Hi all,
Well its been comfort eating here in the mad house.
Just a quick post as knowing me i'll lose the recipe!
jambalaya
2 tbsp veg oil
200g sausage, sliced into chunks
2 tbsp paprika
1 tbsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
1 tsp salt
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
2 peppers sliced thinly
2 onions, sliced thin
300 grams of long grain rice
1 litre of chicken stock
3 cloves of garlic crushed
Heat oil, add onion and garlic, when browned add the sliced sausage and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes. Add the paprika, cumin, chilli powder, black pepper, and salt. and stir for about a minute till sausage is coated. Add the tomatoes and cook for a few minutes to thicken. Add peppers and stir.
Stir in the rice and mix well. Add the stock, turn the heat to low and cover. Takes about 45 minutes to an hour to cook. When the ric e is cooked its done. Then serve.
We all really enjoyed it.
Back soon
kez x
Showing posts with label Frugal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Frugal. Show all posts
Wednesday, 16 October 2013
Tuesday, 3 September 2013
something new :)
Stuffed cabbage in tomato sauce served with risotto.
Stuffed Cabbage
6 Cabbage leaves (boiled in water for about 6 minutes)
250g red lentils
250g yellow split peas
salt
pepper
chilli powder
Tomato Sauce
1 large onion sliced
2 cloves of garlic crushed
2 tins of chopped tomatoes
2 tabsp of tomato puree
1 pint of water
2 tbsp of dried Italian herbs (optional)
Pre heat oven to gas mark 4
While the cabbage is boiling,place lentils and yellow split peas into another pan with boiling water add spices and leave to cook till lentils and split peas are soft.
Drain cabbage leaves and leave to cool.
At the same time make the tomato sauce
fry one large onion, 2 cloves of crushed garlic when cooked place in a casserole dish or baking tray
add the tomatoes, tomato puree and stir.
Next make get a cabbage leaf and place large spoonfuls of lentils into and roll up in a pasty shape and place into the casserole dish with the tomatoes. do this till the cabbage leave have all been filled.
Next place the water over the cabbage leave and lightly mix it with the tomato sauce. add more salt and pepper and place in the oven for about 40 minutes.
Whilst this cooking make the risotto.
300g Tesco Long Grain Rice (40p per kilo)
2 veg stock cubes ( 8 cubes for 10p sainsburys basics)
water (paid for courtesy of northumbrian water)
2 garlic cloves (from 20p head of garlic)
black pepper (1p)
cheese (about 35p)
onion (15p)
Risotto
one large onion chopped and finely sliced.
2 garlic cloves (crushed)
300g of long grain rice
1litre of veg stock
1 tbsp of black pepper
30 grams of strong cheddar cheese
Fry onions and garlic till soft
add the rice and stir till fully coated in oil
Then add the stock bit by bit till fully absorbed.
If the rice isn't cooked just add more water till it it.
Add the cheese and fully stir into the risotto.
Place the cabbage onto a plate with some tomato sauce and risotto and serve.
Makes a very filling meal :)
Till tomorrow :)
cooking on a budget
Well after all the debates regarding Jamie Olivers new book and program i thought right lets watch it and see what happens.
Now i can cook, well kind of, no ones died yet! I have myself how cook from scratch and its hard at first but its get easier the more you do it.
I used to be a big fan of his and i would regularly watch his programs, especially the grow your own one. Some really good ideas about growing fruit and veg and using them straight from garden.
This program in it self is not really for people on a low grocery budget. Personally i think its more for the higher spenders. For instance mu budget is £200 a month, so very low. My sister phoned me up and said i've just watched that jamie program and thought it was rubbish. Her words were " where the hell am i going to buy a blender like that, just looked in the catalogue and it costs £150 quid!" This coming from someone who spends over £100+ a week on food, and more if she buys a takeaway.
My sister can cook sunday dinners, but nothing much else. So this program is supposed to be for her.
then she says "Oh and those pans where do i get them from? " My advice to her just use a rectangle roasting tin or cake tin. She said oh that not what he said.
A few year ago there was a program called Economy Gastronomy, it was really good, had better ideas and really took the time to tell you how to make things from scratch. Not the cheapest ideas but they took the time to tell you have chicken stock from the bones.
But what really annoyed me about the whole program was the pizza and bean thing.
A supposed heating engineer sat in the background with a bottle of beer, glass and a fake cockney accent. No pizza costs £12 from a takeaway, i know, i served my time in five different ones!
A 16" pizza costs about £9.50 and that's a full blown meat feast. So its a load of nonsense. In Hackney,London its even cheaper! again i know because when we visited family there we got a takeaway for £20 came back with a 16" pizza, chips, and 2 extra large kebabs, sauces and drinks for us all.
My partner is also a gas heating engineer and he wouldn't dare go on telly with a beer in his hand! Its just something no self respecting person would do. If he really meant to make to a pizza he should have been there making it with Jamie.
Or having beans with his fish pie, yeah right, you could tell it was fake by the look in his eyes. We are big bean eaters. I thought what a toss pot trying to appeal to the "poor" people.
I'm not great at budgeting but i'm getting better, i do need help with ideas. We all do.
But this program just isn't for me or anyone struggling on a low budget. Lots of the recipes he's done in this program he's done in past on his other shows. Best thing thing is they less preachy.
So for me, the program is a let a down, bring back allega and paul!
Now i can cook, well kind of, no ones died yet! I have myself how cook from scratch and its hard at first but its get easier the more you do it.
