Frugal freebies and a Delia

Fistly I have just seen over on KittyKittyWeaselFish's blog that next weekend the 20-21st April the National Trust are having a free weekend.  Go to their site here to download a voucher for up to 4 people; 2 of them adults, for a load of their special places all over the UK.  I fancy going to Killerton, which is only about 7 miles from us but we haven't seen it yet and as they have their regular farmers market on that saturday too it's a double bonus reason to go.  :-)
Another freebie next - on Facebook Heinz currently have an offer here where you can get a free packet of tomato seeds.  Lord knows the last thing I need is more seeds but hey - they're free!  Sounds like a nice variety - the pack (which arrived in a super-fast-for-a-freebie 8 days) says they are San Marzano - 'a plum shaped Italian variety specifically bred for bottling, cooking or producing home-made sauce and puree.'  I'll give them a go - if the rain lets up this year that is!

Lastly I wanted to share my frugal Delia bargain - chuffed to spot this in a local charity shop at £1.99.  Considering full price it was £17.99 on the back I think that's a pretty good buy.  It's about frugul food and although I don't generally go for Delia; finding her *OCD prep and didactic delivery somewhat irritating, I'm not arguing that her recipes are generally pretty good.  (*I got gifted a copy of Delia's Christmas years back and find the entire planning everything hour by hour from 3 days in advance a leetle bit too much.)
This is a reprint of a 70's book she did which immediately interested me with my love of old/vintage cook books and it's been issued in a lovely hard bound cloth covered edition with some beautiful photography.  So it ticks my 'food porn' box too - I just need to find somewhere on the groaning shelf of cook books to wedge it in now... 
(Excuse the curious easter chicks/egg tree still up - I like decorations m'kay?)

Some super frugal shopping...

Points make prizes - apparently!  As we needed some more handwash for both the kitchen and the bathroom I thought I might have some points on my Boots card so popped in and bingo - £2.58 worth.  Making these 3 products cost exactly zero pence to us.  The 2 soaps were only 59p each anyway and the Source shower gel is currently on half price offer; including the special editions like this rather lovely smelling orange and cinnamon version, they were £1.15.  I love the Source range but don't like to get them at full price.  If you shop semi regularly in Boots though I think it's worth using the points card.  I know opinions are divided on 'loyalty' cards as the chains use them to gather shopping habit data about us but I deem myself intelligent enough to ignore any offers they send and just buy what I intend to.  If occasionally I can get those things for free I think that's a card worth having.

These are my other fantastic bargain of the week.  Now I have stupid size/shape feet (imo) - a half size difference between them and wide across but shallow through.  This means I can't wear most 'girly' shoes especially if they have a pointy toe as they're just not wide enough for my feet unless I'm prepared to spend a fortune.  However - it did mean I could scoop us these boots in TK Maxx the other day as evidently no-one else fitted in them.  They're Clarks Active Air range and the original rrp was £99.99!  When TK Maxx first got them they wanted £49.99 - still more than I'm prepared to pay.  Since that they had a red sticker reduction, then a yellow one -neither of which I could see the price on, and finally the last yellow one with the price I paid on it - the princely sum of £17.00!!  What a saving.! They fit me as they're a wider fitting than normal.  They're really comfy (I assume that's the active air thing) and as the promised freezing weather finally turned up they're good for keeping my legs warm.  :-)  They're actually a darker brown than the flash has made them look here, more of a chocolate colour.  I'm seriously considering going back next weekend and seeing if they still have another pair left I can invest in

So that's my happy shopping for the week.  Right now I'm going to snuggle with the Chap in front of a film as it's decidedly nippy, and I have a couple of fat cakes solidifying in the fridge for the birds.  They struggle in this weather so don't forget them.  Although (so far) we haven't had the snow here I know most of the country seems to have seen some so give them a helping hand and as national treasure Sir David Attenborough apparently tweeted '@davidattenboro: The severe snow is bad news for the uk bird population. I got my fat balls out in the garden at the moment, I suggest you all do the same!'  Having had a quick look at his page I'm not entirely convinced that's the real David Attenborough but it's worth a giggle I think.  Stay warm peoples.

Pre-loved beauties, some bargain foods and post #300!

Well I'm safely ensconced back home now after finally being allowed out from the hospital last Monday after getting into theatre on the Sunday for my second op in the late afternoon.  Not much to report since then as necessity has dictated I have done very little as standing about is on the banned list which means most cooking / baking activities are curtailed.  I have been falling back in love with bulgar wheat though having got 4 x 500g bags of it in my latest Approved Food order for the princely sum of 99p.  What a bargain!!  And as it only requires soaking in boiling water for 30 mins I don't have to stand there cooking it when I want something to eat in the daytime and the Chap is out at work.  Incidentally if you haven't come across Approved Food in your frugal wanderings then check them out.  They sell discontinued, end of lines, change of packaging and out dated stock which changes constantly.  The postage can sound a little steep as it starts at £5.25 but that covers up to 25kgs of goods so it's the kind of place to shop when they have a whole bunch of items you'd like.  If there are items you can get in the case deals; as I did with the bulgar wheat, then all the better.  I also picked up a load of pasta, various sauces and indian meals, cat food, tofu, 12 pack case of cous cous (also 99p!), crisps etc etc and my favourite; 1.9kg of Bisto veggie gravy granules for £1.49 - that should keep me going for a while as it makes 25 litres!!!  This is just some of the items I got as I've already started using various things and packed away others but it gives you an idea.  My order came to £29.74 in total including the postage - I got a little discount on that as certain items carry a P+P discount.  Full price for these items is £87.52 so that represented a saving of just under £62!.  Not too shoddy at all.  :-)
Anyway, the point of this post was to show you some other bargains I got from our local charity shops on one of the few forays out of the house I've been allowed. 

