From Frugal Foundations to Fortified Family Future

Greying_Pilgrim · 5 February at 7:54AM

Good Morning MFW'rs

rt - we don't have a MrW near to us - but sometimes on holiday there are branches where we are, so it would be worth considering the deals on holiday - as, taking the M&$ example, if I was cooking anyway, it'd certainly be less costly than a pizza delivery/takeout. I think why my interest was piqued was because it wasn't the normal 'Saturday dinner/Sunday lunch' offering that M&$ are known for - I realise they keep up with the competition, but I stopped looking ages ago, as the veggie option was nearly always the equivalent of a boiled carrot pitted against sirloin steak, or an entire chicken for meat eaters ☹️never good VFM. I suppose on holiday, if you were self-catering, the difficulty would come with how well equipped the 'kitchen' was to cook eg pizza and chips at the same time.

Again, on a similar vein, MrS do "curry kits" - they are to take on the delivered to your door 'meal kits' (sorry, can't think of any of the brand names at the mo), and they have the veggies and any sauces or marinades - presumably you have to supply any meat if you want it in your curry, and they retail for £4. There was a Thai curry kit YS'd in the veg section yesterday to £2. It did wander through my mind to purchase, but for in essence a carrot, a red onion, presumably some chillies and a pouch of sauce (about the size of a mAr$ bar), I thought it was perhaps a bit expensive. There may well have been more veg in there, and or a small bag of cashews or something, but I left it on the shelf.

Wet start with us I think - that's what the computer says anyway, and I've not looked out the door yet to confirm nor debunk.

I have some bits of shopping to get from MrL today - milk, olive spread and somesuch.

Club tonight. Separate meal times and monthly fees to pay. France vs Ireland in the 6 Nations rugger too.

I did manage a good nights sleep again, but I seem to either be too hot (blessed meno), too cold (If I've stuck a foot out of bed, because I'm too hot 🙄) or dreaming. It'd be nice to get back to a night of temperature regulated, deep sleep.

Nothing more MSE is occurring to me at the mo. I need to keep the grocery spends low, otherwise February will end up just running away with me. Although we do still have full cupboards and freezers.

Greying X

Greying_Pilgrim · 5 February at 12:07PM

Hello!

Back from MrL. Remind me, what did I say about keeping grocery spend in check…….. 🤔 One thing that scuppered my budget was a green box….. they actually had some worthwhile ones today!

I had wraps on my list, and usually go for the wholemeal ones, but the half&half and seeded ones were on special offer at 69p, rather than 99p, so I got a couple of packs of those. I got lucky with mushrooms - there were 2 family punnets 50% YS'd, I picked the punnet with more big mushrooms in, as they will have to be processed and put in the freezer for other meals - note to self, slice or mince, don't quarter! I found some qu0rn cocktail sausages 50% YS'd, and some cod fish cakes (the chill cabinet sort, 2 quite deep fishcakes in a punnet) 50% YS'd to 84p. I got 2 packs of those, and brought forward all the packs that were pushed to the back - there were cod and smoked haddock fish cakes YS'd.

I don't think there was any other impulse purchases, other than the box, YS'd things and the special offer items. I managed to spend £26.57 😬But I do feel I have got quite alot of options for that money.

I'm thinking for tea I will do ramja masala, lentil dhal and rice. LG will like that - and I think I will do baked potatoes (how many times have I been saying this exactly 🤔), for DH and I.

Off to do some kitchen work, and update my siggie figgies.

Greying X

Greying_Pilgrim · 5 February at 8:47PM

Tea has been munched. I had to bin the little head of broccoli that was in the green box unfortunately. It did look slightly yellowed, but when I took the cellophone off, it was actually yellower than it appeared, and it stunk to high heaven 🤢 So I used the little cauli that was in the box instead. That was OK (one grot bit on the curds), I should imagine the leaves had gone over on it, as there was hardly a leaf left, just the curds. LG groaned at having cauli on their plate, but it was literally a handful, and they put dhal over it and ate it. I did also pop a bit of the Ramja Masala on their plate too - and that got eaten with no complaints, so minor win there 😁 I had put a small piece of red chilli in, chopped very finely and deveined and de-seeded, so no major heat. The tatties cooked to loveliness in the SC - it's now my second favourite way of baking tatties. Whilst you can't beat oven done (and rayburn cooked takes it to another level), SC cooked beats the pants off microwaved if you've the time to let them puttputt away. There was a big pot of Ramja Masala to put in the freezer, and a small pot and there was 2 small pots of lentil dhal to put in the freezer for another day too. Unfortunately I had to cook an extra potato…… so looks like that's my lunch sorted for tomorrow YAY!

