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

D&DD

Lol I wish I had JoeDenise we'd be laughing then unfortunately atm we make do with a teeny 15 by 30 ft weird shaped garden with no sun!


Cottage sounds like you had a fab time enjoy your nap your feet won't touch the ground now you are home again!


I had the same problem here when I was off my feet we had enough food in for years literally but they lived on fast food type stuff and the odd takeaway!! It was mostly because my OH has never cooked, all my boys can but after a long day at work no one could be bothered..


It's just a waste of money and we really felt it in our wallet so I had no choice but to try and cook hence DS3 being drafted for the baking etc.


My eldest and his OH moved out beginning of July and since then we've spent around £200 on food for the four of us plus animals!
I won't tell you how much I was spending while they were here as you'd probably faint or spray the screen with your tea lol...


Good job you had the presence of mind to take some GF stuff with you it's a lot harder to find in other countries and not as well labelled as here.


I'd love to go pumpkin scrumping what a lovely treat and free!!
Got a chicken in for dinner tonight through amazon fresh delivery they had huge boxes of strawberries for £2* bargain* and even if they are a bit soft I'll jam them so they will be appreciated.


Mum has a date for a new shoulder on the 28th Oct so I'm stocking their freezer too at the moment and got four appointments beforehand with her so I need to get some easy dinners in the freezer for us too


I was never destined for a quiet life...

Cottage_Economy

D&#8517 wrote: »

I was never destined for a quiet life...

I know what you mean

How is Amazon Fresh working out for you?

Good that your mum has her op date so you have something to work towards. My mum is in for her hip op on 4th of October but my Dad should have everything covered. I'm still on alert though just in case.

Well, the pulled pork was a bit 'meh' - I bought it from Lidl as a treat as I knew there was no chance DH and MIL would do one from scratch but it was really only for two people. Once the fat was taken off and I dished up an appropriate portion to DH and MIL I ended up with about a tablespoon of meat so my dinner was mostly chips and beans. The chips were my first attempt in the air fryer using cut up potatoes and were quite good, although some had not cooked thoroughly despite me shaking them. Next time I will make sure I thoroughly upend them to get the ones at the bottom to the top.

Didn't make the cakes in the end. I still had a headache, which I get for about three days after flying, so I took it easy but admitted defeat at bedtime and took a painkiller. I feel much brighter this morning. DH had some more tuna sandwiches and bread pudding for his lunch. He's off for two days now so I have time to get my baking mojo back.

The blackberries are finished now but I picked some raspberries yesterday so raspberry danishes planned using ready-made puff pastry. Got a couple of large cooking apples off the trees so might do some apple danishes as well. I found a Lakeland pinwheel cutter for £1 in a charity shop a few weeks ago so this will be its first outing.

DH has offered to cook chilli tonight so I'll get the mince out of the freezer shortly. Everything else he needs is in the cupboard. It seems that him having to sort out dinner for most of last week has made him realise the effort that I put in after working to cook a decent dinner so he is going to step up and cook a bit more often. :T :j

I'm off shopping in about an hour, quite a few basic things we're almost out of but having checked prices online shouldn't come to more than £20 in Lidl.

Have a good day all.

D&DD

Amazon Fresh has been brilliant *touches wood* I did that order at nearly 10am that morning and it arrived at 3pm!
His nibs strawberries were lovely (note the word were...) I've got those Sistema freshworks tubs I use for most fruits and veg but they are rarely used for strawberries as they're never here long enough!


Everything present and correct and in lovely bags lol we reuse and reuse them they last for weeks for the recycling stuff and when they finally wear out or get mucky they can go into the recycling bin Tesco take note!


I have shopped with @Tesco since I left home and was one of the first dot com customers. We had our first delivery in 1994 as we were in one of the very first areas where it started!


Back then we had a disk and an A4 file with barcodes and you had to ring them and do it over the phone..every single looong barcode seems nuts now compared to a click of a mouse!!
Every quarter we got a new set of pages with the 'new' barcodes on and any new products.
Soo I do miss them but refuse to shop with them again due to their stinking attitude!!


