Family of 5 'shop from home'food storage challenge...

D&DD

Have a lovely time!! It's nice to have a night off from it all once in a while isn't it?
my smileys still won't work!
Yup looks like we'll be going through it again doesn't it? Like you I'm just trying to 'futureproof' stuff..


When my back deteriorated I had to go for surgery,then we had the plus one so our last two years have been a good preparation really as we've been in 'survival mode' for a while!!!


My main problem was the stores I have rely on someone being able to cook them and with me out of action this led to a few problems but fortunately DS3 of all people stepped in to do a lot of the baking etc but it was a huge lesson for me about what I store . Fortunately the four of us left here work really well together so it shouldn't be a problem in future.


I'm still trying to find a comfortable level between prepping, having a usable store and normal shopping it's a bit of a work in progress as we eat so differently to my eldest and his OH ,who have now moved out.
Not only that my food bill has dropped to around a quarter of what it was so I've got to try even harder not to overbuy!!!


The bills have also fallen considerably so hopefully we will be able to get back in front with those again in case of the industrial action.


I don't envy you prepping cherries I end up buying the stoned frozen ones usually as we can't get a good deal on them around here..
The new gadget sounds brilliant and it will make short work of those spuds, what a lovely thought from his customer! The walk my OH is on hasn't got any fruit trees now,his previous one had loads and he used to bring the fruit home and I'd send him back with jam in exchange lol.


I'm going to try to get back a month ahead with the rent first,then depending how much I can save on food shopping will increase this to hopefully two by the time they do take any action.
We're on course to have the electric/gas DDebit knocked down again too by a third which will be another bonus and the water bill has already fallen by £10 a month.


It might be a bit sticky if it goes on for a while but at least we can prepare now and get our respective houses in order hopefully XX

Cottage_Economy

Last night was good, but it took 2.5 hours to get back and we got in at 1:30, so we’re on a slow one today. Just grass cutting, plum and blackberry picking and freezing, then a bit of gentle budgeting.

I understand what you mean about needing someone to cook. All my stores are scratch ingredients and if I'm not around to bake or cook much DH and MIL resort to ready-made foods or worse Domino's :eek: without using online discount vouchers :eek::eek:

So did you teach DS3 to bake while he was growing up or did he just have a go and took to it when you were recovering?

DH gets all sorts of stuff. Ice-creams and drinks in hot weather, plants, surplus fruit and veg, magazines, and once a pair of knitted fingerless gloves from a lovely old lady who noticed his work ones were starting to fall apart.

I've also been looking for a way to prep for emergencies but keep a sense of proportion in the week-to-week shopping but I've never quite found a way. I have thought maybe about making a 14-day menu plan of the meals we eat the most and then storing the ingredients for them to last us initially two weeks, then increasing the preps week by week until I have 3-6 months stores. That way I can rotate them and add a day's worth of ingredients with every weekly shop. It won't be exact as some things will do for more than one meal, and there's weekly batch baking to consider. I feel a spreadsheet coming on!

I’ve realised I need to fire up my price book again, work out what things I can make cheaper and what stuff I’m better off buying and from where. I have completely lost track of what everything costs. We have a Sainsbury’s, Iceland, M&S Food, Poundstretcher, Farmfoods, Aldi and Lidl within half a mile of each other so splitting shopping and going to different places to get the best prices is not difficult. I was getting shopping delivered by Sainsbury’s for many months as I was too tired to drive and then walk round trying to make decisions but now I have a bit more energy I stopped the deliveries a few weeks ago.

After saying we were done with winter preps, I discovered before we went out yesterday that we have no hot water unless we fire up the boiler. We have solar panels which heat our water tank during the day in the good weather using surplus electricity to fire the immersion so we don’t have to use oil, but when I stepped in to what I thought was a hot shower while getting ready to go out I got a bit of shock as it was cold. :eek: Managed to heat it up by switching the boiler programme on so DH got a hot shower but I just had to go with the cold one as I was already soaked. It’s probably the immersion thermostat. Will have to ring the heating engineer Monday. More expense :mad:

D&DD

Blimey what a pain! It's not like it's something you can really do without either is it..
Glad you had a lovely time I know what you mean about needing a slow day I'm going to be having one of them tomorrow I haven't stopped today but had an excellent time sorting out the entire kitchen!!
Yes DS3 has always loved to cook and make bread especially, probably because that was mostly all he ate for years!! He's not GF anymore we started reintroducing it slowly around five years ago and he's had no issues with it so it has helped immensely with his eating to be ableto have things he wouldn't or couldn't eat before.
I'm working on making him as independent as he can possibly be and I think cooking is a huge part of life skills he needs to be equipped with.
Budgeting however is a work in progress as he's just as bad as his mum!


Today I have made another bread pud as I bought a sliced loaf because we were busy this week and nobody really liked it so the rest has been breadcrumbed with some herbs from the garden ready to use on some chicken later in the week.


OH dug a stray bucket of charlottes we missed up so had meatballs,crushed new potatoes, peas and carrots today as a change from the usual roast,just gave me a bit more time for cleaning!!


My god the grot...I've not stopped scrubbing!


I've vaguely sorted out my stores now and the freezers so I know what needs to be used first at least. Now the kitchen has been put back together how I need it again I hope to be able to crack on better.


Yes it's a fine line isn't it between storing and having too much to cope with. Usually I don't have a problem and rotate things etc but it just shows doesn't it when we're off our feet for whatever reason we need to train someone else to step in!!!


I've made a double batch of pastry to use some of the older plain flour up and I'm just having a quick breather before I do a load of traybakes for their lunches etc.
I usually portion them out and freeze half or so and that way if I do three or four theres a nice selection rather than them getting sick ploughing through one sort!!


On the agenda but depending if I run out of steam or not are
Carrot cake
Devils food cake
Lemon Drizzle
Red velvet
and if I'm still standing after that lot I may do some apple pies with the pastry although I'm seriously craving a bakewell tart lol

Cottage_Economy

So much for a slow day yesterday. Once I got out into the garden I did not stop until I was forced indoors to do dinner

Slow cooked a small beef joint so MIL could eat it and did all the trimmings for a nice 'roast', all out of the cupboards and freezer. Picked a load of raspberries and had those with some more microwave meringues, last dregs of cream and some greengage jam mixed with hot water to make syrup. DH nearly stuck his face in the bowl to lap it up Also whipped up a quick batch of butterfly cakes for DH's lunches for the week.

Several pounds of blackberries were picked, washed and frozen on trays ready to be bagged up.

Pork mince is out for something tonight. Hoping that DH offers to do a spag bol or chilli when he sees it.

Thinking I might knock up a tomato and basil soup with a load of fresh tomatoes that need picking and preserving.

D&#8517 wrote: »

Yes DS3 has always loved to cook and make bread especially, probably because that was mostly all he ate for years!!

That's great! Cooking is such a massive life skills and central to moneysaving. I was never really taught by my mother, she got annoyed and considered me under her feet so I had to wait until I left home to learn

D&#8517 wrote: »

He's not GF anymore we started reintroducing it slowly around five years ago and he's had no issues with it so it has helped immensely with his eating to be ableto have things he wouldn't or couldn't eat before.

I'm hoping to do that. I'm not a coeliac, just gluten-intolerant and have been strictly GF since 2015. Think it had something to do with an ulcer - partially digested food got into my bloodstream and my immune system went loopy at the 'intruders' and tagged them as dangerous. The hope is that after staying away from those for a few years my immune system calms down and I can reintroduce them slowly. It's caused me no end of issues and made me severely nutrient deprived, including iron, B12 and Vitamin D. At one point my food wasn't even digesting. All the normal aspects of digestion seem to slow down to a crawl.

D&#8517 wrote: »

My god the grot...I've not stopped scrubbing!

I feel your pain! I'm horrified at the state of the pantry shelves and the kitchen needs massive deep clean after months of coming and going through the patio doors after working on the smallholding.

D&#8517 wrote: »

On the agenda but depending if I run out of steam or not are
Carrot cake
Devils food cake
Lemon Drizzle
Red velvet
and if I'm still standing after that lot I may do some apple pies with the pastry although I'm seriously craving a bakewell tart lol

How did you get on?

D&DD

Don't laugh I ran out of eggs!!!!!!
Only realised after the first lot was completely weighed out so resorted to powdered (horrified look from OH)..
Since he caught me in the act I thought I'd better hang fire with the rest til after we take my parents shopping tomorrow.


