50p a day til christmas, healthily?!-Weezl's next challenge (part 2)

ceridwen

Allotment ISOM - in my area.......I think the phrases "golddust" and "who do you have to sleep with?" (errr...only joking about that one...) come to mind.

You're lucky if you're even allowed to get onto a waiting list in the first place - never mind your chances of actually getting to the top....

I tell myself that at least with everything crammed in out back here - that I'm right on top of it and can nip out in an instant and monitor it - virtually checking each individual leaf to see if it looks happy...."oh dear...I'm ecstatic chez ceridwen" (said in high squeaky voice - well...just what do plants "sound" like?) - well I hope they are: I just found my tomatillo looking very much the worse for wear and gave it a good drenching quick and it seems to have recovered.

Tightwadways

Well, we did our shop.....didn't manage to keep within budget, but have now got enough sandwich filling in the freezer for at least a month for all 4 of us, so definatly worth getting whilst it was reduced :T Also picked up a few tubs of Quark, and two tubs x500g of natural yogurt for 19p each :j so they are currently in the freezer with the single cream and runny honey as per Weezl's recipe (yum!!)

For tea we had....

Bubble and squeak....foraged for nettles and used these instead of cabbage, some spuds and some quark, with some polenta from store cupboard to crisp whilst frying....rather scrum....but children needed persuading with lashings of sauce. and helpings of Quark...hubby and I would happily eat it again though!!! Got enough left over for the hens to have a real treat tomorrow, as I doubt it'll freeze well....or I may just use it as a topping for sheperdless pie Tuesday :P

Tomorrow night is Spiced lentil with sun dried tomatoes

nopot2pin

I do love this thread....
So much inspiration....
Thankyou ...

My ambition is to contribute soon
Again thanks

In_Search_Of_Me

C well I'm surprised at you...I think under the law if a group of so many want a plot an there isnt any the council are meant to provide it...if you go to allotments uk theres lots on there so instead of having to resort to dodgy activies could try being an activist instead...
no pot love the user name and welcome..this is a lovely thread and its great when people come out of lurkdom to say hi...no need to be scared, we wont eat you (although jokes of weezl having a tiny slither comes to mind...dont worry she wont go that far!)...
Well today is going to be food and friendship filled in the isom household...will go to allotment unde guise of work but actually just having bbq.friend is bringing her 3 boys so they can expend energy! Then the weezles are coming for supper which will be a beef curry, potatoes and something with spinach..then friend coming to help me put 3 layers of patchwork togeather (see shabby chique thread) and then back to work tomorrow......hope you all have a great day!

ceridwen

Hi ISOM

I know that oft-quoted law to which you refer re the allotments - and I gather it aint as easy as all that to actually enforce it. However - I'm not exactly living in the depths of the countryside - so, at a practical level, if people managed to force the Council to do so - any new land given over to this would be quite some distance from me - being as how this is quite a built-up area here....

What I personally need is one of the allotments nearest to me - in order to just sheer be able to fit in allotmenteering on top of the full-time job and life generally and they arent "gold dust" - THEY are "platinum" or "precious diamonds" to try and get hold of one.

Looking on the bright side - I guess this sorta gives me a little personal incentive to have to work out maximum utilisation of my tiny little garden on the one hand and to put pressures on/hand out info re local Councils doing a bit of "edible" gardening - rather than those ghastly decorative only (well they're MEANT to be - humph!) shrubs that many Councils (including mine) major in.

I sorta have the feeling too that tree planting isnt "allowed" on allotments - so twouldnt fit in very well with forest gardening style.

Personally - I work on the basis that many people (and I'm one of them) couldnt find lots of time on a regular basis for foodgrowing. What some of us COULD do is spend a lot of time initially on a one-off "set-up" basis - but then only require minimal time for upkeep (hence one of the attractions to forest gardening).

I recall a "post" by an American blogger recently - in which she stated that one of the difficulties/challenges we face is finding BOTH the time to live our lives as we live them right now AND the time to get ourselves "set up" for the way our lifestyles WILL be in the future. I can relate to that.

("resorting to dodgy activities" - well....I dont think I'll be taking to drugdealing or summat any time soon for extra cash...from what I know theres plenty of that going on anyways in my area - I'd probably only have to walk down the road if I wanted to get hold of some...

.....but seriously though.....I'm "violently" opposed to drugdealing...

...dont think my stray bits of "guerilla gardening" forays count as "dodgy activities" in my book.......)

weezl74

Hi all!

Happy bank holiday! Although mum's do not usually get public holidays off (!) lovely DH fed Fergus at 6.30 so I could lie in til 8.

I lub dat acetate monkey.:D

So a bit to catch up on here...

Ceridwen, are all your internal window ledges maxed out with planting? if not then I've a few teeny tips about tomatoes and basil which might be of use to you?! Sorry the film was frustrating

freecycle, sounds like you are frugalling like mad! :T:T:T:T

no pot to pin, hiya, thanks for delurking! Nice to know you're there

and a hello to everyone else...

well, my mum is coming from tomorrow lunchtime to thursday lunchtime.

She is probably the person whose preferences are hardest to accomodate on my frugal plan.

