Tesco splurge

 

Hair cut day for me today! ✂ I got it all chopped off, much easier to look after.  I grew it longer for the wedding but truthfully long hair is a faff I just can't be bothered with!! 😂 Even my hairdresser was stunned at the length.  Cost me £55 plus tip for a cut and blow dry.  It's worth it for me as I probably won't get it cut again this year, I'll grow it out a bit until I'm fed up with it again!

Since I parked in the Tesco car park for free, I popped in to see if they had any yellow stickers.  There wasn't a great discount off the meat but as their slogan says it all helps.  I've already cooked this mince off with some bendy grated carrots and red lentils.  I got 4 generous portions for the freezer.

I also got some beef strips.  I split the 375g pack into 3 generous portions and froze them raw.  I don't normally freeze meat raw but thought it would be easier to stir fry raw so it stays tender.  I could probably have got 4 portions but I'm really craving beef atm as I rarely have it.

I also bought a cotton dress in their sale, reduced to £20.  It's so comfy and cool with a shirred back which is my favourite style right now.  No faffing with zips/buttons and it stretches to accommodate my expanding girth!!!! 😱😂

I had £7.50 worth of vouchers so that covered the meat.  But the dress was a wee splurge! 

Just loafing around

 

I had some bananas that needed to be used up so I made a banana loaf.  I just used the Mary Berry recipe as it's a chuck everything in the mixer for 2 mins.  Recipe HERE  although I actually used 3 bananas! 🍌🍌🍌

I also had some chicken mince in the fridge that needed to be cooked or frozen raw as it was on it's date so I made a meatloaf.  Chicken mince was the cheapest mince per kg in Tesco last week.  I keep an eye on the prices per kg of all the meat minces and they do change week to week.  I just mixed it all up with some oats, mixed herbs, garlic powder, Worcester sauce, some cooked bacon chopped into wee bits and an egg.  I only have one 2lb loaf pan and it was full of banana goodness.  So I made it in a flat casserole dish and threw some bacon top as it was also nearly out of  date.  I cooked both loaves in the oven at the same time!  I had meatloaf with a stuffed baked potato made from the reduced bag of spuds my DIL got me the other day.  Wee bit of salad and it was a lovely meal.

I sliced up both loaves when they were cool and froze them flat in the freezer ready to pull out for a quick meal or snack 😋

I'm noticing my oven runs a wee bit hot so the banana loaf is a bit browner than normal despite being covered in foil!  Still delicious! 

Best yellow sticker bargain ever?

 

I can't claim credit for this one.  Now that my son and DIL live right in the town centre they can nip into M&S and the Sainsbury's Local just before closing and scoop up any bargains.  This is an Indian meal bag for 2 reduced from £9.25 to 10p.  Yes, 10p!!!!

My DIL froze it for me in their freezer and I picked it up when I took my son to work.  It's now in my freezer and will make 2 very nice treat meals for me at some point.  Since we all lived together we know what each other likes so we're always on the lookout for good bargains to share.

I don't think I've ever had such a good yellow sticker bargain on it's own!!  She's an expert now! 😊

Her Royal Highness!!

 

Oh my goodness, this chicken has had us all running round in circles.  There have been a few times we thought she was a goner.  And a few times I almost called the vet to put her to sleep.  But this morning she was very vocal when I went out and tried to peck me when I was giving her the medicine.  She drank a huge amount of water then started pecking around for food.  So I gave her some chopped up strawberries and blueberries and well, you can see the result!!

She's still unable to stand up but is shuffling around instead of just sitting with her head down.  Fingers crossed she keeps getting better!! 🤞🤞🤞 We've renamed her HRH Princess Tuppence 😂

I gave in and reinstalled the Too Good to Go app.  I got an M&S bag last night.  I paid £5 for the above items.  Lamb moussaka, cream slices, carrots, small fruit salad, large fruit salad and a sandwich.  Full price should have been £20.30 so not bad.  My DIL got a  bag as well and hers totalled £15.50 so I got the better deal this time.

I also got a wee viola Heartsease plant at Dobbies for 69p.  Tis very pretty!

People said nice things

 

Well,  I told everyone at work yesterday that I was retiring.  It seems it was a bit of a surprise to most people but everyone (almost) said really nice things and wished me well.  Many people said I would be really missed which was lovely.  A few folk said they were jealous!!  I was honest with my headteacher and told her I was burnt out and had nothing left to give especially after the inspection.  I'll also be letting my union know that too!

I popped into Morrisons on the way back from dropping off my son at work tonight.  My DIL was with me and we looked for bargains!  They have random shelves of reduced stuff all over the store so it was like a treasure hunt!  I got some flowers reduced from £6.99 down to 70p.  Lilies are my favourite!

My DIL got some gorgeous red roses reduced from £5.99 to 60p!  She also got some yellow stickered cheese, cooked ham and a pizza.

I got a jar of lamb gravy granules reduced from £3 to 25p.  Gravy is gravy so any meat flavour works for me!  It's still months in date.

I didn't get my non contact time today as the teacher who covers me and my stage partner was off with flu.  It seems there's yet another bug/virus doing the rounds plus a wee vomiting outbreak in some classes 😷🤮 

Definitely will not miss the bugs, viruses and germs!!!!

Impending doom!

 

There is a definite air of impending doom hanging over the school.  HMIE is due to arrive on Monday at 12 noon.  The Headteacher has kept the school open until 9pm each night for people to work.  And it will be open tomorrow (Sunday) too.  I genuinely have no idea what they're doing!!!  One of my closest work friends told me she'd worked 75 hours the previous week.  We only get paid for 35 hours!!! What on earth was she doing for those other 40 hours????  It's just crazy.

