Living on next to nought - is that the key?

rtandon27

phew - escaped being "told" but thought it best to surface and say HI!:kisses3:

Piquant_2

Standing in the 'norty' corner

I thought 'carb heavy' meant simply delicious, must be a language difference.....:rotfl:

mrsinvisible

me, too, don't shout, ex-lurker here

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning :hello:

Ah, a late start for us, but outdoor plans yet again scuppered by the weather Never mind, we'll get shifting and doing just now

Pippilongstocking wrote: »

Starts walking to Greying's for next Friday nights fix of chips. You reckon a week might do it?:D

No way, budget a fortnight, after all, you'll be passing the RG's abode, so will need to factor in time for a bit of this :kisses2: And then past wik's, so will need time for this :coffee:and then there's all the other MSE'rs you'll be passing and need to call in to say hi!

Pippilongstocking wrote: »

PS no such thing as 'carb heavy in this house' - we love our carbs - stops us being blown away in the gales:rotfl:

With the advent of climate change, and subsequent windiness in these parts (not always applicable to a bean diet..... :rotfl:) I am so nicking that as a reason for continuing to eat pizza, pasta, potatoes, bread........ :rotfl:

in_need_of_direction wrote: »

I'm with you Pippi. In fact, I'd probably put the wedges in bread

As I am known to put myself on the outside of a chip-butty at reasonably regular intervals, I have to say I like your thinking In need of direction

satchmo - I hope your weekend is going brilliantly and you are enjoying the break.

little_sweetie - hope you enjoyed your cheese and potato pie with beans - a good combination

MWC - luverly photos, thanks for posting

Piquant - lovely to *see* you as ever. I've linked to a blog today to give the veggie gu1ness recipe - it was available in a number of places on the web, but the name of this blog just reminded me of you...... :rotfl:

mrsinvisible wrote: »

me, too, don't shout, ex-lurker here

YAY :j, I've always wanted to say this....... Hellllloooo mrsinvisible :wave: :rotfl:

Well, hello everyone - how lovely to see you all :D:D

We were busy with chores yesterday afternoon, and then when we eventually got in, we watched the rugger (thank goodness for time-delay recording). A good game, which actually, from the start, I thought Ireland were going to win. But the match brought out the best in both teams, so thank you to them both for such an entertaining watch - and with no yellow cards :T

We then spent the rest of the night in Brazil, catching up with the 'street food' progs we've taped off FN - the recorder is getting overly full

We spent money yesterday, so not claiming a NSD

For dinner, we had 'Vegetarian Gu1ness Stew'. If you are a veggie for ethical reasons, I'm not sure Gu1ness is the drink for you - I'm unsure if it is suitable for vegetarians. However, I'm happy to use it - albeit sparingly and infrequently. As I said, I had no cabbage, so accompaniment was a baked potato and the green was provided by some beans. Picture here;



If you would like a go at making Vegetarian Gu1ness Stew, you can find the recipe that I followed HERE. Anyone who was around in the summer, will understand why I thought of Piquant when I saw the name of the blog :rotfl:

Dinner tonight is going to be 'Laksa' - once I've checked I have sufficient ingredients for it

I shall be aiming for a NSD, we're down to one banana, but I'll try to wait until Tuesday to get some more. May just make it to the end of the month with literally 'tuppence' of the grocery budget left then :D

Right, I've only just got a cup of coffee, so I'll go for a scamper around the boards and see what is what

Thank you so much for popping by, reading and commenting, I greatly appreciate it

See y'all later.

Greying

mizmir

Thanks for the yoghurt making tips! Will get some live yoghurt next time am in *ldi and give it a go. I remember it being delicious and none of the sugar added of the shop bought stuff.

Guinness stew - yum. Not a veggie but you could convert me with all these delicious recipes.

satchmo1

Hi GP and fellow-subscribers, we had a fab weekend, thanks and got blown home in record time. The place we stayed at was called Ty Dderw Country Inn at Moelfre, on Anglesey , and I'd highly recommend it. Very friendly, cosy, with a well kept bar (Welsh real ales) and an imaginative chef. Two veggie choices on the menu as well.

You're doing so well GP on the budgetary front, and I'm sure you'll make it to the end of the month with a few pennies to spare.

Greying_Pilgrim

Satchmo - so glad you had a good time away You've got me thinking actually. With being a little bit thwarted with what we should have been up to today... yet again...... I turned my attention to budgets and meal plans and stuff of that nature.

