Always Pass on What You Have Learned

kittycashcake

Just waving hello! I have read your diary and love your positivity! My OH has similar issues and can be overwhelmed by depression also. You have motivated me to buy more whoopsies and I just decided to make something in my slow cooker for tomorrow. Keep at it!

wishus

Awesome! Thank you Kittycashcake!


OH has been pretty chilled all day and only getting anxious about the rugby... He forgot to get me anything for Valentine's day, but it's the first time he's ever done that. I know he loves me!


I was pretty pleased with myself as I grabbed the Truprint 99p photocard offer on this site, and the card arrived yesterday and he loves it! Really good quality, and frames a picture of us on our wedding day.


About to go cook Valentine's dinner... I'm trying to do Slimming World's diet, and whilst it would have been easy to do a supermarket £20 deal, those things tend to have very calorific items within them and are also not terribly filling IMHO as the sides are a bit stingy. So I thought I'd see if I could beat it.


This is what I have planned:



Starter

Salmon-baked eggs

1 packet of trimmings: £1.20
2 eggs £0.26
Half bag of rocket £0.40

Main:
I love you, my deer


Venison steak £6.78
Asparagus £0.89
Diced chips £0.48
Leeks £0.15

Dessert:


Eton mess

2 Mullerlight yoghurts: £0.67
6 mini meringue nests £0.66
Pack of strawberries: £1.15
200g fat free fromage frais £0.40
Sweetener - free sample

Jacobs Creek sparkling chardonnay pinot noir. £7


Slight bust: £20.04!!!


Alas, my Shopitize is now the latest app to fail on my dying phone, so I can't grab any money back for the Jacobs Creek, but I still think it's better value than the £7.29 Cava that Aldi had in.


Right... off to cook. I would promise pictures, but not sure my phone is up to transferring images. We'll see!

wishus

And I have photos!

... but they are terrible. Sorry!



The eggs with salmon were very delicious. The yolks should have been runnier, but that's because I accidentally switched the grill on. :rotfl:



I did the venison steak just perfect! I was worried this was going to be too dry without a sauce, but it wasn't. (OH had the option of adding a dash of mayo, but he didn't).


Oh my goodness, how messy do these look?! :rotfl: I think the recipe must have either mentioned less yoghurt and I didn't notice, or assume that I had bigger sundae glasses. But this was sooooo lush! Besides, I wasn't about to waste any by leaving it in the bowl!

I'm not brilliant at presentation, but I can make it taste nice at least.

Ways to make this a bit cheaper: use ham instead of salmon; whoopsie whatever steaks instead of venison, or maybe some nice fresh fish, sparkling non alcoholic fizz instead of wine, and er, less yogurt. :laugh: Thanks Aldi for having the venison on special, though - it's £10 cheaper per kilo than Waitrose's, and there's none at all in Asda or Tesco. :T

I did my bit to avoid food wastage by buying one pack of venison that had lost its cardboard wrapper, and hence its date. They had only come in this week, so I knew it would be fine, but other people might have left it on the shelf.

And OH promised to do the washing up, and I gave him until bedtime to do it. But apparently he felt he could leave it until after work today, completely forgetting I need the kitchen clear for the fella who is coming to fix the boiler before 6. So muggins had to get up early and get it all done herself anyway. Ah, love! :happyhear

Tonight's dinner will be chilli, but I've only got 125g mince, so I shall eke that out with a few lentils. Trying to limit us to 500g meat per week anyway, so that will help.

kittycashcake

100% foodporn!! Love it! I ate my body weight in all-you-can-eat buffet and I may be dying.

Beautiful work! {{{praise emoji}}

wishus

Right - I have a boiler update... thrills and spills.

I have fetched in logs from outside for a cozy fire tonight... because we're going to need them. We have switched the boiler off for safety. The flue outlet pipe was detached and had corroded, hence all the water coming out on the inside. Despite there being a lot of free-roaming acid inside it doesn't look too bad... but unfortunately our repair man didn't have the right parts yesterday so I will have to have time off work tomorrow to get it done. we will get a filter fitted the same time, so we're talking over £200. Still, not too bad, hey?

Experimental beef and lentil chilli last night worked pretty well. Also made a 'sour' 'cream' using limes and some of the fromage frais I had left over from Valentine's day. I will use a bit more tonight when I make a lentil dahl - waste not want not!

Got to try to keep food costs down a bit, so every little helps.

wishus

The last few days have been a bit rough on the diet, as I knew they would be.


In the past, my brain would go - sod it to high Hades, and eat all the cake for days. I'm inclined to still do that, a bit, as I've been in so much pain with my gammy leg.


Instead, I think I'll take my spiraliser, a butternut squash, and see what I can fashion. Lentil bolognaise with squashetti? To be fait, I've not got much in the house, but I am already in my onesie.


Grabbed some right bargains today. 6 tea towels for a fiver from the market - I think the first I've needed to buy, erm, ever.
:eek: 20 years of sole hand-me-down tea towels.




Also, Boots were having a clearance sale, so I grabbed 2 foundations and a powder for £3.50. I think I've saved around £24!
The boiler is all fixed and only cost £140. :T


Good start to the weekend... apart from the pain. Got my next freelancing work in, a nice book to read tonight (The Death House by Sarah Pinborough). Just the gammy leg bothering me really.


