From Frugal Foundations to Fortified Family Future

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Evening MFW'rs

Lawks, Monday afternoons are a rush.  And having to drive on country back roads is nail-biting at the best of times.  We went along one bit of road that had been re-surfaced, I am sure it was this year it was closed, and we had to use a longer route to activity.  Anyhoo, the road had been recategorised (speed wise), but takes alot of traffic (much of it heavy), I see tonight that a very large pothole has formed in exactly the same spot as was before the work was undertaken..... 🙄

Anyhoo, activity went well, and we got there and back safe, so counting blessings and all.  

Tea was plant based meatballs, HM tommie sauce and pasta.  clean plates all round.  Pud was yoghurt and banana.

CHB has been received and divvied up between 'needed for club subs and activity subs and clothing'.  A bit has been left in the bank to cover the second instalment for a night away camp with club towards the end of the year. If it runs (low uptake at present), we're keen for LG to participate, as it builds confidence and the (subsequent) Yr6 school residentials aren't then such a wrench as being 'first time away from home alone'.

We had notification of a school outing today that won't require parent-funding 😲It is actually quite a nice place to visit.  Last time I went there, LG was a wee little thing and I had a hook up with two MSE'rs 😁Happy, happy memories 😁

I can't remember if it was DH who suggested it - think it was - to make halloween biscuits during half-term with LG.  Nice idea, but I pointed out that as we've no cookie cutters on the correct theme (and I have no wish to source any - they are too niche), it would be a very expensive activity.  However, I'm not one to blatantly crush ideas, so I've been looking what is available in the cake/biscuit mixes.  Now, ordinarily, I prefer to bake cakes etc from scratch, but if you think about it, for a specific event - such as halloween - a packet that yields, say 6 cupcakes, or 12 small pieces of brownie BOO! or 8 ghostly garibaldi's or whatever, is probably all that is required.  These packets often have icing or decorations included, so it might scratch the 'we want to make something together' itch without breaking the bank or creating unnecessary extra tools/kit to clutter up the kitchen drawers.  I'll go on a hunt to see what I can find tomorrow.  Although for the record, I loathe halloween and all it has become - wasn't a fan when it was all about turnips and apple bobbing, but now it's all about the 'candy' and really, really scary horror movies on TV 😱  

I washed and got pretty much dry, LG's school coat today, so i'm pleased about that.  There is lots more washing been created what with one thing and another, but I'm ahead with the school coat! 

Right, pretty pleased with how the day has turned out.  I'm grateful for the car, a crockpot tea and a clean coat!

Ta for popping in - always appreciated.  Greying x

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning MFW'rs

Grey and very dreich with us.  Currently pouring with rain and there is zero breeze.  Today is not a wash day.  Fingers crossed the forecast for the next couple of days is right and I can crack on tomorrow.

I want to do the MrS shop today, and have a look around for cake/biscuit mixes.

Tea is going to be curry of some description.  I have a turnip that needs starting, so possibly one of the new turnip recipes that I discovered earlier in the year.  Oh, btw in checking for the runner bean recipes last night, I wondered whether there was one on a website I had linked to (there wasn't), but i did spot a savoury rhubarb and  lentil curry recipe on the site - would that be of interest to any of the gardeners? I think it only used 200g of rhubarb, but I know that sometimes you need "things other than crumble" to do with it.

I need to tidy up paperwork/admin.  October is always a flurry of renewals and both DH and I are guilty of 'doing and then dumping', so need to get onto that.  

Snap is prepped.  Uniform out.  Spellings 'homeworked'.

Think that is about it for the mo.

Greying X

themadvix

Oooh, absolutely yes please to the rhubarb and lentil curry! I have a salmon and rhubarb dish, but savoury rhubarb dishes are always very welcome. And what's not to love about lentil curry (she says, having had exactly that last night).

Greying_Pilgrim

Ay up tmv - here ya go:  Savoury Rhubarb and Cinnamon Red Lentil Curry.  I can't vouch for the recipe as I haven't made it.  But I have used several of his other recipes and they have worked.  Plus I think he does know his culinary arts/flavour combinations, so it would be worth a shot. 

