Austerity August

 

At the end of July Froogs (Frugal Queen) announced that she was having Austerity August (see HERE), well although we are now 11 days into this lovely (up to now) Summery month I had yet to take the challenge and join in.

 

Well here I am .... and it's now Austerity August in our house. 

 

We are using up what we have in store, we really need to empty the big chest freezer ready for the move so we will be using up what's in there, emptying out and eating what's left in the cupboards and making what we can from what we have growing in the Veggie Patch and in the various tubs and pots around the place.

 

We've used up a lot of our stash of non-food items bought and documented on the stand alone page 'I Love Saving Money - 2013' at the top of the Blog, and the cupboard contents have dwindled because of our need to make the £2 Housekeeping Challenge money last as long as possible, so our saviour for Austerity August will be the Veggie Patch, thank goodness for green fingers.

 

 

I've been taking inspiration from one of my favourite books. 

 

 I read this many years ago when the boys were small, I borrowed it repeatedly from the library and read it over and over and it really gave me inspiration for saving money and growing my own food on a somewhat smaller scale.  The weird thing is that re-reading it this week I have discovered that they lived pretty near to where our new place is situated.  And only today a paragraph jumped out at me when they talked about going into Llanrwst for an interview for a job, Llanrwst will be our nearest town for shops, doctors, dentists etc, what a coincidence.

 

Although I am sincerely hoping our new home on the hill doesn't turn into a hovel !!

 

Austerity August has got off to a brilliant start with this lovely crop of potatoes just dug up by Lovely Hubby. 

 

The cost of them .... absolutely nothing!!

 

They are the result of a few potatoes being left in the raised bed last year by accident and have grown wonderfully with only a minimal amount of earthing up and watering.  Food fresh from the garden and totally free what more can you ask.

 

Off to cook some right now, they will simply be lightly boiled and then sprinkled with freshly ground sea salt and black pepper, some chopped herbs and a generous dollop of mayo, and served with some left over tomatoey vegetables and pasta from last night.

 

Tea for free, now that's a good start.  :-)

 

Sue xx



The £2 House Keeping Challenge - Officially Over

 

We went shopping towards the end of last week and it officially ended the £2 House Keeping Challenge, we could not keep below the £26 that I had left in the house keeping tin and manage to afford all that we needed for our next Challenge.  This little lot came to just below £35.

 

This one is the first Challenge totally started by Lovely Hubby and one that I'm more than happy to join in with.

 

He watched a programme the other week called Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead, and was totally inspired especially by the lorry driver Phil's story.  He decided then and there to give this ago and asked me to order a Juicer that night.  I did, and what we are about to do may go down in our family folklore.

 

Here's a link to the programme if you would like to watch it, it is available for only TWO MORE DAYS, although you can buy it on Dvd on Amazon now.

 

Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead

 

 

His new toy arrived on Thursday and already it has made us litres and litres of vegetable and fruit juice.  In fact all that's left in the fridge from all those fruits and vegetables in the top picture are a few sad ends of things.  It's dangerous to stand still in this house at the moment in case you get grabbed and juiced.

 

Only joking of course. 

 

The juice that's being churned out by this magnificent machine is really good and I must say I'm really enjoying being the official taster.  Lovely Hubby doesn't like to stick to recipes and up to now he has just been pushing whatever comes to hand through the machine.  If the juice tastes a bit too 'leeky' he'll add an apple, if it tastes too fruity he'll add some cabbage leaves from the Veggie Patch.  He just keeps adding and adding until it tastes really good.  When all the flasks and jugs are filled I have to get him to stop.

 

I'm off to the shops again today to get more supplies, although I think I may have to hide them until all the current jugs and flasks are empty.

 

Sue xx

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.)

 

*** *** ***

 

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

Little Shop, Gifts from Blogging Friends and Happy Dancing

 

A little top-up shop done at the weekend, I spent £7.40 ..... and yes I bought a lettuce.

 

 I have soooo many Mixed Leaves growing around the place at the moment, but I wanted a bit of crispy lettuce to mix in with them, I thought I had planted some but it seems either I haven't or someone has eaten them!!  The milk has been popped into the freezer and the bags are used when I sell the Muffins at the car boot sale as well as around the house, and I had run out completely.

