Hello, is anyone there?
That was an unintentional break! Still lots of frugal activities going on in the Frugal Mammy household, but we have taken our eye off the ball slightly and need to get focused again!
When I started this blog, back in February, things were quite tough here. My husband had not long been made redundant and was working part time. Money was very tight indeed! Happily this is no longer the case :) We are by no means well off, but things are not as precarious as they were.
For such a long time we had been struggling so it has been quite nice to be able to relax a little. However, we have got big plans for the future so we need to focus our attentions on being frugal again :)
So, we didnt go completely mad. We were still doing a lot of the things we were doing before, like using cloth nappies and keeping chickens (we have 3 now), but we were getting a bit lapse about menu planning and food shopping so this has to change :)
Me and Mr Mischief are going into town shortly to pick up a few odds and sods. We need loo roll, dog biscuits, custard, broccoli, cheese and pineapple. I will get the cheese and broccoli at lidl (much cheaper than Tesco or Sainsbury's) and the rest of my list I should be able to get at Home Bargains.
Tea tonight is gammon steaks (2 packs of 2 steaks for £4 at Sainsbury's), jacket potatoes, tinned pineapple and broccoli. Pudding will be Eve's pudding, made using apples from the garden and eggs from the chooks :)
Right, I've rambled enough. Off to town...
Wednesday, 28 August 2013
Wednesday, 27 February 2013
Today's plans
It's a lovely sunny day here in North Shropshire so I have nappies drying out on the line rather than in the tumble dryer, which always makes me smile :) It is a bit cold so they might not dry completely but at least they will be in the dryer for only a short time!
Hubby will be back home from work soon so we will have a spot of lunch (soup and a butty) before the three of us head out to town to do a few errands. He's just rung me to say he is bringing some pallets home from work so that is good as we will have some free kindling for the fire :) I have a ton of stuff I am going to list on ebay so when we get back from town I will start on that and get at least some of it listed as it is in boxes in my hallway at the moment and getting on my nerves.
Tea tonight is chilli from the freezer and nachos with dips so we will have that and then cosy up in front of the fire and watch "Child of our Time", which has followed the lives of 25 children born at the millennium. I've watched it since it began and have found it really lovely to watch all the children grown and change so I'm looking forward to seeing this latest instalment :)
Hubby will be back home from work soon so we will have a spot of lunch (soup and a butty) before the three of us head out to town to do a few errands. He's just rung me to say he is bringing some pallets home from work so that is good as we will have some free kindling for the fire :) I have a ton of stuff I am going to list on ebay so when we get back from town I will start on that and get at least some of it listed as it is in boxes in my hallway at the moment and getting on my nerves.
Tea tonight is chilli from the freezer and nachos with dips so we will have that and then cosy up in front of the fire and watch "Child of our Time", which has followed the lives of 25 children born at the millennium. I've watched it since it began and have found it really lovely to watch all the children grown and change so I'm looking forward to seeing this latest instalment :)
Tuesday, 26 February 2013
Frugal bums!
One of the frugal things we do here is to use cloth nappies. Lots of reasons for that, but one of the reasons is to save money! A pack of pampers costs £10, whereas my entire cloth nappy stash has cost us less than £80 and can be used on more than one child (in fact many of our nappies are onto their second baby already!)
We like to use fleece liners in the nappies because they are nice and soft and they also act as "stay dry" layer. These can be bought online, but I begrudge paying out money for these when I have mountains of fleece in my sewing cupboard! This afternoon I have sat down with a fleece blanket from ikea which set me back the princely sum of £1.59 and have cut it up to make liners. I got 40 liners from the blanket so each one has cost me just 4p, bargain :)
We like to use fleece liners in the nappies because they are nice and soft and they also act as "stay dry" layer. These can be bought online, but I begrudge paying out money for these when I have mountains of fleece in my sewing cupboard! This afternoon I have sat down with a fleece blanket from ikea which set me back the princely sum of £1.59 and have cut it up to make liners. I got 40 liners from the blanket so each one has cost me just 4p, bargain :)
"That thing in the roasting tin"
Last night we had for our tea one of our favourite frugal meals. It costs less than a couple of quid for two hearty portions and is very tasty. My mam used to make this when we were kids and she got the recipe from a book my infant school produced to raise funds.
To make that thing in the roasting tin you will need:
A roasting tin (I usually use an oven proof dish tbh)
Some butter or marg.
Potatoes (I used 6 medium sized ones for the two of us)
Onions (we only had two small ones so I used both of them, but usually I would use two bigger ones)
A pack of streaky bacon
Pepper to season (you don't need salt as the bacon is salty)
Method:
Butter the ovenproof dish so the potatoes don't stick!
Peel and slice the potatoes into slices about half a cm thick
Peel and slice the onions
Layer the potatoes and onions in the dish, alternating layers and starting and ending with a layer of potatoes
After each potato layer season with pepper
For the top layer, use the streaky bacon. We used the full pack because the date was yesterday so we were greedy! :)
Cover with foil and bake in the oven at 190c for 1 hour, take the foil off and cook uncovered for a further 30 minutes
Enjoy! :)
To make that thing in the roasting tin you will need:
A roasting tin (I usually use an oven proof dish tbh)
Some butter or marg.
Potatoes (I used 6 medium sized ones for the two of us)
Onions (we only had two small ones so I used both of them, but usually I would use two bigger ones)
A pack of streaky bacon
Pepper to season (you don't need salt as the bacon is salty)
Method:
Butter the ovenproof dish so the potatoes don't stick!
Peel and slice the potatoes into slices about half a cm thick
Peel and slice the onions
Layer the potatoes and onions in the dish, alternating layers and starting and ending with a layer of potatoes
After each potato layer season with pepper
For the top layer, use the streaky bacon. We used the full pack because the date was yesterday so we were greedy! :)
Cover with foil and bake in the oven at 190c for 1 hour, take the foil off and cook uncovered for a further 30 minutes
Enjoy! :)
Sunday, 24 February 2013
Who is the Frugal Mammy?
Hello and welcome to my blog :)
I'm Frugal Mammy and I live with my husband, toddler son, dog, cat and two chickens in a teeny, tiny village in the beautiful (albeit cold at the moment!) county of Shropshire. I am a mostly stay at home mammy to our son and work at weekends on a farm. My husband was made redundant last year and although he has been lucky enough to find a job, it does not pay well and we are now in the situation where we have an income that is much less than before. We had a very rough start to 2013 and the only way is up!
It's not all doom and gloom though! We are very resourceful and have a nice life on not much money. I intend for this blog to be a place for me to record our adventures, menu plans, spending, veggie growing, chicken keeping, crafty endeavours and other frugal activities. I also hope to set myself some frugal challenges to help us work towards our goals and have fun on the way :)
I'm Frugal Mammy and I live with my husband, toddler son, dog, cat and two chickens in a teeny, tiny village in the beautiful (albeit cold at the moment!) county of Shropshire. I am a mostly stay at home mammy to our son and work at weekends on a farm. My husband was made redundant last year and although he has been lucky enough to find a job, it does not pay well and we are now in the situation where we have an income that is much less than before. We had a very rough start to 2013 and the only way is up!
It's not all doom and gloom though! We are very resourceful and have a nice life on not much money. I intend for this blog to be a place for me to record our adventures, menu plans, spending, veggie growing, chicken keeping, crafty endeavours and other frugal activities. I also hope to set myself some frugal challenges to help us work towards our goals and have fun on the way :)
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