Frugalicious Food = Frugal + Delicious

Myself and Cass from Diary of a Frugal Family have decided to start up a food blog - Frugaliscious Food.

Frugal + Delicious = Frugalicious.

You can find us on twitter to @frugaliscious_

We are looking for guest posts too, so if you have a great receipe, then please let either one of us know.

Frugal Food - Utilise your Garden

One of the many comments I got on my feeding a family of 4 for £50 post was that we must be green fingered or have a lot of room for growing vegetables.

The truth is we don't and I am not, we have a small back garden, but in 2009 MadDad built me 3 raised beds, they are not large, they are 6 foot by approx 3 foot and we also have a couple of barrels that we fill with potatoes.

But those raised beds and what pots we have round the garden supply me with a steady supply of vegetables right through till the Autumn.

At the moment we have the following

Bed One - Draft Beans, Runner Beans and Pea's

Barrel - New Potatoes

Bed Two - Spinach, Rainbow Chard, Kale

Barrel - New Potatoes

Bed Three - Leeks and Onions

6 Hanging baskets + Home made fence baskets - Strawberries

2 troughs - Cucumber

2 troughs - Tomatoes

1 Container - Courgettes

4 Containers - Herbs

2 Containers - Salad leaves

Come Autumn, we will be planing garlic and Spring cabbage, we have already eaten the spring onions and all the radish that we grew.

We have grown everything from seed and have shared the initial cost of the seeds with our neighbours who also grow and friends that have an allotment.  We don't have a green house, but I germinated and grew all the seedlings on the window ledges!

We planted our apple tree 3 years ago and this year is the first year we will see many apples from it (we only got about 7 last year), but you need to bear in mind that our back garden was that of a new build - full of clay and bricks with very little soil at all.  

We also planted a pear tree and will get our first fruit from that this year, which is very exciting indeed.

Upkeep and Daily Maintenance

We bought a reduce water butt in the sales last year and we water the beds and containers every night which takes us about 15 mins , or longer if the boys help!  I also go out a couple of times a week and weed, but we don't get many weeds as we plant very close together.

Slugs and snails are our main enemy, but the boys are well trained.  If they see a slug or snail, they squash them.

I think this post shows that you don't have to have a lot of space or a huge initial outlay to start growing your own vegetables.

Feeding a family of four on £50

Zooarchaeologist (being a mummy) did a great post recently about shaving £200 off her monthly budget and I commented that I had got our weekly food shopping bill down to £50 for the four of us and she asked to see our Menu Plan, so I thought I would post one for you all to see, with prices too.  I do a weekly shop at Aldi and if anything else is needed it tends to be the co-op in the village.

Now I do have a good store cupboard and freezer with staples like gravy, frozen stock), herbs, spices, flour etc in.

Sunday

Lunch - mince (£1.99) and onions with veg from the garden and new potatoes from the garden too

Dinner - Poached eggs (99p or six for the butcher or friend) on muffins (60p)

Monday

Lunch - Scrambled egg on toast (99p for the eggs and 99p for a loaf of bread)

Dinner - Bolognese made with left over mince pasta (99p a bag) and pasata (59p) with added herbs and any veg left over from Sunday dinner (pureed).  Garlic bread (home made)

Tuesday

Lunch - Beans and Sausage on Toast (59p)

Dinner - Curry with home made naan bread

 

Wednesday

Sausage rolls form the bakers (4 for 99p)
Sausage casserole with Potatoes from the FIL

Thursday

Lunch - Scrambled Eggs with cheese and ham 

Jacket Potatoes with Cheese and Beans or leftover curry

Friday
 

Sandwiches (cheese and ham or egg)
Fish and Chips with peas from the garden

Saturday

Hot Dogs and rolls with potato wedges (from the garden)
Home Made pizza (ham, salami, pasattatta, mozzarella and onion), garlic bread

Shopping list

Mince (1.99)
Breaded Ham (99p)
Mozzarella (2 x 49p)
Salami (99p)
Sausages (99p)
Bread (99p)
Hot dog rolls (55p)
Bratwursts (99p)
potato (69p)
Apples (1.25)
Banana (1.01)
Natural yogurt (49p)

Flour (33p)
Oven chips (99p)
Frozen battered Cod (1.99)

