Oct/Nov 2008 mommies!

Leigh I forgot to say good luck with your hubby's interviews! Will hold fingers crossed!

Can't chat much, on phone and brought books to work to study.

Ally I also like nice food with cream and different cheeses, etc. But like I now use 1 x 250ml cream for 3 dishes instead of one... So it doesn't have to be pichard curry...(I don't care how poor I get I ain't eating that.lol). so just find a way to put a budget spin on your current ideas. Maybe a challenge...revamp old 'expensive' dishes with cheaper ingredients? I'm sure u'll come up with something!

Nelria that is a great idea. I used to buy woolies desserts now I bake my own cupcakes and puddings....which I never used to do! So I should look at vetkoek! the spar by us sells for 2,50 per vetkoek...so I told 5 if we buy 2 to 4 of them we sorted for supper one night...but I don't have R10 so maybe I can try and make from scratch! Awesome idea!

Christi that book sounds great! Iris is so cute!!!!!!

Lisha shreyan to clever for u! Lol. I'm sure the aloe is fine. We haven't gone to see baby yet...they in public hospital and no visitors allowed except dad in specific visiting slots.

Ok gotta hit the books. Later:-)

Oh Lisha! Sorry almost forgot, Maybe DH can give Shrey something nice to drink like Milo when he decides your noo nies are yucky and maybe he'll start to associate Daddy with 'nice' drinking? Just a thought, don't know if or how it'll work but maybe worth a try. Remember you once said about Deo? I caught C with my roll on last week, licking the ball gross but obviously not nasty enough so don't think that would work either.

Hi Leigh, when I 1st saw the garage doors I honestly thought my DH was MAD!! But we unfortunately have a very tight (actually a non existent) budget for all the fixing up / renovating at the new house So after loads of hard labour the past week, I think they came out very nice and at a 1/4 of the price of new ones...

Ally- If you don't mind I will just add a little advice for your budget cooking blog, please don't take it the wrong way, I thoroughly understand that when your dad buys groceries it's easier to cook extravagant but I don't make very many of your recepies because they're usually too pricey for my budget, I get R2000 a month tro spend on everything from nappies to toothpaste including food and milk so I'm sure you can imagine how cheaply I have to cook. Please try not to use any what I would class as 'luxuaries' like butter (we only can afforsd Marg) cream (don't think we've had any since christmas) Lamb is a very expensive meat, steak is usually off the menu, wine also. As Nelria mentioned anything that has a flour egg and milk base is a great cheap meal, pasta is always good because it's filling and cheap, mushrooms are one of the more expensive veggies, I only buy those when they're R6.95 on special at F&V but I for one would really love any meal ideas with butternut or pumpkin other than soup. If I think of more budget pointers I'll post again but my mind is blank with C jumping all over me. I usually try to cook for about R25 per head just as a guideline. Oh yeah for summer quiches work out nice and cheap!

Christi- Iris is looking very sweet, can't wait to see our dainty princess on Saturday!

Leigh- hope you feel better soon! Fx (fingers crossed) for DH's interview!

Ally- especially now pregnant I am desperately searching for quick dinners, I suddenly remembered yesterday, there's a tv programme in England called ready steady cook and they cook a 3 course meal in 10 min and on a budget. The contestants bring a bag of food to the value of say R100 and the celeb chef works his magic. Maybe you can get some ideas from their website. I'm going to go have a look again later.

We had a terrible night, C had me awake from 1.30 til 3am when I eventually shouted at him, he was so still after that even though he lay awake eyes wide open but not making a peep LOL

My tummy is so so sensitive around the belly button, I suddenly remembered having it with C but I'm sure it was a lot later than 14w but I suppose my uterus has now stretched very big already.

Nelria- sure bring the fabric along on saturday and we can chat about the suit. I have remembered I need to bring the Arm-inz for you!

I have to get to work now guys, we had so many power cuts last week I'm really behind and this weekend DH didn't want to let me work (he says I should be taking it easy) so now I'm a bit swamped.

Leigh, I'm also not mad about Tuna but my dad asked for it one night and it was actually really delish. I was sooo hesitant on trying it but it was nice.

Christi, SO glad you liked the butternut soup. It's one of my favs too!

I bought a fabulous book a year or 2 back, unfortunately its afrikaans... Gesinskos, 'n jaarplan spaarplan

It has a menu worked out for dinner each day of the week and a shopping list for each month for all the items needed for that months menu. I used to change our menu around a bit and then only bought the ingredients neccesary for the meals I wanted to make and it really saved us money. When I started working the whole thing went a bit haywire, as a lot of their meals need to go into the oven for an hour or more and it just takes toooo much time if you only get home at 5:30/6.
I want to start doing the same think with quick recipies and make up my own shopping lists for the month, I found it really saves us money & time to buy the dry goods once off.

Oh and I found that lasagne is a real budget saver. I use about 300g mince add veg and make a big lasagne and hubby & I can eat at least twice!
And I don't buy F&Monis any more, found a much nicer lasagne for a better price (cant remember the name now, sorry).

OOoh, Ally, made the butternut soup yesterday! It was delicious!!!