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

Wraithlady

London_1 said:

The ground rice pudding was really nice and made a change from the normal rice pud I know its possible to buy ground rice in the UK and I may look out for some when I go shopping in a week or so. 

 

My mum used to make ground rice pudding sometimes - until the day she didn't make it properly and it had lumps in it. I refused to eat it from then on. 

But for those who like such things, apparently Morrisons and Tesco do ground rice.

leftatthetrafficlights

It would be cheaper and easier to make your own ground rice - just pulse it in a blender or food processor until it's at the required consistency (slightly coarser than rice flour) 

London_1

I whizz granulated sugar in my blender for caster sugar its a lot cheaper than buying it and every penny helps these days 
JackieO xx

YorksLass

 A wet, dark and chilly day here today - again.     The curtains are closed by 4 pm since the clocks went back and the poor cherry blossom tree at the back of our house is now bereft of leaves.  It lifts the soul in Spring with its pretty pink blossom and again in the Autumn with colourful red, orange and yellow leaves but looks so sad during the Winter.  The willow tree at the front still has plenty of leaves on it - even though a lot have already dropped - but it's certainly living up to its name of "weeping".  I don't suppose it has any option with all this rain!

This morning DH asked me to cut his hair.  It wasn't really due for a trim but he said he wanted to look "presentable" for Thursday's health review.     Anyway, it's done now and didn't take that long to do.  No idea how much a barber would charge but it's cash saved and he's happy with my efforts.  He also wants me to renew his bus pass.  Since he fell and  broke his thigh bone at the end of 2020 he uses a walking stick, hardly ever goes anywhere and I can't see him even getting as far as the bus stop.  But, if it keeps him happy .......

Today's tea is a beef stir fry to use up the bits of meat left from the Sunday joint along with onion, mushrooms and half an orange pepper from the fridge, noodles and black bean sauce from the cupboard.  Plenty of left over rice pudding for afters with either grated apple or sliced banana.  At lunchtime we each had a toasted crumpet topped with cheese and a piece of Yorkshire parkin (quality control test of course  ).  And breakfast was peppered ham & mustard sandwiches - not a normal breakfast for us but the ham needed using, so used it was.

ETA: Just heard the first fireworks of the year!

Longwalker

London_1 said:

I whizz granulated sugar in my blender for caster sugar its a lot cheaper than buying it and every penny helps these days 
JackieO xx

I do as well Jackie, and icing sugar when I just need a small amount

Mind a lot of baking I just use granulated, esp if a wet bake like banana bread, time that takes to cook the sugar disolves 

London_1

My lovely grandson who came today and weeded the front path etc had just had his hair trimmed today locally in my little suburb of north Kent, as he lived in London. The local chap charges £15.00, but Ben said it's a bargain as where he lives for a chap to get a trim its upwards of £25.00.  he usually gets a trim when he comes home for the school holidays and half term .All my DDs boys go to the same chap they have gone to since little boys even though two live in London and one is in Essex at Uniand the other one is in Goudhurst about 20 miles away where he teaches in a private boarding school and lives on site. All four boys are products of Nanny's frugal ideas bless them, but then I did pend 15 years looking after them while both Mum and Dad worked full time, definitely rubbed off on them 

JackieO xx

borefest

@London_1 I love your tales and how you adore your family, take it steady and get well soon xxx 

YorksLass

This morning we were woken early doors by council contractors erecting scaffolding around our maisonette block.  We hadn't been notified by the council of any impending work so we're not sure what they're doing - maybe checking the flat roof isn't failing?  It shouldn't be as it was resurfaced not that long ago so maybe it's just ensuring the rainwater drains aren't blocked up.  No doubt all will be revealed in due course.

Not long after that the bin men came around but they haven't done the communal bins for our maisonettes and they are full to overflowing.  It seems to be a regular occurrence of late so if they don't do a catch up round tomorrow it may well be time for a phone call - again.  

At this point I gave up on trying to squeeze a bit more sleep and got up to a drier and brighter day with a little sunshine but the wind was pretty cool.  Back to rain again tomorrow.  Thoughts with those further south than we are who may well be affected by the latest storm - stay safe.  It looks as if we'll get it late tomorrow into Friday.

Today I've made a loaf of bread and a pan of chicken tikka masala that we'll have tonight with jacket spuds.  There wasn't a lot of chicken and even padding it out with veg I doubt there'll be any left over for another meal.  Never mind, it's a few more bits used up.  

I'm another one who sometimes whizzes up granulated sugar to make caster sugar but I usually just use granulated for baking.  I'll hold up my hands to having a packet of icing sugar in the cupboard though.

Longwalker

Very luckily the rain hasn't been so bad up here. Sure NI has a lot of flooding, a lot of homes and businesses under water but around here its wet but still draining. 

Ive been pretty fortunate this week. I work in two coffee shops, one of which closed Tuesday until easter ( at a petting farm so seasonal) Well the weather kept the expected crowds down and I finished work, sent home with a carrier of cooked sausages and a carrier of tray bakes . tray bakes will go into work with Mr L, a wee treat for the lads, and the sausages I made into a big sausage casserole for supper tonight, a pack up for Mr L tomorrow and two portions for the freezer ( Used the Hairy Bikers recipe - its lush )  

Then in my other job, the one I went back to today, I was given at least 8 precooked burgers. Now these are pure beef 1/2 pounders - they are huge, you know the type you get in gourmet burger places. Well Im looking at them and thinking the dog is getting way too fat, so its going to be strange shaped meat balls tomorrow  Ive done it before when Ive over cooked at BBQs here with just ordinary burgers and its worked pretty well. I just make the tomato sauce up and cut the burgers into big pieces and simmer 

Might as well, waste not want not

Ive been pretty fortunate in my places of work recently with free food. Last place was vegetable processing, didnt buy veg for 5 years, we were allowed to take for personal use. Its a bit of a shock now to the budget having to pay for it . I spent £30 in lidl the other day and I swear it was all fruit and veg with just a gammon joint and milk

sammy_kaye18

LoulaBelle said:

sammy_kaye18 said:

I was looking for oodies or similar and on the online home shop they have them for between £9 and £35 and different lengths so I have brought 3 of them - one for each child and one for husband. Total cost £33 including delivery. 

Hiya - Can I ask where you found the Oodies for £9 please as I'm looking to get a couple for xmas presents, thanks

They were in the Online Home Shop Website. I think the 3 I had one was £9 and the other two were £11. They are good quality too and lovely and warm. I will be ordering some more I think so that we have some for in the house and some to take in the van too or so there is one being washed and one to wear over winter.