Oct/Nov 2008 mommies!

Hello ladies

I was reading the posts over the weekend and Leigh you just crack me up! I am definitely praying for yoru Dh and his interview tomorrow.

Ladies, this is the reason why I love you. DH and I were talking about how we can start shopping better. We also just used to throw everthing we WANT into the trolley but now things NEED to change. Thanks for all the tips!

Mandy glad you could spoil yourself and Cam.

Nicole, glad you found someone to make your cake. (pity Leigh doesn't live in East London).

Simone, also praying that G's money comes through soon.

vix, if anyone will be able to handle 3 boys..it will be you! But I am so wishing for a girl..just imagine a little baby girl with C's cheeks.

Julz, Cole was such a nightmare in the shops yesterday that I think I am not taking him shopping until he is 13. I was soo tired when we came back that I actually started feeling sick.

So DH finally painted the walls yesterday morning and I really like the colour but I am not sure if it is the right shade for the curtains. But we still have a lot of the paint left so we will just tint the shade a bit if it looks funny.

Christi great job to you guys on the home imrpovements...our budget is also non-existant so we will try and do most things DIY! and Iris is just too beautiful

Ally, I think a budget special will be really great and you would be just the one to give the budget meals some pazaz (sp)

Lisha congrats on finally starting to wean shrey off the breast. Must be tough but well done on taking the first step.

anyway


back to work for me...sorry if I have missed anyone

Julz, I also buy for the twins from Jet/Pep alot and I buy from Woolies or Edgars VERY rarely lately. ALmost never actually.
I don't mind paying a bit more for their shoes. THose red shoes I bought for Abi has gotten SOO much use that I will buy them again and again because they were so worth it.

I also prefer to buy salad stuff from Woolies as it lasts so much longer and we eat A LOT of fresh veg so W is just a better choice. Ok we eat A LOT of cheese. We buy 1 of the big blocks from Woolies a week or 2 smaller ones from Spar. The problem is also that we like nice cheese. Gouda or Mature Cheddar usually. But that's also my dad's demands. He likes nice cheese. And then he likes me to buy Camembert etc. like twice a month. But that's just the thing, it's his money so he decides what to do with it. I would never be able to afford HALF the stuff my dad wants me to buy if it was just me and C. It also doesn't help that we have a teenage boy in the house that eats 2/3 toasted sandwiches JUST for lunch. Ridiculous!

Vix after I bought Dylan's bedding from the factory shop I realised just how much we could save so now I buy my clothes from pick n pay mostly and then the odd nice treat from woolies etc. I spend money on good shoes though, but only have 5 or 6 pairs. You can only wear one pair at a time hey. Dylan cheapies from ackermans or pep and the odd nice item too. Neil spends money on clothes but he can afford to and he buys 2 pairs of pants every 5 years.

we mainly use the dinner service which equates to R25 per person, but less as we get so much food.

I have realised that even if you can afford it why should you. Some things are just worth paying for like liquid body wash which we insist on using and pears liquie hand soap. Fresh salad good we buy from woolies, pricey, but it lasts longer than f&v.

We also bulk buy cheese, grate and freeze. Stops you from nibbling on it too.

Sadly you tend to need money to be able to bulk buy. Nappies are well priced now, but you need a few bucks to be able to buy quite a few pack like we have done.

I only just got my first cell contract. I hate paying huge cell bills.

We used to have Salmon every week which we no longer have. Take aways are maybe once a week and we hardly eat out as Dylan is a right royal pain in the butt.

Nelria, yay on the weight loss, can't wait to meet Xen!

Lol at the poor little guy falling asleep during play...

Vix, I'm not offended at all. I Know that if we didn't live with my dad C and i would be cooking like that too. Even more so I think. But I have changed my shopping style quite a lot. I used to buy EVERYTHING at Spar or Woolies. Now I buy all the dry goods, toiletries and household stuff at Checkers which saves us about R1000 a trolley. Then I buy meat at the butcher/Spar and SOMETIMES at Woolies but mostly just lamb mince. And then I buy milk from Spar because I just prefer their milk. I wish there was a F&V closer to me. It takes me 15 minutes just to get to the damn F&V in Centurion.

Oh, and although I say I use butter, I actually use Wooden Spoon a lot. IF I had butter I would use it but I buy Wooden Spoon for baking because it's cheap and I like the taste of it in baking so I use it in a lot of soups etc. I very seldom actually buy butter. I've just read alot about recipe writing and butter is a favourite to a lot of international people so that's why I say butter and not marg. Also in foodie circles, marg is a big no-no.

I'm trying to cook with cream less and less. I use milk a lot now and sometimes ideal milk. Not only for the price but for the fat content. I used to make soup JUST with cream. NO STOCK. Can you imagine?

Oh, and I know Ready Steady Cook! I used to love that show. Ainsley Harriott is one of my favs.

I've already gotten so many ideas online for budget cooking so I'll definitely be doing a few weeks on it. Maybe I'll do a budget month or something.

Vix, I love the way you buget & save!!!
We also rarely go to Spar, only to get bread in the evenings cause they are closest and cheaper than the cafe's. But for the rest of our shopping we usually go to P'nP or Checkers or Makro.

Simone- that is exactly what I do, I buy a pumpkin, butternuts etc from F&V and get them to peel and chop for free. When I get home I seperate it into bags for 2 people (out of a white pumpkin I usually get about 8 bags) and freeze it. When F&V has a special on mushrooms it's usually like 3 for R20 so for that week we eat Murooms the whole time but it makes a nice treat. My F&V also sells bacon bits at a 3rd of the price of back bacon so I usually buy a pack of bacon bit for R7 and use that to make pasta, I just pull out the really fatty bits. It works, it's not as nice as cooking with back bacon but even when on special @ R18 it's slightly too expensive for us really but I do treat us occasionally. I buy a bulk pack of singulally wrapped chicken fillets from F&V which usually costs R100 for the tray but there's about 16 fillets I think. Also the Goulash I buy bulk. I just make everything into small packets and freeze. Mince, I ask them to pack in bags of 400g which does a dinner for the 3 of us. Mmmm what else do I get from F&V, oh yeah milk! I buy own container milk (I use 2l coke bottles) at R5 per litre which is great because C drinks so much. We use about 2l milk a day. I go down there with 8-10 2l bottles and get them filled every week then I just freeze them in the deep freezer and make sure I take it out to defrost before I go to bed. I also buy my cheddar from there because it's rarely over R50 per kg, if there's a special on for R42 or so then I buy loads and what isn't vaccum packed I grate and freeze for when I make cheese sauce.

Julz- funny you should mention about the mexican, I made chilli last night and I always just use a tin of baked beans and spice it up. LOL

O.k do you think I've managed to show what a tight ass I am? LOL when I met Elwyn we would buy a packet from the spar every day to the value of R150 min, wow how we've changed our lifestyle, I only go to the spar in emergencies because it's a bit pricey.