I got up at 0620 and decided to get cracking on making life easier for myself. I do all our cooking as I love it and we take lunch or dinner to work with us. A lot of my time is spent preparing food.
I don't know about you but I seem to chop an onion for nearly every meal. Curries, chilli, spag Bol, casseroles and so on. I buy a huge sack every month from Lidl, much cheaper that way.
I got 6 and peeled them and chopped them in the food processor, then I put them in my muffin tin to make little individual portions. I put this in the freezer and they will make perfect single potions for cooking. I put them in a sandwich bag after they are frozen to use less space. Just grab and go, I chuck them in frozen, they are fine.
I also did the same with some garlic cloves and made individual cubes for bagging up to save chopping every time.
On a roll now, I grated a large slab of cheese and put it in a Tupperware box in the fridge, we use so much less this way.
Dinner for tonight is going to be Spaghetti Bolognaise so I dry fried some lean mince just to see if I could get any fat out of it. Then I put that in the slow cooker with some grated carrot, garlic, onion and a tin of chopped tomatoes, I topped it up,with water and scattered a couple of table spoons of red lentils on top to thicken it up. I used 250g of mince which is not a great amount but I have padded it out with healthier foods so it will be a win win sauce. Will boil up some pasta when I come home.
I was ready for breakfast and had some left over sweetcorn fritter mix in the fridge so cooked them and had with scrambled egg and smoked salmon.
It was lovely and good on my diet.
I've just had a read of the online paper and went to the money section to have a nose. There is a big article on how to save money which mentions the cost of buying coffee and not taking your own food. They reckon £7 per day on eating out while at work. Please now repeat after me in the voice of Frankie Howard
NOT ON YOUR NELLY.
Us frugal lot could teach them a thing or 20.
Off now to continue being a domestic goddess. Have a super day.
FIB.xxx
The onions are a clever idea! I think a lot has to do with being organised. I am VERY disorganised this week and noticing the difference (not in a good way).
ReplyDeleteHi Sara,
DeleteIt's just that I use them all the time and it seems silly to chop them individually. It's difficult if you work as well to be organised all the time.
FIB. X
Thats a good idea with the onions - I'll try that one - thank you xxx
ReplyDeleteHi Trudie,
DeleteIt saves me loads of time, I'm always using an onion in nearly everything.
FIB. X
As we were talking about ladies the other day, and the lengths they go to, with Boots creams and Superdrug waxes, to look beautiful for us old codgers?
ReplyDeleteThis, on my follower, Valerie's blog, had me in sticthes. :o http://allsortsforallsorts.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/monday-mirth.html
Really funny. :)
Cheers....B
Hi B,
DeleteWill have a look. Am so excited, we actually have sunshine this morning in Bucks. Yes us girls go to great lengths!
Hope weather nice at your end.
FIB. X
I don't go into town very often, but when I do go there always seems to be another coffee shop/ takeaway/ food establishment on the high street, yet other shops have closed down. I would have thought that eating out/ buying coffee etc would be the first thing to cut back on if times were hard, but obviously not in my neck of the woods!
ReplyDeleteI know, same here. All the decent shops seem to go and replaced by fast food and coffee shops.
DeleteFIB. X
You are getting very organised with your freezer and meal planning Sarah, its amazing how spending a little time on preparation can save hours in the kitchen and remove the temptation of ordering a takeaway. Its great for the diet too, I always believed that if I knew today what I would eat tomorrow then half the battle was won!.
ReplyDeleteI find it amazing how much people will spend on having a "nice" costalot coffee, we had a coffee machine at the shop where I worked and some customers would come in 2-3 times a day!! they could have bought a kettle and a bag of mashings in one week and then saved themselves ££££ The trendy coffee shops in town are always full,so someone has plenty money....not me!!!
Karen x
Hi Karen,
DeleteSee you were having grapes for pudding the other night. You are good especially in this cold weather when I crave sticky toffee and custard!
I try to get prep done so when I work long and late I don't have to do much. My slow cooker is invaluable then as well. Our coffee shops are packed, really full, all spending. I can't understand it!
FIB. X
Packed lunches and home cooked is the way forward! Good on you for being so organised!!
ReplyDeleteJo :-)
I am trying, we have saved loads with the packed lunches, must save us £15 a day at least between us.
DeleteFIB. X
Oh and also, we found some pre chopped onion in the yellow label section of morrisons for 9p a pack the other week. There were four servings in each pack. It's been divided up and frozen! Onions need never be purchased again! The freezer is such a good friend!
ReplyDeleteJo :-)
Hi Jo,
DeleteYou are so right. I freeze loads of stuff, all the ends of bread loaves, milk, cheese as well as meal leftovers and batch cooker. Chopped onion and garlic so I can just grab a bit. The ice cube tray is good for garlic, tomato purée, herbs and coconut milk.
FIB. X
Yes, I like the idea of getting organised too. Thanks for the tips.
ReplyDeleteI might pop around for breakfast too, as that looks SO YUMMY!
How are the holiday plans going?
If you want a little treat, Youth Hostels are offering 15% off until the 30th April. Just type in code
SPRING-002
We're members so we saved £6 off cost then a further £5.40. So we are off for a weekend (staying over 1 night) for £24.60-double room, double bed in Norfolk. Result!
We'll be doing it frugal of course!
Sft x
Hi SFT,
DeleteHoliday plans are slow as we are so short staffed at work. We definately fancy your Cornwall trip though it looked great, just what we would like too.
Thanks so much for the tip.
FIB. X
You have to stay before 30th April and book ASAP before deals run out.
ReplyDeleteSft x
X.
DeleteHi, just found your blog via sft and found it great. I am now going to read it from the beginning. Kind regards.
ReplyDeleteHi,
DeleteThanks for popping in, I tried to follow your blog but I can only find the one post. Do you have a current blog?
FIB. X