From Frugal Foundations to Fortified Family Future

themadvix

I went for a microwave-grill ‘combi’ in the end GP - I didn’t notice it get particularly hot when I did my jacket potato on combi the other night. Suspect the same is not the case for a proper oven combi though. It was a very good jacket, I have to say. It’s not given me any huge new capabilities (apart from a crispy jacket in 16 minutes), but I think I’ll try to use it more with the grill function (I have a pud recipe that is cooked in microwave and finished under grill that will definitely be less faff). It was £20 more than the standard (which was the exact same one as our old one), so a reasonable price for an upgrade. (And still the compact size we need to fit in our kitchen 😊)

 Any ideas if you have a library of things near you? Ours has dehydrators - could be worth investigating?

 List here: https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/home-garden/library-things-directory

badmemory

My last microwave was a combi & I only ever used the combi part once.  It was just as easy & cheaper to use my gas oven although obviously not as quick.  I seem to be able to run my gas oven for over 3 hours for the price of running the microwave for 10 minutes.  Although I must say rice cooked in the microwave is worth the extra.  The best bit being not having to stand there watching it.

Greying_Pilgrim

Hi all, thanks for your comments.  Always useful.

I warmed up the l/o mousakka for breakfast.... in the microwave..... it warmed it up fine........ 😳🤔😕

I have to report - and I don't know whether starting off the onions in the oven has made a difference, but 'finishing them off' in the slow-cooker, set on 'warm' for a couple of hours has yielded me dried onions 😁  I'm well impressed.  They are certainly dry enough to 'try out' a recipe or two, so I've achieved my objective.  Just need to make sure that I don't 'waste' them on faux mousakka recipes now! 🤣

Lawks, I've just been watching Julie Wilson Nimmo (Miss Hoolie) and her hubbie doing a wild swimming show on beebeecee Scotland.  She was on R2 yesterday morning and mentioned it.  6 episodes.  Even if you're not into swimming/wild swimming, the travelling is interesting.  The beach on Iona...... stunning.

Rightly or wrongly (we know how this is going to turn out), I have put a wash on.  We've sunshine here (now), according to the weather forecast we were due rain, heavy 😕  I've school clothes to get ready 😕Fingers crossed my punt pays off.  There is enough breeze, if it stays dry......

Greying X

Greying_Pilgrim

Well, luck was on my side.  Despite only getting about 2.5 hrs on the line, the washing has dried fairly well,  Collars and cuffs were the usual 'dampest' spots, but I am seriously glad I threw caution to the wind, as they are drier than having come out of the machine straight onto the airer.  Naturally, had I thrown caution earlier, they would have been pretty much dry.......  

DH came back from work and mowed the lawns - again, just in time.  

Lunch was a triumph, it was only lentil soup; oil, onion, carrot, potato, garlic, red lentils, basic curry powder, turmeric, stock powder and water, cooked for 10 minutes in the PC.  Served with a dollop of greek yoghurt and a dash of chipotle for the adults.  I also got some YS'd wholewheat tortillas out of the freezer to serve with.  LG declared it delish, and both LG and DH had seconds to finish off the pot.  I am just soooooo pleased that something so 'pedestrian' floats LG's culinary tastebuds and they love this soup.  

Greying X

Greying_Pilgrim

Must have been tired.  Started reading my book and woke up at 6.15pm..... 😬  Luckily the troops were ok with 'oven chips and YS'd pizza' for tea.  Out of the battle of l/o apple pudding w. yoghurt vs. Strawberry c0rnett0 for pud, the ice-cream won...... (natch 🤣).  Again, thanks to redo for the heads up about the brand often being on special, because for the price, they were just the job.  I hadn't realised that it even states on the box 'deliciously crunchy', so they must be aware that their competitors are trying to palm off a poor substitute.  

Am I pleased that we had 'convenience' for tea.  Nope.  But overall today we've not ate too bad, and have crow-barred in most of the food groups in some shape or form.

We have had some rain, but not as much as forecast (thankfully) and have been able to function for the majority of the day.  Isn't it depressing tho, that as the R2 7pm news segues back into the L1za taRbuck show, you look outside and it's getting dark, and the local rooks are gathering and grouping (noisily) to bed down for the night..... **sigh** That's the approaching Equinox for ya, I guess.

