Inventory of all food

This morning did an inventory of all the food in my cupboards, fridge and freezer. Going to try and use as much as I can from what I have and only shop for a few  things we really need. I want to clear the freezer of food to make a little space for anything I make for Christmas and to stash the turkey when I buy it. I'll cross anything I use from my list as I use it. Tonight I'm using up a tub of pork in mushroom sauce that was left over from a meal the other week. To make it stretch to two I am turning it into a pork and mushroom pie. Got plenty of flour and fats to made some pastry

I then added the pork mixture which I had thawed.

I then popped on a lid of pastry and in the oven it went. That's where the pictures end. I was going to show you the finished product but something happened with the camera after I uploaded this last picture so, it got eaten without a picture being taken.   With the scraps of leftover pastry I wrapped a couple of veggie sausages with some chopped onion inside and these were for me. We had these with mash and four different vegetables.

After our meal Hubby asked where the camera was because he wanted to take a picture. I told him the camera had locked up so didn't think he would be able to use it. Hubby sorted the camera out and told me he wanted to take a passport photo of himself because he was not going to pay a fiver for some done in a booth. He needed a passport sized photo for a safety course he's to go on this week. Anyway after some fiddling with the computer and using some photography paper we have had for years he had his photos. A fiver saved.

Just a short one

I'm setting off for work very soon so just a short blog today. I saw daughters boyfriend today when I went to pick her up from his house. He looked a bit under the weather and was still in shock and in a lot of discomfort but at least he's alive. He booked his driving test today. I think this has really scared him and he wants to get rid of the bike.

I made chicken, sweetcorn and mayo sandwiches this morning for daughters packup and needed to open a new tin of sweetcorn. When I only need a bit of sweetcorn for something what I do is drain the can then portion the sweetcorn into small containers.

I pop these containers in the freezer so whenever I need a bit of corn I just have to defrost a small pot and I am not wasting any food.

Forgot to show you my bargain shoes I got at my charity shop last Friday.

These are my glam shoes for over christmas. A bargain at £3.75 and they are nearly perfect. I think someone bought them for a special occasion and only wore them the once they are that new.

Got to go now. Bye

Good clearout day

Started the day with some ironing then onto the girls bedrooms. Been wanting to clear out their wardrobes and drawers for ages. Got daughter No3 to sort through all the junk in her wardrobe whilst I showed her all her clothes and threw a pile on the bed she did not want anymore. We got a huge pile of rubbish for the bin and paper to recycle and a big pile of clothes for the charity bag and a small pile for the rag bag.

We went for a nice walk with the dog then it was time to sort out daughter No2's room. She never throws out any old clothes so her wardrobe is always overflowing with stuff. Well she was rather ruthless today and we got rid of loads. Both girls even sorted through their underwear drawers and sock drawers.

This is the amount of bags we got to give to charity and for charity rags. I recycled lots of paper and put plenty in the rubbish bin. Feels a lot better now we can see what's in the wardrobe and drawers.

We had roasted vegetables tonight and I roasted them in this...

The oil leftover from a jar of sundried tomatoes antipasti. Don't throw the oils from olives or any other type of jared veg in oil. Use it in salad dressings or for roasting things, it gives them a lovely flavour.

Got lots of these, need lots of these

I've got lots of these,

 

 

 

Homegrown courgettes

so I need lots of these.

Empty jars

My courgettes are doing well but I have a glut and was struggling to work out what to do with them. I had a search on the Internet last night and now have a nice pile of recipes to use them up. I've a recipe for courgette bread, courgette soup, courgette chutney and courgette & chocolate cake. I'm going to start with a courgette chutney.

For jams and chutneys you need lots of jars. I don't buy new ones. I save any jar of any size to reuse in my jam making. Above is a picture of a mayo jar I finished yesterday and a pesto jar. Jars are great for storing herbs and spices and I just used one the other day to store some smoked chillies I had opened and wanted to make sure I lost none of the flavour. So if your thinking of starting jam or chutney making, save your money and start saving any jars you have finished to reuse.

Off on my holidays tomorrow but shall still try and blog most days if I'm not too tired and don't get in too late.

Bye for now.  : )

Menu Week 18/07/11

USE UP BITS DAY

Going shopping later today because I've a parcel to pick up in Tesco. If you order from Tesco home and get it delivered to your local store it's free delivery so saves me £5.00. I will be going there to shop today so got the parcel delivered there.

So looking in the fridge I still have quite a bit in there but shall use up all the odds and ends to clear it out a bit. For lunch I shall use these leftovers...

Grated cheese, mashed potato, mushrooms & baked beans

I mixed the cheese with the mashed potato and dusted with flour. I then fried this in a little oil so it was nice and crispy. I also fried the mushrooms. I was going to have an egg with all this but I'm not too hungry so shall leave the egg off.

So this was my lunch with a blob of brown sauce.It was lovely comfort food on this very wet and windy day. Now to use up some beef casserole that was left from a meal. I'm going to make some pastry and make a beef pie for Hubby's meal tonight. The girls are not here for a meal this evening so there will be plenty to make a pie just for Hubby.