Passata  (49p)
Gouda (1.15)
Onions (69p)

High Juice (99p)
Jelly mix (20p)
Coffee (2.59  a month)
Paracetamol (2 x 19p)
Spreadable butter (1.79)
Marg for baking (50p)
Pull ups (3.59 once a month)
12 eggs (1.98)
Milk Iceland £1 for 4 pints we use at least 16 pints = £4)
Porridge (99p)
Choco Hoops (1.15)
Teabags (2.10 very 4 weeks)
Salad Stuff (currently 39p for tomatoes, lettuce and onions from ;Mar £1.20)
lemonade (40p)

Yogurt (2 x 80p)
Chicken pieces (1.99)
Hot Chocolate (99p)

I DONT buy cakes or biscuits, but I do buy the ingredients to make them and have baking powder, raisins etc in the cupboard board all the time.  I buy one loaf a week and then make all the rest (lidl do a really good inexpensive bread flour and I buy in bulk when passing).
 

I also make sure I have Ice cream and cone in  and when we hear the ice cream van  we make our own.  Sprinkles on top to make special or if they are really lucky then we might have a flake.

The garden is a huge source of produce for me, the peas are just coming to pod and the beans will be ready in the next few weeks. The spinach and chard is all cut and come again. We have tomatoes and onions, which we turned in to pasta sauce last year.

I always check the Internet to find out who has what offers on and shop around to ensure I get the best deal.  I will buy cheese and freeze it.

So how much do you spend on your weekly shop and how do you keep the bills down in the current climate?

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Menu Plan Monday and shortbread recipe

It is half term for me and the minimads this week, so I have lunches to make for all and then MadDad will be on on Friday, so we are going for a day out

Monday

Lunch - Sandwiches

Dinner - Curry and rice

Tuesday

Lunch - Pancakes

Dinner -Spag bol

Wednesday

Lunch - leftovers

Thursday - Jambalaya

Friday

Picnic and pot luck

Saturday

Home made chicken burgers and wedges

Home made pizza

Sunday - I am not sure what meat we will be going with this week, I will see what is on offer at the butchers

I also wanted to give you the recipe for the almond shortbread biscuits, as they are very simple to make and really good for children, as you cant really over handle the dough:

Ingredients

150g of plain flour

25 g of ground rice or ground almond

100 chilled butter

50g caster Sugar

almond essence

tea spoon of milk

Method

Cut up the butter in to small chunks and rub in to the flour and almond/ground rice

Add other ingredients and squeeze them all into a dough

Sprinkle top with flour and roll out to 5mm thick

Use cookie cutter  and place on a baking tray.

Cook at 170 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes

Allow to cool for 2 minutes and then lift on to a wire rack to cool

Variations

You can add lemon or orange zest and two teaspoons of their juice rather than the almond essence and milk.

The Best Carrot Cake in the Whole Wide World

 

Receipe

140ml vegetable oil, plus extra for greasing
2 Eggs
200g light brown sugar
300g grated Carrots, (grated weight)
100g raisins
75g pecans or Walnuts, chopped (optional)
180g self-raising flour
1 pinch Salt
1/2 tsp Bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp ground Cinnamon
1/2 tsp freshly grated Nutmeg
1/2 tsp Mixed spice

Orange cream cheese icing - this rarely gets put on in this house, as everyone eats the cake before I get chance!!

50g cream cheese, chilled
50g Butter, at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
275g icing sugar, sifted
1 Orange, zest only

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 150C/gas 2. Oil and line a loaf tin with greaseproof paper. I just use a silicone one.

2.Beat the eggs in a large bowl, then add the oil, brown sugar, grated carrot, raisins and chopped nuts.

3. Sift in the rest of the dry ingredients and bring the mixture together using a wooden or large metal spoon until well combined.

4. Pour the mixture into the prepared loaf tin, smooth the surface and bake in the oven for 1 hour 15 minutes, or until until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.

5. Remove from the oven and allow the cake to cool in the tin for about five minutes before removing. Cool completely on a wire rack before serving.

6. For the icing: beat the cream cheese and butter together in a bowl until well combined. Add the vanilla extract, icing sugar and finely grated orange zest and mix until the icing is smooth and thick.

