Day 3 LBTL

Still here trying to help someone as the days pass...and how do I pass my days??

What can you do with an egg and some cheap bread if you get the munchies late at night?...

Sizzle sizzle..

Eggy bread!! Aka gypsy toast:) Ok, its not healthy, but it is cheap!!
So here is the mainstay of our diets for the next few weeks...

Yay, potatoes!! Not many left now. But enough to be our penny saver:)

Chip chopped some kindling today, hopefully there won't be loads more nights when I'll have to light the fire! Nearly May! And found a new use for some old boots I'd been hanging onto..

Marvellous recepticle! Mine, OH's and DS's old work boots! I like the binder twine laces on DS's old boots!!

This lovely marigold is for the ladies who sponsored me :) Thankyou, Mommy, Fiona and Anne-Marie. Think of me when you eat a lovely bar of chocolate!! Or have a lovely cup of coffee!

And if you ever visit you can sit in the comfy chair next to the fire x
Well, the last of the pennies are in for the april challenge. Earnt - £13! Leaving me £20 ish!

We were up to £13.56 i think so far spent this week...today I spent...
Carrots 59p
Cucumber 39p
£14.54
Hopefully thats it..Ds has been munching his was through the veg very happily! And OH has nearly demolished the cake!
Tonights tea was potato and some of the ham gratin. With some of the dehydrated leeks I grew.

Ok, so it was mainly potatoes. But I'm using the £1 a day that would have been for my mate eating here for all the veg we grew :-) And if I can grow things I know anyone can! My mommy grows things in her garden too...must run in the family!

Look my celery has germinated!! Even if I have to put it right in a corner away from the celeriac I AM having celery here again. I can remember cutting it when I was alot younger with mommy. And its one of my favourite vegetables!

I want chocolate cake...I'm cranky!

This here limited budget thing is harder than I thought!

£14.83

I forgot about the jam! 29p

At least its sweet:D

I like jam:) the really cheap stuff reminds me of the stuff they had at school! Food holds alot of memories for me...funny eh?

Oh and I forgot...I went to bed with a rumbly tummy last night. I'd normally have a sarnie or something naughty like cake. But I wanted there to be enough cake left for my beloved. Aint I a peach!

BBS x

Day 2 LBTL

Well, no ones faded away or starved yet! I'd love to be sponsored if you can afford a little, I know most of us can't afford alot.

I forgot to show you what I spent the last of my birthday money on...

Yes, I know I didn't need them, but it was birthday money so I got myself something I WANTED! I love yankee candles. And I only got baby ones...not the very expensive ones!

This is a page from my recipe book, I've had it since I was 17! Only recipes I've used over and over make it into here! First they have to hang about and try not to get lost of bits of paper and old magazine cuttings. Tortillas. 1997. As there is so much salad in the house and garden I thought I'd make some for DS's lunches and maybe put the rest in the freezer to use another week. I had an hour to spare! 

They may not be perfectly circular, but they taste great.:D

Potato trays...I left them in alot of a mess last week when we were planting, so today I had to tidy them up!

Nice and neat on their pallet :D
I've noticed something today. As there aren't as many treats in the house I find I'm not eating them..OH has had most of the cake. Last night I wanted something nice. Definitely a challenge. But at least there was fresh bread..

Before and after a good bake!

MMM fresh bread..and with the ham ish soup made with some of the veg..a darn good lunch :)

I miss my margarine. Bread without grease is miserable!
Ah well, onward and upwards..
BBS x

Shopping and cake

First things first, there must be cake in my life!

So I used half a pack of aldi carrots to make carrot cake! Well I made 3, 2 to put in the freezer! 

Carrots..

 Squadge..

Cakes!!!

25p sultanas

32p carrots

45p marg

36p eggs

39p sugar

15p flour

20p golden syrup

£2.12 for 3 cakes

70p a cake.

Although I will have to hide the other 2 from OH!

He just saw them and went 'OOOh cake'!

I used to make this cake alot when dad was here as he'd have one and we'd chomp through two! And it came from a 1990 cookbook...

This was the last time I was excrutiatingly skint! And we grow carrots...and its twin book?

