Saving into summer!

[SnugglySnerd]

New frugal thread.

Made meatloaf for dinner and a second for the freezer, it is delicious so I am pretty chuffed to have another one.

Ditto lonely soooo hungry today! And sleepy, I just woke bleary eyed after napping on the sofa. Oops.

Bolognese from the freezer for dinner though, super excited as when we cooked a batch the other day it smelled amazing, I kept nabbing little spoonfuls. To check it wasn't burnt obviously.

I've never had meatloaf, what's it like?

It's like solid bolognase in some ways! I put bacon on the top and a tomato sauce.

Sorry lonely you already mentioned cuda! What's the difference between the cuda and the claud butler? The cuda is 2kg lighter.

Christmas we've been having the same problem. What has worked is taking shortcuts eg buying bags of mixed salad, frozen peppers/butternut squash etc and ready grated cheese. Pre-twins I wouldn't have dreamt of buying such things but I reckon it's still better than convenience foods all the time.

We also batch cook. Two of our favourites are both from the Jamie Oliver family superfoods book: the frozen pesto and the 7 veg sauce.

One night and week is pizza/sausages/fish fingers etc ie something dead easy from the freezer and one night and week usually Friday we give DD something quick (just a sandwich if she's eaten at nursery) and we cook something she wouldn't like eg really hot curry after they are all in bed. That's really a bit of a treat for us though.

Sounds intriguing! On EWFL this series they made a fake doner kebab thing too, I've never tried one but the home made version looked yum and a bit like meatloaf I imagine but with lamb

Totally agree on shortcuts far better to spend a bit on convenience if it ends up stopping you calling for a takeaway etc

seacow I know you want slow cooker recipes but I made rissotto in the oven the other day. Add rice, stock (bit of wine) lemon zest, black pepper to dish. Bang in oven and bake (foil covered) for 40 minutes. Then add peas. Bit of cream cheese and done.

You can also do Thai curry in slow cooker.

My plan is to master the slow cooker/ long cook easy oven stuff. I'm going to start batch cooking (hopefully) before ds arrives. So at least we have a few meals in the freezer for the first week or two.

Dm I know will bring food round at every opportunity. I'm hoping that once we start baby boy visiting parents for one day a week on his own (something I'm keen to start as early as I can - they'll be taking him for one day a week once I go back to work) I can do more batch cooking.

It was when Ds was a clingy baby that I started doing risotto in the oven. So much easier. I always used to buy ready made mash etc as it was so much easier but I suppose that's also something you can batch cook.

Chorizo pasta is so easy as all the flavour is in the chorizo. Just fry off some onions, then chorizo and add a run on tomatoes (and whatever else you cba to do peppers/celery/olives) so quick and tasty.

I'm intrigued by oven risotto. DH makes a great risotto on the hob but it's not something I can do myself as standing stirring for that long would likely make me faint. But if there was an easier way then I could make one myself. How do you know how much stock etc (I wouldn't use wine myself)

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I am with you on wanky ingredients, I looked at a recipe yesterday that needed 5 sage leaves so either you waste the rest or have the herb equivalent of Kew on your kitchen windowsill.

Why not be sensible and say "or half a teaspoon dried" so normal people can use the recipe too?.

cag It's basically a savoury rice pudding. Same rice really isn't it?.

You can do normal rice pudding in a sc. don't do what I did though & put too much liquid in. Damn thing boiled over.

Cag I just chuck it in helpful there's a bbc good food recipe for it though that'll give you measurement then you can just add your own things to it

Welcome 2G
Have spent this rainy day cleaning. Ran out of floor cleaner and had to go out and buy more In the middle of mopping the kitchen floor. Bad planning and expensive in local shop.
I bought a new Isla bike but 3rd DGC is learning to ride it now so it was well worth it. Think it was a birthday present.

hi £240 fixing car but that was given to us by the people who bumped us so not our money. £18 sainsburys and £40 ice skating

Im getting better at slow cooking but need to up my game. Do Not go on the slow cooker wonders facebook OMG talk about feeling inadequate (5 sc anyone?)

Sorry if anyone is on there and got away with it but it blew my mind.

wreck asked dp, cuda bikes are not made by Claud Butler, they're from a supplier who makes Forme adult bikes, cuda are their kids/basic range. Good enough bikes, but dp said the Claud Butler would be the better bike. Will price check them tomorrow, as am wedged in the shop until 2. With all dc.

Tuna pasta bake for tea, very nice, I put five boiled eggs in, some frozen pumkin puree, and the obligatory courgette. No complaints. Ds had a sodding pot noodle.

Used a £10 qualifying bet (will get £15 free tomorrow), my horse won, so lost £58 on the exchange, but won £77.50. So definatley a profit there. Swiftly withdrew £70, and have re-bet the £7.50.

