIG one - I don't have a plate big enough!) Plus I do have jelly crystals and orange jelly. Must read up and see how to make the jelly part, otherwise it would just soak right through. Wonder what's on offer by way of chocolate at the moment... will certainly be finding out before Wednesday (DS birthday). No dent in 4k budget from pressies as I have savings funds for both DS and DD.

I had a fairly productive day today. Baked the 3 trays of hobnobs, baked 2 loaves, which DS reckons are the best so far, but I have used different methods & ingredients each time I've made bread. The nicest one is a half & half mix between budget strong bread flour and ordinary wholemeal flour. I bought the little packs of Hovis dried yeast this time, as they were reduced, and used half a sachet in each loaf - it is also quicker, as you don't need to reactivate the yeast and you only need to knead once. Mmm... lovely.

The bolognese sauce with oats appears to be doing fine and whilst that has been slow cooking, I have been out in the garden repotting and sowing more seeds before it's too late. Now have a tray of brocolli, tray of cherry tomatoes, another tray of sweet peppers (I like peppers), some coriander and I've repotted the mint and chives and have them in a big pot outside the door. Gave up with the garlic chive seeds, I'm guessing the seeds (I found them in the shed) are past it. Instead, I have planted ordinary garlic from the cloves in the kitchen. All in all, quite a productive day. Off for a cuppa now and discuss plan of action for the car boot sale / market tomorrow

funkyfunkymonkey

nykmedia wrote: »

Still on the subject of giant jaffa cakes and frugal birthdays, I have a large sponge flan in the freezer from spring meadows from when they were reduced to 36p (It's the BIG, BIG one - I don't have a plate big enough!) Plus I do have jelly crystals and orange jelly. Must read up and see how to make the jelly part, otherwise it would just soak right through.

There was quite a bit of discussion on the Jamie Oliver thread about the jelly soaking into the flan. It started to happen with me, so I left the jelly in the measuring jug until it was almost set, the 'part soaked' flan case had been kept cold in the fridge and I then plopped ('cos it didn't really pour) the almost set jelly into the flan case - it worked fine.

FFM

shaz_mum_of__2

Maybe your meant to use the quick jel type jelly it sets on contact almost


Tea tonight is pasta with leek,onion,garlic courgette,peppers,peas all in a cheese sauce served with HM garlic french bread ...yummy and almost child free as DS 16 is eating out ................leftovers for monday lunch!!

also cooked extra pasta to make a tuna sweetcorn pasta salad

Inventoried the freezer today why do i keep buying meat??? we hardly eat it any more habit i guess

I reckon i could get away not buying any meat or fish for a month at least but would panic if i didn't .....go figure


Made the decision to go to uni in september as a ahhemm mature student i am 38 going to do social science at lincoln but from home hubby really supportive as its his field and happy to help if i get stuck!!

Money won't change much as the finance package i will get is better than my wages at present??


Wish me luck

Shaz

sophiesmum_2

I make mandarin flans a lot for my oldies. I use sugar free jelly crystals and tinned mandarins. keep the fruit in the fridge until you are ready to use it, the juice gets lovely and chilled. Strain juice from mandarins,put fruit on flan and then make up jelly crystals but only use half amount of boiling water, top up with the chilled fruit juice and it starts to thicken and set immediately. Stir well.Pour over mandarins quickly before it sets. Helps stop it soaking into the flan.


Edited to add that I make dinner plate sized flans, which take two tins of mandarins to cover evenly.(serves 8 )

sophiesmum_2

Nice work in the garden Nyk:D
I love peppers too, they are so colourful and lovely when they are in fruit.I love chilli plants too but not growing any this year as still using up the (very potent) red chillis i grew last year and dried.
Have also been pottering in garden this afternoon. Moved my tumbler tomato plants from pots into hanging baskets, still got them in greenhouse at moment but will move them outside in a week or two.Also growing money maker and gardeners delight in greenhouse in pots.As well as red and green peppers, baby leeks,lettuce, and got beetroot, radish, and runner bean seedlings still developing. Everything is starting to come together now, fruit patch looking okay, red and white currants, raspberries, gooseberries, rhubarb,lots of strawberries and a baby apple tree and blackberries.:D
Still looking for courgette and cucumber plants - never have much luck growing these from seed:rolleyes:

Frugaldom

Thanks to everyone with all the great jelly ideas - I also like the one where you set the jelly in a different plate and then just put the whole wobbly circle on top of the sponge before covering with the chocolate.

