Living on next to nought - is that the key?

Upsidedown_Bear

Smilie of the day.

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Evening :hello:

I *remembered* this afternoon that I had *forgotten* to mention a couple of things, due to my mind being elsewhere last week. The first was that I did get to go to the nearest 'big' mrT and get some rice. I was going to get the brand that I normally get, which is 'Apna', and is a blend of basmati and long grain rice. I find that it cooks really well. Anyhow, it had gone up in price, either to £6 or £6.50 per 5kg bag. So I was seduced into buying a 10kg bag of 'everyday' rice (not basmati) from a company that I had not heard of, but goggle shows up to be 'Veetee'. It was on special offer - £7.75 I think, so about 78p per kg. Blow me, I went into H0me Bargins today, and what did they have? but 1kg block packs of Apna rice...... for 99p :doh: Mind, because I bought the cheaper rice, I was able to buy a second bag of chickpeas (2kg for £2.99 I think), so swings and roundabouts, swings and roundabouts.

I also, whilst in mrT, splashed out and bought a Kenw00d mini food chopper. I have been wanting one of these since they appeared in Delia's *cheat* cookery programme, but couldn't justify the £18/£19 that mrLewis was charging for them at the time. Anyhoo, mrT had them on special for £12.50 (the silver ones, not the white one that st Delia uses......) so I got one. It'll prove more than its worth for blitzing up small quantities of sauce/dressing or for chopping onion/garlic/chilli for curries. You don't quite get the same effect with a stick blender and small amounts of ingredients just get 'lost' in a conventional size food processor.

The other thing that I did last week was to drop off our contribution to the f00dbank. I took in our donation for Nov and Dec, as I figured that they will only get busier in the run up to Christmas. They can leave our contribution on the shelf or give it out now, I'll leave it to their judgement. Anyway, allied to that, whilst in the 'big' mrT, I saw a notice that said that mrT are going to be doing that collection (presumably with *matching* from mrT) in conjunction with the Trussell Trust, in store from the 24th - 29th November (please double check dates in your local store, but I think it is nationwide). I know several of you already make your own arrangements and donate to f00dbanks, but I just thought that I would mention it, just in case it floats anyone's boat, or makes gifting easier. No pressure to give - I consider myself up to date with my giving until 2015 now.

We went for a nice wander today - only up and around the high street, as DP wanted some turps....... I know....... and we had a little looksee at things. I did also get some vac pack chestnuts from H0me Bargins, they were 99p for a 200g box, BBE Aug 2015. The brand is 'Art1san Pantry' and the box is very similar in design to the 'M3rchant Gourm3t' pack, except it is red instead of blue...... I see m&$ are charging £2.80 for a 200g box of vac pac chestnuts........... It's funny, I am beginning to be grabbed a little with the spirit of Christmas this year. It has been a bit of a non-event for so long for me - and yet this year, DP seems to be pushing for us to 'celebrate' it a little. Not in an over-the-top way, and DP is very against the commercial aspect of it all. And yet he wouldn't countenance not sending out cards (we only send a few to family, but he was adamant that we must send them), and is only partially on board with having curry for Christmas dinner..... :rotfl: We'll gloss over the fact that it was me 'in-laws' that killed off Christmas for me long ago............ Mind, there have been changes in that whole dynamic this year, so perhaps DP is feeling that we need to set down some traditions of our own? Perhaps if we can embrace the spirit and leave the frenzy, I'll get to like Christmas all over again. We'll see.

Can you please make sure that when I natter on about 'what I made fer us tea' tomorrow night, I mention that it can be made in a slow cooker? You know I haven't got one, but I know that plenty of folk have, and I'm sure that recipes for them are always useful. I have made it one day in advance, as the recipe advocated it, so I'm letting my mind go into overdrive for a suitable accompaniment..... ..... I think I may have it I have made the vegetarian version of it, but it is *theoretically* a meat-dish, although as it is also a traditionally thrifty housewife's dish, I'm probably not too wide of the mark with my meatless version

For dinner this evening, I made Bengali Butternut Squash & chickpea curry with lentil dhal and rice. It is an Anjum Anand recipe and one that muddywhitechicken told me about It's a really tasty, fragrant curry. Picture here;



Both DP and I were stuffed. Mind, DP has had 2 breakfasts today - his normal porridge, and then when I was making scrambled eggs on toast he wanted some..... then when we got in from our walk, we had baked potato (cooked extra in the oven when I was doing the pizza on Friday night) with the last of the coleslaw from Thursday night. When we were out, there was a huge queue at Gr3ggs and an equally huge queue at a hot meat sandwich bar (chain). I guess that's the equivalent of a Sunday roast these days. DP and I wondered whether you could afford to just have a stall selling such items on a Sunday and live for the rest of the week. I remember meeting someone who ran a burger van, and whilst they worked every weekend ( and had at least 1 city centre pitch), that was their work. The rest of the week they played......

Today I am grateful for these 3 things;

for a full stomach

for enthusiasm about projects from DP

for the fizzle and pop of my cooking mojo

Thank you so much for popping in and reading. Mucho, mucho appreciated.

See y'all later.

Greying

DippityDooDah

I must re-sign up to :money:'s club. If I could find an energy co that didn't charge a daily standard charge, I'd probably be in the money....... I've been with this lot over a year now, not that there is an exit fee anyway (and neither should there be!). I got fed up of the last lot because they insisted on playing silly b's instead of providing good customer service.

