Living richly; simply and debt-freely

Greying_Pilgrim

Hey Tills - I don't know if mrL is your destination for milk & cream, but they have the (quite big) single red peppers on offer today (as part of their weekender) 27p each. I'm not encouraging you to spend money, just know that when they're big they offer quite good value for money

apple_muncher wrote: »

As a lurker, I'd like to request that you keep telling us about your food. You are inspiring and I love your descriptions. Please don't stop.

Aw, apple muncher - you are so kind But dearest Al was just mentioning something that is a constant complaint of FB, and I do wonder if we in the western world have gotten aways too introspective and absorbed with ourselves. I would hope that the slight difference of my posts is that I include (where I can) links to recipes in case folks like the look of what they see. But I am also veggie, and that's not going to interest a whole swathe of folk. I am also always mindful that my diary is situated on a 'debt-free wanabee' board. And I'd be the first to say that staying debt-free is hard work, maybe not as much as a struggle as getting out of debt - and DFW's are always to be :T for their efforts. But I do sometimes think that a picture of food that has (maybe) cost £1.50 is not helpful to someone that has 30p left until next payday and nowt in the fridge.......

I've been thinking a lot about 'affordability' of late, and I think that reading some of the detail around the Greek crisis - ie how it is actually affecting Jo and Josephine in the street, not which designer shirt X, Y or Zee government minister is sporting - has made me ponder the issue much more. Added to the news item about young Spanish people ditching the cities and returning to their family smallholdings/potagers/cottages etc to try to scratch out a subsistence living. Anyone that had ever read any of Annie Hawes books about her life in Italy will know that the same circle of events has taken place there.

I think that it's good to have one eye on these matters, as one thing that is certain in life is.... uncertainty! And I was using my recipe index last night and I flicked onto 'Greek Style Casserole'. Now, I doubt very much that this is a dish that you'd find in Greece, and as far as I know it is an American invention - albeit by someone with a greek heritage. But I was looking at the original recipe - which specified feta and parmesan and how I had 'whittled' this down to no cheese, but an egg per person. And how if things were tight, well then we would share and egg between us........ and that led me on to thinking about the whole idea about how important home economy is, but how keeping food looking attractive or substantial has been the cook's lot for all time. I know in Italy, it is dubbed cucina povera, which unfortunately has been elevated to 'fashion' status, but it's an important skill, that we are all leaving behind, or re-inventing with about 13 more ingredients than were in the original dish! Elisabeth Luard wrote a very good book about the peasant cuisine of Europe. That, whilst too meat heavy for me (but every part of the animal was used!), is such a useful book, and something that I would be prepared to return too, rather than assuming that I will have champagne & caviar at my every meal..... The down side of this, is that the food is not always the most exciting and has a propensity towards the beige........ :rotfl:

Anyhoo, back from my shopping expedition. Outright bargain was about 400g of YS'd blueberries in mrM for 79p :j They'll be washed and stuffed in the freezer for some super-luxurious blueberry pancakes at some future point I think the person with the yellow sticker gun had been sniffing something, some of the stuff was reduced - not to pennies, but a recongnisable bargain, other stuff had the usual 'tuppence' knocked off, or, like the little gem lettuce, was disintergrating into black sludge in the packet _pale_ I got 950g of assorted apples YS'd to 69p too, so I'm happy about that.

Right, best crack on.

Greying x

in_need_of_direction

I think you maybe need to look at your food differently. If I had only 30p left but saw a tasty meal for 2 at £1.50, I'd be down the backs of sofas etc as getting to that figure could be achieveable. The bookofface stuff is frequently restaurant meals. Why?

Greying_Pilgrim

in_need_of_direction wrote: »

I think you maybe need to look at your food differently. If I had only 30p left but saw a tasty meal for 2 at £1.50, I'd be down the backs of sofas etc as getting to that figure could be achieveable. The bookofface stuff is frequently restaurant meals. Why?

Mmm, I hear you INOD - and I totally understand. But your post has highlighted the differences in how folk see things.

I would love to think that I too would be motivated to find the extra £1.20 and get me some of that interesting food action, but if I was overwhelmed by my debt, then perhaps I wouldn't? BUT, perversely - I actually like seeing restaurant food plated up (I read menus too ), because I like to see if I can emulate it - but within my smaller budget.......

