Phew ... I Found the Seeds

 

Just as I was going to sleep last night I had a sudden panicky thought  'I don't remember unpacking the seeds after the move, just how much of my budget would buying seeds take up if I want to grow my own?'  It kept me awake very briefly, I usually drop off within five minutes of getting comfortable in bed and luckily it didn't impact too much!!

Then this morning when the thought came back to me over that first reviving cup of coffee of the day, I had a vision in my head.

On the little box shelf in my shed I could see the tin that I was pretty sure contained all the seeds that I had brought with us.  And sure enough, when the rain stopped for five minutes I nipped to the shed and there it was ... sitting pretty.

I've brought the tin in now, partly so I could see what I have available and partly because they need to start to warm up slightly ready for planting.  The first seeds can go into pots next month and be started off on window sills.  Alan has already offered me the windowsill on his top floor, a room that fills with sunshine on any clear day as my windowsills are all far too small and far too full.

We need something to look forward too with all this cold, wet weather don't we.  My roof was rattling like a train last night.

Sue xx

Mavis, Suky and a Garlic Kiev

 

Mavis posed nicely for me the other day.  We were just sitting quietly and I grabbed my phone to get a photo.  She looked away so I just said her name and she went straight back into 'pose' mode.  She obviously thinks that this is her good side.

Every side is her good side, she's my little angel.  💖

Suky (my other little slightly grumpier angel) meanwhile was sat watching the birds walk up and down along the roof opposite.  

She's very short sighted now but any movement catches her attention and holds her transfixed.  As soon as they all sat still and stopped parading up and down the roofline she lost interest and went for a long drink of water instead.

She is booked into the vets for a thorough doggy MOT on Monday and they are both booked into the groomers the following week.  Mavis needs her beard and scruffy bits brought under control and they both need a good bath and manicure.  It will come out of our joint bank account so it won't affect my No Spend Challenge thank goodness.

I had a simple tea last night, just a Marks and Spencer Garlic Kiev and some rice and peas.  

I really like these and as I only have a single Kiev left in the freezer I will have to ration myself.  Hopefully I will get at least one £5 M&S voucher when the next ones are due and I will be able to get a box or two to keep me going ... or I'll be even grumpier than Suky  😄

Sue xx

Just One Days Food

 

Soup at the computer was actually my second breakfast of the day yesterday, I slurped away while reading and answering all your jar hoarding confessions ... it would seem I am far from alone!!  😄

For some reason I just really fancied using the last of this weeks soup and why not at breakfast, who ever stated that breakfast had to be cereal or toast!!  I had added some of my tiny pasta shells to the pan after I served the soup just plain with the bread at the start of the week.  I felt it needed more body and I'm not always in the mood for a slice of bread with my soup.  This worked a treat.

Although toast was the actual first breakfast of the day a few hours earlier, I can't take my tablet on an empty stomach and one slice of toast is all I can face first thing.

And then later for elevenses I had a 'bacon' butty.  I have been using up the Quorn Smokey Ham slices rather than buying any fake bacon, and they are just as delicious and more versatile too as you can have them on a salad sandwich, or as I did the other day add a torn up slice to a pizza for a hit of smoky flavour.

I've got half a pack left for next week.

After a ridiculous amount of 'breakfasts' I only needed a little baked potato with some butter and cheese for my lunch.  Just enough to stop me nibbling later in the afternoon, or so I thought ...

... but I ended up with a chocolate bar with my coffee  😁

After all the days nibbly foods I just wanted something simple for my tea so it was just a question of chopping up a red onion, a few stems of my broccoli and halving some of the cherry tomatoes and sautéing them in some olive oil for five minutes.

With one of the pouches of the ready to wok noodles I had a tasty and healthy tea in under ten minutes.

Not a bad day at all and a very tasty one too.

Sue xx

Empty Jars and Posh Butterbeans

Is there anyone else out there that has real trouble throwing away a pretty jar even if they do not currently have a use for it?  I find I save washed out jars and tins far too often thinking that one day I will fill them with just the right thing to set them off perfectly.

I'm a sucker for embossed glass, the look and feel of it is far too good to go into the recycling straight away and yet I have no need for this really.  But I might.  One day!!

I guess that's how hoarders begin.  😉

I was really good before our move and put all my excess jars into the glass recycling on the morning that the guys were due to collect it, knowing that I wouldn't have time to change my mind ... something that had happened on more than one occasion in the past.  Now as I eat my way through the jars and tins in my larder cupboard I might just have to do this again one day and jettison all the empties that I have been saving right at the point of pick-up.  

Oh, and I have also been known in the past to actually buy a product that is more expensive than I would normally consider acceptable because it came in a pretty jar ...

... yes, I'm talking about you Posh Butterbeans!!  😂😄

Please tell me I'm not the only one.

Sue xx

I Shopped - TWICE

 

I'll forgive myself for not posting this on the right day but I bought these on Tuesday straight after I had my hair cut.  I called into Booths to pick up some eggs for Alan and remembered I needed a new baby card as my second great-grandchild is on her way.  💗

I didn't need any vegan Magnums, but they were on special offer at £2.50 a box instead of the usual £3.60 and temptation won.  So now I have six desserts ... or maybe just treats ... tucked into the freezer.

I can't find the receipt and that's probably why I forgot to post about them on Wednesday, I usually leave it on the worktop to remind me of my shopping folly. 😄

Anyway I know the Magnums were £2.50 each and the card was £3 for sure, so that's £8 spent!!

