How much!

Nipped into Tesco this morning because I really needed some mayo for packups and Hubby wanted some deodorant. Thought I'd buy a tin of Tescos value tuna chunks for sandwiches but did not even bother picking the tin up when I saw the price. Bought some maybe 10 days ago and a tin was 55p, today they were 66p! Stuff paying that . Will look in Aldi next time I'm in there as they were selling them at 55p at tin.

I bought 4 of the little Lindt bear chocolates in Tesco to make  little chocolate bags for the grandaughters. The bears were 50p each or 4 for £1.00 so I bought 4. I put them with some chocolate lollies I bought for £2.00 for 6 at the weekend and a bag of chocolate coins which were 75p.

Popped them into two little bags and tied with ribbon. Two little bags of chocolate for two little girls this Christmas.

Whilst in Tesco I used my £12 of vouchers they sent me towards a turkey for Christmas and I also bought a rather large pork loin joint which they had on offer so they are both in the freezer now for Christmas. The rest of the bill was taken out of my Christmas food money. Every month we save into a separate account just for Christmas so we have enough money every year to cover Christmas presents, food and drink. I remember those years oh so well when we never saved for Christmas and just put everything on Visa and then spent half the year clearing the bloody debt. Never again . No debt for us once Christmas is finished.

Cleared a spicy Thai bean burger out of the freezer for my lunch which I had in a breadcake with sweet chilli sauce , also from the freezer. Nothing else coming out of the freezer today. Our evening meal will be pasta and a tomato sauce with cheese. I have just made some bread to turn into garlic bread to have with the pasta. Will make extra pasta so daughter No3 can take pasta to school tomorrow for lunch. Also just boiled some eggs to make egg mayo for my sandwich for work tonight and for Hubby if he wants it for his sandwich tomorrow.

Inventory of all food

This morning did an inventory of all the food in my cupboards, fridge and freezer. Going to try and use as much as I can from what I have and only shop for a few  things we really need. I want to clear the freezer of food to make a little space for anything I make for Christmas and to stash the turkey when I buy it. I'll cross anything I use from my list as I use it. Tonight I'm using up a tub of pork in mushroom sauce that was left over from a meal the other week. To make it stretch to two I am turning it into a pork and mushroom pie. Got plenty of flour and fats to made some pastry

I then added the pork mixture which I had thawed.

I then popped on a lid of pastry and in the oven it went. That's where the pictures end. I was going to show you the finished product but something happened with the camera after I uploaded this last picture so, it got eaten without a picture being taken.   With the scraps of leftover pastry I wrapped a couple of veggie sausages with some chopped onion inside and these were for me. We had these with mash and four different vegetables.

After our meal Hubby asked where the camera was because he wanted to take a picture. I told him the camera had locked up so didn't think he would be able to use it. Hubby sorted the camera out and told me he wanted to take a passport photo of himself because he was not going to pay a fiver for some done in a booth. He needed a passport sized photo for a safety course he's to go on this week. Anyway after some fiddling with the computer and using some photography paper we have had for years he had his photos. A fiver saved.

Hello Friends

Hello everyone and can I just say, thank you all for your lovely comments over the last week. Much appreciated.

Don't know where to begin. Not going to dwell on why I've been away. Things still need sorting. What I am faced with is a deluge of food. Upon my return home I thought I had better call into the supermarket first and stock up on some shopping. I spent about £40.00 on a good amount of food that would make food for us for at least five days with stuff for lunches too. On arrival home Daughter No2 was home and informed me they had all gone shopping last night. I looked in the fridges and cupboards to find we had nearly duplicated a lot of the shopping. I have so much veg, cheese and meat I am going to have to get my thinking hat on and start menu planning a lot of extra veg into our meals over the next week.

Not going to waste any of the food and shall be creating more veg based meals to make best use of all this food. Hopefully we can eat for quite a while on what we have in and I hope to not shop for quite a lot of days. Hopefully not until pay day. I also want to use up as much as I can from the freezer to free some space for the Christmas turkey. I also want freezer space for all the food I am going to start preparing for the festive season. I have a lot of tried and tested desserts that freeze really well so need the space for these.

I spent this evening at the dining table writing my Christmas cards. All done except the personal family cards which I shall buy Friday in The Card Factory. They are so cheap in this shop and save us a fortune compared to buying in a top name card shop. I also got a pile of presents wrapped. I've made my Christmas list for Santa! "All I want for Christmas is" a pile of cookery books. I've made my list of books. I've sourced the cheapest place to buy them all (Amazon) and the list is on it's way to Hubby. I love my cookery books and only indulge at Christmas when other people can buy them for me. Ordered a couple more presents today off the Internet. Two personalised books for our niece and nephew. The books are  printed with the child's name and friends names, birthdays and where they live into the stories. I thought they were a bit different to the usual gifts and I'm sure the kids will love to have a book with themselves in it.

Feel like I'm nearly sorted for Christmas now and that's a good feeling!

Happy 1st Anniversary

 Happy 1st Anniversary to my blog. Time passes so quickly. Does not feel like a year since I first took tentative steps to start a blog. I'm so glad I did. Feels like I have a whole bunch of lovely friends out there, we just never get to meet up.

Sorry not been posting

Shall resume shortly. Not at home at the moment. Took myself off on my own for some thinking and sorting time. My heads not into blogging over the last few days. I'm in a little rented flat on the coast and it's lovely only having to think about myself but I do miss my family but I need this time to sort my head out. Normality will resume shortly so don't give up on me yet, please. : (

PS thanks for following my new followers. Much appreciated.

Menu Week 07/11/11

MONDAY - Baked coley with a herb citrus crust, potatoes, vegetables and parsley sauce

TUESDAY - Sausage & liver and onion gravy, mash, cabbage & carrots

WEDNESDAY - Beef casserole, Yorkshire puddings and mash

THURSDAY - Egg, chips and beans

FRIDAY - Salmon fishcakes, wedges and coleslaw

SATURDAY - Homemade doner kebab, pitta salad and white kebab sauce

SUNDAY - Not sure yet

Well the time came to put the heating on. Quite pleased we went so long without it but it's been on for a few days now.

Daughter No3 tried on her coat from last winter this morning. The sleeves were short and it was not a good fit with the blazer being a bigger size this year. So off we went to town when she finished school. We went in New Look and she found a black 3/4 length jacket for £39.99. We went into another shop and she found a jacket she liked more so we bought that one too. It cost £36.00 but had a label on saying £10.00 off so we got it for £26.00, bargain. I shall take the expensive jacket back tomorrow when I go to do my voluntary job. Need to take daughter No2 now and find her a winter jacket, hope we can find as good a bargain for her

M5 Crash

Lets take a moment to think of all the people who have lost their lives or nearly did because of the M5 motorway crash. 7 dead so far and 51 injured in the 34 car pile up on the M5. My god, how those families must be feeling! Does not bear thinking about. I have been following this story all day.

                                               RIP