Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

themadvix

I can recommend this recipe for cauliflower too: http://annajones.co.uk/recipe/my-new-book-one-is-out-sticky-sesame-baked-cauliflower

Blackcats

Well done on swerving into the shoe shop and swerving back out again.  Sparkly laces minus the new boots is a good idea.
I saw someone with a divine pair of fur trimmed walking boots yesterday and I was tempted to ask them where they got them from.  Then I used some common sense to envisage the fluffy white trim on the boots after a walk in the muddy woods let alone after a winter of walking in the muddy woods.

milann

I tried cauliflower rice….it didn’t do it for me. I did get along with half real rice and half cauliflower rice though. But calling it ‘rice’ when it clearly wasn’t played with my head 😂😂😂 - the taste was ok but it wasn’t RICE 😂😂😂😂love cauliflower any other way though…..roasted in a bit of tomato ketchup  and mild curry herbs ( Dh does it so I’m not sure which herbs he actually uses), cauliflower cheese and cauliflower and broccoli or Stilton soup.

foxgloves

Hello m'dears,
Thanks for all your comments. I have to say I am of the mind that life is too short for cauliflower rice, but fair play to anybody who enjoys it!
I was proud to swerve the boots, yes, but must admit to have looked at them online (partly to see if I still liked them) & with a 'new customer, surrender your email details offer', there was a 20% discount code available. I still haven't bought them though. Instead, I cleaned up some very nice (& more expensive) black walking boots I bought during Lockdown. They have been professionally stretched but are still not comfortable over my right heel, where I have a little bump from a long-term dodgy achilles tendon. They are lovely boots though - yak leather - & would look pretty good with sparkly silver laces. My plan is to wear them as much as possible as if the toe box stretches a little more, this will naturally make a bit more room at the back. They have a rigid 'heel-cup' around the back, which was a selling point for me at the time, because of my achilles, but this is not something which is going to stretch, hence me looking to find stretch potential elsewhere. I am going to explore this first, before I spend more black boots.
@Humdinger1 & @EssexHebridean - Thigh boots! You little devil, Missis! Though I have to say I have always appreciated a good leather thigh boot on a man in historical dramas! I love both pairs of my DMs, I have the tall 'Vonda' pair in black with the red roses up the side (50th birthday gift from Mr F) & a standard purple pair which I bought in 1999 & which are still being worn at least once or twice a week! Gold ones sound awesome.
Have kept the money saving faith today:
*Did not get charged for our biscuits in cafe today when we were on our woodland walk. It wasn't that I didn't mention this oversight to be intentionally skankrous, but because last time we visited, we were actually over-charged by more than 3 times the cost of those same biscuits, & didn't notice till we got home & had no proof. So I looked upon 2 free ones today as karma.
*Avoided gift shop temptation.
*Did my regular Monday morning budget updates.
*Managed to arrange dates with family members & best friends for pre-Christmas meet-ups & present exchange. I now feel I can plan my festive baking with number of visitors in mind.
*Also put another festive event in my diary - local Christmas Tree Festival, which is always lovely & is only £3.50 per ticket.
*Topped up worm composter with more scraps - they are still producing free liquid plant food despite the colder weather.
*Conveyed some saved (& therefore free) resources down to the shed - 2 big jars for my tomato bottling stash, a plastic meat tray for seed-sowing, 4 yoghurt pots for transplanting seedlings, a take-away coffee cup beacuse they are great for sowing beans, & on the way, I picked up another...the stick from a spent Bonfire Night rocket - IMO the best stakes for staking up chilli plants!
*Sorted out some sock yarn from my stash to knit myself a pair of stripy socks - a range of different purples, some dip-dyed pink & I am just wondering whether I would like the hit of some lime green. I will decide tonight when I cast them on. Quicker to knit socks for myself as I am a size 5, compared to all the extra stitches & centimetres I need for Mr F's size 11s !
*Laundry on heated airer - a single load, which had an extra spin, so I'm hoping ti won't take too much electricity to dry.
I had planned to make tamale pie tonight, but Mr F said that he fancied making it as he's never made one before, so that was fine by me. I've been talking to you instead!
Fx

rtandon27

Cauli cheese and mac is also lush!

marionmgcars

thanks for all the cauliflower suggestions.  My cauli rice was not too successful.  Cauliflower cheese was a winner, and have some more rice in fridge that may go into rissoles experiment.  Need more cauli to try the other ideas.  Thanks again. 

foxgloves

Hello Diary Readers,
I haven't managed to do all that I intended today - it is financial jobs which have dropped off the notional list, but no urgency, so will aim to do tomorrow. I had to go for some ultrasound scans mid-morning & haven't really caught up, plus Mr F being off work is lovely, but I am out of my routines. Anyway, today's efforts such as they are:
*Hospital car park absolutely chocka, so we found some nearby street parking which meant we parked for free. Another saving was that I was able to have the scans at our local hospital instead of doing the 42-mile round trip trek to the main one.
*Mr F suggested going for coffee afterwards, but I reminded him we did still have a couple of pieces of pear & ginger tea-loaf at home & a very good coffee machine, so we have saved our Personal Spends for the weekend, when we will defo be calling into a cafe.
*Chose a week's worth of meals from the November meal master plan & wrote them on the monthly planner section of my diary (then I add which days require a packed lunch nearer the time).
*Wrote grocery shopping list.
*Mr F had received another decent supermarket voucher - £8 off a £50 spend, so we placed an online order & added 3 more pantry items from our (as yet only my rough jottings) festive food list to make up the minimum spend.
*Baked a sourdough loaf & a batch of scones - it has become tradition that we have a little home baked item while watching GBBO each week, so I have frozen some for next week to save me a job. I do love baking, but have lots of other things (esp garden) I need to be doing this next couple of weeks.
*Triage of the fridge turned up most of a bargain bagful of peppers. Left the freshest ones in the salad drawer, but prepped the others which wouldn't last, for forthcoming planned meals of pizza & chilli.
*No effort required by me for tonight's nosebag. I saved the other half of the savoury mince I made for the shepherd's pie on Sun, so that is going on a jacket potato with some veg. And better still, Mr F says he's sorting it out as he has a podcast to listen to!
*Not money saving, but have done a good magazine declutter today to make up a good pile to take to my best friend at the weekend. Have had a final flick through & removed a promising looking recipe for lamb & kale curry. 
*I did cast on a free pair of socks for myself from stash yarn last night. I have picked out a palette of mostly pinks & purples - mostly quite artisanal yarns which I received as gifts & are what is leftover from other projects. Once Mr F is back at work, I will crack on with the final pair I'm making for him. 
And that's my lot for today. I can't ignore the ironing basket for much longer, so will doubtless be testing out the new iron tomorrow. 
Peace (something which seems in short supply across the world atm)
F xx

foxgloves

Re cauliflower talk.....it reminded me that I promised to make Mr F a batch of cream of cauliflower soup from the Cranks recipe book last winter & he still hasn't had it! As he really likes it & soup is a good microwaveable work lunch option, I really ought to deliver on my promise.
F

Moorviews

We had a similar moneysaving win today when I had an appointment to go to. Free parking in the nearby supermarket car park as I also had shopping to do in there, a drop off of stuff to the recycling centre, then back home for homemade soup, homemade bread and homemade cake. Mr MV loves to grab a coffee and cake when out on errands but was happy to clock up the savings made today against the cost of eating out. 

I have always enjoyed cauliflower in any form, except soggy and overdone. I love it raw! It’s such a versatile vegetable which grows so well in this country. It’s great to see it having a revival in amongst all the exotic and imported so called superfoods. 

I hope ironing is an enjoyable task with your new iron!

CRANKY40

I made celery soup this afternoon - that was me putting off doing the ironing so you're not alone with that. I like cauliflower soup too but caterpillars ate the cauliflowers. They didn't touch the celery.... I've made some for best friend whose garden the celery came from so I left out the garlic and milk but put vegan garlic and herb cream cheese in before I blended it. Friend has a dairy allergy and some dairy free products are vile but if anyone else has the same problem this stuff is made by Bo***in and is edible.