Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

teapot2

Woops to the turmeric and well done on not turning everything yellow. I made elderberry vinegar a few years ago and still have some left in the fridge, it gives a lovely savoury flavour when I use a spoonful. I might try a bramble one when thats all gone.

scandimore

Can I please ask which company you use to deliver the fish box you have mentioned it a few times 😀

foxgloves

DD Fish (Grimsby) & I'm sure there'll be others.

Moorviews

I am glad that all went well with getting the new car in the end. I hope you are both enjoying it! It is always fun hearing about Soot and Ash. They are definitely a couple of characters and beautiful too 😻😻 Although not their real names, they do look very much like a Soot and Ash.
Thank you for the advice to hand pollinate the aubergine plants. In exciting news, I have 3 fruits growing nicely on each plant! I am guessing it is best to leave it at that, even though there are more flowers, given that we are nearly halfway through August already? Next year I will hand pollinate as soon as I get flowers.

Suffolk_lass

Ah yes the coffee jars with the stoppers.

We moved here at the end of 2004 and at the beginning of 2005 we replaced the kitchen, putting in a lovely glass topped domino hob, set in a really thick granite worktop. Two hot plates is plenty for us in summer and as a backup to the (winter only) aga. Then we had the bathroom redone and the builder lifted the jar of coffee out of the cupboard adjacent to the hob, and the stopper wasn't in properly. It cracked the corner of the glass hob.

We claimed on house insurance for a replacement and having previously had a burglary from our garage at the last house (they reversed into the wooden doors, bursting them off their hinges) and had a loss adjuster in who increased our claim by about £600 - they said, just get a replacement and we will pay for it! So we did.

Then the coffee jar thing happened again about 5 years later, when DS's girlfriend (staying while we were away) did the same thing. They had stopped making the hob by then and it was a very awkward sized cutout (who knew they were different!) so we lived with the small crack and I kept checking the Bay until I found one - about 8 years later and snaffled it. A week later, Mr SL tipped a bottle of red wine with his arm and it sent a crack across the mythical unicorn hob. After that he got a brushed stainless steel one made at a fabricator after doing a CAD drawing, and then we did the splashback too (wider) with a new hood and narrower cupboards either side. That has stood the test of time and works fine.

We don't keep coffee in those jars now (attractive though they are) - we transfer it into a reuse coffee tin!

rtandon27

In our house those glass jars are repurposed for storing grains and flours. OH used to rescue them from work as they only drank the posh stuff! In our house we get Waitflower or em'n'sssss house brand which is still about 1/4 of the price. I do keep an eye out for the posh stuff on sale, as I do like them a whole lot more than the clip-top ones.

For our spice cupboard, we have a collection of repurposed square curry sauce jars which fit nicely in the upper shelves for storage and then we refill the small ones from MrMrS for a frequently used items. A storage solution grown over many years rather than the influencer version of go out and buy a collection of new storage containers!

I still fondly remember my Gran's storage collection of blue-lidded miraclewhip glass jars. Across the pond it is favoured more than mayo or salad cream and as a family we went through several of the large jars every year. I do however remember that the labels came of easily with just a hot water soak and didn't need the type of scrubbing I have to employ now!

foxgloves

Hello Readers & thanks for all your comments.

@teapot2 - I used to make elderberry vinegar when I lived at my old house as there was a pasture at the end of the road with elderberries I could actually reach! I make blackberry vinegar now as we have a very prolific bush by the side of our shed. And my friend always uses raspberries for hers, as that's what she grows.

@Moorviews - Glad to hear that the 'assisted conception' helped with your aubergines. I think the received wisdom used to be not to let more than 5 fruits set per plant, I suppose so as to allow them to reach a decent size. I haven't really been counting this year tbh, but I think from my 3 plants, I may well have had 12 to 15 by the end of the season, I'll see. I've picked quite a few at a decent size. The plants are struggling now, even though they like heat so the remaining fruits will be smaller. As it's late in the season, you are probably right to aim for 3 per plant. I'm glad the fussy herberts decided to get going for you!