I had a word with the pharmacist who recommended a tubigrip for my knee and some Voltarol. He advised against a stick, and also said to try to walk normally to avoid causing further pain elsewhere in my body. I hope he's right, because it's soooo owie!

kittycashcake

Oooh a death house is in my list too! I think I got it free from Amazon? I'm on this daily mailing listing for free ebooks..... My god I've got some terrible bosom heaving, corset ripping "oh sir how could you do that to me, a lady" books it unreal. My book pile of shame is shocking, but let me know how you like it and if it's good I'll shuffle it up the pile!

wishus

Kitycashcake- I finished The Death House. I read it really quickly, and it kept me turning the pages. I think the theme is a deep one, and it's executed with some good, pacey storytelling, but ultimately left me with a lot of unanswered questions about the hows and whys behind the theme. Reminded me a bit of Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let me Go.

A bit of a mixed weekend. The pain in my knee is bearable with the tubigrip. I am just frustrated that I can't move about as much as I'd like. I am also like a Dalek - easily defeated by stairs. :rotfl:

OH did some more market research, speaking to other people in similar situations to what he wants to do. They were not as encouraging as the last lot, but it certainly helps to have the full spectrum of opinion. OH was then trying to encourage me to go and see Deadpool - on an expensive Sunday :eek: - but I put him right.

• We have debts. Still!!
• We are going to be facing a drop in income soon.
• We have to be a bit less about 'spending money while we can' and more 'saving for a rainy day'.

I have also reminded those friends who would encourage our spontaneous hedonism that they can't rely on either of us for pub company anymore. Sad faces... but necessary. Friends reminded us back that we shan't be needing to drown our sorrows anyway, because we will be shot of those workplace bullies! I can drink to that! :beer:



Furthermore OH did me proud by taking time to clean and valet the car yesterday. He would normally drive it round the corner and pay someone to do that. But no, he enjoyed the sunshine and the exercise and the chance to blast prog rock at the neighbours while he was working and did a flipping awesome job. I have never seen such a sparkly brum brum! So that was a tenner saved that we did take to the pub and spend on Sunday lunch, but we had that speech and all, and the dinner was not very Slimming World friendly, so there should be much less of that in future.



We then popped to Asda for a replenish of stuff to make lunches for work. A lot of things were reduced. OH is a bit new to all this living well on less stuff, and is a bit like a 2-year-old grabbing goodies while mum isn't looking, so we came out with a load of naughty things - 8 donuts for 10p, an apple pie for 5p... Again - not very SW friendly. But very Sunday night friendly - we watched a recording of the very funny Red with the fire on the go... and if you've never eaten a hot donut heated on the coal shovel over an open fire, why not? It's so lovely!


I found some tiny potatoes in the garden yesterday that seem to have grown in a discarded pile of old seed potatoes, so I've popped them in the shed. Might see if I can grow some spuds off them! I've got a lot of freelance work in all of a sudden, but I'm feeling very positive that I can be organised and grow more in the garden this year.

wishus

I believe I am healing! :j No pain relief gel for 24 hours... the tube is enough.

I’ve been looking at my figures and I believe if I sit tight, I may be able to make an overpayment on my loan come payday!
But will I be persuaded to go to the cinema? I can wait another week, I think.

Also tomorrow night I promised to go to London to see a friend. Now, if my knee is properly healed I can and should really go. But I need to make sure it is. If it isn’t, that’s money I’ll definitely save on travel.

OH is a lot happier, but is still wanting me to spend all my evenings with him, which is lovely, but I have got my freelancing to get on with. Need to make sure I do my work tonight.

wishus

I think we all guessed what would happen... I got talked into going to the cinema to watch Deadpool last night. It's all right, but I preferred Guardians of the Galaxy!

So, I insisted on some mitigations: 1) got a Meercat code from my brother 2) bought some popcorn from Aldi to take in.

What did OH do? Insisted on buying 3 drinks at the counter - for himself! :eek: Why? And then of course he had to pop out for a wee in the middle. A Fanta, a gin and a beer - because he noticed they had a brand he liked just as he was about to pay.

He is clearly in "while we still can" mode, rather than being cautious and careful.

Now, I've cautiously decided I will go to London. It's not just to see friend, though it is a friend I will meet there. It's tied in with my freelancing work, so my travel expenses will be tax deductible. I am going to target a Co-op nearby to the meet to grab some late-night reduced food for a train picnic on the way home - so I'm going to keep my costs sweet and low. That's how you do it, OH!

Also, I will be using my travel cards and cashback sites to keep my initial train ticket spend as low as possible, even though it will be deductible. Because, profit, right? :money:

Keeping it free: due to a hairy commute this morning with cancelled and overcrowded trains, the ding-dong of the sandwich man calling with his trolley full of goodies was like a siren call this morning. BUT I STAYED STRONG!!!

I have my pot of veggie cous cous for lunch, and a YS banana and Super 6 Kiwi. Healthy, home-prepared and filling. Be gone fizzy pop and giant cherry bakewells!

I am fat, my purse is thin = wrong way round!:doh:

Current addictions of freebie goodness: having binge-listened to Serial and Undisclosed, I'm now listening to this guy!

Bob Ruff, with his tatts and his steely fireman-turned-podcaster-PI-moody-face... his transition from interested fan and occasional expert witness in arson cases to becoming a full-time investigative reporter is as compelling as the cases he is working on. Good on you, Bob!