Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

ladyholly

I use my hand held steam cleaner to defrost the freezer.

Makingabobor2

Ok...tell me about sourdough starters, as I am a complete novice in this area and really want to start making my own bread.

foxgloves

Hello Frugal Diary Friends, Thanks for all your helpful suggestions for faster freezer defrosting. @ziggy2407, you'll laugh at this, as I know I am probably regarded as very practical on here, but I HAVE used a bowl of hot water to assist freezer-thawing in the past........but it never actually occurred to me to shut the door! Doh! Mind you, I think Mr F probably quite enjoys going full caveman with the scraper. Really working on eating-up now, to empty them out a lot more, so that defrosting & a damn good clean can go ahead.
@Makingabobor2 - Bread making can be very satisfying. If you are new to it, I'd suggest starting with baking yeasted breads. Then if you feel confident with that & actually enjoy the process (& the product!), have a go at sourdough. These don't use commercial yeast (although some of the supermarkets have apparently been sneaking yeast into round loaves & still labelling them as 'sourdough')  - instead you use a starter which makes its own yeasts. There will be loads online about this process so I don't intend sitting here typing it all out, but it is basically a combination of flour & water - I think my original also contained 1/2 a grated apple too, which once matured into a usable starter, you use with flour, water & a little salt to make sourdough bread. It isn't difficult. Although the vast majority of my loaves now turn out fine, it isn't quite as reliable a process as using commercial yeast. Makes fab toast! You only need to make your starter once. It lives in a kilner jar in the fridge & you just feed it the day before you want to bake.
F x

foxgloves

And now for today's post. Our little city centre trip went well this morning - torn between big gas works on the way into the Cathedral city & rumours of a dodgy roadworks-infested roundabout right where we need to go to access our preferred parking at the bigger city local to us, we went for the gas works queues, & we were so early that we sailed through! Back in the Spendy Years, as my previous diary attested, city centre trips were a major debt-building activity, so I do like the fact that I can enjoy the shopping experience now while remaining mainly tuned into Common Sense FM. Positive behaviours from this morning:
*Wrote a list & remembered to take relevant vouchers with me.
*Mr F wanted a shirt to replace one which ripped beyond repair last week & was very dubious about paying £40 for the one he most liked. I said it was actually the best time to buy it as I had £14 of vouchers sitting in my purse so he would only be paying £26 for it today, but by next time, it would likely be the full £40. Pleased to say he did buy it, as it was a nice one & he does get a lot of wear out of things. Like me, Mr F has had a very spendy past, but buying lots of clothes wasn't part of his past debts & honestly, I sometimes think he thinks decent shirts still cost about 15 quid.....or £9.99!
*Opted only to pay for 3 hours of car parking as we felt that ought to be sufficient (it was).
*Coffee & toasted teacakes paid from our Personal Spends, so budget-neutral.
*Stocked up on moisturiser, cleansing butter & a couple of other bits using my 20% discount voucher & a £5 voucher from my loyalty card. Mr F decided to stock up on a couple of moisturisers he really likes as well, to take advantage of my voucher. Was happy enough with the money off, but at the till, I was invited to choose a free gift - a little box containing a citrussy hand cream & a mandarin/bergamot perfume oil. Mr F really liked the fragrance as it reminded him a bit of a rather expensive fragrance he no longer buys from a counter of white-coated people, so we split the gift & I had the hand cream, as I get through oodles of it with all the gardening.
*Was given a 20% off voucher as soon as I crossed the threshold into the marine condiment shop but was very restrained. I was very tempted by a pretty tunic, but it would have been a little difficult justifying it from the Clothes Pot as I really didn't need it, so I left it in the shop.
*More restraint.....tried on a 'leather' biker jacket, as my old one is peeling a bit & I wondered about it being a potential birthday present in a few weeks' time. However, have also seen a bag I really like, so decided that the best thing to do would be to come home & spend some more time thinking about both items. If you are wondering whether the Old Spendy Me would have bought both of them, the answer is of course, 'yes'.
*Did not swing by C**p or Waitbl00m to pick up crisps or lunch items on our way home. We were talking ourselves into it as we were hungry by then, but as Mr F said, we have that new sourdough loaf at home waiting to be cut & so we talked ourselves into some nice scrambled eggs. I am not saying I begrudge the price of a packet of crisps (though they are ridiculous money when you consider you're barely getting half a potato!), more that once inside, other little things start to agitate from the sidelines saying 'Buy me, buy me, I'm a nice lunch thing.....' etc, etc, & before you know it, a sharing bag of crisps has become £10. Nope, not happening!
*Have checked for surveys, but nothing doing. This is despite receiving TWO invitations from one site, then finding that one survey didn't actually exist & the other was a 'chucked out for 3 parsimonious little points' example of me being entirely the wrong demographic. I do find it annoying when I supply profiling info which isn't utilised in their algorithm for who receives which survey invitations. Mr F is currently doing an £11 survey! (He's chuffing about it though, so I am not sure I envy him those earnings).
I am intending to spend the rest of this afternoon reading my book (Still on my charity shop Lisa Jewell "I found you"), & will move to more cardi-knitting tonight over some TV or film-watching. Mr F's cooking night. He's making an old favourite - Madhur Jaffrey's Whole spiced Indian chicken, which he is serving with garlic rice & a veggie side dish. I am already eyeing the leftover chicken for 2 further days of meals plus a lunch! Use-it-up item from freezer for dessert....the brandied fruit I saved from making the blackberry brandy, heated with a little extra sugar & served with a scoop of ice cream. As there's already a nice bottle of Shiraz rose in the fridge, I shall be as -*!?-% as a f*rt after that! No matter, I will survive (& may quite possibly be singing it later!)
Enjoy your Saturdays m'dears & keep your hands on your pence,
F x

