It's getting tough out there. Feeling the pinch?

Whitefiver

Katiehound said:

^^^^


English heritage membership with Tesco clubcard vouchers.

Coincidentally, I had the renewal notice for English Heritage through this morning. £90+ for joint membership. I have always used my Tesco vouchers, but I don't even have enough to cover this amount this year. Bye bye EH.

Our Wildlife trust is doing half price membership until the end of the month (DD only), so we have joined these instead (£21). I think I shall get more use out of the membership too. I think all the different Wildlife Trusts have a similar offer at the moment.

sammy_kaye18

YorksLass said:

@sammy_kaye18 - I'm with you on using up scraps, it's surprising what they can be turned into.  Bread crusts usually become breadcrumbs (for coating) or used for stuffing but I also keep some in a bag in the fridge for when we have soup.  DH calls it "the bird bag".  

Next week's soup will be leek & potato to use up a bag of sliced leeks from the freezer.  And I'll be making a batch of fishcakes instead of buying the ready made ones I usually buy.  They've gone up 50p a pack (for two), there's less fish in them than there used to be and the breadcrumb coating is far too thick.  I'm sure I could make something better.

And yes, packs of bacon usually freeze well - just remember to portion them up before freezing so you can defrost only what you need.  I often buy packs of cooking bacon (85p for 500g) - it's a bit pot luck what you get but, even if it's only to cut up into lardons, it's a saving.  I render down any fat and use it for frying eggs, roasting potatoes or making pastry for savoury pies.

Yes I save veggie scraps for soup, turn potato peelings into chips with a few spices thrown on them and chucked in the oven when everything else cooks - they make a nice little snack. I really should invest in an air fryer to do things like that with but whilst Im using the oven Ill make the most of it.

Yes we dont tend to eat much fish but what I do get seems expensive so I only really buy when there is a deal on with iceland as we dont have a local fishmonger etc.

Oh good idea about the bacon - lucky for us in our house everyone eats it so its probably doesnt need to be portioned up but i do find when I get cooking bacon its a bit hit and miss. I didnt ever think to render down the fat until its all melted to use on things like roast potatoes etc. Thats a really good idea. If I do that - can I store it in a clean jar and where would it need to be kept? fridge? 

I have used up a roll of ready made puff pastry today and made it into two steak bake style things for husband whos dinner request was 'something stodgey' after we have just got back from an hour long plus walk with our 3 dogs and 2 boys. Its still a fair bit of snow outside so it is very nippy but I prepared myself a bag with strong mints, home baked flapjacks and a small flask of tea so we all had a little pick me up. Home now and I had homemade soup and learnt a valuable lesson about keeping ready made pastry in the fridge and not the cupboard where my daughter had stuck it. I still managed to get two fair sized pastrys from it and husband has eaten one so there is one left so its on the tray in the oven cooling at the minute and chances are he will either eat it later or I will put it in a tub for him to take to work and reheat there tomorrow. 

Daughter seems to be enjoying her time away and whilst I was making lunch I found a punnet of mushrooms in the bottom of the fridge that have seen better days so I think tomorrow I will take a little walk to our local shop and get some pasta and make her carbonara for her tea when she comes home. She has already told me she has been ziplining, low lining, quad biking, sports, dance, rock climbing, archery and swimming so far! Child has no fear and seems to be enjoying herself :-)

@-taff - Oh the egg wraps sound delicious! Plus a good dose of protein in the morning

@Datchet - same here. exercise equipment being put to good use and facing agoraphobia and severe social anxiety to get out walking more because nothing is more stress inducing that 3 bored, unexercised dogs! 

sammy_kaye18

Whitefiver said:

Katiehound said:

^^^^


English heritage membership with Tesco clubcard vouchers.

Coincidentally, I had the renewal notice for English Heritage through this morning. £90+ for joint membership. I have always used my Tesco vouchers, but I don't even have enough to cover this amount this year. Bye bye EH.