I used to be a big fan of his and i would regularly watch his programs, especially the grow your own one. Some really good ideas about growing fruit and veg and using them straight from garden.
This program in it self is not really for people on a low grocery budget. Personally i think its more for the higher spenders. For instance mu budget is £200 a month, so very low. My sister phoned me up and said i've just watched that jamie program and thought it was rubbish. Her words were " where the hell am i going to buy a blender like that, just looked in the catalogue and it costs £150 quid!" This coming from someone who spends over £100+ a week on food, and more if she buys a takeaway.
My sister can cook sunday dinners, but nothing much else. So this program is supposed to be for her.
then she says "Oh and those pans where do i get them from? " My advice to her just use a rectangle roasting tin or cake tin. She said oh that not what he said.
A few year ago there was a program called Economy Gastronomy, it was really good, had better ideas and really took the time to tell you how to make things from scratch. Not the cheapest ideas but they took the time to tell you have chicken stock from the bones.
But what really annoyed me about the whole program was the pizza and bean thing.
A supposed heating engineer sat in the background with a bottle of beer, glass and a fake cockney accent. No pizza costs £12 from a takeaway, i know, i served my time in five different ones!
A 16" pizza costs about £9.50 and that's a full blown meat feast. So its a load of nonsense. In Hackney,London its even cheaper! again i know because when we visited family there we got a takeaway for £20 came back with a 16" pizza, chips, and 2 extra large kebabs, sauces and drinks for us all.
My partner is also a gas heating engineer and he wouldn't dare go on telly with a beer in his hand! Its just something no self respecting person would do. If he really meant to make to a pizza he should have been there making it with Jamie.
Or having beans with his fish pie, yeah right, you could tell it was fake by the look in his eyes. We are big bean eaters. I thought what a toss pot trying to appeal to the "poor" people.
I'm not great at budgeting but i'm getting better, i do need help with ideas. We all do.
But this program just isn't for me or anyone struggling on a low budget. Lots of the recipes he's done in this program he's done in past on his other shows. Best thing thing is they less preachy.
So for me, the program is a let a down, bring back allega and paul!
Sunday, 1 September 2013
Scroogy September
Well as the titles suggests September is going to be more than scroogy, i am determined to try and spend as little as possible. The bank is way past the black and in the red. CC's are maxed out and can't be used.
Part of the deal is the bills will be paid as well as transport costs etc but general spending will be a big no no. Can't stop the transport costs. My eldest needs £15 a week, youngest £10 and me a whopping £20, so £45 a week just for that. School meals are £20 a week for two children, so youngest is straight on pack lunches no choice in the matter. Eldest well, we'll see how it goes.
My partner and me pack lunches, and the business pays for the vans fuel.
Decided our grocery budget for the month will be £200 for a family of four, three cats and guests.
Whilst at the same time keeping the store cupboard filled to a reasonable level.
the idea is that hopefully by the end of the month i will have been able to save up some holiday money for our first family holiday with my dad in October. As well as fingers crossed save up enough money to buy a new freezer. Ours went kaput about a month ago, its really hard adjusting to life without one. I've just realised how much we rely on one item. but also how much we waste :(
The fridge is bare and the veg is past its best but lets see how far the fresh stuff goes.
Wish me luck and lets see how it goes
kez xx
Grocery Spends £2.26
Items: £2.26 on 2 x thick loaves of bread, 2 x tins of garden peas, single cream, 4 large onions and 10 satsuma's.
General: 0
Part of the deal is the bills will be paid as well as transport costs etc but general spending will be a big no no. Can't stop the transport costs. My eldest needs £15 a week, youngest £10 and me a whopping £20, so £45 a week just for that. School meals are £20 a week for two children, so youngest is straight on pack lunches no choice in the matter. Eldest well, we'll see how it goes.
My partner and me pack lunches, and the business pays for the vans fuel.
Decided our grocery budget for the month will be £200 for a family of four, three cats and guests.
Whilst at the same time keeping the store cupboard filled to a reasonable level.
the idea is that hopefully by the end of the month i will have been able to save up some holiday money for our first family holiday with my dad in October. As well as fingers crossed save up enough money to buy a new freezer. Ours went kaput about a month ago, its really hard adjusting to life without one. I've just realised how much we rely on one item. but also how much we waste :(
The fridge is bare and the veg is past its best but lets see how far the fresh stuff goes.
Wish me luck and lets see how it goes
kez xx
Grocery Spends £2.26
Items: £2.26 on 2 x thick loaves of bread, 2 x tins of garden peas, single cream, 4 large onions and 10 satsuma's.
General: 0
Thursday, 15 August 2013
Afternoon Tea :)
Well we had a lovely day today, just chilling with a friend and two children.
They all played games and loved snacking on the little tid bits.
So we had a kind of afternoon tea with sandwiches, mini sausages, cakes and biscuits.
Yesterday i starting making the them the sweet and savoury.
Never tried these recipes before so today we tried them
No-Bake Chocolate Oat Bars
76g of butter
100g dark brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla flavouring
255g oats
100g of milk chocolate
2 large tablespoons of peanut butter
Melt butter and add in the brown sugar and vanilla
Then add in the oats
Melt chocolate and peanut butter. then spread the mixture over the oat mixture .
They all played games and loved snacking on the little tid bits.
So we had a kind of afternoon tea with sandwiches, mini sausages, cakes and biscuits.
Yesterday i starting making the them the sweet and savoury.
