Our Free Meal At Prezzo

Hello readers long time no see. We have been busy bees what with the boys being off school lots of frugal activities occurring and our biannual trip to London to see friends and family. The boys are now away visiting family in Wales for the last week of the holidays. They return on Monday and are back to school on Tuesday giving me time to get everything ready for back to school and a little me time thrown in for good measure :)

I have read about Froogs occasional free meals out to Prezzo  over at Frugal Queens blog several times in the past. Not having a Prezzo local to us we have never been able to take advantage of this offer ... that is until now. A Prezzo has opened up in the next town to us so we decided to check it out. The way in which you get a free meal is simple you use some of your clubcard vouchers. You go on to the clubcard website and trade in however much you would like to use of your clubcard points towards Prezzo credit. The points are quadrupled so if you trade in £2.50 of your clubcard total you will receive £10 in Prezzo credit. You are then sent an email which you have to print off and take with you as payment. Here's the small print the credit can not be used for set menus or any other offers so you must eat from the main menu and the credit does not include drinks so if you want drinks you have to pay for those. As I am saving my clubcard points with the Tesco Christmas saver club we checked Lee's clubcard balance and he had £10 so we decided to trade this in for £40 of Prezzo vouchers and have a blow out meal really give the place a road test lol. We had a starter, main course, and dessert. Here's what we had.....

Starter
Me = Baked mushrooms
Lee = Garlic Bread

Main course
Me = Spaghetti carbonara
Lee = Lasagne

Dessert
Me = Sticky toffee pudding with ice cream
Lee = Chocolate profiteroles

I would say the food was of an average quality but is over priced for what it is. We certainly would not pay those prices out of pocket. That said as the occasional FREE treat it is more than adequate should you fancy a little one on one time with the special someone in your life. A way around paying for drinks would be to ask for a jug of cold tap water this did not occur to me at the time but after seeing another couple in the restaurant do this it is definitely something we will do on our future visits. I had a coke and Lee had a sprite but at a cost of £2.40 for the equivalent of a average can of drink we made this last us and did not buy a second drink each. The total out of pocket expenses for our meal and 2 drinks was £6.15 had we had a FREE jug of tap water instead the total would have been £1.35.

 

Me enjoying a little quality time with the Mr at Prezzo

 

 



Over all did we enjoy ourselves YES
Did the food blow us away NO (It wasn't awful but at those prices you expect it to be more than just ok)
Would we return YES (only using clubcard vouchers though not as paying customers)

Has anyone else been to Prezzo ? What have your experiences been ? I would love to here your thoughts.

Much Love
Claire xx xx xx

Let there be cake

Hello readers hope everyone is well. Bradley is finally home from camping it was so nice to see him after having no contact with him for ten days. He had a fab time and made some new friends. He said they had camp fires sing songs and toasted marshmallows most nights and did lots of survival skills during the day. They even got to go to Bournemouth beach for a day trip. It sounds like he had great fun and he has asked if he can go again next year so I had better get saving now lol.

We have not really been up to much over the last few days lots of housework and I was out of action for one day due to my MD but am ok now. I had a day of baking where I made chocolate brownie bites, banana bread, chocolate cupcakes, and some syrupy chocolate cornflake cakes .....

Chocolate brownie bites

Banana bread

Chocolate cupcakes

Syrupy chocolate cornflake cakes

I made this cute chocolate heart tree for the Mr which he loved

I found these pictures of Ben and Baby on the kindle

Don't they look cute

Much Love

Claire xx xx xx

£5 of free fruit, salad, and veg don't mind if I do

Buy the sun newspaper today for 40p and you will find a £5 voucher for fruit, salad, and veg from Morrison's. There is no minimum spend on it either. I have brought 4 newspapers costing £1.60 and will use them over the next few days to get £20 of fruit, salad, and veg for £1.60 plus any pennies I go over the £5 voucher. Hurry you only have a few hours left to grab your sun newspaper.

Much Love
Claire xx xx xx

Frugal fun family day

Hello readers we have had a fun frugal family day today. There were 2 free events happening in our local community today. The first was in our local park between at 11am-2pm and was put on by our local council. They will be there every Wednesday throughout the summer holidays. They had activities and inflatables as well as the usual park facilities. I don't think I have ever seen our local park so busy. It was a lovely sight seeing so many different members of the community coming together. I spoke to the 2 young men who were running the event. They work for a company called active trowbridge who are a private company separate from the council. They can be hired for private events and offer lots of different services. The nice young chap I spoke to told me that they run breakfast clubs, play schemes, sports clubs, and fun days. I asked how they were able to bring us this event free of charge and was told that active trowbridge are able to offer the local council a reduced rate to put on these events. He explained that it only costs a few pounds to run the inflatables and nothing for the games and activities. By offering a discounted rate to the council they are also promoting the business to the public which then brings in more profitable private bookings. The small fee paid from the council to active trowbridge comes out of our local council tax so the event is actually funded by the local tax payers.

