Saturday 8 September 2012

Tartan remnants and marinade jars


This unpromising bag of remnants caused great excitement when it arrived this morning.


After a little bit of sorting out and colour coding this is what was in there.  £8 worth (half price in their clearance sale) of Scottish tartan remnants from a bespoke kiltmaker.  Most of it is 100% wool and can be felted for use in my Etsy projects.  A small amount has silk in it so I'll need to find a use for it too.  Total weight 1kg.


There are 32 different tartans.  I've sorted them into reds, blues, pink/purples, greens and browns.  I'm planning to make an advent calender for a Christmas Fayre so can make the 24 wee pockets all different.


A quick pop into M&S found these wee jars of marinade reduced from £1.55 down to 40p.  I tried one the other day and used it like a stir fry sauce (yummy!)   But when I washed out the jar I thought it was the perfect size for filling with a festive preserve to add to a gift basket.  So I bought 10 and used my £4 vouchers so effectively I have 10 free stir fry sauces and 10 jars to recycle into gifts.

And reduced local strawberries never go to waste round here!!!

Friday 7 September 2012

Meet the girls


Ok, owning 2 dogs isn't the smartest idea when your budget is tight but I wouldn't part with them for the world.  Lucy (left) is 7yo and Emma (right) is 8mo. Both are black labs.

Lucy is the sweetest natured dog I have ever owned. She is very shy and timid.  Her favourite activities are fetching a tennis ball (she can do this for hours!!!) and swimming.

Emma is totally bonkers!  But her zest and enthusiasm for life is just awesome.  She has a naughty side which involves stealing clothes and shredding them!

ATM my monthly food bill for dried dog food is around £65.  I have pet insurance for Emma which is £15 per month.  So that's £80 before spending anything on toys (they get destroyed!!) or collars/leads.  The trainer I'm working with suggested changing their food to raw meat and veg.  She believes that feeding dogs dried food is like feeding your kids junk food.  And I have never done that!  You can buy frozen raw meat from the pet store but I've worked out it would cost over £100 per month to feed both dogs this way.  Sadly at this moment in time I just can't do it.

But the pleasure we all get from them is beyond measure.  Going for walks, going for a run, playing ball with them are all free activities that benefits both humans and dogs.

Wednesday 5 September 2012

Frugal meals

I thought I'd post how I use up my reduced yellow stickered stuff and turn them into frugal meals.
 

Coleslaw was yummy with baked potatoes and eggs, well I use soooo many eggs.


The chef's veg selection included carrots, butternut squash, peas and green beans.


That became green lentil and veg soup. Very yummy!


Mixed berries became.......


......... a breakfast protein smoothie with soya protein added.



Stir fry veg became......


....... a stir fry with noodles!  I added cashews, sweetcorn and pineapples.

My freezer and store cupboard are getting so full of bargains.  Elaine over at Mortgage Free has asked the question 'How long could you live off your store cupboard provisions?'  I think I'll challenge myself to live off mine for the month of October.  With a bit of forward planning it should be doable!