Living richly; simply and debt-freely

18485878990179

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  • Greying_Pilgrim
    Greying_Pilgrim Posts: 5,337
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    edited 23 June 2015 at 9:30PM
    Good Evening :hello:

    Today has been.... um, full of conflicting-ness. Let's move on.

    In MSE :money: news, I bagged some YS'd celery in mrW. Organic, grown by 'is Royal Highness on a Duchee farm :j I shall be sure to eat it with my pinky finger extended out to the correct degree of poshness as I munch :D

    Dinner was BBQ lentils over rice rather than millet (had that before - t'was yummy :D) and in a nod to the Bye & Bye bar we went with the optional avocado :j - joeyjimbles, what with the avocado and organic celery leaf, i'm getting the hang of this 'ipster malarkey! :rotfl:

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    However, for desert, we came right back home to Blighty :D I had the nod that some garden grown, picked today, Strawberries were headed my way :D So, pondering whether to please in need of direction by whipping up a batch of custard :think: or to please myself with a block of 'old-fashioned' ice-cream :think: I decided to go with the :cool: option and opted for ice-cream :j (DP would have been happy either way :rotfl:) What ice-cream do you think is suitable for consumption at Greying Towers??? I think the marketeers may have been reading the strapline to this thread......

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    So I present garden grown, British strawberries with vanilla icecream.........

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    Summer on a plate :D

    Today I am grateful for these 3 things;

    timing

    beautiful garden grown strawberries

    lovely cloud forms at sunset

    Thanks for popping by and reading. I greatly appreciate it.

    See y'all later.

    Greying x
    Pounds for Panes £2,300/£10,000 - start date Dec 2023

    Coins for Camping (March) -  £7/£15  (Camping TTD - £45/90)

    Grocery spend March £174.96/215  Charity Blankets completed 1/24


  • joeyjimbles
    joeyjimbles Posts: 2,214
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    What beautiful strawberries, I hope they tasted as delicious as they look.

    See, I knew you could be a Hipster if you wanted to be one - I am more and more convinced that you could do anything. Fancy running for office - I'll vote for you in a heartbeat?

    Have just finished the Project of Doom - and decided that whilst the additional funds are very welcome, it does not pay enough for the time commitment and frankly stress that it requires. I had an episode of reactive depression caused by workplace bullying a long time ago, for the most part I am fine now but some projects can cause me to get unnerved. This project is very exacting in some regards but with a very woolly brief and a tight deadline and it causes me some anxiety. So when it comes around again in a few months I shall be declining unless the fee is seriously increased.
    Sorry, I appear to have had something of an epiphany on your thread Greying but I've only just worked the above out, and I feel much better for doing so. I will toddle off for a dog walk now.
    NF 04.24 £18.00/£00.00 £72.00/£72.00

    LD 11.24 £500.00/£220.00 (44%)    INS 12.24 £600.00/£000.00
    Renewal 24 £400.00/£400.00      Renewal 25 £450.00/£035.00     NPt 12.24 £250.00/£080.95
    FD £3600.00/£0900.00                 X24 £1500.00/£0450.00

  • Greying_Pilgrim
    Greying_Pilgrim Posts: 5,337
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    Good Evening :hello:

    joeyjimbles - Thank you, I'm not sure that I'm worthy of such praise though :o But thank you, it is very kind of you. Glad that you've thought through the work project details - for the good of yourself. I hear you on the *woolly brief* business. How come folk with the big budgets have really no clue what they actually want, or indeed, need??? Hope the dog walk clarified your thinking too :D

    Today has been OK. Minimal spends on some edible seeds for the pantry.

    Dinner this evening was the ever popular, but really quite simple (because I mangle the recipe so much it doesn't resemble the original!!!), Loobia Polo and much to gallygirl's continued disappointment, I didn't make 'crusty bits' in my version, again :o I did however, have a little bash at making a 'deconstructed' version. I bunged in a load more veg - peppers and spinach and then just steamed the green beans to eat on the side. I used the tahini, miso dressing on the beans - didn't work as well as I hoped, it was a little thin (tasted OK though :D) and sprinkled sesame, black onion and sumac on the top;

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    I must start to think about July's meal planner. I don't think June's has been an outstanding success budget-wise. Especially considering that we were gifted a whole heap of produce. MUST. DO. BETTER :o

    Today I am grateful for these 3 things;

    public libraries - especially when a book you want is just sat there on the shelf, waiting for you to come along... :D

    that the peach and nectarine season has started :T - couldn't afford any today, but they're a coming :T

    that I could travel to Belize whilst I ate me tea - the wonders of TV :D

    Thanks for reading and popping by. I greatly appreciate it.

    Popping off to do some preliminary meal planning. How many nectarines and avocados can I shoe-horn in on a meagre budget? :rotfl:

    See y'all later.

    Greying x
    Pounds for Panes £2,300/£10,000 - start date Dec 2023

    Coins for Camping (March) -  £7/£15  (Camping TTD - £45/90)

    Grocery spend March £174.96/215  Charity Blankets completed 1/24


  • gallygirl
    gallygirl Posts: 17,228
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    Loobia Polo and much to gallygirl's continued disappointment, I didn't make 'crusty bits' in my version, again
    :(. Love black onion seeds and sumac though so will let you off :).
    A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort
    :) Mortgage Balance = £0 :)
    "Do what others won't early in life so you can do what others can't later in life"
  • joeyjimbles
    joeyjimbles Posts: 2,214
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    Popping on to say 'yum' for last nights tea, and nectarines seem to be very good value at Mr T's currently. Large punnet of 9 for 97p.
    NF 04.24 £18.00/£00.00 £72.00/£72.00

    LD 11.24 £500.00/£220.00 (44%)    INS 12.24 £600.00/£000.00
    Renewal 24 £400.00/£400.00      Renewal 25 £450.00/£035.00     NPt 12.24 £250.00/£080.95
    FD £3600.00/£0900.00                 X24 £1500.00/£0450.00

  • Greying_Pilgrim
    Greying_Pilgrim Posts: 5,337
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    edited 25 June 2015 at 7:36PM
    Good Evening :hello:

    Oh joeyjimbles - what a coincidence you mentioning nectarines, when I was going to mention seeing exactly the same in A$da today, same price - but I didn't actually count how many was in the punnet, but they looked like the 9/8/7 count ones, depending on the size of the fruit. They also had flat peaches, I think there were 5 in a pack for 55p. They also had plums - the hit and miss taste and texture wise dark purple ones - for 75p a punnet. I didn't buy any today, because I had to get some tofu, but I'm doing my research............:D

    So I nearly swooped on 5p *roadkill* today, but it was on a busy thoroughfare and to be honest, I was a bit embarrassed, but also wary that some wag might have superglued it in place! So I left it be :o Haven't found any *roadkill* for yonks! Have folks got their needles and thread out again and patched their pockets?

    I successfully made another litre of yoghurt overnight, so I must amend my siggie figgie :D

    My head is just full of food. I know, it is supposed to be your belly - that is too :D But I think that I have done the menu-plan for July. I'm not sure that it is going to save us money :think: But you've got to enjoy life too, haven't you? I know that people do resort to eating nothing but beans on toast, or lentils and rice or noodly pots to really slash their grocery bills, but I don't feel that we are in that sort of a situation. However, I haven't managed to keep the bills to £100 for several months now - where am I going wrong?

    Today I was delighted that courgettes have come down to a more sensible price (you gardeners are going to be rolling your eyes at me - buying courgettes! :rotfl:) But anyway...... they were 55p for 3 in mrA. But they were £1.35 for 2 last time I stopped to look at the price of courgettes!

    For dinner this evening, I tried a Buddha bowl with a nod to the East. I made up some rice, as it happened it was thai sticky rice, the last of a 500g bag that I bought aeons ago........ the BB date was probably still in the time of a labour government ....... but it cooked and tasted fine. Although I only told DP once we'd eaten it....... :rotfl: There was nowt stomping around in it..... perfectly OK! :D I crumbled some nori seaweed (from a sushi sheet) through it. Then I used JO's recipe for Chinese style broccoli - which is from his *15 minutes* series, but unfortunately, I can't find a link on the web. I also grilled some courgette. Then I seared off some silken tofu - a product I've not used before. It proved more difficult to handle/cook than the tofu I used last week, but I did prefer the texture of it. This was topped with a little bit of tangy lime cilantro vinaigrette and some chopped dry roasted peanuts. Was really quite nice :D

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    Today I am grateful for these 3 things;

    my mobility - keeping health a top priority

    being able to experiment with food - mind, we'd have eaten it whatever, no waste on my watch!

    for simply grilled courgettes - brings back super memories of eating them in San Fran, a *lifetime* ago :D

    Thanks everso for popping in and reading. Mucho, mucho appreciated.

    See y'all later.

    Greying x
    Pounds for Panes £2,300/£10,000 - start date Dec 2023

    Coins for Camping (March) -  £7/£15  (Camping TTD - £45/90)

    Grocery spend March £174.96/215  Charity Blankets completed 1/24


  • Greying_Pilgrim
    Greying_Pilgrim Posts: 5,337
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    edited 26 June 2015 at 7:27PM
    Good Evening :hello:

    Well the only vaguely MSE thing to report today was that I picked up some YS'd oranges in m&$. They were £1.10 for 6 oranges, which is far more expensive than when mrL do their bags for 74p on half-price weekends, but I guess beggars cannot choosers be.... However, I am delighted to report that they are LUSH :D So juicy and sweet, so a good decision to get them - I did agonise and walk around the counter several times, before picking them up.... :rotfl:

    I was very glad that I popped into Tilly's thread just before signing off this morning. Tilly mentioned the value of freezer and cupboard audits in addition to meal-planning, as a method of either saving money, or cutting costs.

    It made me think.

    I like it when something makes me think :D

    I've been pondering it throughout the day, and I've come to the conclusion that whilst I've a reasonably good idea what I have in my fridge, freezer and stores, I don't often look at it with an eye to 'what needs using up that can be put together to form a meal' . My menu planning usually means that I'm more likely to have the ingredients in stock for a particular dish that I said I was going to cook on a given day (although I often falter with this, particularly as the month wears on and the money evaporates......). So I pondered on what I had in stores, that could be combined to make a meal for us tonight - as for some reason, my planner got mixed up and I've forgotten what was supposed to be on the menu tonight - but at first glance (hair on fire moment...) the cupboards are bare!!!!!!.........:rotfl:

    I started to think about the dressing from last night that I had leftover. Originally, I had used the recipe (last year) to make a mung bean salad. I have mung beans in the store and they take minutes to cook in the PC. Tick.

    I wondered about the 'carb'. We've had quite a bit of rice recently, and it is on the menu tomorrow night. I thought about the bit of millet that I had left, and hoped that it would make 2 portions.

    I have got plenty of YS'd organic celery :D I fancied a celery based salad. I also have plenty of YS'd carrots lounging about in the bottom of the fridge, and fancied teaming them up with orange segments and caraway (store). Hence my fortuitous, but actually thought out purchase today :D

    I had 1 courgette remaining and fancied flash fried/quick pickled courgette salad........

    I have 2 ripe avocados remaining. I watched an Australian cooking prog last night (taped off FN) and watched the chef fan a beautifully ripe avocado on a plate for his seafood dish. I wanted me some of that ponciness :D

    So, at the risk of confusing rtandon's dear fella, up one-side and down the other, as it is Friday...... Here's us tea;

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    No recipes followed, everything with the exception of the orange and half a lemon already in *stock*.

    THANK YOU Tilly, as ever, for your inspiration :D

    Today I am grateful for;

    an unconditional smile from a little baby :D

    not just any oranges, Valencian oranges :D :T

    the sunshine.... in between the downpours :D

    Thanks so much for popping in and reading. Glad to have you along for the company, and I appreciate it greatly.

    See y'all later.

    Greying x
    Pounds for Panes £2,300/£10,000 - start date Dec 2023

    Coins for Camping (March) -  £7/£15  (Camping TTD - £45/90)

    Grocery spend March £174.96/215  Charity Blankets completed 1/24


  • beanielou
    beanielou Posts: 89,642
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    Happy Friday all :)
    I am a Forum Ambassador and I support the Forum Team on Mortgage Free Wannabe & Local Money Saving Scotland & Disability Money Matters. If you need any help on those boards, do let me know.Please note that Ambassadors are not moderators. Any post you spot in breach of the Forum Rules should be reported via the report button , or by emailing [email protected]. All views are my own & not the official line of Money Saving Expert.

    Lou~ Debt free Wanabe No 55 DF 03/14.**Credit card debt free 30/06/10~** MFW. Finally mortgage free O2/ 2021****
    "A large income is the best recipe for happiness I ever heard of" Jane Austen in Mansfield Park.

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  • Greying_Pilgrim
    Greying_Pilgrim Posts: 5,337
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    ^ Backatcha love :D

    Greying x
    Pounds for Panes £2,300/£10,000 - start date Dec 2023

    Coins for Camping (March) -  £7/£15  (Camping TTD - £45/90)

    Grocery spend March £174.96/215  Charity Blankets completed 1/24


  • Upsidedown_Bear
    Upsidedown_Bear Posts: 18,264
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    Smilie heard you like oranges :heart: so he went to the fancy dress shop :cool:


    orange-2.gif
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