One Step Beyond

Can I make it through the night week I mean. I had a shufti round my pockets, bags, shopping bags and all the places where I might find some cash lurking, and .....................wait for it ................................came up with this.

Not very impressive, but tidy it up and see what happens.

£9.35, just 65p shy of my challenge sum. So I ask myself can I do the week on this "Free" money, I will stretch a point and say that as this is lost and found money it is free and should not count. If you disagree speak up and I will think about it.

A look in the fridge and I still have nearly half of this weeks cheese plus next weeks. There is half the bag of potatoes left, and I have 9 eggs.

There are enough veg in the garden and freezer for the week and the trees are dripping with fruit. Then there are the raspberries and blackberries. 

I will have to buy milk but as I have not used all this weeks I will be decanting it into smaller containers and freezing it.

I will also buy a bag of plain flour, celery, peppers and cucumber.

If I am fortunate I could do this on £5.00, how cool would that be.

At this point I should tell you that I am an over achiever but we are not starving, indeed I think that we live very well indeed.

Tonight we are having salad with tuna, sardines, and mackerel fillets. Saturday will be Sausage, egg and chips, naughty but nice. Sunday we are having Roast Duck, roast veg, Yorkshire Pudding ( I know it does not go but we love it) and I will make a gravy with some port, orange and red currant jelly, almost a Cumberland Sauce.

The duck was bought last year using my Vouchers from Mr T that I doubled up. This is partly why my freezer is so well stocked.

On the subject of food this was my dinner last night.

I have to say that it was delicious, the herbs from the garden gave it zing and my cherry toms are as sweet as honey with just a touch of acidity to balance. I used the dressing from the tin with a splash of balsamic and a grind of black pepper.

Francesca had Lamb hot pot and I put 3 in the freezer for her packed lunches. The bones have been boiled up and the resulting stock frozen, now Ben will enjoy the bones.

Not bad if I say so myself.

I have been shopping and spent £6.80, £2.00 went on milk for the week and the rest on this haul.

Just look at the size of that cauli, it weighs 2.8Kg and the cabbage weighs 2.4Kg, here it is next to a tin of beans for scale. I bought 3 large potatoes and one night we will have them cooked in their skins and topped with veg roasted in garlicky oil on a bed of salad, I do have some from last week but they are not big enough to bake.

We are looking forward to a feast week full of vegetables and small amounts of  the hoarded meats from the freezer. I was planning to use veg from the freezer to top up the garden offerings but had a change of plan when I saw what the market had to offer. This just means that next weekend I will not have go into town on the Friday. 

We are going to visit Michael,s Dad and Step mum on Saturday and whatever I need I will pick up at Mr T's on the way home.

I went out this morning with £9.35 in my pocket and have got £2.87 left, all I need to buy is a bag of plain flour. I will get this in Asda tomorrow as I have to go into Wisbech, I think it will be around 40p. so will still have over £2.00 for odds and ends. I did get 2 free bags of salad leaves at work last night and they will both be used before they have a chance to wilt beyond use.

If anyone thinks that I am being a little OTT about this personal challenge, please comment, I will not change my mind but am interested in others opinions. I thrive on challenge and intend to pursue this to the end, which will be sweet not bitter.

I should point out that any household purchases are not included in this and I will need a top up of washing up liquid and loo rolls in a couple of weeks. I make my own laundry "gloop" and white vinegar, bicarbonate of soda and soda crystals make most of my cleaning products.

 BTW the white vinegar stripped every scrap of limescale out of the shower head and all four bathroom taps for around 15p.

 I do not use fabric softener a good blow on the line keeps them soft and I use tea tree oil in the "gloop" to make them smell fresh.

Reasons to be grateful.

1. A 3 day weekend, just what the doctor ordered.

2. 15 minutes chatting in town with an old work colleague and plans to meet up in 2 weeks.

3. A load of laundry, done and hung out by Michael. 

4. Sunshine filtering through the leaves on my walk with Ben, a delight to lift the spirits.

5. Overnight rain keeping my flowers looking and smelling good.

In fact the sun is so warm that I am going to finish my tea and take Ben out for a bonus walk while I can.

On that note it is time to say             TTFN                Pam

PS my fabric win arrived this morning, I will show and tell tomorrow.