Live on £4000 for a year - Part 2

Frugaldom

mah_jong wrote: »

Will try to eat more veg next but cant think I will ever enjoy them!!

Some snacking veg ideas -

carrot, cucumber & red (or yellow, orange, green) pepper 'sticks' eaten with homemade dips
celery sticks with cottage cheese
florets of cauliflower (raw) with marie rose sauce as dip (my fave)
diced or sliced snowball turnip

Looking forward to summertime now, less cooking means even less electricity :j

redglass_2

[quote=mah_jong;10122983__Will_try_to_eat_more_veg_next_but_cant_think_I_will_ever_enjoy_them!![/quote]

Don't despair mah_jong, I heard on the radio (a programme about feeding fussy kids) that it can take up to 15 'tries' of a food before you like it...but after that there's a good chance you will. (Or maybe your taste buds just give up?) Anyway, they advised giving it a go, again and again...

bails

:hello:Hi everyone!
Glad to hear the interview went well Whitewing, fingers crossed, and great news about MiL too!
SophiesMum, thanks for the photos, it looks like it was a lot of fun, well done you!
Nyk, how fab does that house sound you were describing - I'd love a room for all those things too! One day, one day...
We have the rock salt deodorants in our house too and they're great! We've only tried two different types so far (they last ages!) - I preferred the first one, OH liked the second one. They really do the job well, OH can get v smelly when he works hard but this works a treat, so definitely recommended from our household.
Janey, my mum has the same problem with cooking excess (ex-school cook) so we always get way too much food foisted on us at hers. Not sure how to help, I've spent years trying to get my mum to cut down but no joy!
Thanks for the petition Marru, will sign it after this.
Been a lovely day here so made the most of it. OH has been on a mission all day and has decluttered loads of the house, put things up, fixed things, done the washing, cleaned downstairs, been to the supermarket - he's been like a whirlwind! Bless him :smileyhea I've done a little bit of decluttering of my own (well, a lot for me) - feels great to be (very slowly) chipping away at it.
Sol is on the mend thanks Nyk, got his little personality back and is starting to use the leg again.

I'm sure there were other things to respond to but can't remember now so sorry if I've missed you out!
Been on Ebay just now, checking on the status of my dress (they've started to bid at last! :T) and started browsing...in my defence, I was trying to find a bargain for JumbleBee's £1 challenge but I couldn't navigate my way round the 'ending now' stuff well enough so gave up! Anyone got any tips on how to do this?
Having a mammoth batch baking session tomorrow and going for a long walk with Lovely Boy so will catch up with you all again soon. Have a lovely Sunday x

System

bails, i havent found anything for my £1 challenge yet either!

although i think i may go 'shopping' in my house to find something i originally paid £1 for and no longer want (i ahev been saving stuff to sell on ebay for literally years, and have sold one book so far )

i forgot to tell you guys about my new game, 'mcdonalds wombling' - they are doing a monopoly promotion where you can collect vouchers/one in four things is instant win, and the vouchers seem to be scattered all over the place, i found about 4 of the ones you collect up today, plus one for a free apple pie!

the ones i got today were all blowing about loose (they are teeny, smaller than a stamp - keep your eyes peeled) but i did pick up an empty fries box the other day cos one was still stuck to the front in my defense there are some big prizes, a house and £100,000 etc

and when i got home about half an hour ago, and guess what was right in front of my door? a free cheesburger voucher!

cheeseburger + apple pie = free dinner!!!! :T

sophiesmum_2

just got back from visiting my parents. Dropped off some stuff for the charity shop where mum helps out in a bid to clear a bit of clutter from house.

Mum gave me some early crop seed potatoes and some main crop seed potatoes so need to find suitable containers to grow them in now may try some of the grow bag thingies someone was mentioning earlier in thread. I only have limited space in the veggie plot so no room there.
I want to cut my food budget as much as possible by supplementing with home grown fruit and veg and foraged food like blackberries. I did quite well with this last year but hope to do better this year.Another bonus is that it is really fresh food, organically grown, and there are no travel miles attached to it so it is environmentally friendly too.
I need to work out what will give me the best yields with the smallest space , and which ways will be best for preserving crops for use later on. Last year I cooked stuff and froze it, made jam and chutneys etc, and ate it as we went along. We are still eating the preserves and some pies/crumbles now:D
Has anyone tried bottling stuff?
If you go to supermarkets in Germany/Austria they have lots of veggies in jars instead of cans, and they always look much nicer.Failing that i think I will have to invest in a small chest freezer just for stockpiling, but then have to find somewhere to put that:rolleyes:

Any suggestions anyone??

System

what about a dehydrater? i forget who it is on this thread that has one, it sounded pretty good to me through!

sophiesmum_2

That would be me:rotfl: It is my latest gadget and I love it.
i need to experiment with drying veggies and what i could use them in afterwards. I could use the fruits in yoghurt, cereals, dried fruit snacks, baking, but more limited with the veggies, herbs are easy, and I suppose veggies could go in stews and stuff - will have to look into it more it is all still quite new:rolleyes:

bails

Ha ha, I love that it was you with the dehydrator already SophiesMum :rotfl: Your aims are the same as mine, although you are further down the road from me so can't help with any tips I'm afraid - I'll be nicking all your good ideas instead

Which reminds me of the most important news of today, which I completely forgot to mention earlier - I have 10 broccoli sprouts! :j:T:j:T Yes, I really am that excited OH thinks I'm mad but then he hasn't lovingly cared for them for the past week I told him Actually, I'm just amazed they survived, as I kept putting them out to get some heat in the sunshine and they invariably ended up drowned and covered in snow :o I think I may have spotted 2 lettuce in the veg patch today too, although they could very well be weeds :rotfl:

Way to go with the MaccyD vouchers JumbleBee, let's hope you win the house!

sophiesmum_2

Bails - :j woo Hoo on the broccoli seedlings:j I grew some last year and the slugs ate every leaf off them but never touched the actual heads of broccoli - and they were absolutely delicious:D

I have seedlings growing in our store room, some are just about to break through as the compost is lifting slightly. I keep checking to see if they are out. Mine are peppers, tomatoes and chilli seedlings:D

Frugaldom

I've just updated my 'start a cottage industry' posts, where seeds are the main focus of my attention at the moment. After the speed by which my eBid ones arrived, and seeing the long date on them, I have been back and ordered assorted herbs, cherry tomatoes and brocolli - all on BOGOF with only 45p P&P regardless of how many you buy!
Having got the first of the carrots and assorted lettuces planted today, I now need to be patient, but can't wait to see them sprout! No signs of my onions or garlic chives sprouting, yet, but the peppers and tomatoes are doing well so far.

I have my other moneymaking challenge underway, the cottage industry one, so am going to have a bit of a clear out tomorrow and use the storeroom-come-sittingroom-come library-come exercise room-come packing room as a gluing, cutting and labelling room as well. It has a tiled floor for easy cleaning and it's also less like an icebox now we've had a little bit of sun.

Gosh! Forgot the time! Must update signature and wish you all a good evening and a good Sunday. :rotfl: