The garden has been slow to come to life, or maybe it's just that with this little mini heatwave I have been expecting too much of it this year. I have lost all but one of my courgette plants now, mostly due to low night-time temperatures, but also I think due to some nibbling of little creatures, so this one remaining one is being molly-coddled.
In other news, I have just opened my last jar of compost heap jelly from October 2022, relatively young considering some of the other marmalades I have been consuming recently. I looked in the cupboard to check for any more jars of this jelly lurking, but only found a rather silly amount of Green Tomato Chutney from October 2023. I need to make some inroads into that for sure.
I sliced up the lemon that had been languishing in the fridge for a mere week and popped it into the freezer ready for my morning hot lemon drinks. I added the two end pieces to the plate as well ...
... before adding them to the next batch of 'compost' for a future cook-up of Compost Heap Jelly.
I need quite a bit more of this before it's worth making a batch, but I do have two mandarins and six apples in the fridge, so the skins and cores will be added to the bag very soon.
In case I suddenly become 'jam-less' I popped a jar of the Aldi 'Specially Selected' jam into my trolley the other day after reading on a UPF Facebook group how brilliant it is ... I will see for myself very soon.
We called to Aldi on the way back from a morning out, so I went without a shopping list and only bought the things that I thought I needed. I came home, put them away and discovered that I already had an unopened jar of mayonnaise and a pack of ready grated Aldi cheese ... I did however need the tomatoes, hairspray and salt, so all was not wrong. 😁
This weeks shopping of only the random things that I thought I really needed only came to £8.76, which I found very satisfying as I am endeavouring to only spend £10 a week on groceries and bits each week now that I am a pensioner of very limited means.
I now have my workplace pension going into my bank account on the first of each month. It's not a lot but it's something, and after only paying into this pension scheme for approximately 4.5 years I am pleasantly surprised at the amount I am getting ... I'm more shocked that the taxman is stealing so much of it though. 😞
Oh well, he obviously needs it as he is so much poorer than I am!! 😶
I may have to spend my £3 Dobbies voucher on some foodstuff this time, or perhaps put it towards another courgette plant in case this last one bites the dust.
This non-challenge year is turning into a real challenge. 😄
Sue xx
I have to admit that the tax man taxing our meagre pensions really makes me cross. The personal tax allowance hasn't gone up for years. Shocking!! (Rant over).
ReplyDeleteIt's a joke isn't it, and seemingly it's not going to go up for a few more years. :-(
DeleteYou always do very well on your challenges, so I expect that this no challenge year challenge will work just fine.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
I have every faith in myself, it should be fun ... and of course I always have Alan to take me out for coffee and cake when things get boring. 😄
DeleteWell done on your weekly shopping spend Sue 👏 I googled if one person could live off $20 per week here in Queensland and this was the answer I received "No, one person cannot realistically live in Queensland on $20 per week. Average grocery costs alone can range from $90 to $135 per week☹️ At the current exchange rate $90 is 43 pounds 75 pence and $135 is 65 pounds 62 pence! Sorry for the long reply😱
ReplyDeleteQueensland prices are ridiculous aren't they. We had a family from your state dog sitting for us last year and they were in heaven shopping at our Aldi. 😀
DeleteI don't mind long replies, I can always have a nap halfway through. 😁
I am glad I do not live in Queensland reading the above quote. My food shopping has been really haphazard for a few weeks due to the kitchen refurbishment. I actually made some mayo the other evening because we'd run out and i couldn't find the next jar [clearly it had emigrated to your cupboard]
ReplyDeleteAha ... that's where it came from 😄
DeleteGood morning from N.W.Italy! I very rarely comment but read your blog with great interest. This morning, it struck me how reasonable your paracetamol tablets were. I bought one pack of 12 tablets yesterday in our chemist (only place you can buy them) and it cost me 8.50 euro!!! Ro (n.w. Italy)
ReplyDeleteOh wow!! I'm glad ours are so cheap as I have to take 8 every day. Imagine my weekly cost at your prices!! 🫤
DeleteThanks for commenting Ro. ❤️
I hope your courgette plant survives and grows. You did very well with your grocery shopping, this week.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I picked up a copy of The Garden Cottage Diaries you had reviewed in an earlier post from the library on Tuesday and look forward to reading it.
It helped the spending that this week that I didn't really need very much, and now I am stocked with things that I actually didn't need as well. :-)
DeleteI hope you enjoy the book, I loved it even though it was the third time I was reading it.
We have several boxes of jars of jam from when we had the allotment. They keep for years. I like a dollop of jam on thick yoghurt for pudding. I am working through the cupboard full of old tinned stuff. Our grocery shop at Aldi was £23.16 for a medium chicken for £4.25, breaded haddock, 8 pints of milk for £3.10, mixed dried fruit and nuts, plenty of seasonal vegetables and fruit. DH added a bottle of concentrated orange squash, though I had made him some using Mum’s old Kenwood recipe.
ReplyDeleteDH made the bread. I baked an apple and mincemeat wholemeal crumble, a malt loaf (with grated carrot added,) and rock cakes, when I roasted the chicken. There are always more eggs, 2 or 3 a day.
Oh gosh, so much lovely food. :-)
DeleteWe have both recently finished the 2020 marmalade, and now almost finished the 2022 Compost Jelly, so for me I am bang up to date. I spotted a jar of 2010 jam in Alan's cupboard, but I thought that was a step too far, so I emptied the jar and washed it ready for re-use. It did look very dry!!
Agree with others about taxation, even on the smallest of pensions - shocking. I too am grateful for the cheap paracetamol. Oh yes, nearly forgot, the Aldi jam is excellent.
ReplyDeleteAlison in Wales x
Oh good, I'm looking forward to trying it then. I've not had a nice strawberry jam for ages, it's the one sort I never got round to making on the smallholding. The squirrels used to pick and stack up my poor strawberries while they were still green, so we never got to eat any. :-(
DeleteYou do rise to any challenge. I hope you enjoy the Aldi jam if you try it. Have a great day.
ReplyDeleteI'm tempted to start on the new jam this week even though I still have some of my compost heap jelly left in the jar, and I rarely have two jars on the go at once. I've not had shop bought jam for a long time! 😀
DeleteI can't go anywhere without a shopping list or I come home with far too much :0/
ReplyDeleteIt's really annoying that fiscal drag means that people on low incomes are being dragged into paying tax. Even my apprentice Grandson, who is working as a welder on around £6 an hour is paying tax. Grrr....
Angie x
If that’s your only income you shouldn’t be paying any tax! I see they’re taxing you at basic rate, so you probably need to get HMRC to issue them with a proper tax code for you. Or wait until the end of the tax year and submit a tax return and get it back 🤔🤔 It will no doubt get more complex once you get a state pension…. (Karen S)
ReplyDelete