Stampeding through a sensible, scrimping September!

[PeoniesforMissAnnersley]

Thought I'd do the honours

With kids back at school and autumn weather drawing in we all need a very sensible September. I'm putting up my thermal curtains and refusing to put on the heating until October. Who's in?

Today and tomo will be NSD, last night I also bought ds three babygrows on Littlewoods last night so after making a payment against the account the balance is now €5 more than it was at start of this week [shocked]

HI Mojito, here's mine - I alter it depending on what I have in, but I usually have the sausages, some sort of bacon/chorizo, tins of tomato, and beans. I've used baked beans before too and it was fine! :)

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1940681/sausage-and-bean-casserole-

£10 on a deposit for staff Christmas meal and £3.20 on travel.

NSD.

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Free £3 from paypal. I hope.

£30 on petrol, £30 cash taken out. £20 for various school and parking fees over the next few days. £10 to hold on to in case of emergencies.

So sticking to budget today. NSD on anything that wasn't already on the budget.

My sausages casserole is 12pk aldi cheap sausages cut each one into 4 n marinate in bbq sauce( we just use squirty aldi one n about 1/4 bottle). Fry off sausages n veg we have onions mushroom carrots peas n have used frozen veg in past, few squirts ketchup n 3/4 pint stock n simmer for an hr. We serve with mash n then the leftovers are frozen n then defrosted another time n bunged in casserole dish with some par boiled potatoes or even tinned potatoes n popped in oven for 30mins with some garlic bread. We can generally get 6 adult portions n 3 toddler portions from one initial batch.

Other cheap meals are baguettes n hm wedges or frozen chips, the 2pk par baked baguettes are less than 50p most places n we have half of one, generally with sausages n onions, frying steak with onions n mushrooms, prawns n salad, bbq chicken (you need v little filling per one) - is a quick dinner on a work day.

Sometimes we have eve full English brekkie as well as that's as cheap as you want to make it.

Salad is always a cheap dinner

Hm soup with nice bread.

Hello everyone a NSD here

(not counting a £92 direct debit)

£27.98 today.

£24.48 in Aldi. Food, cat food and a pompom throw.

£3.50 as the bin cleaners came today.

Doing chorizo pasta tomorrow night and have forgotten to buy red wine today so will need that tomorrow. May pop to asda and buy the few "branded" things that I buy.

I also have another list for stationary. Like I didn't already spend enough. Dd now needs a file with dividers, a stapler and some kind of pens. These gcse years are expensive.

Nsd.

I do tuna, pasta with spring onions and cheese plus other meals mentioned

£46 at the supermarket, I had a £15 voucher

WireCat the gcse years are so expensive! They are always coming home with lists of stuff. DD has just finished year 13 and it cost me a fortune over the years. What I would say is that if you buy say a pack of dividers and DD only uses a few, store the rest away as they are bound to be needed at another date. It is so easy for the leftovers to get lost and then you have to buy it all again next year.

£10.50 on a new mattress protector.

Tomato sauce recipe
For approx 8 portions
Around 1 kg meat (like eg www.tesco.com/groceries/product/details/?id=252136897 or www.tesco.com/groceries/product/details/?id=285116427 or www.tesco.com/groceries/product/details/?id=253281181) I always buy the big pieces that is in weird shapes because they are cheaper and I always cut them myself in pieces.
3 tomato passata
3 tins chopped tomatos
1-2 tins tomato pure (depending on how strong flavour you want)
Onion
Garlic
Chili (whole)
bay leafes
Sparkling water

Cut the meat in pieces (I always cut in different and rough pieces, mainly because it goes faster ;) )
Fry the meat on a pan with some oil, salt and pepper (my pan is not big enough for all meat so I do it over a couple of times and then keep my pot next to the pan to move the meat over, always keep the meat sauce to put in the pot)
After all the meat has been fried and added to the pot (I use a soup pot) I add all the rest. I do not like to chew on onions, so I add whole onions that I take up after. I also keep the chillies and garlic whole and take them up after.
I add roughly from the beginning ½ liter of sparkling water and in total use around 1 liter.
Then the sauce have to boil up and then down to the lowest heat for around 8 hours and I stir approx once every ½ hour.

Spent 30 pounds today on a new winter jacket for me and 2 pounds on 3 bodies for DD to have under night clothes.

