I Faced An Old Enemy and Won, hahahaha!

Hello to my two new followers - Sandra and Becky Bee I am so glad to meet you. Also thank you so much Becky Bee, Scarlet and Lizzie for such kind comments, they really keep me going!

I have been a little bit lax in the last few days blogging, but I have been so busy that it is 20.09 now and I have only just got to sit down.
Saturday, I was up early and by 9.30AM, the car had been vacuumed /washed and filled with petrol ready for a day out with my nephew- we went to Thomas Land http://www.thomaslanduk.co.uk / . He loved it so much he could barely talk for the first 2 hrs. He was so good and never ran off once, a good achievement since he is only 3.
ThomasLand in Staffordshire at Drayton Manor is not a thrifty day out at all. Tickets booked in advanced, plus parking came in at £29.50 for 1 adult and 1 child. No deals could be found anywhere since it was half term. However, since everyone else checked the weather reports it was sooo quiet, the only downside was it poured mid morning. We both got soaked.
But, look at this picture and tell me it was not worth it. We spent nearly an hour
in this shed watching the toy trains.

Food, in these places was expensive too - 2 sausage rolls, a fruit shoot, hot chocolate and a milky way (yes all major food groups covered) came in at about £10!. Lesson learnt for next time I think - will be taking a packed lunch.

Got home, had about an hour then round to see The Chap for dinner. Got back early this morning and have been cleaning, washing, baking and tidying ever since.

Thanks to Frugal In Norfolk for her bread tutorial - I had it open and faced my nemesis again. http://frugalinnorfolk.blogspot.com/2012/02/making-bread-my-way.htmlLook at these results..

So whilst I had the oven on it seemed wise to use up the space, so I also made CornBread which I have been dying to try for ages. I think i bought the cornmeal back in December.
I had never had it before, but knew it is very popular in the USA with a lot of savoury and sweet alternatives. I have started with a savoury basic version from the BBC website. I have frozen it into portion sizes for future use, I would love to try a sweet version next

I also made a beef and mushroom casserole. Plus I used up the chicken stock from during the week's chicken and made a chicken/leek/potato soup.

The beef came from the freezer and was some reduced stewing steak and I put it in a pot with the defrosted New Covent Garden Soup mushroom soup and paprika / onion. Made a delicious yet thrifty tea with some veg and a couple of pieces of the cornbread. 

(please note my food is a bit like me, it photographs really badly! :o) )
I had to go shopping again on Friday after work, here's the pic

It came in at £9.63, so £5.84 left to spend until pay day in about a week and a half. I will need to grab some more milk and maybe a couple of potatoes, but it should be fine. We will see!

See the toothpaste at the front that was FREE!! Hurray, I often fill in forms online to get free stuff sent through and this little baby as waiting for me on the mat when I got home. Thank you kindly!

No food waste this weekend, so delighted at 2 weeks running.

And apart from taking The Nephew out for the day, and paying for petrol I have not spent another penny. So still in funds for this month without raiding the savings.

Currently on the search for a bread making book not using a machine, saw one on Friday in charity shop but for a pamphlet type book with only about 20 pages they wanted £1.50. I put it back on the shelf and walked out nose in the air. I would not have paid £1.50 for it new with so few pages. So still looking.

Conclusion - would go back to Thomas Land again The Nephew so enjoyed it, the bread has been a huge success and I am still in funds, life could be worse.

So any ideas what kind of bread to try next?

Frugally Yours
Abigail x