Live Well For Less At Home!
This time of year is all about festive food, drink, cheer and spending time with those who mean the most to us. After a costly few months it’s important to have family fun on a low budget so try some of these cheap and cheerful ideas and live well for less.
Get The Cooking Aprons Out
With all the family gatherings over Christmas it can sometimes be difficult to get the kids enthusiastic so why not cook up some delicious gingerbread men together? All you’ll need is…
350g/12oz plain flour, plus extra for rolling out
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
125g/4½oz butter
175g/6oz light soft brown sugar
1 free-range egg
4 tbsp golden syrup
To prepare Sift together the flour, bicarbonate of soda, ginger and cinnamon and pour into the bowl or a food processor. Add the butter and blend until the mix looks like breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar.
Lightly beat the egg and golden syrup together, add to the food processor and pulse until the mixture clumps together. Tip the dough out, knead until smooth, wrap in cling film and leave in the fridge for 15 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. Line two baking trays with greaseproof paper. Roll the dough out to a 0.5cm/¼in thickness on a lightly floured surface. Using cutters cut out the gingerbread men shapes and place on the baking tray, leaving a gap between them.
Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until lightly golden-brown. Leave on the tray for 10 minutes and then move to a wire rack to finish cooling. When cooled decorate how you like!
This recipe will feed 20 and you can decorate them with anything you like from chocolate to icing. The fun doesn’t stop at making them though, the kids will have fun showing the off and giving them out to guests and family.
Get Your Hands Dirty
This idea will benefit you all year round and you’ll have just as much fun as the kids!
Making your own mini herb gardens together will get the kids excited about decorating the pots and you’ll get to use fresh herbs in your cooking.
All you’ll need is…
Small planting pots (any kind)
Paint
Glitter
Glue
Colouring pens
Soil
Some herbs to plant
The great thing about this is that you can use any materials and most things you’ll already have around the house. Once the kids have decorated their pots the way they like them, leave them to dry if they need it and then get ready to plant your herbs.
Make sure you’ve decided which herbs are going in which pot and that it’s written on somewhere so that you don’t forget! Then fill the pots with some soil and pack in your herbs so that the roots are fully covered in soil. Finally, give the herbs a watering and you’re good to go.
You can also make it in to a little competition between the kids of whose grows faster and bigger. Teach them how to keep it healthy and it’ll become a little hobby which they can take forward in life with them.
Prolong The Festivities
It’s always nice to be thankful, especially during the festive period so why not send out homemade thank you cards this year? There are so many ways you could do this so here are a few ideas…
If you don’t mind getting your hands dirty then you can always let the kids have free reign with the glitter, glue and feathers.
Really simple, just buy a few different colours of card, cut them into whatever size you like and then get gluing!
With kids who have got past the glitter glue phase, try something a bit more creative and less messy.
If you’ve kept hold of some of the wrapping paper from Christmas then why not all draw something on the side without the print then cut out what you've drawn and stick them all on a card. If you all write a personal message under your cut out it will make the card extra special and it will look brilliantly unique! The best thing is, each one you send out will be different from the last.
If you’re a high-tech family and love your gadgets then why not make a collage on the computer and print them out? You could do a general one or ones with individually picked relevant photos.
A great idea is to take all the pictures you took over Christmas and collage them together and then inside the card put of a picture of you holding the gift which was sent to you by the person you’re thanking. It adds that lovely personal touch and they’ll see how grateful you are.
If Your Kids Aren’t Kids Anymore
It can sometimes be difficult to think of fun family activities when your kids have grown up and left home so here are a few thoughts for when they return to the nest…
Have a potluck dinner, invite everyone home and ask him or her each to bring something with them. It could be anything from a bottle of wine to a hearty casserole.
The aim of this is to spread the cost and the workload so that it isn’t just being landed on one person.
It’s fun because there will be a mix of cuisine and food is always a good conversation starter, then you have the rest of the evening to catch up and be merry.
You could also make your own liqueur together. It’s so much cheaper than buying it in, just as delicious and allows you to spend some quality time together.
This one is a fruity one but you could make any, just have a root around the internet and magazines for ideas. Here’s the Crème de Cassis recipe…
You’ll need:
1.5kg blackcurrants
2 litres of red wine (preferably California Merlot)
1.5kg sugar (a little more if you have a sweet tooth!)
70cl unflavoured vodka
Some empty glass bottles
Muslin bag (really cheap from any good kitchenware supplier)
After you’ve washed the blackcurrants and cut off the stems and other unwanted bits put them in a large pan and mash until they have all burst and there is lots of juice. Pour the red wine in and stir well, then cover and leave to steep for 48 hours, stirring from time to time.
Pop on some plastic gloves and put the mixture through the muslin bag, this could take a while so be patient.
Be sure to squeeze the bag at the end to get all the liquid out!
Pour the juice into a pan and add the sugar, stir well and then heat it up gently until the liquid is very hot (not boiling) and the sugar has dissolved. Turn the heat to just under simmering and leave until the juice turns syrupy.
Give your liqueur a taste, add more sugar if you think it needs it, if not then leave it to cool.
Once it has grab your glass bottles, pour in the liqueur and you’re finished! You’ll get the best taste out of it when it’s been matured for 12 months so why not have one bottle now and save the rest for next Christmas?
So there you have it, plenty of ways to live well for less at home! Sainsbury’s have loads of other ideas so just follow this link for ideas: http://www.sainsburys-live-well-for-less.co.uk/about-live-well-for-less/.
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