 Cast iron griddle pan - I'm especially pleased with this as I've wanted one for a few years now but as I wouldn't use it overly often I can't really justify spending £20 or £30 on one so when I saw this in perfect nick for a mere fiver I snapped it up.  Coincidentally I've also been running an idea for a sandwich with griddled halloumi through my head in the last few days (as a possible entry for this months 'No Croutons Required') so this was a truly serendipitous find.
The gorgeously coloured glass vase is for my mother, it's truly beautiful made of a mixture of blue and green glass fused together and blown into this sort of swirled bauble shape.  This was a whole £3 and is perfect with nary a scratch or mark of any kind, not even on the base.  I thought I might see what pre-loved items I can spy for chrimble pressies for the family this year, in addition to home made goodies.  For the last few years we've had more of a home made / token gifting theme as we're all of the age now that we have houses full of stuff pretty much.  That said this piece obviously does fall into the 'stuff' category but my ma loves glass pieces like this so I immediately thought of her when my eyes alit upon it.

Finally some wool - yarn - whatever it is.  And needles.  Knitting ones.  Though they're the wrong size I've since discovered.  Tsk!  Being of a somewhat ambulatory challenged nature at the moment I felt that perhaps the time had finally come to learn how to knit, even if only in the most basic fashion.  I want to make myself a hat and for the last year or so have been gently getting around to it.  I spied 2 balls of this rather pretty graduated grey soft wool/yarn malarkey and equipped myself with these and what I erroneously thought were the correct size '8' needles indicated on the label.  Apparently not.  That referred to the 8mm size not a UK size 8 which is in fact 4mm.  Obviously.  (There's 3 sizing conventions commonly in use for knitting needles I've discovered so as a newbie what chance did I stand?)  Anyway that charity shop had a whole box full of different needles so I plan to visit again on the morrow on my way home from the latest doctors appointment and have a rummage for a bigger set.
Finally - the more observant amongst you may have noticed a certain alluding to the fact that this will be the 300th post on my blog.  It should be rather more by now for a blog that's over two and a half years old but I have been somewhat slacker at posting this year.  As we enter autumn and the nights are drawing in again I feel hopeful that this may change and I can shake off the edge of general malaise I have felt around my spirits for the last few months now.  As one who has been dragged rather deeper by that before I have no wish to revisit it so am doing my utmost to be resolved to do more, make more, bake more, plant more and last but very definitely not least, keep trying to change job as to quote my beloved Firefly, my current one is 'damaging my calm.'  So - a small pat on the back for post #300, and thanks for joining me here whether you've flitted past by accident or are one of my small band of followers.  And a cheering image taken on Saturday during one of the many downpours we've been having.  Pretty huh?

'Lovely things sweetie-darling, lovely things...'

As promised piccies of the 'lovely things' [wish I could remember which episode that was from!] that I purchased in Brixham. Excuse the quality of the 3rd photo - I was trying to take it quickly before naughty Zeke stole off with the bauble!

Brilliant metal items - I love this kind of 'stamped' look to stuff and I think the green tag will stick out nicely on my bare branches tree this chrimble.

Next up the pretty felt star with beads, they had birds in this style as well but I liked this best. In fact it's probably more a snowflake than a star, very pretty either way.These are the clay hangers and the glass bauble I got from the RNLI fair - 20p - bargainous!

Finally my cosy hat. Very pleased with this. I do have an idea to knit my own at some point but learning how to and all that jazz first might be advantageous! Meanwhile it's winter already so this was a fine purchase IMO. :-)

Brass Monkeys in Brixham

At the weekend we visited Brixham for the Christmas Market. My it was blimmin' parky with a howling East wind whistling off the sea and up through the narrow streets of this small fishing town. No snow though so let's be thankful for that.

The market was in a big marquee so we were sheltered whilst in there, it was pretty busy as well so not too chilly. There were craft stalls, cakes, cheese, deli products, clothes and some parrots! Many lovely handmade items and I was really pleasantly surprised at the prices.

I realised once we got there that I haven't actually thought about who I need to get anything for but we enjoyed browsing round, starting off with a mulled wine and mince pie from local concern, the Lytehouse. This is a coffee shop / bar which is on the high street of Brixham. [According to the link they specialise in Tapas but as we only saw them at the stall I can't comment on that.] I can vouch for the friendly nature of the guy who served us though, who I presume is the owner. Thanks!