 

So that was £8 taken out of the £2 Housekeeping Tin for the shopping .... and then £8 put back in on Sunday after the car boot sale.  We took a total of £229, including selling 43 Chocolate Muffins at 20p each (the other 60p goes into the Sealed Pot).  It means we have our 'spends' for this month again without drawing any cash out of the bank and all money not spent is money left in the bank towards our new home.

 

There is now just £43 left in the £2 House Keeping money tin.

 

There was a lovely little packet in our  post-box on Saturday morning, a gift from a fellow blogger.   THANK YOU Anne they are a wonderful selection. Visit Anne's Blog HERE for a really enjoyable read, she's got some beautiful flowers growing in her garden at the moment. With these seeds I now have all I need for next years planting and for a couple of sowings of late crops for this year.  It's a very good place to be, it means I don't have to worry about dashing about buying seeds while we are planning our move to Wales. 

 

Yes folks it's all going through at the moment.  Offer accepted, mortgage sorted and accepted and now it's all down to the solicitors to do their stuff ,there are no estate agents involved, so one less thing to worry about and the folks we are buying the house off are moving in with her family so no onward chain .... PHEW !!  So now we have many plans to make and things to sort out, but it really looks as though we will finally have our forever home in the very near future. :-)

 

Does little 'Happy Dance' around the room.

 

 

 

This is how to get the movements right, please feel free to join in.   :-)

 

Sue xx

 

 

This Weeks Shopping and Elderflower Cordial

Wow!!  This weeks shopping came to a total of £58.96 (I've updated the stand alone page this morning).

 

As we are both taking part in the Harcombe 30 Day Body Blitz along with over 4,000 others this July I needed to re-stock the freezer and cupboards with some fish, we had managed to work our way through all of it and supplies were right down.

 

The large bags of chicken portions are actually for the dogs (although Lovely Hubby has been known to snaffle the odd one) and so have been deducted from the total as have the tablets everything else is included in the £2 House Keeping Challenge budget

 



 

I'm getting good at remembering the receipts now, it's a shame I almost forgot the teabags and had to go back into the supermarket for them!!

 

Back of the receipt showing the deductions for the challenge.

 

There is now just £43 left in the £2 House Keeping tin.  Now how long can I make that last?

 

*** *** ***

 

 

It's Elderflower season and ours are blooming gorgeous, lining the woods with their wonderful flowers and littering the grass with the tiny perfect little flower heads, making for a delightful doggy walks with eyes fixed on the carpet of tiny petals.

 

They seem to be a little behind like most things are due to the cold start of Spring, but I'm not worried as I'm not making any Elderflower Cordial at all this year,  we are being super strict this month,  steering away from all sugary and processed products in our attempt to keep LH's diabetes and our general health and weights firmly under control.  It is a beautifully tasty drink and has it's place this time of year, but we do recognise that if I make it we WILL drink it, so I am standing firm.

 

However if you would like the recipe to make some of your own I will direct you to HERE, my most viewed and used Blog entry EVER!!  Thousands have used this and hopefully have been able to make gallons of their own Elderflower Cordial to enjoy.  Each time I click on to check my Blog statistics there is someone, somewhere reading this entry and the numbers of views rise dramatically each week.

 

I did try to make Elderflower Champagne that year as well but it was not successful and so I never went on to try again.  There really was no need to as this was the most perfect drink as it was.   

 

And now I'm off to do my workout, I'm doing really well sticking to a daily workout, just 35 minutes worth at the moment but that is set to increase tomorrow as I'm finding it easier and easier.

 

Sue xx

 

They're here .....

 

They're here...... one of my favourite crops has finely started to ripen. 

 

Just in time for Wimbledon some might say but I'm sport phobic, so for me it's just in time for our holiday.   I had my fingers crossed they would, there were lots of little green strawberries last week, hence me buying the pot of double cream to take away with us, and I was right to do so ... 



 

 

..... this is what my daily harvest looks like on the way back from feeding the chickens every afternoon.

 

The hens are in full lay at the moment and all the broody girls are now going about their business and laying again, so it's an average of about ten eggs a day and a big handful of strawberries.

 

The first few years I grew strawberries I would wait and pick every couple of days but now I pick daily because the more you pick the more you get.   Every day there is another handful and I only have to save two days worth in the fridge to give us enough for a lovely pudding of strawberries and 'whatever'.  We're using up everything in the fridges and freezers as part of the £2 House Keeping Challenge, so up to now we have had them with  Crème Fraiche and with ice-cream and of course a few get eaten just as they are the absolute best way when they are bright red and deliciously fully ripe.

