Spending too much!

[dukannotsofatty]

Do u put stock in?? Or when do you do that? Do you cook it further after??

Have £9.50 left for the week now! X

it depends what you are using it for.

If i am making meatballs, I add all the ingredients tothe raw mince, use hands to squeeze and mix it all together, this also helps break the meat down a bit from the long strands. Then shape into meatballs and fry in pan, draining mince regularly.

If I am doing spag bols, I brown mince off as above (I've never washed it but will be donig from now on). I would then add stock, tin tomatoes, mushrooms, herbs, seasonings and slowly simmer it, this will actually help soften up the mince a bit.

If doing patties, do same as meatballs, but squash them into burgers. Drain often. I quite often stand them on kitchen roll afterwards to soak a bit more of the fat out of them.

Meatloaf is a case of following the recipe. A lot of the reasons I use mince is to prepare in advance, so I just keep draining the fat off.

With £9.50 I would buy a bag of cheaper chicken fillets £4 aldi, which should do at least 4 meals, eggs Aldi £1.35, UHT milk for own yogurts 49p, Fish from farm foods £2.95 do about 3 meals., SP Cottage Cheese 69p Then of course you would need lunches, but am assuming that you have a few bits in the fridge to use up. These are the sorts of things I love and if need be you could always make patties or fishcakes with the stuff, it would stretch to more meals as you would find it stretches further when adding the eggs or herbs to to mix.

 

[dukannotsofatty]

Dnsf....your a legend.....i need you in my life. Wish i could very half as organised. Superscrimper im putting you in the audition next series xxx

Thank you .

I have had to budget for a long time and I am definately a miser when it comes to spending money. If an item of clothing or shoes costs more than a tenner its a no go, even less for tops. Food I used to always work on the premise of 50p per person for meat. Prices have changed though and it tends to be closer to the £1 now, esp for chicken and beef. Mince and Fish is still within decent prices.

I also add up as I go round. When in fruit and veg and buying loose i will go and weigh the item and work out what I think it will cost. Every time i reach a figure like £5 something I write it at the top of my pad and start again, I then add it all up as I get nearer the end and check what money I have left, or if I have enough. Once I have done my first weeks shop of the month the rest of the housekeeping money is split between the remaining weeks in the month, I keep it in a seperate purse and take the weeks money out of hiding and put it in my purse on a Weds as thats my Farm Foods day, thursday is Asda and Aldi. If I need a bit extra I do rob the other weeks, but that can be a problem when it comes to that week LOL.

I do online pinecone surveys and use the vouchers towards my shopping in asda, but then put the savings onto my asda xmas save card so I can have some to spend at christmas...the vouchers can only go against food, but the saving card can be spent on anything in store. Method in that madness !!!!!

With things as they are at the moment with DH and job it means I have to be even more careful, I can't dip into household savings if I am short, but so far its all working out

Now that you all think I am barmy and a scrimper LOL, I'll go look round the forum xxx

 

[Eccab77]

[QUOTE="Dukannotsofatty''] Once I have done my first weeks shop of the month the rest of the housekeeping money is split between the remaining weeks in the month, I keep it in a seperate purse and take the weeks money out of hiding and put it in my purse on a Weds as thats my Farm Foods day, thursday is Asda and Aldi. If I need a bit extra I do rob the other weeks, but that can be a problem when it comes to that week LOL.
[/QUOTE]

Lol I do this as well and I thought I was mad. I put mine in sealed envelopes marked week commencing... I also tend to borrow from the next weeks allowance but it means you will be super careful then as you know you are over. My prob is when we get paid separately. Cornie get his last Thursday of the month and me last day of the month. So if the last day of the month is a Wednesday then there is a week in between and this throws me off as I start spending without all the money in one place!

 

[xeilidhx]

Thanks dnsf- I've done a "big shop" so hoping that's me for the week. Today I cooked two packs of mince, dry fried then poured out fat then boiled then drained, and on my mums instructions put it in the fridge to cool. She says the fat will rise and be able to be skimmed off. Then I'll add passatta after. X

 

[dukannotsofatty]

Lol I do this as well and I thought I was mad. I put mine in sealed envelopes marked week commencing... I also tend to borrow from the next weeks allowance but it means you will be super careful then as you know you are over. My prob is when we get paid separately. Cornie get his last Thursday of the month and me last day of the month. So if the last day of the month is a Wednesday then there is a week in between and this throws me off as I start spending without all the money in one place!

we can be mad together then hun LOL. I have a little wallet purse that used to belong to my dd, and I have some post it note arrows, each week has an arrow on it with a number for the week, then the purse is put away.

I can only imagine how awkward the seperate weeks can be, thankfully with only Hubbies wage I don't suffer too much with it, I take my housekeeping out of the bank in one lum psum. There are times though when i would prefer to keep it in the bank, but I find that can make things worse because if I go shopping to asda and need some cash i will then have to get cashback and they only do minimum of a tenner, and if I don't need a tenner it means I've spent more.

we do all different things to make it work don't we. I;ve had a number of different tries over the last few years, and this one seems to work. Been doing it for a couple of years now.

