Little by little, and with love

RosaBernicia

 I did very badly at the decluttering, I abandoned it in favour of reading on the sofa! Was very glad to have got all the garden bits done as the weather has turned grey again. 

In other MSE news, I have undone some of my efforts at energy saving by somehow forgetting to turn off lights downstairs overnight - never normally have that problem, I reckon it's a resentful gremlin!  And have just costed out the dog food.  Ulp.  Fortunately I don't think there is anything much she needs in the way of stuff, so that element of the budget can be used, and I'd already moved to using cheaper treats.  I could of course swop her to a cheaper food, but she's done really well on this so I don't want to do that unless I have to. 

RosaBernicia

So today has been spendy but on unavoidable things... I gave up and ordered the smoke alarms I need from the rainforest as it was the only place that has any indication of getting them back in stock.  Even the stores who are saying they will notify when they come back in have already put the prices up.  And I managed to save a bit on two of the set by going for warehouse options with damaged packaging.  I've paid about £45 more than they would have been before.  Really not cheap overall at £300 in total, but I suppose over the ten year lifespan it's not that much and especially considering the alternative (plus anyway they are now legally required in Scotland, so don't want to take any risks with the insurance - I have heard the companies were giving some leeway due to the supply problems, but that won't last forever).    I could have got a cheaper brand, but I've gone for a Wh1ch? best buy that will enable me to have notifications to my phone.  Some things are more scrimpable than others... and on that note, I had best go investigate the freezer to try and avoid takeaway

RosaBernicia

CC closed!  And £50 back in the budget as an appointment cancelled.  Currently trying to resist spending it on a slow cooker. 

Had a lovely day out with a friend today and intending to do more house sorting over the weekend.  Hopefully nothing spendy needed. 

kerri_gt

I just picked up a slow cooker for free on FB. It's not a fancy make but came up when i was collecting something else and figured it was worth a try out.
I often see them going reasonably cheaply on Marketplace so worth keeping an eye out.
Only issue is....i have no idea how to use it!

RosaBernicia

kerri_gt said:

I just picked up a slow cooker for free on FB. It's not a fancy make but came up when i was collecting something else and figured it was worth a try out.
I often see them going reasonably cheaply on Marketplace so worth keeping an eye out.
Only issue is....i have no idea how to use it!

As far as I can tell, how to use them is 'put stuff in, choose low or high setting, and leave it there for hours'!  Plenty of recipes on the internet if you want to explore.  And books in the library.  They seem to vary massively on what's in there, so I am kind of picking recipes out and sending the books back again. 

I had two slow cookers a while back, a small one which wasn't really worth the bother as it didn't allow batch cooking and most of what I made in it could be done as 2 portions in a half hour anyway.  And a big one from a friend which didn't have a timer - that would be fine now I'm WFH, but back then I couldn't guarantee getting home when planned, and felt uncomfortable leaving something hot and electrical unsupervised for hours.  So I looked for one with a timer and got totally distracted by multicookers and ones that could do risotto and ended up not buying one at all!  Both seem to have disappeared in the moves, I think I gave them away as they really hadn't been used. 

I was just reminded of them by the cost of living guide, and thought one could do quite nicely to batch cook while I'm WFH.  It's less critical timing than doing stuff in the main oven so wouldn't matter as much if I get pulled into a meeting or things overrun. 

Good point about marketplace, I will keep an eye out. 

Buffythedebtslayer

There are loads of recipes online and if you look up the make they have recipes with instructions for that make, tho really they are all the same I think? 

I found a slow cooker recipe book in the epic clear out I am doing and shall probably try some of them... tho everything I made last time I tried turned out to be brown meat and gravy situations. 

RosaBernicia

I have been decluttering cookbooks and finally bought the Becky Excell gluten free ones as I get fed up of going through others and finding I can't eat or need to adjust half the recipes (feel like I have slightly cheated by putting this under medical costs rather than books in the budget, even though it's accurate).  I think even the ancient Nigellas are going to the charity shop.  It's less necessary now there are recipes online anyway, I just prefer a book to wander through for inspiration and not everything is on the Becky Excell website.  Keeping some other favourites like the Nigel Slater 'fast' ones. 

Was astonished to find there are recipes for decent GF bread including actual baguettes, and may well have a go since it would probably work out cheaper than the £3 Warburton loaves. 

I should probably have another go with my meal planning app but am putting that off til I've done some more decluttering.  Which is the plan for the long weekend. 

Spendy moment in diy place yesterday but it was all on painting stuff, which will save money ultimately since it's all reusable and also means not having to pay someone else.  So that's gone under home improvements, which I have now separated out from home 'stuff' as in furniture.  And I've created yet another category for home maintenance because I wanted to budget for things like gutter clearance and replacing alarms.  It feels like I'm getting a better handle on things that way than just 'aaarrrrgh house stuff costing money'! 

kerri_gt

Buffythedebtslayer said:

I found a slow cooker recipe book in the epic clear out I am doing and shall probably try some of them... tho everything I made last time I tried turned out to be brown meat and gravy situations. 

the meat and gravy not being ideal for us as OH is veggie and I don't really want to use a slow cooker for just veg and gravy - oh and he doesn't really like things like stews either. All reasons I've never really bothered in the past. Plus I'm a bit afraid of trying something like veggie chilli I know I can cook well on the hob (and the veggie one only takes about 20 - 30mins as it gets further cooked via reheating) to find it's not as nice in the slow cooker. 

RosaBernicia

kerri_gt said:

Buffythedebtslayer said:

I found a slow cooker recipe book in the epic clear out I am doing and shall probably try some of them... tho everything I made last time I tried turned out to be brown meat and gravy situations. 

the meat and gravy not being ideal for us as OH is veggie and I don't really want to use a slow cooker for just veg and gravy - oh and he doesn't really like things like stews either. All reasons I've never really bothered in the past. Plus I'm a bit afraid of trying something like veggie chilli I know I can cook well on the hob (and the veggie one only takes about 20 - 30mins as it gets further cooked via reheating) to find it's not as nice in the slow cooker. 

I suspect a lot of it is just about what fits with your set up.  I love risotto and was looking into slow cooked versions (I have a vague memory of making something with salmon and cucumber in the small slow cooker I had before) but realistically, as you say, I can do it in 40 mins on the hob anyhow.  And it matters less now that I'm not commuting because that time can be used cooking. 

kerri_gt

Rosa, i use this risotto recipe as a base which only takes 30mins (i do not faff with soaking posh mushrooms). I reduce the rice to about 180g (i do not reduce the wine lol) and add in odd veg hanging about like half a courgette, some peas, last of the frozen spinach in the freezer. Oh and most recent one had half a pack of goats cheese added in. Delicious.  

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/mushroom-risotto