Yep, tinned tomatoes are cheap too! And I believe they were knocked down in sainsbobs, which was at the time our only supermarket!

So we have :

Carrots 59p
lettuce 45p
cucumber 39p
tomatoes 39p
more tomatoes 59p
cabbage 45p
another 15 eggs £1.35
rolls 79p
milk 95p
oats 75p
mozarella 44p
cheese 1.49
Total £8.63 plus 70p for the first cake,

£9.33

And you know what happens when you make plans? Murphy comes along and messes them up.

Last night a friend turned up for strimmer parts and gave me a little gammon which he had frozen and thawed and figured it was smoked which he hates.

So now I have to add £2.99 for a hamlet I didn't have to buy:D

So, £12.32. So tonight we had ham, coleslaw,

 potato salad, and salad. Yum!!

But I need to add 40p for mayo...£12.72

 

And this is the book I bought with some of my birthday money!! MMM free potatoes, cooked in many new and interesting ways!!

So this weeks new and interesting LBTL menu is...

Breakfasts - porridge

Lunches - soup and HM sourdough bread or rolls and cheese

Teas - ham and salad - yum and gone

Omelette made with ham and potatoes

Potato and ham gratin

Scone pizza and wedges

Egg and chips :D

Add flour 45p and lard 39p

£13.56

Phew...people and their kindness putting me off my swing!

BBS x

I want a cup of coffee!! Can't have one..its not in the budget!!

