The Store Cupboard Challenge

The Store Cupboard Challenge is going really well, after last weeks No Spend Week, things are starting to be really used up. Spotty Jug got his injection of the full £70 housekeeping money and is currently standing at £424.50. The home preserves cupboard (above) has at last got space in it.

And that means I have empty jars to re-use.

One freezer, the one in the kitchen with four drawers has been completely emptied and defrosted, now I am in the process of moving things from the big chest freezer upstairs into this one, so the contents can be chomped through. The big chest freezer is mainly used for storing our own home grown produce and now that I have the jars available I can start to process some more of this.

First to be tackled is the tomatoes and I spent yesterday making some tomato juice and a few jars of simply cooked tomatoes. Since the tomatoes have been frozen they have turned much more watery, so the rest of the bags were left to defrost completely overnight and then strained and peeled first thing this morning. They are currently in the bottom oven of the Aga, slow cooking to intensify the flavour, then they will be bottled up.

I can use these jars of tomatoes for all sorts of recipes in the coming weeks, in place of tinned tomatoes. I do think that this year though that I won't freeze as many tomatoes, instead I will make sauces and meals with them, and freeze them instead. The quality of the frozen tomatoes is not as good as when you use them fresh.

So once again the Home Preserves cupboard will be filling up but I can almost see the bottom of the large chest freezer and soon I will be able to turn it off for a couple of months and save on the electricity bill!

Sue xx