The Simple Bare Necessities feat. Gratitude & Recipes

WannabeFree

Have a lovely weekend

x

Greying_Pilgrim

mcculloch29 wrote: »

I recently bought a book that claimed to be for tiny budgets, that frankly isn't. You'd need three times Jack Monroe's tenner a week. I haven't reviewed it yet. but I will do.

Did you see the fraccas in the press regarding the silly, pompous, out-of-touch comment on tw*tter, regarding the '£10 a week budget' the other day? Interestingly, Jack has reviewed the costings hasn't she? She says that the same basket of food would now cost £16.40. Whilst that is bad news for those on mega-tight budgets, which aren't keeping pace with obvious (to those of us living in the real world) inflation. It does reinforce my point that food prices have been rising, hence why I'm always struggling with my - what I would term generous - budget.

It does depend on your garam masala I think. Weezl74 bought things at mrA, which at the time was consistently the lowest cost supermercado, and I think their spices were.......... 'mainstream'? I was purchasing my spices from the asian supermarket in the city along. The brand I purchased used to be a bit heavy with the black cardamon - which is an essential component of some GM mixes. And is most definitely on the 'savoury' scale of spices, with it's smokiness. But there are plenty of recipes for GM, and a different set of spices can yield a completly different taste. Certainly supermarket spices are more likely to be multi-use. And you're right, more places have little pots of spices for circa 50p. I often purchase my turmeric from B&m for 49p a pot, in between visits to the asian supermarket, which is happening less and less, as they are not proving competitive on price any longer.

WannabeFree - backatcha lovely :wave:

Greying X

mcculloch29

I certainly did see the fracas over the 'Jack Monroe can do it, so everyone else can too' comments, and to be fair, the speed with which most with a grasp on the real world distanced themselves from the comments.

I did Live Below The Line a few times over the years, and the last time I did it, it was a real challenge.

Fortunately I did my version differently, not by buying all the ingredients for all meals for a fiver or less, but by costing out all ingredients, so a kilo pack of porridge for 70p gave me a substantial brekky for 4p, made with water, and it was that 4p that I used.

I could survive on a pound a day now, but I don't have to. Surviving isn't living. It's existing. It's not preparing a meal, but preparing something to eat to keep you functioning. We all need our treats, be they a more expensive ingredient, a biccy with our cuppa, a pudding after a meal to fill a gap, or a little glass of something.

That's why I love shops like H3ron Foods, because those treats are made affordable, H3ron made having to economise bearable, Mr Al and HB makes decent planned meals possible on a tight budget..

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Evening :hello:

Well, Scotland well and truly deserved to win the rugger. They were the better team from the get-go. I hope England were just off point or something - not complacent in thinking that they would just waltz in and win. Scotland have been building momentum and playing fantastic rugger for a long time.

I would drown my sorrows, but i've given up alcohol for lent, so I'll just have to suck it up and say, 'there's always next year......' :rotfl::T

We had kodova mushroom curry, dhal and rice for tea. I prepped it all in advance, so just had to heat it up at half-time and we sat in front of the telly and the log burner (in the same room - we've not had a row ) eating us teas I have one punnet of my YS'd barginacious mushrooms left, and intend to make chickpea and mushroom bangers ('sausages') with those.

I bought some apples, carrots, bananas, tinned toms and tinned mango slices in Greying Town today. I am now officially down to my last fiver of my grocery budget, and there will still be bread, milk and yoghurt to buy next week I can't even feel pleased, as February is a short month I'm pleased that I'm purchasing 'high quality' foodstuffs - albeit at the best prices I can find, or have access to at any given point, but gosh, £150 just evaporates

I have £5 of the alcohol budget left - I used £20 of the remainder (remember Lent started half way through Feb.), to pay for my dentist appt. So at least my gnashers are deemed 'ok' for another year, and I have no debts! The £5 will go in the boiler servicing fund - the boiler which has still not been serviced, as everytime I think to ring and book an appt, we have a cold snap, and I know that the firm I use has limited personnel on the residential work, and they prioritise (rightly) boiler break-downs in bad weather.

I made THIS the other day, using a part of my 89p BNS from mrT. I also bought some coconut oil (ouch!), and had to shell out for m&$ organic EV stuff, which I only did, as I had a £2 credit receipt, and it brought it down to the price I would have paid in HB, had they had any in stock. It's actually very nice and very filling. I didn't use 120ml of maple syrup - I am not a rock-a-fella...... I used a splodge of molasses.

I will have to think up a use for my YS'd cherry tommies, as they are going orf. I should have made curry with them, but was using the mushies, so I'll have to have a rethink. I'm still ahead price-wise, even if I lose a few more. What I am not ahead on is my avocado purchases I bought 3 for £1 from the over-priced on somethings grocers. It is not the grocer's fault, but 2 of the 3 were rotting around the stone from the inside out - the flesh was black, and even my 'less than sharp' knife sliced straight through the stone. In desperation, i cut into the third, to find it 'perfect', but slightly underripe (which was entirely my fault - I should have waited). I'll be giving them a wide berth for a while. Especially as M&$ were selling similar sized ones at 5 for £2 - dearer yes, but I would take back rubbish produce to m&$ and complain.

Today I am grateful for these 3 things;

nice interactions from strangers with BG - it helps BG's confidence

good rugger games to watch - inbetween child-wrangling :rotfl:

A nice pre-prepped curry tea - which allowed us to watch the game, and not be late for BG's bed-time :T

Ta for popping by. Appreciated.

Greying X

apple_muncher

I agree with you about the rugby. It has been a rugbyfest day here as I'd recorded last night's match and watched that this morning. I was pondering the good natured-ness of the matches and how nice it is to watch without those silly incidents. Then England went and spoiled my rose-tinted spectacles approach...

greenbee

Finding a ripe avocado seems to be very hit and miss. I had a rotten one today - the one I bought with it was perfect.

I suggest roasting your cherry toms and having them for breakfast (that's what I do with mine).

beanielou

Proud to be Scottish

in_need_of_direction

The same for the irish.

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning :hello:

beanielou wrote: »

Proud to be Scottish

in_need_of_direction wrote: »

The same for the irish.

:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j


Well, my last grocery budget fiver has winged it's way out of the house with DH and BG to do the shopping for this week to come I'm not stocking up, nor hoarding; I just hope that what is on the list will last us past any inclement weather which may, or may not come our way, and past pay day on Wednesday.

I've some cardboard box fish in the freezer, and rather than buy oven chips, with money that I don't have, we'll have it with tatties (which I do have) baked and mushy peas, for tea.

DH is going to make sure that all the fuel for the log burner is accessible, so that if we need to light the fire at all this week, it will be a simple process to do so. My priority (spending wise) is to have the CH on, but the log burner does permit one room to be made very warm or contribute to making the whole house 'warmer' (with the CH in tandem).

Think that is about all on a :money:vibe. TTFN.

Greying X

ZTD

mcculloch29 wrote: »

That's why I love shops like H3ron Foods, because those treats are made affordable, H3ron made having to economise bearable, Mr Al and HB makes decent planned meals possible on a tight budget..

Which part of Heron is good? Every time I've got their leaflet, it's just seems to be the same promotions as Asda (etc) at the same prices.