Catching Up On This Months Shopping ... and Riverford

 

Aldi 1st  February - £21.20

It's time for me to try and have a catch up of everything that I've been missing, but I can only manage a short while on the bar stool that I have to use when I'm on the computer, so sadly it will be brief.

February started with me back eating fish, but I have to say I have really gone off fresh salmon, so I think breaded fish will have to be the way forward, and these Aldi fish portions are reasonably priced and very tasty.  

It does bump the cost up though doesn't it when you buy a few fishy products at once!

There's not been a lot of shopping up to now this month, but then there's not been a lot of eating either.  😞

Booths - £4.30

The second shopping of the month contained no food, but my favourite washing up liquid was on special offer at 25% off, so although I needed one, I bought two.

I have decided that from now on I am buying quality and ethical products rather than quantity and cheapness.  It seems to actually balance out ... well up to now anyway.

The three napkins were from the café in Booths, Alan took me out for a coffee, but the tablets I am on are making everything taste foul, so there's not been much coffee drinking going on this past week.  I must be saving him a fortune.  😄

11th Aldi - £14.94

To bring you right up to date, this morning we had a quick trip to Aldi as we have family coming to stay for a couple of days and Alan wanted to get some things in.

Looking at the photo it really is a very random basket of shopping isn't it, but I was just going for what I really needed and what I fancied.  But when everything tastes awful you just have to try ... I won't be munching on the floor wipes though!!

The receipt from Aldi.

Happily just before we left for Aldi, this weeks Riverford box and Salad Bag arrived so we could check out what we definitely didn't need to buy.

Again it was all beautiful quality food, and once we had shared it out we set off for the other things that we needed/wanted.

I changed the order a bit this week and went for a Seasonal Vegetable Box rather than the mixed fruit and veg box.  I have to say that this suits me better as I do prefer vegetables to fruit, I always have. As there wasn't a cucumber in this weeks salad bag Alan bought a large cucumber from Aldi and said I could have half, so I have some lovely salady things to eat.

 Once again this order was paid for by my prize winning vouchers, and I have enough left in the account to get one more totally free of charge order and then something off a fourth.

As it was pouring with rain first thing this morning the delivery driver left the order on the doorstep and ran back to his van.  Happily they have a 'Box Brolly' to put over and around your box to keep the cardboard and the contents dry.

I would actually call it a polythene bag ... but hey now it's a box brolly. 😁

Sue xx

Bungalow Progress ... All Mod Cons

 

I've not been on my computer since last Sunday, so I apologise for a complete absence of blog posts.  I tend to post a couple of days in advance and set to automatically publish, hence there being a couple of posts last week.  I was sent to hospital in the early hours of Monday morning and spent all night in A&E before being kept on the Urgent Care ward all day Tuesday.  Things are slowly getting back to normal, so there's no need to worry.

Anyway I thought I would do a little update of the bungalow progress.  We are having a little breather between builders etc while Alan gets on with some labouring and they work on another job that is much more urgent.

As you can see from the top photo, the garage has now been rebuilt and has walls, a roof and a door and a window.  There's still a bit of work to be done, but it's nice to see it up instead of us just having a hole in the ground.

Our mod cons consist of running water from the outside tap.

And toilet facilities in the front garden.  Of course we also have a bank of five electric sockets in the old hallway so that lights, tools and kettles can be plugged in.

On the downside, thanks to Alan's hard work, we no have virtually no floors.

Oh well, one day we will live there.

Sue xx

Our First Riverford Fruit and Veg Box

 

Our first Riverford Fruit and Vegetable box along with the additional Salad Bag that I ordered, arrived as promised last Wednesday.  

Sadly, being poorly I couldn't chat with the delivery guy and find out his name etc in case I was still in any way contagious,  I hope to remedy this next week when he brings our second one.  We may decide to change to a different box next time, once we have gotten around to browsing the website again. 

 You can chop and change your orders as often as you want and add things to any delivery right up until the day before delivery, and I think it will be good while I still have the value of my prize vouchers to use up, to shop around the website a bit.

It all looked amazingly colourful and in brilliant condition.

I almost felt guilty that I couldn't get stuck in straight away with cooking and tasting everything, but I was not eating any food at all even by the Wednesday delivery day. 

The contents of our Small Seasonal Organic Fruit and Veg Box.  £17.95

As I've written below for the salad bag, I did a trial order of organic produce from Sainsbury's to see if we were getting any value by ordering from Riverford.  I was able to almost get the same items in the same weights for just over £11, including a couple of 'Nectar price' offers.

This was the contents of the Salad Bag.

It was all beautifully fresh, and that cucumber was the first thing that I did eat when I was back on food.  It was as tasty as a homegrown one ... which in a way I guess, it is going to be.  At first we both thought that the price tag of £11.50 for this amount of salad was a bit steep, but then I sat and did a trial organic order of the same things from Sainsbury's and the cost even with Nectar discounts came to over £7.  

So when you consider the ethics of Riverford, the supply chain, home delivery etc we both decided that that the small additional amount for both items was totally fine.

I felt almost guilty that I couldn't set to and make good use of everything straight away, but the mere sight of food was making me feel worse, so my half of the delivery was very quickly stashed into the vegetable and fruit drawers of the fridge out of sight.  Alan was made of sterner stuff and he made himself a big pot of soup to start with, and then a lovely looking pot of vegetable curry.

Here is a link to the Riverford website - Riverford Organics UK

And here is my referral code if you would like to place an order - Share the Happeaness.  

Using my code means that I get a referral fee ... and you get £15 off your second order with Riverford.

Now I'm just looking forward to seeing this van pull up outside our house again next week, and being able to enjoy the contents of whichever box we decide to choose much more quickly.

Sue xx

Last Day of January Catch Up Photos

 

Aldi 24th January - £9.34

I couldn't let January fizzle out without getting up to date on my spending progress, so here is a quick post showing what else I have bought with this months money since THIS post.

Booths  21st January - £5

I decided that eggs had to be back on the menu, so these were purchased.

Charity Book Table - £1

It was a good month for the finances really, helped in a weird way by us being too poorly to actually go shopping until earlier today ... that food is for next week so was paid for out of my February cash.  We didn't need to go shopping any earlier as we had almost a week of living of the tiniest amounts of food so nothing was used up.

I also had to cancel a hair appointment, so I didn't need to take any money out of my little emergency stash.

The cash left over at the end of January was £2.37, which will be added to next months allowance.

Freebies for January included a number of serviettes, a few sugar sachets, a little pot of Flora spread, a tomato ketchup sachet, two free cups of coffee at the garden centre, five bin liners, a vegan sausage roll, a coffee and a doughnut ... all from Greggs, using the app ... and a bag of coffee grounds for the garden, picked up from Booths.  Quite a good month for gathering things in and making the budget stretch just a little bit further.

I'll hopefully be back on Monday with a update post on the bungalow, although I can't do a walk around this week as a lot of the floors are missing.  😄

We are both on the mend now, thank you so much for all the well wishes.  It's been a tough one though and I wouldn't want to go through that again anytime soon.  Ginger also recovered very quickly and is now back to his usual self, thank goodness.  🐱

Sue xx

Oh Woe is Me!!

 

Just me, stood on my doorstep, pondering life.

Sorry to be missing in action, but Mum's care home went into lockdown due to Norovirus on Monday, one day after we visited on Sunday.

Guess what?

Yep, we both started with it simultaneously on Monday teatime ... thank goodness we have separate bathrooms.  Ginger started the next day, poor thing.  There's nothing worse than listening to your beloved pet yowl while jettisoning liquid from both ends.

On that note I will leave you, I'm not a sympathy seeking person. 😷  

See you next week, when hopefully I have more energy and brain power to write a proper blog post. 

 You would not believe the amount of corrections I have had to make on this little post!!

Sue xx

It's Time to Dig Out the 'New' Food ... and Exciting News

This is my main food cupboard, over the years I have called it many things, but these days it's just known as 'the food cupboard'.  (See HERE for when I acquired it in 2016.)  

It's always been one of the most useful parts of our home as it holds such a lot, and over the past day or so I have been finding out just how much food there has been stashed away in the bottom cupboard.

Over the past year or so I have been eating through all the tins in the top part of the food cupboard, alongside the few fresh things I was buying each week.  Finally, last week this shelf just had a few tins of salmon and a couple of very out of date green lentils, so it was time to start moving things up from the bottom cupboard and having a good sort out.

I was amazed at how much was in there, so much so that I am still in the process of sorting through them all.  Last year I moved all out of date food upwards and left the things dated 2026 and after in the bottom cupboard.  Doing this worked really well and it has meant that I could use things up in chronological order and therefore nothing has been wasted.  It also meant that anything that I bought and didn't use straight away was added to the lower cupboard if their dates were post-2026.  Gifts of food were added, things that I brought home from Mum's bungalow were added.  All added ... and then forgotten about until there wasn't even a tiny bit of space after Christmas.

Now obviously it is 2026 and with all this space in the top cupboard I am currently in the process of pulling out most of the foods with these best before dates to move them upwards ... and there is a lot more than I thought.  

So I decided to move up what I could and then make an inventory of what will still be in the bottom cupboard, so that I don't go out and buy any duplicates of what I already have.  I am on an extremely low budget until May of this year, so this brilliant stock of food alongside my Riverford veg boxes, that I wrote about yesterday, are really going to see me though nicely.

