And now we go again...

TallGirl

Just adding in about the cool boxes. I bought one but had to take it back the plug in worked but when we got it in the car that part did not work so do check if it uses both. Mine was also far too big and bulky you could hardly lift it when it had stuff in it. I wish we had looked in the shops before just buying online. I still need to get one but this time with a continental plug as I did think it was handy having both options rather than having to carry a conversion kit (we use it in hotels rooms to keep drinks cold when away).

Greying_Pilgrim

TallGirl said:

…..Mine was also far too big and bulky you could hardly lift it when it had stuff in it……

I found this out (the hard way), when I bought my branded "it keeps stuff cold for 3 days" 'analogue' coolbox in 2019. It wasn't that big inside - and yet clearly didn't have much insulation either, as nothing stayed cool (never mind cold) for very long. But it was virtually impossible to carry with anything + ice or blocks inside (no wheels). It certainly didn't keep stuff cold for 3 days (which, according to internet reviews depended entirely on the coolbox lid not being opened 🤔). I considered doing a suggestion of drilling a hole in the body of the box and filling it with expanding foam, but in the end couldn't be bothered, and just gave it to a chazzer. I don't know whether 'powered' coolboxes are entirely the answer, but with changing weather/hotter days, I think cool bags/boxes are getting more important than ever.

Greying X

EssexHebridean

we’re still musing on which way to go - the H@1f0rds one is only 19 litres capacity - which makes it a lot smaller than our current non electric one. Probably fine for just a day out with a picnic, but not so ideal for a week camping! G0 0utd00rs have a 28 litre capacity one which we think we’ll go and look at tomorrow, then make a decision from there.

A fairly productive day here - our usual walk first thing took us down to look at the too-small cold box, and also via T’s to get MrEH’s newspapers. While in there we also thought to look at their cookware - we were after a mid sized mixing bowl for the camping kit - the sort of thing which will enable us to throw together a pasta salad or similar. Option 1 was a plastic one at £1.10 which was clearly an absolute bargain, but in fact we opted for the stainless steel version at £4 as we felt it was a better choice - not least as it won’t scratch so should probably last better.

Weekly shop done in Lil’s - £23 spent, which included £2.99 on a couple of cupboard organiser baskets which seemed good value until I got home and realised they are too deep for the kitchen cupboard I had them earmarked for! Oh well, they will go elsewhere - that’s a job for tomorrow I think. Also stocked up on my oat milk as it was on a rare special offer with the app taking it down to 92p a carton, and grabbed a couple of packs of Y/S’d sandwich fillings too.

Once the shopping was away I dealt with getting the various bits I wanted to keep off the old bike then rode it the long way round to the local bike shop - the chap there kindly took the seat off it for me when I mentioned how comfy it was too - I may end up putting that on the new bike in due course. The bike will now head off for a full refurb before being donated to someone who needs a bike but can’t afford it. Allowing that it came to me for free in the first place, that seems appropriate. It is quite amusing how many funny looks you attract walking along the road with a bike helmet in one hand and a bike seat in the other though! 🤣

I added to that mile of cycling this afternoon with another 9 miles on the new bike too - and the new cycling leggings seem to be absolutely brilliant - the padding plus reduced amount of seams makes a huge difference to comfort, and I’m far less “saddle sore” than I was after a shorter ride the other week. I’ll probably buy another pair of those at some stage as by necessity they do rather need washing between wears!

Other odds and ends - a batch of base curry sauce made, that still needs dividing up ready for freezing - curry made for tea tonight using the block of paneer I bought the other week (the jury is out on that at the moment - it felt like it was lacking bit of flavour but it may be the way I cooked it. A bit of cleaning and tidying, a bit of garden pottering too.

EssexHebridean

Afternoon all - thought I would squeeze in a quick update!

Lots of useful garden stuff over the weekend, including picking another 500g of rhubarb which was gently stewed to go with greek yogurt - very tasty!

• Toms are mostly now potted on, the Minbel, San Marzano, Gardeners Delight and Maskotka are all in their final pots, and I will get the Alicante ones done tonight, Aside from the Minibel there are spares of all varieties in case of any losses as well - those have just been popped into slightly bigger pots to keep them going in case they are needed. the minibels are my personal favourite so all of the viable plants made it to final pots.
• Aubergines, peppers and chillies are all potted on - they were getting increasingly leggy in their modules so they just need to get on with it now.
• Courgettes, squashes and cucumbers also potted on - we've lost a lot of the cukes so I'll try and get some more of those sown tonight - ditto sweetcorn.
• A quick garden centre/nursery visit provided some geraniums and some lobelia, and we also nabbed some hospital ward petunias from the clearance at HB.
• A new pack of sweetcorn seeds was acquired - having only had 4 plants emerge from those I sowed before, another sowing will give us what we need, hopefully.

