Fashion, Eats, Relationships

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4 Awesome (budget) Date night ideas

Date nights are a great way for you to reconnect with your loved one but they needn’t break the bank. Here are 4 Awesome (budget) Date night ideas for you to try.

4 Awesome (budget) Date night ideas

At home cinema

Wouldn’t it be great if you could have the entire cinema to yourself? Wouldn’t that be romantic? Well you could recreate your own  at home cinema with a good film, a bowl of popcorn and blankets to snuggle under. Personally I think that’s way better than the cinema and much cheaper.

Take an evening/night time walk

If it’s a nice evening you could take a romantic evening/night time walk under the stars. This really is a lovely thing to do and gives you both a chance to switch off, get surrounded by nature and get to know each other. Just make sure you wrap up warm if it’s a particularly cold night.

Pack a picnic

Can’t afford the fancy restaurant? Then you could pack a romantic picnic instead! Grab a blanket, pack some sandwiches and other treaty nibbles from the supermarket and take your own bottle of wine (or flask of tea/coffee if that’s what you prefer). You’ll get top marks for effort and you know that you haven’t blown your budget.

Cook together

Okay so cooking together may not work for everyone but if you’re both quite relaxed in the kitchen then this could be a winning idea for you. This is a great chance for you to both work together as a team and potentially strengthen your relationship.

I would love to hear what budget date night ideas you have, let me know in the comments.

Where to find affordable fashion

I love fashion, there’s nothing better than putting on some new clothes that you feel super awesome in but do you find it hard to shop for clothes on a budget?

Where to find affordable fashion

I love to pick up a bargain and I’m often first in line at the latest sales but where do you look to find affordable fashion? I’ve made a list of my top places to hunt for budget clothing.

Everythingfivepounds.com

I love this website, it has all the latest fashions for all the family and as the name suggests everything is only … £5! What an absolute bargain hey! There is a lot of choice on the website (more than you may think actually) and there is a wide selection for women including a section dedicated to shoes.

eBay

We’ve all heard of eBay right? It’s a great place to do your bit for the environment and get yourself some pre loved fashion. You can save yourself a huge amount of money too by buying second hand from eBay instead of buying brand new.

But this site isn’t just about second hand, you can also pick up brand new items too. In fact a lot of big brands such as Superdry and Argos have their own outlets on eBay and they sell their brand new products at a fraction of the original price.

Local Charity shops

If you’re a brand snob then you may be surprised with what you find lurking in your local charity shop. Recently I’ve picked up brand new Laura Ashley, Fat Face and River Island clothing all under £10 from local charity shops. I’ve also picked up a lot of only worn once items of clothing and shoes as well as a few vintage numbers too.

I love buying from charity shops! Not only does it help the environment through recycling clothes but it also helps the charity. I think that in the past charity shops have been looked down on a little but there really is some awesome stuff waiting to be found.

I would love to hear where you find your affordable fashion? Let me know in the comments below!

Slow Cooker Brisket Recipe with the easiest onion gravy!

Slow cooker brisket is one of my favourite meats for a thrifty roast dinner. Brisket is a reasonably cheap cut of beef (even cheaper if you can find it yellow stickered). It is a cut that requires slow cooking and although you can easily pop it in your oven, I prefer to use my slow cooker. This recipe also includes my delicious slow cooker onion gravy recipe.

Slow Cooker Brisket Recipe with the easiest onion gravy!

This is just a very basic rough recipe. I tend to judge by eye and taste as I go, so feel free to play around with flavours.

You will need

  • A slow cooker
  • 1kg-1.5kg of brisket (this serves 2 adults and 2 children and you should also have enough leftover for another meal
  • Half a bag of frozen shallots (Or 2-3 onions quartered)
  • English mustard
  • Oil
  • A few sprigs of rosemary
  • 500mls water
  • 1 tablespoon of cornflour
  • 2 tablespoons water
  • Salt and pepper to season

Method

  1. Season the brisket with salt and pepper, rub with oil and brown in hot pan. Pop the shallots or onions in the bottom of the slow cooker. Spread mustard around the edges of the brisket and place on top of the shallots. Cover the beef with the rosemary leaves, add enough water to cover the shallots. Then pop the lid on the slow cooker and set to high for around 4 hours.
  2. Turn the slow cooker to a low setting for another 2 hours. Prepare the rest of your dinner.
  3. To make the gravy, first remove the beef and let it rest. Next ensure the liquid in the bottom of the pot is bubbling gently, turn the setting to high 10 mins before if you need to. Mix the cornflour with 1 tbsp of water to make a thick paste. Then gradually add the other tablespoon so you have a runny paste with no lumps. Add the cornflour mix to the liquid in the slow cooker and stir well until combined and the gravy has thickened.

Tips

  • You can add a beef stock cube to the gravy for even extra flavour.
  • The mustard doesn’t make the beef spicy, when its slow cooked on the beef it turns to a more sweet flavour.
  • I don’t really use specific measurements while cooking. I tend to go on how many I’m feeding and just judge everything by eye. I’m quite a laid back cook so please feel free to experiment with this recipe.