Frugal fried chicken the healthy way

Dear reader,

I'm so pleased that many of us did the 30 frugal tips and got the £30. It was very generous and money received promptly. They said it was valid until the 17th May. Was it a limited number allowed, does anyone know if its still on? Some of you have said you are too late-maybe check this.

Yesterday we were up early at 0700 (that's early on a day off for us). I had a couple of things to take back to Asda and we were there before 0900 and it was still busy.
The diet has crashed and burned this week and I found myself at the i store McDonald's ordering two breakfasts. Not frugal. Not low calorie. How bad am I? The sun was out and I had the devil in me.
That little voice in my head always says, "Well you both work hard, surely you deserve a treat"
It's so easy to be bad and so hard sometimes to be good. Today is a new day.

I duly withdrew my £50 shopping money to go to Lidl but we ended up spending £89. We did stock up on some bargains so I'm not too disappointed as these will last us for ages. I also picked up some geraniums for the garden and a house plant that was reduced from £18 to £10. They had half price packs of  bacon for 99p, some nice sausages reduced to 74 p for 6, a couple of reduced gammon joints and some cheap cheddar. All the meat just goes in the freezer.
The shopping should last 2 weeks with a milk and eggs top up or 2.
We use a lot of mouthwash at about £3 a bottle. Lidl had a new product in and it was on offer for 49p a bottle so we got six. Cheaper than one of the usual bottles.

Big man loves chicken from KFC so I made my own healthy version which went down a treat and it very tasty. Here's the recipe.

Chicken portions, drumsticks, thighs-remove the skin (the skin has the most fat in it)
Breadcrumbs-blitz a couple of slices in food processor (use wholemeal)
Crumble a chicken stock cube into breadcrumbs. I added some chopped garlic and other herbs. You could spice this up with chilli flakes, Cajun spice, whatever you like. Don't add salt if you've used a stock cube-will be too salty.
Dip the chicken portions into beaten egg then dip into the breadcrumb mix. Push the breadcrumb onto the chicken to make sure you get a good coating both sides.
Lay on baking tray (I lightly sprayed mine with fry lite first)
Bake for 30 mins at about 180.
Came out slightly crispy and extremely tasty.
I served with sweet potato chips and potato wedges with cheese and bacon.
(No picture as it was too nice to wait)

Today I will make faggots which I then portion for dinners through the month. I make about 25 and these freeze really well. I have chopped a load of onions which I freeze into little portions in my muffin tin, I also did the same with garlic in the ice cube tray. I find this saves me loads of time as I do use a lot of both. I just grab a portion from the freezer when I want it.

The sun is out again here so very happy. We had a good day in the garden yesterday, I planted lettuce seeds, chilli, peppers and spring onions. I have saved other seeds from butternut squash as well so will see if I can grow them. I use old cardboard egg boxes for my seeds and then just rip the box with the seedlings still in place and plant the little compartment in the soil. The box rots away and I don't disturb the seedling.
We started a compost heap with a free bin from the council when we moved in. We put all our garden waste in and yesterday I was very pleased to see the lovely compost it had made.

Do you adapt any favourite take away recipes. I would love to hear them.

Have a sunny Sunday.
FIB. X