From Frugal Foundations to Fortified Family Future

KajiKita

Get on with you! 😊
We all MSE in different ways. You squeeze, manipulate and direct your budget in ways I couldn’t even begin to attempt. You live on less than you earn - that’s THE fundamental MSE principle. 

None of this ‘feeling like a fraud’ stuff is needed at all! 😊

KK

themadvix

What KK said! You may have noticed there’s not been NS bullet points on my diary the last couple of days - because there’s not been much specific money saving going on. Doesn’t mean I suddenly become a spendthrift though - any more than you have!! 

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning MFW'rs

Slow start with us today.  DH is watching a transformers film and we're busy location spotting.  I didn't see the film segment, but Aldwych station was mentioned as a location (entrance into No. 10) and the fact you can visit on a hidden London tour - I thought of EH immediately!

Tea last night had to transform (see what I did there 😉), as a chum turned up - not unexpectedly, they had mentioned that they might, and I had forgotten - even though it was a loose arrangement.  However, it was lovely to see them, and they were able to visit long enough to see LG and DH, when they'd returned from their cafe visit 🥰 However, there wasn't enough time to then start making pizza from scratch, so I pivoted, and we had plant balls, in a tommie sauce with cranberry sauce, cream cheese and pasta.  Rudolph's festive balls if you will 😉 Clean plates all round and no-one had dessert, as DH was stuffed full of cake, LG (thankfully) followed DH's lead and declined, and I'm not bothered about dessert at the best of time.  

Hopefully, we will have our Solstice meal today.  I haven't made the red lentil and pepper bake yet though 🙄

We will be having the YS'd chocolate orange pain au chocolat's for brekkie.  It's getting late, we need to shift a tail feather.

No washing today - grey and dreich, and no change of drying.  Thankfully the forecast for the week is changing tho.  The beebeecee had done their usual trick of showing wall-to-wall rain for the next week 🙄

Right, coffee cup is empty, and these pain-au-chocolat's won't cook themselves.

Greying X

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Evening MFW'rs

Well, I'm stuffed.  We've just had our solstice meal 😁

The lentil and pepper bake was lovely - it' s a student cookbook recipe.  I made it in individual moulds today, the mix made 6 'cakes', so 3 have been put it the freezer for another day.  I did roast parsnips and carrots like JO did on the prog the other day.  The roast parsnips were nice (skin left on), and i'd do them like that again, but the carrots weren't really totally cooked through, and for me, were no better than steamed or boiled carrots tbh.  I did roast potatoes the way he suggested too - I didn't have anymore luck than I usually do ☹️  despite using a tatty masher on them half way through.  I have to say though, the 'Amanda' variety potatoes tasted nice roasted, I just couldn't get the super crispy outer.  I made mash with the Elland tatties and some swede, and steamed some sprouts.  There was gravy to accompany.  LG had one parsnip, one carrot, a lentil bake 'cake', some mash, a spoonful of sprouts and they could add their own amount of gravy.  They ate everything, declared that they like roasted parsnips far better than boiled parsnips, and they 'liked' sprouts 🤔  Anyway, I was pleased that they ate everything - DH and I were remembering the dark days at the rental house, where it would take LG 3 hours to eat a roast dinner - with a fraction of the food on the plate that they put away tonight.  But I do try to be fair, and not overload any one component.  They don't like sprouts particularly, but still ate probably the equivalent of 2 whole sprouts at least (ours were shredded), that's good enough for me. 

