From Frugal Foundations to Fortified Family Future

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Evening MFW'rs

redo - I missed you there, so sorry!  Oooooh, I lurves me a bit of crumbly Lancashire cheese - YUM!  And I HAVE seen that about in the smaller packs.

ed - Gosh, um........  well- again, I'm not necessarily the best person to ask, as if LG hadn't taken to eating lentil dhal, I'm not so sure we would be as far along as we are in the curry department.  And I still have to avoid chilli (of any sort fresh/powdered/flakes).  I wonder if 'sweeter' curries might be a good introduction?  (Not too sweet, for obvious reasons, but just enough for a 'I wasn't expecting that').  

I make a vegetarian version of ' - 'Chicken Chasni' which you know is a Scottish construct.  I got the recipe off a website years ago - but I don't think it exists anymore, so I linked to something similar Chicken Chasni.  All I would do differently would be to replace the chicken with chickpeas (say 1 can - 2 at the most), and cut down the chicken stock - eyeball to the consistency you want. The 'original' Chasni was said to use tomato ketchup......  I don't make it often, but chickpea chasni does feature on our rotation.

I was thinking that fruity curries might be an option.  I would recommend the Pineapple Curry from Leon: Fast Vegetarian.  I can't find it online anywhere (I got the book from the library).  Jack Monroe's Peach and Chickpea curry is a very easy eat (if you're not all chickpea'd out).

It's a shame, I had some more ideas, but I can't find links to the recipes online.  Some of the recipes were in library books, and a couple of websites I can no longer find 🙁  I mean, Madhur Jaffrey has a really nice Red Lentil and courgette curry - which tastes so much better that the ingredients suggest.  It was from her 'World Vegetarian' book, but I can't find a link online 🙁

Easy Indian Super Meals by Zainab Jagot Ahmed does food specifically from a baby/toddler/child perspective - I have a nice sweet potato, apple and dhal curry from her book (I got it from the library).  Some recipes are on her blog - you could perhaps puree a bit more for the children, whilst leaving more chunks for the adults - or is it yerself who's the vegetable phobic ed? 🤔😘🤣

Give me an idea if I've proffered anything that might be of use ed.  I have more recipes, but am struggling with getting links for you for the recipes.

Greying X

Greying_Pilgrim

So.  Today.  Um.

We had the Afghan Carrot Hotpot with boiled rice for tea.  We had clean plates all round.  I didn't put any chilli in and the split yellow peas had just about cooked to edibleness.  I am glad I have used them now though - can never get them nice and soft yet retaining their shape - green split peas the same.  ed - that recipe may be one for you - the spicing is mild (without the chilli) and you can either cut the carrot up into teeny pieces - OR use the frozen carrot from a mixed veg pack (MrL do a frozen one for 89p - it's a Jack Monroe trick to separate all the veg out into piles for different dishes.....) which would give you small dice - or some frozen carrot/veg selections use teeny tiny carrots.    I usually use red lentils for this recipe, so no need to use split peas/channa dhal.  Dessert was greek yoghurt and pineapple.

After school activity done and paid for.  

LG is busy being a child and 'finding themselves' at the moment.  We're experiencing a bit of boundary pushing 🙁  I know it's got to be done, and we'll come through the other side, but ho hum.  Is it wrong to want the nice, polite, smiley version of your kiddo back..........

I've updated the grocery spend.  

The shower screen replacement seal has been despatched, so we'll wait for RM to deliver that. Thanks to Matymoo and Fortune for the idea and prompt, respectively, to pursue that line.

The washing did far better than I had anticipated - even the whites, which had dried apart from the cuffs & collars - but considering they were put out after the main wash, still did well.  It was the breeze that made the difference, but oh it was so nice to see the sun! I got the washing in before the school run.  Glad i did as the temperature dropped away quite quickly and the washing would have got damp through the cold again.

