Saving into summer!

[SnugglySnerd]

New frugal thread.

NSD! Hooray! Have made soup, done some baking with DD1 and reorganised a chest of drawers. It's so nice when DH is at home and there's an extra pair of hands.

Hi wise ones, I need some advice about random things...

I have a pack of bell peppers and a pack of parsnips in the freezer. What is the best way to defrost them? I never know how to defrost things properly and worry about not having done them thoroughly. If I was doing a stir fry I could just fry the peppers straight from frozen, right?

Also, are cheapo dust sheets from Wilko's good enough to protect our sofa in the removals van? If not, should we shell out for 'proper' removals blankets? I don't think we'd need to cover much else, just our sofa, our bed frame, and I guess our newish chest of drawers. The other stuff is mostly second hand and battered anyway, or has its own box to go in.

Today is NSD for me although DH will have bought lunch at work and needs to buy a few groceries on his way home as we don't have any bread in even .

meadow are they already chopped? Or are they whole? already chopped will be easier to deal with. We have boxes/bags of veg which we'd bought super cheap then chopped up in our freezer.

Dm gave us a carrier bag of sweet potatoes the other week. So we've chopped and frozen as chips. When dfils allotment threw up a ton of parsnips we did the same. Chopped ready for roasting from frozen or thrown into soups etc.

If the parsnips were whole when frozen I'd pop them in a freezer bag and then soak in cold water for a while until they're choppable. Then do whatever it was you were going to do with them.

£12.91 Asda, as I still had enough from my almost £50 Sainsburys order last Monday towards this week's meal plan.

Today : veggie sausages, mash, peas and gravy.
Tomorrow: omelette, wedges and salad.
Tuesday : pizza.
Wednesday: bean burgers, wedges and salad.
Thursday: veggie cottage pie.
Friday: same. Should get 6 portions altogether, so 2 for the freezer.

Meadow, I didn't even think about covers for my bed or sofas when I recently moved. I think the removals company have these.

Meal plan:

Monday - sausages sweet potato fries corn on the cobs homemade slaw

Tuesday - dh is sorting it

Weds - smoked salmon cream cheese pasta

Thurs - out with friends

Fri- veggie bolognaise with spaghetti

Sat - out for dinner - portuguese food - (either espatada or a picadino mmmmm)

Sun - roast chicken (am going to try and mumsnet the hell out of it to make it last about 12 days!)

Yes I would have thought the removal company would have that? Or is it that you're using a man with van kind of thing?

Em I thought the same re the wrapmaster! Mmmm wraps. I had a chimichanga for lunch today (dad took us to, funnily enough Chimichangas), must do stuff like that at home. That said I am also intrigued as to the actual wrapmaster - is this a product I never knew I needed?

Re: the fridge. We actually only have a 3/4 size one. We bought it when we moved out - I was newly pregnant with our eldest but now as a family of four with regular visitors it's not cutting the mustard at all. Lack of freezer space is a particular issue as I can't do much batch cooking while also having space for frozen veg etc. The coil bit (pretty sure that's not the technical term) is warped so even less space on one shelf. That plus the fact the fridge is freezing stuff so we can't really use the back... yeah it's annoying.

My dad randomly said a while back that when we move he will buy us a new fridge ❤️ I am vaguely considering asking if we can do that sooner. Not sure. Is moving house likely to damage a fridge so it's better just to wait until we've moved?

No idea what budget is but DH and I agreed that we would top up to get a huge one with a water/ice dispenser. Financially this may also be better sooner as when we move we will have shitloads to pay for as it is (furniture as well as usual moving costs). It's a thinker.

The fridge should be ok too move as long as it's kept upright and left overnight to settle at the other end.

I love my wrap master. No cling film battles and cuts straight every time.

Wrapmaster can't do short link sorry
www.lakeland.co.uk/7518/Wrapmaster-Foil-and-Cling-Dispenser
Only cling, don't see the point for foil.

After a few attempted child abductions nearby and some dodgy looking people hanging round our road today we've had to have a serious talk to dd about strangers etc. Not nice.

Not nice, but sadly, necessary, Wreck. You're just doing your job as a parent.

Thanks life :) do you just use any brand of cling film as long as the roll is the right length?