We then had the Chocolate Orange Christmas Pudding, with a ball of vanilla flavour ice-cream.  I would heartily recommend this pud.  If you really dislike Christmas pudding - this isn't going to be 'different' enough for you - there are too many similarities, to 'conventional' Christmas pud.  I made mine with grated butter, rather than suet, and I have stored my puddings (it made 1 large and 1 small pudding), in the freezer - as I am worried about storing puddings that I've tinkered slightly with the ingredients - although, having said that, I got the idea about the butter from at g00d f00d christmas pud recipe c.1993, which I'm sure advocated storing it in the bottom of the wardrobe, so I'm probably being over-cautious.  I used conventional plain flour, rather than the GF flours listed in the recipe.  I also used dried figs and sultanas, rather than the currants and mixed peel listed in the recipe, as we don't eat them.  The apple we used was one from our summer holiday stay, so 🥰 memories 😁



Lunch was a simple cream of tomato and basil soup.  I boiled up some red lentils, added some HM tommie sauce and blitzed, and then added the remainder of a tub of cream cheese and some dried basil.  There was just enough for a bowl each, and I served it with the last of the foccacia I made the other week, and we had a bag of crisps each too.  Breakfast was the pain au chocolat.  They were OK, but best cooked in the oven - OK, only for 4-5 minutes, but a bit of an energy waste.  However, DH and LG enjoyed them, and it was something a bit 'different'.  

DH and LG amused themselves this afternoon drawing and doing Christmas crafts.  I think LG has liked marking the solstice - as DH and I were doing the washing up, we heard the bells of the church ringing out, announcing the 9 Lessons & Carols service at 6pm.  Had the 4th Sunday in Advent not coincided with the Solstice, I might have persuaded my crew to attend, as I think the carols list would be....... perhaps a little more 'upbeat' than the 1st Sunday service.  But we'll see.  I'm not into indoctrination, just experience.  Although DH wanted us to watch a documentary this morning that was looking at the evolution of Children's TV - primarily through the lens of the beebeecee.  It's quite interesting how 'high-brow' children's programming was, not through a stuffy, over your heads type of fashion, but the folk behind the programming wanted to put out content that would appeal to children, and educate them.  And it was interesting how programmes such as 'Jackanory' attracted THE most high calibre actors of the day, Judi Dench, Alan Bennet, Bernard Cribbins, and Jeremy Irons was in the band on Play School! Phyllidia Law & Eric Thompson were really well known actors, and yet did children's programmes - and of course Eric went on to bring 'The Magic Roundabout' to life, from it's original French version.   'Think of a Number' with Jonny Ball made maths accessible, and Vision On/Take Hart, with Tony Hart made art/creativity so appealing.  And as for John Noakes climbing to the top of Nelson's Column, on Blue Peter, without so much as a safety hair net, nor rope 😬  I'm sure the answer is just "It's different now", but I'm not so sure LG is exposed to such........ 'rounded' edutainment.  Perhaps I'm viewing through rose-tinted spectacles, but we seemed to get a bit of knowledge or learning about a broad range of subjects, current affairs and sporty stuff - 'We are the Champions' and 'Crackerjack' spring to mind.  Valerie Singleton was saying she was most taken with the BP Appeals - and the reach that they had.  Too right - how engaging was it to contribute to the supply of a new lifeboat, a RDA horse (Rags!), or the 'Bring & Buy' sales - they were a massive thing in our school/little village.  

Today has been a lovely, quiet day.  No money spent, and we've all been fed with lush food.  Wonderful things, that I'm extremely grateful for.

Ta for popping in.  Greying X

Blackcats

I agree about children's tv.  I stumbled across an episode of Bagpuss recently and it was soothing to watch - calm and gentle and I learned about ships in bottles. 😁,  Mr Benn took us to a world of safe adventuring.  John Craven's News round helped us understand current affairs.  Why don't you just switch of the tv and go and do something more interesting instead and How? encouraged us to learn about the world.  There were some great dramatisations too - Black Beauty, Seven Little Australians, Carrie's War, A Little Princess and, of course, Lizzie Dripping!
I recently watched some tv with a grandchild (age 7) and it was hard to comprehend what it was about but it was fast, loud, bright and American.  

I know the programme wasn't aimed at me, I know my glasses are rose tinted but ....

