an Ostentatiously Austere October...join here for a frugal month ahead!

[PeoniesforMissAnnersley]

All welcome to join the MN frugaleers for another month of recording our spends, frugal wins and frugal fails!

NSD = No Spend Day (let's have as many as possible!)

LSD = Low Spend Day

listsandbudgests my 2x CM payment is usually in July and is always extremely welcome.

I am very determined to make the most of October, I have to.

My eBay items already listed look like they are going to cover DD's school fund payment, at a rough estimate and I must list more stuff tomorrow in order not to miss out on my remaining free listings for September. Children's items are easier and faster to list than adult's items, so I did those first.

Bluecarrot I shall join you in the £200 food budget challenge.

I shall try and get everything in one weekly shop and try and avoid top ups, except fresh bread. Top ups are my budget downfall, as I usually see offers and other things that we might like, and it adds up.

For us it works best to do a mixture between Homebargains and Morrison's, although DD likes Lidl, as it's a more interesting shop. I have to find out if Morrison's still do this weekly voucher thing where you get £10 credited at the end of the month.

Just under £60 spent between supermarket, stationary shop, roads, parking and, erm, Starbucks

Will cacth up properly tomorrow, been out all day.

Ohhelp what's the programme called? Sounds interesting.

Meal plan for week:

Tonight was meatballs, pasta & garlic bread
Tuesday: pork chops, corn, chips & peppercorn sauce
Wednesday: chicken fajita & salad
Thursday: lasagne, salad & garlic bread
Friday: chicken curry & rice
Saturday: omelettes
Sunday: pizza & pasta

Also going to make a big pot of soup for us to snack on.

What's everyone cooking this week?

Our meals are unhealthy this week so I will post next week

I don't think I could do a store cupboard challenge I don't have anything! I'm having to buy tins and packets especially for dd's harvest festival too.

Meal plan
Tuesday chicken with veggies and whole-wheat rice
Wednesday salmon with potatoes and fresh salad
Thursday homemade Italian tomato sauce and homemade pasta
Friday tomato sauce made to chili con carne
Weekend not planned yet

Meal-wise we're having:

Tonight - homemade jerk chicken (jerk mushrooms and peppers for me) with rice and kidney beans

Tomorrow - homemade veggie curry and brown rice

Thursday - stuffed peppers with couscous, cheese and salad

Friday - something and homemade chips (I'll probs have portobello mushroom with garlic and DH will have meat)

ohhelp I saw that programme, I really enjoyed it. I was at the UK shop, it was all processed and sugary foods etc. Some of the diets looked so delicious with their fresh fruit and veg.

Made apple and cinnamon scones yesterday with raisins in, all store cupboard ingredients so cost nothing and they are yum, if a little bit flat.

My DM was staying this weekend and she made a vat of tomato and veg soup which I am eating for lunches, it's yum and was also made only out of veg we had lying around.

Turned into a spendy day yesterday as I got sucked into the xmas bargain thread. But it'll save me ££ in the end!

Am waiting to hear if I am eligible for NHS cash back from work private health care for recent hospital stay. The idiot dr who filled in my discharge summary got the days wrong so this time it's taking agggges - last time it took about 2 working days. Ironically I will use the cash to pay the excess on the policy, as it rolls over on 1st October and I have an appt on 3rd. He couldn't see me earlier, when it would have been free.

Another £14 today for ds1s Xmas trip.
Sigh.
It was £19 for photos last week.
And I need to get ds2 some veg for harvest on Friday.
He has to make an animal.....ideas!? :)

an animal out of veg?!

The Christmas thread is a nightmare!! In a good way

Spendy two days on dpony. Being shod £60. Lesson £10. Plus cost of box repair. That pony EATS my money but I love her.

Menu.

Tonight - chicken and chorizo stew.
Wednesday - cheap, so omelette or similar (cheap meal day)
Thursday - Bacon and Lentil casserole.
Friday - will be using a couple of Old El Paso (spelling?) packets that are in the cupboard and left over veg's.

Last night was spicy parsnip and carrot soup, which didn't work. Most of my cooking does go well as I love cooking but this was awful

The food section on MN is great actually. As is the MN cookbook. I have had to bake two lots of 'cakejack' already and it's been vamooshed.

Someone said about having teenagers upthread, agree, my left overs don't stretch as far these days. In fact, my shop doesn't.

badvoc how about a pig made from a potato with a slice of carrot for the snout, carrot matchsticks for legs and ears, and maybe some raisins for eyes.

