Do you have a secret trick?

in_my_wellies

Novice_investor101 said:

Latest money saving packed lunch idea, stopped buying small chocolate bars or cereal bars & now make my own chewy flapjack, with golden syrup. So much cheaper & the butter is the only thing I have to buy more than once a month. It used to cost £2-3 a week, now it’s typically less than £5 a month. 

I was astonished to find, in tesco baking aisle, a flapjack premixed kit that said you just need to add butter & golden syrup. So it was £1.60 for a tiny bag half filled with a tiny portion of porridge oats mixed with a tiny portion of soft brown sugar…

I used to do this for the packed lunches, yes, so much cheaper. But if I was having a particularly bad or disorganised week I would buy a packet of chocolate digestives (often on offer) and wrap one of those. Still much cheaper than a small chocolate bar. 

Now I don't have a family here but do like to have something in the cake/biscuit tin. I have the oven on once a week and fill it with a combination of items for the week like a joint, casserole, pie, cake, etc starting with the hottest and then reducing temp. 

annieb64

I bought a couple of little biscuits boxes from Lakeland so DH  and DD could take a couple of chocolate digestives for lunch. 

-taff

Soak your tannin stained teaspons in a mug with hot water and some washing powder or washing liuid [not washing up liquid] They'll come right off with a quick scrub afterwards.

bouicca21

@YoungBlueEyes. There’s a good recipe for breakfast bars on the Nigella website.  I use evaporated milk instead of condensed but that means you have to add more sugar.

I feed the birds - and it’s the birds rather than mice/rats that have attracted the feline visitors.  The birds may be messy and drop lots of seed onto the ground but the woodpigeons, collared doves and the feral pigeons just hoover it all up so there’s nothing left for the rodents.  So far the cats haven’t caught anything though on two occasions I’ve found feathers.  I think more likely an aerial predator - I know there were hobbies nesting nearby Last year.

YoungBlueEyes

Thanks @bouicca21, I’ll give them a go at the weekend 🙂

(”…hobbies nesting nearby…” what’s a hobby?)

Brie

YoungBlueEyes said:

Thanks @bouicca21, I’ll give them a go at the weekend 🙂

(”…hobbies nesting nearby…” what’s a hobby?)

type of hawk I believe.  predator bird in any case.  marvelous to watch in flight and in fight if you don't mind that sort of thing.

YoungBlueEyes

Thanks Brie. I didn't know if it was an autocorrect thing, or something I'm ignorant of. It was the latter, naturally.

bouicca21

😇. Not a typo, a bird of prey.  I didn’t spot them myself but a bird watching friend was super excited and pointed out the nesting site to me.  So much more interesting than the wretched parakeets.

YoungBlueEyes

Sounds like they'd make a nice change from all my pigeons.....

RobM99

Hobbies would eat them.