Never tried these recipes before so today we tried them
No-Bake Chocolate Oat Bars
76g of butter
100g dark brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla flavouring
255g oats
100g of milk chocolate
2 large tablespoons of peanut butter
Melt butter and add in the brown sugar and vanilla
Then add in the oats
Cook ion low heat for about 3 minutes till blended. Take off
Heat and press 1/2 of the mixture into a bottom of a baking tray.
Then add the rest of the oat mixture on top.
Then play the cake tin ino the fridge for a couple of hours or over night.
Once solidified take out of the tin and chop into pieces if you wish.
Trying also making jam bar but they sadly didn't work but, instead they were squishy. They tasted as good as a crumble.
192 g self raising flour
120 oats
220g brown sugar
396g grams of butter
1 jar of jam.
Mix all the ingredients in except the jam.
the jam.
Once blended together. Place oat mixture on a tray. Then add the jam and the remaining oat mixture on top.
Bake on oven on gas mark 4 till golden brown. Then take out and leave to cool completely.
As the recipe didn't quite work out i would serve it hot with custard.
Or just eat it cold as is.
Its really nice though :)
Monday, 12 August 2013
Pantry / Store Cupboard
Today i received an email from a concerned reader who was afraid of my financial circumstances with two children.But also from another reader who asked what kind of things do i have in my store cupboard.
So i thought to make it easier i would just post pictures up.
Top of the pantry
As you can see i have tons of spices, tins, pasta, dried noodles, flour, bag full of potatoes.
So don't worry my children will have protein, vitamin, iron filled tummies.
My basic essentials i try to always have in are:
Non-Fresh
Baked beans
Tinned tomatoes
Chick peas
Tuna
Tinned Fruit
Kidney Beans
Dried Noodles
Pepper
Salt
Chilli Powder
Pasta
Oats
Lentils
Rice
Bread Flour
Plain Flour
Self Raising Flour
Yeast
Jam
Sugar
Stock cubes
Diluted Juice
Tea Bags
Coffee
Vegetable Oil
Fresh
Carrots
Onions
Milk
Garlic
Cheese
Eggs
Butter
Pets
Cat food dry and tinned
Cat Litter
I find if i have these basics in, i can make anything from soups to curries, from flapjacks,porridge to pancakes.
Its hard to start off a store cupboard of any kind, its expensive to buy everything in one go.
So instead i buy say an extra item every week.
For instance today i saw 4 tins of chopped tomatoes for £1 so splashed the extra £1 and bought them. Now i already had four tins in the cupboard but thought its good deal, works out 25p a tin instead of 37p.
Its little things like that really help you out in the long run.
I must admit most of the non-perishable items we eat are the supermarket basics.there is nothing wrong with this as generally the food has less in than brand names.
Hope that gives you some ideas :)
So i thought to make it easier i would just post pictures up.
Middle and bottom
The floor of the pantry
As you can see i have tons of spices, tins, pasta, dried noodles, flour, bag full of potatoes.
So don't worry my children will have protein, vitamin, iron filled tummies.
My basic essentials i try to always have in are:
Non-Fresh
Baked beans
Tinned tomatoes
Chick peas
Tuna
Tinned Fruit
Kidney Beans
Dried Noodles
Pepper
Salt
Chilli Powder
Pasta
Oats
Lentils
Rice
Bread Flour
Plain Flour
Self Raising Flour
Yeast
Jam
Sugar
Stock cubes
Diluted Juice
Tea Bags
Coffee
Vegetable Oil
Fresh
Carrots
Onions
Milk
Garlic
Cheese
Eggs
Butter
Pets
Cat food dry and tinned
Cat Litter
I find if i have these basics in, i can make anything from soups to curries, from flapjacks,porridge to pancakes.
Its hard to start off a store cupboard of any kind, its expensive to buy everything in one go.
So instead i buy say an extra item every week.
For instance today i saw 4 tins of chopped tomatoes for £1 so splashed the extra £1 and bought them. Now i already had four tins in the cupboard but thought its good deal, works out 25p a tin instead of 37p.
Its little things like that really help you out in the long run.
I must admit most of the non-perishable items we eat are the supermarket basics.there is nothing wrong with this as generally the food has less in than brand names.
Hope that gives you some ideas :)
Carrot Cookies
After being told how nice carrot cookies were i decided to try and make some.
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Carrot Cookies
1 tablespoon margarine or butter
2 tablespoons of granulated sugar
4 drops of almond (or vanilla)
4 tablespoons of raw grated carrot
6 tablespoons of self raising flour
Mix sugar and butter together
add flavouring and carrots mix together
then add the the flour and mix.
Split mixture into about 12 balls and flatten with your had onto a baking tray.
Cook say on gas mark 4 till golden brown. Or say 15-20 minutes
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Have to say these were really nice and the lads have scoffed the lot!
They sweet but don't overly taste of carrot in the slightest.
These will be perfect for out picnic tomorrow!
This recipe is from World War Two, so it seems to be very economical and healthy.
Its very quick to mix and cook, so will definitely be making them again.
Monday, 11 February 2013
Lemon Curd Cake and Twinks
Realised i didn't actually post the recipes and i always lose them so best i put them on here.
Lemon Curd Cake
100g margarine
75g castor sugar
2 eggs
175g self-raising flour
1 jar lemon curd
Heat the oven to 180 degrees. Grease /line a loaf tin
Mix all of the ingredients in a bowl and mix together till binded.
Then pour the cake mixture into the loaf tin and level the top so its straightish.
Place in oven and bake for approximately 40 minutes until browned.