I'm hoping to finish off the sorting today, so if you are interested I will take a photo of my nicely restocked top cupboard and show it soon.

Talking about being on a super strict budget until May ... look what arrived on Saturday morning.  

I can assure you that I was on the computer and applying for my State Pension within minutes of this invitation landing on my doormat.  To be going from £77.45, plus the interest from my savings account, to £1001.18 a month is an amazing thought.

What will I be doing with all that money? 

 Well I can assure you I will not be wasting a penny of it and frugality will always be the name of the game in day to day life.  Just so that once our renovations on the bungalow are complete we will be able to afford some lovely little holidays.

Sue xx

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

Look After My Sink ... You Have Been Warned!!

 

We went shopping for some of the light fittings and shades that we will be needing for our new home on Saturday.  It was nice looking around B&Q and choosing a few new things.  They were all things that we needed as well as wanted, so I wasn't too unhappy about the splurging of cash.

We were going to try and reuse the old white plastic ceiling fittings for the main room lights, but when we called to the bungalow on the way home from Blackpool we realised that they are all different designs and sadly very yellowed.   So that is something else that we will have to pick up along with the light switches and plug sockets.

We are not doing brilliantly at reusing things that were already in the bungalow, but the whole place was in a very bad condition when we bought it.  Sadly the toilet that I was going to keep is now cracked, Alan was a bit miffed as he discovered this after giving it a really good clean before it was removed from the bathroom.

 

I have told him to warn the builders to really look after my sink.  Once the garage is rebuilt it can go and live in there while the rest of the building work goes on, as I doubt it would survive the removal of the floors once that starts.

But the garage is still a couple of weeks away, so I have my fingers firmly crossed that it survives.  

Sue xx

Did She Stay or Did She Go?

 

I used the last of the Lemon and Lime marmalade yesterday for my 'second breakfast'.  I had forgotten that it was even there, lurking as it was behind the large jar of silverskin pickled onions in the fridge.  I wondered when I had bought this as I really couldn't remember it appearing on any recent blog post, and I have been pretty on the ball with sharing my shopping for a long time now.

So I have just used the Search box and scrolled back, seemingly I opened the jar in August last year, (on this post) but there is no record of when it was bought.

Before I washed the jar out properly I added a bit of water from the kettle to it and gave it a swill, the liquid was then added to the curry that I made last night.  I don't know what difference it actually made to the flavour, but it made me happy that absolutely nothing had gone to waste.

Then I washed the jar properly and the label soaked off like a dream.  

With this fact, and with it being such a lovely jar it seemed a shame to put her into the recycling bin.  I tried to be hard hearted and tell myself that I had more than enough empty jars of assorted sizes.

You've guessed it ... she now lives in the cupboard with her friends, awaiting some random contents of some sort, one day.  😁

Sue xx

So ... How's My Shopping Budget Going?

 

We're halfway through January already, so I thought I would have a bit of a catch up of the shopping that I have done up to now this month, check my diary where I am keeping totals, and also count the money in my bag to see if it matches up and that I have left to see me through the rest of the month.  As you can see from the top photo out of my monthly £50 allowance I have a total of £17.71 left to spend, not too bad and if I am careful I think that I am on track for a good month.

I shopped for the first time on the 3rd and spent a total of £8.60, that's pictured on THIS post.  

4th  Rivington Services - £1.59

Then I had to dip into my money again when we were at the services as I needed a bottle of water.  I don't like paying service station prices for things really, but needs must occasionally.

We had gone to visit Mum and I only had one bottle of sparkling water to take with us.  I usually buy a pack of six small bottles of San Pellegrino every six months and then refill them from either a big bottle of sparkling water or from the tap for travelling in the car.  But I had thrown one away as it was in a bit of a state (aren't we all) not realising that I only had one left.

 Oh well, we were thirsty and we paid the price. 😄

9th  Booths -  £8.95

Then when we went shopping on the 9th, along with yet another loaf of bread, and a birthday card for my brother I bought my next pack of six so I don't have to buy an individual bottle again.

9th Aldi - £1.15

Also on the 9th as I was in Aldi with Alan, I treated myself to a pack of crumpets.

They are now split and in the freezer in two-crumpet sized portions, so they should last me a while.

Of course the odd one had to be sampled along with a cup of coffee.  😄

12th  Sainsbury's - £12

Finally to get us right up to date, I went to Sainsbury's at the start of this week to get my brother a card off my Mum, and happily the tissues are still on offer.  I had managed to get through over half of the last lot of eight boxes over the Christmas and New Year lurgy period.  Thank goodness I had bought them when I did.

This sort of bargain are the reason I have given myself an extra ten pounds each month, it's always nice to have some spare money when a real bargain is available.

I have a very small shopping list up to now for this weekend, so I think I will be able to stay easily under a £10 spend.

Sue xx