2025 Frugal Living Challenge

zcrat41

I love the Batch Lady. She has some good stuff on Instagram if you are on there. I bought some cheap plastic cups with lids and straws from B&M and when I make smoothies I make 6. 2 for now, 4 in the freezer in the plastic cups. 

Quantaqa

Thanks @zcrat41, brilliant idea.  I am heading to Dunelm today after work that has a B&M next door so I think I'll go in and look for some plastic cups to do smoothies as well.

Prudent

I must watch Batch from scratch as I have seen trailers. It has been a very busy time here and I don't have a lot of Frugalling to report. I head to Yorkshire tomorrow to see family so I am hoping the sunshine continues. I am hoping OH can look after my seedlings. He likes to do the heavy work on the allotment but is not keen on anything to do with the plants except potatoes. I am bringing on some cucumbers quite early for the allotment plant sale. They were not happy about being moved out of the heated propagator yesterday morning. By 5pm they had wilted badly. I popped them all in front of radiators and they mostly revived. I have the stragglers under the heated pads we use for the cat bed! I have some sea holly seedlings which I am delighted about as they can be a bit tricky here.

I heard this morning that we are getting a free fruit tree from a local environmental project. I think I asked for a plum tree. 

joedenise

The recipes from Batch from Scratch are on the Channel 4 website if that's all you want.  Personally the programme drives me mad - can't stand Joe Swash, particularly his voice.

mama67

Also on Lidl website as that’s who the programme is affiliated with

Gem-gem

Good evening everyone, 
A day at home for me, the first one this week. Pleased to catch-up on a few little jobs.
Finally planted my tomato seeds. Big Daddy's are in the heated propagator, the cherry tomatoes are in my mini greenhouse. 

Two loads of washing washed, dried outside and ironed. It is satisfying when that job is done.

DH contacted a reliable plumber, who we have used before, as our shower has broken. The plumber spoke to my DH about either fixing it if he could find a replacement part or replacing the whole shower but I wasn't happy with this as it would mean taking off some of the tiles - a major job. Luckily, he has managed to find a new major part - it is going to cost over £500 for the part alone and the £170 to fit it - ouch! But cheap compared to the alternative. 

Had a small bit of luck...a couple of months ago my Kenwood food processor stopped working.Today, I called their customer service and spoke to a very nice lady who got me to test a couple of the attachments out. I discovered that they worked  Eventually, with their guidance I soon realised that the handle on the food processor was a little wobbly and this is where the safety section is. A screw driver came out, the tightening of a couple of screws and hey presto it worked again. Thank goodness for that, I wasn't looking forward to having to send it down to Kenwood and the price it would have cost to fix it. 
From the loft, a couple of cardboard boxes decluttered and two plastic boxes washed and repurposed. 

After dinner, finished the evening with crocheting a couple of rows of my blanket. 

fionaandphil

It must have been the day for it yesterday, I also planted a load of seeds in the hope they will start to germinate by Easter.  The weather was lovely and I also got the washing out, dried and back in the drawers.  Well done on fixing your shower, I did a slightly less technical thing and fixed the on/off switch on our kettle which has snapped off - I replaced it with a raw plug!  I also went through a big pile of paperwork and magazines and things put aside to 'read later' and binned 99% off it so I'm feeling that the house is slightly less cluttered.  Today looks to be slightly cooler and a bit damper so will see what it brings. I've shopped from the freezer for all the meals this weekend so no need for any more trips out.

Have a good weekend everyone 

kimwp

I've missed the window for tomato's (midlands) - if the seeds aren't sown in the Feb half term, the tomatos will mostly be green. (And I have a very sunny, warm patio that they grow on)

joedenise

Green tomato chutney is the way to go @kimwp.  We had loads of green ones last year and the chutney is just coming to an end now.

kimwp

joedenise said:

Green tomato chutney is the way to go @kimwp.  We had loads of green ones last year and the chutney is just coming to an end now.

Nom nom. What do you eat it with? I'm trying not to eat cheese (environmental/animal pain considerations) and my chutneys have remained uneaten.