Everyone's meal plans this week sound yummy.

I locked my Christmas savings into a 30 day notice account so won't be released until mid Oct - missing out on some bargains I'd say but there'll be plenty more to be hand in November - stopped me spending it on other stuff anyhow!

This week's menu - I got a €20 deal in butchers, which is 1 chicken, a roast of beef, 1lb beef mince, 1lb beef stew, 2 pork chops, 2 chicken fillets, and 2 chicken marylands. I also bought another chicken, a ham and and a piece of back bacon. I feel on top of my groceries when I've a good meat shop done!

Roasted a chicken and cooked a ham in slow cooker for sandwiches quiche omelettes etc at the weekend.

Sunday we'd roast beef dinner
Monday kids had eaten at childminders, dh had a tummy bug so I had carbonara with ham
Tues Chicken Maryland, Potatoes & Stirfry Veg
Wed Bacon, Cabbage and Mash for 3, Carbonara with Ham/Omelette for me
Thurs Bolognese
Fri Beef Stew
Sat something with Pork Chops for dh and chicken fillets for the rest of us
Then it starts all over again!

peonies is your recipe for apple and cinnamon scones yummy?

yummy but oddly flat they didn't rise very well. I think it's because I twisted the cutter (been researching). I just used this one, with a small eating apple grated into it, a teaspoon of cinnamon and a handful of raisins. I should have added more raisins.

www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/scones_1285

I'd say add liquid cautiously as mine ended up waaay too wet to roll/knead, it was like glue

Cancelled Amazon subscriptions, too much hassle to manage them and they charge me one week before they actually ship them. Cancelled tastecard too as it is due to expire and I don't want to get charged for another year. Added 500MB on DD's phone extra as a concession to a hassle free life at a cost of £3 per month to avoid extra charges.

On balance, doing ok today.

Today was supposed to be nsd nut DD does not sleep well at night atm and I'm so knaccked so bought burger king 15£ on crap food but so needed.
My cousins wife gave birth yesterday so will need a birth gift, but that's happy money to spend

Pay day and benefit day, aiming to safe 1200£ this month meaning October month of course

This Christmas tread where can I find that?

I will catch up with everyone in a bit but wanted to post that I don't think I have got the hang of this no spend thing as I have spent again today.

£51 - petrol
90p parking to pick up DD's jumper she left on the bus. She will be paying that back though.
Tesco £10 on two frames plus about a fiver on lardons to go in the shepherd's pie I have just made, 2 hand washes, a can of coke as feeling faint as eaten nothing at that point and BOGOF ginger biscuit cakes for DH as a treat.

I didn't buy anything else food wise though - the lardons were to make the pie go further as the mince packs are smaller than they used to be - which is progress with me!

I spent £58 in Aldi this morning. That included using my vouchers. Maybe a couple of bottles of wine slipped in . Along with my Morrisons shop that should mean I don't need another big shop for a fortnight. Hope so anyway. Will need fruit, milk and bread top up at some point though.

I've got my mum staying for a week from Wednesday so another mouth to feed.

Here's my meal plan for this next week:

Tuesday: chickpea curry, rice
Wednesday: Roast chicken, lemon cous cous, salad
Thursday: beef stew with swede and potato mash, green beans and broccoli
Friday: pasta with chicken and cream cheese sauce
Saturday: celery and broccoli soup, bread and cheese
Sunday: roast beef, roast potatoes, peas, carrots, mashed swede, gravy
Monday: fish fingers, chips and beans

Cereal or porridge for breakfast. DCs are at school / nursery for lunch and I'm planning on sandwiches. dp always sorts himself out - luckily his job involves lots of lunch time meetings with sandwiches - frugal win

Peonies...ds1 has only just completed his model of the blue mosque
Now it's vegetable animals!
I feel quite put upon as a parent ATM :)

I like the potato pig idea!

badvoc could you do a vegetable pig but just the face and ears as though you were looking down on it? So a swede or cabbage for the face and then a round potato for each ear and then do a face with bits of carrot, something that will show up?

£14 in asda on top-up shop.

Thank you, Fluffy I have just used my Sainsbury's £20 off voucher, got lots of meat and fish on the 3 for 10 offer, spent £44 including delivery.

could someone please tell me, is gammon the same as ham?