We think that the freezer should be every food lover’s best friend!   It’s a great tool for preserving food, sealing in freshness and keeping tasty meals to hand, which can save us time and money and help to reduce food waste.

Follow our hints and tips to make the most of your freezer.

• You can freeze almost any food (including hard cheese, eggs, bread, home made meals, cakes) although some foods do not freeze as well as others. The structure of some foods with a high water content like lettuce and tomatoes will change when frozen, however these can still be frozen and used for soups and sauces, rather than throwing them away.
• Food doesn’t have to be frozen on the day of purchase. It can be frozen at any point up to the end of its “use by” date.
• Food should be cooled before transferring into the freezer otherwise the heat from the food will warm the freezer up causing it to use more energy. Let it cool on the side, wrap up well and label, before transferring it into the freezer.
• There is no need to thaw vegetables before cooking, simply steam or boil from frozen for 5-10 minutes, depending on the variety.
• You can freeze home grown produce, simply top and tail and blanche for 2-3 minutes before plunging into cold water and drain. Freeze flat to avoid “clumping” – once frozen solid they can be bagged in portions to save space. Soft fruit can be frozen whole, or pureed first and frozen for use in drinks or sorbet.
• It’s best to defrost food gradually in the fridge so it keeps cool until you are ready to cook it. Try to put frozen food in the fridge the night before you intend to eat it and it should be defrosted in time for tea. Use it within two days. It is also safe to defrost at room temperature provided you intend to eat it as soon as it’s thawed.
• Frozen raw meat or fish can be defrosted, cooked thoroughly then frozen again. Take care to defrost thoroughly and re-heat until piping hot. Remember, food should never be reheated more than once.
• If uncooked food has been defrosted by accident don’t try to pop it back in the freezer – cook it and either eat it, or re-freeze it, as above.
• You can keep food safely in the freezer for years, as long as it has stayed frozen the whole time. However, it will gradually lose its quality and taste, so avoid “stockpiling” by planning to eat frozen foods more often so you don’t forget what’s in there and “rotate” older foods to the front so they can be used up first.
• For a stress free dinner at a later date, try cooking batches of dishes such as chilli, curry or stew, and freeze them in handy portion sizes. Make sure you reheat your food until it’s piping hot.

photo credit – http://www.flickr.com/photos/sporkist/

1.  Make a shopping list

2. When was the last time you went to the market?
One way to beat the supermarkets – that is, to eat healthily for less – is to use your local market stall. Lower overheads should mean lower prices. At the time of writing, cherries were on sale in Asda for £2.99 for 400g, the equivalent at the local market was going for just over £1.
Saving: £100+

3. Consider own-brand goods
You can buy a tin of Asda own-brand baked beans for 14p and a loaf bread at Asda, Tesco or Sainsbury’s for 19p. Enough said.
Saving: £100

4. Don’t buy designer labels
Celebrities are given expensive clothes to wear. You’re not. At the end of the day, and let’s face it you may only wear the outfit once, can you justify paying hundreds of pounds over the odds because a top designer has had his or her name sewn on the label? And can you honestly say you can tell the difference at a distance between a £600 designer bag and a £9.99 one from the market? Think about it.
Saving: £100s

5. Sell your clutter on eBay
Take this quick test: You’re at home. Open a cupboard. Look inside. If it’s full of clothes you haven’t worn, or ‘good ideas a the time’ you haven’t used, for, let’s say, three years – you don’t need them. So why not sell them to someone else who does? Ebay, the online auction house, has opened individual sellers to a world of buyers. And you can flog anything for the cost of a small commission. Tip: you may want to buy a few items first to build up your rating as a respectable eBayer before you start selling.
Income: Will depend on what’s in your cupboard

6. Use your talent to earn extra cash
Let’s face it, if you’re not a pop star by the time you reach your 20s you’re never going to be. But you may be able to use your talent as a guitarist to teach other wannabes the rudiments of the 12-bar blues.
Income: It’s not unreasonable to charge £20 an hour

7. Do DIY
We’re a nation of obsessive DIYers and for around £100 you can take a course at your local adult education college to improve the skills needed to tackle most household repairs. If the college runs plumbing courses you could soon be on track to wiping out costly call-out charges and extra insurance policies once and for all.
Saving: £100+

8. Shop around for the cheapest household insurance
Unless you drive – car insurance is mandatory – you don’t need insurance. But it’s strongly advisable. Can you afford to foot the bill if your house burns down? Probably not. Similarly, can you afford to pay over the odds for the same policy available elsewhere because you can’t be bothered to shop around? Possibly, but it’s not advisable. The internet has made finding cheaper insurance easy and you can compare hundreds of policies in minutes.
Saving: £100s

9. Choose cheaper breakdown insurance

The breakdown sector is dominated by big names such as the AA and RAC. But being towed home if your car breaks down is just another form of insurance like any other and there are scores of cheaper alternatives.
Saving: Up to £100 a year