We've not done owt spiffy today, but LG has completed some homework, I have completed some laundry, and DH has got to spend a goodly amount of time with LG.  2 peas in a pod they are 🥰

Ta for popping by and cheering me on, offering help and advice, and being all round good eggs.  It is appreciated, always.

Greying X

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning MFW'rs

Damp and very overcast with us.  It is raining, and we've had storms - although they weren't loud enough to keep me awake (thankfully).  I fell asleep just before 10pm and awoke just after 6am.  Slept the whole night through.  Wondered if it was just a couple of hours as the street lights were on, but no, it was 8 hours later.  DH had slept down stairs as he felt so bad about keeping me awake on Friday night...... Not too sure if I am just catching up, or whether the remnants of this cold virus are at the roots of all this tiredness.  Waking up naturally makes such a difference though. 

It will definitely be soup for lunch - as a cost saving exercise, but also because it is sooooo dreich, we'll all need a culinary hug!

I will try and make something interesting for tea.  Lentil bolognese is slated for tea tomorrow as we have activity - although I hope the weather forecast is wrong, as travelling along pot-holed country roads in the rain isn't an attractive proposition.

A magpie was causing a kerfuffle outside the window before.  And I looked out, and a blackbird was on the lawn.  I figured the magpie was just upset that the blackbird was getting all the worms or something - anyway the blackbird bobbed down, and started looking under the car - it was really funny, you know how a human hunches to look under something, it was precisely like that!  Anyhoo, the blackbird took flight, and then a second or two later, a cat came wandering around the front of the car...... It's probably a pedigree moggy, but honestly it could have been the inspiration for 'Tom' of 'Tom & Jerry' fame - such a comic looking cat.  

Ah well, enough of what passes for (free) entertainment in Greying Town.......  I'll push orf.

Greying X

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Afternoon MFW'rs

I did a medium length post yesterday, but managed to lose it, just as i was about to post 🤔 So I went off in a huff instead.......🤣

We received news of an 'unexplained' death in the wider family circle over the weekend.  Obviously it's sad and they were 'too young', but being 'one-step' removed does permit a little clarity, amongst the upset, and coupled with the conversations on here, and elsewhere about the SDC process, I have taken sometime to evaluate how our homestead would fair if the worst was to happen.  I'm afraid that in the case of the family member who has just passed, the death cleaning theory hadn't reached their radar, and in addition to many other possible loose ends, in time there will be the contents of several homes and several lives to de-clutter.  Stuff that hasn't seen the light of day, nor a human touch for years, has been living rent free in square acreage of bricks and mortar...... And of course, it will fall to others to clear out (the deceased lived alone) - and what will they do, they won't hold a faded wedding favour from 1949 in any great light.  Similarly a 3rd place rosette for some random knitted article, long since felted in the wash will have no meaning.  So either a ruddy big skip will be ordered, or a ruddy big bonfire will be built (probably both), and that will be the end of the 'stuff'.  

Thankfully, the 'hang onto it just in case' gene hasn't fully developed in me.  I used to be a bit that way inclined - I've managed to get better as I get older (the family side that has the gene seems to get more acquisitional as they age). Regretfully I will never be minimalist Maureen, but I am tending towards having 'practical, useful and used' things to hand, with not too many decorative or 'I must keep that because it used to belong to Great Aunt Millicent' things.   I know that there is stuff here though that needs getting rid.  There are clothes (not mine) that were moved to the rental house (we were there 4 years), and were moved in the same bin bag to here (coming up to a year in situ), and they have not seen the light of day, never mind being worn.  So, there is work to be done, especially as this house is probably about the least space indoor/outdoor we've ever had, so everything in it's place, and a place for everything has added meaning in this house.  

To that end, I moved a (small) piece of furniture out of the house and over to a charity furniture store this morning.  We have no real need of it, and no room to store it. I checked if they could sell it, and they could, so I got on and got rid.  Someone will find it very useful, and it was in good condition - despite it being something like 20 years old.  