Rather annoyed as I wanted to experiment a bit with substitutes and planned to try using bean puree as a sub for oil in the carrot cake etc and the powdered eggs in the lemon drizzle but he's back to work Wednesday and what he doesn't know won't hurt him lol.. (Don't tell him the lemon drizzle has them in! I told him I made another one with a mix!!)
Will update my findings and I did however succeed with the bakewell and apple pie at least!


Honestly I keep thinking I'm getting organised again then something like this happens,I've usually got about 3 boxes of eggs to hand!


Re the GF we were lucky with DS3 as his ears turned a flaming red if he ate stuff which in turn seemed to affect his behaviour it was so strange. This rarely happens now and we have made such leaps and bounds in his coping strategies since he has grown up that he can manage reasonably well to control himself and we only need to step in now and again. It's better for him as he matures if he can do this himself as I'm not going to be around forever and everything we're doing is geared towards him being able to lead a reasonably independent life.


That was my main reason for the GF/CF diet and he drinks tea with normal milk now too with no issues (decaf PG). He doesn't like yoghurt or a lot of dairy still so anything I can use to get milk down him is a bonus! He loves cheese now too


To anyone who's noticed the photos have gone funny I apologise photobucket is trying to charge me for exceeding the bandwith whatever the hell that means !

Cottage_Economy

D&#8517 wrote: »

Honestly I keep thinking I'm getting organised again then something like this happens,I've usually got about 3 boxes of eggs to hand!

Oh no!! How frustrating for something like that to happen. Why is your DH so horrified by powdered egg? I think that's very innovative of you to swap it in. If I ran out of fresh or frozen eggs I'd have nothing to swap in at all.

Always best sometimes to 'close the kitchen door' to others - what they don't know won't hurt them

I've always got eggs and too many usually. It's icing sugar or butter I usually run out of. My girls are going gung-ho! I'm currently freezing my surplus eggs for the winter just in case the chickens go off the lay. They hatched very early this year and I don't know whether they will lay through their first winter, as youngsters are supposed to, or whether they will be just over that threshold and stop laying to moult.

I ended up cooking last night as DH was so tired he fell asleep on the sofa when he came in from work. Decided to do a chilli with lamb mince and used some brown rice I found at the back of the pantry. Much nicer than the white stuff but heavens! It takes so long to cook! I didn't do the tomato soup in the end.

I now have a confession. I finally turfed out the bottom of the pantry yesterday. I went - on my hand and knees - where only spiders and dust bunnies dare. I found a small 1.5L slow cooker and an electric mincer/sausage machine. Turns out DH bought it for me one Christmas to replace my manual iron mincer and sausage maker. I have absolutely no recollection of receiving it at all. None. Looks like I left it in the packaging box and forgot about it. We moved in mid-2016 and I remember being very, very tired that year so obviously my brain must have shut down that Christmas.

I'm pretty embarrassed and ashamed that I could forget something like that. It must have hurt his feelings that I never bothered to use it so, this weekend I am going to attempt to make lamb sausages for him.

Also sorted out my cookbooks yesterday and turfed out a good 10-15 books I've barely looked in for years. In doing so I rediscovered my halogen oven baking book, The Takeaway Secret (TTS) and Bernadine Lawrence's How to Feed Your Family on £5 a day (I have both old and newer versions). They're all on the bedside table ready to read through. I used to do the lamb kebab recipe from TTS and it was absolutely lush. Might have to put that on the menu again.

D&DD

I'd see your lovely find as a bonus and just explain you wanted to make sure you were up to using it properly before you experimented with it
That's a result then! I know it's got me motivated again by posting here and reading everyones news my OH is wondering whats going on


Was pooped last night as we took my parents out shopping (they're both approaching 90 and I struggled to keep up!!)
and took the chance to fill in some of the gaps I'd noticed in my fridge rather than the storecupboards,
When my eldest was here and his GF I was spending an horrific amount on food even with using my stores,but since they have got their own place I struggle to do a shop every week!


This has led to the glitch in the fridge as every shop I usually add in stork,eggs and butter to keep topped up. I need to reorganise HOW I shop next whilst incorporating a major rotation of some of the older (shorter dated) stores.


