Claiming My Riverford Prize

 

Now that I've virtually finished all the vegetables in the fridge drawer ... just five of the 9p Christmas potatoes and a cabbage left ... I thought it was time to cash in my competition prize from last year.  See HERE.

I enjoyed browsing the website and then picking which of the organic boxes that I fancied, and in the end I decided on the small seasonal fruit and veg box which seemingly is enough for two to three people, as an extra I added as organic salad bag.  I have opted for fortnightly deliveries to start me off and I will share some things with Alan.  

My prize will cover the cost of over three deliveries of the size of boxes that I have chosen, and will see me nicely through to the end of February.  Which is going to be very helpful while my budget is so low.  Sadly, I don't think it qualifies me for the current promotional offer which is to get a lovely hardback book with your first order for all new customers.  I should have thought on my feet and had a paid for order first and then used my prize vouchers.

But I have now got a Refer a Friend code to give to family and friends.  This will give me a bonus of £15 to my account and also give anyone who takes it up £15 off their second order.

My code is : www.riverford.co.uk/refer/6itkSKBZfVX_et22tQqIPQ

It's available for anyone in the UK to use as long as Riverford deliver to your area. You should also qualify for the free cookbook if you enter the cookbook code on your order.  

Visit the Riverford website for all the information you need, it all makes for fascinating reading anyway, even if you don't decide to sign up.  What a brilliant company they seem to be.

Riverford Organic Farmers - Organic Fruit & Veg Box Delivery

My first delivery will be on Wednesday of this week, I look forward to seeing it and letting you know how it is.

Sue xx

The Last Weetabix, and a Quick Roof Job

 

One thing to add to my shopping list today is Weetabix, well the Aldi version of Weetabix that is, they are much cheaper and just as tasty.  

I'm doing really well with only buying what I need and it's really helping the budget stretch.  At the moment I take time to evaluate everything that I am using up, and think about whether it will stay in my repertoire in future, these will as I am really enjoying a 'first breakfast' of Weetabix and some sort of fruit most days.

Usually it's with either banana as shown here, tinned peaches ... one tin does four days ... or at the moment some home grown rhubarb that I defrosted and which also does me four days.

In other news ...

Our chimney was removed from the roof of the bungalow this week.

A little stack remains in the loft space where it will remain.

We were very lucky that it didn't rain for the whole procedure so everything stayed nice and dry.  The roof and main walls are the only thing about our future home that we were happy and safe to keep.

The roof looking all perfect after the roofer did his stuff.

Yes, that is Alan's car parked on our neighbours drive.  All the neighbours are being absolutely brilliant about everything we are having to do, I think they are just glad to see the eyesore that was letting their street down being dealt with.

Small town life with good neighbours is a real blessing.

I hope you have a happy weekend. 💖

Sue xx

Smaller Portions ... and Mix and Match

 

Up until the start of this week the only book that I had read this January was this new book by Ella Mills, as lots of you know I read recipe and cook books as though they were fiction. 😁

It's a really good book and there are lots of corners of pages folded down now to remind me to make more of the recipes from it ... book purists look away, yes I fold corners.

I had all the ingredients in to make this recipe, Creamy Coconut Lentils, so I did.

I find myself eating much smaller portions these days so the recipe that said feeds four gave me seven me sized portions.

I cooked up a double quantity of rice and had one portion along with a pot of curry for my tea, I put the other half of the rice into the fridge along with another pot of curry for the next night and four went into the freezer for future use.

The one left was claimed by Alan, who diluted it slightly and used it as a gravy to pour over his Christmas turkey and ham pie that he had cooked from the freezer.  He said it was delicious, I cannot really imagine it, but he's always enjoyed mixing his flavours and textures up.

Sue xx  

Going Back to My Old Ways

 

I bought this washing up liquid back in November (see here), and because I quite like the simplicity of the bottle I left it out on the sink, and I used the liquid directly from the bottle instead of my usual decanting into a push top dispenser.

You'd think that by now I would know better wouldn't you.

Even though I thought that I was being careful with my little squirt into the washing up bowl each time I used it, I have already used well over half.  So the rest has now been decanted, where hopefully it will last me a bit longer.

Of course I managed to get all of the washing up liquid out of the bottle, first by pouring, then by turning it upside down and pouring a little bit more, then by balancing the bottle directly on top of the dispenser for an hour so it could drip, drip, drip.

Then finally by rinsing out the bottle and dropping the top into the bowl before I started on the teatime pots.

I will now see how long the second half of the bottle lasts me with dispensing rather than squirting.

Riveting stuff eh!! 😁

Sue xx

On the Porch, Drinking Coffee

 

This came up on my feed the other day and it really got me thinking.

I think it's all about the time of your life that you are in isn't it.  It's also that some people need to be busy all the time, some people need to be seen to be busy all the time, there is a huge difference.

I was the former, then I was the latter, then I felt guilty for doing less, then the guilt stopped.

Now I would rather be on the porch drinking coffee.

Ooh ... should we build a porch on the bungalow? 😀

No, I think decking or a patio at the back would suffice.   

Sue xx