Next Shopping Trip + V.R.E. Day 9

 Last weeks shopping for the Value Range Experiment.

From Aldi(AL) and Asda(AS)

AS Lean Minced Pork 500g £2.35

AL 6 Small Apples 59p

AL 200g Fruit and Nut Mix 59p

AL Sardines in Sunflower oil 46p

AL Savoy Cabbage 65p

Al Mini Plum Tomatoes 69p

AL Miniature Potatoes 69p (I wanted a bigger bag of ordinary but their 'wonky' cheapest were in HUGE bags - too many to last without shooting) 

Total = £6.02. + £43.10 Brought Forward. Running total £49.12

In the photo I've include the Decaf frothy coffee that I like for my evening drink. It's Nescafe, 8 sachets in the box are now £2  and it is unsweetened and doesn't need any added milk. I haven't included this in the running total today as I'm just adding £2 at the end of each 7 days.

Asda had the Essentials Value range pork mince that they didn't have before, so I bought that even though I didn't need to use it yet. I divided it into 4 portions and popped in freezer. 

I used the two crusts from the Value Range Wholemeal sliced loaf to make breadcrumbs after drying in the oven and crumbling with a potato masher

Some of the crumbs were used to top a Tuna, Pasta and Broccoli bake. Using the essential range tin of tuna 55p, pasta, ⅔ of the head of broccoli and a white sauce, made with a bit of butter, flour and milk and water mix. Topped with the breadcrumbs, grated cheese and some of the grated parmesan.

This is a cheaper variation of something I make regularly. Usually I use salmon. The trick to using tuna which is so much cheaper is to use plenty of black pepper both over the broccoli, tuna, pasta mix as well as in the white sauce.

This made 3 portions. One to eat and two for the freezer for later in the month.

Back Tomorrow

Sue

Another Garden Visitor + V.R.E. Day 8

Diving into that book again for another blog post about a garden visitor.

Here's the illustration by Artist and Printmaker Carry Ackroyd from my book 'A Sparrow's Life's as Sweet as Ours'

 

The page opposite the picture tells me.......... 

Nest boxes, so popular with blue tits, were a C19 German introduction taken over by the British. Our related obsession to feed songbirds dates from the cruel winter of 1890/91, when British newspapers urged readers to save the starving avian population. The UK spends £200 million per annum on bird food, more than the rest of Europe put together. Of this, the Blue Tit, most numerous of the titmice tribe at 3 million, is the prime beneficiary.

And here are my photos of  Blue Tits in the garden.

Day 8 and the Value Range Experiment main meal looked rather messy and definitely not for the food connoisseur!. It was one small onion, part can of corned beef, more of the tinned potatoes and the final tomatoes from the can started the other day. The first three fried to make a tasty hash. Everything apart from my own onion were from the Value Supermarket Ranges costing pence.

As it was the day we had snow and really cold winds it felt like what's often called comfort food.

Rest of corned beef used in sandwiches for several days. 

Anyone watch the last ever Endeavor on Sunday night - very clever I thought. I read all the Morse books as they appeared back in the day and we watched the many series, wondering about re-reading the books - although I've got plenty of books to read for the first time, so maybe not.

Back Tomorrow

Sue

The March Library Book Photo + V.R.E.Day 7

The March Library Book Photo. Books, mostly ones I'd reserved, picked up from the library van last week.

6 crime fiction, two are authors I've not read before.

4 Non Fiction including Once upon a Tome which is the 'Misadventures of a Rare Bookseller' - sounds interesting. I like what it says about the author "He lives with a house full of books he actively tried not to collect".

No idea why  I borrowed Posh Toast!

The little book on the top is the companion to one I read last year about Mabel the Owl who lived in Christchurch Park in Ipswich also written by Reg Snook. His collaborator is Phillip Murphy who used to work with Colin in the Suffolk County Council Bridge Office many years ago.

Last Month it was that huge haul of 16 books, mainly crime. I read all these except for Snow.

There were two fiction classics and I read both - I liked O Pioneers more than Enbury Heath but neither really grabbed me.

There were 4 Non Fiction last month. The Bookman's Tale was something I'd read before and thought it was all about Ronald Blythe's books and reading but I'd remembered wrong so didn't bother to re-read. I sent Save the World Back with the world un-saved! and Wild was a bit strange. I'm still browsing the Backyard Forest Garden.

I've written a little about the books finished on the separate Books Read 2023 page.

Next Value Range Experiment main meal ............

To use the rest of the Feta I did what I usually do because I'm lazy, and made another Warm Pasta Salad. Didn't bother with a photo as it looked the same as last weeks. (Pasta, feta, olives, tomatoes, mixed frozen veg and Mayo). This  used the last of the mini tomatoes and the olives. Total spent for the month so far adding £2 for my frothy coffees as it's the end of the first week is £43.10.

While looking for ideas for using the rest of the feta (apart from being lazy and doing the same thing again)  I found a recipe that I'd try another time, when the V.R.E has finished and I have chicken breasts in the freezer.

Spinach and Feta Stuffed Chicken Breast

There have been some fun comments about my little experiment - especially funny was one that told me that I had plenty of money from selling the house so why was I eating rubbish! 

Oooops seem to have deleted it!

Back Tomorrow

Sue