Make do, Mend and Minimise in 2015

HOWMUCH

Good morning all you MDMMer's today I'm cooking one of my beef joints I got at Christmas when beef was on offer at £3.99 per kg, I got some and popped them in the freezer I went for the large one and cut them up before going in the freezer. I also got some pork too when it was £2.69 per kg and did the same with gammon. I've been doing this for a couple of year when meat becomes so cheap because it's turkey time and the sales go down so they special offer meat. WE will get about 4 meals each out of the beef and sarnies. I freeze some of the yorkshire puddings for later to pad out stews and the like. The washing I did yesterday is all ironed and put away, the daffies in the garden are almost out acouple more days of sunshine and they will be there.
I too had a giggle Cheerful at our pisting.
Kittym are you crocheting you wreath? Attic24 has lovely wreathes on her blog. Now Poldark will it be as good as the 1975 version it was good viewing as a 20 year old.
The garden is looking all neat and tidy, I may get an hour or two in there again today, next weekend I will be at my daughter's looking after DGS from Friday for a week whilst his mum goes to Egypt. He has been at his dad's this weekend and will be coming home this evening so I've had no distraction this weekend so got loads done.
Need to go as I want to load the oven up whilst it's on and then it will be into the freezer for mid week nights when I work.
Happy times everyone.

katherinedrex

Hi everyone, really enjoying this thread. Howmuch, what does "YS" mean please?

Bigjenny

"YS" is yellow stickers or whoopsies, reduced items in supermarket etc.

kittym

I love Attic24 Howmuch. That's were my DD saw the wreath and asked if I could try to make one for her school so they can auction it off to raise funds for books etc.
It is such a fab website, with some amazing creations, she is a very talented lady. I shall endeavour to try to have a go. Fingers x it turns out ok.

Hard_Up_Hester

Hubby's been busy in the garden, his tomato plants are huge already, he also has peppers & cucumbers coming up.
I've spent part of the day sewing, but I've still not started my own sewing as I'm doing some 'paid for' sewing at the moment, I then need to do a couple of repairs to a coat belonging to one of the DGD's so it can be passed on to a younger DGD.
I'm hoping to find some more stuff to sell after I've posed off the items already sold.
Hester

HOWMUCH

Thanks Bigjenny for explaining YS, to go into more detail supermarkets reduce items that are due to go out of date or bestfore date, so say tomorrow all items marked with 9th March on will be reduced, they are normally reduced upto 4 time during the day that later it gets the cheaper they become. If you go to M'sons at 7pm alot of items get reduced to 75% off and if you are lucky they do 10p prices and 10% of original cost. I often get bread at 5p per item.
They go into the freezer and reappear when needed, I find Monday evenings at 6.45 is the best time to go to Mr M'sons.

mrssnowy_2

Hello All,can a getting-smaller one join please?
I am quite/very MMM but have lost my way a bit and have a lot of WIP at the moment.
2014 was not a good year ,DH sadly died after a long illness and I have been demotivated. Although I did manage to buy a car and finish paying the mortgage-both needed to be done and dusted before I retire later this year ..
I am a bit of a magpie when it comes to craft things,so I am trying to stop buying and start making and selling-and serious de-cluttering.Can knit and sew,love EPP especially hexagons.making jewelry with genuine gemstones,thread and wire.
Love to make bread,jams,chutneys,cake,and lots of something out of nothing meals,including pots of soup.
I will keep lurking so that I will get my b%m into gear for a bit of a life style change.
Thank you for having me
mrss

Lynplatinum

Hi mrssnowy - you sound a lot like me!! I am currently semi retired and hope to fully retire soon and move back to where I lived as a child soon! therefore de cluttering; saving money; selling stuff on e!bay and if necessary taking it to CS (charity shops) is where I an at!! Cheerfulness and the other folk on here have been a real inspiration to me recently. I am sure you will enjoy their company!

Well folks an NSD for me today!! Disgracefully fell off wagon yesterday - due to delayed trains and cash machines not working (delayed train meant miss connection so needed cash for taxi - cash machine not working led to trip to MnS food led to purchase of choccy puds and chicken kiev - totally unnecessary spends - could have bought long lasting stuff for just over a £5 and still got cash back!! Still one chick K in freezer for another day :-)

Made lovely fish pie for tea (still using that special offer lot of fish!) and discovered good way to save putting on extra ring on stove for carrots to go with pie. In a small casserole put stock cube + some boiling water (i made my own stock cubes recently from a chicken carcass and froze it in Ice cube trays for ease of use) + carrots cut into battons. Put in over GM6 (about 200 degrees for electric people!!:rotfl:) for 20 mins. beautiful soft and lucious carrots. I have tried straight 'roasting' them before - with and without honey etc but they always came out a bit tough but this way they come out very similar to when they have been steamed (plus no extra calories involved!!):)
Week of attonement for my spending both on food and on calories yesterday ahead - I am determined not to give in!! Help needed to keep at it!! :-)

vhalla1478

Good Morning, Folks, and welcome, mrssnowy, I'm sure everyone will be pleased to have you aboard, and maybe you'll have some recipes/tips/ideas for us?

Lyn, don't beat yourself up too much about overspending, the circumstances were outside your control - we're all human and lapse in some way or other from time to time. I'm fighting an urge to go out and buy new clothes at the moment, even though I have some lovely things, I'm bored with them all and want something new. I suspect it's something to do with the fact that my DB is still away; if he were here, I wouldn't even be thinking about clothes. Oops - that came out wrong - is it a Freudian slip?!! He's got a big legal meeting this morning so am anxious that he gets the outcome he so thoroughly deserves.

In the fight against unnecessary spending/going to the shops, I'm experimenting with having fruit and vegetables delivered for free from a local farm. My daughter-in-law has an order with them so am expecting a delivery today; I'll report on quality and quantity later; if mine is anything like daughter-in-law's it will last me the best part of a month!

Tomorrow I'm also going to be in the danger zone as I'm visiting my dealer friend who has large buildings full of antiques/second hand gear at very reasonable prices; daughter-in-law wants furniture to upcycle. He's also got a house stuffed full of wonderful things -arrgh!! And he'll have a great tan as he's just back from a month in Thailand.

I got on with my rug yesterday but am flagging a bit over the rest of my sewing, will have to try harder today.

This is a lovely salad

Beetroot, Goat's Cheese and Apple Salad - serves 4

500 grams cooked baby beetroot in natural juice, Braeburn apple, squeeze of lemon juice, 100 grams goat's cheese, crumbled, 50 grams hazelnuts, coarsely chopped.

Vinaigrette

2 tbsp. balsamic vinegar, 3 tbsp. hazelnut (or walnut) oil, 3 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil, sea salt and black pepper.

Whisk together the ingredients for the vinaigrette, seasoning with salt and pepper to taste. cut the baby beetroot into halves or quarters. Quarter, core and thinly slice the apple and toss with a little lemon juice to stop it discolouring. Pile the beetroot and apple slices onto four plates and scatter over the goat's cheese and hazelnuts. Drizzle with the vinaigrette and serve immediately.

Have a good day, Everyone.

Viv xx

cat4772

I bought 3 packs of blue school tights (9 pairs in total) for my 5yo daughter has - she has put knees through 5 of them. a couple that my husband threw out before I got home from work and one that had so many various sized holes from falling onto gravel that we threw out. But the pair she holed on Friday, I washed and repaired. Would be perfect if I'd used navy cotton instead of grey but they'll be ok to wear for the remainder of term.

I think a year ago, I'd have resigned myself to buying another 3 pack for her:eek: instead of trying to mend them:p

cat.x