It's been a mixed day.  There have been some achievements and they are in danger of being overlooked as our attention is diverted to deal with stroppiness 🙁 Which is a shame from the point of view that we've spent so long running and chasing our tales and dancing to the tune of others, and finally we have less stresses, and are finally beginning to build a life by ourselves, for ourselves.   But it's life, and what parenting is about.  And there is no way that I would be without LG - we waited so long for a child......  At least my emotions are relatively even keel at the moment, so I'm grateful for that.  At least DH doesn't have to deal with raging hormones X 2 😮

So all in all, I'm just grateful for being here and plodding along.  When I was getting the washing in this afternoon, a very niggly, flighty little wren was 'hopping mad' on the fence in the garden.  I don't know what had upset it, but it was giving something 'what for' 🤣 It's good to realise that there is always someone in a worse off position than yourself, and ..... it's not everyday you get to see a wren in your own garden - niggly or no.......

Greying X

beanielou

Plodding on is always good

Greying_Pilgrim

Morning MFW'rs

Nice even bobble along start for us this morning.  School-run-dun.  Load 1 of washing is out, Load 2 is just finishing off the rinse/spin.  Hopefully the breeze will pick up slightly.  We are benefitting from sunshine, which is warming, despite the swirly whirly mistiness.  If the mist burns off, we could have a very pleasant day.

We were nattering about sharing the other day on here.  At the weekend, my friend commented on LG's nice sharing, and how her little one's sharing was still a 'work in progress'.  It struck me that I hadn't thought anything of it - as long as LG was sharing with their chum, that was what was important to me - anything back is a bonus.  But LG's chum has a sibling - and I thought they were just like me when I was that age, reluctant to share.  And I seem to recall..... was it redo? mentioning the prescence of siblings made them reluctant to share, and yet EH was saying she was willing to share.  Anyway, I just thought it was interesting that what we had been talking about on here was played out in malteser sharing in the cinema....... 🤣

LG has club tonight and we need to pay membership dues, so have that sorted and ready.  When I've done with the laundry, I shall walk into Greying Town and pick up some bits and pieces - we're out of nuts and I might as well pick up the TV guide whilst out and about.  

Tea this evening will most likely be soup, as we eat at different times on a Tuesday, and it has to be something that is easy prep for DH.  

Can't think of anything else to add, and the machine has just finished, so I best push off to peg out. 

Ta for popping by.  Appreciated.

Greying X

debtfreewannabe321

If you haven't tried the shroomdogs in s'burys they're good. Too expensive though, I get them when on offer. 

Whoever was asking about the curries, I make anything and everything into a curry these days. I always make sure I have a cupboard full of cumin, garam masala, curry powders, turmeric, ginger and paprika (& probably others I am forgetting) and I throw a bit of whatever takes my fancy in and make it up as I go along and never had a bad one yet Appreciate not everyone cooks that way though and there is zero consistency so if anyone asks me to replicate it I struggle lol. My dhal ended up being a bit more tikka-ish/ masala-like last night but was good.

mumtoomany

Been shopping this morning and spotted a couple of bargains, so thought of everyone on here. Farmfoods have milk, blue and green, at £1 per 2lt bottle. Iceland food warehouse have trays of twelve cans of chopped tomatoes at £3 per tray, and if you pay with an Iceland bonus card you effectively get an extra 5% off, and if you are over sixty, an extra 10% of on Tuesdays. £2.65 for 12 cans! 

Hope this is useful to somebody, hugs, mumtoomant.xxx

EssexHebridean

edinburgher said:

Greying,

Can you suggest a frugal vegetarian dish to expand my repertoire, something in the curry area?

I've made a lentil dhal and a chana masala over the last couple of weeks. Preferably something sans cheese, or without obvious vegetables for fussy kids 

Jumping on this one ed as my absolute favourite dhal which I make quite frequently to accompany a curry comes from this set of Allegra McEvedy recipes: https://git.macropus.org/bbc-food/www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/onionbhajistarkadhal_92047.html - if making in a pressure cooker reduce the amount of water a bit otherwise it takes a lot of cooking to get it to the right consistency. I make a big batch at a time and freeze in portions. The spicing is really tasty in it though! I have the recipe in the Economy Gastronomy book which is in itself a bit of a favourite - not all the recipes are "cheap" as such but they have a real focus on using every scrap which I heartily approve of.

GP - that is interesting that you saw the very "sharing" question we'd been pondering playing out in front of you! Also lovely that the cinema visit was such a success for a relatively low cost as well - and nice that you have like minded pals who make things like that possible by being on the same page so far as things like snacks are concerned - let's  be honest, half the time that is where the cost is isn't it! 