Had £55.00 to spend on groceries this week. Spent £4.20 at the potato farm the other day on a 12.5kg sack of potatoes and a bag of new crop potatoes. Today I went to Aldi and spent £24.58 on this lot

Aldi £24.58

I then called into B&M Homestores for loo roll and squash and spent £2.98 there. Onto Morrisons then with a spend there of £12.28.

Morrisons £12.28 & B&M £2.98

I finished off at Tesco with a spend of £9.09

Tesco £9.09

So with this lot I have planned my menu for the week. My total spend for the week came in at £53.13 so in budget again.  All these stores are very close to one another so I don't waste petrol travelling to them all.


MONDAY - Leftover beef pie, chips, peas and carrots

TUESDAY - Spaghetti bolognese & homemade garlic bread

WEDNESDAY -Sausage, mash, vegetables & onion gravy

THURSDAY - Homemade potato cakes, egg, beans, bacon and mushrooms

FRIDAY - Casseroled chicken drummers, potatoes, yorkshire puddings, veg and stuffing balls

SATURDAY - Chicken/Tofu Fajitas

SUNDAY - Roast pork , roast potatoes, veg, yorkshire puddings and gravy

Rubber Chicken

I'm sure most of you will know what rubber chicken is but if you don't it means to s-t-r-e-t-c-h  a chicken to make as many meals as possible and use every bit of the chicken.


Tuesday four people had roast chicken with salad. This is how I used the chicken over the week.

I then stripped every last bit of meat off the carcass and I stored this in an old margarine tub which was then put in the freezer for later in the week.

Today we had the tub of chicken, thawed then added to a casserole of carrot, marrow, onion and chicken stock. This was our meal tonight and there was plenty for three.

                                                                                                                                                              Sometimes I make this http://frugalinyorkshire.blogspot.com/2011/02/cheap-meal.html with the leftover chicken or make a chicken pie. Another thing I use leftover chicken in is a stir-fry or in fajitas.                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                                                  The carcass along with another I had in the freezer was put in my slowcooker with an onion, carrot, bay leaf, black peppercorns and some water and left to cook for six hours.

 
This was then strained and stored in containers to freeze. I got three lots of stock for later use. All I had left was some skin and bones. The carrot from the stock went to the dog.

What do you make with your chicken leftovers? I could do with some new ideas to try.

Use it, don't bin it

I like to use up any scrap of food rather than waste it. Food is too expensive to throw away leftovers and I just can't bear waste so I freeze any thing from cheese sauce to leftover pie. Cheese sauce freezes well and when I have enough small pots to combine together we use it up. Had some mashed potato in the fridge and a half tin of baked beans so made a nice lunch with these leftovers. I mixed grated cheese with the mash and shaped into patties and dusted with flour. I fried these in a little oil and butter until golden brown.

 
The baked beans were just reheated and served on the patties with a small grating of extra cheese and a small dollop of brown sauce. This was real comfort food, really tasty too.

Use it up!

I really hate waste. I squirrel away new tubes of toothpaste and deodorants from my husband because when he gets to the bottom of a deodorant or tube of paste he would rather start a new one than finish the bit that's left. This so annoys me! So I won't let him have a new deodorant now until every bit is used in the old can first. The girls are just has bad. Shampoo bottles and hair conditioner is always left and a new one started when it gets low. I'm the one who always ends up using the dregs of a bottle.

Today I came to the end of my hand cream so not liking to waste anything I did my old trick on the tube. I chopped the tube in half and will get plenty of hand cream for the next day or two.

Been to the dentist today to have  root canal work done on a tooth that has been giving me trouble. Only problem is I have to go back in two weeks time for her to continue the work because she only got 12mm down the tooth and needs to go 20mm. My time was up and she would have been running late if she had continued. I had a 40 minute appointment for my treatment. They were 10 minutes late seeing me so now I've to go through the whole palaver again! Not a happy bunny.

I'm back

Not been on for a week but I'm here now and rearing to go. Busy time for all of us but I think I'm all prepared now. All present shopping has arrived. Last one ordered on the Internet arrived after two weeks, very early Sunday morning. Everything is wrapped and stashed away. Delivery with Tesco was booked weeks ago and will arrive Thursday. Just had my last visit to Aldi for last few things to last until delivery arrives and I am not going anywhere near a shop until new year! I can't stand the hustle and bustle of shops at this time of the year, it's manic, gets me so stressed so I take the easy route, and get everything delivered.

This year we have put a limit with my husbands parents on how much we shall spend, £10 each was the limit. None of us really need anything and it is so pointless spending money on gifts nobody really wants or needs. I have pooled the in-laws money together and have made a hamper for them. I have bought things that have only been on offer in the shops like a tin of biscuits for £4 and a bottle of wine when it was on offer. I bought a lovely block note pad in the sale for 99p was originally £4.99. I am also adding a jar of home made lemon curd. 