 

The Geese have just finished laying, they only lay for around 8- 12 weeks each year and then naturally stop.  I put the last four eggs out at the farm gate yesterday ...

 

... and they were stolen .....  no money left in the Honesty Tin!!

 

What a sad end to the Goose Egg season.

 

*** *** ***

 

Today I am getting everything ready for loading into the car for tomorrow, we can't pack the car until the last minute as the dog beds will go in first and everything else on top but I am getting everything ready to go in.  We're taking our own summer-weight duvet off the spare bed and that will be popped into a duvet cover today to make setting up the holiday flat a quick and stress free job.  We are taking our oldest kitchen tea and hand towels and they will be used to wipe every where down before we leave and then thrown away, always nice to come back with a bit less.

 

We both take pride in always leaving things as we find them and my final job in any holiday home is to clean the bathroom and kitchen and do everything I possibly can to leave it ready for the next person.  Yes, they employ cleaners and I usually have to leave the vacuuming to them as vacuum cleaners are not left in the flats, but I make sure that is all they have to do.  Why do I do this and not have a break from housework you might ask - well because my very first job when my youngest was only months old was to clean holiday flats on a Saturday morning when his Dad could look after him.  As soon as he progressed to nursery I progressed to cleaning caravans every Monday and Friday, so I do know the sense of relief when you step into a nice clean flat or caravan and all you have to do is put some bleach down the toilet and hoover the floors.  It makes up slightly for the folk that do have a holiday from housework and use every pot and pan in the place rather than wash pots and wipe nothing down all week or tidy after themselves, leaving the mess for the 'paid cleaners' to do it for them.  Yes, I've seen it all and some of it's not nice!!

 

Well I better get on with it, the menu is now planned -

 

Friday

Salad and Cheese/Salad and Meat Buns for the journey

Fish and Chips for tea.

Strawberries & Banana with Cream

 

Saturday

Bacon/ and Poached Eggs on Toast

Salad and Cheese/Salad and Salmon with freshly cooked Baguettes

Garlic Kievs (Chicken & Veggie) with Rice and Salad

Strawberries and Mandarins with Cream 

 

Sunday

Bacon/ and Poached Eggs on Toast

Late lunch at Mums

Garlic Bread and nibbles for Supper

 

Monday

Poached Eggs on Toast

Rice Salad for the Journey home.

 

Snacks/Treats

Large pack of Grapes

Scones with Homemade Jam and Clotted Cream

Large Bag of Kettle Crisps (Approved Foods - brilliant buy)

Twix - 1 pack each

Snickers - 2 each

 

Drinks

Tea

Coffee

Sparkling Water

Low Calorie Bitter Lemon

Fresh Orange Juice

White Wine

Port

Lemonade

Cider

 

All this food is coming from home, partly from what I bought yesterday and partly from the freezers and cupboards, I don't think looking at this that we will have to buy anything else, except the Lattes on the motorway to go with our picnic, we could take a flask, but we enjoy the treat of a C*sta Coffee too much so we don't.

 

I also have to pack a 'doggy bag' with food, leads, poo bags and a couple of treats and toys for them.   Their beds are going to get a good wash today, that's if I can prise them out of them, they seem to be determined to have a bit of lie in this morning, maybe they know they are off on an adventure tomorrow!

 

And hopefully, if it will all fit in the car on the way, there will be lots more space on the way back.

 

Well I better get started :-)

 

Oh, and there will be some of my favourite photos popping up each day on the Blog starting tomorrow, so you don't miss me too much. (Categories -Animals/Vegetables/Us/Food)

 

Sue xx

Cows and Food

This picture from Google Images.

 

Well this post was going to be about the first lot of shopping I got towards our little holiday at the end of this week and our big decision to have £80 of the money for food and drink, a really big decision for folks that are currently spending as little as possible on food.  But we decided what the heck, it's time for a treat and this holiday weekend is so outside the boundaries of our £2 House Keeping Challenge we may as well go for it BIG style.

 

But ...... then the cow escaped!!

 

Yep, you're right we don't keep cows!!

 

In the paddock on the opposite side of our drive, owned by our neighbours are a lovely group of eight black cows (Lovely Hubby was telling me they were boys.....now I know I'm right, they are mostly definitely girls ... I've up close and personal!) they belong to a farmer who lives way down nearer to the village. 

