A bargain dinner

I had to pop out in the evening for a parents evening at Big Girl's school a few days ago. It was to help us to help them, by showing us relevant websites to go on at home and things we could download. Science I can cope with, as I've got a science degree, and English I was always good at so that's not a problem. But maths? Oh dear - algebra, it's come back to haunt me. I somehow managed to scrape through my GCSE maths without really understanding it, but now I'm stuck as I have a daughter who doesn't understand it either and I now have to try and explain it!

Anyway, I hadn't had any tea before going out, so thought I'd pop into M&S on the way home to grab something to eat. I'm so glad I did, I got heaps of bargains! 

Most times if you turn up at reducing time, it's mobbed, but this night there was only me and a few other people. And the lady doing the reducing just kept coming back with more and more stuff, my basket was overflowing. A basket full of goodies came to the grand total of £8.65, and I couldn't wait to get home and find out the proper price - an unbelievable £73.60!!

I think the Best Buy were the duck breasts - £7.50 down to just 75p. I don't think OH will eat the plum sauce, so I will have to think what to do with them (any suggestions gratefully received, although he doesn't like anything fancy). 

You often end up with a fridge full of things that need eating right away when you get reduced food, but I struck lucky with meat and ready meals for OH. I can make eleven meals out of this food for him, and they are all in the freezer so no need to rush eating them. The crispy breaded  turkey and cheese flatties were great too, at £5 for two down to just 50p, and I grabbed three packs of those. 

For tea I had pea and ricotta ravioli, followed by a rather scrummy chcoclate eclair (I grabbed two boxes of those as they were suitable for freezing). Shame none of us like egg custards, as there were boxes and boxes of those, at just 20p for a box of four. Maybe that shows that not many other people like egg custards either!

Speak soon 

XxXx

I only went for bin bags

I had to pop to Marks & Spencer's a few days ago to get some bin bags for a friend (she likes their lemon scented ones). I didn't manage to get there until evening, and was so glad I did as I bagged some whopping bargains....

I can't remember the exact amount, but it was around £26 of food, and I paid £2.50! It was nice to try things that I wouldn't normally buy, and some were yummy but some things were just ok, but seeing as most items were only 10-30p I wasn't bothered. Something that surprised me were the apple slices and peanut butter - delicious!

The best buy was the turkey mince. I found a recipe on Pinterest for turkey burgers, which involved putting a pat of butter inside each burger (as turkey can dry out when cooked) and OH said they were nice (being vegetarian I have to take his word for it). 

Can't complain - four homemade turkey burgers for 35p. Think I'll have to pop out for bin bags more often!

XxXx

Wyevale bargains and a chocolate prize

We had to pop to Worcester today so whilst we were there I decided to pop into Wyevale. A few weeks ago the packets of seeds were half price, so I was hoping it was now time for the annual 50p clearance. Yippee, it was!!

All of the vegetable and herb seed packets were 50p. I would never normally buy seed mats as a) they are more expensive than a 'normal' packet of seeds, and b) it's just lazy! But for 50p I couldn't resist a few. The colourful cauliflowers look amazing, imagine those on your plate. The cactus seeds were picked by Big Girl. Her room is full of cactus plants that she buys really cheaply from the car boot from a man who grows them as a hobby. They take years to grow, then he sells them for a few pounds, but he says it keeps him amused. So even though she gets them really cheap, Big Girl would like to have a go at growing them herself, and at 50p for a packet of 30 seeds it's worth a try. 

I also got a few Christmas presents for children in the family. The build your own mini greenhouse, with cress, coleus and sunflower seeds to grow was £12 before. I checked with someone before I put them in the trolley, as I couldn't believe they would be reduced so much, but they were 50p too. I also got them a Grow Your Own pizza topping (basil and tomato), and sunflowers. Each box has a mini board game to play too. So a great present for two children, worth £33 altogether cost just £2!

I couldn't resist adding up all the seeds, including the ones above. Total real cost £62.51 - cost me £7. Happy me!

I don't think I need any more courgette seeds any time soon. This is what I got from one plant yesterday...

I put the 50p there just to show how GiNoRmOuS these babies are. Luckily I've discovered a lovely recipe for courgette and cheddar quiche. I also grabbed some tomatoes whilst I was in the garden. This is just a few, there are loads more ready. 

You may have spotted some split ones in there, which usually happens due to infrequent watering. The plants dry out, then get a good watering and the tomatoes swell and split. I really want to install an automatic watering system. I've put one out the front for the window baskets and having the plants watered twice a day has made a huge difference. They look gorgeous. 

Back to bargains, I also got a huge chrysanthemum for just £2. It was a bit squashed on one side but looks great squeezed in next to the asters I grew from seed...

The reason for popping to Worcester was to pick up a prize that Little Boy won a few weeks ago. That chap is one lucky boy, he always seems to win stuff! When we were at St Peters garden centre a few weeks ago there was a competition running to celebrate National Honey Bee day. Little people had to find the honey bee images hidden around the garden centre, and write down the name of the plant they were by. As usual when you enter a competition you think you'll have a go but won't win, but I was pleasantly surprised when I had a phone call saying that Little Boy's name had been chosen and he'd won! I thought it was only a chocolate making kit, but when we got there it was wrapped up with some honeybee chocolates, a bag of flying saucer sweets, a biscuit dinosaur (not sure how those two link in with bees?) and the box of Make Your Own Chocolate bee lollipops. 

The only problem is he keeps winning everything. He has just entered a colouring competition to win £150 worth of Playmobil. I only posted it this morning, and he's just asked when we can go to the shop to get his toys. He has to learn unfortunately that you don't win everything. Maybe I should get him to pick some lottery numbers, seeing as he seems to be so lucky!

Speak soon

XxXx

Toilet roll and milk

I only went to the supermarket for some toilet roll and milk....

I wasn't expecting any good deals, as I was there earlier than when they normally reduce things right down. But I was in luck, and I think this has to be my best haul yet. £67.11 worth of goodies, for only £11.06!!!!

The biggest saving was on flowers. I picked up my weekly bundle of £1 daffodils, only to spy some reduced flowers and went to investigate. 19p a bunch! A £12 hand tied bouquet of flowers for 19p! So three bunches of flowers with a total full price of £24 cost an amazing 57p. 

I spread them all out, trimmed the ends and rearranged them to make two lovely new bouquets, one for the lounge and one for the dining table. That floristry course I did many years ago paid off. 

Just to finish off the day even better, I had a free dinner! Our lovely neighbours have gone away on holiday and instead of wasting their fridge contents decided to offer them to us. We had loads of lovely bits and pieces, and I used the chestnut mushrooms, chillies, tomatoes and  free range eggs to make a yummy omelette. 

Hopefully tomorrow I will do a post on the building works progress. 

XxXx