Greying[/QUOTE]

Hi GP,
There is a company called Ebico who offer gas without the daily standing charge, I use them just now for a house that is currently being refurbished so gas is switched off and using very little electricity. The rate per unit is slightly higher than other tariffs, but if you use only a small amount of gas it should still save you money. They seem to be linked or are part of Scottish Hydro/SSE as this where the bills come from..... Worth a look anyway.

Love your diary, very inspiring,

Thanks

DDD xx

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning :hello:

Bless you DippityDooDah - I shall have to get my tail-feather-a-shifting and look into it all. THANK YOU, and hello and welcome by the way :wave::D

So, Monday morning again - where are the weeks going to?

I'm aiming for a NSD today. Dinner is covered and there shouldn't be anything else that we need today. I've one or two bits to pick up for meals this week, but I can probably get most of that tomorrow with the TV mag, and perhaps rope in DP if anything needs to come from mrAl.

I'm starting to think about my December meal plan. It is going to be a melange of thrift and luxury! :rotfl:Heavy on the thrift and light on luxury, but hopefully full-on with flavour and delight

Have a wonderful money-saving day y'all.

Thanks everso for popping in, reading and commenting. Know that you are appreciated. Greatly

See y'all later.

Greying

lindens

mcculloch29 wrote: »

I wish I could get Caerphilly, it's my favourite, well it would be, I was born about 7 miles away.
.

I have just moved to Caerphilly and loving it.

Upsidedown_Bear

Smilie of the day.

little_sweetie

Aw I love today's smilie, upsidedown Bear Correct me if I'm wrong but....your avatar now morphs into a brown bear too :think:

Hiya Greying :wave:

That curry looks wonderful, I wish I could [STRIKE]make[/STRIKE] get DH to eat chickpeas :cool:

Do get your Christmas spirit back, dear heart, I live with a 'bah humbug' OH but will not have Christmas spoiled by him or anyone else. I LOVE Christmas. If necessary just shut your two selves away from the world for a few days and enjoy. I learned to do that years ago when a supercritical MiL used to come to us for Christmas dinner. There was never enough salt in things, she didn't like this, wouldn't eat that and once when I was brave enough to attempt a candlelit supper, insisted on turning the main lights back on so that she could see what she was eating! She opened every sandwich to examine the contents closely before she took a bite too. As if I would poison her! Mind you...the thought crossed my mind once or twice :idea: :rotfl::rotfl:
Anyway, my gifts are bought and wrapped and all I need to do it finish making my cards and check the list for forgotten people. The food will sort itself out later. Thanks to all the tips and advice on this thread (and others) I have accumulated £15 leftover from the food budget, the meal plan is done for this week so I need to buy very little on my shopping trip today (mainly kitchen roll and other non-food items) which will leave more for the Christmas food pot. For the first time in ages I feel under control financially.

Many thanks GP and chums x

Upsidedown_Bear

little_sweetie wrote: »

Aw I love today's smilie, upsidedown Bear Correct me if I'm wrong but....your avatar now morphs into a brown bear too :think:

No idea how that happened

liltdiddylilt

Hello GP

I resent the standing charge on gas and leccy too. Years ago when I worked for a certain German power company in the midlands, we did certain tariffs which had no standing charge that people could freely choose from. Yes the unit rate was a touch higher but for those who don't use much it was perfect. They seem to have died out. Funny that as they have the profits of these big companies have soared.

little_sweetie I have stopped asking Him if he will eat things with lentils, kidney beans, chickpeas et al in. He gets what he is given :rotfl: - your MiL sounds like one from a certain very warm place. I am *lucky* that my MiL is so busy kowtowing to her own evil Mother that she is under instructions not to see us at all over the Christmas period if she wants her mum to come to stay. I know what my response would be if I was told not to see my 2 year old only grandchild... 'Well have a lovely Christmas mum, I'll give you a ring on Christmas Day!' - but she isn't like that. The in laws are one of these families who sit silently seething and resenting whilst being outwardly charming. Absolute lunatics.

Greying do please make sure that there is room in the budget for a few little luxuries. They can be homemade and not cost much... Curry is fab, but how about Christmas Pud? Brandy butter... Mince pies. Miniature petit fours, and Mr L's delightful stollen? I am feeling the Christmas spirit this year. I nearly put up the tree yesterday. Then I remembered that I have said two year old and some very old and very expensive baubles..

Have a good day dearest xx

greenbee

liltdiddylilt wrote: »

Hello GP

I resent the standing charge on gas and leccy too. Years ago when I worked for a certain German power company in the midlands, we did certain tariffs which had no standing charge that people could freely choose from. Yes the unit rate was a touch higher but for those who don't use much it was perfect. They seem to have died out. Funny that as they have the profits of these big companies have soared.

Ironically getting rid of the no standing charge tariffs was part of the government's requirement for simplification of tariffs.

I'm sure there were better ways to simplify - for example, instead of having a DD discount or online billing discount, the basic option could have been for DD and online billing (i.e. what costs the provider less) and then you could opt to pay extra for the payment method that costs the provider more, and to have the printed bill posted to you (which obviously also has a cost). But I think that solution probably came into the 'common sense' category, which is why it never occurred to anyone...