Beef!

Well, despite costing me a small fortune the beef was actually delicious! 😋 My son and I each had 2 large slices in gravy with roast potatoes and veg for dinner last night.  I then let the joint rest for an hour and sliced it up.  I'm rubbish at carving joints (mainly cos I do it so rarely!) so each slice was a generous 'chunky' one 😂  I layered them in a dish and covered it all in the gravy.

I portioned it up this morning for freezing.  The tubs have a large and a smaller slice (these are for my son) and I wrapped single large slices in individual freezer bags with a few spoonfuls of gravy,  In total the joint gave enough beef for 5 tubs, 7 freezer bags plus the 2 dinners last night.  So 14 meals in total makes it £1.53 a serving, still way more than I like to spend on meat.  I could have been meaner in my portion sizes and got more servings.  But I decided some of these would be 'treat' meals for my son so I didn't skimp.

I remember years ago in the 70s when I was a child, my parents had a meat slicer (similar to the above) that carved meat into really thin slices.  As I was 'carving' my chunky slices last night I was thinking 'I bet my mum and dad could have got triple the amount of slices I've got!'  😂

It caught me out this time!!

 

Eurgh!!!  I got caught out by the price per kg in Tesco this morning.  I'm so annoyed with myself.  I was in a bit of rush so when I was looking at the joints of beef I just saw the £11 part of the price tag.  It was actually in rather large bold numbers and there was signage suggesting beef was on special offer.  I put one in my basket, rushed round to pick the rest of my items and rushed through the checkout.

When I got home, I got the Crockpot out and put the joint straight in so it would be ready for tonight's meal.  I'd promised my son I'd cook him some beef.  I didn't even look at the packaging before it went straight into the wheelie bin!

It was only when I looked at my receipt I realised I'd paid £21.38!!!!!!!  😭😭😭

It had better be the best tasting beef I've ever had!!!

Much better!

Thanks for the lovely supportive comments on yesterday's post.  I'm feeling much better today!  I just had a chill day yesterday.  I leisurely cleaned my kitchen, cleared some paperwork and let my OH take the dog out for a long walk while I had a lie down listening to an audible book.  Batteries are well and truly charged.

I was up early this morning and did my Sainsbury's shop by 9am.  I scored a few bargains!  The ice cream (for The Teenogre) and frozen GF pies were hugely reduced.  Supermarkets always clear out frozen stuff in the run up to Christmas.  Keep your eyes peeled for good bargains!

I also got lucky with some meat.  The beef joint was LESS than half price!!!  I've been neglecting the butcher's counter.  I must remember to keep checking it for bargains in the future.  It's been in the slow cooker all day 😋

The chicken drumsticks made a big pot of stock which became chicken and rice soup, aka lunch for 7 days.  My freezer is now pretty full!

I had a parcel delivered this week and was too tired to open it until yesterday.  I recently found a website that sells non plastic alternatives. Have a look HERE. I'm trying out these pot scourers made of jute and cotton.  They can be chucked in the washing machine when they get grubby and then can be reused.

Did you know that most teabags aren't biodegradable? Many have plastic in them.  I'm trying a reusable teabag made of organic calico.  It's working out so far.  I'm not sure how long they last but so far I've saved 9 plastic ridden teabags going to landfill.

I've been finishing off some wee jobs in my bedroom today and I'm ready now for the carpet fitters to come this week. My Lovely Mum has made me a fabulous quilt that's off to be quilted tomorrow.  It's all coming together!

Hope everyone is well and looking ahead to the festive season.  TV adverts are starting to talk about the C word so I guess I'd better get thinking about it too!! 🎄

Beef and bargains

One of the things I love most about my OH is that he will help anyone.  Many times he's stopped on the road to help people with punctures and move/carry stuff.  He sweeps his neighbours' driveways when it snows, clears out gutters and so on.  He's got a heart of gold 💑 

One of the young guys from his TKD club recently bought himself a motorbike (OH has had a bike for 40 years!) Unfortunately it had a few things wrong with it so OH has been helping him get them sorted out.  Then a few weeks ago the young guy had a wee accident (skidded on black ice) and the bike got damaged.  So OH helped him sort out the issues and gently encouraged him to put the bike away for the winter on his step dad's farm.