Now, what an eventful couple of hours I have just had! It was indeed folks arriving for a cuppa and I am now the proud owner of some fabulous wooden planters to be used for my herb and portable veggie garden! :j :j Plenty of growing space and portable enough to take with us when we move house, whenever that might be. Over coffee, we were discussing all the alternative lifestyles that are available and nobody could fully agree on how they would REALLY live on £4,000 if it was ALL you had to live on. It revolved around my boringly favourite topic of what to do with £100,000 (if we had it) - do you...

1.) Spend it all on a small house and then still need to earn the £4000 plus council tax/water each year to live
2.) Bank it and live off the interest, which amounts to about £100 per week, thus only having to earn your rent
3.) Spend £10,000 on a camper van and spend the rest of your days as a frugal traveller, living off the interest, which would still end up as more than £4000 per year, even allowing for tax on the interest.

You know what? I have totally changed my mind again! Now that I see it written here, I LOVE the campervan idea! :eek: :T Wow!

Sophiesmum - your garden collection sounds brilliant! I wish you a very frugally fruitful success with everything.

bails

Hi everyone and welcome back Fizzel and welcome to Bingo Molly as you shall now be known

My OH loves jaffa cakes and I have developed quite a taste for them too now so was also thinking of giving the big one a go - I'd read the best way was to make the jelly on a seperate plate first, all seem good ways though.

Janey, you would've loved my day today - Mike the Cat Man came round this morning to see how we were doing and this afternoon he showed us around the isolation cattery, where all the kittens are :j Big aaaaaaaahhhhhhhh everyone! This was of course for the purposes of kitten rearing research and not simply so I could go all gooey over the ickle fluffballs Every cage we went to, whether kittens or cats, I just melted at the sight of them; all beautiful. OH came with me as he wanted to see the strays we'd caught but after TWO hours he'd had enough :rotfl:One of the cats had black plastic bits covering its claws, anyone come across this before? OH spotted them, the cat had been in 3 weeks and noone had noticed; they seemed to be superglued on :eek: We also saw Sol's foster mother and she was delighted to hear how he's getting on - apparently she'd really wanted to keep him. Got the cats some catnip and they've absolutely loved it, the tabby is even sleeping at my feet; it smells like I've had some 'special baccy' in my house which I haven't for the record - can't afford that on the 4K :rotfl:

The gardens sound great, I really need to get on with some more of mine but need OH to slug-protect it for me first. With the garlic do you just stick a clove in a pot Nyk? We've ordered a few herb plants for the herb garden,still want to plant some more seeds, am I running out of time? My spinach has come up in the garden but that seems to be about it

Thanks for all the thoughts about the A&L, will be brave and phone them next week; I hope Mark isn't right but got a sneaking suspicion... [note to self: never ever commit to a financial product when severely ill].

OH is very sad today - think the funeral upset him, his dad died when he was 9 and he never grieved - any ideas how I can cheer him up please?

sophiesmum_2

The camper van sounds the most fun:D or what is the going rate for a second hand narrow boat these days?? That is something i could see myself doing also;)

Frugaldom

Bails - the cat with the plastic on its nails, I have heard of these. They got classed as a mad invention and even appeared on Dragon's Den! They go over the ends of cats' claws to help prevent them from scratching furniture. My bet is that the animal wearing such things is a house cat that has managed to get out and got lost. Or, the previous owner found out the 'false nails' didn't work and turned the cat out on purpose. Will find the link to let you see them and edit it in. They come is various colours, even pink!
Regarding the cloves, I have never tried this before but read it online that you just stick the clove down into the soil and it grows. Being one of little patience, I planted them before doing any more reading.

I have just spent some time reading about campervan life and it is VERY interesting! They even have a website where you can compare notes and leave news about where you can park up overnight for free! Mr T's 24 hour car parks are mentioned for an overnight!! Now we know where the freegans live! No wonder they get all the best bargains! :rotfl: :rotfl:

Just updated my signature as got a few more small sales paid via eBid and my charity auctions are ending as I type this - looks like I'll make about £15 this weekend, which isn't bad to say it's from nothing. :T

Must check to see when the premium bonds draw is this month. Imagine retiring to travel fulltime on a campervan holiday whilst living off your interest... that REALLY appeals to me, even just for the summer.