Alan needed some teabags yesterday so we called to Aldi.  The only things on my list were ...

... so I did quite well to come out with only one more thing.

I did need the lemon juice as I use this in my morning hot water when I don't have any lemon slices in the freezer.  It's so much cheaper than lemons too and handy to have in for all sorts of recipes.

I do have the receipt for this shopping and now it is firmly stuck in my Challenge diary.  So that's another £2.27 spent.

Wow ... £10.27 spent of my £50 monthly budget and it's only the third day of the month, I need to be good for the rest of this month.

I had a good look through the carrots and sorted them into two piles.  The ones that would last the longest and the ones that looked as though they needed to be used up first.  It just makes sense to do this when I want my fresh stuff to stay in good condition for as long as possible.

The biggest bag is full of the really good ones and the bag at the front has a slightly dodgy couple and the littlest ones which will all be used up this week.

Alan was amazed at such a large bag of carrots for just 45p, but the basis of lots of my previous low spend Challenges has been a bag of carrots, one of potatoes and one of onions.  For instance if you bought these three items from the Essentials/Wonky range at Aldi this week they would cost you a total of £1.84. and give you 5kg of vegetables for less than £2.

1.5kg Carrots 45p          1kg Brown Onions 50p          2.5kg Potatoes 89p

A couple of weeks this year I will most likely do a complete weeks shopping on just £10 using none of my tinned or freezer goods to bulk things out, just to see if it can still be done.  Would you be interested in that or has it already been done to death?

Edited to add:  Baby Nevaeh-Rose was born late last night weighing in at 7lbs 1oz.  The little family are doing well. 💖

Sue xx

It's Not All Picture Perfect ...

Life is not always the picture perfect world we see on YouTube videos, Pinterest images and some blogs.  Life is just normal, occasionally very unsurprising and sometimes downright messy.

My little Pitta Bread Pizza was beautiful when it went into the Remoska for my lunch the other day ...

... and after a double flip and a triple salchow on exit it looked somewhat different!!

Oh well it tasted almost as good, but you really do eat with your eyes don't you and I have to admit to being disappointed.

Also not picture perfect but very very tasty was this bowl of strawberries and banana with the last of my coconut yoghurt.  

Alan brought me a bowl of strawberries over the other day, they were supposed to be my dessert after our Haggis Supper but I was just completely full up, although he ate his.  So he gave me mine anyway, I added a very overripe sliced banana to them the next day and a good dollop of yoghurt and then divided the bowl in half and surprised him with a tasty dish for his afternoon treat.

Of course a certain little Miss Suky in the photo makes it a perfect picture in my eyes 💖

Sue xx

Second Month of Challenge - Comparison Photos

 

February

So here we are the first day of the second month of my No Spend Challenge, and time for you and me to play a little bit of Spot the Difference.

January

I don't think there's a huge amount of difference between the two photos of my main larder cupboard, it's neater and I don't have to rearrange quite a many things when I need to get something out though that's for sure.

February

The fridge shows a marked difference, well you would expect it to wouldn't you.  The fresh stuff had to be eaten first.

January

A few things were opened and eaten and a then second portion of it transferred to the freezer so that I could have a good selection of foods over the course of the month and to make sure that nothing went over it's Use By date.

February

A very different door at the moment.  I do have an almond milk in the cupboard that should be transferred into here ready for use.  But I always use long-life plant milks so they don't have to be in the fridge until they are needed.

January

With leftover Christmas alcohol and a few more chocolate bars it looked much fuller.

February

The fridge drawer will never change much as I usually have the same things in,  it's the same onions, celery and lettuce as the January photo, but the tomatoes are new.

January

Slightly fuller and a different pack of tomatoes.

February

The biggest difference is that there is no food on the top of my little drawer unit now, just cookbooks and the Challenge Pot.

January

All the food has been eaten and the red Flour tin is now on the shelf where the cookbooks used to live.  Filled with some of the sweets that had the longest shelf life ... out of sight out of mind was the plan!

February

The top sweetie drawer this month.

January

And the sweetie drawer last month.  Some of these are in the red flour tin and some have been donated to the Food Bank trolley at our local supermarket.

February

Just two unopened jars of coffee now and one of the bags of crisps that used to live in the bedroom.

January

Last month there were three jars in here, not much difference then.  The other jar was used to top up the Kilner jar of coffee I keep by the kettle ready for making a drink, so I do still actually have it.

So there is less food and the biggest change for me is that there is no food in the bedroom, out on surfaces or hidden away in non-foody places.  The boxes of crisps have now been absorbed into the gaps in the kitchen, the jars of jam that were in my little green chest are now at the back of the larder cupboard and food that was out on worktops has now either been eaten or has fitted nicely into the space it should have been in originally.

End of Month Financials

Cash Spent  £9.32

Booth's Voucher  £10.00

Nectar Points  £5.00

 Making a total of £24.32

This morning I can take out this months £50 and the money leftover from January has been put into a different pot.  One that I have decided that I will allow myself to dip into if and when I really need it for anything.  It's really nice to now have a little safety cushion.

So it's been a great first month, but I have noted that although I have bought little actual food over the course of January I still managed to spend almost half of the budget.  While this doesn't seem like much of a problem now, with food prices rising, my budget staying the same and knowing that my store-cupboard supplies will start to dwindle before the second half of the Challenge, this year is looking to be very interesting indeed.

Sue xx