Wandering round I soon spotted some 'lovely things' [see 'Absolutely Fabulous' for why I would put this in '_'s] and after asking took this photo. The lady asked me if I was planning on making some but instead I bought some from her - they were only £1 each after all!

Next spot was these lovely metal tags, also £1 each and from the same stall some silver metal stars and hearts ornaments at a grand 50p a go. I'll have to post a pic of those tomorow.

We also got some cheeses - Cornish Yarg and Devon Blue from 'Cheezeboard' and some indian bite things (bhaji, pakora &c) from 'The Veggie Deli' stall, along with a frozen nut roast in a foil box for Sunday roast. Oh - and another ornament; a pretty filigree cut felt star with little beads inset for a grand total of 75p. Another pic for tomorrow.

Leaving the marquee there was a seond small market on in a nearby hall - this one all in aid of the RNLI and complete with brass band. That did make me feel nice and festive I must admit.

I've been on the look out for a hat in recent weeks, favouring something quite plain. There were some hand knitted ones on a stall but on closer inspection they either had chunky cable patterns on, or an edge of bright pink (not me) or a massive fluffy bobble (also really not me) that put me off them. Then - tadaa - a nice cream number with a little red stripe was unearthed near the bottom of the pile and - well, I'm now fully hat-equipped. Damn - another pic for tomorrow as well then! This hat was the grand cost of £1.50 which I think is pretty bloody good for a hand made brand new item. Gotta love those charity old ladies. Couple of other bits I got was a jar of quince jelly (£1.50) and a pretty silver bauble (20p) along with some little satin ones for re-purposing (55p). All in all not a bad haul.

We had a fun day even if Brixham was; as mentioned, decidedly on the chilly side thanks to the wind. [I was very glad of my new hat by the end.] As we wondered round the town I spotted some of those things that make you pause and smile and thought I'd share them with you.

Lobster on the roof of a seafood cafe:

Cow outside the butchers:

Who would want to cycle up this??!

Finally; some heartfelt graffiti. If you live anywhere frequented by seagulls you can appreciate the sentiment!! :-D

Shop local lol

Sometimes you know you just spot things and they make you if not actually lol, then grin a little? I'm sure this should read Trail mix rather than Trial mix but I rather liked the image it conjured up in my mind of a bewigged and gowned judge surreptiously snaffling up handfuls whilst in the middle of a case.
Weigh & Save is one of my regular local shops. It's great as everything is sold loose by the weight so you can just buy the amount you want of any one thing; especially handy for items you use infrequently where the recipe just calls for a couple of oz's etc. You then don't have a whole pack of stuff sitting around in the cupboard waiting to go out of date, you don't have the attendant cost if you've been forced to buy half a kilo or whatever and you don't have all the excess packaging either. As I'm going to try and be pretty frugal this month I picked up some of their 'broth mix'; looks like pearl barley, red and green lentils and yellow split peas. Also got some dried beans (for the first time in my life believe it or not) so will have a little experiment with those as well.
Although I don't drive I don't mind trekking about a bit to get the best deals on my shopping; if I did a massive shop in one place I wouldn't be able to carry it all home anyway. I try and keep a mental list of where's best for what; I know the local Stokes veg shop often has flat field mushrooms on offer at the same price as the regular mushrooms which is a far better deal than the local Scumerfield/Co-op hybrid. I always get my frozen sweetcorn at Iceland as it's £1 for a kilo, better by far than the other stupormarkets. [I've tried growing sweetcorn with zero success and I'd never be able to keep up with my own demand anyway so buying a couple of kilos a month seems to be the best solution for me.] Aldi for veg stock cubes and a check on their weekly Super 6 - heavily discounted fruit and/or veg deals for each week. If you have the inclination and time I think it's well worth doing, if not then think about other shops you may need to visit in the week and what else is in proximity to them, after all if you're going to be there anyway...

Home again

Now ensconced back in the familial home, here for mother's birthday and mother's day this sunday. She liked her 'Front Garden Repair Kit' I bought all those seeds for (and you thought they were for me didn't you?!) so hopefully soon the garden will return to the riot of colour it once was.

This photo is an old passport photo of my father; probably taken late 70's, that I had on a board here. Sometimes the past ambushes you rather. Still miss you dad.

Anyway, speaking of seeds (addicted - I know) if you have a Range store near you they have bogof at the moment on their 99p De Ree packs. This includes Runner Bean 'painted lady' which is the pretty two tone one. These are in packs of 9 seeds (kids pack) but coming out at 18 for 99p it's rather better than T&M's £3.49 for 50 or Mr Fothergills £2.99 for 40. They aren't available on line though, you have to visit the store.

A sight for sore eyes

Happy £land card reader chuntering away transferring my previously inaccessible photos. Oh, and did I say hundreds - that'll be 1158 of them to be precise! I am a prolific image capturer. To be fair these never got edited before work's pc chewed the end off the card rendering it useless, or so I thought. Couldn't get it to read in anything so bought the £land reader figuring I could take it apart and physically make the contacts match up that way but I didn't even need to do that - brilliant! Good old £land to the rescue! :-D

Thought - wonder if Optrex own the domain 'asiteforsoreeyes'? lol