I have lost my OS ways, help!

Caterina

LOL MrsL, that might be enough to turn our Mardatha into a Sassenach! Or maybe not, maybe she would rather turn kale-eater!

What a lovely day I had today! First of all, all day with DH, and it turned out to be a fantastic, freebie-filled NSD.

After a yummy breakfast fry up, courtesy of DH, we went for a freebie film preview, The Hundred Foot Journey, nice if a bit predictable. Then off to the Stratford Olympic village for a small picnic of bread, cheese, apple and plums from home, but on the way we passed through the Westfield shopping centre and we were offered a freebie hot drink in exchange of entering our email address for some sport tv channel. Who cares, I can always unsubscribe after I get the first email!

Nice long walk in the park then headed for J Lewis cafe, but were stopped in the lower floor of the store by a nice lady offering freebie tastings of a cream liqueur similar to baileys. Well, what's not to like?

This was followed by freebie tea and cake (lavender and chocolate tart, to die for!) in the cafe. Then we were tempted to check YSs in w8rose but nothing remarkable in there so we stayed spend-free. Outside the store there was a stall promoting fresh peppers, we had a freebie taster and were invited to pick up a few peppers to take with us, free!

Back home, I made dinner, we watched a bit of TV and here I am, in bed updating on this lovely OS day. The best thing is that DH and I really talked seriously about our long term saving plan and he is totally on board. After a day like today he sees how we can be creative about having fun on the cheap or free. He has really taken it on board and realises that it can be quite an interesting journey to try ways of saving on the inessentials, to then be able to treat ourselves to good quality goods/experiences when necessary.

Good night.

lynsayjane

Morning all,
Hope you had nice weekends and reasonable weather.
Struggling with how cold it's gotten suddenly, feel a bit stuffy and hope I'm not coming down with a cold Actually put the heating on for an hour on Saturday night!!

Was a reasonably low spend weekend. Friday I was at a 50th then a wedding but had the car so bought a couple of soft drinks. Had to fill the car on the way home though as went to Brechin to meet mum and nephew (mums treat). Finished our dolphin hunt after, did involve paying for parking and treated ourselves to a coffee and muffin. Made pasta bake for tea and had a movie night after. Yesterday took the BF to work and visited a friend, did a wee spot of food shopping. Finished off the weekend with both me and BF doing our ice bucket challenges. Wasn't as bad as I'd feared it would be but was very glad to get into dry clothes and have a cuppa!
Did manage to get both bathrooms and vestibule cleaned too though the rest of my to do list got ignored.

I have an OS question, I bought peppers and onions at the weekend but won't use all of them before they pass their best. Are these things that can be chopped and frozen? Are they best then used in things (like chilli etc) rather than just defrosting?

Thanks
LJ
x

jlhmd666

Thanks for those suggestions Cat I am determined to carry through my plans on OS as it just makes much more sense to me. I can't even explain it but my family are eating better even if they can't see / don't understand that

Shovel_Lad

Please hit the :spam: button on the post by david_merchant.

Pooky

Lynsay - Peppers and onions can both be frozen raw - double bag the onions as they do tend to make the freezer smell, they will be a bit soggy on defrosting so I just chuck them straight into stews/chillis etc from frozen. I often keep a bag of both in the freezer from the supermarket as they often work out cheaper than buying fresh and it means I always have them to hand.

lynsayjane

Pooky wrote: »

Lynsay - Peppers and onions can both be frozen raw - double bag the onions as they do tend to make the freezer smell, they will be a bit soggy on defrosting so I just chuck them straight into stews/chillis etc from frozen. I often keep a bag of both in the freezer from the supermarket as they often work out cheaper than buying fresh and it means I always have them to hand.

Thanks Pooky, thought that would be the case but had a couple of traumas freezing stuff before so thought I'd check. I was sure i'd read you could freeze yorkshire pudding batter but when i tried to make mini toad in the hole after defrosting it didn't rise so I had sausages in pancakes :rotfl:

thriftmonster

Hi all, I've just caught up on the thread and I'd like to join in as well. We have been OS in the past but over the last couple of years have slipped quite badly due to lack of time.

However the course I have been studying part time has finished so I'm back to working part time alone. I have extra hours at work but it's a trial 6 month post to see if it is what is required - my other hours aren't affected. But I don't want to get used to the extra money and then find the post isn't renewed.
Plus ds2 is changing school this year - at the beginning of GCSEs - and although it is a NI state grammar school, the fees are a lot more than we were previously paying - but the move has to be made- wrong friends, online gaming etc:eek:. Ds1 will be at home this year for a gap year but will be off to uni next year - so we do need to be careful with the pennies, as well as funding a fair bit of needed work on the house.

Reading all your posts was a much needed kick up the proverbial.....Thank you all so much and especially Caterina for starting the thread. I feel a little better when I see all the people I regard as OS superheroes posting here:D

First steps:
Clean and tidy the house gradually - dealing with all the "corners of doom".
Meal plan and try not to be in the supermarket every day :cool: - plan made for this week - just need to stick to it and for the children not to eat half the ingredients:mad: - warnings issued
Make packed lunches each day - definitely a way that money runs away for us.

Spicy lentil soup made for lunch with quesadillas for the kids to go with it (slightly stale tortillas used up)

patentgirl

Caterina thanks for recipes I am always looking for ways to cut meat down, your day yesterday sounded great.
Stopping in today so NSD pouring with rain so catching up with some programmes recorded ages ago made a lasagne for tea got Dd bringing grandchildren coming so will have quick look in a minute what I can make for pudding out of the store cupboard feel blackberry and apple crumble coming on as picked blackberries yesterday.

Have a good bank holiday everyone

mardatha

Ok - so what country does not eat GREEN STUFF ??
:rotfl::rotfl:

greenbee

I am spending a lovely rainy day clearing up after the window fitters (in time for the painter to make more mess I expect... although not until it stops raining presumably!), defrosting and reorganising the freezers and stewing apples (I have a crate of cookers from my dad, but they need cooking as they won't last in crates).

Yesterday was spent with my brother turning windfalls into juice... which we then decided could all be turned into cider...

I have to say, I find the relentless rain (and housework) exhausting. What I need is fresh air, exercise and light, but outside is not really very appealing at the moment!