£50 Week Challenge: August 2012

Sunday, 19 August 2012

The Maths!

Oops! Just remembered i never documented the fact that on our day out on DAY 5, we totally forgot to pack baby wipes so had to spend 99p on a pack.

I also must confess that I have used the car this week and that has used about 1/8 of a tank of petrol. This is a cost of about £8.15

Therefore, our total spend for this week has been.... (drumroll)....
£42.38
Woohoo!

DAY 7 - Dinner

On the last flippin day of the challenge, we run out of milk AGAIN. So i nipped to Tesco for an extra pint (49p) plus I found these wraps reduced (39p). I was also lucky enough to arrive to find all the freezers to be broken and the stock in the process of being wasted. I managed to wangle 2 magnums before they met their demise, and they couldnt have found more welcome consumers!!! (no phot because they were devoured in 2 seconds flat!) The wraps became Jonah's dinner topped with passata, flaked white fish (from the freezer) and some grated cheese and then grilled. He really enjoyed it, but managed to exhaust himself so much during the day that he fell asleep in his highchair! Rob and I had spicy lentil stew with the flat breads for mopping up juices - yum!

Spicy Lentil and Vegetable Stew

Any odds and ends of veg but should include onion and carrot

(we got veggies from the garden plus a couple of bendy sad carrots from the bottom of the fridge)

Red lentils

Stock

Spices - Cumin, Mustard Seeds and Chilli Flakes

S&P

Dice the veggies

Grind and toast the seed spices. Saute veg and spices in a little oil.

Listen to a bit of Edith Piaf

Add lentils, cover with stock and simmer for about 15-25 mins or until soft

Serve with yoghurt (we didnt have any), fresh coriandor (we didnt have any of that either) and flat bread (hurrah!)

DAY 7 - Cooling Off

Our lovely downstairs neighbours offered Jonah a splash about in their paddling pool after a long, hot day's hard graft!

DAY 7 - Gardening

We live in a house made up of 6 flat conversions and we had decided as a group that tody would be the day to tackle the communal front garden maintenance. It was hot work. Very hot. But despite the heat we managed to clear a lot of weeds and trim a lot of hedge.

Before

After

Uh oh... looks like we made it worse?!

Rob also managed to add a replacement part (which he made himself - how clever) to this wooden sun lounger that we rescued from a skip!!!

DAY 6 - Dinner

Smoked Bacon and Mushroom Cheats Carbonara

1/2 Onion

Chopped Mushrooms

5 Rashers of Bacon - snipped

250g Soft Cream Cheese

2 teaspoons Grain Mustard

S&P

Dried Spaghetti

Fresh herbs (Chives)

DAY 6 - Swimming!

We had recently been given 3 "free day passes" to Beckenham Spa leisure centre and on this swelteringly hot day we decided there was no better time to cash them in. We took my sister along as we had 3 passes and Jonah is free anyway. Unfortunately I wasn't allowed to take photos inside but i can assure you it was brilliant fun!

DAY 6 - CPFC Fun Day

I am a member of a community choir - FUNdamentally Gospel. We often perform at festivals and community events in South London, and this weekend we were invited to perform at Crystal Palace Football Club's family fun day. We did a few songs from our "pop" repertoire and, considering the blazing 30 degree heat, it went pretty well. Jonah was excited to meet Iggle Piggle and we got to hold the Olympic Torch too! My LOVELY sister took pity on us in the heat and treated us to an ice cream and Rob managed to kick a ball at 45mph. All in all a lovely morning. We got the bus there and I got the bus home but Rob walked. Therefore, total spend = £4.05

Rob took his morning coffee in a flask from home - FREE!

DAY 6 - Brunch

We had a rather lazy and slow start to the day so decided that Brunch was in order (which also incidentally meant we only needed to find 2 meals today instead of 3!). I had received a recipe card in our usual veg box a few weeks back and thought this would be the perfect time to test run it.

Irish Potato Farls

Friday, 17 August 2012

DAY 5 - Dinner

Tonight, the most frugal of dinners, leftovers!

Curry (as seen here)

and

Cobbler (as seen here)

DAY 5 - A Grand Day Out

Just one post for today - we set off at 9am this morning and got the number 3 bus all the way from Crystal Palace to Oxford Circus. This is a slooooow journey, 1 hour plus, but obviously just costs the price of one bus ticket. Bargain. Once we jumped off at Oxford Circus we set off and walked to holborn, russell square, lambs conduit street, covent garden piazza, 7 dials, soho and back to oxford circus. This is what we did on the way...