It's not quite 1 thing in, one out, because today I have purchased a new pair of trainers for me (the kind of hiking/leisure/trainer cross-over shoes), for everyday - sometimes I look a bit Miss Trunchball in a my walking boot/shoes - and I got a second vacuum flask, as the first one (which replaced the one that failed after something like 20 years of use) has proved it keeps drinks hot enough and is small enough/lightweight enough to carry in a back pack.  I'm happy to pay for 'quality' (to a point) for things like picnic flasks and lunchboxes/back packs, walking shoes/coats etc.  But I expect them to last and get great use.  My focus is shifting to 'less' but (hopefully) better quality.  DH is mastering the 'pegs, hooks, shelves and racks' to store all this stuff in something like an order, and in some fashion that we can 'see' instantly what we have/have not when we come to need it - eg decorating tools, or camping gear.

I did spend on food today - I was over the right side of town to go to FF, so I went in for a look.  It wasn't a huge saving on what i pay normally for chopped tommies, but they had nap0l1na brand 3x400g tins of chopped tommies for 99p.  At 33p a tin, it's only actually a 6p saving, but 6p is 6p, and as the bb date was January, I did take the 5 packs that were on the shelf today. 

I popped into dunh3lm.  Gosh, that place has changed.......................  and came out empty handed.  Luckily the rang3 was on the way home, so I popped in there, and got the household item (not v glamourous - a loo brush) and birthday card that completed today's shopping list.  

Activity went well last night and LG excelled themselves.  Super-pleased that a trip out along country roads in the forecasted bad weather, proved worth it.  I did spring for celebratory pop and sweeties though, so must amend my grocery figure.  

Meno-insomnia hit bad last night and I was awake from 1.30am(ish) until gone 4am.  Don't know why I couldn't drift off, but I'm feeling cream crackered today.  

Right, if you're still awake at this point - well done!  I shall push orf.  Need to shove a few things away and then it'll be time for the school run.  

Ta for being here.  

Greying X

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning MFW'rs

I am procrastinating girding my loins before doing housework.  I'm afraid I loathe domesticity, other than cooking.

Has anyone else got a member of their family, who does nowt but look out for their own self-interest, and then when there is the sniff of a wedding/christening/funeral, waltzes in with the big 'I am', either expressing (faux) joy, interest, sadness whilst simultaneously looking for any and every opportunity to put themselves at the centre of things - 🙄 They're never there in the wee small hours of teething, there to do hospital journeys ("but, but I work"), there to butter a barm bap, re-tame a garden or empty a commode 🙄

Anyhoo.......

"pulls up big teflon-coated knickers against the utter complexity of the human condition......"

Anyhoo........

Tea last night was a freezer curry plate, followed by yoghurt.  We ate the last of the courgette dalcha, which is a shame.  Tea tonight needs to use up some feta, so I will have a think on.  I had intended to do a Greek Orzo dish, but I think that I am missing too many of the key ingredients, as MrS was out of stock of some things last week.  

LG came home from school saying that it had been 'suggested' that they all bring in some equipment to take part in a class activity.  I'm trying (unsuccessfully) to hold my fire at the moment to see if this request has actually been made or whether LG has got confused, and it's actually only a certain set of children, taking part in an afterschool activity that require this additional equipment.  I wouldn't be surprised, as there has been a marked shift of late of the trust/academy which runs the school, seeing pupils as cost centres and consumers and concentrating too much on promotion/advertising and puff pieces and moving away from the core raison d'etre of primary schooling......  Grrrr.

I need to re-direct my ire into a dust cloth!

Greying X

rtandon27

Greying_Pilgrim said:

...Has anyone else got a member of their family, who does nowt but look out for their own self-interest, and then when there is the sniff of a wedding/christening/funeral, waltzes in with the big 'I am', either expressing (faux) joy, interest, sadness whilst simultaneously looking for any and every opportunity to put themselves at the centre of things - 🙄 They're never there in the wee small hours of teething, there to do hospital journeys ("but, but I work"), there to butter a barm bap, re-tame a garden or empty a commode 🙄...

ummm - YEAH...

...doesn't this person exist in every family configuration???

...they also exist in the workplace 'family' btw - I'm currently rewriting an e-mail reply to one of those so I don't end up sounding like the b!tch when I politely tell them where to get off!

rtandon27

Greying_Pilgrim said:

,,,,I need to re-direct my ire into a dust cloth!...

GP - if only you were closer, I'd pop round with biscuits and we could pull apart the world over a coffee! 😉