 

[dukannotsofatty]

Thanks dnsf- I've done a "big shop" so hoping that's me for the week. Today I cooked two packs of mince, dry fried then poured out fat then boiled then drained, and on my mums instructions put it in the fridge to cool. She says the fat will rise and be able to be skimmed off. Then I'll add passatta after. X

well done, good for you. Yes it would rise in the fridge, but just remember, you would need liquid in the jug for it to rise, otherwise the fat is going to just settle on the top of the mince and you may lose some mince in the scraping. Would prob work to add teh passatta and make the meal then let it cool before freezing.

 

[scooter]

ps we're not allowed strawberries on Dukan till stabilis I don't think.

This is the first I've heard of this! Whoops! I've been eating a punnet a day since I went onto conso - I thought they were allowed - albeit not a full punnet but I'm not putting any weight on so hey ho!!! I'm sure they are on the allowed list on conso in my book - they're my fav ydefo can't wait til stabilis that's ages away!! I hope they are allowed :-(

 

[alottolose]

In the Dukan Lifeplan book there are a couple of strawberry recipes which are stated as suitable for "phase 3" I believe that means Conso - so you should be fine x

 

[alottolose]

copied from the book the rules for phase 3...

"1 serving of fruit per day...."as for small fruit, use a small dish so one unit = one dish of strawberries or raspberries." x

 

[scooter]

Thanks alottolose thought I'd read it somewhere - just love my strawbs but will have to find another fruit that floats my boat when strawbs are out of season - and nothing else comes close! I did know about the small dish of small fruits but I just can't help myself when the punnet is open!! Best it's something like that rather than something really naughty ;-) strawbs and a pot of quark mixed with sweetener - close your eyes and its double cream - yum!

 

[scooter]

Hi scooter this is what I buy and from where,


Thanks dnsf for listing those - you seem so organised wish I was!! Will def pop to farm foods and Aldis and try what you get - thanks again x

 

[scooter]

Don't know what pressed wrong above sorry!

 

[scooter]

Need a lesson on how to quote and reply :-( getting in a bit of a mixup!!

 

[dukannotsofatty]

Grr just typed an answer and it deleted.

Sorry about the strawberries, I knew some smaller fruits weren't alowed, I assumed these were one of them. I haven't read the whole book properly yet cos its a long time away for conso for me LOL.

 

[alottolose]

Thanks alottolose thought I'd read it somewhere - just love my strawbs but will have to find another fruit that floats my boat when strawbs are out of season - and nothing else comes close! I did know about the small dish of small fruits but I just can't help myself when the punnet is open!! Best it's something like that rather than something really naughty ;-) strawbs and a pot of quark mixed with sweetener - close your eyes and its double cream - yum!

No probs hun I agree regards strawbs n quark - can't wait to get to conso for them x

Grr just typed an answer and it deleted.

Sorry about the strawberries, I knew some smaller fruits weren't alowed, I assumed these were one of them. I haven't read the whole book properly yet cos its a long time away for conso for me LOL.

Never assume always read the book best way, especially before raising the alarm

worst thing for me is when you're convinced you've read that something is "ok" then you eat it and subsequently find out it's not serious "d'oh" moments x

 

[dukannotsofatty]

No probs hun I agree regards strawbs n quark - can't wait to get to conso for them x



Never assume always read the book best way, especially before raising the alarm

worst thing for me is when you're convinced you've read that something is "ok" then you eat it and subsequently find out it's not serious "d'oh" moments x

Thats just it though, i was positive I had read that in the same bit about grapes and cherries.

It wasn't meant to scare or alarm.

 

[alottolose]

we've all been there DNF

I'm worst with veg, it's mind blowing what we are/aren't allowed....easy to slip up with those...as for conso...I haven't read that section yet either x

 

[Paulinegin]

Now that you all think I am barmy and a scrimper LOL, I'll go look round the forum xxx

Quite the opposite, DNSF. These are really valuable household budgeting skills ... a subject which should be taught to kids in schools, in my opinion.

P x

 

[alottolose]

Yeah I agree with Pauline on this one

Martin Lewis (moneysavingexpert.com) had a petition on his site to introduce financial education into the national curriculum for kids....not sure if it's still running but thought that was a damn fine idea...

I've already taught DD about the benefits of the "reduced section" in the supermarket and she sees me checking the price per 100g/1kg labels on the shelves

I could do with using some of your tips to save a few quid myself

p.s. I used to do surveys for pinecone too DNF x

 

[dukannotsofatty]

We try to teach our DD about spending within budget now, had a few cards and stuff in the past but got on top of it all. She gets pocket money and if she wants to buy something specific it has to come within the pocket money amount. Quite often it does, but of course there is still usually a little sulk if she hasn't quite got enough. Doesn't harm the kids to say no every now and then.

Bless her she came out of school week before last with the letter for years 5/6 saying about school residential trip next year, they only do them every two years and this is her last year. So she said, I know I probably can't go because of Daddy's job........but the teacher says we can pay a little at a time, I answered that was probably what we would do. She flung herself into my arms saying thank you, thank you, when she pulled back she had tears in her eyes.......she knew we prob couldn't afford and had already resigned herself to not going. So proud ofher for thinking about it.

If I have to scrimp every penny I am gonna make sure she gets to go, its a once in a lifetime opportunity forher.