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning MFW'rs

Blackcats  I'm sure I read recently that there were only something like 10 (?) episodes of Mr Benn made - and yet it seems to have captured the magic and mystery of various countries, themes and occupations so well.  Very simple animation too.  I think on yesterday's prog it was Bernard Cribbins who mentioned that the goal was to entertain, but not to give 'everything' away with the story, or programme, but to stimulate children to think and imagine.  Perhaps everything is more polished now, complete, with CGI effects etc, it all looks wonderful, but there is no spin to put your own interpretation on things, no need to use your imagination......

First day of the holidays 😁  I've already been interrogated about "what are we going to do today mum?".  Perhaps I tried a little too hard in the summer holidays to fill the days...... now I need to do it on repeat at every holiday 🤔

To be fair, LG knows that we might go shopping today (not too sure they realise I intend to walk), and they have just been very good and added items to the list - yoghurt, which we do need, and they suggested butter - which we don't really need.  We have a pat in the fridge, I suspect at the back of their mind they were thinking about making biscuits with DH, which is fine, and unbeknownst to them, they can probably use the butter we have to do that.  But I was impressed that they were "thinking" about what we needed/were about to run out of, to contribute to the list.  

DH has gone to work.  We're not too sure if he'll be finishing any earlier on Christmas Eve - the joys of a private company, especially when all the managers have gifted themselves the festive period off 🙄

Too dreich to contemplate a clothes wash today, but at least I'm more up to date than I was, and everyone has things to wear.  

At the minute I can't think of anything else on an MSE vibe, so I shall shuffle orf.  LG has now found recipes at the back of a reading book 😬 Not all authors are skilled nor talented cooks - and rarely frugal...... 😬  I'm away to check ingredient lists, and how many hours the oven is expected to be on....... 😱🤣

Greying X

Watty1

the recipes may not be frugal and the authors may not be talented cooks, but, I love that LG is interested enough to want to try them out.    

You are doing such a great parenting job

Greying_Pilgrim

True Watty - and that is the important bit - the interest shown.  They did pick out the recipe with freeze dried strawberries and Fondant Icing sugar (what even is that?) listed as ingredients tho........  I suspect it is a variation on mint thins that we made once or twice in childhood - from a Margeuritte Patten (sp?) cook book for children.  My mother loathed that book with a passion, as it had fancy ingredients that she couldn't afford, and she was risk adverse at experimentation with food (because we didn't have much money).  

We'll do summat 😁

Greying X

Cheery_Daff

How lovely Greying - I can see why it's annoying for you, but it sounds like a good opportunity to teach them about being creative with ingredients! "We don't have any freeze dried strawberries, what might we have that's a little bit *like* them?"

Greying_Pilgrim

LG and I ventured out to the local retail park.  Thank goodness we walked there, as a) it was heaving in all the car park sections and b) it was heaving in all the shops too.  We went into MrS - I was looking for smoked cheese.  But either I was looking in the wrong place, or they don't sell it anymore - I suspect the former reason.  But it was heaving, and a gaggle of people had decided to chat to their friends in the veg aisle...... so people were getting a bit niggly.  We could have had a quick squizz in the baking aisle, but thought it better to depart.  We popped into hB, but they didn't have most of the things on my list - no biggie, but a bit disappointing.  Coming home we would have to pass an M&$, so we thought we might pop in, just for a look, however, folk were queuing - just to get in the shop - so we turned on our heel and came home.  In total we saw 3 members of staff from school - so pretty much a normal Monday 🤣

Anyway, we got out and about, and got a breath of fresh air and some exercise, that is all that matters.  I'm pondering whether I'm on the cusp of going down with something.  I had blocked sinuses this morning, and they're clearly inflamed, and I have a sore throat, like I've swallow a bramble bush ☹️ So I've bought some of the 'max strength' paracetamol dupes, and will hope it comes to nothing.  

I looked through the recipes in LG's book, and I have suggested that we make the pancakes recipe.  I am not sure if it will be a 'shrove Tuesday' type pancake, or more like scotch pancakes - I hope it is the latter, they would actually be more satisfying to make.  But we've got everything in the house to make them, so that's a bonus, and LG seemed keen to give them a go.  

Right, best rustle up a sandwich or something for lunch.

Greying X