We aint no April Frugalling Fools.. There may be Showers ahead, but we'll sail through together ...

[Laska42]

Heres a new thread for the April Frugaleers!

Spring has arrived and summer is a-coming..

Good luck everyone trying to save money, There's lots of good support here..

£5 off £40 in the telegraph, mail and sun on Saturday for lidl though.

There's money off aldi food on topcashbacks snap'n'save. It becomes payable really quickly and is worth more as clubcard vouchers if you use clubcard boost.

Me too I only want the £5 voucher.

For aldi that is.
Might try lidl instead then.
Thanks will look out for gardeners world tomorrow then

£50ish Asda delivery, spent the morning cooking up a storm (batch cooking for my return to work). The sort of meals I batch cook seem to be more costly than opening the fridge/freezer and seeing what I can cobble together....plus will also be coupled with quick/convenience foods that are also pricey (ie pizza, waffles etc).

Any ideas for quick, easy, cheap meals that can be rustled up? Am thinking of putting in jacket spuds in with my sunday roast to be warmed up on Mondays? Or plating up extra dinners of the roast for the dcs.. That would cover 1 day out of the 5 at least. The kids are on school dinners but ds in particular still wants/needs/eats a full dinner and he is a skinny rake, so I can't get away with giving him a sarnie as he has had school dinners.

10p found on the floor....

pass

My quick meal is sausage casserole:

fry diced onions, sliced sausages (and 1 -2 sliced red/yellow peppers and 2 cloves garlic if liked) in oil until onions are soft and sausage pieces are browned, add 2 X tins tomatoes, 2 x tins of beans (I use kidney and butter beans, or butter beans and baked beans!), 1-2 handfuls of frozen sweetcorn and simmer for 10-15 mins. Serve with jacket spuds or crusty bread.

I also add paprika and chili flakes at the end of the frying stage sometimes, but not if I am cooking for my nephews (4 and 6) who don't like it spicy! They gobble it otherwise though.

You can add chopped carrot too if you are willing to cook it for longer to bulk it out.

Thanks peonies, should've mentioned I have been cooking lasagne and sausage casserole to freeze! Will also be doing enchiladas, bolognaise sauce, chicken curry. I can't eat beef, kids won't eat enchiladas/casseroles and dp gets bored easily. Fab eh. Think as it gets warmer I'll fill freezer up with cooked meats/salad and we can have picky plates with part cook rolls?

haha!

Hmm... my next go to meal would be risotto, it is quite quick - my nephews like it quite simple, made with a fried onion, some garlic and then add rice, stock etc as normal and near the end add frozen peas and broad beans, top with cheese? It freezes well as long as you defrost slowly (i.e. don't do what I did last week and blast it in a pan in a rush or it will dissolve...)

This also works so well with finely diced leeks sweated in butter then add rice, dried thyme and stock, I top with toasted seeds or chestnuts. But less kid friendly ime.

or fritatta, if they like eggs, I use pre-boiled carrots, spuds, raw sliced pepper, tomato, pre-cooked broccoli, sliced onion and garlic, pour over beaten egg with a bit of milk in it and oven for 30-40 mins. I serve with salad.

OR we have a meal we call "crudites" which is slices of ham, cheese, sticks of carrot, celery, pepper, radishes, cucumber, crackers or bread and hummus, olive tapenade all set out and people help themselves.

Takes 10 mins to put out. If there's a warm element e.g. saus rolls/quiche people totally think it's a real meal...

We have fresh stuffed pasta. Not v cheap but super quick. Agree re risotto in the oven. Quesadillas with left over roast chicken shredded, fresh salsa and cheese mmm. Use some of your frozen bolognaise add some taco seasoning and put on nachos with cheese.

£11 on 3 boxes of nude tights for work. I don't care what the S & B mavens say, I ain't going bare-legged to work and it's too sunny for black right now!

I am currently sat waiting for my driving instructor who is 27 mins late. Grrr. I have to be home again by 4.30 as have someone coming round, so he's the loser in the end as he'll only get paid for one hour.

