From Frugal Foundations to Fortified Family Future

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning MFW'rs

Bright start with us, but cooler, much cooler (YAY! 🥵)

Workwear wash is on.  Which reminds me, DH still hasn't done anything about claiming the uniform washing tax rebate thingummy 🙄I know it's nowhere near what it costs to launder his company logo'd wear, but it's better than funding every drop of water or scoop of powder ourselves.  I must get "reminding" him.....

LG has (nice) leftovers to take for lunch, and it's all packed up.

Tea last night was pizza and tomato sauce pasta for LG (using black olive pizza slice from the freezer), and it was SC baked potato and Detroit tomato pizza for DH and I.  Oh my goodness the baked potato worked well.  I had 4 small to medium sized potatoes.  I oiled and salted them, and put a thin wipe of oil in the base of the SC.  I didn't wrap them in foil as I think that quite wasteful.  The 'recipe' suggested 6-8hours on low power, but these tatties were cooked after 4 hours.  They weren't quite as good as tatties done in - say - a range, or pizza oven, but they were miles better than mickey microwaved tatties.  The tomato pizza was good too - it had kept it's 'pillowyness' despite being frozen, and the tomato topping was a nice change.

I'm not too sure what is for tea tonight, as a play-date possibility has been mentioned, so I'm not too sure how the early evening will pan out.

Right, best shift a tail-feather.  

Greying X

peb

Yup, much cooler here too and that is pleasing.  

Have a good day.

Cherryfudge

Greying_Pilgrim said:

Cherryfudge - I ended up listening to the R4 programme Food Programme from several weeks ago today, and it too was investigating Danish food - the move (as a nation) to Organic/Vegetarian and Vegan though.  Very interesting, and interesting that the intake on the newly devised 'Green Chef' (vegetarian and vegan) course were predominately older students and had a background in Environmental academia.  

Noted! Definitely on my to do list. I like the Food Programme.

Greying_Pilgrim

Cherryfudge, I tend to forget about it - to the extent I hadn't realised that the broadcast days have been moved!  I listened on eyepatch player, so it didn't matter, but it's been some years since I listened in real time.  I did take in the Darina Allen programme too, which was quite good, plus an episode about food banks.

I went into Greying Town to do some chores and bought some non-food cleaning stuff and a couple of bits of food and treats.  I don't know if LG is going on a playdate tonight, but I thought a pack of treaty cakes might be in order.  I admit to trying one of the MrKplings's new recipe strawberry tart things, ok, but far too sweet for me and looked nothing like the picture on the packet 😉  Don't worry, these were a different packet - I bought some 'eton mess' cake bars for LG.  I also bought some condensed mushroom soup as hB had some tins in stock.  I spent £4.85 on 'food' and £9.91 on cleaning products, soap etc.  I have updated my siggie.

Greying X

Greying_Pilgrim

ooof, a picture of me tea has been splashed all over MSE as one of the week's highlights 🤣🤣🤣  Must be more careful what I post - don't want to bore folk into submission 🤣🤣🤣

Anyhoo, I made the mistake of popping to the local retail park to look in teekaymaxx for a pan for future Detroit pizzas.  As there were hardly any (metal) cooking pans (one that might have done had no price, and the till queue was so long to get a price check 🙄), I came out and wandered over to sooperdrug to get something.  Came out of there at about 1.15pm, and noticed there were great snakes of traffic - everywhere.  The car park was in grid-lock 😬  I don't know if we'd all decided to leave at the same time, or whether there had been a breakdown or quite what was going on.  I joined the queue, and from what I saw, there was much good-natured letting a car go in front of you/not blocking junctions so that cars coming into the park were still able to access parking spaces etc - by the time we all got onto the bypass, it was as if there hadn't been a hold up at all.  I arrived home 40 minutes after I left sooperdrug 😬  I hope my combined time at the park didn't mean I'd been there longer than permitted.  I don't think I was there any longer than 90 minutes (absolute max), but it felt like I was queuing for as long as I was shopping.  

Anyway, what I wondered about the lack of metal pans was whether the air fryer phenomena has meant the death knell to conventional cake tins/baking pans?

I should have had the foresight to avoid going to the retail park - maybe not so much on a Friday lunchtime, perhaps more, not on a Friday lunchtime before a bank holiday weekend.  