Spendy day at the Metrocentre. Travel-
£11.40. Lunch at Byron with DS was £23 (a burger, fries and a drink for £10 each plus tip). The cinema was £8.50, as we had a £10 gift card; we saw "Dunkirk", which is an excellent film. I also shared a sundae with DS for £5.65. Ikea was £28.65, on my credit card (2 cushions and 2 cushion covers, a bathroom bin, a candle, 2 picture frames and a new washing line). A locker to store Ikea stuff, as I didn't think they'd let me in the cinema with all that, was £5. Oh and a bottle of water from Greggs for 80p, to get change for the locker. Total: £83!

cag picture of the recipe I used here. It's actually pea and mint rissotto. Should have goats cheese in it but goats cheese is rank.

I am an oven risotto-er of long standing. The BBC recipe rocks. I just need to start tweaking the recipe with different flavours as I was getting bored with leek and bacon.

Batch cooking before baby is a very good idea. I did it last time but this time my project work got in the way and I had literally no time in the last 6 weeks. I also have to batch cook certain things for DS as he will only eat my veg sauce, cheese and courgette muffins etc. It takes up all my batch cooking energy to stay on top of what he needs at the moment! With him on the scene too cooking time is severely curtailed (and interrupted). Was soooo easy with one baby! Snuggly glad it's not just me who can't quite get it together!

I have been taking some short cuts - buying fishcakes and opening a bag of salad some nights, that sort of thing. And I grated 700g of cheese at the weekend (while the food processor was out) and froze in a few bags. But still.

Tonight's dinner isn't going well. I have some leftover chilli and a couple of baking spuds lurking in the fridge so I put them in the oven 2 hours ago. Still not cooked. I have now microwaved them for about 10 min until they are about 1/3 of their original size and they are still not properly soft. Wtf is going on?!!!! Looks like I'll just be eating chilli on its own

Em you are so wrong about goats cheese! But my DH won't have any cheese anyway so I have to eat it furtively when he is out.

HI am just catching up..
Holly you mentioned my pension reduction percentages as a question ..

Yes im taking the one active pension that I currently have 6 years early so there would be a reduction which could equate to 20% less than to what it would be if i took it at aged 66. But actually as I have only been paying into it for 10 years they are telling me that I ill only lose only about 10% of what It has accrued up to now) . but I am ok with that as I have also been paying a over a third of my salary into Additional Voluntary Contributions for the last few years into that pension which more than makes it up ( and of which I am planning to get out 25% as a tax free lump sum for my campervan)

I also have two other deferred pensions ,one payable at full level at aged 60 and the other at 62 which i may take early depending on how I feel i am coping on the other two .

I think what I meant to say was that those two deferred pensions have only gone up 1% a year in the last few years so if i was to take one them 2 years early it doesnt make much difference...
,
All three are 'public sector' pensions so not mega amounts but at least safe. Its doable but quite a lot less than I am earning now.. .. I just need to hang on in there until December ! .

But yes I have to say that I am finding pensions hard to understand.. but i have taken advice and I think this is right now .. if you are a pensions whizz , then any advice gratefully received !

seacow We need to tweak the recipe to experiment with different flavours too. Leek and bacon mmmm. I love love love leeks. They are my absolute faves.

spends .. um. none! Yesterday was about £5 on lunch things ( when I retire this will be a saving) and £30 on a meal out for me and adult DS .

I also fixed my elec/gas with OVO for two years ..I think thats a good option at £74 a month.

Have a renewal quote for car insurance of £366 Ill try and better that.. thats with Nationwide through our bank account. (Honda civic estate diesel 1.6).

Sciatica still bothering me .I know its all in my head.. I am trying to not be so stressed at work.. have decided now that I am going for December retirement after all, so I get the pension at aged 60 rather than 59 (it does makes a difference on %) . I have to give two months notice also so it would only be a few weeks more anyway.

This means that I will have to do the 'sh*t-on-a-stick' job they want to hand over to me , but hey , I dont have to do it well or finish it, do I? .

Easy Food for small kids .. its been a while since I was doing this every day ... but yes freezer sauces are good. My DS liked plain food and raw veg, (and wouldnt and still doesnt eat cooked veg in any form) so i often did things like quorn fillets or chicken sausages , fish. grilled and salad. His absolute favourite was spinach walnut and blue cheese salad would you believe! (he told me yesterday that he makes this for his GF) .

You can also do a whole chicken in the slow cooker .. I do this with potatoes and veg underneath , just a squeeze of lemon or a splash of white wine . Works a treat like a roast , but not crispy skin

Another idea: DH made this great Rachel Roddy tomato pepper and sausage pasta recipe at the weekend. It was fab. (we added fennel seeds, chilli and garlic to our sauce) and then he made it again Monday evening for DGDs (aged 2 and 1) , a visiting DSGS (aged 8) DD and her partner ( a v fussy eater bloke !) without the chilli, and they all loved it