I'd love chooks but a couple of neighbours have tried and had to rehome them due to large amount of foxes here worrying them and putting them off laying sadly.


Mum decided she loves the dried apples so now has a litre jar vacuum sealed too see her and dad through for a while.I gave them all the gooseberries we grew too as they aren't easy to get round here.


I've decided to pick and dry the rest of our apples now off the duo tree,there's still probably around forty left I reckon we've probably had around two hundred off that tiny tree this year it's been amazing considering it's size.


That still leaves two galas,three cookers (lord derby) and two more which have cracking apples on but I have no clue what they are cos the boys moved everything round while I was orf me feet and the labels were lost!


I bought eggs,butter,lard and stork yesterday and got a couple of knocked down swede and a bag of perfectly good carrots.


OH has not even blinked at the suspect lemon drizzle haha..


I vac packed the egg powder in jars and it's good til Jan so need to use it more often but not get caught next time!


He's just averse to 'different' stuff sometimes, but if he actually knew how much I've experimented on him over the years he'd probably divorce me lol


Smoked ham hock in the slow oven today smelling lovely and plans for hasselbacks to go with it as I'd have to do an alternative if I did mash for DS3 anyway.


Need to get the rest of the cakes finished still but need to do it while OH is out due to um experimental methods


Have a lovely day XX

Cottage_Economy

D&#8517 wrote: »

OH has not even blinked at the suspect lemon drizzle haha..

He's just averse to 'different' stuff sometimes, but if he actually knew how much I've experimented on him over the years he'd probably divorce me lol

Needs must! I've been a bit cheeky with some things I've fed DH over the years. He hates cheese but loves pesto because I have absolutely convinced him it has no cheese in it. Swede is another one I'm sneaky with when it's in season to eek things out a bit; he hates it.

D&#8517 wrote: »

I'd see your lovely find as a bonus and just explain you wanted to make sure you were up to using it properly before you experimented with it

That's a great thought! I'm using that!

D&#8517 wrote: »

I know it's got me motivated again by posting here and reading everyones news my OH is wondering whats going on

Same here! Dh is quite happy as he hasn't seen me taking such an interest in food prep for a long time. He even dutifully chewed his way through my first semi-disastrous attempt at sweet potato fries in the air fryer last night At least the omelette filled him up.

This morning I found a very dusty and dirty digital pressure cooker, which I had abandoned as I couldn't get it to steam properly. I cleaned it all up and had a good read of some troubleshooting online, and realised I wasn't putting in enough liquid to generate the steam. Doh! I stuffed some sausages in the air fryer and teamed it with everything I could find to go in the pressure cooker that would make a sort of ratatouille; leeks and red/green/yellow peppers from the freezer, chopped tomatoes, baked beans, some ancient new potatoes I found in the crisper drawer all mixed with herbs and stock. It was lovely and I had steam!! Yay! Success.

I realised that the reason I don't use my gadgets very often is because some of them are big and I have very little counter and cupboard space. If they were more accessible I would use them more often. So, we've decided to overhaul the utility room. It's become a dumping ground. It's the only place with counter space but lacks much cupboard space, so consequently all the household stuff is stacked on top of the counter. If we added some more cupboards and had a rearrange I could have all the household cleaning and laundry stuff tucked away, and the big gadgets out on the work surface.

D&#8517 wrote: »

Was pooped last night as we took my parents out shopping (they're both approaching 90 and I struggled to keep up!!)
and took the chance to fill in some of the gaps I'd noticed in my fridge rather than the storecupboards

Your parents sound fit and active! My MIL is 86 and while she gets a bit tired now and then, she is quite sprightly for her age.

I've finally done a slightly larger shop this month. I spent ages on MySupermarket at lunchtime checking out all the prices and offers in my local food shops and made a list. Then I spotted a Home Bargains on the way and as I'd never been in one decided to have a look. I didn't know they did food! Its prices were either identical or better for at least half the list.

I definitely need to get a price book started.

Unfortunately, I was also seduced by the prices of the sweet things into getting some goodies away for xmas. I mean, we all know it will be a miracle if they make it through until then. I bought some bits for xmas baskets for relatives too just to get the ball rolling.

