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

D&DD

That sounds like an epic day out my word hope you don't have to do that too often??


I'm currently clearing up the 'crime scene' in the kitchen I've been attacking the blackberries,not even made a dent but have some lovely sparkly jars of seedless jam and syrup (which they tested out on waffles this morning)really pleased at the syrup recipe was a new one from the ball book and they all liked it!!


Got a bog standard chook roast dinner today as we are a little busy still *understatement* but the apples are almost finished,just got a few hinky ones to puree or something not sure what yet??


I laughed at you picking fruit with a torch that's the sort of thing I do,although it's probably an easier job here with our teeny garden!


OH got a leaflet yesterday regarding the strikes looks like it may be a go so the more we can get ourselves organised the better eh?


Sorry to hear you were feeling poorly after your work trip hope you are on the mend now


Just having a think of what dinners to do this week we have soo much food in I need to make a bit of a dent somewhere!!


My accounts are finally looking a little healthier now we're two lighter (even tho DS1 shops from my stores when he visits lol)
and I'm expecting a drop in our gas/leccy DD when I do the next meter read in October..Where has this year even gone??


DS3 is 21 in Nov but doesn't want a fuss made so will probably have a small gathering here instead, can't believe my baby is 21 but extremely proud of the lovely young man he has turned into


I did a Mary Berry shepherds pie with crushed new potato topping for dinner yesterday and we all ate it, I am gobsmacked at being able to cook just one dinner finally most nights now that we all eat haha


Hope you all have a wonderful day XX


Sorry just saw about the lime powder! I use 1/2 tspn for a double batch of muffins as its pretty potent stuff!

Cottage_Economy

DS3 will be 21!!!!:eek: Where has the time gone. My nephew just turned 28 and I remember being at the hospital when he was born. Tiny little premature thing. Now he's a 6ft 2 copper. An I spotted the other day he has the beginnings of a bald spot:eek:

Thankfully I don't do the journey too often! Once every three months. It used to be once a month but I lengthened it a bit by stealth over the years and no-one has ever said anything

I'm feeling much better, thanks. I did the fish pie yesterday from some yellow sticker cod out of the freezer. Found some frozen parsley from last year, which was a nice find so whipped up a white parsley sauce. Enough left over for two people's dinner so that's in the freezer.

Decided to do the baking yesterday as well, which was a good job as i accompanied DH to a car event today on the spur of the moment (he has a classic car so he only had to pay £5 to get in and i jumped in the other seat). Took some iced fairy cakes and cookies along with more pulled turkey wraps, GF cheese sarnies for me, fruit, orange squash and a flask of tea but DH also succumbed to an enormous lamb samosa from one of the stalls. To be fair, if they had been GF I would have as well! Got me thinking about how to do samosas in the air fryer.

Threw together a spaghetti bolognese for dinner and now DH is making more inroads into the cookies. They'll be none left at this rate for the week

It sounds like you have an amazing amount of blackberries! Your syrup sounds delicious. Grown or foraged? We have one large thornless bush in the garden, which has done really well this year, but not found much foraged. Despite being in the country we haven't found much in the way of hedgerow berries. I think it's because the farmers cut their hedges in early September every year, and blackberries fruit on last year's growth, which is never left behind. I remember being a kid and being taken to a large area of waste ground by my grandmother and the whole thing was full of bushes with strategically hacked pathways through. There was always families there and you could collect pounds at a time and have fun with the other kids (i.e. chucking each other in the brambles). Happy days


Got a bog standard chook roast dinner today as we are a little busy still *understatement* but the apples are almost finished,just got a few hinky ones to puree or something not sure what yet??

I lose dodgy fruit in a crumble. Add a few blackberries to dye everything red and no-one can see anything


OH got a leaflet yesterday regarding the strikes looks like it may be a go so the more we can get ourselves organised the better eh?

Couldn't agree more. We haven't had that leaflet yet, just the gate meeting. Got me thinking about sorting out that price book so making a start tonight while watching the Grand Prix and then Peaky Blinders.

D&DD

Definitely using them for a hinky crumble They'll eat it and be none the wiser *whistles*

I'm just looking through my food storage books as we were chatting about that sort of thing in the B thread and theres one of my lists tucked into one with a month meal plan already worked out!! I'm putting that to good use

Glad to hear you're feeling better and sounds like you had a wonderful time!
Our blackberries are from a twenty year old Woolworths bush which has half died several times but crops prolifically it's a thornless one with the most huge berries you only need about four for a pie lol



I'm having a new trial with regards to the weekly shop as I can't manage the bagless Tesco delivery and I've tried all different ideas sooo I'm going to switch completely over to Amazon Fresh eek..watch this space XX

mumtoomany

Still trying to re-read this thread from the start and also Shirley Goode's blog. If you still have apples, why not apple lemon curd. I usually use crab apples, because we have lots, and never peel them, much too fiddly. Pull the stalks out and stew whole. Once soft and mushy, I "zuzz" them with a stick blender, then put them through a seive, removes and odd pips. Then make the curd with 450gms apples, 450gms sugar, zest and juice of two lemons, half a block of butter and 3 or 4 eggs. Very simple but very tasty! Right back to reading, mumtoomany.

Cottage_Economy

mumtoomany - that's a great idea. When I think of curd I always think of lemon but you could do it with most fruit I imagine?

D&DD - Amazon Fresh sounds like a great idea for you to try. I whizzed over to have a look and it doesn't deliver in my area. Such a shame, as it looks like it does quite a few things in bulk as well.