Been busy baking with DS3 today and we've turned out some lovely flavoured fattie breadsticks and a half and half loaf,then he wanted to use up his last few carrots from the garden so we made a traybake but in the usual way rather than with the beans as he'd have spotted me!!


He fancied some SF chicken for a change so he had that with Aunt Bessies chunky fries and veg and cooked it himself, and we had sausage toad,roasties and peas.


Made some blackberry and apple pies so we'll have those later we're all stuffed lol.


Hope your expedition to Lidl went well I've never really got the hang of shopping in ours but with the Tesco Boycott who knows!!
At least your OH cooks mine has never shown any interest and will barely make a sandwich!


Hope your head is starting to ease now it's really debilitating when you have that


Regarding the airfryer I'm no help never had one of those but I'm sure with a bit of experimentation you'll get it working right



Next on the agenda here is around ten tons of pasta,sauces,passatas need using..

mardatha

We wouldnt get Fresh up here but I did think of amazon pantry - but can't understand how it works lol.

Cottage_Economy

Mardatha - same here. I've sat down and tried to figure it out once but it seemed a bit complicated plus I don't tend to buy branded stuff so I found it expensive.

D&DD - 5 hours! That's impressive! Same day delivery must be so good to have.

I gave up with Tesco many years ago. The substitutions were sometimes odd, the cold stuff right on the use-by date or the fruit and veg just a bit manky. Just became too much hassle in the end. Driver was ok though, nice bloke. I know some people aren't so lucky.

Taking that co-codamol the night before seemed to give me no end of energy yesterday so I went into town and did all my chores in one mammoth four-hour hit - banking, livestock food and bedding, library, charity shops, vets for cat meds, TV mag for MIL, and parcel drop off for my latest Ziffit trade (nearly £25 :T).

I got a text from the GP surgery on the way to come and get blood forms for my usual blood test so I zipped round there, picked them up and then raced 5 mins down the road to the drop-in blood clinic to get that sorted before it shut. Then I got another call from the surgery telling me I was due for an asthma check. I don't have asthma, don't think I ever did, but I used to wheeze a bit and have an inhaler until I gave up gluten. Once all my inflammation had gone, I've never used an inhaler since but the GPs refuse to accept I don't have asthma. It's been five years since I've been for a check (I am non-compliant apparently ) and I've now been told I have to have a chat to the GP, who will decide if I have it or not. I think five years of no inhalers and being able to deeply fill my lungs is fairly conclusive but I'm sure they won't want to give up on me so easily, as it is money for them every time I attend the asthma clinic.

Anyway, rant over.

I did my homework before I went out on the prices for my shopping at all the local shops, and worked out the route to use minimum petrol. Thought Iceland was good for sugar at 2 for £1.20 on 1kg packs until I went into Poundstretchers and found it for 45p. :T Ended up spending £26.43 across four different shops and they were all walkable between each other and the car.

So, I'm sat here this morning, the sun is shining, there's a load of whites drying on the line and I will be ferreting in the sewing box shortly for some poppers to address the boob gape my favourite top seems to have developed between the buttons. I've also got to work out how many vouchers across different loyalty cards I have so I know how much I will have to contribute towards xmas costs.

Tonight is sausages, probably in some kind of casserole with white beans, toms, onions, potatoes all seasoned up with half a stock pot lurking in the fridge and broccoli (all bar the broccoli is out of the freezer/fridge/cupboards). Might do some kind of raspberry upside down cake with the remains of the raspberries I picked to go with some of the evap milk I opened last night for the crumble.

Have a good day all.

Cottage_Economy

Morning all, it's lovely here today. Cold but the sun is shining and the cats are happily snoring away next to me on the bed

I ended up doing an inventory of the two of my freezers yesterday evening - finally - so I can start some proper meal planning. I still have the big one left to do and the kitchen freezer, which I want to do before the weekend so I can start doing the plan on Saturday.