Live below the line - May

LBTL14 Sponsor me? Help me help others!I've been thinking, a dangerous thing I know!
This time next year we'll be lucky if we are earning the £1 a day per person. So I'm going to have to learn to put money by for the lean times.
I've managed to save £1000. If I can add a bit to that it'll give me around £20 a week for food for a year. Which is actually less than the LBTL challenge!
What if I take the live below the line challenge further? What if we do it for all of May?
Three adults gives me £3 a day for 31 days. £93. My mate will be here 4 tuesdays, so thats an extra £4. £97. Sounds alot more now, but still around half my normal budget.
So, lets start with breakfasts. We use 30g of oats a day. I hadn't realised it was so little. Wow, a bag of oats gives us 33 portions! Easily enough to cover a month. OH has milk with his, I don't. So, £1 of milk a week for breakfast. And a pot of 29p strawberry jam! And a bag of sugar :) for OH!
Breakfast - Oats - 75p
Milk - 4.00
Jam - 29p
Sugar - 79p
£5.83
Drinks - T bags - 1.99
sugar - 79p
squash x2 1.80
milk 8.00
£12.58
Now it gets complicated. We need 31 x 3 lunches = 93 plus 4 for mate is 97. And the same number of evening meals.
OH likes ham rolls. 13 slices to a pack. £1.79 x4 = £7.16 And 2 packs of rolls a week @ 52p a pack = £4.16 Plus marg x2 at £1.69 = £3.38
But if I make scones or rolls once a week I can use some of the ham for an evening meal :)
My goodness, I've already 'spent' £33.11.
So, baking marg 89p
plain flour x2 @45p 90p
baking powder 65p
eggs 1.35
bread flour x2@ 80p 1.60
cheese 3.99
lard 39p
£9.77But it gives me enough to make rolls 4 times, scones 4 times, and pastry.
Ok, evening meals.
Mince is 2.69 but will eke out with veg to 9 portions.
So 2 packs of mince (£5.38) will make -
spaghetti bolognaise - 3 portions
lasagne - 4 portions
Delias bolognaise bake - 3 portions
Shepherds pie - 3 portions
Mince and tatties - 3 portions
leftover pasties - 8 portions (DS always question if they actually have meat in them!) but to make the meals we'll need -
carrots - 69p
peas - 89p
lasagne sheets - 32p
pasta - 29p
spaghetti - 20p
p flour - 45p
2 pints milk - 50p
Tomato puree 35p
tinned tomatoes x2 62p
tinned mushrooms 41p
£4.72
Giving me 24 portions for £10.10
Up to £52.98 now, and still got to find another 73 evening meals!
4 packs of sausages @99p gives me 48 sausages-
Sausage and chips - 8 portions (24 sausages)
Scotch eggs - 12 portions (18 sausages, 14 eggs)
also needed -
eggs(15) 1.35
oil - 1.09
So thats 20 portions for £4.42
53 evening meals to find!
Omelette - 6 portions (12 eggs)
Eggy bread - 3 portions (3 eggs) from
eggs(15) - 1.35
bread - 55p
and some of the ham.
Thats another 9 portions for £1.90. 44 to find.
Creamy pasta - 3 portions
pasta - 29p
soft cheese - 49p
use the rest of the pasta to make pasta bake - 3 portions, with
soft cheese 49p
and passata 32p
Another 6 portions for £1.59
38 to go with £60.89 gone.
Lets see if we can have some veg shall we?
2 lettuces - 90p
2 tomatoes, whatevers cheapest - 98p
2 cucumbers - 90p
1 cabbage - 49p
carrots - 69p
Add some mayo - 40p
Use some of the flour and lard to make tortillas.
And maybe a whole (rubber) chicken@3.99
with stuffing made using asda 15p x2 mix and the leftover 6 sausages. Then we get:
Chicken dinner - 4 portions
Chicken tortillas - 3 portions
Add rice 40p
Chicken fried rice - 6 portions
Salad tortillas - 3 portions
Add SFC chicken 1.50
SFC chicken tortillas - 3 portions
Thats another 19 portions for £10.55
£71.44 with another 19 to get.
Beans!!
Bread x 2 1.10
Beans x 4 1.24
Thats a sneaky 6 portions for £2.34
beansprouts 85p
noodles x3 54p
sauce 45p
tinned mushrooms - 41p
chow mein treat for £2.25 for 3 portions
10 to find.
With the scone ingredients, a tomato and a mozarella ball, scone pizza and chips.
mozarella - 44p - 3 portions.
Do that again but we might need more flour
45p and mozarella 44p
89p for 3 portions 4 more..
Easy, baked potatoes, 4 portions,
cheese 1.49
butter 1.69
beans 32p
coleslaw made form the veg earlier.
£3.50 for 3 portions (mainly as I know we'll need the cheese and butter in other things too) £80.86
That allows for treats of -
4 packs rich tea 92p
4 packs fig rolls 1.80
2 packs pink wafers 98p
cocoa chocolate drink (tesco) 58p
sugar 79p
4 bar chocolate 1.20
cooking marg 89p
condensed milk 1.78
sultanas 84p = £9.78
to make brownies, a pie from our rhubarb, jam buns and rock cakes.
£90.64 leaving £6.36 in case I run out of anything like bread, eggs or flour.
I could add french fries @ 69p and some sfc chicken nuggets @ £1.50 for a takeout feel (3 portions) £2.19 or 2 asda pizzas for £4 but that wouldn't leave me with much! Or add a pack of streaky bacon for £1.25. Maybe OH will treat me! And theres always gratin, which is potatoes, white sauce and ham/bacon and onions!
We will still have our own potatoes and onions. Which helps alot. And there are salad leaves I've grown which are ready and radishes too.
Now all I need to do is make it all into a menu plan!
Breakfasts - porridge with sugar or jamLunches - week one
- thurs - rolls/sarnies
fri - rolls/sarnies
sat - rolls/sarnies
sun - rolls/sarnies
monday - rolls/sarnies
tuesday - cheese scones, leftover stuffing
weds - rolls/sarnies
thurs - rolls/sarnies
fri - HM rolls
sat - HM rolls
sun - rolls/sarnies
week two - mon - rolls/sarnies
tue - HM rolls
wed - HM rolls
thur - rolls/sarnies
fri - scotch eggs (3)
sat - rolls/sarnies, leftover lasagne portion
sun - rolls/sarnies
week three - mon - rolls/sarnies
tue - cheese scones
wed - pasties (2)
thur - pasties (2)
fri - rolls/sarnies
sat - HM rolls
sun - HM rolls
week four - mon - rolls/sarnies
tue - HM rolls
wed - HM rolls
thur - scotch eggs (3)
fri - rolls/sarnies
sat - rolls/sarnies
teas - week one
- thurs: Scone pizza and crinkles
fri: Ham, potato and onion Omelette and salad
sat: Fries!
sun: Eggy bread
mon: Roast Chicken, mash and veg
tue: Sausage and chips
wed: Spaghetti bolognaise
thur: Tortillas with leftover chicken and salad
fri: Chicken fried rice
sat: SFC chicken and fries
sun: Beans on toast
week two - mon: Baked pots, with cheese beans and coleslaw(2)
tue: Shepherds pie and veg
wed: Creamy Pasta with salad
thur: Scotch eggs and wedges (3)
fri: Lasagne
sat: Pizza maybe
sun: Eggy bread
week three - mon:Chicken fried rice
tue: Pasties, mash and veg (4)
wed: Ham, potato and onion Omelette and salad
thur: Delias bolognaise bake
fri: Chow mein
sat: Fries
sun: Beans on toast
week four - mon: Mince with veg and tatties
tue: Sausage and chips
wed: Scotch eggs and wedges (3)
thur: Pasta bake
fri: Baked potatoes with cheese, beans and coleslaw (2)
sat: Pizza maybe
snacks - week one - biccies, brownies, carrot ish cake
week two -biccies, buns
week three - biccies, brownies, pie
week four -biccies, buns
And I found out yesterday after working this all out that I can get 12 rolls for79p not the usual £1.56 when OH gets the rolls. I hadn't even noticed the 12 packs!
Some things I already have in aka enough for the first few day (the proper LBTL week), but taking things off the shelves will be classed as shopping and the apropriate money will be deducted from the budget.
　Wish me luck!
BBS x