 

Yesterday after cleaning out the henhouse I turned round to be confronted with a very interested cow looking over the chicken fence to see what this rather large rear end was doing poking out from a chicken house door.  She bellowed in the most fetching way as I did the most comedy double-take ever!!

 

Well lots of phone calls later, as our neighbour was out (waiting to pick his wife up from work and go to the opera no less), including a desperate plea to LH to finish work at 5pm instead of 6pm, one of the other ex neighbours turned up, closely followed by LH and then finally the farmer who owned this magnificent cow.  By this time of course she had gone through our fence and into the woods, much scuffling and bellowing could be heard as she decided that she much preferred our paddock and the tasty apple trees, and attempted an about turn through rather than round the bushes. 

 

With all of us stood in gaps and looking as big as we possibly could to fill these gaps, (easily done, the diet starts next week folks) we managed to get her on the drive, with the farmer and his brother driving her towards the road and LH running manfully through the field to open the gate we thought the adventure was over, but for a brief bit of dramatic licence the other seven cows in the field were making for the now open gate faster than the lone cow was being driven down the road.  But just as their noses were out of the gate, their sister appeared and they turned and walked meekly back into the field.

 

And how had she escaped ....... through a kissing gate!!

 

She had lifted it off it's broken and wobbly hinges and stepped through the gap.  Our neighbour has now asked the farmer to remove the cows from the field as they have eaten our landlords trees over the fence and now had this escape and broke the gate, and he can no longer stand the hassle of wondering what they are about to do next.

 

 

I'll miss their lovely velvety faces watching us as we walk along the drive for the post, but someone will miss them more than me - little Suky the Pug!!   The first time she saw them she fell in love, they stood face to face as each one introduced themselves to her and when they started pulling clumps of long grass to chew she followed suit, eager to do what these new friends were doing.  She thought all her prayers had been answered yesterday when one of her friends came to visit, and will be so sad when they all vanish.

 

Oh and the food we've bought up to now, a bottle of Port, a bottle of wine, 3 pint cans of cider (reduced from £5 to £3 in the whoopsie department) and some other bits and pieces, and I 've spent just under £40.  A few more things need buying that will bring this up to £50 and then the other £30 will be for food and drink while we are away, a coffee of two at the services and maybe some fish and chips one night.  Then we have £50 a day for spends.  It's all in cash, so there will be no flashing of the plastic on this mini holiday, we will stay in our budget, which to us seems positively luxurious.

 

I even used a bit of my personal spending money to do what is traditional and bought myself a new t shirt and a book to read.  I don't usually do this but this t shirt caught my attention as I walked past and I just love the simple stripes and for £6 it would have been rude to say no :-)

 

Added in - our neighbour has just knocked and said one cow is missing again, so I better keep my eyes open while I'm out and about, she obviously enjoyed her day of freedom so much yesterday she's decided to repeat it !!

 

Sue xx

Starting to run out .....

 

Although our food supplies are still plentiful, aided and abetted wonderfully by the vast amount of salady things we now have coming through in the Veggie Patch and that we are making the basis for most of our meals, we are starting to run out of some non-food items.

 

  This week it was tissues, now I know lots of you will assume I would use washable 'old fashioned' handkerchiefs, which indeed my Lovely Hubby does, but I don't, I am of the mind that germs are best in the bin not whizzing through my washing machine with my best clothes on a 30 degree wash.

 

 

So with the last box being brought into use and it being hayfever season and all, I nipped out to the supermarket and for once I decided to visit Waitrose, a supermarket I love but not one that usually has that many bargains.  Although I must say I was pleasantly surprised when I got there.  I did need some carrots for grating as all mine are sliced in the freezer, and some grapes as well as the tissues so it was worth going out for.

 

When I got there I wandered the aisles quite enjoying being in a different place for once and I noticed that my favourite brand of Oatbran was reduced in price, so as we were about to run out I bought two bags.  I also spotted these 'Living Lettuces' which were reduced to clear at 69p a pack as the date was just up, so again I got two.  

 

When I got to the checkout I was offered a Waitrose card which the lovely cashier told me all about, they really are nice the staff in our local branch.  Seemingly as a card holder I now qualify for a free magazine every month as well as additional offers and the chance to win either the value of my weekly, monthly or yearly shopping free in various draws they do.  Ah well the odds of me winning that one (or it being very much if I did) are not very great but a free magazine every month, as long as I'm passing in that direction is worth having the card for.

