My Off-grid and need to be frugal diary

AnimalTribe

This is the second day of trying to eat from stores only. The first day didn’t get off to a particularly good start as DH had to go into town to sort some stuff and he ended up going shopping. He got another load of reduced-price bread, reduced-price doughnuts, bran flakes, crisps and chocolate. I think it was the lack of treats in the house that had him scurrying into the supermarket. Still, it could have been worse, and hopefully he got enough treats to stop him going shopping for a long time. More than half of the cost was for dog food (which he stocked up on). All together he spent £61.88.

For breakfast yesterday and today I had croissant and tea, DH had bran flakes and coffee.

For lunch both days it was one of the massive wholewheat cheese scones, half with Quorn ham for me and half with brie, DH had brie and chorizo. Also, a large, simple salad of lettuce, cucumber, tomato, and wild garlic from the garden in a mayonnaise dressing.

Dinner both days was the reduced-price stir-fry with reduced-price pitta bread. Today I added some reduced-price pak choi and mushrooms to the stir-fry. Yesterday and today, we had a doughnut for dessert.

So that’s the scones, stir-fry, pitta and doughnuts used up.

The weather’s been great here so a good few walks and lots of weeding. I have lots of patio fruit trees in pots. They are all doing well except for the 2 plum trees. It looks like the root stock has put out branches rather than the grafted plum. I didn’t notice until today and the plants are leaf heavy. I’ll have to research how to fix it.

Tonight I'm watching a YouTube channel 'WearyWolf Adventures' all about budget cooking, so far it's been pretty interesting.

AnimalTribe

DH went to a car boot sale this morning. He didn’t buy much – a metal ruler for £1 and the head for a broom for £1. Unfortunately, he couldn’t resist a big bag of shortbread for £1.50 and the biggest banana cake I’ve ever seen for £3.

I’ve done a lot of weeding and sown parsley ‘Envy’, lovage, basil, Pea (Half pint), runner bean (Scarlet Emperor), and Broad bean (Robin Hood). It has been scorchingly hot though, so I could only do 30 minutes gardening at a time before I had to go indoors to cool off. While cooling off I made some beaded bracelets – they are 8-strand with very small beads so quite fiddly. I’ve frozen the pak choi that I bought reduced-price as I didn’t think it would be used up in a reasonable time. I’ve diced it finely so it will be easy to grab a handful and throw it into stir-fry and soups.

DH has cut down more willow that was overshadowing the garden, and a couple of goji berry bushes that have grown very tall but have never fruited.

Because it’s so hot lunch and dinner has been sandwiches with salad. With melon for dessert.

Today saw the finish of a carton of cranberry juice, a melon, and the last of a bottle of home-brewed apple wine.

AnimalTribe

Today has been much the same as yesterday. Weeding and sowing, interspersed with making jewellery when I needed to cool off. I’ve sown kale ‘Nero di Toscana’, Lettuce ‘Romaine ballon’, spring onion ‘white Lisbon’, perpetual spinach, mixed radish, and nasturtium. That’s the last of the nasturtium packet. I’ve made a couple of bracelets and a necklace and used my last black lobster clasp. DH started mowing the grass.

Breakfast and lunch was the same as yesterday and dinner was fried mushroom and onion buns. That finished off some spring onions and cupcakes. A litre carton of apple juice is also now empty. DH finished the last of a large pot of yoghurt.

This morning DH braved the heat to go to the local village to post some eBay sales and walk the dogs. I’ve left my walking until this evening when it was much cooler.

AnimalTribe

It’s been a little on the breezy side here today so DH and I went to a village we haven’t been to for a long time, took a walk around some local woods and then had lunch in the village café. On the way home I bought some milk, but that was the only item I bought.

This afternoon the weather improved so DH has cut some more grass, and I’ve done a little bit more weeding.

Some good news is that I’ve found some bluebells the sheep didn’t eat so that’s pleased me.

On the food front I’ve finished off a carton of oat milk and the shortbread.

AnimalTribe

It’s been very windy today which is good for generating electricity, ok for walks, but too intense for gardening.

So, other than walks today has been an inside day. The house has been vacuumed, the bathroom deep cleaned and I’ve made loads of kid’s bracelets. I’ve finished off 4 bags of tri-beads, 1 roll of 1mm elastic thread, a bag of bunny beads, and the last few star beads and Xmas charms.

On the food front I’ve finished off the last of the fresh mushrooms. I think I still have some frozen mushrooms and some dried mushrooms though. Still, it’s a pleasure to see things being used up.

AnimalTribe

Today has been windy again so I haven’t been out in the garden. I have managed a couple of walks without the dogs and I do feel like I’m getting fitter.

I’ve done some laundry, some mending and made some more kid’s bracelets. I’ve managed to finish off four part-packs of beads.

On the food front I’ve finished a carton of oat milk, a pack of bread buns, a head of lettuce, a large bag of tomatoes, a banana cake, a jar of coffee and a tube of Pringles – it’s been a finishing off kind of day.

DH has made two small eBay sale, but every little helps to boost the coffers and clear the clutter.

AnimalTribe

DH went to a car boot sale this morning. He only spent £1 as there weren’t many cars there. He also went to the supermarket and came back with reduced-price stir-fry, mushrooms, egg salad sandwich filling and chocolate muffins. He’d also noticed that the veggie stuff in the fridge was running low so he bought multiples of Quorn ham, vegan cheese and Oatley milk. Additionally, he bought 3 packs of croissants, sliced bread, margarine and mayonnaise. When he came back, I reminded him that I was trying to work through the stuff already in the house – he says he hadn’t realised that was the plan (I had mentioned it a couple of times). He says he knows now.

All I finished off today was a carton of Oatley milk

peb

Hopefully he has his listening ears on now...

AnimalTribe

Peb I certainly hope so.

I had a lovely walk this morning before it rained. The local shepherd who took over last year doesn’t put the sheep on the moor as much as the last shepherd. This means that the grass verge at the edge of the road and moor has grown lots of flowers that I haven’t seen much of here before. There are thousands of daisies, and some pilewort, cuckoo pint, buttercups, and vetch. It’s lovely to see so many flowers as the sheep usually eat them before they get a chance to flower.

On the domestic front a metal shed to make the Calor gas bottles secure has arrived. DH ordered it months ago after I finally persuaded him that he has so much to do that buying a shed, rather than him never getting around to build a replacement for the broken wooden one, made sense. It came pre-built, which was a bit of a surprise, we were expecting a self-assembly. It’s going to be interesting trying to move such an unwieldy item to its final location. It will have to wait awhile though as the weather isn’t great at the moment. There has even been hail here.

We’ve finished off the bananas, orange juice, oat milk, stir-fry and a pack of Quorn ham and a pack of croissants.

AnimalTribe

I got another walk in this morning before the rain and spotted more things growing - white clover, chickweed, yarrow, plantain. lesser trefoil, pineapple weed and even some dandelions. The few gorse bushes are waning but the hawthorn bushes are laden with white blossoms.

DH and I went to the village as I had to post a birthday card and a congratulations card. There aren’t any card shops in the village, although the charity shop usually sells birthday cards, so I had to make the congratulations card yesterday. Since we were driving to the village any way we decided to make it worth our while and we had lunch in the village café. I couldn’t eat all of mine so I brought the leftovers home. The only thing we bought in the Co-op was a pack of bread buns as DH has agreed to keep food shopping to the absolute minimum. We haven’t given up on spending on other things although we do space the purchases out. I bought Wednesday season 2 online as I really enjoyed season 1. For me, being frugal is not about doing without, it's about saving money on some things so that I can spend on those things that bring me pleasure.