Whilst I'll wait until the end of the month to do my 'evaluation' of what has worked and what hasn't - although on balance, February 2014 is looking pretty good - I currently have a little bit of money left in the 2 'other' household pots - namely social and non-food. Depending on what happens this week, I may have about £10, maybe a bit more, left to sweep over into the emergency fund. I suspect that any leftovers in the food budget will not warrant the energy exertion of 'sweeping' - unless I kid myself it's a game of 'shove ha'penny' (lost most of me readers at that point... :rotfl:)

I think it is proving that the food budget is as low as it can go for the type of food that we eat. I've made some compromises already on the type of things that I buy - eg sunflower, not olive oil. By working out a 'daily budget' (but spending 'per item' and making it last for the required number of dishes), I have been able to send £7.50 to charity this month (in addition to the £3 previously allocated to the Food Bank), but I won't have any of my food budget leftover. If I was still over-budgeting, I would have made the contribution and still had more leftover.

But also it is showing that sticking to tight budgets is quite hard work. Especially for the long-haul. And I have to say that I'm not yet sure if giving each month a 'theme' or 'goal' works well for me. February is proving fun, but will I be jaded by March?

I could still do with additional freezer space. The one thing that is missing is 'wiggle room' created if you have a couple of HM 'ready meals' stashed in the freezer for those CBA'd days, or days when work over-runs or things don't go to plan.

Still, let's stay in February for the time being. I have made the '3 bean' chilli for tomorrow night's dinner, today - partly because I had the time and partly because I want the flavours to develop.

I'm not making 'Laksa' for tonight's dinner - I haven't got an obvious 'protein' for it (Jaymee used peanut butter) so I'm going down the curry route I think. Watch this space :rotfl:

We had egg mayonnaise rolls for lunch. Used a couple of the rolls I made on Friday night. I must say, I'm finding that the fridge-rise is making for much softer (and nicer) bread.

Mmm, better go and make some curry I guess. I'm using one dish out of the freezer - courgette dalcha, made with YS'd courgettes I snagged in mrW at the start of the month. The others went into the Caponata that we will be having.... mmm, Tuesday? of this week.

Oh, and I'm claiming a NSD - the shops are shut now, and I've bought nowt

See y'all later.

Greying

dreaming

Hi GP (and all).
Last week of February and you have done very well with your challenges so far. And that pizza and wedges dinner looks fab.
Visited daughter today - she is struggling money-wise so took lunch with me. Was riveted by the Winter Olympics closing ceremony and had to tear myself away for the drive home - noticed the wind is picking up again. I lost a fence panel a couple of weeks ago but the people over the back have put up a new one so saved me a bit of cash. I am looking into tv provision at the moment and considering going freeview. I have Virgin (tv/phone/broadband) now but really want to bring this bill down, so unless they offer me a good deal in May I will be cutting the tv package.
Right I have a £20 note in my purse and am aiming to get to end of week with it still intact.

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Evening :hello:

Ay up dreaming - it's been gusty here today - not pleasant. We find that freeview gives us plenty to watch. The only sticking point will be when the motogp season starts. That is something DP likes to watch. It has moved over to BT sport rather than the BBC. Technically, we can watch it online, but it depends whether we will have to increase our download limit - which, quite frankly would be a pain. After all, we pay for our broadband, pay for our TV licence, why do we need to pay again for one thing.....

So, dinner scoffed. I'm laughing at myself though. In looking for the Dalcha recipe - just in case you want to try it out for yourself, my diary came up - and guess what - exactly the same menu came up - courgette dalcha, red kidney bean curry and rice :rotfl: As I said in that post, the red kidney bean curry is one of Miss Rosie's (Elliot) and I don't think it is on the web (out of her 'bean' book). But if you cooked a 'Ramja' you'd be in the same ball-park. The recipe for the dalcha is HERE. Picture of it here;



Filling and cheap. Reasonably quick to make too. Perfick

We've just been watching the first episode of the hairy bikers in asia. I'm afraid I find them too annoying. But a) they go to fab locations, b) their hearts are in the right place and they just want you to experience what they are experiencing and c) they do pitch in and 'have a go' - the dim sum restaurant bit was good If they tone down the silliness, they make watchable programmes.

Today I am grateful for these 3 things;

for my cooking mojo and the ability to save money with it

for perseverance and persistence - if at first you don't succeed and all that......

that I still have choices

Thank you so very much for popping by, reading and commenting. I greatly appreciate it.

See y'all later.

Greying

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning :hello:

On the ball this morning, snap bags packed and ready to go - must be the slow emergence of spring

Shame I haven't got something mucho more exciting to report really :rotfl:

Anyway, the chilli is *melding* for dinner this evening, will just need to cook some rice to accompany it - and yes, Dear Reader, we did have rice last night too, but sometimes these things happen

Aiming for a NSD today. If I can manage until tomorrow, and just get the TV guide and bananas, then I've a chance of meeting my challenge, and getting 19 out of 20 NSD's, so it's worth 'going for' :D

Right, best away to get 'up and at 'em'

Have a good day, one and all.

Thank you so much for popping by and reading. I really appreciate it.

See y'all later.

Greying