Returning to the subjects of all things Indian-inspired, I'm another like DFW321 who likes to have plenty of spices in - I buy whole spices rather than ground, and the thing I have discovered which has made the biggest difference to flavour I reckon is the discovery that toasting everything off before grinding it just gives everything so much more oomph! Aside from recipes like the dhal I linked to above, I pretty much always toast hem now (which is why every time I clean my kitchen there are always odd random coriander, cumin and mustard seeds around the place which have "popped" and jumped out of the pan!) 

Greying_Pilgrim

mumtoomany said:

Been shopping this morning and spotted a couple of bargains, so thought of everyone on here. Farmfoods have milk, blue and green, at £1 per 2lt bottle. Iceland food warehouse have trays of twelve cans of chopped tomatoes at £3 per tray, and if you pay with an Iceland bonus card you effectively get an extra 5% off, and if you are over sixty, an extra 10% of on Tuesdays. £2.65 for 12 cans! 

Hope this is useful to somebody, hugs, mumtoomant.xxx

🤣🤣🤣 so glad I sprang to mind mumtoomany.............🤣🤣🤣

Seriously - thanks for posting that, all these hints and tips are bound to help a household or several, so it was good of you to think of us.

I try to keep a good stock of spices on hand too EH - and like dfw321 am a bit of this and a pinch of that, but I also like to have the opportunity to make 'known' spice blends (with the understanding that one person's version of a spice blend can vary from their neighbour's down the road, but still......)

So the washing is doing well - not bone dry, but had we had a slightly stronger breeze, it would have got towards being bone dry.  But I'm pleased with 'mostly' dry.  Will get it in just now as once the sun goes off the garden totally, the temperature changes.  Although I've loved noticing how much longer the sun has been in the garden today as the sun is higher in the sky......

I walked into Greying Town - free exercise - and shuffled money about.  Got a few things off my shopping list, but not everything, as the town centre HB didn't have everything I needed.  I will wait to alter my grocery budget tonight as I may go shopping whilst LG is at club.  

On the way out of town I passed the pawsh Tennis Club again and tennis balls were flying about into the street.  I picked up a couple and tossed them back - did get a 'thank you' - and as I rejoined the pavement, came to a house with a driveway that had large sandstone pillars for the gates.  I spotted a little bird flitting about and firstly thought it a wren.  But as I slowed down and quietly approached, I saw that it was in fact a Goldcrest (got the right bird this time!), and what's more, there were a pair!  And then they both (I think), began to try to catch flies - think mozzie/gnat type flies - on the wing.  It was just magical seeing them suspended mid-air just a few feet from my head.  I guess it was just for a minute or so, and then they flitted back into the hedge and back towards the front garden, but it was just such a treat.  I saw my first ever Goldcrest approximately 10 years ago.  Have seen several since, and now a PAIR!  How lucky me.  

I have so enjoyed the sunshine today.  A perfect tonic for me personally, just that little mood lifter that makes all the difference to the day.

Inspiration hasn't hit as to what to do for tea.  DH can have leftovers, and I'll have to come up with summat for me & LG.  

DH has been asked to do overtime again this weekend.  I know it's a blessing and it's extra pennies, but it does also involve a trade off of time that could either be spent with LG or doing bits for the house.  Difficult.  Not complaining, just thinking we could have done with more overtime opportunities when we were in the rental house - naturally there were none around then.   Interestingly, DH mentioned to several colleagues that he wouldn't be able to make the 'works do' and they aren't attending either, so I think DH is immediately feeling better about needing to be 'on-call' for LG.  Glad that he mentioned it actually, as had we gone, we would have had even less people to mingle with.

Right, best shuffle orf.  Greying X

mumtoomany

I didn't mean to imply that you were over sixty, @Greying_Pilgrim, although in earth years I am! If I count my age in Martian years I'm only 33. (When I get too old on Mars I'll find another planet. 

Peeled the last of the sprouts that had been languishing in the bottom of the fridge, two bags of them! Around a dozen of them had started to grow roots, so I've planted them in the tunnel in pots. The sprout seeds have not started to grow yet! Maybe seeing these newly plates sprouts will encourage them. 

Hugs to all, mumtoomany.xxx

Staffordia

My wife was automatically given the over 60 10% discount yesterday. When she realised, she was torn between saving money and indignation that the cashier assumed she was over 60.