First it was Meat ... Now it's Fish

Last Friday I posted all about our Musclefood delivery and the meat that we bought to stock the freezer for Alan's meals (see here) ...  this week's bulk purchase for the freezer is fish.

In Tesco one day last week I noticed the end of one of the chiller cabinets was absolutely full of sides of salmon at the reduced price of £7.50, instead of the normal £15.  After checking all the other fresh salmon prices I bought two.  In the cinema half an hour later I thought about this and decided to nip back to get two more thinking that they would last us a long time at this brilliant price.  By the time my film had finished and I had driven the three minutes back to Tesco the fridge had been stripped bare ... as had lots of other shelves, it seems the Christmas buying frenzy is already upon us.

But never mind I had my two safely in the boot of the car  :-)

They have now been sliced into meal sized portions.

Although a couple were slightly over the recommended 100g of meat or fish allowance for a meal.

Each portion was wrapped in Easy-leave, so it would be safe in the freezer and separate from the pieces next to it.

I just weighed every now and then to keep me on track, especially as the fish changed shape towards the tail end.

Once both sides had been portioned out and wrapped I put them into a freezer proof box and added the label off one of the packs.

Then I decided to write on the label how many portions I had started with and the cost per portion, because as much as I think I'm going to remember I never do.

A Tesco single plain salmon fillet is currently on sale at £2.35 for 130g.  So I think my portions at just 83p each are an absolute bargain, and with 18 slices now nestled in the freezer Alan will have a fish dish every now and then at a much lower cost than usual.

Sue xx

Mondays Fridge Soup

At the end of last week we had to call to Tesco late in the evening and for once we were lucky enough to grab a few bargains, it's pretty rare these days that we are there when the yellow stickers are out in force ... well to be honest we've just not been shopping that much recently, only going to the shops for absolute necessities. 

Anyway this morning I set about using the veggies up, they had survived the weekend very well in the drawer of the fridge, but I wanted to use them up before they got any unhappier!!

I emptied out the rest of the fridge drawer too ... 

... put back the few things that were in really good condition.

Then I got out the 'bits and bobs' bag from the freezer, I save all trimmings and stalks from the cauliflowers and broccoli for just such occasions.

Then it was time to fish out the 'flavour enhancers', some Approved Foods bouillon powder ...

... and one or two other additions.

I always find the more variety of flavours you put in the richer and deeper the taste of the finished product, and anyway I like to play.  So I chopped and diced and got everything simmering away nicely for a while and then decided it looked a bit wishy washy ...

... so I added a good squirt of tomato puree and a couple of teaspoon of Turmeric.

It looked much better !!

After a couple of hours in the bottom oven of the Aga I whizzed it up with my stick blender and had a good bowl full for my lunch ... for tasting purposes of course.

And then the rest was cooled ready to go into the freezer, with one small bowl put into the fridge for tomorrows lunch.

I had already dealt with the bargain pack of ham as soon as we got home, you don't leave meat lying around for too long.  First it was dried off slightly on kitchen paper ...

... then split into four usable portions.

Before being placed in a zip lock bag and popped into the freezer.

As you can see I am still determined to make full use of everything we buy or grow and watch our pennies and I'm gearing up for next year ... when the purse strings will once again be pulled in very tightly.

Sue xx

Jamie Oliver - 5 Ingredients

I'd been wondering whether or not to buy this book.

 I've been really enjoying the accompanying television series, but over the course of the Summer I've gradually sold off most of my Jamie Oliver book collection at the car boot sales we've been doing.  I had every that book he has ever written, the older Naked Chef ones were so dated and although good at the time we just don't eat that way these days.

It was quite amazing looking through all the books in the order that he had written them while I was sorting them out for selling, watching him age bit by bit and his family grow in both number and ages.  So when this one came out I was in two minds about getting it, and then Mum mentioned she had debated whether or not to buy it for herself as well.

The deciding factor was finding out I had £8.78 in Waterstones rewards available to use, and as the book was on sale there at half of it's cover price of £26, it would be a snip at just £4.22 for two of us to share ... and definitely too good a bargain to miss.

We have already got one firm favourite of a recipe from the series and the book ... Super Green Spaghetti, it's absolutely delicious and worth the cost of the book alone ... well the £4.22 cost of the book that is   ;-)

I've had a good look through the book and now I'm taking it to Mum's with me so she can have a turn. 

See you later Mum  :-)

Sue xx

Meat, Meat and Maybe a Little Bit More Meat

We called up at Bodnant Farm Foods the other day to partake of their current offer of 'Plenty for Twenty'.  Basically lots of meat products from their butchery department for £20 ...

with a free gift if you took the time to print out a coupon.