I use granulated sugar instead of castor, as that's what i had in.
Oh and value lemon curd so its works out really cheap to make. Think its comes out at less than 50p to make the cake. Tastes lovely hot but also great for pack lunches.
Twinks are like hob nobs and i got the recipe off the Money Saving Expert website. A member off there made this recipe up and they are so moreish hence the name Twinks.
(220g)8oz sr flour
(220g)8oz sugar
(220g) 8oz porridge oats
(8oz) margarine
1tbsp golden syrup
1tbsp hot water
1/2 tsp bic soda
mix flour, oats and sugar, melt marg, syrup and water in a pan stir in bic soda and add to dry mix, mix well, make smallish balls and put on greased tray and flatten slightly with a fork, 180oc for 15 mins, cool on the tray, you just want them golden in oven not brown.
When the twinks come out of the oven they are quite squidgy but after a couple of minutes cooling they harden. Beware they are diet killers. I think i got about 30 out of the mix. oh and leave plenty of space between them on the tray as they spread out when cooking.
Sunday, 10 February 2013
It's been a while ....
Last time I posted I wasn't very well, my health was at an all time low. Everything was getting me down including my slum of a private rented home.
Since then I've been exceptionally busy, we've been offered a house off our local council. Myself and my partner have been on the lost for about a decade. Guess what were taking it!
Today had been a mixture of packing and baking.
Made a batch of twinks, lemon curd cake and a chick pea and chorizo casserole.
Since then I've been exceptionally busy, we've been offered a house off our local council. Myself and my partner have been on the lost for about a decade. Guess what were taking it!
Today had been a mixture of packing and baking.
Made a batch of twinks, lemon curd cake and a chick pea and chorizo casserole.
Saturday, 19 January 2013
Tomato and pepper pasta
Hi all,
Another cold day here in the north.we had a very quick.dinner tonight. This pasta takes about 15 minutes to cook.I normally start cooking the pasta and then start making the sauce, so its ready at the same time.
Tomato and pepper pasta.
Serves 4
500 grams of pasta (basic dried pasta 29p)
One onion thinly sliced. (10p)
One yellow pepper thinly sliced (20p)
2 garlic cloves crushed (or 1/2 tsp of powered garlic) (5p)
1 tin of chopped tomatoes (400g tin) (25p)
1 tsp of black pepper (1p)
1 tsp of oregano (1p)
1 tsp of salt (1p)
put the pasta onto boil
Place sliced onions and garlic into a frying pan and cook till soft.
Then add the sliced pepper and fry till cooked.
then add the tinned tomatoes, pepper, salt and oregano stir and boil down till the liquid is almost gone.
The pasta should be cooked by the time the sauce has boiled down.
drain pasta, place some in a bowl with some tomato sauce and serve.
simple and quick
Costs about 92p in all
Another cold day here in the north.we had a very quick.dinner tonight. This pasta takes about 15 minutes to cook.I normally start cooking the pasta and then start making the sauce, so its ready at the same time.
Tomato and pepper pasta.
Serves 4
500 grams of pasta (basic dried pasta 29p)
One onion thinly sliced. (10p)
One yellow pepper thinly sliced (20p)
2 garlic cloves crushed (or 1/2 tsp of powered garlic) (5p)
1 tin of chopped tomatoes (400g tin) (25p)
1 tsp of black pepper (1p)
1 tsp of oregano (1p)
1 tsp of salt (1p)
put the pasta onto boil
Place sliced onions and garlic into a frying pan and cook till soft.
Then add the sliced pepper and fry till cooked.
then add the tinned tomatoes, pepper, salt and oregano stir and boil down till the liquid is almost gone.
The pasta should be cooked by the time the sauce has boiled down.
drain pasta, place some in a bowl with some tomato sauce and serve.
simple and quick
Costs about 92p in all
Here are some variations
Meat :- add raw bacon and fry at the same time as the onions and follow the recipe as normal
Sometimes we like to add cheese after we've placed the pasta and sauce in a bowl.
Yummy and perfect for a quick lunch or dinner.
Thursday, 17 January 2013
fruity bread yummy
Hello,
Well its bread day made a huge 700g bloomer, a small loaf and a fruity loaf.
Now i've never made a fruit loaf so thought what the heck lets give it a go.
So for the bloomer, fruit bread and small loaf i've just used the same recipe as i would for a basic large white loaf. Now i've made it by hand as my bread machine has broken down. The bread machine recipe is on further on the blog to.
Which is
After placing the bread into bowls i covered them up with a carrier bag to trap the heat in to help them rise.
Well its bread day made a huge 700g bloomer, a small loaf and a fruity loaf.
Now i've never made a fruit loaf so thought what the heck lets give it a go.
So for the bloomer, fruit bread and small loaf i've just used the same recipe as i would for a basic large white loaf. Now i've made it by hand as my bread machine has broken down. The bread machine recipe is on further on the blog to.
Which is
Basic Bread Recipe
300g Strong White Bread Flour
300g Plain Flour
1pint of warm water
1 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
7g dried fast action yeast
For the fruit bread, same as above but also add 100g of whatever dried fruit you may have.
If making by hand place the flour in first ,then the salt, sugar and yeast.
300g Strong White Bread Flour
300g Plain Flour
1pint of warm water
1 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
7g dried fast action yeast
For the fruit bread, same as above but also add 100g of whatever dried fruit you may have.
If making by hand place the flour in first ,then the salt, sugar and yeast.
