Botanical blunderings on a budget - good life starts here.

Pippilongstocking

Greying_Pilgrim wrote: »

Ay up all!:wave:

Isn't YS - 'Yellow Stickered' - as in a 'whoopsie' or reduced item?

Greying

Ey up greying - you're very clever


I hope you're good!

Greying_Pilgrim

Pippi - I'm just grand thanks for asking. Really enjoying reading all about you plans and adventures! Ouch! about Mr Flowers tho - double ouch for others in the group as well!

Greying

Pippilongstocking

Well, I'm glad you are good, Mr Flower - hmm maybe he'll give up the down hill biking? I aint keen on it tbh. Plans moving along, I've been dragging my heels a bit, not sure why. But, having had cheery and Keiss and all the lovely folk up here over the summer, I'm inspired again for both cooking, tidying up and getting on with the pesky tunnel.

And, speaking of inspired - I've always wanted a veg box, no idea why, but the scheme up here is little and full -so I can't have one, but reading about red plotting about her veg box I have decided to be inspired by that - I like the idea of veg boxes but my veg comes in randomly from work and mainly at the moment from reduced shopping finds, so a la red, - here's my veg box for the week

My 'reduced this week' random veg box found from mr t/etc contains
bananas
neep (swede)
tatties
sweetcorn on cob x 4
aubergenes x 2
cucumber
tomatoes x 2 punnets
apples
pointed cabbage
lemon grass
spring onions
pineapple x 2

NO idea what I'll do with it all, but I've got that lot for the week...... which can be supplemented with a bit of stuff from work/garden here eg herbs and lettuce/rocket etc

I'm ridiculusly happy I've now got a veg box, my life if very dull isnt' it? Lol, cuppa and attacking the kitchen to bag up/freeze all the haul that can be from last nights 10p macacre (which also contained some other priced items, but mainly alot of 10p's)

Kittikins

Ouch to Mr Stripes, poor thing!! Get well soon Mister.......stop scaring Pippi (and us, lol).

Yup, YS - is yellow stickered, or reduced

Today's delights - I've worked out my real BT/mobile bill (I set aside an average amount then rejoice when the real bill is slightly less), have a small amount from Quidco coming in and will now have........drum roll please......£86.83 for the month rather than the measly £79 I thought I had yesterday

Foodwise, Pippi's given me the idea of a scrummy omelette for dinner, nomnomnom. Yet another thing DD doesn't like, so I can go crazy with my slightly out of date eggs!

Brekkie: weetabix AND toast (I was a piggie this morning)
Lunch: couscous and salad
Dinner: omelette and veggies.

To do: put the last portion of my veggie/beany stew in the freezer, 2 days was plenty now I have the idea of an eggy delight for dindins

redsquirrel80

Love the make-your-own veg box :T Really impressed with the nearly-all-Scottish pesto as well!

Ouch to Mr Flowers and friends damaging themselves on holiday :eek:

Pippilongstocking

Well done KK - eggs keep for yonks (at least 1 month) which I didn't know before, and supermarkets don't sticker them for that long so I'm sure you'll be fine. My kids don't like eggs apart from in omelettes which I find very sad, not liking dippy eggs!

Red - thank you, you've made it fun, rather than what am I going to do with all the reduced stuff I've found and the pesto, I'm dead chuffed with, sad really but there you are, I'm very easily delighted!

Yay to extra money, quidco paid me £3.64 today - I'm rich, rich I tell you.

Thinking (vaguely) of reducing my normal stripey food budget of £200 to £100 to keep KK company properly............still got to phone wtfc and find out why I'm £70 down this week and if tis permanent, in which case the budgets do need a serious rejig. (EEK) how can they just change it without any notice, or did they give me notice and I've either read it and not understood it or not read it - off ot investigate

Uniscots97

oh Pippi that sounds bad for your OH.

KK well done on your Quidco, I got notice of mine today too only a £1.05 but better than nothing.


Right, I need help with something. I have a Kg of carrots and would like to make carrot and coriander soup (similiar to Convent Garden soup company's version), does anyone have a tried and tested version?

Kittikins

Ah but Pippi, there's only me and a nipper, a 6 year old DD, far less than you and your two nearly grown-ups and OH when he's visiting, so don't feel you have to cut down your food budget for me

Actually, my OH eats his bodyweight in meat every day so will have to ask him to contribute his own bacon when he comes to stay as DD and I are not meat-eaters, so it's not something I keep in the QM stores......but I can't wait for him to come back from his holiday, counting the minutes til Sunday lunchtime

Can't decide whether to get cheapy petrol tomorrow night when I go over to a friend's house for dinner (A$da petrol is on the way back from her place and is waaaay much cheaper than elsewhere) or just suck up the fact that I have half a tank of petrol and wait til I'm on the fumes? This £86 has to cover petrol as well y'see, and with a full tank costing over £50, I'm almost definitely destined to failure......*sigh*

But today WILL be a NSD, even though I have brought my purse into the office.

Sorry Unix, all my soups are made up as you go along, so can't help on the carrot and coriander soup recipe, but I guess you would find it on the OS board, they're a mine of very useful info.

Actually does anyone else use MSE as a search engine? If I have any questions I need answers to, I always check on here before going to google!

troglodyte

Morning all!

Ouch to Mr Stripes' biking accident, hope he's mostly OK.

Well done on the veg. box ideas! I like carrot and coriander soup, generally make up my own version which is something like:

Chop an onion or two and let it sweat in a bit of butter/oil mixture until soft. Add a mountain of finely sliced carrots (I use one of those mandolin slicer things) and a teaspoon-ful or so of coriander seeds, crushed with a pestle and mortar (can use the ground seeds of course, but freshly crushed gives a good flavour), stir them around for a bit then add your choice of veg. or chicken stock to cover and simmer until all soft. Blend, taste, adjust seasoning as required.

Carrot and ginger soup (made using chopped fresh ginger root instead of coriander seeds) is nice too.

Got to go, there is a tentative plan to try and sweep the chimney today!!

Pippilongstocking

Hey up

A lonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnng wait on the wtfc hotline


Anyhow - a lesson for all those 'put your head in the sand people' out there of which I'm the worst - DO check your bank regularily AND do phone if WTFC is suddenly different.

It turns out as my Ds is over 16 at the end of August ALL WTFC claims remove the child of that age or over from your claim (the theory is that you tell them hes staying at school, even though I did, they removed him) I think they assume they aren't going back, if they are you have to tell them and being at school/college means that child is still a qualifying child. The lady told me they removed him as he was over 16, if I hadn't have phoned he would have been removed until I had contacted them, if indeed I did.

I hate this system, we've not changed anything, I told the advisor when I reclaimed in May that he was staying at school and despite this he's now off my claim for the moment. However, it will be 'reprocessed' and if and when thats done all will return to normal, any missed payments 'spread over the financial year' argh. I'm down £70 a week until its sorted and she didn't know when nor can she tell me (although was very helpful) and then it will be redistributed - a bit tricky - but not life threatening for me, but what about those without humungous food mountains in their cupboards???????????????

The moral of this story is - check your bank regularly and if your wtfc changes phone them straight away.
The second moral of the story is that I can now justify my food mountains, WTFC is unreliable and erratic and they appear to do what they want when they feel like it. Those of us who almost depend on it and the security of it, are often stung by it and the innane rules which govern it.

Cuppa and a deep breath.

I will not be beaten by a system with its own rules and I can't rely on anything but myself (and you lovely lot, and OH of course)

Bah - reply to nice chat in a mo.