So, without xmas stuff I bought an oil spray, some milk, cream, leeks, puff pastry, stockpots, cheese, tortilla wraps, a fajita dinner kit and a box of fake 'ritz' crackers from poundland for DH to try. Other additions were yellow stickers: DH's favourite cereal as the box had a tear in it, two reduced loaves of GF bread for the freezer and a steak.

I probably won't update tomorrow as I'm in the office so I've about four hours drive there and back, but lunch is laid on and I've taken a half day to visit my parents. Roll on the weekend.

D&DD

Blimey that's a bit of a trip! Hope you've got a bit more relaxed day today at least.
What a great idea re the utility room cor it'll be gadget heaven lol and that in turn will free up the actual kitchen worksurfaces


Well done on fixing the pressure cooker,they aren't cheap to replace either now are they?
I'm still a bit relegated to smaller pots at present (which is driving me nuts) as I can't lift a lot still but we manage by drafting in DS3 and his muscles usually!


I've been giving him preserving lessons the last day or two and this morning we have filled the Excalibur with *yet more* apples and some lime zest which I plan to powder as I found a recipe for lime and cherry muffins that I use regularly and haven't always got fresh limes in so that will be handy.


Cleaned out the fridge and tidied it up a bit now I just need to get the rest of the blackberries in the freezer finished off so I have some wiggle room for a freezer cooking session.


There was 78 apples left on the 'little' tree so guess what I'll be doing tomorrow xxx

Cottage_Economy

D&#8517 wrote: »

Well done on fixing the pressure cooker,they aren't cheap to replace either now are they?

They certainly aren't - that's why I tend to ask for these things for Christmas or birthdays. I always struggle to think of things (I'm not a clothes/perfume/smellies person) and people in my family prefer to work off a list.

D&#8517 wrote: »

...and some lime zest which I plan to powder as I found a recipe for lime and cherry muffins that I use regularly and haven't always got fresh limes in so that will be handy.

That's a good idea. I usually never have lemon or lime zest when a recipe calls for it. How much powder do you use in a recipe instead of fresh zest? And how do you store it?

Good luck with the apples. Do you peel them all by hand or do you have a peeling gadget? I saw some online but the reviews said they don't do Bramley's well due to the shape, only normal eating apples. Well I only have large Bramley hybrid trees so there's no point having them and my left thumb aches something wicked after doing 3 or 4, so I don't tend to get that many done. I've tried wrapping them in newspaper and keeping them somewhere cool over the winter but they don't store well and rot quickly.

Thursday ended up a trip and a half. Five hours in total thanks to traffic and was so wiped out I felt unwell yesterday. And the managers wonder why I prefer to do Skype meetings! Still, at least I can claim the mileage.

Going to get on today with tidying up the utility room and see what storage I need. MIL moved in with every cleaning product under the sun and after two years I haven't made much of a dent. She also had several different branded products for the same job and sometimes several of each if she saw them on offer. I think I'm going to keep one of each and put the rest in a box in the loft.

Started tracking our spending and setting a budget over the last few days and realised that living on one income will not be possible but we can save a decent chunk. I hadn't appreciated the impact of the one off costs we have on the holding, like maintenance fencing and equipment servicing. Once I divided them up equally across the year it takes quite a chunk out of our monthly income.

I bought some pizzas from the supermarket yesterday so next time DH fancies one he doesn't call Dominos. Got some more milk and cranberry juice as well, as the stress of Thursday has left me with a water works issue Luckily I have a stash of medicines in the bathroom cabinet to help sort it out as well. I could well have done without that.

Realised last night that DH had nothing for his lunch today and he was planning to buy it. I quickly made up a wrap with that leftover bbq pulled turkey and found two slices of bread pudding in the freezer to go with it. Then I went out with a torch and found some raspberries. That should tide him over nicely.:T

Going to pick more tomatoes today and make tomato and basil soup to freeze, and I have cookies and cakes to do for DH's lunches next week, although I suspect they will not last that long. Perhaps I ought to put those off until tomorrow night. Also have blackberries and apples to pick and freeze. I haven't decided whether to do a fish pie or beefburgers tonight - all the ingredients are in the cupboards/freezer so it just depends how I feel I guess. If I feel brighter, I might do the fish pie as it takes a bit more prep than burgers.

Have a great day D (and anyone else reading this who might want to jump in!)

xCE