Mix together till fully combined. Then slowly add the water whilst stirring till it has formed into sticky but not wet consistency.
Now leave to rise dough till its doubled in size. Once it has done this, knock the dough back down again .
You can now shape into loaves, buns etc Place the shaped into a loaf tin, baking tray and leave to rise again. Once it has done this, preheat the oven to gas mark 5. Leave for 5 minutes for the oven heat up and place the bread dough in the oven.
Bake for about 45 minutes or till cooked.
After you have mixed the dough it shold kind of look like this, if its too watery add more flour and mix again till its the right consistency.
After you have mixed the dough it shold kind of look like this, if its too watery add more flour and mix again till its the right consistency.
I then split the dough into two pieces, one for the fruit bread and one for the small loaf.
I place the small loaf dough into a separate dish.
Then added about 100g of mixed dried fruit mix.
I then mixed it all together and placed it back in the bowl.
to rise.
After placing the bread into bowls i covered them up with a carrier bag to trap the heat in to help them rise.
Heres all three of looking scrummy :)
ahh fresh bread, can't beat it.
Wednesday, 16 January 2013
Sausage and stuffing plait.
Hi all
Been a another cold and blustery day.
Spent the day at my sisters drinking tea, cofee and chatting about life, kids basically anything and evrything.
Another recipe for you to try, i'm sorry i don't have pictures daft phone decided to run out of battery.
Sausage and stuffing plait.
1 large onion (thinly sliced and diced) (10p)
4 cloves of crushed garlic (optional) (20p)
1 pack of basic sausage meat (494grams) (£1.45)
1 pack of puff pastry (£1.00)
1 pack of basic sage and onion stuffing (15p)
Fry onion and garlic till cooked and place into a bowl.
Mix the dried stuffing with the onions
Mix the above with the sausage meat.
Roll out pastry into a rectangle shape.
Fill the middle of the pastry with the meat mix, then fold pastry over into a sausage roll shape.
Place onto a greased baking tray and cook till pastry is brown, about 25 mins.
Serve hot or cold.
The above did us two meals with extras for the boys.
The first meal we had it had it with was veg, mash and gravy for one meal.
The second meals was sausage plait with chips and beans.
The plait can also be frozen and eaten cold, so very flexible meal.
Till tomorrow
Kez x
Been a another cold and blustery day.
Spent the day at my sisters drinking tea, cofee and chatting about life, kids basically anything and evrything.
Another recipe for you to try, i'm sorry i don't have pictures daft phone decided to run out of battery.
Sausage and stuffing plait.
1 large onion (thinly sliced and diced) (10p)
4 cloves of crushed garlic (optional) (20p)
1 pack of basic sausage meat (494grams) (£1.45)
1 pack of puff pastry (£1.00)
1 pack of basic sage and onion stuffing (15p)
Fry onion and garlic till cooked and place into a bowl.
Mix the dried stuffing with the onions
Mix the above with the sausage meat.
Roll out pastry into a rectangle shape.
Fill the middle of the pastry with the meat mix, then fold pastry over into a sausage roll shape.
Place onto a greased baking tray and cook till pastry is brown, about 25 mins.
Serve hot or cold.
The above did us two meals with extras for the boys.
The first meal we had it had it with was veg, mash and gravy for one meal.
The second meals was sausage plait with chips and beans.
The plait can also be frozen and eaten cold, so very flexible meal.
Till tomorrow
Kez x
Tuesday, 15 January 2013
Macaroni Cheese
Oh what a freezing cold day, we've snow, sleet, rain and now ice, the view is so lovely. Everywhere is a lovely shade of white, absolutely beautiful.
Looked in the fridge and found a jug full of cooked pasta and i thought its to cold for pasta salad so pasta bake it is.
This makes a meal for four people.
Macaroni cheese
500g of dried pasta
2 tablespoons of butter
2 heaped tablespoons of plain flour
1 pint of milk
50g of strong mature cheddar
1 tablespoon of mustard
1 tomato sliced (optional)
Melt butter in a pan
Carry on stirring till smooth and creamy.
Add cheese and stir till melted, stir in mustard.
Place cooked pasta into a dish and lay the cheese sauce over it, till pasta is all covered.
I added sliced tomatoes to the top and a sprinkling of cheese
and plae in oven on gas mark 4 or 180 degrees in an electric oven
Now as i'm to cheap to but macaroni pasta i just use what i have.
500g sainsburys basic pasta 39p
1 pint of milk 25p (taken from 2l milk container £1 tesco milk)
50g cheese 43p (taken from 350g cheese pack £2.98)
2tbsp plain flour 3p (from 1kilo bag 45p)
mustard 6p(jar was 45p)
tomato 10p
So the price i think is £1.26 in total give or take and works out about 32p each.
We sometimes serve this with home made bread and salad if we have less leftover pasta.
The sauce should last a few days in the fridge and freezes well.
Till tomorrow
Kez
Monday, 14 January 2013
Bacon and mushroom risotto
Hello everyone,
Just had to share this lovely recipe which all my children enjoy.
Now i made this with the cheapest possible ingredients and everyone loves it.
I stopped buying arborio rice as it is just too expensive. It works well and can be served as a main dish or as a side.But best thing of all its less than a £1 :)
25g (cooking bacon sainsburys 950g basic value)
300g Tesco Long Grain Rice (40p per kilo)
2 chicken stock cubes ( 8 cubes for 10p sainsburys basics)
water (paid for courtesy of northumbrian water)
2 garlic cloves (from 20p head of garlic)
black pepper (1p)
mushrooms ( from a pack priced at 95p)
cheese (about 35p)
onion (from a bag of 10kg priced at £2.50)
Bacon and mushroom risotto
one large onion chopped and finely sliced.