We have bought the 2 cans of her favourite soup (doesn't really like my home made stuff!) but need to make the brown bread (not keen on our current white) bake some cake (has 4-5 cake and tea breaks whilst here per day) and work out summat to do for the dinners... (only eats wholemeal pastas, has double the sauce/meat on it than DH. Not that keen on lentils, chick peas, alarmed by the thought of nettles.... You get the picture?!)

It is good to have her help with fergus, so I'm not complaining, just that the food is tricky. Made more tricky by the fact that if I let on that it's tricky by asking any questions about what she'd like, I get a 'oh don't worry about me dear I'll just have a boiled egg...':eek::rolleyes::D

So any thoughts gratefully recieved!

Love Weezl xxx

ceridwen

Hi Weezl

Thanks for thoughts re windowsills - think all my internal windowsills are maxed out one way and another anyways with things and they're not particularly sunny anyways. My house aint one with big picture windows and loadsa windowsill space or owt in t'first place - tries not to think about all the empty windowsill space in parents place - loads of it and just a few ornaments on it....oh well...

Reet...time for a quick visit in town/take mind off "bad mumma" mode - thinks: theres disadvantages to "looking" like one is a pretty capable sorta person = you get expected to actually BE that too.....hmmmm....:cool:. Asked to take in an injured bird yesterday and (not being a "motherly" sorta person) had to ring for instructions as to how to catch it/look after it....and 'twas lying there by the food and water I'd left for it dead when the RSPCA woman came to fetch it this morning:o...I hadnt dare look at it after getting it "settled".

Hope your mothers visit goes okay - and you work out what to feed her okay. Mine makes "no bones" about what she will/wont eat too...and I bet yours is the easiest of the two of them to cater for somehow...

Anyways...hope you enjoy her company anyway and 'twill give you a bit of a break from the constant "hands-on" parenting...to catch up a bit.

...<goes off pondering the fact that you spend years of your life trying to get "taken seriously" and then (when you realise that everyone is doing so - as you "look" capable) you then spend years of your life wondering whether you overdid it.....thinks....maybe I ought to spend time cultivating floaty clothes/painted fingernails and a general air of fragility).....>

meanmarie

Oh Weezl, the problem is the other way round here....I am the one trying to be frugal and my grown up children are the ones who have problems if I don't provide enough meat in my menus.....sometimes I overdo the frugality just to be difficult by dishing up lots of beans of various kinds...if they want to eat with me they either have what they are given or provide their own!

Going to really cut down on cost of food for June, not managing to put away much at present for my much wanted conservatory to replace mini porch my father put on this house 20 years ago!

Have a good day all,

Marie

weezl74

weezl74 wrote: »

And what does a skinny acetate monkey have for pudding?

Boiled fruit cake, very lovely and moist, not a dry crumbly cake at all….

dried fruit 875g £1.13 (I tried to get away with- 580g) 75p
sugar 375g 35p
margerine 250g 29.5p
1 teaspoon mixed spice
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
8 fluid oz water
Boil together for 1 min, cool
Add plain 250g and 250g self raising flour 14.5p and 2 eggs well beaten 20p.
Bake in 7in sq or 8in round for 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hrs at 350 or MK3
2x 2lb loaf tins works as well, takes less time in a loaf tin. Done when skewer comes out clean.


I'm just testing how it is with less fruit now, should be done at 4 pm so I'll post a verdict


[FONT=&quot]Total (assuming reduced fruit content) £1.75 [FONT=&quot]or 5.4p perslice, if you get 16 slices per 2lb loaf tin:money::money::money:[/FONT]


[/FONT] Love weezl x

Just done another version of this but with the bargain dates from home bargains and lemon peel from the lemons for houmous. Will post shortly how it goes...

twinkle_star_2

In_Search_Of_Me wrote: »

oo twinkle star am now wondering (esp in view of your user name!) whether you are my lovely librarian where I live...maybe if you pm which branch you work in and I pm you my real name we'll suss that we know each other...or even if I said that my lovely local librarian let me in early one day and jokingly told me to foff you'll know who I am?!! How exciting...I love books (as weezl will confirm) and my idea of heaven in borders in llantrisant... thousands of books and chai tea all in one place!

Hey ISOM,

I doubt that I am your lovely local librarian (much as I would love that title) as I work in a university library not a public library. I do however, tend to loiter around the new Cardiff Central Library an awful lot and I love the Borders right by it too! Have you been in the new library? - It gives me vertigo but it's totally fab!

Weezl, On the topic of visiting relatives - if you can't stretch stuff with beans and lentils maybe use veggies? Could you perhaps to something like a Moroccan tagine. Harissa makes it all taste delish and you can fill it with less expensive veggies (sweet potato or squash are good for making it filling) and just add a small amount of meat (not sure if that's what you mum likes but I know some people don't feel like they've had a proper meal without it). Plus if you serve it with rice, quinoa or couscous too it will be super-filling so you shouldn't need to make tons.

Similarly, do a beef and mushroom pie which shouldn't be too pricey if you use a box of smartprice mushies, homemade pastry and a small cheap cut of beef done in the slowcooker. Then serve with lots of potatoes and more veg.

If meat isn't an issue both of these are scrummy without meat (especially mushroom and ale pie).