Adapted from Rachel Allen, Bake (Collins)

 

Even people who say, oh I don't like carrot cake, love this cake.  My mum couldn't believe the amount of carrots that went in to it and I guarantee once you have made one, it will become a firm favorite.  I don't even peel the carrots before grating them anymore and can make it in 5 mins.

Anyway don't take my word for it, try it and you too will be calling it the best carrot cake in the whole wide world and with all those carrots in, surely it has to count as one of your 5 a day!

 

Meal Plan Monday and More Frugal Food

Sunday Dinner was Mince, onions, dumplings and lots and lots of vegetables, one of my big tips for being frugal and following your meal plans is to make it as easy as possible, so today food will follow on and utilise yesterdays leftovers and additional amount that we cooked.

Monday

Lunch - Leftovers

Dinner - Spaghetti Bolognese, utilising mince, onions and any left over veg with the tomato sauce we made over the summer

Tuesday

Lunch - Spaghetti on toast

Dinner - Lasagna, bulked out with cottage cheese and vegetables

Wednesday

Lunch - Leftovers

Dinner - Dahl and Naan Breads

Thursday

Lunch - Sandwiches and soup

Dinner - Sausage casserole and sweet potato

Friday

Lunch - Leftovers

Dinner, Fish, oven Chips and peas

Saturday

Lunch - Home made burgers (Maxi loves coming home from football and tucking in)

Dinner - Home made pizza

Sunday

Poached eggs on Muffin

Roast Chicken Dinner

Cooking in Bulk - Mads tip of the week

When I see vegetables or other food marked down I always see if there are ways I can incorporate them in our meals or meal plan.  I use tons of onions, so every so often, I get MadDad (I can not stand peeling onions) to do a big peel and chop and we then cook them off and pop them in bags and freeze them.

We did this yesterday.  20 onions chopped and diced and then cooked turned into six portions for the freezer and two for this week in with the mince.  I use onions a lot, with casserole, Curry's, dahl, mince etc, etc, etc

So what are your fail-safe recipes and favorite family meals?

Menu Planning and Frugal Food Part Two

The Basics and MummyMads Rules

I have a few golden rules that I always abide by and also make sure I have a larder with basic ingredients in.

I don't scrimp on chicken I always buy a good one or a happy one as I call them (free range), as they make better stock and just taste nicer with more meat in my humble opinion.  The same with eggs (our butcher sell local free range ones cheaper than the supermarkets).  I pop in to the local butchers and see what is on offer meat wise too.

In the store cupboard and fridge I always have flour, eggs, caster sugar, lentils, beans, beans and sausage, spaghetti, pasta,  yogurts, smoothies (again a treat for the boys I get them from Aldi).  I never scrimp on fruit, I just buy whats on offer, this week we have a bowl full of apples, bananas, pears and grapes.  I buy blocks of butter for baking when they are on offer and freeze them.

You will see that there are no deserts or treats on the menu plan, well that is because I make them rather than but them, hence always having flour etc in, means I can whip up a crumble in no time or an apple pie.  often we just have fruit and yogurt.  The boys and I bake all the time.  We made cookies and a sponge cake at the weekend.

Sp for us snacks are home made biscuits, veg sticks and fruit or maybe some home baked bread and jam.  Yes it can be hard work initially and I am lucky in that I am a SAHM able to do this with my boys, but that is the trade off, in order to afford to be at home, we have to make savings!

 

My plan for the coming weeks, is to post a menu plan and also share with you some of the recipes that we use.

Oh and if you are looking for a good read, Insomniac Mummy has just launched the latest Mummy Blogger Carnival, do pop over as she has a smorgasbord of delights for you!

Menu Planning and Frugal Food Part One

One thing that has come out of our lack of cash is my ability to feed us all well on less and less cash.  The two things that has enabled this to happen has been our menu planning and our garden.

I thought I would give you an example of a weeks menu plan and how I feed us all. I do a main shop on a Thursday and base my weeks menu plan round our Sunday Dinner (chicken, Mince, Beef, or Ham).  This week it will be chicken.

Friday

Fish, oven chips and mussy peas.  I make sure I buy frozen cod or haddock fillets when they are on offer, plus Aldi do a very good fillet.  I buy Aldi oven chips at 99p a bag and soak my own mushy peas and freeze them in batches.

