Living on next to nought - is that the key?

in_need_of_direction

Greying I truly believe you can do whatever you put your mind to.

dreaming

Wow, GP, that really is a tough task you've set yourself but all power to you for thinking of others as well with your donation.
I feel really bleurgh at the moment - think all my motivation has washed away. Was looking at my spending for January and cross with myself as I seem to have ignored my plans for NOT BUYING MORE STUFF. Admittedly some of it is wool for some planned items, and it was half price in the sale but why oh why have I succumbed to craft books and magazines when I don't need them? It isn't actually a huge amount, and it won't break the bank but still grrr!
Good news is that I did not have to spend too much topping up my food stores and with meals planned will only require fresh f&v, and milk.

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Evening :hello:

Well, the only thing to say about the rugger is.... Well Done France, a thoroughly deserved victory :T I do think the England chap - was it Ben Morgan? Plays for Gloucester and was no 8, anyway, played very well - made a huge amount of ground. Hope England pull their socks up, not a good start

In need of direction - with supportive folk like you in my corner, how can I fail? Thank you

dreaming - you're doing tremendously well if you only have to do a top up shop of F & V and milk - well done

We've had dinner - I only missed about 20 mins of play. We had Mushroom carbonade flamande - given that there was no meat in it and I made it with British beer (Moorcroft's 'Black Cat', 3.4% abv if you are interested), perhaps I ought to call it something else?? :rotfl:There was shredded savoy cabbage and very garlickymash to accompany. A poor quality pic here;



Quite an expensive meal, I reckon about £3.50 in ingredients, so £1.75 a plate, but there is some mash left over :T (on purpose Greying?????) and a small portion of stew. But we enjoyed it

Today I am grateful for these 3 things;

for salesfolk that don't try to sell, but do provide you with answers to your questions and with prices for you to work with :T

for quality time spent with DP - priceless

for people who trust you and take you at your word - particularly when money is involved Thank you J & C

Thank you for popping in, reading and commenting. You know how much I appreciate it.

See y'all later.

Greying

EssexHebridean

Mmmmm....Black Cat - yummy stuff! :beer: Dinner looks good too - I'm a mushroom addict mind you!

If you enjoyed the Black Cat to drink keep your eye out for Thwaites Nutty Black in Home Bargains/ B&M. Very tasty indeed and often in there for 99p a bottle.

Your february challenges sound utterly mad and you are indeed truly bonkers. :rotfl: In a good way though...well, I think so! As the rest have said though, yes I do believe you can do it, and I look forward to seeing how. I've started off OK - did the Tesco shop this morning and ended up parting with 24p in cash once the Luncheon Vouchers (pay for doing surveys) and a 32p off "we were more expensive than the others" voucher were taken into account. Only remembered as we were going round that I needed more Stork for baking - I suspect that might have been the thing that netted the 62p off "we were more expensive than the others" voucher I got given at the checkout though - so technically this week is a gain!

I think my new recipe for this months will be another Rick Stein one - the chickpea curry this time. Planning to cook that on friday anyway.

The rugby was interesting - in the first half we made WAY too many silly mistakes - Lancaster obviously dished out some fairly severe talking to's in the dressing room at HT though as I thought the second half was an entirely different story. Interestingly enough I noticed that the stats had England as the better team throughout - we just weren't able to translate that to solid play in the first half. Definitely a team for the future though I think.

Did you see the Italy -v- Wales match? The Italian "gaining of ground" continues as they gave Wales quite the run for their money! Nobody will be taking their Italy match as a given win this tournament I don't think.

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning :hello:

EH - I've been keeping an eye on the 'Nutty black' since you mentioned it a while ago. Resolutely at £1.35 in our store though

The Italian rugger team have been a joy to watch since they came on the scene. Year on year on year improvement. And I love how they play the whole match, no 'fading' when they are in front or behind. Truly a sporting contest and the scoreline of matches often belie the actual game played. I often feel that about Scotland's matches too - they are always closer fought contests than the scorelines indicate.

I didn't see much of the Wales v Italy match, I admit - I lost my February post half way through the first time around..... I know I'm not the most patient of persons, but I'm not sure this is the way I want to learn greater patience :rotfl: And yes, I agree, Stuart Lancaster must of done a 'hairdryer' talk at half time!

Oh, as you shop in mrM - I assume you've seen the Black Cat at £1 at the moment?

So Sunday morning. We have started very slowly

Today I am going to sort out a dress suit to donate to charity. It is taking up space and heck, if DP and I have need of 'Black tie' style clothing again in this lifetime, we will have won the lottery and be on a permanent world cruise, and frankly, can buy a new fitting suit!

I'm also going to do some batch cooking/baking, to try to get ahead with my February challenge. So glad you all think I'm bonkers I'm convinced I am :D But I like a challenge too :D

Dinner this evening is going to be an orzotto - technically the first of the 'new' recipes. As whilst I have done orzotto before, I've not done this version. Hopefully it will taste of something and be a 'keeper'.

Aiming for my first NSD. Let's keep the momentum going. Plus I'm all shopped out after yesterday anyway :rotfl:

Thank you so much for popping by, reading and commenting. I remain greatly appreciative.

See y'all later.

Greying

Karmacat

Wow! Greying, that sounds an amazing challenge for you - brilliant to achieve it. And lets not forget that its *quite* as tight as it is because you really want to make as big a charitable donation as you can. I really admire that. Plus the food you make on that tiny budget being *so* tasty

mizmir

Wow - I am so in awe of that challenge - will be watching closely and picking up as many tips as I can.

Tonight I am going to make you Nigerian Kidney bean and peanut stew for dinner.

Greying_Pilgrim

mizmir wrote: »

Tonight I am going to make you Nigerian Kidney bean and peanut stew for dinner.

Gosh, how incredibly kind of you mizmir! What time shall we turn up? And do you need us to dress for dinner? - speak now before DP's suit goes.......

Sorry hun! Couldn't resist a leg-pull I hope you enjoy it, I've a couple of Maddhur Jaffrey recipes that I use that are good.

Greying

mizmir

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: oops - shall we say 7.30? :beer:

Cheery_Daff

Excellent set of challenges there! Looking forward to seeing how you get on :j