NSD! Frugal things - have made and frozen in portions enough zero points soup for lunch for the next 2 weeks; a quick shower rather than a bath re-negotiated buildings and contents saving £40 across the year.

Eggs on toast, beans on toast, freezer fodder (fish fingers, chips, peas etc) always feature a couple of times a week here - cheap and very quick.

I made cottage pie using a small packet of turkey mince tonight (£1.79 for 450g from Aldi) bulked out with onion, grated carrot, mushrooms and green beans. It was delicious! And there is a lot left for tomorrow.

NSD too! We do stir fried rice quite frequently. Partly coz I'm Chinese and so eat lots of rice. But it's cheap too. I use frozen veg (carrot, peas, corn), one garlic, and day old cooked rice. Oh and an egg or 2. Bit of soy sauce and some sesame oil. Sorted.

FINALLY a NSD. I was beginning to think I'd never manage one.

Frugal win too. We had chicken a couple of days ago and there was quite a lot left. I stripped it down adn froze the meat then decided to boil and simmer it to see what i got. There was enough stock and meat still on it to make chicken and lentil soup tonight. Normally I'd have just thrown it out so it was worthwhile.

Going to try for another NSD tomorrow but may fail as I think we need some more milk

I've done my meal plan for the week and made a shopping list as well. Its remarkably short as we I have nearly everything i need already:

2 tins of tomatoes
1 packet of porridge oats
4 pints of milk
apples
bannanas
satsumas
loaf of bread
onions

And that's it and should not need topping up again until next Tuesday (except the bread and milk). now all I have to do is stick to it :(

Hi I have been distracted by RL stuff, but I am back ...
I have name changed from AmessagetoyouRudie...
Kids back at school, I am at work now, hoped to have a no spend day today, spent £7.22 in Jack Fultons, but did 5 hours overtime, so happy days! Only spent that because I couldn't get to my food shop today. Hopefully tomorrow if they don't ring me to work again
40 pound food shop (for the week for 5, including pack up for 2)
10 pound petrol. no other spends :)

Glad to see all the NSDs happening. We've spent £32 on car repairs but nothing else. After a quite unfrugal time last week I've been in full frugal mode today. I've made some soup using up some takeaway curry leftovers, will use some for lunches this week and freeze some. Also made some roasted veg couscous, again for lunches. Finally I've done some oven dried tomatoes with some of my mums tomato glut, yum and made stock from last nights roast chicken carcass.
Have just done some projections for our finances to the end of this year and it's looking good for being debt free by 2016 which feels great, I feel like there's light at the end of the tunnel, even if it is still quite a way off

timburgessiloveyoursmile fabulous name! I also love him. Follow him on twitter and her has occasionally replied to me. dies

£4.60 on school dinners for today and tomos and £16 to the after school club for two sessions.

Have decided that will just eat the food we have and not buy any extras apart from milk, bread and a couple of bits of fruit and veg. Until my tax credits go in next week have no money other than the over draft not sure how it got so bad but think things like a wend break in August and a few bigger than expected bills haven't helped plus had to pay £100 to stay registered as a nurse.

Tomos should be a NSD.

My saus casserole recipe:

8 sausages - sliced
1 large onion - diced fine
2 peppers diced (I use one green, 1 red)
3-4 cloves garlic - crushed
2 carrots - diced
2 sticks celery - diced or grated as liked
2 cans tomatoes
2 cans of any type of beans
1 cup frozen sweetcorn
2-3 tsp paprika - I used 2 smoked 1 ordinary for a smoky bacony taste
1 tsp mild chilli powder

Fry sausages off until brown + set aside.
Sweat onion and peppers for 5-10 mins, add garlic carrot and celery and sweat over a gentle heat until beginning to soften. Add sausages back in and stir in spices, let them toast without burning.
Add tomatoes, beans, sweetcorn, stir well and simmer for 10-15 mins until sauce is beginning to thicken and turn jammy. If it's too dry you can add veg stock to let it down.
I have added a cup of red lentils and cup of extra liquid to this and it bulked it out even more, and was yummy.

Should be nsd today as I'm off to work.

Hopefully a nsd today and tomorrow. Need to get some autumn work clothes and shoes and sadly something for an funeral on Saturday. Unbudgetted spends for sat. Hey ho.