Did the pinwheel danishes with my new cutter and a slightly out-of-date puff pastry sheet (by about three days) but forgot what a pinwheel was supposed to look like and ended up folding all the 'sails' in. I opened a jar of preserved apples (2017) and another of blackberries (2013) for the filling but the apples were mushy so making the pinwheels was a bit of a wet affair. They turned out alright, although they didn't rise as much as I hoped because of how wet they were. Next time I'll try jam and whole fruit to reduce the fluid. DH didn't care though and they're going down well

Instead of making the sausage casserole from scratch I found some leftover ratatouille in a freezer so baked up the sausages and used it as a thick sauce on top of them with broccoli and boiled potatoes. After that we were too stuffed to eat anything more so no dessert.

Thinking about doing some lamb shoulder chops in the slow cooker. I worked out they are about three years old (:eek:) but no freezer burn. MIL can't eat red meat unless it has been tenderised by slow cooking as her teeth are blunt. I have some lamb stock in the freezer so will use that and throw in some onions, carrots, aged celery, potatoes, garlic and rosemary. Might chuck in some iffy red wine that's been open for a while. I don't drink alcohol as it doesn't mix with my meds and DH is a bit of a cider man so if it hasn't turned to vinegar I'll put some of that in.

I also still have those fresh raspberries, 2/3 of a jar of blackberries in syrup and 2/3 of a can of evaporated milk. I found an out-of-date pack of jelly (2015) in the cupboard along with trifle sponges (2018) and packet custard so I'm thinking I might do a trifle with the blackberries and raspberries. The sponges are not gluten free so I might bake myself an apple with sultanas and cinnamon.

Then I have some tomatoes, more raspberries and a few apples to pick.

Hope everyone has a good day.

xxCE

D&DD

Mammoth preserving session underway here will catch up with you all later xxx

D&DD

Mar I'm so fortunate here I have the choice of Amazon Prime 2 Hour, Amazon same day evening delivery, Amazon Fresh same day, Amazon Pantry and the subscribe and save.
Fastest they've been so far was 45 mins!!!! Helps to live literally within spittin distance of their warehouse and the local morries though


Cottage I threw my instructions/packaging away for the cutter too but found it in one of my Paul Hollywood books luckily but even with it in front of me I made two wonky ones lol..


Tried out a new to us dinner tonight even tho I was pooped but they all loved it and it was really fast to prep too.
Five chicken breasts on a tray add chunked veggies and make an Italian dressing of half a cup of olive oil and a glug of balsamic vinegar. Add Italian seasoning (or dried basil oregano etc to taste) Throw over chicken and veg and bake for around 30 mins.
Meanwhile make HUGE croutons with whatever old bread you have lying around, I had a short dated bag of brioche to use up.
Remove tray and roll croutons in dressing and bake off for another ten minutes till crispy.


Went to my bro's yesterday to sort out mum's care after her op and basically I'm it! Soo came home with a few bramleys and once I got started thought I may as well get it all done.


Yesterday we made seedless raspberry jam, more seedless blackberry jam and a huge vat of apple and blackberry jelly.


Today we made rhubarb jelly,seedless yellow raspberry jam and white strawberry jam. They're all really pretty colours I took a pic so will upload it when I get time.


Your sausage dinner sounds lovely! It's surprising just how much you can make with a few odds and ends isn't it??
You could do a summer pud if you have any GF bread spare? I've done it before with the GF storebought and it came out really nice and actually made the bread nicer!


Hospital tomorrow for Mum's pre-op tests but luckily it's OH's day off so he's taking us going to be a looong day though XXX

Cottage_Economy

Morning all

What a grim day. Dark and drizzly. Bleurch. My finger joints always get a bit sore in this kind of weather so I’m in for a clumsy day.

D&DD - That dinner sounds lush. I love doing tray bakes, they're really substantial but so quick and easy.

Good luck with today, hope it's not too tiring for you all. My mum had her pre-op last week. Dad has gone very quiet. I suspect he is worried it might go wrong and she'll not come home. It's the biggest op she's ever had in their 50+ years of being married.

How long are you likely to be looking after your mum post-op? DH and BIL tried to nominate me to look after MIL after her hip op a few years ago but I refused. BIL is self-employed and does the majority of stuff on a laptop and DH had a large amount of annual leave left. Both of them could manage fine (and did) they just didn't want to. I let MIL know that if there was anything she felt she wanted a woman's help with to ask and I'd sort it but otherwise I have my own parents to keep an eye on and, at the time, was rammed to the eyeballs with work and overtime as it was our busiest month of the year.