 

 

I spent a grand total of £11.26, seemingly for accepting the leaflet with the card I got 1p knocked off my shopping according to the receipt, so that was then down to £11.25, ah well they say every penny helps :-)

 

I got my copy of this months magazine, now for free instead of it being £1.20, and I picked up a copy of their already free 'weekend' newspaper as I knew it had an article mentioning the lovely Jack Monroe who's Blog  A Girl Called Jack and exploits I follow avidly, (a really good piece by the way).  Also in my trolley were two poly bags that the previous trolley user must have picked up and then not used, so I popped these in my shopping bag for use at home, if I had left them there they would have ended up in the bin, what a waste!!

 

When I got home I gave my 'Living Lettuces' a good drink ...

 

... and then an hour later after a sandwich and a sit down (for me not the lettuces), I popped them out of the tray ...

 

... split them, and then split them again ...

 

 

...until I had 16 separate little clumps ...

 

 

... and put them into two empty troughs, and then gave them another good drink of water.

 

Now we'll have lots and lots of lovely lettuces, hopefully enough to keep us going, along with all the others I have growing, for most of the Summer.  Buying them this way was so cheap and gives us instant baby leaves and at least three re-cuts of each and every plant.  So potentially around 48 lettuces for £1.38, which is around the price of two in the supermarket at the moment.  Every little bit helps the £2 House Keeping Challenge go on for just that little bit longer.

 

It really made my day, an outing to a different shop, a couple of freebies AND lots of lovely lettuces :-)

Sue xx

Radishes ... and Poor Man's Pesto

I picked another bunch of Radishes from the Tin Bath yesterday, they are now swelling up juicily with all this rain we have been having and keeping us totally supplied to go with all our salads.  They are nothing like the bitter radishes you get from the supermarket out of season, each one of these gorgeous red balls is mildly peppery and juicy through and through.   Eaten fresh from picking with just a dunk in salted water get them clean and then a whizz round in the salad spinner, I've been slicing them thinly and scattering their red and white prettiness all over our salads.

Of course there are always lots of lovely leaves with a radish and it makes sense to me while I'm doing the £2 House Keeping Challenge to make good use of them.  I pick the youngest and sweetest to use as salad leaves ...

...  the next best get mixed in with herbs.  The tattier and any nibbled leaves go straight over to the chickens with the little radish trimmings, they love them, not a bit of wastage here.

Finely chop the Rosemary ...

... mix approximately equal quantities of assorted nuts ... (I simply raided the cupboard where Lovely Hubby keeps his Fruit and Nut stash and picked out some Almonds, Hazelnuts and Brazils,  I didn't want to use up all the more expensive Pine Nuts this time) ....

... with cheese, here I have mostly Cheddar from the freezer with some parmesan style cheese ...

.... and your leaves.

Whizz the nuts and cheese together first and then top with the leaves and a swirl of Garlic Puree ...

... a brilliant store cupboard stand by.

Taste after you have processed it and get your seasoning just right, I seemed to need lots of Black Pepper with this one but not much Sea Salt, it varies every time, depending on your choice of herbs.

You end up with a lovely bowl of Pesto.

 I simply could not resist the temptation of dipping in a Radish and eating a bit straight away. 

 Good honest and simple food.

And there's lots more where that came from!!

Sue xx

'Almost Free' Food

It's wonderful getting free food and almost as wonderful getting 'almost free' food.

 

There's something about spending vouchers that feels like something for nothing, but of course you have to remember that to have 'qualified' for the vouchers at all you have to have spent money in the first place.

 

This weekend we spend the last of our large clutch of M&S vouchers, we got so many because when Lovely Hubby had his eyes lasered last December we put it all on our M&S credit card, but we only did this knowing that we had the cash to pay it off in it's entirety when the bill pinged into the inbox at the end of the next month.

 

Still it's been satisfying eating our way through the vouchers.

 

This time the receipt was tucked safely into my purse so I didn't lose it again and photographed as soon as we got home, I must get into this habit properly.  As you can see (if you click on the photo to enlarge it) we spent £12.50 and as we had £11 in vouchers had only £1.50 to pay in cash from the £2 House Keeping fund.

 

This month is proving to be a good one for the Housekeeping Tin with £50 going in (through selling food) and only £1 coming out in the first week, this second week has seen no money going in as there will be no more sales of muffins or food until the next car boot at the start of July, but only £6 coming out.