As Alan is the only one to eat meat in our house it pays us to look out for offers and make full use of what we buy.  He loves the quality of Bodnant meats and the localness of their suppliers.  Indeed in the next couple of years he is hoping to become one of their regular suppliers himself with pork products.

As soon as we got home I snapped into action and prepared all the meats into single serving portions, individually wrapped so even a single sausage could be taken out itself if needed, and then bagged together.  Alan portioned up the whole chicken for me and that was split into four large portions.  The bones, and the meat they had stuck to them, were boiled up and then simmered with some chunky cut vegetables and provided him with a huge bowl of soup the next day and a stock to add to some lamb shanks that I cooked for him that night. He had the 'free gift'  ... which was a chicken stir-fry pack ... last night for his tea.

Once wrapped and bagged everything else was boxed and taken out to the large chest freezer in the workshop.

While we were out and about we also called to Sainsbury's' with the intention of using our large stash of Nectar points (over £35 worth) to buy more meat for the freezer, and luckily we arrived just as the fridges were being checked for near date items.  We managed to get most of the meat Alan wanted with yellow stickers, making it a very worthwhile shop.

Once again everything was portioned out at home, even the pack of twenty meatballs being divided into little wraps of five.

Just enough to add to a pasta dish or pizza, for a little taste of meat for my meat loving man.

The diced 'casserole steak' was also portioned up, just enough to add a meaty hit to a stew,  casserole, curry, pie or pasty.

I did it by eye, but I couldn't resist checking to see how equal the packs were and I found that I had pretty much got it spot on  :-)

Again everything was individually wrapped, bagged and then boxed to give it as a long a storage time as possible.  Air is your enemy in the freezer.

I also took some homemade soups out to the freezer, which is now filling up nicely ready for Winter.  It wasn't my most enjoyable afternoon of food prep, but one that was really worth doing to get us the most for our hard earned money.

Sue xx

Seeds, Seeds and Then Some More Seeds

The ladies who lunch at Wyevale struck gold again last week, well this year I think I would call it bronze!  The sale is nowhere near as good this year as it was last, remember the 30p fireguards I managed to get, the net wigwams for my cabbages at 70% off their true cost ... well there's none of that this year, and the crafty folk there have even packed away most of the seeds instead of just putting them all in the '50p a pack' sale as they used to do.

Now the ex-retail manager in me says at last they are learning stock management and buying only what sells at full price instead of stuff they have to give away.  But the bargain hunter in me says boohoo and stamps her feet and slams out in a huff.

I did have a good look through the seeds that were there though and managed to spend £7 on seeds that I needed, Little Gem lettuce, Dwarf Beans, Cauliflower, Carrots and Spring Onions .... I can never have enough Spring Onions :-)

The other things were Rosemary, I have never grown it from seed before and was interested to try ... and well for 50p it's worth a go isn't it.

The Chives and Basil caught my eye because the seeds are impregnated onto little mats and you just pop them onto the top of a plant pot full of compost, water it well and you should have a well filled pot of Chives.  I was intrigued by this so I got a pack of Basil too.  There are five mats in each pack and they normally retail at £2.99 which I wouldn't pay, but for 50p I thought it would be a simple and quick way of growing pots of herbs to sell on at the farm gate and at next years car boot sales.  So five packs with five mats in each should give me 25 pots of herbs, that I will probably sell at £1 each.  Not a bad return £25 for an outlay of just £2.50.

I don't normally buy 'seed tapes' either as they are an expensive way to purchase seeds, but I thought the carrot tapes at just 50p would be good. My downfall with carrots is always planting them far too close together and then forgetting to thin them.

So at 50p a packet my 14 packs came to just £7, when I got home I couldn't resist adding up the full retail value of my little haul and I was pleasantly surprised to find it came to £36.27.  So only a small sale splurge this year but I think a worthwhile one.  Maybe I'll upgrade my medal from bronze to silver.

And talking of seeds .....

... do you remember THIS post?

I bought this magazine from Tesco ....

... it came with £24 worth of free seeds and a Dvd.

And the chance to buy three more issues of the magazine for £5 with even more free seeds.

Did you think I could resist this?

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Nope .... you know me so well   :-)

The seeds arrived on Saturday along with the details of my 'new' subscription. now I just have to remember to cancel the subscription before they take out the £20 for the next six months in three months time.  These seeds had a total retail value of £39.94 ... of course I just had to add it up to see!!

Now you understand the title of this post  :-)

Sue xx

Bargains

I've picked up some brilliant plant bargains just recently, perhaps it's been because I haven't really been food shopping so much and have had my eyes open for other things.

