From Frugal Foundations to Fortified Family Future

greenbee

I used to have 'ghost pigeons' on the windows in my old house, as so many of them flew into them. I don't seem to have the same problem here. If you search, there's a lot of information on how to stop birds flying into windows using film/markers to make the windows easier to see.

in_need_of_direction

isn’t it great that you replaced the windows when you did? The old ones may not have withstood the impact of the bird.

Greying_Pilgrim

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81983449#Comment_81983449

Ha ha - yes indeed, rather than smashing the pane, the sparrow would have just pushed the (very thin) DG unit in at the front, as the frame was so rotten!

Right, did y'all enjoy coming to MrL with me? You were all there with me in spirit 😁 The poor till assistant ended up laughing at me (kindly) as they have spent years weeks years asking me if I have l1dl+, and today I was there brandishing my phone at them, saying "I've got the app" 🤣 I did exactly as you'd all instructed me to do and curated my shopping in batches, so that every 'offer' that I needed to 'ping' did so in its own right. Even the till assistant said, "you've maxed out there" 😁I think they were being kind, as I made a modest selection in the 'sweet treat' section, as the doughnuts etc are not for me, and whatever I chose, had to be shareable between DH & LG, so I went for a cookie. My bakery item (for signing up), was a loaf of rye and wholemeal bread, and I decided to go with asparagus for my veg (sign up) offer. I think I'm still shy of my £50 spend fruit/veg offering. I did buy a bag of baby tatties for 50% off too - as there were several varieties, but one was maris peer, so I got those.

My scratchcard this week was for something that I wouldn't buy, even with a %age off. And I was disappointed that as Greek week has finished, the tahini has gone back up to £2.49 - I'm not disappointed so much that the offer has gone off, but MrL were touting it like £2.49 was a 'deal'. Not when it was £1.99 a fortnight ago it isn't…..

There were green boxes today, but they were literally full (and I mean full) of bananas and/or tatties. I needed bananas, but not a box full, and I have plenty of tatties of all shapes and sizes, so I kept my £2 in my pocket, and bought a hand of bananas in MrS instead.

I bought very little in MrS today - still managed to spend nearly £14 mind (what is it about me and £14???), but only got what I needed, and it happened to have points attached - nothing was priced 'for' me ☹️

I finished up in hB - I went in for apples, and found some YS'd, so I got 2 packs, and also got some yoghurt, as it was long-dated and it isn't always in stock.

Shopping total today was £44.38 of my grocery budget, and £1.99 non-food. The MrL app is easy enough to use. Time will tell if my shopping patterns will get reasonable offers - at the mo, I have no use of minced….turkey? but it's early days.

I'm away to update my siggie figgie and the May GC thread.

Greying X

Greying_Pilgrim

MrL app users, how long does it take your account to update your spends? The app is saying that I'm still at what I'm supposed to have spent earlier this week - which was noted as just over £10, although i actually spent half that 🤔Whilst I'm not yet at £50 for my free veg (and may well miss out with the change around to coupon plus), I am closer to £50 spent than I was at 9am this morning. Today's spends/receipts are showing on my account, and I've logged out/back in again, but its still not showing on the app.

Edit - perhaps they're not bothering as we're so close to Tuesday's change over. I see they're going to earning 'points' on your shop, which you can then redeem for products/money off your shop. May work for me, it's the 'targeting' that matters really. At the mo, I'm not fussed about bagging a free doughnut, but could make a free item of veg work, not too fussed about chocolate (although free is always better), but would welcome a %age off the price of my shop, or a £1,£2,£5 voucher etc.

I have now updated the bit that says I'm not interested in getting offers for meat and poultry (leaves more for you guys 😉)

Greying X

BookWorm

Hi GP. Generally I find the app updates pretty much instantly. However, as it happens I have been to Mr L today myself and I see that my total isn't updating yet either (though receipts, etc are showing). I suspect they are (as you noted) are waiting til end of BH to update. Or perhaps they are tinkering with the app 'behind the scenes'. Either way, it's not you 😊

I also wanted to stop in to say thank you. I've just returned from a short SC trip away and your posts were super helpful to me. I was ready for things to take that had not occurred to me before (washing up equipment for example) and be prepared for having small containers of things from home (like coffee, sugar, salt n pepper, etc) rather than needing to buy new or carry larger versions, etc. I appreciate the knowledge sharing ❤️

Greying_Pilgrim

Thanks BookWorm - I am so glad it's not something that "I've done wrong" (it usually is). I don't know whether I'll be back in MrL over the weekend (have spotted some things that are on offer and I could "use" - but whether, given my budget it would be worth buying them………), so I don't know if I'd reach the £50 mark anyway.

I'm so glad that you were able to take things from home to keep you SC costs down. I have to say, the washing up liquid/tea towels - and in our case rubber gloves (DH is a sensitive soul 🤣), have come in useful over the years, but it's only on our last couple of holidays - oh, and one that was way before LG was even a twinkle - that we've had issues with previous guests not washing up, and clearly the caravan/accommodation cleaners not bothering to check. Takes the joy out of a holiday if you've got to wash up a mug/glass before you can have a cup of tea or a cold drink after a long car drive.

Greying X

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning MFW'rs

Workwear wash is on. Not too sure how it will dry today - more because we've not too much of a breeze, rather than sunshine/lack of it.

I've totted up my receipts and given I would have to spend another £18 to reach the £50 to claim my 'free veg' with the MrL app, (even assuming MrL are totting up my receipts in the same way and honour my account), I've decided that it's not worth it. You know I would only buy things that we need/would use, but I think given we're at the start of the month, and I'm trying to juggle a small budget, I am better off leaving the budget available for spending next week. After all, even though I use MrL, I don't shop there exclusively.

Daft question of the day. I bought some pesto recently, and even though I used some, and topped up the oil, it went mouldy ☹️ I never seem to be able to keep it for any length of time (not months/years, but even a week or two would help). Is the only way to freeze it? And if so, do you have a (for example), ice cube tray - and do you use a specific one, that is only for pesto. My reasoning is that pesto is oily and stains things, so you couldn't use the tray then for ice cubes. Or am I doing something wrong, storing it in the jar. Would it be possible to freeze it in the jar (with some used, to allow for any expansion), and due to it's oilyness, would you be able to use spoonfuls straight from the jar? 🤔 I am just thinking out loud. I know pesto (store brand), isn't necessarily the most expensive product, but I realise that I'm wasting money/food when i buy it at the moment.

Tea last night worked remarkably well, even thought it was a 'use up'. I made lentil bolognese with pasta. The bolognese used pre-cooked lentils from a batch I'd cooked last month, and some of the red pepper sauce I had made with tinned tomatoes and a jar of the peppers I had bought in FF00ds. I cooked up a red onion, some celery and garlic and then added in the bag of cherry plum tomatoes (chopped up), that came in this week's green box. I then added in the lentils and the red pepper sauce, and cooked it all together. DH had the rest of the remaining spirali pasta, LG had spaghetti. The bolognese was surprisingly tasty, and LG is getting very competent with their spaghetti 'twirling' technique. Even DH commented on how tasty it was - and whilst he eats pretty much anything that is put in front of him, it must have tasted sufficiently 'different' for him to comment. Clean plates all round.

I'm minded to do pizza and wedges for tea tonight, but we'll see how the day goes. Lunch may well be soup, as it's not that warm.

I can't think of anything else MSE to report, so I'll shuffle orf.

Ta for popping in. Greying X

Nonnadiluca

Pesto is easy to make: a basil plant from the supermarket can be made to last for months , it can be split and repotted. We use walnuts (less than £2 for 200g in Lidl) rather than expensive pine nuts , oil and garlic. Also, maybe a bit controversial, we sometimes don't add the parmesan(or strong cheddar ) to the pesto but to the dish when served. A friend used to make it with nettles but I like the basil flavour.

Greying_Pilgrim

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81984599#Comment_81984599

I don't know what it is about me and basil plants, but i am singularly unable to keep them going. It doesn't matter if I've grown them from seed, or bought a basil plant from a market garden, or a supermarket - they don't flourish under my care ☹️ We don't use much pesto, hence my occasional purchase of the jarred stuff. Plus, as it happens, we've always veered toward the red pesto - something that sprung from LG liking pasta for lunch at nursery, but not being particularly appreciative of anything green at that point in time 🙄

It was only a thought to enquire how other folk keep it from going mouldy. It's something that we can ditch, and just not buy really.

Greying X

Cherryfudge

I would imagine it would freeze, just as you've described. The best way is probably to try it! Also, do you tip it out or spoon it out? If the latter, possibly a bit of something else got in, causing the mould. I think you would have noticed that though.

Last year I made pesto using young leaves from ground elder. Edible but not really to my taste.