And yes it's horrible having to have these grown up discussions with kids isn't it :(

Wreck Our local parents are weirdly keen on letting their kids walk home from school after year 4. I have no idea why they and the school explicitly choose that year, because there are a lot of very very dodgy people wandering the streets around here. I'm walking ds to school until he's 16.

Oh dear Wreck. But good to talk to her about things to empower her more I guess.

Em All whole! We changed our plans last minute for DH to come up north for longer whilst I was there which meant we had a fridge full of food so he quickly shoved the pack of parsnips and two bell peppers in the freezer so we didn't have to throw them out. Which is good but now I have an entire pack of rock hard parsnips!! Thanks, will do as you're suggesting. I think the peppers I can cut up frozen and stir fry, just watched a youtube video of a lady doing just that.

We usually book our removals on AnyVan and the few times we've moved before they haven't had removals blankets and things, or at least not offered them...it's always just been one fella with a van and not much else apart from straps. But then to be fair, we've never had a sofa or bed to transport. I spose we can ask them when we pay the deposit.

Creme Your meal plans always make me hungry!

It's annoying because we live in such a bubble I didn't expect to have to do it yet. The crime rate here is so low here I usually go out leaving the back door open!

They're very simple, Meadow, but thank you.

We moved about a 5-7 minutes walk from DS's primary school in the last half-term of Year 5, so I was happy for him to start walking to and from school then. However, the area generally was safe and he was one of the oldest in his year, being September-born.

lifelong I'm with as far as centerparcs is concerned, I've never been & just refuse to pay that price. It would be boring if we were all the same eh?
It's 2 weeks from today that we sail to France, but I'm not excited, oh no, I've got a countdown going on the calendar, lists starting, CANNOT WAIT!!
Until then though we've got 2 weeks to get through, spending as little as possible. We've got my PIL here at the moment which is somewhat stressful (yesterday I described it as like having the Daily Mail in human form!). It also works out quite spendy as we go out more and spend more on food. I cooked on Thursday, last night and today (thank you slow cooker), we ate out on Friday which they paid for. I'm going to do pizzas for tea tomorrow and then we'll eat out again on Tuesday before they go home on Wednesday.
In the meantime I need to do a check of our freezer contents & plan all meals up to when we go away..
It has been good this year as the dc are old enough to be left to their own devices while we work. Dd is only 12 so my mum is helping out so that she's only at home with ds for odd days but still it's easier than the spreadsheets and endless lists of previous years.

I but the refil. Not sure if others fit. It's good quality cling and last ages. I buy no more than 3 a year.

I love my cling film wrapmaster (sad creature that I am..) . this reminds me ..I wil be in chichester next weekend hopefully .. must make a Lakeland list!! (even sadder creature).

Today I made 3 jars of pickled runners and also dug up one whole runner bean wigwams of about 8 plants and chucked on the compost heap - even though its in full production . We have so many we simply cannot eat freeze , pickle or give away them all.. . .Last year I planted the same amount of seeds and althoughthey greaw we had hardly any pods form .. This year total bean innundation!

DH gone back for the week so I was on leftovers this evening.. But I had a totally yummy dinner of left over roast tomato thingy and leftover greek potatoes with extra cheese.. .. glass of to go with it . So utterly yummy.. I might make it again tomorrow!

No way laska?! I'm totally gonna stalk you

That's interesting that abductions are happening in such a safe place Wreck. One happened near me growing up and it was also in an extremely safe feeling place.

wreck I wouldnt mind, if it wasnt a Sunday (which it will be and you wont be at work ) I might have even suggested we have coffee and cake

Right with you laksa on the Lakeland front.

Wreck, careful your DC doesn't do what my ds did. He asked strangers their names and then in his head they weren't strangers any more. We had to go with if Mammy doesn't know then to go to their house, or come to ours, fora cup of tea they are strangers.

Sunny yes we were living not a million miles from where poor Sarah Payne was abducted at the time .. Dreadful I still think of her now when I go past the place.

Btw Im getting a bit confused about your parents situation ( I probably missed this originally ) . are you in UK ? or are they living in another country right now.. How is it you only have 2 weeks to talk to them about it ? none of my business really so no need to reply if you dont want to .