Greying X

themadvix

Thanks GP - will definitely give that a go in the spring! 

Greying_Pilgrim

Back from shopping.  £29.15 spent on food or food-like substances.  Interestingly today I felt like I got my 'money's worth' in MrS and that much £ was spent for not-a-lot from hB.  But that is how it goes I guess.  

I'm going to rethink the half-term baking activity, as MrS didn't have what I was looking for in stock - in fact, I don't think they stocked it full-stop as there was no SEL. What they did have would have been easy to use - and we had equipment already here, but (as all the adults realise), the "image" of the supposed finished product on the front of the box bore NO resemblance to what you could have conjured up - even following the instructions to the letter! I realise there would have been a lesson for LG on the power of images in marketing, but I wasn't going to pay £2.25 for them to get exposed to that lesson.   So MrS didn't get their dibs on our hard-earned.  I have a plan B....

Dearest redo - I found the condensed soups in hB - they are b@tchel0rs brand and have mushroom, tomato and chicken.  Funnily enough, I had a few moments in MrS where the soup aisle was relatively quiet, so I had a good auld nose today.  Ain't tinned soup expensive?  Anyhoo, as you all probably know, they stock the 'C' condensed soups (same 3 flavours), and as it happened there were several of the mushroom pushed to one side YS'd.  Now normal price they are £1.50 a can, but because these were battered and bashed, they were reduced to..... £1 🙄  I am so glad of redo's tip off, as I bought non-bashed cans for 79p.......  But oh how I wish we could get the celery version in the UK - think of the cooking base possibilities!  As it is, I settled for 2 x mushroom and 1 x tomato.

I also bought (YS'd) some tatties from MrS. They were a 1.5kg (paper) bag of tatties that had been reduced from £1.99 to 95p.  The whole point of the pack was that they were sustainable, and low carbon etc etc.  They were too expensive (for me) at proper price, and given the number of YS'd bags and bags to be reduced, I think they were possibly too expensive for alot of shoppers in-store.  But well done producers/retailers for having a go - there is too much plastic in food packaging.  The tatties themselves were a variety called Manhattan and they were grown in Pembrokeshire by Ian Elliot.  The name of the product is "Root Zero" - just in case it interests anyone.

Oh, and apropos of nowt, just in case anyone is building themselves a little herb/spice pantry or is building it for a student or a new-home owner or something, have a look at MrS's valoo range - i think its stamf0rd st (orange and white packaging).  They have got quite a range now - not everything of course, and not anything very "exotic", but they are price matched to MrAl - although the containers are plastic (are MrAl glass?) so that is a consideration.  

I ended up doing a wash, as contrary to the forecast, we now have lovely sun and no rain, so I've done the activity wear and LG's auld coat.  Fingers crossed everything dries well.  

Right, best go and do a bit more.

Greying X

Pollie

Re Halloween biscuits: Could you make orange coloured biscuits, use an ordinary round cutter and make knife marks in dough to resemble a pumpkin before baking.

Greying_Pilgrim

Pollie - that was the thrust of what the biscuit mix was in MrS - so for sure it is an option.  I shall look to see if I can get hold of some of those little icing tubes (i was looking at some today in hB)  and come up with either a biscuit or cupcake option.  Thanks for the suggestion.

Greying X

EssexHebridean

You can make "ghosts" using strawberries dipped in white chocolate too - you make a little puddle of the white chocolate on a sheet of greaseproof, then dip your strawberry holding it by the leaves and leaving a little "hat" undipped around them and pop it onto the "puddle" to give the impression of the ghost shape. You can then add eyes with a black icing tube of a cocktail stick with a little bit of black icing made up. 

I even found a link which probably explains it waaaay better than I did https://madeitateitlovedit.com/white-chocolate-strawberry-ghosts/

Greying_Pilgrim

Thanks sweetie - your explanation was spot on, and I understood perfectly.  Your suggestion has the added bonus that both LG and DH lurve white chocolate - whereas I'm extremely 'meh' about it, so all the more for the makers! 😁

Greying X