Today they had a game of rounders going on in one part of the park, football skills in another, a mini inflatable assault course, and a bouncy castle. We had great fun and will be going every Wednesday throughout the holidays. Here are some pictures from our time at the park.....

Brandon on the bouncy castle

A close up of Brandon lol

Ben and I sitting under a tree in the shade listening to music

Brandon on the mini assault course

Practising football skills with one of his school friends

The next free event we went to was held at 1pm-4pm on the green just up from my house and was put on by our local church community. They hold the family fun day every year and it is a completely free event to try and bring the local community together. They had free tea, coffee, squash, and cakes, face painting, glass tea light designing, woolen web making, giant pick up sticks game, giant noughts and crosses, sand pit, bouncy castle, indo boards, cricket, and golf. Again we had great fun. Here are some pictures from our time at the church family fun day.....

My little picathu from pokemon lol

Picathu on the Simpson's bouncy castle

The pretty tea light jars we designed

A community brought together :)

Do you have any free local events where you live ? I would love to hear about them.

Much Love
Claire xx xx xx

Homemade is always best

Hello readers I'm under the weather today :(  I have a horrible cold and think I'm coming down with a bug as I've been having stomach cramps and have felt quite icky all day. I have managed to get the day to day jobs done by doing a little bit here and there. I had 2 small stale baguettes ( 5p each yellow sticker ). Rather than throwing them away I turned them into 4 bags of breadcrumbs ideal for making fish bites, fish fingers, and crumbles. They have gone in the freezer ready to pull out as and when I need them. I also made 2 trays of cola flavored ice cubes using my Xmas chocolate moulds. I have several bananas well past their best so will also be making a banana bread and possibly some banana muffins this evening and possibly some laundry detergent and oat milk. I will be sure to take some pictures and post them later tonight. Can you tell the paracetamol has kicked in lol. I hope I'm feeling a little better tomorrow as we have a day of frugal fun planned but more on that tomorrow.

How do you use up food that's past its best ?

Much Love
Claire xx xx xx

UPDATE..... I made the oat milk and laundry detergent but am shattered so will leave the banana bread and banana muffins till tomorrow. Here are the promised pictures.....

Soaking my oats

Laundry detergent ingredients

Boiling the water for my laundry detergent

2 Large and 1 small tubs of laundry detergent and around 2 pints of oat milk

I have had a taste of the oat milk and have to be honest even with the syrup, cinnamon, and vanilla I don't really like it. I'm going to give it another go in the morning once it's had chance to chill over night but I don't fancy it's chances of becoming a regular here at Tilly Towers xxx

Frugal and moneyless living

Hello readers today we have had a no spend day at home. I have done a little more knitting and a lot of reading. I am currently reading The moneyless manifesto by Mark Boyle. I read Mark's first book the moneyless man a few years ago and was fortunate enough to be able to help Mark out by letting him use my openzone WiFi connection so that he could continue his work on the freeconomy when he was traveling and out of range of his internet connection. I don't know Mark personally we just exchanged a few emails here and there but it felt really good to be able to help in some small way spread the word of frugal/moneyless living and the gift economy. Freeconomy has since merged with street bank a website where you can swap skills with like-minded locals. If you want to find out more about street bank you can find them here
www.streetbank.com

