The £2 House Keeping Challenge - Nearing the End ?

 

This was the shopping bought for this week, it's looking very different from usual, there's no fresh fruit and veg for a start, that's mostly because we have our own growing now and most meals start with a mooch around the Veggie Patch seeing what's ready to be picked.

 

 There's lots of water because the smaller bottles were on offer for once and Lovely Hubby loves these.   The normal price is 49p for the large and 45p for the small, so I tend to buy a large and decant it into a small for travelling purposes, it's almost two for the price of one that way, but at the end of last week the small ones were 25p each so it was worth stocking up with small bottles for future decanting purposes.

 

There's a few 'cheats', ready rolled pastry and ready made quiches, because I have something in mind ..... she says mysteriously :-)

 

There are two large tubs of cream, that's because we have been enjoying some creamy Alfredo Sauces and pasta with our own homegrown Courgettes (with a bit of bacon added for Lovely Hubby) ....

 

 

... so much so we've used up all the spaghetti and the jar is now holding the last of the pasta twists instead.

 

Yes, things are starting to run out and not all are being replaced, we are starting to make do with what we have, thinking things through and making changes.  This is where is getting more exciting for me, meals are that much more satisfying if you've had to think 'outside the packet'.

 

For instance we've ran out of all the lovely big jars of Mayonnaise that I bought while it was on offer in Winter ...

 

 

... it was no problem as I had all the ingredients.

 

So I made my own.

 

Yes, it tastes slightly different, it tastes fresh and vibrant and can be altered to suit what we are eating.  If we want it garlicky I just add half a teaspoon of lazy garlic to a big dollop of it, if we want it 'hot' I add a few chilli flakes and leave it to sit for a while for the flavours to infuse slightly. 

 

I used to do it the traditional way put all the ingredients in the food processor except the oil and then drizzle the oil in slowly drop by drop and then in a steady stream and then I found an even easier way.

 

 I picked up this quickest of quick recipes from Elaine over at Mortgage Free in Three.

 

Mayonnaise

 

1 Whole Egg

half teaspoon of salt

half teaspoon of dry mustard

2 tablespoons of lemon juice

250 mls of Light Olive Oil

 

Put ALL ingredients into a jug.

 

Whizz with a stick blender for 10 seconds.

 

Put into a nice clean jar.

 

Enjoy

 

Yes, it's that simple.

 

As you can see I tinkered with the ingredients slightly, I didn't have any lemons or dry mustard, my eggs were small so I used two, and it still all worked out fine and miraculously changed from a pile of things in the bottom of the jug to a jam jar sized amount of lovely fresh Mayonnaise.

 

Give it a go you'll be amazed.

 

(I've decided to put a Recipe page at the top of the Blog and try and gather together some of the recipes I put on here as a few of you have been emailing me and asking for them, I hope it helps.)

 

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I put 'Nearing the End ?' in the title today because there is just £26 left in the £2 House Keeping Tin, and I'm wondering how long I can keep this going.  I have a little build up of Nectar points again, so that should help but it's not a lot of cash left to spend.  Although with all this hot weather we have been eating less and mostly from the Veggie Patch so things do seem to have lasted. 

 

Something that has amazed me is how little we have eaten from the food cupboard, the one that holds the tins and packets.  There's not a lot of change in there even after all this time.  We must have used some things because all the jars of Pasta Sauce that I made recently are now sitting comfortably in there.  But it's really astounded me how it has remained so seemingly static for so long.  It does make me feel we have to completely re assess our food purchasing habits at the end of this Challenge.

 

We seem to eat predominantly fresh foods and dried foods from the jars, rice, pasta etc, rather than many tins or packets.  What I may find helps me is having to use the things up in the cupboard as the funds run out, then I might discover a new love of them or it might simply re-affirm that we don't want to eat that way.

 

Back tomorrow with some lovely pictures of where we were over the weekend, we had a fantastic day out on Saturday and as it was so hot we decided to drop the dogs off at the kennels on the way so it turned into a lovely leisurely weekend.

 

Sue xx