From Frugal Foundations to Fortified Family Future

rtandon27

We too eschew the use of self-serve tills!  The big name grocery store(s) does not pay us to work there so only under duress will we ever use one! 
Luckily our small town now has a 'variety' store, which seems to stock a bit of everything of the international variety and unusual veggies, all at very competitive prices.  They only have one till and it's manned by the store owner or his wife, so we happily queue for them to scan and bag our groceries.  They also will (in that old fashioned manner) fetch things off the shelf for you if perchance you arrive with a list and have no clue where in the shop they keep the items. They have many different items but not many varieties of the same item iyswim - so if you want sesame oil, there is one type and you can take it or leave it.
GP - I feel your pain with the budget - We too have reached the limit of ours (and may have gone slightly over) and there is still one more Tuesday in the month (our grocery budget day) - 5 week months are very painful n'est pas?  I think we may have to have a mini store-cupboard challenge over the next week before making inroads into next month's budget which arrives into my account on the last working day of the month & gets distributed to the pots on the 2nd, after all the main bills are paid.

beanielou

If it’s any consolation I have 5.82 to last til Tuesday and chair yoga is 7.00. Bah. 

redofromstart

I've seen the £1.50 boxes in our MrL in the last week, but always after the tills when I've already bought veg, and therefore far less attractive. I bought green beans and blueberries in MrAl today - not obviously soft fruit till you taste them and some hidden rotten ones in the veg, makes you think twice about bothering again. I really feel for those who pushed their budget for a treat to get rubbish quality. I've done the beans as a Fasolakia dish and stewed the blueberries in a tiny portion of sugar rather than waste them. 

Greying_Pilgrim

Oh heavens, I seem to have touched a nerve mentioning self-serve tills, haven't I 😳 Soz!

kayannie - oh how sad to the dead birds.  Watching our resident sparrowhawk, it's amazing how it doesn't bump into much more stuff, the margins for error are tiny the way it skims about at speed.  I am so glad you got some bargains at FF.  mumtoomany mentioned about those beans a couple of weeks ago.  I have yet to venture over that side of town, to have a look in our store.  I dislike it when there is a bag or packet of something rotten in the £1.50 boxes in MrL.  I am wondering whether our store just can't be bothered doing them.  The food waste collection initiative is staffed by some very keen volunteers, so they probably get rid of loads of stuff via them.  

dfw123 - I hope I can cling onto my remaining pennies.  I think sifting out the non-food expenditure has been key, even if I have bust that budget this month.  But I think I am almost more pleased with what I have purchased this month.  We have eaten 'well'.  Not brilliantly, not gourmet, but there has been variety, colour and not too many processed items - although I suppose that is reliant on the definition of 'processed' used.

rtandon - I am firing up the jalopy and bolting on the tentb0x as I type - prepare to take me to visit your 'variety store'!  Sounds brill! 😁👍

beanie - keep plodding!  

redo - I got the radishes from MrAl, and the rocket from MrL.  Boy oh boy is the rocket peppery 🥵 but at least the radishes were ok - amazing as there were only a few packets left on the stand.  Oh, VFM - don't get me started on that.  I was in M&$ the other day and there was a pack of (british) asparagus that had been YS'd - from £2 - something to £1.75 (ish).  I looked at the packet - and bearing in mind I think they were supposed to be spears and not asparagus tips, the grammage on the packet said 125g!  Since when has an asparagus 'bundle' been less than 250g?  They got left there, YS'd or no, British produce or no.  Well done you for at least making a better silk purse out of MrAl's offerings than otherwise might be feasible.  

So tea tonight did end up as a buddha bowl and I did use feta as my protein.  I tried a new to me way of presenting the feta, and I would definitely do it again, although i suspect eating it hot, straight out the pan is probably preferable to letting it hang around for 10 minutes whilst members of your household dilly-dally about.  I will never make a mitch lynne starred Chef with on point service, me......  I also made a lentil & carrot salad with is an Arto del Haroutunian recipe, made Andi Oliver's mums lemon salted cucumber (although I instinctively added dill to my version), steamed up some bulghar wheat with sweet and sour red onion running through it, steamed the last of the cauli, and dry toasted some sunflower and pumpkin seeds and a few cracked walnuts.  I prepped the feta in the style of Saganaki and drizzled some tahini, miso and lemon citrussy dressing over.  

This is very rubbish photo;



I didn't give LG any of the rocket or radishes - that would have been a step too far, but otherwise, clean plates all round.  Yoghurt for pud.  

I spotted a bird in the garden that I am still at a loss to identify.  I had seen it before, but it appeared again this afternoon (LG saw it too).  It was constantly flitting about, so is difficult to spot things like leg colour or tail length, but I've narrowed it down to either a chiff-chaff or a willow warbler.  But it literally moves all the time, much like a wren or a goldcrest.