Live below the line '14

This is the Aldi shopping basket for LBTL 14 - Cherry tomatoes 49p
Rich tea biscuits 23p
Greenvale perfect for baking (250g)49p
Soft cheese garlic and herbs 55p
Everyday grated mild cheddar (450g) 1.99
Medium eggs (15) 1.35
Milk (4pints) 95p
Streaky bacon 1.49
Everyday sausages (12) 99p
Frozen mixed veg (1kg) 89p
Everyday strawberry jam 29p
Baking powder 69p
Everyday penne pasta 29p
Everyday oats 75p
Plain flour 45p
Strong white flour (1.5 kg) 75p
Sugar (1kg) 79p
T bags (50) 99p
Total - £14.42
Homegrown - As we have grown our own potatoes, herbs, pots of salad leaves and onions, I will allow 50p for the seed ( although the seed potatoes cost nothing, and we gleaned the onions, which happens in alot of poorer countries and used to happen in the UK too.)
And little pots of salad leaves are very cheap and easy to grow. Buy seeds at the end of the growing season. (the ones I have cost 29p!)They last a few years and they just need a sprinkling.
I'll start a sourdough a few days before, and use this as leavening for bread rolls.
Breakfasts - This should give me 5 x 2 breakfasts with the oats (made with water) and some milk and either jam or sugar to sweeten. (DS won't eat breakfast)
We can have cups of tea total of 10 a day between us!), or water!
Lunches -will be sourdough rolls and pasties ( bacon and onion) made with wartime oat pastry. And vaguely cheese scones.Monday lunch - Cheese scones topped 100g cheese, (1 egg) (175g flour, 25g marg)Tuesday lunch - Leftover gratin filling pasties. (make 6, enough for wednesday) (pastry -175g flour, 50g marg, 50g oats)Wednesday lunch - Ditto on pastiesThursday lunch - Homemade sourdough rolls, cheese topped. (150g cheese) with a thinly sliced cherry tomato on some! (make 1 plain for breadcrumbs)Friday lunch - Ditto on sourdough rolls. Teas - Monday tea -Potato, onion and bacon gratin. (4 slices bacon, 25g marg)Tuesday tea - Toad in the hole, using 1 egg and 8 sausages as my friend will be here for the day and gets fed too! With mash and frozen veg.Wednesday tea - Omelette with bacon, potato and onion. Using 6 eggs and 4 slices bacon. Served with tomatoes and salad leaves. Thursday tea - Scotch eggs, baked rather than fried, using 4 eggs and 4 sausages. With sourdough roll crumbs toasted as breadcrumbs. Served with potato wedges. Friday tea - Creamy pasta with bacon. Half bag of pasta, 4 slices bacon and the soft cheese. Served with tomatoes and salad leaves. When the ovens on on Monday I'll make some jam buns (wartime recipe, 75g marg) . Also a packet of rich tea biscuits:)
There will still be half a pack of pasta left and 2 eggs.
This is a very starchy diet and its scant on veg so I'm glad its just for 5 days.
Until I tried to figure this out I never realised how hard it is to eat on £1 a day. If I hadn't included the whole family my food would have been very repetitive. But I can't cook different meals for different people.
I noticed that I couldn't have much fat or meat. Very like a rationed diet. (Hence searching through my wartime cookery books!)
We could have had baked potatoes with cheese and beans.
But I have been thinking.....