I pegged out a whites wash - I had to get some of that oxygen assisted washing powder to help with blessed sunscreen stains.  It's not eradicated them completely, but I think they are a little less yellowed, so fingers crossed the clothes keep going a little while longer.  They're not the most expensive item of uniform (non-badged), but sunscreen does stain instantaneously, so it's difficult to keep them looking 'smart-ish'.  

Greying X

Cheery_Daff

Oooh, can I have your autograph please, now that you're super famous?? 😁

rtandon27

Look at you @Greying_Pilgrim - you've gone and become famous!  You'll be leaving us all behind soon 😉😋

Greying_Pilgrim

🤣 Yeah right.  As if you'd all get rid of me........ that easy 🤣

Thank you Cheery and rt for your cheerleading 😁

Veggie burgers and oven chips for tea.  Ended up being a bit of a 'date night' as LG was around t'corner with a chum 😁 Nice company, and possibly cost about......... 5% of what our outing t'other day cost... ho hum 🤣

Greying X

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning MFW'rs

Much much cooler with us today, and the early sunshine has given way to cloud.  DH and I have been up since 5.30am.  DH went out into the garden to do weeding before breakfast - we have ivy and other plants invading from next door and a council not-maintained area to the rear.  This has uncovered that our boundary fence is beyond being on its last legs, so now DH is trying to put in a temp fix of that.  Story of our lives that one job uncovers another which takes far more time and resources than the original task 🤣

LG had a super time with their chum last night and again LG's nice personality and behaviour drew very favourable comments from the adults of that household, which is always nice to hear - primarily because LG is just being themselves, they don't fake it.  And whether it's a member of your family or not, it's important to recognise politeness, or manners, or just pleasant behaviour, because otherwise the not so good stuff always gets the headlines, and nobody tries anymore.

The washing line is pretty full.  I had to re-wash some workwear as - to put it mildly - it was filthy.  I'm also up-to-date with school uniform.

I did a section of knitting on the last charity blanket - just joined the second ball of yarn which means I'm half way - YAY!  I listened to the latest edition of the Food Programme as I knit.  Unfortunately you don't get the benefit if you are a patient, but visitors and staff at St Peter's hospital in Chertsey get wonderful food offerings! I would be in clover if I ate in that canteen!   And the chap from Blackpool council catering services!  They have turned around the school catering programme - as much as anything from a socio-economic/deprivation indices perspective and he admitted that the mashed potato served in school used to be imported from abroad - mashed potato!  Imported! It used to cost £14k (presumably annually), and now they use 'real' tatties at a cost of £4k and have the surplus cash to invest in training the catering staff.  Interesting talk around school catering and seasonal offerings and teaching the children about seasonality and what veg looks like etc.   Our schools have catering contracts and they're still flannelling around trying to get more kids to eat school meals by having themed days, and just giving names to dishes that are on the rotation anyway.  So baked beans are 'Belgium Baked Beans' if it's geography themed, or they are 'Basketball baked beans' if it's sports themed, 'Brunel baked beans' if it's engineering themed..... you get the gist. 

I shouldn't have to spend any money today I don't think.  I'm planning on pizza for tea with wedges made from probably the red YS'd tatties I got last week.  Lunch will most likely be soup, as DH was complaining he was cold working outside (the breeze is quite keen).  

Right, can't think of anything else MSE relevant at the mo, so will push orf.

Greying X

Greying_Pilgrim

Soup made for lunch - all munched.  I put onion, celery, garlic, some carrots, a piece of swede, and the last of the cauliflower in the PrC with a stockcube, some oil and some water.  Boiled it up then blitzed - I was sooooo lucky, it made the most amazingly, velvety soup.  You can bet your bottom dollar if I was catering a dinner party it would have turned out lumpy and/or grainy!  I then popped in some l/o baked beans, de-nuded of their tommie sauce and a tin of cannellini beans, along with some l/o cooked pasta.  Little bit of green herbs, some mustard and a pinch of pepper and the soup was served!  It was warming and filling, and just the job!

I've made up a batch of pizza dough.  I used bread flour, plain flour and some wholemeal flour (MrL's strong stuff).  I used the water ratio that I learnt last week, when investigating Detroit pizza (70g fluid to 100g flour), and the dough is rising splendidly.  I need to defrost some tommie sauce for topping.  

Fence making/mending continues outside.  I need to do the washing up from lunch and put away some folded (finally!) washing.  

Greying X