Ok, so G0rdo Ramsee uses stoneground, sourced from one location in the Appalacian mountains, organic, blue grits for his 'set polenta stack', but Greying here, takes her £1.50 for 2kg coarse ground cornmeal, sourced from some mega-farm, 'somewhere on the planet' and has a bash at making set polenta and then trying to 'stack it up'.... with summat 'drizzled' artfully across it..... in lumps usually :rotfl: I suppose on FB you get 5 star cuisine - on here you just get a good auld belly-larf at my concoctions :rotfl:

Mind, should it matter what chefs are doing? Should I just be concentrating on nutritious food that fills us up and nothing more? I realise that there are 470,000 answers to that question - so it was somewhat rhetorical, but I don't know.... it's just with the news at the moment..... and I've been letting the budget slide..... Although I was quite chuffed with myself that I STUCK TO the revised menu-planner for the end of July, and we didn't starve, and I only spent 39p on that 'extra' YS'd melon, over and above what I said I was going to spend. So *focus* does work. I want to keep that going, as we've some expenses now and coming up that I want to be able to meet with some *ease* rather than worry. But I always have at the back of my mind the notion to; enjoy the ride, as we go along, as none of us knows what tomorrow will bring. Mmm, I'm apt to ponder - sometimes outloud. I'm never one to believe that I have it 'all-sorted' and that my way is the only way. But pondering does usually help to distill matters to their essence, and some good normally comes out of it.......

Greying x

apple_muncher

Dear Greying - these posts are exactly why you must keep posting. Your ponderations make us readers also think more broadly and outside of our little worlds.

I rarely use faceache - more to find out what the step kids are up to than anything else - so personally, love your plated concoctions.

Ellidee

Dear GP yours is one of my fave threads on here and you are one of my fave people. Please carry on as long as you're happy to xxx

Greying_Pilgrim

Ellidee wrote: »

Dear GP yours is one of my fave threads on here and you are one of my fave people. Please carry on as long as you're happy to xxx

Ha ha! Spoken like someone who hasn't met me in RL - sure I'd disappoint :rotfl::(:D

It does seem like food is very divisive though - in terms of 'foodies' bleating on about the latest 'must have', through to folks reliant on food banks, through to folks eating all kinds of the 'wrong sort of thing' and boogering their health as they do so, through to folks just trying to get 5 a day into their kids, despite a limited budget. I know there is no 'one solution', I'm just trying to determine where I fit into the debate, and didn't want to bore..... because it has been a criticism of FB about the 'pics of me tea'.

And what am I doing here? 'pics of me tea' with added budgetary hints and tips :rotfl:

Even though I liked the cancer cookbook we talked about a couple of months ago, applying my MSE spectacles to it, I couldn't help but think that you'd struggle to be ill and be able to afford 'good tucker' - even though you'd know that good tucker would help you along.

...........................


Onto other matters; in hindsight, it seems that it was a mistake to send DP (alone) to Iceland. The frozen food emporium, not the country He took it upon himself to discover that 'Artic Roll' is still in production.................. *rollseyessmilie*

Anyhoo, despite terrific temptation, he stuck to the list and we've lots of *nourishing vegetables* stored away in the freezer now Same thing as Artic Roll..... nearly....... :whistle: :rotfl:

I'm a plank, I've spent goodness knows how many minutes in shops selling food of the edible variety, and what did I forget to get? Onions. Honestly. Which of my meals doesn't start with; first fry an onion........ I AM A TWIT

Better go orf and see if there are any loose onions up the high street

Greying x

beanielou

GP~~Elidee is never wrong

Ellidee

beanielou wrote: »

GP~~Elidee is never wrong

You are one of my fave people too Beanie - and not just because you said that ^^^ . XX ( smilies not working for me )

joeyjimbles

Another vote for the recipes and the pictures, as well as the narrative. They inspire me and instruct me. But perhaps more importantly, to me, they keep me mindful of what is possible which I'm apt to forget. By which I mean that I might not follow your recipe or even your ingredients, but the example of making something delicious and wholesome out of a wide variety of foods and cuisines. That has been something for which I have been very grateful to you and your thread (and pics).
....says the woman who ate beans on toast crust for lunch! In my defence there were two small bowlful of beans (baked and kidney) in the fridge and only a crust in the bread bin so I was kondo-ing and being MSE. If I mention I added a little Sriracha does that count as cooking?

mothernerd

I don't think your pictures could ever be boring GP. You inspire so many of us and the fact that you still worry about whether your cooking exceeds other people's budgets is both humbling and endearing.

Taking it to extremes we could all live for a considerable time on a handful of rice a day (the only choice for many worldwide) but providing budget meals with such a wide range of flavours whilst being mindful of our use of the earth's resources is extremely valuable. Many of us are in this for the long haul and it shouldn't feel like a punishment.

Not sure if what I'm trying to say is coming across there but keep posting Greying, we love you.