Today I am grateful for these 3 things;

Chats with several RL adults - in the same day!  🤣
help and support given to LG by their lovely teacher
That we didn't have rain - despite not putting a wash on/pegging out

Ta for popping in and joining in the convo.  Greatly appreciated.

Greying X

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning MFW'rs

Not alot happening on the money front, but in wildlife news, the first swallow flew over the homestead this morning!  We had spotted 'something' - swift, swallow or martins whilst in the car on Monday.  But the pair of 'whatever they were' were flying away from us, we were on a country road approaching a bend, and the road was potholed to heaven, so I couldn't tell exactly what they were.  But this morning, it was definitely a lone swallow that flew over, as I was looking out of the bedroom window.  

A load of washing is out on the line, as we have sun and a slight breeze.  I've got a small load on 'quick wash' and they will be pegged out shortly when the cycle is done.

I'm thinking of doing pizza and oven chips for tea tonight.   I don't think i said, I used up the last of the 'real' potatoes on Tuesday night.  They were a mix of the very last of the Easter tatties and the smaller tatties in the MrL 7.5kg bags I had bought.  They made nice mash and LG ate it up nae bother - I was stunned 🤣  Not too sure if I'll buy anymore 'old' potatoes now - I might if I see a well priced smaller bag, but won't buy any of the larger bags, as they're too prone to sprouting.  Besides, we're on the cusp of summer - salads all the way now..................

Wages slip is in, but the money isn't in the bank yet.  A little bit of OT has yielded a bit of extra income, after tax, not a huge amount, but it should go towards the windows pot, hopefully.  

I don't know if I had said, I got Andi Oliver's cookbook from the library.  It's an interesting one, as it's part cookbook, part memoir and part diary of her stay in Antigua - I think when she was doing her filming for the documentary she did with her daughter.  There is a picture  in the middle of the book, of a place that I recognised immediately - DH and I had our pictures taken in a similar spot when we were on the island (for a day) back in the last century.  It was nice to dig out the pics and chat to LG about it - as they didn't believe that their mama & papa had been anywhere so exotic.  Lovely memories of very nearly half a lifetime ago........

Right, need to get shifting-a-tail feather, time is running away from me.

Greying X

rtandon27

Aww GP - such a sweet tale of places afar! - So cute when littlies finally comprehend that Mama & Papa had lives pre-Baba 😁

As to firing up yer jalopy - we would be very pleased to have you all come for a visit & have a mooch round the variety shop!  We are in the as far west as it is possible to be and still be considered SE England - in fact we are almost West - about a 15 min drive away!  Though we be in a town, it's no more than a 10 min drive and everywhere is countryside!  Anytime ye might want to plan a field trip out to our here parts, we are up for it!

carolbee

Ooh, come and see me too if you come to the SE. I live near somewhere loved by Chas n Dave, and the Jolly Boys  outing for Only Fools and Horses.....can you guess where.....

Greying_Pilgrim

carolbee said:

Ooh, come and see me too if you come to the SE. I live near somewhere loved by Chas n Dave, and the Jolly Boys  outing for Only Fools and Horses.....can you guess where.....

"You can keep the C0sta bra-va, I'm telling you mate, I'd rather,
Av a day down the seaside, all us wif' carolbee........."

Am I right?

Greying X

carolbee

Greying_Pilgrim said:

carolbee said:

Ooh, come and see me too if you come to the SE. I live near somewhere loved by Chas n Dave, and the Jolly Boys  outing for Only Fools and Horses.....can you guess where.....

"You can keep the C0sta bra-va, I'm telling you mate, I'd rather,
Av a day down the seaside, all us wif' carolbee........."

Am I right?

Greying X

You are indeed. Home of the Turner Contemporary, Dreamland, kiss me quick hats, rock. Living the dream!

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning MFW'rs

carolbee the last time I was in your neck of the woods was in the long hot summer of 1976.....  On holiday with my family 😁 I got dreadfully sunburnt 🙁

Not much moneywise going on here.  DH has taken LG to a birthday party - with an incredibly early start time.  But fun will still be had, so that is all that matters.  I am about to peg out the washing - although I am playing roulette with the weather, but it is work clothing, so needs must.

General tidying up needs to take place.  Dried clothes need to be folded and put away.  Curry needs to be made for tea (not too sure what type, but there is plenty of veg to utilise).  I'm not too sure about lunch, as I'm not sure if there is going to be food at the party or not.  We'll play that one by ear.  

DH gave LG £2 to put into the 'C4C' pot last night, so I need to amend that figure.  I also need to work out the budget from this month's pay packet and see what money can be allocated against window savings.  

Can't think of anything else to report.  So I'll shift-a-tail-feather, afore I bore yer all senseless.

Ta for popping in and chatting - appreciated.  

Greying X