@Suffolk_lass - So I'm in good company with those naughty glass stoppers then! What a faff that damage was for you. It always seems to be something that's hard to source which ends up getting damaged.

@rtandon27 - I had never heard of 'Miracle whip' & had to look it up. It sounds like a sort of hybrid. I can remember when a big brand's jars of 'Sandwich Spread' first went on sale in the UK. I liked it in my school packed lunch sarnies for a couple of weeks, then it lost its charm. My Mum liked it as she hated cooking/food prep & it was just a case of whacking some between 2 pieces of ready-sliced white loaf & job done! I found a jar in Mum's fridge while I was staying there a lot during the final few weeks of her life when she was in hospital & tried some on a crusty roll. Nope! I hadn't missed it at all!

I like to reuse good jars for storage. Most of my herbs & spices are in the glass-stoppered coffee jars. I don't drink instant coffee but someone kindly saved them for me. I like how the size of them means that I can just write the name of the contents straight onto the glass with a marker pen.

foxgloves

Hello Sunbeams,

I'm not sure what actual money saving efforts I've put in today but thought I would show willing! Town first thing. Saved a little of our Personal Spends in our favourite coffee shop by having a coffee each as usual, but sharing a cake. Mr F chose a big one so it was perfectly ample for two people. Was pleased to have started with that little save as next on the list was posting my sister's birthday box which was £22 !! I had estimated about £20 so wasn't too shocked. Because of the value, I was limited to highly tracked, signed for, next-day options, but as I have had various items of post go missing between here & London, & my sis is shortly off on a birthday trip, I didn't begrudge the cost. I just want her to receive it rather than some skanker & to receive it in time. Cost will be via'd from the Presents Pot. Stuck to list at Eco-refill shop & did not succumb to the temptation of the amazing chocolate honeycomb balls they sell there. If I could just scoop 6 or 8 balls into a bag, that'd be fine, but I'd worry about it turning into 6 scoops! They are seriously yum & way nicer than any branded equivalent I have tried.

Onto grocery shopping…..not a big list & reasonably on budget. Collected our latest 'Little Treat' on the loyalty scheme which turned out to be a jar of quite an expensive brand of peanut butter so that was a nice surprise. Yellow stickered sausages purchased & frozen for a future hot-pot (which will use some of my home grown peppers & tomatoes), also crumpets which are useful for the freezer as bread shortages can suddenly happen with Mr F in the house. He enjoyed a free coffee. He forgot his mug last time & called himself all the numpties under the sun!

Veg watered very early & fed.

Did a few surveys.

New chair sorted! I did look in the charity furniture shop in town this morning & while they had a fab dining table & chair set that I actually liked more than ours at home, I wasn't looking for one of those, & there were no individual chairs of the type I am seeking. Anyway, I have now ordered a new one. It is not the £650 one I saw online, which was lovely, but not "£650-lovely" iyswim. And I am glad I didn't order a similar one I saw as the dimensions showed it to be much lower than I am looking for & it would have had to go back. Today I found one! It's very similar to the £650 one in style. but was priced at half that & they had an offer code for 20% off which brought it down further to a much more attractive amount. It's plain beechwood so no upholstery to attract feline claws & puking & I think it should look very well in front of the kitchen dresser on our terracotta tiles.

It's not my cooking night & there has been a necessary tweak to the meal plan as we realised we had included some turkey mince from the freezer in 2 different day's meals. Mr F rounded up some frozen oddments from the latest of his continual freezer re-jigs to serve with some home made jacket wedges & guacamole which is certainly starting to smell appetizing. I'm looking forward to some more time with my book. It's a Scandi-crime from an author I like & it is so intriguing. I know one of them is flipping well guilty, but I just can't decide who!

Enjoy your evenings,

F x

Sun_Addict

Well done on the bargain chair find.

PennysIntoPounds

Chair sounds lovely, great stuff getting a price you're happy with for decent quality