10. Are you paying too much for your life insurance?
We’re living longer. As a result the cost of insuring the unthinkable is getting cheaper all the time. If you were sold a policy when you took out or mortgage you may have been under too much stress to shop around. You could be missing a trick.
Saving: £100

11. Book early
Low-cost airlines have created a market in holidays for people prepared to fly to any destination provided it’s cheap. You can benefit from this too. Just remember, only a few seats on each flight are sold at bargain-basement prices and once they’re sold, the prices rise. So book early.
Saving: £100

12. Book your own ‘package’ holiday online
The popularity of High Street travel agents is waning as more and more people warm to the benefits of researching and putting together their own holidays on the internet. If your holiday consists of flights, accommodation, transfers and possibly car hire, then take this test. Order a brochure from a leading holiday company and work out the price of your holiday including all the complicated supplements. Now go online and, starting with the flights, try to put the same package together.
Saving: £100+

13. Don’t pay full price for theatre or theme park tickets

If you are prepared to tolerate the unwieldy website and hit-and-miss customer service, lastminute.com regularly boasts some amazing deals for London’s theatres and the nation’s theme parks. At the time of writing you can see top West End show The Producers plus a two-course meal for less than £20 a head, a saving of £60 per person, and tickets for Chessington World of Adventures cost from £12, a saving of nearly £50 for a day out for a family of four.
Saving: £100s

14. Stop trying to keep up with the Joneses

Trying to keep up appearances is little more than a costly illness. Remember, you cannot judge someone by what they have because you don’t know how they got it. Chances are they’re in more debt than you are.
Saving: £1,000s

15. Ask yourself: do I really need this?

Imagine the scenario. It’s lunchtime and you’ve got an hour to kill. You find yourself in a department store and there’s a sale on. You pick up a beautifully packaged selection of barbecue tools and associated garden paraphernalia. And it’s half price. Now, stop! Ask yourself: Do I really need this? Exactly. Now, put it down and walk away.
Saving: £100

16. Walk/cycle to the station/work
It maybe a bit of hippie notion to many people but it’s free.
Saving: £100

17. Cut down your drinking

A few beers after work a few nights a week is a financially debilitating state of affairs. Set limits and stick to them.
Saving: £100s

18. Pack up smoking
Never mind the health implications, the guilt and the smell, your 20-a-day habit is costing you nearly £2,000 a year. Pack it in.
Saving: Nearly £2,000

19. Use your library

The local library is a mecca for the money saver. You’ll never need to buy another cookbook, guidebook or lifestyle manual again and if you can bear to wait a few weeks in the queue for the latest blockbuster, you never need to buy books again. CDs and videos are great value too.
Saving: £100

20. Claim your benefits and tax credits

There was once a certain stigma in Britain attached to claiming benefits. Well, not any more. The Government has put benefits at the heart of the family budget and it’s your money so make sure you’re claiming it. That includes Child Benefit, Working Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit and other employee-related tax benefits.
Saving: £100s

Photo Credit – http://www.flickr.com/photos/alancleaver/

Some of the best buys include:

Johnson’s baby toiletries from only £1 each, Nappies from £8.00 f0r a mega box and deals on baby wipes.  There are some great deals on baby essential buys such as a microwave bottle steriliser, car seats and dummies.  There are even potties for toilet training at only £1 so you can buy one for each bathroom and an extra for grandmas too !

1) Homemade Christmas cards are lovely especially if you have children, they can draw a picture, stick on some stickers and cover everything in glitter.  Try ebay for blank cards from only 10p each.  There are lots of ideas for you to try at Activity Village or have a look around the house for craft bits and pieces to use up.

2)  Christmas decorations can also be fun to make, an old favourite that is easy to make is Paper Snowflakes.  The site  Paper Snowflakes  has all the information you could ever need about making your own snowflakes with hundreds of patterns – take a look and you could have a great display in no time.

3)  Paper Lanterns are another fun make for the house.  You can make two lanterns out of one A4-sized sheet of paper. You could use coloured paper, but it is much more fun to take white paper and decorate your own.   Next cut the paper in half lengthways and cut a strip off the end and put it aside to make the handle. Fold in half again lengthways and make evenly spaced cuts in the paper along the folded edge to about 1cm or ½” form the edge, then unfold the paper.

If you want to decorate your lanterns with glitter, sequins or shiny stickers this would be the time to go for it!  Finally roll it into a cylinder. You can staple, glue or sticky tape it in place, and finally attach the handle to either side. The finished lanterns could be hung on a Christmas tree separately or stapled to a string to form a garland.

4)  Gift tags are another thing you can make quite cheaply and give the  personal touch.  There are lots of examples to download here and some home-made examples here.

What ever you decide to create have a very Merry Christmas!

Now I am not the biggest fan of buying the “latest” toy as they often seem to be overpriced, plastic and with limited appeal.

The latest toy for 2009 seems to be the go go hamsters. Now my daughters have seen them advertised and think they are a great idea but then they do seem to like anything shown on TV !!  This time however I thought I would take a look and see what all the fuss was about.

