Giving every £ a job

savingholmes

Interesting on the brownie. Well done on the walk and pre-planning to reduce costs.

Blackcats

thanks SH.  We had another piece of brownie tonight with a cup of tea.  OH declared that he preferred the one I made on Saturday ..... as it's the same brownie I think he probably meant he preferred a bigger piece which was still warm and served with salted caramel ice cream 😋

freezer inventory is complete and means that we've been able to create a meal for tomorrow when a friend visits.  Beef madras - using frozen stewing steak, a few potatoes and onions and a madras pot from the cupboard.  Will serve with rice and some Indian snacks from olio which I froze about a week ago.  The brownie will make a final appearance with ice cream again.

finished the august grocery challenge £43 under budget which is amazing for us.  Starting September with a £10 lidlee voucher is a bonus.

savingholmes

Well done on the grocery challenge. I need to add up all my figures as I usually miscount somewhere along the way...

MissRikkiC

Great work on the GC £45 is not to be sniffed at!

Cheery_Daff

Excellent work at the grocery challenge, and the brownies!

Sun_Addict

I barely get past the free bakery item in Lidl just lately. Our local one has become very badly stocked and I’ve been going to Aldi instead. My DD works at Morrisons so I get family discount and tend to do most of my shopping there. 

Blackcats

SH - I know you keep really busy with your own diary and all the support you gave others on our diaries but I really recommend tge grocery challenge.  Posting what you spend and seeing the budget dwindling has made such a difference to me.  I reduced my budget fractionally for a couple of months and I'm now working with reduced budget and still having money left over. For me this is amazing - I was truly awful with grocery spends and food waste but I finally feel like I'm getting the hang of it.

thanks MissRickiC and cheery - no one is more surprised than me at having money left over 🤣

SunAddict - we have a new Lidl which so far is well stocked.  I think you are amazing with the meals you cook for yourself as well as cooking what your OH likes.  (2 very different food preferences 😋)

so I've started my last ever month of full time working.  I am so happy and excited.  Difficult boss and drama queen are both behaving badly but hey ho ..... 

The beef madras was delicious although the house reeked of curry for the whole 6 hours cooking time.  I'm going to make elderberry cordial tomorrow as we have so many in the garden.  I wonder if I could make elderberry gin - that might be nice as a Christmas tipple.

we are having a Thai meal tonight from Cook - 3 mains and a rice for £13.  This will come out of the eating out budget as we had originally planned to go to a Thai restaurant but I had to pop to a nearby town today and remembered the cook deal.  Much cheaper than the restaurant.  Wine is chilling and we are going to watch Belfast later.  I love Fridays.

QueenJess

Ooh, the last month, I’m so jealous! Stupid bullying and politics from people at the top in my organisation this week as usual and I can’t leave. It’s far easier to ignore if you are imminently leaving!

foxgloves

I've used elderberries for making wine (ages ago, but it was good stuff!), as a component of hedgerow jelly & also elderberry vinegar. The latter is good in stews (just chuck a dash of it in) & very soothing for a sore throat when
n a spoonful is mixed with hot water.
F x

savingholmes

Thanks - I will consider the grocery challenge... 

Good luck with you last month full time. Soon you'll be able to wave goodbye to the lot of them.