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PennyGrabber's Path to Pecuniary Positiveness!!
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PennyGrabber wrote: »Tomorrow will be chicken casserole, so I need to get the chicken out of the freezer for that, although thinking about it, I have quite a bit of bacon needing using, so may ask the children if they fancy something bacon-related, otherwise that'll have to go into the freezer!!
PG x
Our favourite for leftover bacon is spagetti pie - it's on the recipe index of the GC but basically it is bacon, veg that needs using fried off and mixed with a tin of spagetti in tomato sauce and in a pastry case with grated cheese on top - sounds revolting but it's yum!
Well done for not shopping!
SLSave £12k in 2025 #2 I am at £10,020.92 out of £6000 after September
OS Grocery Challenge in 2025 I am at £2234.63/£3000 or 74.49% of my annual spend so far (not going to be much of a Christmas at this rate as no spare after 9 months!
I also Reverse Meal Plan on that thread and grow much of our own premium price fruit and veg, joining in on the Grow your own thread
My new diary is here0 -
Thanks for the idea!
Positives for today:
- had a lush dinner, really enjoyed it
- no spending
- ch came home, had a nice evening reading and doing homework
- olb still holding out
- when I opened my fridge today, it wasn't stuffed full and it was organised! I did that on Monday evening, but forgot, and it was a lovely surprise this morning!
- using up stuff that I may have otherwise thrown away
- good day at work, felt appreciated and a part of it today
Just finishing watching a film, then I'm off to bed. I didn't sleep well last night, in fact I was awake at three for over an hour, had to resort to turning the light on and reading the end of my book, as I just couldn't get settled.
PG xGrocery challenge for family of three - me, dd(12) and ds(11), feeding dp 2 or 3 x a week too. Only food, not toiletries. Jan £87.97/£100 Feb £0/£100
Frugal 2018 needed! Saving and NOT spending0 -
Good morning!
Today will be another good day...
I don't need food still, so no shops for me. We're having carbonara pasta (packet mix, loads of mixes to use up, think they were on offer at some point!!) for dinner, so that will use up some of the bacon. It'll make enough for the children to have it tom after swimming too, so that's an easy quick meal for then. I just need to think of something for me to have tom. Still really enjoying cooking for myself, that 'roast' yest was lush, and I could've eaten it all over again!
Need to check olb today, and start planning my money for next month. I always do it at about this time of the month, so I know what to expect. It's always the same in terms of outgoings, but it's the incomings I need to think about; if I've done any overtime, when the ch ben and tax cr are coming in, etc.
Really want to do some baking, but got stuff to use up so I'm not. Go me!!
PG xGrocery challenge for family of three - me, dd(12) and ds(11), feeding dp 2 or 3 x a week too. Only food, not toiletries. Jan £87.97/£100 Feb £0/£100
Frugal 2018 needed! Saving and NOT spending0 -
All in all a good day today. I failed at the whole dinner thing, and ended up going to the Toby carvery. £18 for the three of us, incl drinks. I'm so rubbish at that! Still, we had a good time, they ate quite a bit, and we had loads of time left this evening to play and chat.
Leaves me in a quandary about what to do for dinner tom though, as the plan was los. Needs to be quick, will prob do hedgehogs/tom soup/something on toast.
Positives for the day:
- nice chat with friend on phone. Our home brew is coming on nicely, and she's excited about the idea of doing more brewing, cheaply, using this book we've been lent.
- work was good again, still feeling really appreciated at the moment. Maybe I always was, I just never noticed...
- lovely dinner out (I ate far too much), and no washing up to do either!!
- nice time spent with the children, no stress about timings, felt really relaxed tonight. Maybe I should just win the lottery tomorrow, then I can have a maid/butler/housekeeper and they can look after me so i can just relax with the children!!!
- No sandwiches to prep for tomorrow; the children are having a dunker as a special Friday treat instead. I do that occasionally, to break up the monotony of sandwiches! Means that lunchboxes will be a -shove-it-in kind of thing, rather than a what do I have to make kind of thing.
- olb checked and ok. Shouldn't have got the Toby, but can't undo that now.
My knee had been getting worse today, to the point that I was in actual pain walking down the stairs, and I had to bend over awkwardly to unplug the telly, so that I didn't have to bend my knees. Hmm, maybe a visit to the dr in order.
I'm off to catch up on the gc, then to bed. Looking forward to tomorrow, last day of the working week, then I have a whole weekend with my children. Must check the weather, as if it's nice on sat we're going to the beach. I'll do the packed lunches, my friend will buy the icecreams!
PG xGrocery challenge for family of three - me, dd(12) and ds(11), feeding dp 2 or 3 x a week too. Only food, not toiletries. Jan £87.97/£100 Feb £0/£100
Frugal 2018 needed! Saving and NOT spending0 -
Well, my fiscal fast didn't last until today. Mainly though, because I did my weekly shop yesterday with the children in tow, before swimming lessons! I didn't need to get anything frozen, so we did the shop, went swimming, then went home to unpack. Spent £30 between aldi and asda. A fair amount of that was picnic food for the weekend, for a day trip that didn't happen today, and for dd and friend tom. This means I don't need to shop for the rest of the weekend, and well into next week.
Had a lovely day today with the children and my friend. We didn't go to the beach, but I used the equivalent of the fuel money, and we had a great time. They did soft play, we all decorated a cupcake, they went in those ball things in a pond, and generally had a laugh.
My friend bought us some strasberries to try today from asda, which are a cross between a strawberry and a raspberry. She had one the other day, and was really impressed. They're very strawberry-tasting, until you get to the aftertaste which is raspberry...