“New Go GO Hamsters are set to take the interactive toy market by storm. Go Go Hamsters are not your standard plush hamster toys, Go Go Hamsters interact with their surroundings and come equipped with some technological wizardry which allows them to talk and navigate around your home. GO GO Hamsters are also very lovable, cute and come in four different colours and characters.”

Now all this sounds great I hear you say, but how much are they?  £30, £40 no they are only £10 each. 

Now to me this sounds very reasonable, maybe even a bargain!  They problem is the accessories, there are lots of fab things to buy from skateboards, cars and carriers so this is probably where they make their money.

So if you want to give a fun presents, that doesn’t cost the earth you had better get your skates on as they are selling out fast.   The last time I checked there were still some hamsters at Tesco Direct but no funhouses to be had anywhere!

Update 10th November – There are still a few chunk’s left at Play.com

Bonfire Night calls for some warming food and can easily be done on a budget. 

Firstly find out the details of your nearest local bonfire display – try this list from the Telegraph  or check out your local newspaper.  Most displays are free so wrap up warm and set off for some fun.  You will save £££s on fireworks and have a safe adn spectacular display to watch.

When you get back have some warming food prepared such as chilli hot dogs – see recipe below, soup or baked potates.  Finish off with hot chocolate and marshmallows and you are done! 

Enjoy your night!

Chilli for Chilli Dogs
Enough for 4-6 hot dogs
2 tbsp sunflower oil 
250g minced beef
1 clove of garlic
1 tbsp tomato paste
2 level tsp mild chilli powder
200g tin or 1/2 a 400g tin of tomatoes 
Salt
Heat a frying pan for about 3 minutes over a moderate heat. Add the oil then, when it’s hot, tip in the mince and break it up in the pan. Keep frying and turning it for about 2-3 minutes until it has browned then tip away the excess fat. Add the tomato paste and mix well with the meat then add the garlic and chilli powder. Stir and mix well. Tip the the tomatoes, breaking down any whole tomatoes with a fork. Season with salt and simmer for about 15 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes before using.

image by freeimageslive.co.uk – fmanto

There are lots to choose from but today we are going to take a closer look at Kelkoo as it is one of the more established sites and is easy to navigate.

There are a wide range of categories including baby and nursery and flights. You can either search by the category or if you know exactly what you want you can type in the name. Once you are in the right area you can refine your search by price or by more specific categories.

So if we are looking for DS for our kids christmas we can type in “Nintendo DS” but this gives us alomst 10000 results!! We can then refine it by typing in “Nintendo DS Console” and then clicking on the game console category on the right and we only have 194 results left! You can then sort by most popular or ascending price to find the best deal for you.

1. Turn your heating down by 1 degree. 
2. Is your water too hot? Your cylinder thermostat should be set at 60°C/140°F.
3. Wash your clothes at 30 degrees or lower.  Now if you have very mucky kids I would suggest buying some pre-wash stain remover or you will just end upwashing things twice!
4. If possible, fill up the washing machine, tumble dryer or dishwasher: one full load uses less energy than two half loads.
5. Shower rather than take a bath.
6. Hang clothes out to dry instead of using the tumble dryer.
7. Check your tyre pressure so that less fuel is used.
8. Clear all your clutter out of the car and the boot so you burn less fuel.
9. Turn off appliances and lights when not in use.
10. Use an energy comparison site like Uswitch to ensure you are not paying too much for your energy.

Find out what grants may be available to make your home more energy saving.   There are grants available for loft and cavity wall insulation for many homes.   Check the Energy Saving Trust to see if you can save.

Homemade play dough

This is really easy to make and the making is part of the fun.  Try and split the dough into a few pieces if you have more than one child and they can each make their own colours.  It keeps well in a sealed container in the fridge, you may need to knead it and add a little more flour when you take it out.

Your will need:

• 3/4 cup of salt
• 1 cup of flour
• 1 tablespoon of oil
• 3/4 to I cup of boiling water from the kettle.

Mix the dry ingredients together and add the water.  Start with 3/4 of a cup of water and add more as required.  Add a few drops of your favourite colour to the water or you can knead it in later if you want a few different colours.

Paper cutting

There are lots of sites with templates for you to use.  I would suggest starting with little people or snowflakes and see how it goes!  Paper aeroplanes are also ever popular. 

http://www.scissorcraft.com

http://www.papersnowflakes.com

http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/origami_for_kids.htm

http://www.paperairplanes.co.uk - Lots of instructions and videos for the little ones to watch. 

Sports Day

This is my daughters favourite rainy day activity.  We set up an obstacle course in the house, they make a slide off the spare bed and generally get rid of excess energy. 

Before you start you can do some arts and crafts and can print out a great set of badges and medals from cbeebies and their fimbles site here.  You can colour them in and decorate the winners trophy.

Some of our favourite games are:

• An obstacle course with a blanket to crawl under, chairs to climb over and stairs to bump down on bottoms.  You can tailor this to the age of your children and their abilities.
• Skittles with empty plastic bottles and beanbags.
• Beanbag throwing into baskets and pots.
• Musical pots and pans (if you can stand the noise!)