Day 19 of Extremely Frugal February - Sweet Chili Stir Fry

Day 19 of 28 - Surveying the Month's Work and Spends to Date

Still no more major 'out of the ordinary' spends, but there has been a few hours of extra work lately, so I had to take advantage of that for the extra income. It's been a good excuse not to go out anywhere; I even turned down the opportunity of a trip to the nearest Co-op recently!

Chicken, onion and peppers

Back to chicken this evening for dinner - diced and stir fried with sliced and diced onions and peppers. Remember the rule - always slice, dice or grate to make things go further. If I can get the kitchen organised soon then I'll look at stocking up on the chicken fillets while I can still get a bulk order at £4.85/kilo from Muscle Food*. (The offer of 4 free chicken fillets still stands if you use this link.)

5p per sachet sweet chilli sauce

Did anyone stock up on the sachets of sweet chilli sauce from Approved Food? At 5p per sachet, I have found them a fabulous addition to many dishes and I'm even thinking of trying adding a sachet to some melted chocolate as a tasty topping for homemade ice cream. I'll let you know how that goes as soon as I can source some cheap chocolate. (Anyone nearby going to a supermarket soon?)

Add a pinch of mixed herbs to rice

Rice can be a little bland, but at 40p per kilo (I bought 10kg), a 50g serving costs only 2p per person and affords you the luxury of adding all sorts of herbs or spices, plus it's a great way of bulking out meals and an enjoyable alternative to potatoes or pasta.

Homemade summer fruits ice cream

The last batch of homemade ice cream got polished off tonight, but there's still blackcurrant cheesecake remaining in the fridge to get eaten tomorrow. Do you think it matters that two of our five-a-day involved fruit being served on cake and mixed through ice cream? I really must get back out and do some walking or cycling soon! The free outdoor gym awaits!

Living room is progressing well without any further money spends. My next project for that is getting some artwork onto the walls and getting back to making the rag rug. I've already set out the plans for our March money challenge in the www.frugalforums.co.uk so there should be something in there to interest anyone with an interest in making something. I'm overrun with ideas and suggestions and really do need to dig my way through them all and get started doing them instead of just reading about them.

Hopefully, by continuing to live within my strict £4,000 per year budget, we'll can afford to get most of the remaining renovation work done during 2014 and get into our ecoarts studio this summer to produce some saleable pieces. Having now reclaimed the living room, this will also allow the multi-purpose room to return to normal and provide much needed space for the crafting projects, as well as space for all the visitors I have invited! :)

Finally, I'm happy to say that the regular get-togethers with friends and neighbours have finally resumed. But we don't do knit and natter here, its stitching and bitching all the way, along with bartering and the sharing of libations, home produce and surplus to requirement 'clutter'. It's like a chatathon coupled with a swapathon.

Now I am off to try and make an old sheepskin rug look like a spring lamb so I can add it to the ambience of the 'new' living room. It's had a jolly good beating outdoors this afternoon and it will probably take me the rest of the week to make it look worthy of being on display.

NYK, Frugaldom