As a thank you, the step dad (who I think was secretly relieved) gave OH a huge frozen joint of beef and a pack of ribeye or rump steaks!!  We're having the beef joint tonight.  It's almost 2kg in weight and will give us loads of leftovers for meals.  And I love the fact that the animal was raised just 2 miles from me.

These are my bargain beetroots from the other day.  I wrapped each one in foil and roasted them for about an hour.  I rubbed off the skin (wearing rubber gloves!!), quartered them and doused them with balsamic vinegar.  I had them with a couple of my meals this week.  Delicious 😋

I had some really squishy leftover bananas so made some pancakes (recipe HERE ) and some ridiculously healthy tasty muffins.  They don't have any sugar/honey/sweetener but still taste sweet.  They're based on a Fit Couple Cooks recipe.  I use their recipes a lot!

Banana Muffins (my adapted version)

3 mashed bananas (really ripe)
1/4 cup melted coconut oil
pinch of salt
1 and 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup cornflour
1 cup ground almonds
1/2 oats
1 tsp vanilla extract

Gently combine ingredients and bake in muffin tin for 15 - 20 mins at Gas 6 or 200C

I got 9 muffins with that mixture.  Seriously tasty for a healthy sugar free muffin!

I also made a version of Elaine's Golden Lentil and Coconut soup (recipe HERE ) without the ginger and coriander as I didn't have any.  I had half a tin of coconut milk leftover from last weekend's Turkey Curry and I used up some of my bargain 10p carrots.  It was really good.  I've frozen a few batches for next week's lunches at work and gave eldest DS some too.

I carefully cooked my bargain turkey crown in my slowcooker but it still ended up rather dry.  Maybe I should have used all that butter the recipes suggested!! Ah well. However, it's all sliced/diced and frozen in portions to make quick healthy lunches/dinners when I'm back at work.

I popped into Lidl this morning and spent a grand total of £3.63 on potatoes, peppers, celery and apples.  My freezer and storecupboard are well stocked so I'm hoping that for the rest of January all I'll need are a few more top ups of fresh fruit and veg like this morning.

Serious saving has begun 💰👍

Wednesday

Tonight's tea was a use it up beef stir fry with the ends of a stir fry veg bag and tub of rice from the freezer, the remains of a tin of sweetcorn The Teenager had opened at lunchtime and some of the pulled beef I made and froze in portions a few weeks ago.  Ready in 5 mins.  Lovely!

Wednesday is a TKD training night for The Teenager so as I'm passing anyway I popped into Sainsbury's.  I stuck to my list except for some reduced lamb mince and GF steak pie.  Oops! So much for emptying the freezer!!

I also got 3 bags of compost reduced to £1 because they'd burst at the seams.  Again, too good to pass up.

The weather here is still very mixed with lots of  heavy showers.  So far I've not been able to get out into the garden long enough to get the shed and polytunnel up.  But the pink paint is ready and waiting for when the sun comes out! Until then it's more decluttering and knitting :-)

Final week

 

With only one week of the school holidays left, I'm trying to pack in as much as I can.  Chickens are still alive.  They're now 20 weeks old and should be nearly ready to start laying :-)

 

I tried a new slow cooker recipe for pulled beef.  So easy!

 

Balsamic pulled beef

 

1 small brisket joint

 

1 cup balsamic vinegar

1 cup water (original recipe said beef stock but I didn't have any)

1 tbsp. Worcester sauce

1 tbsp. tamari (soy sauce)

 

Mix wet ingredients and pour over joint.  I did it 1 hour on High then 6 hours on Low.

 

It was melt in the mouth delicious! Next time I'll try less vinegar and add some honey and maybe some chilli.

 

I'm doing loads of painting, sanding and waxing in my kitchen.  I've made a few mistakes in the order that things should have been done but you live and learn.  I've made life harder for myself. Hey ho! I'm going to Glasgow tomorrow to try and find some fabric to jazz up a plain white roller blind.  The Teenager thinks the kitchen is boring as it's all painted white.  He can't imagine it once I've added all the coloured accessories.

 

This console table was very dark.  It's had the first coat of chalk paint.  I'm thinking it might need 2 more coats of paint then waxed.  I am determined to get this kitchen finally finished! 

 

And here's The Teenager all ready for his work experience.  He loved it and is sure that radiology is want he wants to do.  Phew!!