 

So up to now this month we have spent on shopping,  £7 in cash and in credits, vouchers and Nectar points the grand total of  £67.19.  This feels positively extravagant, and as you can see from the photo we are eating really well on this budget. 

 

The homegrown crops are now really taking off too, with the radishes in the Tin Bath a good size to eat, we have mixed salad leaves and lots of various herbs.  There are also some good healthy potato plants that have sprouted from potatoes we obviously missed harvesting last year, as I said it's always nice to get free food, whether you are getting it from vouchers and points earned or a missed harvest.

 

Sue xx

Yesterdays Questions on Bottling

 

There were quite a few questions asked in the comments and on direct emails about yesterdays post about my bottling method, so I though I'd better devote todays post to them.   I hope this helps.

 

How do I know a vacuum has been created?

 

The indentation in the lid gets sucked in with an audible 'pop', you can hear it happening from the next room.  This is why I always use a few lids with this indentation (I have used some of these lids over and over with absolutely no ill effects).

 

How  can you tell it has popped?

 

You can hear it (see above), if you go out and miss hearing it you will be able to tell because when you go to press it down there is nothing to press down!! (Try a couple of bought jars of sauces out of your cupboards and you will see what I mean.)

 

How long do they keep with a vacuum?

 

I have kept and eaten things that I bottled three years ago and they were absolutely fine.  You have to use your common sense, if in any doubt about a foodstuff don't risk it.

 

How long do they keep without a vacuum?

 

Any jars that don't 'pop' I store in the fridge and use first, they have kept well for a couple of weeks, again your senses should come into play, does it look right, does it smell right and if the answers to those questions are yes have a taste, and decided does it taste right, if in doubt throw it out.

 

How do I sterilise my jars?

 

I put them in a medium oven stood on a baking tray for about 10 minutes, and add the lids loose to the tray for the last couple of minutes (or you can just put the lids in a jug of boiling water).  While I am bottling, the jars are too hot to hold with my bare hands and I use a tea towel or oven gloves to move them into position.  So the main thing is to put piping hot sauce into piping hot jars and put the lids on as soon as you have filled your jars.

 

Don't you have to pressure can?

 

I have never pressure canned, ever.  This method has always been good enough for me. I would love a pressure canner though, maybe Santa will bring me one soon, then I could go wild canning all sorts of things.

 

How long is it before you can use them?

 

You can eat them immediately or save them. 

 

As they are in a vacuum the flavours do not develop, ie. they do not get a more intense or better flavour because you have saved them for a while.   When you open them they taste exactly the same two years after bottling as they did on the day you did it.

 

Have any sauces gone off or mouldy?

 

Yes, out of perhaps a couple of hundred jars that I have done this way I guess I have lost about 3 or 4.  These would have been jars that have not had a good seal or have lost their vacuum in storage (they might have been knocked or something).  So I simply threw the contents away when I found them.

 

Have we ever had food poisoning?

 

Oh yee of little faith ....... NO never :-)

 

 

 

Costings

 

These eleven jars cost me approx. £7 to make out of the ingredients you see in the top picture (and a quarter of a jar of Lazy Garlic which I forgot to photograph).  I costed out using mysupermarket.c*m that to buy the ingredients I used (ie not having your own Chilli plant or herbs) it would cost you £8.56 from A*da, £8.98 from T*sco and £12.18 from Sainsb*rys.  Or using basic ranges £5.87, £6.91 and £6.55.

 

I also compared which sauce I though they tasted most like and I think they would be nearest in flavour to  Lloyd Grossman's Tomato and Roasted Garlic Sauce, although his are in a smaller jar. These are currently on special offer at £1 in Sainsb*ry and Asda but normal price £2 in T*sco.  So there is still a good saving to be made.

 

 

Why do you make your own when pasta sauce is so cheap to buy?

 

Well there is the cost factor, see above, but the main reason is that I like to know exactly what is in our food. 

 

Although a lot of the better sauces have only 'real' ingredients these are usually the more expensive ones  to buy, the cheaper ones are padded out with other things (sorry I have none to look at the labels of in my cupboard, I've just checked).  Once we have our own tomatoes growing the cost of producing my own sauces will plummet as a large part of my cost were the six cans of tomatoes, but I made these with tinned tomatoes because we had them in the storecuboard and we are eating our way through the cupboards at the moment as part of the £2 House Keeping Challenge.

 

I think that's it, I hope I've not missed anything out.

 

Sue xx