Simple living in the country - back to basics

Cheery_Daff

Ooh, just been having a look at the MSE forum round up of 2022 - there's a picture of Bessie chicken having her ultrasound on the kitchen table 😂😂😂

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/team-blog/2022/12/forum-retrospective-2022/?_ga=2.69193809.1950212625.1667120219-176975327.1631739881&_gl=1*hxmngr*_ga*MTc2OTc1MzI3LjE2MzE3Mzk4ODE.*_ga_X74CWQS9F0*MTY3MjU2MDkyMC4xNDQuMS4xNjcyNTcxNjgxLjU1LjAuMA..

Fame at last 😂

Tescodealqueen

• Fame indeed. Hope you are feeling better. I have had the lurgy since 19 December and kept away from my dads but despite my best efforts he has come down with it today. My sister had it before me and it’s now resurfaced with her. It is definitely persistent

KajiKita

Cheery_Daff said:

Ooh, just been having a look at the MSE forum round up of 2022 - there's a picture of Bessie chicken having her ultrasound on the kitchen table 😂😂😂

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/team-blog/2022/12/forum-retrospective-2022/?_ga=2.69193809.1950212625.1667120219-176975327.1631739881&_gl=1*hxmngr*_ga*MTc2OTc1MzI3LjE2MzE3Mzk4ODE.*_ga_X74CWQS9F0*MTY3MjU2MDkyMC4xNDQuMS4xNjcyNTcxNjgxLjU1LjAuMA..

Fame at last 😂

Brilliant! 🤩 🐓 

KK

Cheery_Daff

Well MSE chums, we have had an adventure this afternoon!

I checked the Too Good To Go app, and there was a magic bag of groceries going at a small supermarket - £12 worth of stuff for £4. I've never bothered with these because we don't eat meat, and I just assumed that's mostly what you'd get...

But, in the spirit of experimenting, and also trying to cajole Mr Cheery to leave the house for the first time since Christmas, I proposed a drive...

All round non-frugal bad idea, as it turned out 🙄😂 He just sat wrapped up with his eyes shut all the way there and back and didn't leave the car, and has been coughing ever since we got home. I had to pay £1.50 for parking because I didn't have time to walk from the free place, and it was a 20 mile round trip. And because we were at the shop, I ended up picking up £12 worth of other stuff too! Gah! 

Anyway, here's what I got for my £4 along with the original price, and marked reduced price:

* bag of Chinese style stir fry mix £1.60 (reduced to 85p)
* organic white cabbage £1.50 (81p)
* garlic and herb flatbread £2.60 (£1.38)
* fishcakes £3.35 (£1.81)
* turkey mince £2 (£1.16)
* beef lasagne ready meal £3.45 (£1.35)
* Brussels pate £1.65 (46p)

So full price it would have been £16.15

Reduced price would have been £7.82

Possibly a bit cheeky of them describing it as '£12 worth of stuff' when the existing reduced labels only came to £7.82... but still. A bargain if you're a meat eater, but not something I'll be repeating.

MInly only even considered it as I'm off to see my sister and mum tomorrow and they can have the rest of it!

Cheery_Daff

Interestingly, I was expecting the bag of stuff to already be behind the counter, but it wasn't- an employee came over, grabbed a carrier bag and went off into the produce section. I should have followed him 😂 but I didn't. 

It did make me wonder whether my best use of the TGTG app is to just flag when the supermarkets have got loads of reduced stuff in, then go in and select my own! 😂 Might experiment with that next time...

joedenise

What you're planning won't always work @Cheery_Daff - I ordered 2 bags yesterday, one for us and one for a friend, for collection today but got a text just before lunch to say they were cancelled as there was no surplus available!  There had been 5 bags available when I ordered last night.  It's about 10 mile round trip for us and usually really good - last couple we've had have been mainly fruit and veg plus a loaf of bread or crumpets or something similar.

Cheery_Daff

joedenise said:

What you're planning won't always work @Cheery_Daff - I ordered 2 bags yesterday, one for us and one for a friend, for collection today but got a text just before lunch to say they were cancelled as there was no surplus available!  There had been 5 bags available when I ordered last night.  It's about 10 mile round trip for us and usually really good - last couple we've had have been mainly fruit and veg plus a loaf of bread or crumpets or something similar.

Oh, that's annoying! Good job they texted you early I suppose. I'd be more inclined to try again if they were closer, but there hardly seems to be anywhere in our closest town that does them. 

Hey ho. 

Best get these mushrooms out of the dehydrator and into some kind of storage. And I've realised we now have 3 cabbages in the fridge, and two bags of sprouts - best get meal planning 😂 This is what two of you eating invalid food for a week does 🙄😂

Presents all wrapped, and I find it SUCH a good experience using present bags rather than wrapping paper 😊😊😊 Strongly suspect my mum is going to try to keep all her bags... which is theoretically fine, but it's going to be a bit time and labour intensive if I have to make all my present bags every year 😂 I was hoping to reuse at least a few! I'll definitely be on the lookout for more fabric to do them with though. 

starnac

Are you just putting the presents in the bags unwrapped Cheery? I almost made bags this year but ran out of time

Cheery_Daff

Yes - the bags are the wrapping. They're all tied with ribbons. I've mostly done one present per bag if people have several presents, like I would wrap things separately if I was using paper.

beanielou

New Call The Midwife starts tonight!