£2.20 on parking for work, will claim back.

£4 to the breakfast club.

Came home to a lovely cheque from the pet insurance people!! £46 - thank you very much Argos

Tomos am planning to get some money by converting 40 euros into £, it has been sat in a jar doing nothing and sadly don't think I will be going abroad for a while.

Will take some skirts back to Sainsburys which will be £10 in.

Will take some clothes that my dad bought for dd back to Tescos, no receipt so guessing they will give me a voucher or something. Think that is £20 ish.

And will pay my cheque in plus going to ring B.T and water people. Slightly nervous about getting a water metre but can't believe it will be anymore than I am currently paying.

Thankyou for phone/broadband suggestions, Southern Electric looks good so may try them.

NSD.

I think you can revert to water rates in the first 12 months if it's more expensive. Worth checking though.

got a bill from Inland Revenue for £246, rang them, they admitted it was wrong but won't do anything until July!!!!! What is wrong with this country, I was on the phone for 37 mins waiting and then was told yes, we can see that's wrong but I am not authorised to change it, you will have to wait until your P11 form comes in in July then we will sort it.

In the mean time I have a letter which says if I don't pay they will set debt collectors on me and it will affect my pension contributions! Bastards!

16.25 in Boots as we had run out of shower gel and shampoo
4x shower gel, for £1 each , head and shoulders 2 big ones for £7 (for Dh who only uses that) nailpolish remover pads(totakeon hols) and conditioner for me. That should last us for a while
£36 in pets at home on cat food ! 4boxes of X40 Whiskas (they had it on offer and couldnt find it anywhere else cheaper butthought id stock up )
£20 cash out.

I am well over this month but then this should do us for a while on stuff we need.

This is the first month since ive been doing this that ive gone over budget , but DS moving didnt help..

Still six days until pay day .. but looking on the bright side i used to often be up to my OD limit and I can pay it back next month as am working the election (that pays over £200 for the one - very long - day, usually its more but its an overnight count this year so I cant do it and run a poll station also .. Poo )

peonies Yup Bastards they get it all their own way ..

Would it be better to pay it and get it refunded in July?.

I didn't pass the waitrose online test?! Wth?! How embarrassing apparently they don't like me

They don't want me either. It's a waitrose black spot here.

£8 on fish supper. I did a chicken dinner that was vile. Worst meal I've ever served.

No idea what went wrong really.

Oh no fluffy! I've had that happen before with dinner. Hmm glad it's not just me

What wait rose online test?!!

It's to make sure you're good enough for them. Apparently I'm not

Today £10.20 for parking and an unknown amount on my
Oyster card, but all to reclaim from work.

I found a frugal breakfast whilst out this morning. I was going to order a hot chocolate to kill some time at the station on my way to a client meeting. In Cornish pasty Co, a hot chocolate (£2.90) and Bacon roll (£2.95) is £3 for breakfast.

£5ish for lunch in Waitrose as I was passing between meetings.

£3.70 for 2 jars of curry sauce for dinner, only used one.

£158 shopping in Lidl, but that included a fax (normally £180 sold for £60) plus a £15 dog grooming kit. It has been nearly 2 weeks since I last shopped, but still need lacto free milk, and a few more bits.

Quesidellas is a fab idea for the kids, they can even prep themselves, thanks

fluffy what did you cook?

Saw someone about a will today as ours was written by someone with questionable repute...rewriting it and doing everything he suggests will be pricey

£9.70 travel.
£2.30 Greggs lunch.
84p on milk.

£20 Next card, £18.something Select and £14 . something Primark.

I've also cooked a disastrous dinner, not tonight, that even the dog walked away from.

NSD today and yesterday. Tomorrow I'm paying half the amount for Pilates, so £30, and will spend a little in the afternoon taking DD1 and BFF to the shopping mall. They'll have their own money to spend.

I want to do the Waitrose test just to see if I'm up to standard cheeky buggers.

Didn't see that Pass it's annoying but worth getting it done properly, IMO.