Our Wildlife trust is doing half price membership until the end of the month (DD only), so we have joined these instead (£21). I think I shall get more use out of the membership too. I think all the different Wildlife Trusts have a similar offer at the moment.

Our local country park has a membership for £43. 
I like visiting there and it has quite a bit on -  nice walks, mountain bike trails, deer herds to see, beautiful ponds/lakes, play areas, fairytale villages, animal trail etc and big lawns for the dogs to exercise on as well. Im debating this because it would give us free parking there for the year and it is a nice place just to visit to walk the dogs etc. Otherwise it is £6.80 a time to park and I think if I brought that membership we could take our bikes etc there and just have nice days out with the kids. So even if we went 6 times a year Im thinking it would be worth our money.

YorksLass

@elsien - I'd probably use the broccoli first but, if you don't want to be eating it every day, cut a bit of the stalk off and stick it in a glass of water in the fridge and it should keep longer.  For the leeks, slice thinly and add to a fish pie or maybe leek & potato soup?  That will keep in the fridge for about a week.  What about a veg stir fry instead of curry?

@sammy_kaye18 - I know what you mean about the cooking bacon packs being a bit hit and miss, but I never expect to get full rashers; it's more likely to be thick pieces that I trim down into something that resembles bacon chops and bits that make good lardons.  The rendered down bacon fat keeps well in the fridge in a jar or bowl and doesn't go rock hard.

We woke to a hard frost this morning (again) but this time accompanied by freezing fog.     The sun eventually came out and cleared the fog by early afternoon but didn't manage to dispense with all the frost.  And now the fog is back.  I ventured out to swap the TV guide I'd bought in error yesterday and enjoyed the walk; crisp and dry, beautiful cloudless blue sky but oh so cold.  I was glad to get back home to a mug of hot hm tomato & red pepper soup.

Rogan josh tonight (but with chicken instead of lamb) with naans and a slice of vanilla cheesecake for afters.  We'll have whatever's left over later in the week with jacket potatoes/veg.  I normally do jackets in the MW and crisp up in the air fryer but I'll use MW then oven this time so I can do extra ones to scoop the cooked potato out for the fishcakes I'll be making.  I know there's two basa fillets languishing in the freezer for these (cheaper than cod or haddock) and there's also half a pack of frozen puff pastry to use up.  I'm thinking maybe a fruit pie - cherry or summer fruits since there's a tin of each in the pantry.  If there's room in the oven I'll use up the last bit of yogurt for a batch of fruit scones.  I haven't done a meal plan yet for the coming week but I doubt I'll need anything from the shop - if that's the case, this month will have been a very frugal one.  

annieb64

The last packet of cooking bacon was one solid piece of bacon/gammon. Very little fat. I usually cut the packs into three and freeze them.

Datchet

We portioned up some homemade tom sauce & cardamom chicken. I suggested that they were left out in the freezing fog before they went into the freezer. They didn’t freeze but they were close! Went into freezer with half the job done. Hope tomorrow is warmer tho’

Longwalker

Leeks make a brilliant vichyssoises  soup, just leaks , a spud, milk and stock ( cube ) 

zcrat41

On the subject of memberships does anyone have any tips for Hampton Court Palace. It'll be £120 for our family of four to visit at Easter which seems ridiculous. We're driving so can't use the tfl offer (staying in our caravan nearby). 

Broccoli ideas:
soup
greek broccoli salad
broccoli and cauliflower cheese
broccoli quiche

Longwalker

@zcrat41 How comes so expensive or am I missing something?

The website is saying the family saver is £71 

Theres also this site offering discounts -tickets-prices

Floss

@zcrat41 I would plan to arrive early, there is parking on site but then you have a full day to explore. Take food & drinks with you as it is not cheap - IIRC you can go back to your car to collect your picnic. There's lots for children to do & plenty for adults too.

I presume for that price you've chosen the membership option, to do the Tower & Kensington Palace too?