Well, the strike letter turned up in yesterday's post so I really need to get my butt in gear. Did a bit more on the price book and got a few bits from lidl, as that seems to have the best prices for a lot of what we buy. I needed butter, chicken breast, porridge oats, icing sugar, peppers, GF spaghetti, GF cheese crackers, and toilet rolls. That's about it for the week, everything else we have here.

Did baked sage chicken breasts, stuffing balls, baked potatoes and broccoli for DH and MIL last night. The chicken and stuffing balls were cooked in the halogen oven that I dragged out and cleaned up. I had leftover spag bol from the night before. Did a packed lunch for DH using the rubber pulled turkey again. One more wraps-worth left on that and then I'll switch over to making tuna mayo for him. Apart from the chicken breasts, all made with stuff I already had. Had three chicken breasts left over so they went into the freezer for next week.

Tonight is yellow sticker beefburgers out of the freezer with mash and beans and I'm having the leftover fish pie from the other day.

Did a bit more tidying in the utility room and now have the halogen oven, air fryer and one pot on the work surface. Found a cupboard in the loft that I'm going to drag down, clean up and use to store some more off the stuff off the worksurface. I want to try and overhaul the room without spending anything.

D&DD

*Waves at Mum* you may be a while lol I need to read it too as it was such a hard time for us when DS3 was younger and DS2 was going through all his surgeries. I think it helped me to cope with it all by posting here and the wonderful virtual friends I made XXX


I'm looking at a Womens Institute book I have and it's got Bramble and apple curd in it so yes will be pinching your idea and getting a few more blackberries used at the same time


CE we're literally round the corner from a Morries (where the Amazon Prime 2 hr orders come from) and two minutes from the amazon depot where the Fresh orders arrive from so I'm pretty lucky.
I've been using them more and more recently as I tend to get small shops now with just a few bits for the fridge mainly.




Im sure I have a halogen in the loft you know..need to get OH to have a rummage!


Plans today here are an easy traybake for tea as I have a bit of an epic day tomorrow with Mum at the heart hospital. Good thing is we're having a freezer dinner when I get home so no cooking for the day. Trouble is I will be a day or two getting over the trip probably but pleased I can manage to go!!


I made some bread and rolls yesterday for lunches today and they came out lovely with 2018 bread flour and June 2019 yeast !!
I'm replacing the stores as I go with fresh stuff so I am nearly there with the rotating one more box to go of flour I think..
I'm lucky as all us four prefer homemade so I have whipped through it quite quickly

Cottage_Economy

Finger's crossed everything goes ok today for you and your mum today D&DD.

I dread to think how old some of my flour is. I used to make bread quite regularly before we moved up here but just stopped. When MIL moved in she had a fairly new breadmaker so I got rid of my old one and decided to start up again. I really regret that as I have never made a decent loaf of bread in it since so I stopped doing bread as it was wasting ingredients.

Well, did dinner last night in the halogen oven and pressure cooker. I love having the machines out and easily accesible. Makes such a difference.

DH cooking tonight so it will probably be chilli as we had spag bol the other day. Everything out of the cupboards/freezer. Looking forward to something warming as it is a rotten wet day today.

I'm going away with my sister on Saturday for a quiet relaxing week of reading and knitting (doing DH a jumper for xmas) so I'm going to do a rough menu plan for DH and MIL, then bring the meat over from the main freezers to go in the kitchen freezer. I was going to make up meals for them but decided not to stress myself out making a week's meals in advance, just do some cakes and cookies. They'll be fine. It will be good for them to fend for themselves.

Cottage_Economy

Well, last night's dinner was interesting. Turns out we had no kidney beans for the chilli and our tin opener broke so DH couldn't get into the tin of chopped toms. There was a time he would have got in the car, driven to a supermarket and bought what he needed but - for the first time - he decided to try baked beans instead of kidney and improvised with a tin of tomato and basil soup. :T

It was lovely, although a wee bit hot.

Tonight MIL is out for a meal with her granddaughter so it is just me and DH for dinner. I'm doing him a yellow sticker steak with chips and I'm finishing off a leftover cooked jacket potato with some leftover beans and a bit of grated cheese on top. As we're out of cakes and cookies I'll bake some more later.

The house got cleaned and hoovered this morning, as the heating engineer is coming to sort out the immersion heater shortly and will be going in every room to check the radiators. The place looked like a midden and I was embarrassed to let him see it. :rotfl: Did the Flylady room rescue routine. Surprising what you can get done with 10 minutes per room.

mumtoomany

Cottage, a trick I've learned with tin openers. Buy them from the £shop, they last just as long. Never put them in the dishwasher! Buy two at once. Then you always have another when one breaks. I keep both in the same drawer and use whichever gets taken out first. The other advantage being when one has been put in another room to open beer bottles, you will still find one.

D&DD

Hope you have a wonderful relaxing break Cottage XXX


All's well with Mum and surgeon has tentatively given the go ahead for her shoulder replacement she just needs some specialist scan first but she's in good hands with both hospitals thankfully!


When I got back to their place we'd missed a call re her shoulder surgery so by the time I'd sorted that out and got home I had exactly 20 mins before I had a residents meeting regarding a memorial we're doing on Saturday so I was running on fumes haha.


Stuffed a chilli on for OH,DS2 was minuting a meeting late so he ate out and DS3 cooked a quick burger and fries for himself!

I need a sliced loaf for the weekend for toast and some milk and strawberries and that's about it shopping wise. The everbearers are motoring now (Albion) but can't keep us with DS3 even though he has plenty or raspberries still he's a growing lad