I made a jar for the in-laws and a large jar for us, it does taste lovely. I will make a nice label to put on the jar and it will go nicely with my hamper. I will put a picture of the hamper on my blog when it is finished. I had a lot of lemons left so I made a lovely lemon drizzle cake. This I slice up and put in the freezer and just take out a slice when needed.

The lemon skins that are left get put into a container and I keep this in the fridge. I add about 4 halves to the dishwasher and they give everything a lovely fresh smell. They last a couple of washes then I put them in the compost bin.

Cinema Treat

Don't go to the cinema often but promised the girls we would see the new Harry Potter film. We had planned a drive to the coast for this Sunday but because the weather was so bitter and because of the snow we changed our treat to a cinema visit. I HATE paying the extortionate prices at the cinema. Just to get in costs a fortune so if they think I'm going to spend £2-3 on a drink or £8 for a family scoop of ice cream they can p**s off! We always take our own bottles of pop, a bag of Aldi popcorn and some sort of chocolate bar.  Today I took an Aldi chocolate bar and everything was smuggle in my large bag.

I prepared all my vegetables and yorkshire pudding mix so when we returned from the cinema tea could be put straight on and we could be eating within half an hour of getting back. Me and the girls then had a lovely walk with the dog in the dark in the snow before settling down to watch X-Factor. A very enjoyable Sunday was had by all.

It's a dogs life

Any of you have a greedy dog? I have a Labrador and like all Labradors, he's greedy! When his yearly check-up comes around at the vets I always dread the weigh in. He was a little over weight last December so was told to weigh his food and start to bulk it out with vegetables. This can be quite expensive when your dog can consume a mountain of food .We found the solution with pony carrots at £1.50 a 12.5kg bag from farm shops or equestrian places.

We boil a large pan full and store the rest in the garage or at the back door when the weather's cold. In summer we have to cook them then freeze because they go off so quick. A bag lasts about 8-9 days.

He never misses an opportunity to eat something. He's in a carrot field which we pass every day munching on a carrot!

Enjoyed today

I love my Mondays and Thursdays when I have a full day at home and nowhere to go. Once kids were off to school and college and I'd walked the dog it was time to get busy. Bedding stripped off my bed and in washer and a whizz round the downstairs floors and the stairs with the vac. Breadmaker on with a batch of hot cross bun dough. Kids have these toasted every morning for breakfast.

 Don't bother with the cross, too much of a faff  but I always sugar glaze them.

Had the slow cooker on whilst the breadmaker was on. Today spicy lentil soup was in the pot. I used up the last of the marrow, 1/2 green pepper, carrot, tin chopped tomatoes, an onion, veg stock and lentils. I toasted some garam masala and curry powder in a frying pan then popped that in the pot too.

I blended the soup and had a portion for lunch. Don't waste money buying containers to freeze stuff in. I save empty marg tubs to use for freezing. They are the perfect size for one portion and stack great in the freezer. I stick a bit of paper on the lid with what's inside.

Made a nice tea tonight with some leftover chicken from the freezer. I cooked some onion, mushrooms and pepper in a wok, added chicken stock, soy sauce, garlic, ginger and some cornflour then threw in the chicken and some cooked noodles. I made mine with veg stock and tofu. A very tasty meal made in 15 minutes. Even stir-fry hating daughter No2 admitted it was nice.

Day at home

Well, never done a blog before so a bit slow on the technical side of setting everything up so please be patient with me. Thought I'd set up a blog to help me concentrate better on my grocery challenges. If I'm having to write down daily what I've cooked and spent on food it may make me stick to my budget better. Not doing so well with the budget this month so come pay day a new frame of mind and a new budget to challenge me for December.
Looked in the fridge this morning to find not a lot. Need to get some shopping in Aldi later to get us through the week with what's in the freezer. Freezer full, plenty of meat in there but need veggies to go with it and fruit.

Found some mushrooms on the turn in the fridge along with a part used marrow and a small green pepper so all going to be chopped up and cooked in the slowcooker with some onions and passata to make ratatouille.

 Whizzed round the house with the vac and cleaned glass coffee table with my water and vinegar spray. Never buy glass cleaner, always use my spray and it does a great job. Bread makers on and when it's finished will be making pizza bases for the weekend and baguettes, all will be squashed in the freezer somehow. Pizza bases are part baked. Really am going to try and eat throught the freezer over the next couple of weeks so I can get my turkey in there and make space for other christmas treats.

Whenever I make something with pastry I use the trimmings to line individual flan foils then freeze them so I have a handy stash of cases to quickly make a mini quiche for daughter No3 to eat at lunch. Because oven was on I quickly threw a bit of onion ,tomato, sweetcorn and cheese into a case and added a beaten egg. Lunch for one sorted. I take the quiche out of its foil and wash and re-use these. The quiche is then popped into a suitable container for lunch tomorrow. My lunch will be spicy pumpkin soup from the freezer, made with the scooped out pumpkin of our Halloween Lantern.