Saturday

Home made burgers and wedges (sweet potato this week as 39p a bag in Aldi)

Dinner - Home made pizza, with home made sauce and mozzarella and salami, plus veg.  Garlic dough balls or garlic pizza bread.

Sunday

Lunch - poached egg on muffins Dinner - Roast chicken, roast potatoes, home made Yorkshire puddings and vegetables plus we have parsnips, sprouts and leeks in the garden.

Monday

Lunch - Leftovers from Sunday Dinner
Dinner - Chicken and vegetable Curry, rice and Naan (I strip the carcass on Sunday night and pop in the slow cooker)

Tuesday

Lunch - Leftover curry and a jacket (me), Toasty (mini)
Dinner - Tuesday Chicken and Ham risotto with Vegetables (I use the chicken stock and leftover chicken)

Wednesday

Spaghetti on Toast
Sausage Casserole - 2 packs of sausages , carrots, leeks and parsnips from the garden and Mash

Thursday

Lunch - Leftovers
Dinner - Jacket potatoes with Beans and Cheese

MadDad takes leftovers, sandwiches or home made pasties to work (they have a microwave) and Maxi has school lunch.  So during the week it is just me and mini for lunches.

Breakfast consists of porridge with maple syrup (maxi), toast (mini) and muesli (Me), MadDad fends for himself during the week, but bacon sandwiches and pancakes are weekend favorites.

Oh and I just through I would slip that cake in made by mini and me with left over gingerbread house as the base and a cream cheese and lemon topping, yum!

Budget Pouches and Cash Budgeting

There has been a lot of murmuring in blog land recently on being thrifty, managing on one income and the mend and make do lifestyle.

I thought I would add my penny's worth, as we have been living as frugally as possible on one income for a number of reasons.  People who knew me from old are totally amazed to the change in me, but it is so worth making sacrifices and changes to spend this time with my boys.  So as they say mother is the necessity of invention!!

One of our biggest changes has been moving from never carrying cash to using a cash only system for incidentals, fuel, groceries, lunches etc though the month.  This means we draw enough cash out after pay day to cover the expenses (just, if we have enough) and then use the cash through out the month.

Inspired by Heather at Beauty that moves I made ones with the names on:

Groceries
Fun
Fuel
Lunches

At the beginning of the month/end of the last month, we do all the math:

Lunches this is for school lunches - I work out how much school lunches  (£9.25 per week) and snack money (50p each per week) will be nad put that amount in the envelople.

Fun - This basically covers the boys activities over a month - swimming lessons, (£3.10 per lesson), football practice (£2.00 per week), ducklings (£1 per session), toddlers (60p per session).

Fuel - We set aside a fixed amount for both of us each month, once I run out it is tough.  MadDad does get mileage for any additional mileage he does to and from clients, so that covers his additional fuel in a month.

Groceries - Again a fixed amount per week to cover it all.  I have found this has forced me to stick to my menu plans, to shop around, to make our own bread, biscuits and cakes.  I also buy my washing products from this and nappies for MiniMad at night.  I have also found that it pays to pop to the village butchers for my eggs as they are much less expensive and the local greengrocer for any veg we haven't managed to grow.

We pay as many of our bills as we can by direct debit and keep a spreadsheet showing the expenditure.  I try to make as many presents as I can and we also make our own cards.

I am also pretty honest when asked about visiting soft play or a whacky warehouse type place, if we do not have any spare cash, then I say that we can not afford it this month, but I have cakes and coffee at home and you are welcome to come and visit me.

One thing I have learnt is that lots of people are in the same boat as me too and it is great when one of the mums sees you on the school run and says that chicken are half price in the co-op this week or such like.  People always comment that our cakes and biscuits are nice and that they just buy them, the thing is once you find a recipe that works, it only takes 10 minutes to make a batch of cakes with the mini's and the costs is minimal.

The biggest savings for us has been menu planning and we will be continuing doing this in 2010.

I will also be looking at ways in which you can be as frugal as possible and hope that people will join in with their ideas.

In 2010 we will need to find the extra cash to pay from MiniMad to start swimming lessons (June) and Football Practice (January) and School Lunches (September), so need to work at being as frugal as possible.