Struggling along as best I can

weenancyinAmerica

Have you tried small radishes and even just the tops when they are new? I like radishes best when just the first two leaves are showing. The sprout tastes just like the radish and is wonderful in sandwiches, even just with bread and butter. So I grow lots in a large bowl for the sprouts.

nannygladys

Moowviews - i go on a slug/snail hunt most nights but I don't like killing them so put them in a sealed container and then take them over the fields, I bet they probably find their way back though 🤣
I also collect water like you but at the moment I'm using it to flush the loo as the water butts are full, at least we're not having to douch watering🤣

nannygladys

enthusiasticsaver - i feel I get the beat of both worlds regarding the pup, company and no expense!! I do buy his food whilst he is here, but even then DD keeps transferring some money into my bank, I keep telling her I will say if I need any but it's nice that she does so mostly that's covered . At least I don't have to pay insurance etc for him. 

nannygladys

weenancyinAmerica - to be honest I always thought I disliked radish and only grew them for my sil until I tried one this year when it quite small! I didn't realise you could eat the young leaves so as I have quite a few (lots!) of them growing I will try them and let you know🙂 I like the idea of eating the whole plant, especially if it tastes good, thanks for that, they say you learn something new every day and that's mine for today🤣👍

nannygladys

So I've been paid and my new budget has been put into action. I've also had the full amount of the increase in OAP pension so I now know what I'm getting in total each time.
I always plan a zero balance budget so after taking into account all my higher bills, putting a little more into a couple of the sinking funds to cover any increases in them (annual bills etc) I portioned out what was left into the everyday pots! And thankfully I haven't had to cut down on my food pot! I've rejigged and rejigged and as long as I don't want a holiday, use the car less and leave my card at home I should be alright 🤔 it's like going back to the beginning again but I'll manage fine, there's plenty growing on the allotment and in the garden, I can have a free coffee twice a month at a garden centre and get out walking the dog when he's here.
I'm drawing the monies out for my 'at home' pots such as fuel, food etc and any cash left in any of them will be stashed away for a rainy day. I've included a 'stock up'  pot this time, only £6 a month to buy some tins etc so I need to have a look and see what's needed and perhaps it would be a good idea to inventory it all, I know everything I have is still in date as I write the bbd on the outside and use it accordingly, but the last few weeks I have used quite a bit from there.
I did revise my freezer stock list the other day and found some milk in there so I haven't been shopping at all since I found I was a bit short of money this month, so that was a good find and I actually put the money I had left away into the rainy day pot this morning!! It's surprising what you can do when you have to, but I don't know how people manage all the time and I know there's many people struggling all the time for whatever reasons🙁
So I'm going to the local post office to withdraw all the cash (no banks here) for my different pots and then to the farm to get my milk and onto the garden centre for my last free coffee for this month, I'll also have to fill the car up as I'm nearly down to fumes and then later this afternoon pick a couple of dgc up from holiday club and bring them back here for some tea - I found a couple of pizzas in the freezer so they can have one of those between them. Tomorrow I'm out all day and Friday I will go food shopping for some fresh fruit etc
So hopefully it all works out but we'll see🙂
See you later, Nannyg 

kayannie

I'm also trying to make my food last until Friday as I've done no shopping at all since Tuesday last week. I used up the last of the milk this morning, but I always keep a couple of long life in stock. Veg are getting low, but I have frozen veg in the freezer & a few leeks left in the garden from last year - they didn't grow much at all & are going over now but will be eaten. I made a crumble for pudding yesterday, using some of a big bags of apples I had in my Lidl £1.50 box last week,  I also had pears in the same box so pudd tonight will be pear crumble - I made double crumble mix yesterday. I had 2 bunches of beetroot in the Lidl box too so using some of the apples, I made 6 pots of beetroot chutney. The celery (that I hate) got turned into soup for DH. 

I've got an early hospital appointment on Friday so am hoping I will be early enough to get another Lidl box as I pass the shop on the way. I will then stock up on food for the next week or so on the way back.
I am running out of eggs but will probably be able to get them from someone nearby who sells them outside her house. 

I actually quite enjoy the challenge of making the food last!

KA

Moorviews

That all sounds very positive! Well done for all the number crunching 👏 
I went shopping early last week and want to make everything last until next week when the schools go back. Our town is very hectic/unbearable during any bank holiday weekend and school holidays are very busy anyway. Then it feels like the following Monday and Tuesday are full of parents trying to replenish their fridge and cupboards after the locusts have been through. I just don’t shop over a BH and make sure I get food in beforehand, which can be a bit hit or miss. I was running the stores down but the freezer seems to have filled up again although the cupboards are clearer. 

I have bought some small vegetable plants and some bean and pea seeds. I hope that if the weather is a little better they won’t immediately become a slug feast and get a chance to grow away. 

foxgloves

@nannygladys - I read somewhere - it may have been in one of Madhur Jaffrey's cookery books, I can't remember now exactly where I saw it, that in India, radish leaves are used as curry greens. I have never tried them, but I do make a nice slow cooker chickpea & spinach curry in which I have subbed our homegrown chard leaves for the spinach, so I probably ought to try using radish greens in that to see how they turn out.
Re veg-gobbling snails & slugs - I am the same. I don't like killing them, as I know many still do with pellets. They are a damn nuisance eating our veg (I've lost 5 lettuces this past few days because it's been so wet, which of course they love) but they have a place in the eco-system just like everything else. We are planning a torchlight snail hunt this weekend. They will be gathered up & relocated to a very prickly area of our garden where I know blackbirds & the occasional thrush like to forage. Haven't seen a hedgehog in our garden for a long time but when they used to visit, they also liked foraging in that area, so it will be escargots all round once we have removed them from the veg plot itself. I even managed to shut one in the greenhouse last week & he helped himself to several bites of my french bean plants. Needless to say, he found himself taking a swift holiday to the prickly wild corner!
F

Moorviews

That’s me too with relocating the snails. I have found some really huge ones in the greenhouse which is quite the mystery!

nannygladys

Oh, something strange has happened on here, or it's probably me🤔🤣 I seem to have lost posts unless I've attached them to someone else's!!

Anyway since the last one, after I thanked you all etc I went to sort my cash for the month and managed to lose my debit card to I reported it lost and then waited for a few days over the 5 working days before I received it!! It's a good job I had withdrawn my cash out before it went missing. I kept an eye on the account and nothing has vanished out of the account to so that's good.  I don't know how people manage if they rely on their cards to buy everything, both my DDS use theirs and rarely have cash anymore, but I think they both have apps so probably don't use their cards anyway, but then you have to remember to take your phone and keep it charged up! Anyway all's well now.
Having no card for over a week unnerved me a bit as I take it everywhere with me, like a security blanket I suppose but by the time it came it was ok, so I put it away with my credit card. It's a bit like going out without your phone, it makes me panic if I can't keep in touch - 'just in case' I need to, yet it's quite rare really. Perhaps I'm relying on it a bit too much!!🤔
So, I made some lemon sorbet a couple of days ago and it was so much better than shop bought, that's definitely going to be made again! And the garden has been producing quite a bit so that's a bonus now as well. I've tried the radish leaves, chopped up with salad and beetroot leaves and they are fine, so thanks for that foxgloves 👍
So going to make myself a drink and a sit outside, I might take a blanket with me as it's not exactly warm out there, but it's nice to hear all the birds going about their business🤣
Nannyg