Got a busy day tom, so off to bed now. I also have an upset tummy, so hoping I'll actually get some sleep.
PG xGrocery challenge for family of three - me, dd(12) and ds(11), feeding dp 2 or 3 x a week too. Only food, not toiletries. Jan £87.97/£100 Feb £0/£100
Frugal 2018 needed! Saving and NOT spending0 -
Suffolk_lass wrote: »You could cut the chicken up and roll a rasher of bacon round each piece and cook it like that.
Our favourite for leftover bacon is spagetti pie - it's on the recipe index of the GC but basically it is bacon, veg that needs using fried off and mixed with a tin of spagetti in tomato sauce and in a pastry case with grated cheese on top - sounds revolting but it's yum!
mmmmmm might just have to try that SL!:D
A slight variation is to slice the chicken breast and stuff some soft cheese in & then wrap with the bacon - I put any "need to use" veg in the roasting dish and they cook nicely in the chicken juices. Takes around 30 mins (180 deg).
Sorry I'm not managing to keep up with your diary atm - blaming new 4-legged arrival as she's very demanding. Seems to be settling in well & I seem to have finally managed to tire her out!:j (currently snoozing in her bed)Grocery Challenge £211/£455 (01/01-31/03)
2016 Sell: £125/£250
£1,000 Emergency Fund Challenge #78 £3.96 / £1,000Vet Fund: £410.93 / £1,000
Debt free & determined to stay that way!0 -
Ah bless! I go through phases of thinking I'd like a dog, then realising that they're too much work! (Plus dd is scared of them!)
NSD for groceries today. Had a lovely day though, without setting foot inside a shop! Had a friend of dd round for lunch and a play, then went to meet other friends for a playdate and dinner. Great fun.
Positives for the day:
- already made the lunches, and they're in their boxes in the fridge ready to shove into the lunch bags.
- had a lovely day with friend and her family
- the house is tidier and cleaner than it was this morning
- the wine may be nearly ready- it has stopped hissing! Friend is coming over on Tuesday evening to check as we're making it together, and then it should be ready to start drinking on Friday night (well, that's the night we've put aside for 'quality control'!!!
- must have lost weight in the last couple of days as I've had a bit of an upset tummy..
- feeling more positive about the house in general
Off now, for an early night with my kindle. Night!
PG x
ps - thanks for chicken and bacon ideas - I try to make them stretch as far as poss, so don't tend to make things where we'd eat a lump of meat, iykwim. Will prob try the soft cheese thing one day though, been fancying trying it for about two years now!!! xGrocery challenge for family of three - me, dd(12) and ds(11), feeding dp 2 or 3 x a week too. Only food, not toiletries. Jan £87.97/£100 Feb £0/£100
Frugal 2018 needed! Saving and NOT spending0 -
Had a lovely read last night before going to bed.
Aims for today:
- check olb - it's payday on Weds, so I'm a bit low on funds...
- nsd
- use up for dinner
- plan this week's meals
- update my sig for May gc, incl percentagaes and weekly allowance left
- do a bit more tidying and sorting - I felt really good after that at the weekend, so more of that feeling please!!!
No idea what I'm having for dinner, there's prob only enough lo for the ch. I can have a tin of soup, or something ood, like pasta and sauce with grated cheese or sommat!!
PG xGrocery challenge for family of three - me, dd(12) and ds(11), feeding dp 2 or 3 x a week too. Only food, not toiletries. Jan £87.97/£100 Feb £0/£100
Frugal 2018 needed! Saving and NOT spending0 -
PennyGrabber wrote: »Aims for today:
- [STRIKE]check olb - it's payday on Weds, so I'm a bit low on funds...[/STRIKE] Checked, just in overdraft, but have ch ben going in tom to fix that
- [STRIKE]nsd[/STRIKE] Yep!
- [STRIKE]use up for dinner[/STRIKE] Again, yep! Also, there was enough for me just about; I'll have a little snack later if I get peckish
- plan this week's meals
- [STRIKE]update my sig for May gc, incl percentagaes and weekly allowance left[/STRIKE] Done, I have £3.43 left per day from now until the end of the year! My first aim then, is to bring the average up to £3.50 per day...
- do a bit more tidying and sorting - I felt really good after that at the weekend, so more of that feeling please!!!
So, still need to meal plan and do some tidying. Off to do that now!Grocery challenge for family of three - me, dd(12) and ds(11), feeding dp 2 or 3 x a week too. Only food, not toiletries. Jan £87.97/£100 Feb £0/£100
Frugal 2018 needed! Saving and NOT spending0 -
Well, I did the meal plan yest, and now it's having to change! It's a daddy weekend this weekend, but he asked me today if I could have them overnight on the Friday, as he has an appointment. I don't drop them off until 6pm, so I don't know what kind of appt that could be!! Still, it means I get to keep the children for another night. I'll do something on Thursday that we can have los of on the Friday.
Positives for today:
- had a lovely evening out at the quiz. Delicious two course meal, great atmosphere, AND someone called me 'really clever'!!
- get paid tomorrow
- my teacher appreciated all my hard work today, saved her about two or three hours' work
- handed in my claim form for overtime today, will be paid next month
- NSD
- when picked up by ex, ds grabbed me and said he wanted to stay with me tonight. Bless him, he loves his mummy!
- dd got 20 out of 20 on her SATs spelling test today!
Off to bed now, as I was up from 2am until half 5, only for my alarm to them go off at 6:10!! Quite tired now...
PG xGrocery challenge for family of three - me, dd(12) and ds(11), feeding dp 2 or 3 x a week too. Only food, not toiletries. Jan £87.97/£100 Feb £0/£100
Frugal 2018 needed! Saving and NOT spending0
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