The two large plant pots in the top photo were a really good find early on a quiet Monday morning at Tesco.  They had obviously just been given a good watering as they were dripping wet and by the time I had arrived were already perking up nicely.  They both contain four plants, Lavender, Rosemary, a Pepper and a Tomato plant, annoyingly it doesn't give any information about the plants but they are healthy enough and I think I'll repot them into their own pots soon.  At the moment they are stood on the patio looking really good in the big terracotta pots they came in.  The pots alone are worth the £2.50 I paid for each pot.

There were four for sale at this price but I left the others for someone else to grab a bargain.

A couple of days later also at Tesco I came across these trays of French Marigolds reduced from £2 each to just 20p each ... and you know me I had a PLAN  in mind straight away  :-)

My plan was to take one of the trays of marigolds and plant them where I need them to attract all the beneficial insects for my crops ...  and then use the other along the lines of yesterdays post ... making money from virtually nothing.

Potted up in some old black plastic plant pots that cost me nothing, the marigolds will be added to either this weeks or next weeks car boot sale stall.  Hopefully I will be able to get 50p each for them now they are already getting bigger. 

So I should be able to make £3 for my 20p outlay ...every little helps and adds nicely to the Food and Plants Fund.

While I was at Tesco there just inside the doorway there was a wire tray full of these boxes ...

...all reduced to clear.

So altogether for the marigolds and these packs of flower bulbs I spent a grand total of £1.50, the full retail price should have been £14.  If I make the hoped for £3 at the car boot sale I will be £1.50 in profit and have lots of flowers for us ....and the bees.

Plant bargains make me just as happy as food bargains.

Sue xx

Bargains ... But Not for Us to Use

I've just realised that I have yet to get around to showing you what I bought from the garden centre when I called in there last week with Mum.  

We had our lunch somewhere else but decided on the spur of the moment to drive to our usual lunch venue Wyevale in Altrincham, as Mum had heard there were final reductions in the end of season sale there.

And as soon as we walked in I spotted these fireguards, reduced from £14.99 to just £1 each.  Brilliant I thought if I buy three of these and sell them at the car boot sale for £3 each that will cover our entrance fee and the fuel we need to get there and so make it a completely cost neutral day ... and still give any purchaser a really good bargain for the coming Winter.

As I picked three up an assistant who was restocking the area must have overheard our conversation and shouted over to us 'there are some more of them if you want more', I said no thanks that I was more than happy with three and I went to pay for them and put them in the car while Mum ordered the coffees.

When I got to the checkout the assistant rang them through the till and then knocked an additional 70% off as that is what they were doing with ALL the sale goods.

So I got the fire guards for just 30p each!!

Needless to say, I went back and got three more after we had finished our coffee  :-)

So now we have six fireguards with a usual selling price total of £89.94, that cost me just £1.80 and that we will hopefully be able to sell for a total of £18.  So that will be our costs for the day covered and a little bit of spending money too.  Result!!

Sue xx

Show and Tell

I realised when I was planting up this planter that I totally forgot to do my usual ... and now very customary ...  'show and tell' after my garden centre bargain hunting expedition with Mum last week.  And it's almost time for another one ..... although I suspect that the bargains will have all gone now  :-(

Last week after our spot of lunch we grabbed a trolley and hit the aisles with an open mind.  I quickly spied a Wisteria marked down to half price (and then it was reduced to 70% off at the till),  and knowing how expensive Wisterias usually are I was really pleased to snap this one up for just £7.49,  it had originally been sold at £24.99.  I also bought two ground cover plants for just £1.49 each and a shock horror .... full priced Gerbera at £3.99, just because it's lovely shade of vibrant yellow looked so good with the other plants in the trolley.  I just love anything vaguely daisy-like  :-)

It doesn't look much at the moment especially from a distance, but in years to come I hope the Wisteria will be trained around the column and then hopefully fan out either side almost at roof level along wires, to soften the front of the garage space with a froth of pinky creamy flowers and foliage.  Fingers crossed!!

I also bought two of these.

With it's copper banded bottom edge to keep slugs out and fine mesh sides to hopefully keep out all other 'nibblers', my crops on the top most raised beds on the Veggie Patch should be safer.  And with a zip for easy access so you don't have to unpeg it all the way round to get things out it should make life easier.  That it was reduced from £29.99 to just £9 made my day...... so I got two.

Lovely Hubby said I should have got half a dozen ... but then he likes buying anything in bulk!!

Click on the photo to be able to read more about it.

They also make very good Pug traps  :-)

Sue xx