Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

foxgloves

Lol, @Sun_Addict - No, I did manage to escape & am ok, thanks. Had just popped on here to put my post on & your comment did make me smile!
F

foxgloves

Hello Thursday Readers, Thanks for your sympathies re the dentist. He X-rayed the troublesome tooth & there was thankfully no sign of any infection. However, he seemed to think there may possibly have been one & that I had possibly turned it around through doing salt water mouth rinses every day. I know that's an old-fashioned treatment for tooth/gum infections, but I have found it helpful in the past & the dentist confirmed that it is just as good as buying the well-known brand of bottled stuff usually recommended for infections. So it was just £27 for the emergency appointment/x-ray & I am to monitor the situation. I have the Christmas/New year opening hours & although the tooth isn't completely back to normal, I at least feel reassured that there was no sign of a nasty dental abcess or similar brewing. The pain has subsided anyway, just need the stupid jumpy nerve to settle a little more now. It was a shame that Mr F ended up conveying me to the dentist on his birthday but we went out for lunch afterwards & simply bumped his chosen birthday outing to the next day instead. He loved his birthday cake - he requested a Norwegian apple cake because apparently I "haven't baked one for ages" & took the last piece today in his packed lunch.
Right, I'd better get today's post on. while I'm here.....
F

foxgloves

Right, & on with today's budget-friendly efforts:
*Updated budgets & transferred funds from the Car Maintenance Pot & Dentist/Optician/Medical Pot to cover recent major car service/MOT & my emergency dentist appointment. 
*Reconciled December's credit card statement. No nasty surprises there.
*Had a look at our December grocery budget to see how it is holding up in the face of festive food-buying. It's not looking too bad at all - just a couple of last minute bread items plus fresh fruit & veg & a bit more cheese, though have had words with Mr F about how much cheese would be a silly amount because he is rather of the opinion that there is no such thing. Shall need to buy a bag of biscuits for Ash so he doesn't run out over Christmas & they will also need a 40-box of Persian Queen - this may get picked up on the way home from work tonight as apparently it is on a good nectar price atm.
*Still on the subject of festive groceries - we had a run through our food list & crossed off a few items we no longer require - we often like venison burgers or steaks for Christmas Eve's meal, but there are 2 forsaken sirloins at the back of the freezer which will do the job just as well, so we will have those instead. Ditto an item I intend to bake has been changed for something involving lemons as we have plenty of those & shan't now need to buy any additional ingredients. Ditto a bag of salad for Boxing Day, as my trough of late-sown lettuce in the greenhouse has grown well enough for me to source fresh leaves from home. Crossed off a nice bottle of something non-alcoholic to take to our friends at the weekend as there was something perfect in the pantry already which apparently was part of some forgotten 2 for 1 offer. Also found a pretty bottle bag in my stash so another thing we don't need to buy. I also decided to save £18 of my Personal Spends by not having my usual bottle of NT ginger wine this year - not for any hair shirty reasons, but because I remembered that we bought a bottle of mead while we were on holiday & that will be just as nice. It's funny, really, as I'm sure this is the time when people throw their lists to the wind & just pile into the trolley everything they fancy/think they need, but we seem to have swung in the other direction by checking & crossing things off that we don't, in fact, require now that the festivities are almost upon us.
*Did my regular mid-month budget-check-in. Amazingly, given that this is a spendy month, I was only £1-99 out on my original December budget figures & I know that £1-70 of that is car parking. 
*Baked a malted grain loaf.
*Another freezer use-it-up on the menu tonight - pesto pasta topped with a poached salmon fillet. 
*Birthday wrappings salvage done & re-usable stuff added to my stash.
*Made a few free plant labels from a couple of spread tubs I'd been ignoring for a while. I should have a decent pile of these by Spring seed sowing time.
*Made tomorrow's packed lunch & breakfast.
*Did 6 surveys.
*Added the latest of Waitbl00m's Little Treats scheme free items to the pantry - it was 'A box of our No.1 chocolate truffles of your choice'. I'm sure they will be very nice alongside a cup of coffee. 
I have also done quite a lot of tidying & just dealing with odds & sods which have been sitting around for ages. I did intend to ice the Christmas cake but have bumped that to tomorrow as once the piano tuner has been, my day will be pretty much my own & I can take my time with it. 
Right, m'dears, that's been my day. It is chucking it down with rain atm. It started just after Soot & Ash had gone out to play so they didn't have long before returning cross & damp. Chasing a walnut across the kitchen tiles cheered Ash up a little but he's now curled up in a grey stripy ball in his igloo bed. Soot is hovering in case any treats are thinking of emerging anytime soon.
Stay cosy,
F x

Makingabobor2

Pleased your dental problem was nothing major. The old remedies are the best. 

PennysIntoPounds

What a relief about the teeth (I know it was one but that doesn't rhyme). Well done for fending off the suspected infection. 

Happy birthday to Mr F 🍻

kayannie

Good news on the dodgy tooth.

I was looking through my recipes earlier today, deciding what cake to bake. In my very old M&S baking book was a recipe for Norwegian apple cake that i thought about making.  Then I caught up with you & find you mention making one for Mr F ( in the end, I made an Irish tea loaf).

Several times in the last few weeks, I have noticed that we have been making the same things at about the same time. I made Delia's braised red cabbage the day before you did, as well as adding her vegetarian 'sausage' rolls to my list of things to bake. I made her sticky toffee puddings yesterday, are you planning on making those?

I notice you often bake from Cranks. My Crankx recipe book got so tatty that I replaced it with one I bought online. 

KA x

Makingabobor2

Noticed talk of Delia's red cabbage, was thininking of trying it this year. Last time I slow cooked cabbage, so can't decide what to do. Have you ever tried cookkng it with cranberries? 

Blackcats

Glad the salt water swooshing fought off the infection.
I agree about checking stocks before buying more.  I used to buy things just in case, particularly tins and cleaning products.  If you told me that it was a magical cleaning product, that was scented with Himalayan mist and freshwater pearl breath I'd buy it and add it to the other marketing stunts I'd fallen for.  We did a freezer inventory last month and found the basis for a good few meals that enabled a £50.00 underspend on our grocery budget.  No more food spending for us now until 2026 (apart from collecting the turkey and chipolatas from the butchers).  

Suffolk_lass

With the mention of cranberries with red cabbage, I had simmered the fresh cranberries I bought, and then mixed them with the remains of a jar from the cupboard that was bought last year. I have been quite busy and have forgotten if I sweetened it (doh!) but hopefully it will be OK. I do have a jar of ready-made bought I could mix it with if I thought it too tart. I remember seeing it in the pantry this morning. Strike one from the list!

EssexHebridean

Mr F is entirely correct - there is no such thing as too much cheese.
I will not be taking any further questions on this matter.

As for red cabbage - the last couple of years I've done mine with chopped dried apricots instead of apple and it's delicious. Spicing is lots of allspice, lots of star anise (dropped in whole and usually ensuring someone gets a festive shaped surprise on their plate after I lose count of how many where there!), a cinnamon stick and plenty of black pepper. Liquid wise, I use a splash of water to start things off, then a good squeeze of clementine juice, plus a splash of each balsamic vinegar and dark soy as needed to ensure everything stays moist. Low heat, on the hob, until the cabbage is meltingly tender.