The Simple Bare Necessities feat. Gratitude & Recipes

beanielou

A wonderful gift that BG is happy to be with others.
Happy first mothers day

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning :hello:

beanielou wrote: »

Happy first mothers day

Thanks love, I did have a lovely day. DH is under strict instructions not to buy into the 'commercialism' of 'Allmark 'olidaze, so instead, we had a lovely family day out at a natty trusty place we'd not visited before. The house was lovely - it's not renowned for it's garden, but there were benches a-plenty in the grounds, and we ate our picnic lunch in the sunshine and i felt like the richest woman on earth

I got to go to another mrL in a city (?) that isn't even in our county - go me! :rotfl::rotfl: to pick up a loaf, and I got some black olives and mushy peas too - ha ha - living the dream, living the dream :rotfl::rotfl:It did make me appreciate our own mrL though, as the gal on the till was - for whatever reason - the most miserable person I have encountered in a while. Perhaps she was a mum, and would rather have been with her littlies; perhaps she wanted to be sunbathing with a pint of summat refreshing by her side, who knows? But I do find it strange when people who work in retail can't even be bothered to say 'hello' or 'goodbye' to customers who react politely to them. what if the checkout operative was the only person someone saw that day?

We had fush, chups & mushy peas (gone up 4p to 19p a tin in mrL - and I see they've raised their price of sultanas to 88p, they kept them at 84p for longer than other retailers, but it is still a price increase of something we buy regularly) for tea. And I was glad of the simplicity of prep as we had quite a long day out.

I've approx. £3 to last me until the end of the month for food. We've pretty much got stocks in, but will need bread & milk, so I am hopeful that the money will last Tea this evening will be mixed lentil bolognese, baked tattie and whatever frozen veg we have most of in a green hue.

I shouldn't therefore need any shopping, but i hope to get some exercise later, taking a (small) contribution over to the FB. We will take a few cartons at a time - it won't be the biggest donation, but we'll aim for weekly, until the boxes are empty. Then we'll have to rethink again, as clearly, with ever rising prices I'm not having surplus in my grocery budget at the end of the month these days

Right, Baby Greying is bored (they've been very tolerant really), and they'll be bashing the keyboard just now, so best quit whilst I'm ahead.

Ta for popping in, reading and supporting me. I remain grateful.

Greying X

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Evening :hello:

Well, where has the day whizzed to?

BG and I mooched over to the community hub and gave our FB donation in. The nice lady was on reception, so we exchanged a few pleasantries

We had a pootle into a couple of charity shops. One is a relatively new one, it is an animal focused charity. The shop is like a high-end boutique with prices to match. They didn't have any children's clothing And given that I didn't buy owt, and only one other person was in the store (fair do's she was carrying an item of clothing about, like she intended to try it on or buy it) I don't think they had many customers either....... I won't bother wasting my time in that chazza again.

I eschewed the opportunity to buy YS'd aubergines in mrW for 25p each. They were looking a little worse for wear - I would considered having a rootle through them, normally, but I figured my £3 budget didn't stretch to YS'd things this week........ At least DH listened to me and didn't just waltz into mrL to get milk on the way home. It'll stretch until tomorrow, when we'll need more bread too, so make the trip worthwhile.

I was delighted by the actions of a young man at the entrance to the shopping centre in Greying Town - he saw me & BG approaching, held the door open to let his two companions through and then continued to hold the door for us. Such a gentlemanly act, from a young man possibly not long out of his teens, and who had the biggest smile and the largest set of sleeve tattoos I have possibly ever seen........And when I said, 'how kind, thank you', he replied, 'no problem, it's my pleasure'. Isn't that nice? Don't judge books by covers.

Tea this evening was mixed lentil bolognese. No pic I'm afraid, I just dished it up - as to me it is a 'use up' meal of odds & s0ds. I used some brown lentils and the last of the beluga lentils out of the jar. I cooked some jacket potatoes to accompany (used the YS'd maris pipers from m&$ - i have 2 left now), I finished up the last of the YS'd m&$ sprouts and sliced them up and steamed them in the microwave, and microwaved a bag (it's 450g, so not alot) of frozen broccoli. Clean plates all round and there is a small portion of bolognese left over for someone's lunch at some time - hope it's me!

Today I am grateful for these 3 things;

a nice cheery e-mail

lighter evenings

True Gentlemen displaying 'old-style' grace

Ta for popping in and reading. Appreciated.

Greying X

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning :hello:

A little late for me this morning, but we've been tatting about and replying to e-mails etc, so I've not been a slouch

My remaing £3 budget is going to be made to squeak as I had forgotten we require more bananas Those and the TV guide will be ALL I can spend today

It does show though, by 'putting my foot down' (:o) about milk, we still have milk to spare today. OK, so i had toast rather than cereal for breakfast (actually fancied the toast over weetybix this morning, no other reason), but perhaps by making DH be mindful about tea making, and drinking said tea (when there are no baby-sized distractions) we still have milk left........

Tea this evening will be spicy parsnip soup to use up the remaining parsnips in the fridge. Hope they are OK. They are under a mound of YS'd tatties (the first lot I got from m&$). If they aren't, it will be potato soup!

Right, don't think I've owt else MS to report, so I had better vamoose.

Ta for popping in and reading. Appreciated.

Greying X

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Evening :hello:

Well, I stuck to my budget and practised wot I preached today I bought 8 bananas for 79p from m&$, along with the TV guide. MrW made it very easy to c0ck -a-snook at their YS'd things, as they have clearly implemented a new policy of knocking 25p off things. Wow. I wonder how much it costs to employ someone to knock 25p off things, and how many things they can knock 25p off in an hour......

I also drank 2 cups of tea that had gone cold _pale_ I don't really like tea, but don't like to have more than 1 or 2 cups of coffee at the most each day, and besides, we are..... running low on coffee. I microwaved one cup and drank the other cold. One went cold because of a baby-shaped distraction, one went cold because DH always makes me a cup of tea as an act of showing his love - but forgets that i'm not a huge fan of tea..... :rotfl:

We still have a bit of milk left :j Although DH did pick some up on the way home from work tonight.

I have 72p of my food budget left to last me until Friday...........

Tea this evening was curried parsnip soup. I tend to make it up as I go along, but I am pretty sure that the original recipe was from Jane Grigson's vegetable book, which I had a copy of at one time - but given that I only ever cooked the soup and a leek pie (made with suet pastry - think of the calories :eek:) from it, I think it got sent off to the chazza rather than dust gathering in the kitchen. A copy of Jane's original recipe can be found HERE. As I say, I kinda wing it these days It tasted nicely of parsnip - I used up the 'wrinkled' ones and still have 3 left (not wrinkled) - and filled a gap I made flatbreads to accompany, into which I had incorporated some toasted, chopped walnuts. Delish. Picture here;



Today I am grateful for these 3 things;

sufficient

time to take notes of new recipes from library books whilst BG played contentedly by me

mutual 'understanding' with a mum-chum

Thanks for popping by and reading. Greatly appreciated. By me. Always.

Greying X

beanielou

Thanks for reminding me I have parsnips in the fridge that I can make into soup.

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning :hello:

Up with the larks this morning Figured I may as well be up and doing something as lying wide-awake in bed

beanielou wrote: »

Thanks for reminding me I have parsnips in the fridge that I can make into soup.

Pleasure beanie Hope you are well?

I must make a list of things today, as I know that I've got lots of little 'admin' type things to do, and I'll end up forgetting them if I don't write them down..... to be able to cross them off

I was supposed to be meeting up with a mum-chum today, but we both had reasons for postponement, so we've re-booked I'll enjoy meeting up with her when we do - she's great company

Tea this evening was going to be Anna Jones' 'Beetroot & Bay bourginon', but I'd of had to splash out on bay leaves - I forgot to pick some up from the 'elf food store a couple of Saturdays ago, and mrW no longer stock the 'fresh' ones (well, not in our branch), with or without 25p knocked off..... so I've had a re-think, in view of my budgetary squeakiness. In effect, it will now be 'buddha bowl' as I'm going to use up bits and bobs to form a plate. It'll be based on a tub of chilli that is currently residing in the freezer. It'll also use up the last 2 avocados - assuming that they are still edible, and aren't quietly mouldering from the inside out......

Had I been in the market for cut flowers yesterday, and assuming I had the money, there were bargains galore to be had in our local m&$. I can only assume that they'd over anticipated folks purchasing summat for their mums; or mum was so well catered for, she didn't buy herself her usual bunch of flowers for the windowsill. Lovely bunches of roses for £1.40.........

Right, I've finished my half cup of black coffee - nice to not have to rush it, nor drink it cold I've made DH's snap, so I best get to my list

Ta for popping in, reading and saying hello Appreciated.

Greying X

TalesfromtheAvenue

Hello GP and avid followers,

I hope you don't mind me shyly popping in to say 'hello' :wave:, you do all seem such a lovely bunch.

GP, I have been reading your diaries on and off for some time now and just wanted to say how wonderfully inspiring you are. Thanks to you, I am taking my first foray into the world of 'Buddha Bowls' this week and am trying new recipes in attempt to look after myself a bit better whilst keeping the food budget down.

It is just me, my (fussy eater of a) Little One and ocassionaly the non-resident Man (NRM) to cater for in 'The Ave', so it is often a case of cooking for one which I find to be quite a sad affair, so I often don't bother. Hence, the piling on of pounds and general feeling of 'carpness' due to grabbing something quick, easy and often not the most nutritional, to stop the tummy rumbles.

If you don't mind a relative newbie tagging along for the ride, it would be most lovely to follow your adventures in GP land and maybe gain some inspiration from your recipes. Your posts are just like reading a wonderful book you don't want to put down!

Happy Humpday all

Ave
X

Greying_Pilgrim

Ha ha ha TalesfromtheAvenue - come on in and join the library [Greying most definitely pulling own leg - very hard :rotfl:] I think I remember you, under a different username, as a stalwart on Lilty's diary? Buddha bowls in their truest incarnation are brilliant, as you can feel great about eating a plate of leftovers I know what you mean about cooking for one, but be kind to yourself, you deserve nourishing food

Baby Greying is snoring away on my lap. They have had an active first part of the morning, so I guess they feel the need for a battery top up. I managed to get my 2 phone call 'admin' tasks done - a minor miracle with an awake BG :rotfl:They were good when I had to speak to someone - I think they thought I was on the phone to Daddy but caused me to go into octopus mode during the tail-end of my call to make an automated payment to the credit card. Here's hoping I pressed all the right buttons

I don't have any shopping to do today, which is just as well, given the parlous state of the budget, but I'll wander up the high street to return a library book and get some fresh air and exercise. DH was going to lend/give me money this morning - I was thinking that he really didn't get the concept of trying to stick to a budget, when he added, 'or are you trying to stick within a certain amount?' There is a glimmer of hope

Right, I can't think of anything else MS to witter on about, so I'm going to try to move without disturbing baby. Wish me luck :rotfl:

Greying X

rtandon27

Greying_Pilgrim wrote: »

...DH was going to lend/give me money this morning - I was thinking that he really didn't get the concept of trying to stick to a budget, when he added, 'or are you trying to stick within a certain amount?' There is a glimmer of hope ...

Old dogs, new tricks...:D:T
...must be something to do with the moon...

GP there is always hope!;)