2021 Frugal Living Challenge

StrawberrySuze

girlybags said:

I'm planning on tackling some of the sweet potatoes from my TGTG box tomorrow after work, does anyone have any ideas or recipes please? Preferably vegan but I can usually easily veganise a veggie recipe, thanks in advance 🙂

I roast them with peppers, onions, garlic, courgettes etc. drizzled with olive oil and sometimes with goats cheese or sausages, very tasty 😊

StrawberrySuze

@MazzieD They are all still on mine, not that I can ever get any good ones to collect at a reasonable time.....😆

StrawberrySuze

I did well at Lidls the other night, they were reducing the meat and fish ready for the next morning, bought quite a lot of chicken: 18 chicken thighs as well as a whole chicken, drumsticks, barbecue pork steaks, spare ribs, salmon, I could have bought more but was worried about the room in my freezers!

Hope everyone is doing ok and hello and welcome to anyone newly posting 🙂

Made my new raised bed but don't have enough soil to fill it, I can feel a plea on Nextdoor coming on!

I have now planted some salad leaves seeds and acquired 5 strawberry plants, will be acquiring a rhubarb crown, tomato plants and butternut squash plants this week. I'm still giving away lots of spider plants and a few tiny money plants too, I don't always get a proper thank you though....still what goes around comes around!

I also acquired two lots of eggs, someone liked my chocolate cake; I take cakes to work sometimes, stops me eating all of it myself!

I've not had anything from Olio or tgtg for a while but my freezers are full again, I have the base for at least 80 meals in there, I think that might be enough to be going on with 🤣

zafiro1984

Some people say hens are cute but mine are thick. They are currently housed in the veg plot but I need them to spend time outside the veg plot as they are quite determined to help when I want to do the veg beds or polytunnels so I have made them a new run.
Outside the veg plot and along its length is a long track about 7meters wide. On the opposite side of the track is one of the stallion fields securely fenced to 2meters' high. So by making two ends to this track, one of which includes the veg plot gate I have a secure fox proof area 7meters' wide and about 60meters long, loads of space for 26hens. You would think they should be happy but no, They don't want to venture out of the gate into the track, they try to fly over the fence back into the plot, or dig under the gate. When I call them to go back into the plot they become deaf and become very busy scratching about. If I try to herd them back they decide to be road-runners going in the opposite direction to where I want them to be.

I really do like my hens, they give fabulous golden yoked eggs but they can be so frustrating, and time wasters, but they do help with my frugal ways and add a few pounds to my purse for the eggs i sell at the gate.

MazzieD

Thanks for the feedback @willow_loulou, @AskYouWillGet and @StrawberrySuze.  Think I'll contact TGTG in the next few days and ask them as it's about 20+ outlets here, looked everywhere on the app and they have literally disappeared.  Be interesting to see what the response is.

@zafiro1984 loved reading your post, had no idea chickens were such rebels.   I'm saving all my loyalty card points for Christmas.  Don't go to Sainsbob's much now but do have a N*ctar card, tend to gulp when I see their prices, somewhat dearer than I'm used to.

@Frugaldom just happy that you're ok and managing to post occasionally.  Being frugal seems to be far more challenging at the moment, it's not just groceries, fuel prices are creeping up along with quite a lot of other essentials.

Thrifty_Taylor

I bake sweet potatoes, they're nice with cottage cheese. Also make good wedges in the oven 

jak

Well I got rid of the tumble to a nice family in need and they came and got it. Yay. Then someone posted they had brand new oil paints on freecycle and I got them! My son is a very keen artist and it gets expensive. I’m very pleased to see karma working effectively! 

I put my £200 for the month into my help to buy also so that’s another free £50 towards our new house. Yay. Managed to get Mum to take me to the shop yesterday for milk, dog food and cheese. All essentials and didn’t cost much. 

Little one is moaning about the food I’m cooking but I think he’s just worried about moving (ASD so not big on change.) Sold a few more bits. We made £18 yesterday. It’s all in the house pot. Xx

annieb64

I make a chilli with sweet potatoes  and black beans.

ancientmum

Sweet potatoes are nice in a veggie curry.

I've just paid out my share of the building repair costs so now need to buckle down and save up for refurbishing my flat.  
TGTG round here is just coffee shops and the occasional Greg's.  The Morriston ones sound better, but my nearest is 10 miles away. I'm going to try for a Lidi veg box,  from reading the posts on here it seems the timing varies quite a bit.

Zafiro, you hens sound fun. I saw an old RiverCottage episode where HFW introduced ducks into his veg garden to eat the slugs - the ducks ended up eating all the lettuce!

-taff

I managed to get a lidl veg box last night bout half seven, the only one there, lots of long pointy peppers and green chilies in it.

I remember reading somewhere that someones ducks had eaten so many slugs they couldn't quack any more for all the slime in their throats..