Fabulously Frugal and Free at 50!

rtandon27

Wow Pips your daily average step count is amazing!
... puts my paltry 9000 to shame!

apple_muncher

Thank you so much pippi for your very comprehensive answer - and the linkie. I know that I am right (no change there, then) to leave them a while yet. Quite a while. I am collecting the fallers and stewing them along with the rasps, so am getting to see how ripe they are every few days.

Dh just gets antsy when things grow! He doesn't 'do' gardening - he will if I ask, and sometimes he has had to take over a job when I bit off more than I could chew and was unable to finish it myself. He annually prunes my jasmine just before it flowers. Sigh. But I have given up trying to alter that, as it may - just may - get the pruning bug out of his system for the year!

Today, I dug up a small bush that I have never liked and dug over the soil and re-planted some lavenders. Him? He cleaned the under-the-sink cupboards! So I'll let him stay...

Pippilongstocking

Eeh gads what a day. Mindless use of resources and almost zero discussion has me a bit fraught. Glad to be in the homestead. Not often I say that.

Few reduced bargains on the way home spent £1.69 on reduced and £3 on staples - money back on the coop card too. Got a £2/off for £20 spend to use within a week - reckon it wouldnt' be too hard to top up stores etc or use in next months budget either - mutt food and some bits would easily take that up and the coop is as good as anywhere for that with discount and cashback of 5%.

Nattered to DD and made a plan to move her flat later in week - not hiring van going with all we can mindfully squish into the big car - love me kangoo I do.

Mutts to walk as steps painfully low due to meeting overdose.

Leftovers for tea - made some soup from garden veg - med themed and dropped in the spoiils of yesterdays bbq (sausages) to bulk it up for himself. Boiled a chicken (FR reduced to £2.50) up tonight and will process that either later today or tomorrow. Lunches made for tomorrow and some lush plums home (uncooked as gorgeous) for lunches too.

I must confess to be a bit jaded and wabbit today. Work politics I suspect and a full weekend hasn't helped me feel soooper refreshed.

Plenty of rearranging in the fridge to do - and we've progressed on the larder the old cupboard is out - woo hoo needs loaded into the car. Need to measure up and look at shelving - I'm thinking wide enough to accommodate my many storage boxes (swedish shop all one size) and spaced enough to accommodate cordials and jars without being too cramped.

Food sealer is in the soon to be at the charity shop pile, with a jacket (one new jacket in from chum means one jacket out) and a few additional kitchen bits that we just don't need.

Onions are a drying on the garden table - must tie them up or plait them or something soon.

Beets are almost ready for lifting but I can get a wee bit extra out of them yet.

I've been working on more of my list. I might have secured tickets to a few RHS shows including the biggie in London - through work. I've booked a free singing workshop in Sept - which tackles one on my list - and started making plans for various friend led adventures to the likes of HP land etc.

Big holiday booked in April - and a few interesting things coming up. Trying to do these as MSE as possible.

Started a proper head list for garden in my own garden - got a few great ideas (if I do say so myself) and looking at various wholesalers through work I have access to for anything I can't prop from my own or other's gardens. Luckily we have a cracking prop bench and I can use it when its free.

There's talk of a summer house in the garden, potentially a donation from a friend who's moving.....oh my. Wouldn't that be a super addition to my garden design for my bonnie productive/heart inspiring garden for my birthday.

A girl can try.

Pippilongstocking

PS excuse the whine fest.

Signed up for both mindfullness (free during work time) and pilates £5 straight after work so no extra petrol at work.

Those must work in my list somewhere!

beanielou

Keep plodding xx

Cheery_Daff

Aw lass, have a hug (((())))) work and politics (or work politics)can all be stressy Glad you have your own garden to potter in and summer house sounds ace! :j :j

Pippilongstocking

Hugs and all things good always appreciated.
Thanks chaps.

Own body weight in plums and beetroot picked today - if only I was kidding! Spoilt plums home in a bucket, others stewed and freezing in a bun tin as we speak into 3-4 plum sized dollops for yoghurt. I'm pondering the others - we don't really eat jam so its either frozen whole, or jarred with syrup or cooked and portioned, or coridal which still gives me plum 'moosh' for compote.

I aint complaining!

Beetroot - I've made three large kilner jars (we only ate 1.5 last year) so maybe that's enough beetroot pickled for the year - but its always good in salads and with chips - so might do another jar and then cook and freeze some whole as I love it hot with horseradish or in rhubarb/beetroot and blue cheese salad. Recipe here.

I have to say I don't go so swanky - no dressing, no parsley just combine the fruit/veg ingredients on their own and season to taste, its utterly utterly lush. St Agur I think (or similar) blue cheese works so well with this.

Plum, batch 2, cordial a chuggling away on the stove as we speak.

Must measure up that larder eh.

Difficult to preserve here - we hardly eat any chutney, not a lot of jam either as I don't have a sweet tooth, so need to think a bit out of the box.