Makingabobor2

Ooh, thanks FG, I will search online for more info. x

Makingabobor2

Sounds like a good trip into the city.  I have been trying to decide whether to go into city centre some time soon.  I have free bus pass now, and TBH have actually not used it yet, despite having it for 8 months now.  I just never go anywhere that warrants a bus trip, maybe I should start thinking about it.  I don't really want to go into the city as I hate it with a passion, and hate shopping in general. But I am desperate for some new jeans/leggings/tops and shoes and keep going to the nearest out of town retail park...FP, for those who live our part of the Midlands, and it just seems to get worse and worse and I can never find anything. I hate big chain stores, but there doesn't seem to be anywhere close by that has good independent shops.  I'll have to have a think. If I could I just wouldn't bother at all, but I really do need some new stuff now, after a few years of having nothing 

PennysIntoPounds

Enjoy your Saturday night shiraz and singsong 😊

themadvix

@Makingabobor2 if you’re on FB there’s a really helpful group called UK Fermenting Friends - lots of help and advice about sourdough there and a lot recommend Bake with Jack’s sourdough starter recipe/technique (I think you use scrapings, so don’t have to feed a whole starter, but I’ve not looked into it - I made sourdough back pre-Covid and am not really a fan, so it’s not been a priority to get back into it. I’m in the group for sauerkraut and kefir and other stuff!).

joedenise

My DH used the Bake with Jack sourdough starter but he gave up making bread when we went on holiday for a month last year and hasn't restarted.  It's only him that eats it as I don't like it so he decided it wasn't worth restarting.  He gets a sourdough loaf from Lidl when we get a Free bakery item!

scandimore

I've been using the scrapings method too, Kind of...I'm finding with sourdough I need to bake relatively frequently, and with it being a 48 hour process it's a bit of a time investment to think about being in the house and going into the kitchen so many times to do stretch and folds. I'm interested in Foxgloves' same day method as I'm sure she has mentioned before it is much less faff, and I'd probably be more likely to keep it up!