2 rashers of smoked bacon (chopped into slices)
2 garlic cloves (crushed)
1/4 pack of mushrooms sliced
300g of long grain rice
1litre of stock (i used chicken)
1 tbsp of black pepper
30 grams of strong cheddar cheese
Fry onions and garlic till soft
Add bacon and mushrooms and fry till cooked
Place the above mixture into a bowl.
With the remaining oil in the pan add the rice and stir till fully coated in oil
Then add the stock bit by bit till fully absorbed.
If the rice isn't cooked just add more water till it it.
Add the cheese and fully stir into the risotto.
Add the onion mixture to the risotto and stir till fully warmed.
Once cooked and heated serve straight away.
I sometimes serve this salad and homemade bread.
This time we just had it warmed up home made bread.
I think in total the risotto and loaf cost about 98p in total. It made enough for 2 grown men and 2 bottomless pits and me and they went back for thirds.
Hope you all like it x
Just had to share this lovely recipe which all my children enjoy.
Now i made this with the cheapest possible ingredients and everyone loves it.
I stopped buying arborio rice as it is just too expensive. It works well and can be served as a main dish or as a side.But best thing of all its less than a £1 :)
25g (cooking bacon sainsburys 950g basic value)
300g Tesco Long Grain Rice (40p per kilo)
2 chicken stock cubes ( 8 cubes for 10p sainsburys basics)
water (paid for courtesy of northumbrian water)
2 garlic cloves (from 20p head of garlic)
black pepper (1p)
mushrooms ( from a pack priced at 95p)
cheese (about 35p)
onion (from a bag of 10kg priced at £2.50)
Bacon and mushroom risotto
one large onion chopped and finely sliced.
2 rashers of smoked bacon (chopped into slices)
2 garlic cloves (crushed)
1/4 pack of mushrooms sliced
300g of long grain rice
1litre of stock (i used chicken)
1 tbsp of black pepper
30 grams of strong cheddar cheese
Fry onions and garlic till soft
Add bacon and mushrooms and fry till cooked
Place the above mixture into a bowl.
With the remaining oil in the pan add the rice and stir till fully coated in oil
Then add the stock bit by bit till fully absorbed.
If the rice isn't cooked just add more water till it it.
Add the cheese and fully stir into the risotto.
Add the onion mixture to the risotto and stir till fully warmed.
Once cooked and heated serve straight away.
I sometimes serve this salad and homemade bread.
This time we just had it warmed up home made bread.
I think in total the risotto and loaf cost about 98p in total. It made enough for 2 grown men and 2 bottomless pits and me and they went back for thirds.
Hope you all like it x
Friday, 11 January 2013
No Spend Days
Hi everyone,
We today definitely hasn't been a spend free day, had to go shopping yet again. My partner took us over to supermarket and pet store for things. I swear our third can cat smell fresh cat litter from a mile away.
Honestly my partner and i were shocked at how much the prices of general has gone up.
We looked at the reduced food and even that was expensive. Raspberries reduced by 10p, ridiculous. No wonder there is so much waste when the supermarkets don;'t reduce food by much.
One good thing happened, my partner now agrees with me that the local halal offer better quality meat that the supermarkets do and at very reasonable prices. But he did say that we would have to find a good butcher just for pork, what an i say he likes his bacon and sausages!!
No Spend Days or a NSD
What is a no spend day? I hear you ask, well this is where you actively don't spend any money at all. To help me this i joined in a challenge on MSE as i find it helps me to focus when its down on paper or the net in this case.
They are no hard and fast rules and can choose what counts as a spend free day.Every person is an individual and so are they budgets.
The way i plan a no spend day is by making sure i don't so any unplanned spending.
For example:
Its the 11th of January and so far we have jointly achieved 8 days of no fiscal / monetary spending at all. Instead we had 3 days , one planned and two unplanned. Which i think is pretty good.
I like the idea as it makes me think about my spending in a different way.
Maybe you could try a no spend day and see how it works for you :)
See you tomorrow
kez x
We today definitely hasn't been a spend free day, had to go shopping yet again. My partner took us over to supermarket and pet store for things. I swear our third can cat smell fresh cat litter from a mile away.
Honestly my partner and i were shocked at how much the prices of general has gone up.
We looked at the reduced food and even that was expensive. Raspberries reduced by 10p, ridiculous. No wonder there is so much waste when the supermarkets don;'t reduce food by much.
One good thing happened, my partner now agrees with me that the local halal offer better quality meat that the supermarkets do and at very reasonable prices. But he did say that we would have to find a good butcher just for pork, what an i say he likes his bacon and sausages!!
No Spend Days or a NSD
What is a no spend day? I hear you ask, well this is where you actively don't spend any money at all. To help me this i joined in a challenge on MSE as i find it helps me to focus when its down on paper or the net in this case.
They are no hard and fast rules and can choose what counts as a spend free day.Every person is an individual and so are they budgets.
The way i plan a no spend day is by making sure i don't so any unplanned spending.
For example:
- I don't count Direct Debits - i have no control of these.
