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

euronorris

Auntycaz said:

Just got back from my bone scan. I will be eating out of the freezer and store cupboard for the next week my 9 min taxi journey to the hospital cost me £17. I came back home by bus even though it was chucking it down with rain and took nearly an hour.

£17?! Oh my word. That is an expensive trip for such a short journey!

I was hoping that the boot sale might run again this weekend, but I think it will likely be cancelled as it's been so wet. I'll concentrate on getting some other bits on eBay instead, I think.

mandy47

rancid-a said:

Hello everyone :

Question for you all Groupon. Is this okay to use? Someone gave me a link to buy Photoshop which I need to resubscribe to. The price with Groupon is £84 compared to £119 without any offers applied. I've not used Groupon before and I'm not sure how safe it is.

I've used Groupon a number of times without any issues.

Nelliegrace

Scrag end of neck of lamb, it should be mutton, for Irish stew, potatoes, onion, carrot, possibly celery, and pearl barley thyme, parsley and black pepper and water. Mum taught me to shop for it and cook it. 20 minutes in the pressure cooker, and five minutes letting it come down to room pressure.

Why can’t the supermarkets sell the cheap cuts? Bone stock is good for the gut. 

Pollie

Have used Groupon many times. Use it via Topcashbck.

Floss

Morrisons sell less popular cuts such as lamb neck, oxtail, hearts, lamb ribs, pork skin for crackling, even bones.

Auti

Longwalker said:

Nelliegrace said:

We have a bit of a glut of potatoes, some more came with the To Good To Go. 
I refuse to waste them so as a last resort I shall bury some. They will increase in number and come back to haunt me later in the year, no doubt!

Potato bread, cheap , easy and freezes really well and is delicious for breakfast, lunch or tea with an egg or a bit of bacon or just a good slathering of butter 

How do you make potato bread please and if it uses flour would it work with Gluten free flour? Thank you

Nelliegrace

New potatoes in early Summer, fresh from the garden, a good return for a few which are beginning to sprout. Sounds good to me. 

I used to take one of our gourmet meat rabbits and quail eggs to the local butcher every fortnight and he would fill a carrier bag with the tasty cheap cuts I wanted, plus a bag of chopped bones and chicken carcasses. He told me how to cook them, and there was always a handful of mince in with the stewing steak, “for good gravy.” 

YorksLass

@Auntycaz - I thought our taxis were expensive but that's a real shocker!  At one time I used to get a taxi back from Sainsburys but, since changing to online deliveries, have found it's cheaper to pay for an annual pass than use a taxi.  On the odd occasion when I do go in person (for the odds and ends I can't get online) I walk there (it's downhill and I look on it as "free" exercise) and get the bus back using my bus pass.  Sometimes I take the wally trolley with me but usually I can manage to carry what I've bought.

I'm normally a good sleeper but, for some unknown reason, I didn't sleep well last night so haven't done half of the things I was planning to do today.  Never mind, there's always tomorrow.  I've resisted a nanna nap this afternoon - best have an early night tonight.   What's the betting I'll either be wide awake or will wake up at some ungodly hour!

Instead, I've done a bit of admin stuff, including adding the new charges for phone/broadband to the budget spreadsheet.  That's another £37 pa odd coming out of the pension increase.  

Each week I put £2 in my Happy Purse (that's for me to spend as I wish, not for housekeeping) and have used some of the cash today to order some natural handcrafted French soap bars that should be delivered next week.  The hardest part was choosing which fragrances I wanted but have gone for Eglantine (wild rose), lily of the valley, violet and lilac.  At first glance they seem on the pricey side but they do last a long time and are very kind to skin (no chemicals).  My treat to me.  

Floss

If one has a good butcher locally who preps their own portioned chicken, one can sometimes ask for the chicken carcasses which can be used to make stock, and generally have lots of meat pickings on. 

JIL

My inlaws are Irish and mil, used to make her stew by using cheap cuts of lamb, with carrots, onions and potatoes. The potatoes shouldn't boil too much into the gravy.  She also used to buy mince, that came as a big lump. She would pull bits off, form small balls and cook them in the top of the stew.
She never made dumplings.