Whilst I don't think I could go as extreme as Mark has ( especially with 3 little ones ) I applaud his efforts to bring knowledge to the masses. I myself have learnt a lot through reading Mark's books and agree with a lot of his opinions and principles. I look forward to a day when I can downsize to an almost moneyless way of life. Reading The moneyless manifesto has got me thinking about my own way of life and the choices I have made regarding my lifestyle. I have taken a lot of flack and ribbing from both family and friends alike for moving myself and my children out of the rat race and away from consumerism ( granted not completely but a million miles away from how we used to live ). They don't seem to understand my choice to buy mostly second hand or make my own laundry detergent to name just a few of my choices. I have often been referred to as being tight. When someone uses the word tight to me it conjures up the image of an old miserable miser sitting in the cold counting out his pennies and this is so not me. I get joy out of the things I do for my family. I enjoy making gifts, I enjoy being able to feed my family for pennies, I enjoy finding a bargain in the charity shops whilst saving something from landfill at the same time, I enjoy making things from scratch, I enjoy going to the park and having a picnic with the kids. There really is so much more to life than money even if it did take me 31 years to learn this. I am so much happier now than I was when I was tangled up in that rat race. I no longer feel the need to keep up with the Jones I am me and I am happy with the way my life is in comparison to how my life was. It will take me time to become completely debt free but I am on that path. My debts are no longer rising but they are decreasing. Frugal and moneyless living are slowly becoming more popular thanks to people like Mark Boyle spreading the word. People who once mocked me and my way of life now come to me for advice on ways to save or to help them create a budget. I love my way of life and even when I become debt free will continue to live this way not through necessity but through choice because it makes me truly happy to do so.

If you would like to read Mark's second book The moneyless manifesto you can find it here
www.moneylessmanifesto.org
It is free to read online and well worth a read


Much Love
Claire xx xx xx

A productive week at Tilly Towers

Hello readers I hope everyone is well and enjoying the summer school holidays. We are having lots of fun here at Tilly Towers. On Wednesday we had a day at home as we had to wait in for Brad to be picked up for his 10 day camping trip. I am missing him immensely especially as I am unable to speak to him on the phone ( no technology allowed ).

On Thursday we went to the library to log the 3 books Brandon has read for the summer reading challenge and he got his first little prize a mystical maze poster and some stickers. We chose 3 more books which will see him complete the challenge and receive his 2nd and 3rd prizes. We also took out a couple of DVDS Gnomeo and Juliet, and Happy Feet 2. On the way home we stopped off at the park where the children had a good old play and a good run about. On Thursday evening my friend K popped round for a chat. It was lovely to have a good old gossip and giggle. We ate 9p cream cakes, drank tea, and put the world to rights.

On Friday we popped round to see K. She mentioned the night before that she had a blackberry bush in her garden that was brimming with berries and we were welcome to come and take as many as we wanted. By the time we had finished we had 1kg of blackberries and that was just 1/4 of the bush. K told me that I'm welcome any time should I want anymore blackberries. K also has 3 very large plum trees in her garden and has told me that as soon as they are ripe she will let me know so that I can go and harvest some. We sat and chatted for a while over a refreshing elderflower cordial and K gave me some tips on growing fruit and vegetables in planters. After my chat with K I feel a lot more optimistic about having another go at growing some of my own next spring. When we got home the boys and I snuggled up and watched happy feet 2 whilst sharing a box of 9p cheese straws and a bowl of homemade popcorn.

On Saturday I decided to use my haul of blackberries to make blackberry jam. This was my first time making jam and I thought it was going to be a lot harder than it was. It was actually very straightforward and thanks to my reader Trudie for the tip on how to check the jam is ready to set it was a great success. I think the worst part was when the jam decided to spit at me a little bit but other than that I thoroughly enjoyed the process. I have given my next door neighbor a jar as a thank you for all the empty jars and lids she has given me and K a jar as a thank you for the blackberries. I also have 2 large jars and 1 small jar in the fridge for us.

Today we did a spot of yellow sticker shopping here's what I got and what I paid.....
A bag of lambs lettuce 9p
3 x bags of casserole vegetables 9p a bag
16 x bags of Apple slices 0p ( cost negative due to a pre promotion )
2 x warburtons Paddington bear sandwich slices 9p a pack
2 x 2 fresh cream finger doughnuts 9p a pack
2 x 2 lemon swirls 9p a pack
A pack of 4 yum yum doughnuts 9p
A bag of 6 sugar ring doughnuts 9p
12 x bags of melon and grapes 0p ( cost negative due to a pre promotion )
Total cost £1.08

When we got in we had yellow sticker sandwiches for tea. I had a ham and cheese baguette 39p, Ben had a bacon chicken and sweet corn sub 39p, and Brandon had a salmon and cucumber sandwich 25p. We also shared a 9p box of glazed ring doughnuts between us whilst watching back to the future ( which is just ending as I write this post ).

This week I hope to get some ice cream, laundry detergent, and biscuits made for the troops to enjoy during their second week of the school holidays.

What have you all been up to ? How are you managing to entertain the kids on a budget ?

Much Love
Claire xx xx xx