- I don't interest payments or bill days - again i have no control of them
- I don't count overpayments to credit cards as i'm actively trying to clear debt
- Buying items from the corner shop such as sweets, milk, daft things
- Buying clothing which is not needed
- Getting the van fixed, again :(
- Paying for school meals
- Paying for large for groceries
- Paying for meals out
- Basically anything other than bills
Its the 11th of January and so far we have jointly achieved 8 days of no fiscal / monetary spending at all. Instead we had 3 days , one planned and two unplanned. Which i think is pretty good.
I like the idea as it makes me think about my spending in a different way.
Maybe you could try a no spend day and see how it works for you :)
See you tomorrow
kez x
Tuesday, 8 January 2013
Paying off debt whilst having gadgets
I as recently reading an hearing people complain about others having technology i.e ipad's, tv's, whilst saying they have no money.It got me thinking as this is my family right now. As you all know this month in the madhouse will be very tight and monetatry wise they is nothing to spare.
So i thought i would share our reasoning behind having tablets, pc's and consoles whilst maintaining a steady pace of removing debt and living within our means.
I also wrote something very similar on a forum i visited earlier.
I think having the latest gadgets and using techology such as ipads, tablets, smart phones, tv's etc is fine as long as your not getting into debt to get them. I know its sounds silly but hear me out.
My partner and two children are obsessed with gadgets and they love mucking around with computers and playing on games.To be honest i like them to but not to the same degree. My partner decided that he wanted to have internet upstairs, so he re-routed cables so now if we wanted to we could effectively have the internet anywhere in the house.
For instance my eldest son is 12 years old so he's a typical teenage boy, the moods, humor, the lot. He has a pc and a Xbox 360 in his room. We decided when he when 10 years old he could a desktop pc in his bedroom, this was the first electrical item in his room. We decided we would allow him to have these for both his homework and entertainment. The Xbox he chats to his friends through, as he rarely leaves the house and suffered form bullying when he was younger. He's not a fighter and prefers to walk away, unfortunately this affected his confidence so even now he still gets bullied. Except now they older kids with weapons. So for me personally i'd rather him socialise with people who he likes and he feels safe at the same time. Its funny because you can hear him laughing his head off and he puts mates on loud speaker, so sometimes they's four of them all shouting and laughing at the same time!
My youngest son is 8 years old, he only has a radio in his room as we still think he is to young.
Instead in the living room he has a wii and lots of games, before we got it he struggled to play with other children. But since he started playing on the wii it has really helped his communication skills. He now is able to have a conversation with another child, which is so amazing and such a dramatic change. To go from from barely stringing two words together to having a full conversation. This year for christmas we decided to get him a tablet, he asked santa for an ipad, but they are just too expensive so went for an unbranded one off ebay. The tablet itself helps to calm him down and gives him something to focus on when were out and there's too much going on around him. Also we thought it would assist him with spelling and homework. To be honest it really has helped bring him and the tablet also has a physical keyboard he uses with it too, so it is very multifunctional.
A bit about us myself and my partner do not smoke, we very rarely drink alcohol. At christmas we bought two bottles of white wine and we stilll have one left.We try and go on very cheap uk based holidays and we budget for them accordingly. We both cook from scratch when we can, take our children to the great outdoors and visit lots of historical sites.
We have a landline and broadband, BUT we don't have any channels including the bog standard terrestrial ones. If we want to watch anything we use 4OD, itv player and bbc iplayer. this is our own personal choice, so whilst we have technology we also mix it with the traditional. To be honest we don't really watch that much tv, and don't watch soaps instead we prefer drams, documentaries and films. Before we made the decision not have sky we used to sit and veg out in front of the tv, our life was dominated by the tv guide and soaps. We also craft, make things such as benches, garden, go camping and we have a house full of books, toys and board games. When my children's friends come round they ask how to play connect 4 as they have never seen them before. Some of these children are 13 years old!
Recently we bought a new 40" flat screen tv for £250in the sales, it has freeview on it but we haven't tuned it in as we don not have an aerial. It is essentially a monitor so we can watch dvd's and play games on. Before that we had a 20 yr old tv that died a death just before christmas 2012, it had been going for a while but i refused to buy a . I wanted a smaller one but all the 20" inch tv's were than £250!!!!
We have mobile phones for business and personal but getting a contract was cheaper for us than PAYG.
This year all of our christmas presents were budgeted for and we never spent extra on credit cards. I had about £200 worth of vouchers / money which i earned from completing surveys. We used them to pay for games and gifts off amazon and ebay. The rest we paid from our cash budget. My partner was shocked that the Halo 4 game was £39.99, i bought ours off amazon using vouchers, in the end it was free.
My youngest wanted wii Lego batman 2 for christmas, priced at £25, i got it for £5 from argos. Using a mixture of nectar points and survey vouchers.
So really it does depend on your lifestyle, we don't buy designer labels, we sell / buy on ebay and hunt around charity shops for our clothes.
Right now were skint, our finances are poor, but that's not because of christmas, its through mismanagement and losing money.T he last three years of my life have been a complete turn around, we went from withdrawing cash from credit cards to pay for childcare and rent. To now , personally anyway, we have consolidated our cc debt onto two cards. I have probably paid over £6k or more worth of debt off on a very tight budget. Still have another £4k worth of debt on cc's but still it is slowly being paid off.
What i'm trying to say just because people have ipads/ tablets doesn't mean they haven't budgeted accordingly. It could be they are doing from an educational / social point of view. Or they could have saved up for the item, and thought right we have saved £200 up, dads gave us £50 for christmas,shall we treat ourselves. Its the end of the year and you know the coming year is going to be hard and you so you think yes. Lets go buy the tv so we know if the weather is rubbish and we haven't got any money to have a day out. Instead we'll make some home made pizza's, juice and home made popcorn and have a film day / night.