I popped into Waitrose on Tuesday night after dropping my son off at work.  It had been a very wet day and was still raining heavily at 6pm.  Always good conditions for yellow stickers!  I picked up salmon fillets, cooked sausages, GF rolls, chorizo, samosas, coleslaw and rice cakes.  Everything was at least half price or less!  I seriously considered buying a huge catering size haggis than was half price and well within date.  I would have portioned it up and frozen it. They had loads of them so I might pop back in to see if they have any left.  I also bought some daffodils on impulse.  They've opened out after a few days and are just a welcome splash of colour in these dreich days! 

I also popped in to Lidl on my way home on Thursday as I needed to buy popcorn for school (don't ask! 😂)  They had some fab reductions for just 70p!!  Think I timed it well 😊

I just have this week to 'survive' plus 2 staff development days then it's half term.  I suspect it will include a lot of sleeping!! 😴

Round up of my week

 

The above photo is by The Kilted Photographer, a stunning aerial view of the Wallace Monument yesterday.  The same monument I see from my allotment plot 😊

It's been a very cold icy week here (-9 degrees C at times) We had a burst water main nearby and the school was closed for an afternoon as we had no water.  I had reduced water pressure but many houses were without water for a few hours.  The burst pipe pumped out 1000 litres of water per minute for many hours.  Then it all froze solid!  

It snowed for the first time yesterday.  Snow lying on top of ice made for very dangerous driving conditions.  In fact, I had to walk to work as I decided my wee car just wouldn't make it safely out of my drive, down the hill and then back up another longer hill to get to the main road.  It's normally a 25 min walk but took me about 40 mins to trudge through the snow.  I was late for work for the first time ever!  I enjoyed the walk but the really cold air has aggravated my lungs and I've got my non stop cough back! 🙄

 

I got a few decent yellow stickered bargains earlier in the week when I popped into Tesco.  These ones were for my son and DIL.

These were for me!  The chilli chicken was very nice (did 2 meals for me) and we're trying the Chinese sauce on some duck fillets and prawns I already have in the freezer for tomorrow's meal 😋  It's just luck when trying to get yellow sticker stuff but I've noticed when the weather has been bad there are more bargains!

I've been experimenting with cooking stuff on top of my woodburner.  There's not enough space to put a kettle or large pan.  But there's room for a couple of our small pans to boil water.  Here I put some sliced peppers in a bit of oil and they sizzled nicely until they were cooked!  I also tried a wee enamel pie dish with stuffing mix and it cooked beautifully too.  It was interesting to see on the news that many folks are trying to get a woodburner installed to save money on heating bills.  There's a waiting list until March apparently!

I got my Christmas dinner meat and fish delivered from Wild and Game HERE  I've used them before.  They're expensive but their stuff is ethically sourced and afterall, it's Christmas!  My son and I are having the 3 bird roast and my DIL is having the wild halibut.  I think I'll do the venison for New Year's day.  I got the pate as it took my order up to free postage!!  It's been a while since I've eaten pate but it's rather delicious!

I now have 2 full days and 2 half days of teaching left.  I'm hanging on for dear life.  At the moment I'm wondering if they'll be my last days of teaching full stop as I'm so burnt out.  We'll see 💔

Day 12: It's all edible (almost)

 

I just can't stop myself!!  More bargain plants from Dobbies, these are half price herbs.  I bought 6 @ £1.49.  2 apple mints, 2 creeping thyme, 1 camomile (sadly they only had 1 left) and 1 creeping rosemary for my Lovely Mum.  They had rows and rows of them, all mixed up so I had to really hunt through them for what I knew I would use.  I drink mint tea and camomile tea so wanted them to dry the leaves and store over Winter.  I have spearmint in my garden so wanted a different one for the plot.  Thyme can be used on roast chicken and in mixed herbs (def going to have a go at drying my own mix this year.)

Here they are all planted up in my new herb bed!.  Hopefully they'll grow and spread a bit this summer then next year I'll split them and plant up even more.  One of the mint roots had grown right through the bottom of the pot.  It broke off so I've planted it too in the hope that it will take.  Everyone knows that if you leave even a tiny bit of mint root it keeps coming back so here's hoping!! 🤞

Of course I checked the food bargains too when I was there and got 5 unwaxed lemons for 18p!!  I'm going to zest and juice them, then freeze in ice cube trays.  The last time I scored unwaxed lemons was in my Lidl box.  I sliced and froze them then used them a week later to make elderflower cordial.

Recipe HERE  It makes 3 litres so you could easily half it.  You don't need to add the citric acid as long as you keep it in the fridge.  I do any way as I like to keep it cold.  The elderflowers actually came from my class garden at school!  I left plenty to become berries in the Autumn.

I'm venturing into the world of sourdough.  I've tried before to make a starter myself but making a gluten free one is tricky.  So I cheated and bought one from this wee company in Brighton  https://www.sourdoughbythesea.co.uk/  It comes in dried form and you add flour and water daily to activate it.  This is it on Day 5, all bubbly and ready to start using tomorrow 🍞 A standard GF sourdough loaf costs £3.50 so hopefully I'll be able to make my own better tasting for a fraction of that!  Plus you can make pizza bases, pancakes and more with a sourdough starter! 😋  Frugal gourmet stuff!

I was watching Lovely Greens on Youtube last night where Tanya was talking about seeds to plant in July.  Check it out HERE  I was so happy to see that I had many of the seeds she was recommending! (wee yellow packet is Swiss chard) Woohoo!!  More edible planting and therefore more food for me 😊

But this avocado was not edible 😠 One of the 2 pack that was labelled 'ripe and ready to eat.'  Nope, it was black all the way through.  And the other one was barely ripe and not deliciously creamy.  I was so disappointed especially as it was my treat item from my delivery.  Ah well, everything else above is edible or will be at some point 😋