I'm considering buying an extra freezer tbh as I like me fruit and veg just that - nice and simple so freezing might work best for us.

No wages in from either quarters yet.

Paid DD 50 towards bus pass again this month.

£1 spent on veg oil as I wanted chips and rather than go to chip shop - I made me own and had them with mushy peas laced with raw chilli - lush they were too.

Need to get out in the garden
Need to deconstruct a boiled chicken and freeze the portions
Need to move the huge pile of wood from the pathway to the log store
Need to update banks etc
Need to tidy up the kitchen
Need to strain the cordial when its chuntered up
Need to empty the dishwasher
Check garden for rasps
Have a bath and get the fire on
Need to catch up on here too
Need to do lunches for tomorrow

Lots of need too's there and not much action eh. Must freeze the half portion of mushy peas left too for another time.

Himself is out biking tonight so might be a quick pizza and wedges for him for tea
Tomorrow I'm in the city helping DD move out and himself is at a gig so we'll likely eat either out or separately - plenty stuff rumbling around if we do.

Aside £1, whole body weight in plums and some chores - not a bad day and no spends.
Could have taken any amount of veg home from work but we've still loads so no point in being greedy.

Off to investigate if my muscles might be able to shift that wood!

Pop back in a wee while!

Have a good un!
XOXOXO

Pippilongstocking

Greying_Pilgrim wrote: »

Ha, ha my darling, you are so kind. But i think that you would perhaps still not be 'blown away' by it as a foodstuff. I was giving it some thought, and I think that I eat tofu more because of it's texture rather than any taste/flavouring I can pump into it. It's something a bit different to eat in the lexicon of veggies and pulses. I'd love to try it prepared by an chef, expert in tofu preparation and cooking - then I think perhaps I would be blown away by it for it's ability to take on flavours etc.

Have a great day - not a BH for you if iirc?

Greying X

Twasn't a BH but thank you for asking - normal day - all grand, and as I get very excited about food anything new blows me away I just love veggies as you know i could give up meat before fish and fish before veg, textures is always a good challenge - I forget if you eat quorn much or any other 'texturised' protein - I love them all - well I was veggie for 12 years before falling off the wagon and marrying a farmer. However, I do also just adore mushrooms and when veggie would eat a mushy breakfast roll almost every day if I could - just love the texture of them. Similar in some ways to tofu (?) - on saying that - I only try to eat meat once a day at most, today was fried mushhies and egg for brekkie - keeps you going for so long. Today mushy peas and chips for tea - one of my faves and a baked tattie (straight from le jardin, with HM coleslaw) NOM NOM. So I've had a lovely MF day. Hard when the rock-god-carnivore is around as seemingly 'salad' isn't lunch unless its accompanied by a steak roll and a tonne of prawns.

XOXOXO

rtandon27 wrote: »

Wow Pips your daily average step count is amazing!
... puts my paltry 9000 to shame!

Dear heart sorry I did miss all of these posts yesterday think my machine cached or someat.

Anyhows - great news - our new building is nearly open and the step count to the loo will be markedly different - I may never get to 9000 - and anyway - I'm on my pins from 7.30 am til gone 5pm and, they don't let us be armchair or desk driven gardeners!

I hope you're good - got some reduced cheddar the other day safely sleeping in the freezer now

Pippilongstocking

apple_muncher wrote: »

Thank you so much pippi for your very comprehensive answer - and the linkie. I know that I am right (no change there, then) to leave them a while yet. Quite a while. I am collecting the fallers and stewing them along with the rasps, so am getting to see how ripe they are every few days.

Dh just gets antsy when things grow! He doesn't 'do' gardening - he will if I ask, and sometimes he has had to take over a job when I bit off more than I could chew and was unable to finish it myself. He annually prunes my jasmine just before it flowers. Sigh. But I have given up trying to alter that, as it may - just may - get the pruning bug out of his system for the year!

Today, I dug up a small bush that I have never liked and dug over the soil and re-planted some lavenders. Him? He cleaned the under-the-sink cupboards! So I'll let him stay...

Dear heart I don't let TRG near the garden never mind my tools. :eek::eek::eek:

Mind on mines doesn't get near the under-sink area either - he's just not got any fun going.

I did ask him to help pick rasps once - I can still hear him whining about the slave labour involved in providing HIM with rasps. Luckily we inhabit different universes. I'm not sure how I'd cope with one that 'did' in the garden. :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Lovely that you've got rid of something you didn't like - lifes too short I hope the lavenders do you proud. Ace on the collecting windfall and stewing.

I've planted a rose which I have to say having seen it flower - I just don't like - perhaps I shall move it, no point in it climbing up the kitchen wall (outside, we're not that savage) if it doesn't fill my heart with joy.

Glad the article was useful - isn't the tinternet marvellous.

:beer:

beanielou

I love beetroot :drool: