From Frugal Foundations to Fortified Family Future

EssexHebridean

LOL - I DO use shop & Scan but I still don't benefit from the personlised N3ct@r prices Greying, so don't feel you're missing out on much there! 

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning MFW'rs!

Shopping completed.  I seemed to get a reasonable amount in my shop today - for a change......  Not that anything has drastically reduced in price of course.......  Today's highlights were some YS'd mushrooms that i didn't notice were organic until I had purchased them - they will be processed, to avoid spoilage, but ultimately will probably go to top a pizza, and won't we feel so fine, eating so fancy 😁 Also the red wine that I prefer, which has been oos  for an absolute age, appears to be instock again and this week was on offer.  YAY!

Pineapple slices and chunks were on offer again, although only reduced to 99p a tin this time, nothing like the spiffing offer earlier in the year.  

I spent a total of £44.30.  Only went to MrL today as I couldn't be bothered to schlep around to MrAl's for 1 or 2 things.  So my running total is now £176.38 - which frankly has surprised me, as whilst I have modified one or two of the things I have bought, I have still needed the basics (which, lets face it, shove a hole in anyone's budget), and haven't stinted on fruit and veg in my basket.

2 lots of washing out on the line, including workwear, so hopefully it stays dry today (forecast to), and we get a little breeze going so that stuff wafts about a bit.

Enjoyed Andi Oliver's prog last night - nearly as good as the Bristol one.  If I'm being fussy, I'm not sure I agree with the 'gentrification' of something like a lob scouse dish anyway.  I mean beef cheeks were used - which are now quite pricey??  They used to be - much like lamb shanks and oxtail - all but 'waste'.  Now they have become trendy, and the price has gone up.  Surely the point of cucina povera isn't to fancify it so that the very people who need it, are priced out of making it.  And as Andi used brisket, I am struggling to see why high-end cuisine is featured, although the programme makers would probably point to interesting a wider audience (which is fair enough).  I thought the kiddies making the pizza and kebabs was far more interesting - did you see the sheer enjoyment etched on their faces. I did enjoy the part about fermenting and sauerkraut - although I wonder how many folk actually had it on their Stafforshire Lobby-ish and how many actually enjoyed it.  

Right, I have cookbooks to pore over and ideas to find.

Ta for popping by.  Appreciated.

Greying X

Greying_Pilgrim

Sorry EH - missed your post there. 

Mmm, I'm not so sure that the 'extra points' thing ain't all a bit of a faff, and I may well just keep the card for instances where the n*ctar price is a good saving, or doesn't make the item dearer than elsewhere.  Blooming MrS with their 'we match MrAl' have put up their chopped tomatoes by 4p a tin anyway 🙁probably so that they can take thruppence off summat else, elsewhere and declare it a 'special offer' 🙄

(retail high-jinx jaded) Greying X

badmemory

I think most of us are getting a bit cynical about supermarkets & their prices.  It always reminds me of M&S back in the old days when they had clothes made in the UK.  They used to demand more & more from a supplier until they were the only customer & then they would force the prices down & down until they forced the companies to go bankrupt.  The supermarkets have done similar with farmers.

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning MFW'rs

Not  much occurring in our world at the mo.  But this morning's 'money related' news is that; on checking the various penny, tuppunce, 5punce and tenpunce jars, bags and collecting vessels, I discovered that we've saved £5.40 in 10p's, and are very nearly at the totals required to fill bank money bags for 2p's and 5p's.  So I shall be popping the £5 of 10p's into the account today, and LG's 'C4C' pot for April will be looking a little healthier by this arvo.

Tea yesterday was an amalgam of 3 pots of sauce, rice and mushroom stew out of the freezer, cooked together and a batch of dumplings cooked on top.  The dumplings were light and fluffy (for a change) and it was just the job for tea as the weather turned really cold and rainy and we were all frozen to the bone 🙁  Not helped by the fact that I had taken LG out for an impromptu visit to a local heritage ruin - not the weather to be plodding about windswept fields 🙁

The washing sort of dried yesterday, it is still 'cold' to the feel tho.  

Energy meter readings have been submitted and we are in credit for this month - YAY!  

Can't think of anything else MSE related, so best push orf to pop a leg in a pant.

Ta for popping by.  

Greying X

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning MFW'rs

Yesterday, it has to be said, ended up being just sheer perfection.  Nowt thoroughly fancy happened, we didn't get to ride in a gold carriage on a day out, we didn't win 'spot the ball', and Paul Hollywood didn't offer me a handshake....... but several small things happened, that just..........................

LG got an unexpected gift through the post, from some kind folk who frankly have enough stuff going on in their own lives, so for them to have taken a moment and thought of LG is just mind-blowingly kind......  

A very kind volunteer (thoroughly) answered a query I had posed, and also filled me in on the status of something.  This 'something' - that I can't talk about really because it involves other people - has been a thorn in our family's side for the past 2 and a half years.  Our day-to-day lives have just got immeasurably better, and I can't tell you how much relief I am feeling for having a source of stress reduced/removed.  I find no joy for having been proved right about something, but maybe now that more and more people are seeing what is occuring, things might change.  Here's hoping.

I got a load of washing line-dried and aired in one day - YAY!

I picked up an ordered library book for LG and exchanged an item of clothing for LG (I should have bought the older age group in the first place, children's clothing is sized so small....) and was struggling to find something in M&S foodhall (I was only struggling because I had seen the blessed thing 20 minutes earlier instore before going to see if HB stocked it!) when someone shouted, "Ay up Greying, ow bist ee?" It was someone who remembered me from years ago - we initially met well before LG was even a twinkle...... - so it was lovely to have a catch up, and frankly, who doesn't like to be recognised and remembered?

I spent £3.70 in Mand$, so need to amend my grocery total.

I 'made up' a soup for lunch that utilised plenty of veg, including cauliflower stalks that were surplus to requirements following making a curry for tea.  The soup was a riff on macaroni cheese - on the basis it contained pasta (actually fusilli), cream cheese and cheddar with a splodge of dijon to enhance the cheesiness.  Anyhoo, it did the trick and LG slurped it up and declared it delish 😁

Tea was a curry plate featuring Coconut, Cauliflower and Gigglebean curry, lentil dhal and boiled basmati.  There was plenty left for freezing for another day too. 

And we had sunshine - who doesn't feel better for a bit of sunshine.  

I am so grateful that yesterday was so full of kindness and support from a variety of quarters, including from DH and LG.  I am very blessed indeed.

Greying X

Fortune_Smiles

That sounds like a wonderful day Greying.  Lovely to hear you sounding so happy.

Fortune x

teapot2

Glad you had such a lovely day x

beanielou

A good day all round 😊

Cheery_Daff

What a wonderful day indeed! Those days truly need soaking up to get you through the slightly worse times. It sounds like you have properly stowed it away in your mind. What a lovely list of things to happen! So glad your ongoing issue is getting sorted out xx