Friday quickie

We called a wet day today! So I made some rolls...well I started them last night...with some cheese and bottom of fridge tomatoes!

Ready to bake...

Yummy! And enough left for tomorrow!!
Its our weekend without DS this weekend so if I go quiet you know why!!! Wink wink!
Tea was egg fried rice...

6 ingredients...the cup of rice was already cooking!
And after tea I tried chocolate mug cakes...they need some tweaks so there will be another attempt with pictures next week :)
Earnt - zero, spent - zero :D
Have a good weekend everyone xx
BBS x

Muggy thursday

OOOh it was muggy today, all hot and cloudy and ick!
earnt - zero, spent - zero :)

Look what I found in the field today! Honestly, who loses a spoon in a field?? And its good metal so yes, I am going to wash it up!!! Found it whilst hand drilling 12 rows of parsnips with this...

Ah the hand drill. My amish cousins would be happy with this! I believe it was cobbled together by my grandad! But it does its job and I know how to use it for different sozed seed. That was one thing dad did teach me! We also drilled 28 rows of carrots, but we used the tractor for that!
This morning DS handed me his mending as he went off to school. Mum, can you fix these please.
Doggy...

We think he's had doggy since he was about a year old! And his arm was in need of some stitches! And his neck too. All done now, and doggy looks happy about it!
The school trousers, when we went to the city we bought some new hooks and bars..

As the ones on his best trousers had given up.

Cheaper than a new pair of trousers!!

Ah a classic fairy mend!! He'd managed to rip the fabric where the old hook was so its had a little patch too! I was pleased that he asked for a mend rather than new trousers. He's learning that things aren't throwaway!

Another attempt at spirals as I was cooking wedges anyway. Better deep fried! Then crisped further in the oven :)

Yummy tea with scotch egg :) And DS got his 'scotches'.

Yes, deep fried sausage balls! It won't harm DS as everyone always worries he's anorexic. They haven't seen him eat! That annoys me. He's tall and slim, like DD was at that age. I'd understand if he was a chunky monkey like me, but he's underweight. He eats three meals a day plus snacks. He eats veg alot. Oh well, can't get anything right being a mum!!

Finished another bottle of milk so I've used my super cheap salad leaves in this one :0 see how they get on.

And started some rolls at teatime as we're out of bread! Have to knead before beddybyes :)
BBS x

Best ever amish rhubarb pie

 One of my favourite Amish cookbooks has a recipe for rhubarb pie that we LOVE! It has been tweaked for british oven. But it is like rhubarb and custard in a pie!!  

start with 6oz pastry (6oz flour 3 oz fat)

And chill it :)

Next we need to go pick sone rhubarb...3 cups to be precise.

Yum! Now, heat the oven to 220 degrees. Then line a pie plate with the pastry.

Next I make the crumb topping or I forget to!
3tbsp flour, 3 tbsp sugar and 2 tbsp butter, smushed together...don't melt the butter, trust me..just smush.

Cut the rhubarb into bits and place in pie shell..

Combine 1 1/4 cup sugar,
pinch salt,
2tbsp water
3tbsp flour
1 tbsp lemon juice
and 2 eggs to make a smooth paste and pour over rhubarb.

Top with the crumbs and bake for ten minutes at the high temperature. Lower heat to 170 degrees and continue to bake for another 30 mins.

PIE!!!! This is one of the best recipes I've found so far for rhubarb...and I've tried a few as we have 2 big clumps and 2 new ones!  And as its custardy you don't need to make custard to go with it!!
BBS x