Make do, Mend and Minimise in 2015

Lynplatinum

Hiya all

this may be incoherent cos I was captured by a good mate and taken down the pub this eve!! LOL :beer:

Was reading all your posts and going to myself - oh great - so glad everyone's garden is doing so well and producing so much from so little!! FAB

then read GQ's post!! Oh heck!! I always knew that slugs were nasty - now I am convinced they are evil and the work of the personage usually depicted with horns!!! Little (? is that the right word?)) blighters live for 6 :eek::eek: 6 years and eat twice their own bodyweight every 24 hrs WOT! I am sure I cold manage that with practice - especially if you included beer! It explain so much - thank you GQ - I knew none of this! they obviously have a much better life than me (oh if only I had the freedom to eat as much as I'd like!! ) so therefore I will have no compunction in annihilating them in future!!

Well been a fun but not MM&M today - was off out surveying pubs with my friend Jim today - I drove so didnt drive! but he is such good fun! And then my friend Jan comes round and asks me down local pub - a day full of friends and great pubs and good food! All cost me £15 in total plus petrol! I am just so blessed!
Frugal not gonna happen till Sunday cos I m off out again tomorrow - so be frugal for me folks! :j

misstara

Sounds like you had a fab day out Lyn:)

Not much to report in the way of MMMing but thought I'd drop by to say hi. Very jealous of everyone out in their gardens/allotments.

Tomorrow I'm off to a wedding so fingers crossed that it continues with the good weather.

[Deleted User]

here is a recipe I use for making my DGS choc chip cookies.By the way I don't buy the dr otk*** packets of chips. I buy an ordinary bar of supermarkets milk or white chocolate and bash it with the steak mallet (techy term )until its reduced to chip like consistancy that way I can use half a bar in the mix and have the other half for next time .at 80p a bar you get twice the chocolate for half the price
anyhoo
4ozs marg
3 ozs soft light brown sugar
two tablespoons of golden syrup
6 ozs s.r. flour (i guess you could use G/Free if you need to )
4ozs choc chips (or in my case bashed chocolate )
two tablespoons of milk
heat the oven to 180c gas mark 4
grease baking sheets
In a bowl cream marge until soft and fluffy, add sugar and cream together, (I like to add a dash of vanilla essence at this point but you don't have to)
stir in the golden syrup and chocolate chipssieve the flour in and add the milk and mix until its a big sticky bowlful. get a dessert spoon ,or a large teaspoonful and splodge on the greased baking trays leaving room for them to spread slightly (I flatten them slightly at this point) bung in the oven for around 8-10 minutes .just as they start to turn golden hoick them out and leave on the tray for a few minutes to set then ease off onto a wire tray until cool then box up.This mix should make around 30 odd choc chip cookies and all little boys (and big ones ) love them.They will be cooked and slightly chewy to eat and no different from the ones people buy in tescos at £1.00 for five ,apart from the price, and amount of cookies :):)
All of my grandsons love these ,even the grown up ones :)
I am too old to change to metric so all my recipes are in lbs and ozs :):)

[Deleted User]

Morning all, I've just made another 6 lbs of Gooseberry Jam to add to the 4 lbs I made a few weeks ago, we only have 3 bushes but they've given us a good harvest this year and making Jam with them gives a bigger yield of produce than freezing them to use in crumbles. I've just been up and done a check in the storeroom of preserves left from the past couple of years and I've still got so many 'blackberry based' jams and jellies I shan't make any more this year but will instead make redcurrant jelly from the home grown ones, raspberry jam from the allotment ones and we'll go foraging in the New Forest for crab apples in the autumn and I'll make a couple of really good batches of crab apple jelly as it's so useful to pop into pork based casseroles in the colder weather and is also nice on toast. I love this time of year with its gluts and abundances of produce and making the preserves always makes me feel like a fieldmouse stowing away food for the winter, It's a nice feeling. I'm looking forward to the chutneys and pickles a bit later on in the season although I've a good stand of beetroot ready now and might make a batch of beetroot relish tomorrow if it cools down slightly, I've got the jars and the rest of the ingredients I need, needs to be cooler in the kitchen though as it's hot work in this weather.

Lynplatinum

Hiya

Jackie O - I too have a choccy chip cookie recipe ( a Hugh FW one). But if yours makes 30 ish then ive gotta give it a go!! I too use oz and lbs - I never weigh anything but measure in a tablespoon = 1oz and cut butter up using the idea that 1 pat = 8oz! Drives many of my friends mad! 'How do you know its gonna be ok?' they ask!! I also buy T!scos value dark choc and open the packet slightly and then bash with a rolling pin - v good therapy if you are annoyed with someone!!! No one ever realises that its cheap choc because it contains more cocca solids than bourn!ville!!