There was a lime in the bottom of the box that I hadn't seen. It's no good for zest (gone yellow), but should juice OK. I used one of the salad tomatoes for a sanger at lunch. i had to cut about a 1/4 of it off, as it had started to go mouldy, but the rest of the tommie was ok - as were the rest of the net. I have also had to bin one of the little…. 'Valentina' (?) cherry tomatoes, as that had gone squishy. But with the exception of the broccoli, I think it was a very useful box - you don't expect things to be pristine - it's a waste box - if I just have to trim a bit here, and a bit there, but otherwise get useful meal components, then I'll continue to buy the boxes.

Ta for popping by. Greying X

Greying_Pilgrim · 6 February at 7:59AM

Good Morning MFW'rs

Another damp start with us ☹️ I'm going to have to gird my loins and do a wash and dehu dry today I think, as the washing is stacking up ☹️

I've had a brain wave about tea. I was going to do sausage pizza again - as we ❤️ sausage pizza, but I was musing about things last night as I was trying to nod off to sleep, and it occurred to me that in honour of the Winter Olympics official opening, I could do an Italian inspired dish. So I'm going to do a sausage 'casserole' dish, which I may cook in the PC, but then let the flavours meld all day - or I may cook it in the SC, not decided yet. And I have some….parpadelle? that I got yonks ago from MrS, so I'll cook some of that up to go with. The sausage casserole will have an Italian vibe; tomatoes, peppers, black olives the green box aubergine, the qu0rn sausages diced up and herbs. It might not scratch the pizza itch, but hopefully it will be a tasty option, which uses up fresh veg, and store cupboard items. I probably won't need all the pasta, but at least I'll be making a dent in it.

It should be a nsd today. Can't think of anything that I need, and I sure as heck don't need to spend, so…..

Can't think of anything else MSE. Ta for popping in.

Greying X

Greying_Pilgrim · 6 February at 1:00PM

Right, the dehu is on it's second 2hr stint. I've poured away alot of water already. I prioritised school and work tops, as they have fewest dupes and will be needed soonest at the start of next week. I have some leeway with extras, but not lots of spares.

I have made a very rich (in terms of flavour and viscosity), base vegetable tomato sauce, and this has made enough for the pasta dish, enough for 2 and a half takeaway tubs for the freezer plus 2 dollops of pizza topping.

I then moved on to making the sauce for tea tonight. Words escaped me earlier, and I actually meant a sausage 'ragu' style sauce - rather than casserole. Anyway, I used onions, garlic and celery as the base, added in a chopped red pepper, the aubergine diced up, the sausages sliced up, a jar of black olives chopped up and some of the vegetable 'base' sauce and a tin of chopped tommies. In addition, i used up some of the 'Valentina' cherry….. plum?….. tomatoes I got yesterday. Several had little blemishes on them, and were fine, but I chose to pop them in the ragu, and leave the unblemished ones for eating 'like grapes'. I also put one of the salad tomatoes, that was whole, but slightly squishy to the touch, into the base sauce - which cooked down and was incorporated when I blitzed the sauce.

So this base sauce, and the ragu sauce for tea is using up low cost food waste ingredients, store cupboard ingredients and YS'd things. I have to say - the base sauce is very…. 'hearty', considering it is just veg - and the ragu is now very flavourful too. I'm glad the notion came to me before I dropped off to sleep last night AND that I remembered what I was planning to do, by this morning! *EDIT* - I forgot to add - in terms of reasonably priced ingredients, I discovered a 'left over' bag of Christmas shallots in the veg shelf yesterday. Thankfully, I had opened the bag, so the shallots hadn't gone mouldy, and they all were still firm and smelt OK. So the onion supply has been boosted by 8 or so shallots - which were 5p a bag in December, and they in turn have been used in the vegetable base sauce, and ragu today - win!

I have been listening to various episodes of R4 food prog as I cooked. You hear some wonderful ideas, projects and systems that are operating in Wales, in Suffolk, in school breakfast clubs - but why is it that the voices are still saying what they've been saying for years, they need co-operation at macro policy level.

I know that it's not the season for tomatoes in the UK, and of the tomatoes I got in the box yesterday, the large salad tomatoes were probably…… from Holland? Certainly the 'Marvellous' (?) cherry toms were Italian, and I didn't look to see where the 'Valentina' were from - my guess is from Spain or Italy. Both the cherry toms were in MrL's 'Deluxe' range. Now they'll be expensive because they are imported - and even though they taste good, naturally, pitted against a home grown tommie, enjoyed at the height of a UK summer, they are not going to hold a candle. But they are a welcome burst of 'freshness' in a winter palate of greens, swedes and tatties. I suppose had I bought these cherry tomatoes for 'proper' price, I would at least have found that their taste was worth the extra cost, but I'm not sure I could sustain the increased grocery bills. Nutritionally dense food isn't cheap.

Greying X