Its fun and everyone enjoys it, that way you don't feel deprived and you can have a good time without spending a penny!
So for us in our household its all about consciously deciding what to buy.
I hope what i've written makes sense and can give you an idea of how you can live simply whilst having things you want.
kez x
So i thought i would share our reasoning behind having tablets, pc's and consoles whilst maintaining a steady pace of removing debt and living within our means.
I also wrote something very similar on a forum i visited earlier.
I think having the latest gadgets and using techology such as ipads, tablets, smart phones, tv's etc is fine as long as your not getting into debt to get them. I know its sounds silly but hear me out.
My partner and two children are obsessed with gadgets and they love mucking around with computers and playing on games.To be honest i like them to but not to the same degree. My partner decided that he wanted to have internet upstairs, so he re-routed cables so now if we wanted to we could effectively have the internet anywhere in the house.
For instance my eldest son is 12 years old so he's a typical teenage boy, the moods, humor, the lot. He has a pc and a Xbox 360 in his room. We decided when he when 10 years old he could a desktop pc in his bedroom, this was the first electrical item in his room. We decided we would allow him to have these for both his homework and entertainment. The Xbox he chats to his friends through, as he rarely leaves the house and suffered form bullying when he was younger. He's not a fighter and prefers to walk away, unfortunately this affected his confidence so even now he still gets bullied. Except now they older kids with weapons. So for me personally i'd rather him socialise with people who he likes and he feels safe at the same time. Its funny because you can hear him laughing his head off and he puts mates on loud speaker, so sometimes they's four of them all shouting and laughing at the same time!
My youngest son is 8 years old, he only has a radio in his room as we still think he is to young.
Instead in the living room he has a wii and lots of games, before we got it he struggled to play with other children. But since he started playing on the wii it has really helped his communication skills. He now is able to have a conversation with another child, which is so amazing and such a dramatic change. To go from from barely stringing two words together to having a full conversation. This year for christmas we decided to get him a tablet, he asked santa for an ipad, but they are just too expensive so went for an unbranded one off ebay. The tablet itself helps to calm him down and gives him something to focus on when were out and there's too much going on around him. Also we thought it would assist him with spelling and homework. To be honest it really has helped bring him and the tablet also has a physical keyboard he uses with it too, so it is very multifunctional.
A bit about us myself and my partner do not smoke, we very rarely drink alcohol. At christmas we bought two bottles of white wine and we stilll have one left.We try and go on very cheap uk based holidays and we budget for them accordingly. We both cook from scratch when we can, take our children to the great outdoors and visit lots of historical sites.
We have a landline and broadband, BUT we don't have any channels including the bog standard terrestrial ones. If we want to watch anything we use 4OD, itv player and bbc iplayer. this is our own personal choice, so whilst we have technology we also mix it with the traditional. To be honest we don't really watch that much tv, and don't watch soaps instead we prefer drams, documentaries and films. Before we made the decision not have sky we used to sit and veg out in front of the tv, our life was dominated by the tv guide and soaps. We also craft, make things such as benches, garden, go camping and we have a house full of books, toys and board games. When my children's friends come round they ask how to play connect 4 as they have never seen them before. Some of these children are 13 years old!
Recently we bought a new 40" flat screen tv for £250in the sales, it has freeview on it but we haven't tuned it in as we don not have an aerial. It is essentially a monitor so we can watch dvd's and play games on. Before that we had a 20 yr old tv that died a death just before christmas 2012, it had been going for a while but i refused to buy a . I wanted a smaller one but all the 20" inch tv's were than £250!!!!
We have mobile phones for business and personal but getting a contract was cheaper for us than PAYG.
This year all of our christmas presents were budgeted for and we never spent extra on credit cards. I had about £200 worth of vouchers / money which i earned from completing surveys. We used them to pay for games and gifts off amazon and ebay. The rest we paid from our cash budget. My partner was shocked that the Halo 4 game was £39.99, i bought ours off amazon using vouchers, in the end it was free.
My youngest wanted wii Lego batman 2 for christmas, priced at £25, i got it for £5 from argos. Using a mixture of nectar points and survey vouchers.
So really it does depend on your lifestyle, we don't buy designer labels, we sell / buy on ebay and hunt around charity shops for our clothes.
Right now were skint, our finances are poor, but that's not because of christmas, its through mismanagement and losing money.T he last three years of my life have been a complete turn around, we went from withdrawing cash from credit cards to pay for childcare and rent. To now , personally anyway, we have consolidated our cc debt onto two cards. I have probably paid over £6k or more worth of debt off on a very tight budget. Still have another £4k worth of debt on cc's but still it is slowly being paid off.
What i'm trying to say just because people have ipads/ tablets doesn't mean they haven't budgeted accordingly. It could be they are doing from an educational / social point of view. Or they could have saved up for the item, and thought right we have saved £200 up, dads gave us £50 for christmas,shall we treat ourselves. Its the end of the year and you know the coming year is going to be hard and you so you think yes. Lets go buy the tv so we know if the weather is rubbish and we haven't got any money to have a day out. Instead we'll make some home made pizza's, juice and home made popcorn and have a film day / night.
Its fun and everyone enjoys it, that way you don't feel deprived and you can have a good time without spending a penny!
So for us in our household its all about consciously deciding what to buy.
I hope what i've written makes sense and can give you an idea of how you can live simply whilst having things you want.
kez x
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