Well, today went to my scrapbooking 1/2 day - my friend who runs it only charged me for half the day!! So that was £7. then I went to a music (folk) concert with my dear friend singing (angels stop to listen - she has the most beautiful ethereal voice) - entrance £3 - raffle £1 - home made cake and tea £1.50 total £5.50! A lovely, artistic day for £12.50. Such great value! :j

Then I invited my friend (the singer) and a friend of hers back to mine for dinner - because they were gonna go and look for food in between performances. But her friend is vegan and celiac and lactose intolerant. V difficult to find food out and when you can it tends to be expensive and my singer friend, like me is on a limited income. I made roasted veg (aubergine + peppers + tomaotoes + garlic) and rice - all of which I had in. They did ask me if I wanted to go out for food with them but TBH I didnt want to spend the money when I have nice, healthy and tasty food @ home!! So in that way I have MM&Med today! :j
Purse SHUT tomorrow have loads to do @ home tomorrow so should be content to stay @ home - TBH Im rather looking forward to doing so! :cool:
So frugally forward!

misstara

Morning all

Thanks JackieO for your chocolate chip cookie recipe. I shall be experimenting to see what works best for gf. Chocolate chip cookies are my absolute favourite but I refuse to pay the expensive prices for the gf ones. My next plan is to find a good recipe for gf bread and start making that as well.

The wedding yesterday was lovely, although the weather not so much. I spent a bit more than budgeted partly due to having to get a taxi there due to the torrential rain and the price of the drinks (£6.60 for a gin and tonic :eek:).

Plan for today is to go to Aldee and get food. We seem to have used up quite a few bits this week so it will be quite a big shop. Other than that, the flat needs a good clean and I've got washing and ironing to catch up on. Looks like the weather is going to be quite nice today so hopefully will be able to get out for a walk with OH if he's feeling better.

Bluegreen143

Hi all! Had a busy few days doing stuff around the house. Have worked out my new commute to work pretty well. I'm learning to drive just now and was a bit fearful as my new area isn't as good for public transport, but there's a handy bus in the morning from the estate and I realised it's a shorter walk than I thought to the main road with lots of buses.

First raspberry was ripe in the garden yesterday, looking forward to making jam. Homemade raspberry jam is my favourite

Had friends over for lunch, I roasted a gammon joint (most of which is for my husband's sandwiches, I slice in my electric slicer and freeze!) and made a ham and broccoli quiche, salad and cupcakes. It was a pot luck thing and my friends brought loads too, much of which has been left so that's dinner tonight and lunches tomorrow from the leftovers

Hope everyone's had a nice weekend, sounds like you've all been MMMing quite successfully. Must try the choc chip cookie recipe, I love cookies. I use chopped up chocolate instead of chips too, chips are outrageously expensive.

Athome1

Evening All - I've finally caught up!! Will probably still lurk most of the time but feel like I belong to a wonderful community.

I've always been fairly frugal but am having to be so more than ever now but I am learning things I didn't know about or hadn't thought of on here.

Weather has been mixed over the weekend here in Coventry, yesterday was glorious and today we've had sun, clouds and a storm!! It's very muggy though and the storm hasn't made a bit of difference to that. x

Siebrie

I would love to join you, after several weeks of lurkdom. I am usually very organised in mmm-ing, and then fall off the waggon spectacularly. I used to have a tiny mending pile, doing three items once a week; that pile is now a foot high...

[Deleted User]

Good evening everyone ,gorgeous dinner of roast beef and all the trimming at Dds house,which my son-in-law Simon prepared ,followed by a lovely lemon meringue pie.I'm absolutely stuffed.DGS Ben and G/F arrived for dinner as well and they have decided to come with the rest of us on holiday to our holiday place on the IoW in August.Her parents have treated her to a weeks holiday in Budapest, and Ben is going as well .Her Mum told us last night at the 21st 'do' that she is so pleased that Katie has such a kind and gentle boyfriend, and she couldn't want for a better one than Ben.Which I thought was a really nice compliment to 'Our Ben' bless him he is a nice guy and adores his little Katie as she does him.

Tomorrow a small shop of much needed things and a trip to the libray to return DGS Mikey's books for him as he had forgotten them yesterday.
A bit cooler thank goodness tonight so fingers crossed we will all get a better nights sleep.

My DGS Holly's 22 birthday tomorrow and so I expect I'll get a visit at some point I have got her some Euros as her and her B/F Toby are off to Greece in two weeks time when the school holidays start.
My brother Davy is back in hospital in Poitiers and I'm hoping to hear something tomorrow from his partner Sandra when she rings me.

Right as Zebedee would say 'Time for Bed ' boing, boing :):) for those old enough to remember The Magic Roundabout :):)
Night all, God bless all here
JackieO xx