Spendiness has occurred for bits and bobs we wanted to add to our camping set-up - the 12v cold box was investigated on Friday & saturday with visits to H@1f0rds and G0 0utd00rs to see what they had - eventually we decided that an 0utw311 offering from the Big River looked like the best bet - so that was ordered and has arrived today. Also arriving today are a set of King Poles plus some tarp clips which will mean that the door of the tent can be used to create an awning. Those are all items which will hopefully serve us for a good few years though - and the cold box will be useful for other trips too of course.

penny_less

I did exactly the same in Lidls EH-the cupboard organisers are too wide for my cupboards too! Annoying!

lucielle

That sounds a clever solution to the tent door. Envious of your garden jobs, ours is still a work in progress.
L

EssexHebridean

Ooh I found a use for the cupboard organisers - the cupboard with my camera kit in it is now FAR more tidy I'm pleased to say! It was nice to have got around to that job as well - stuff got put in there when we moved in, and I'd just not got round to sorting it any more since. Now it's far more well laid out and things are grouped together in a more logical way as well so should be simpler to find things. 😁

EssexHebridean

MSE Stuff:

• Lots of negatives on Agile pricing today although limited opportunities to use them with it being a work day. WM is set, DW is set, and a few other things too, but I'm not expecting any big wins.
• Cashed out to a £10 voucher on Ipsos yesterday - decided on a fruit-based voucher for that one as I'm aiming to get enough on the account that it will cover my Strava renewal later in the year.
• That voucher also came with a 2 month fruit-TV free trial so I've activated that and set a reminder to cancel in mid-June to avoid being charged.
• Just over £40 cashed out of prolific this morning too - that's gone straight to my tech replacement pot.
• Remaining tomatoes potted on last night - 6 into final pots, and a handful more being moved to the next size up ready to go in as replacements if we lose any.
• More sweetcorn and cucumbers sown, although MrEH tells me this morning that he forgot to put the propagator lid on them so they probably haven't had the best start!
• Last night's tea got another few bits out of the freezer - chickpeas, and roast lamb chunks, and I've also got a rub of roasted mushrooms and the last two salmon pieces out for tonight. As I said on the reverse planning thread I don't think we're quite going to get to the stage where freezer 2 will empty into F1 - although I will have another look this evening as there might be some more bits that can be rearranged.

Spendiness:

• Well the notable one is just having spent a little over £140 for two tickets for the Manic Street Preachers & Suede in November! Excellent seats though - front row of the upper tier and definitely worth paying a little extra for!
• Also got some airshow tickets and accommodation booked for a show at the end of next month - I've opted for just two days of the three day event as that works better for me financially. The accommodation for that is at Premier Inn where as MrEH is now a shareholder in the owning company I should get a free breakfast both days of my stay.

edinburgher

Interesting point re. free PI breakfast!

EssexHebridean

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81981532#Comment_81981532

A pal has been a shareholder for some years now - you get free breakfast for 4 each time you stay in a Premier Inn and we've benefited from his freebies a few times when we've all stayed in the same place. You need a minimum number of shares to qualify, but once you have them they send you a card confirming you're a shareholder and off you go. We'd been umming and ahhing for a while, so in the end MrEH just bit the bullet and did the minimum investment on the basis that they seem to be moderately "safe" and if we can get some free breakfasts out of it, all good! The other shares that give something similar which he also bought a few of are Mitchells & Butlers - there you get a booklet of vouchers once a year with money off - although we've missed it for this year. That's a far small investment though.

Agile negative pricing has covered the cost of the use earlier in the day and earned us 5p credit which will cancel some of the rest of the day's use, and we've got washing up to date and the DW run through as well so that's a bonus. I've just checked to make sure that the things that should have gone off ahead of 4pm have done so, and all good. JEEZ! I've just seen the pricing for tomorrow (which is annoyingly of no use whatsoever to us but still) - I've never seen negatives that high before! Even just on background load through the day we should do OK out of that, particularly as it's a decent long run too - dropping negative at 0930 and running all the way through to 1600.

Forgot to mention that I got out on my bike last night - only just over 5 miles but it does mean that I've hit my monthly cycling goal for the first time in ages.