She thoroughly enjoyed having her boys to herself for a few weeks, as I knew she would, and they didn't get to wriggle out of the responsibility of caring for their mother The penny has finally dropped with those two that I have elderly parents as well and I won't be left to take care of them, MIL, hold down a full-time job and do the majority of the tasks inside and outside the house. :mad: They have to do their share too.

I'm impressed by your mammoth preserving session! I've never made raspberry jams or jellies, they usually don't hang around that long in that quantity My standard jams are rhubarb, plum and damson and apple, as those are the things we have in large quantities. I came across two huge cans of mango puree in the pantry recently so I’m thinking of trying to do some kind of jam with that at some point. We don’t really eat chutneys so it would be a waste to do some with it.

The lamb stew was a proper odds and ends job I had three ageing pints of lamb stock and a bit of chicken stock that went in, two carrots, half a can of leftover chopped toms, half a pack of celery that looked very sorry for itself, a wrinkly green pepper and the remains of two opened bags of baby pots that had about five pots in each. I really scoured the depths and was determined to use up what I could. The onions were overgrown spring onions that I lifted a month or so ago so I’m slowly making my way through those before I buy any more. They’re perfectly good, if a little small and fiddly to peel, and very potent. I have a large container of the leftover veggies in liquid/sauce which I’m going to have as soup today so that’s lunch sorted. Might be enough for DH to have when he comes home from work cold and wet.

The trifle worked out well and I have enough ingredients in the cupboard and freezer for another trifle if I want to. I was concerned the jelly wouldn’t set being four years out of date and not being able to remember which fruits inhibit setting (I normally just open a tin of mixed fruit) but it worked out fine. I was so stuffed I didn’t end up having a pudding. I never cease to be amazed at DH and MIL’s capacity for pudding. MIL in particular will leave part of her dinner as she is too full to eat any more (“I only have a little stomach”, “I’ll be sick if I eat any more”, “I had a big lunch”, etc) but if I spring a pudding on her she’s there in a flash spooning it down. I think they both have a second stomach for puddings.

Whipped up some tuna and sweetcorn sandwiches out of the cupboards for DH’s lunch and added some pinwheel danishes. Unfortunately I added too much sweetcorn to the mix so had to open a second can of tuna. Now I have too much mix beyond what he will need tomorrow for his sandwich so it looks like I’m having a jacket potato with it tonight. That being the case, I will cook up something glutenous for DH and MIL. I have many containers of normal pasta shapes to use up (approx. 3kg), all out of date but still edible as they’re dried, so I will sort a pasta sauce out for the two of them. I know I have the remains of a leftover ham joint somewhere in the freezer so I might defrost and chop that up in a white sauce and do a carbonara. I have enough milk to do the sauce so no shopping required. If they want a pudding they can have the rest of the trifle.

Good grief, I've written an essay again

Have a good day all.

xxCE

D&DD

Aw my mum's the same Cottage never been in for anything other than a couple of bouts of pneumonia years ago. She had the TIA last year but even for that wasn't admitted it was all done outpatients as we're near the hospital.
I really have no clue how I'm going to juggle everything here and there but I will *fingers crossed my back holds up!!*


Been busy sorting out their shopping and stores and freezer so we're almost done with that side of things and I have a huge stockpile of hospital bits from DS2's surgeries so have filled up her hospital bag from that.
Dad's too stubborn to let me stay over or come here so I will just have to uber everywhere for a few days as I don't drive and OH is off for the day of the surgery and the day after,his boss is really good.


Got a lovely leg of lamb from Amazon prime and somehow got it into the freezer!
Need to get a few freezer meals done for the men in case I'm not around.
I made some pizza swirls yesterday with the panny pizza dough recipe and I managed to freeze four two spicy and two plain..the rest were noshed lol
Everything I have planned to get in there seems to be eaten before it makes it that far!!

Did manage to make meatballs yesterday so they had those for tea and I froze another dinners worth plus a few spares for meatball subs for DS3 one day.
The bag was split in the freezer so one corner was a bit um curly so I just cut that off and used the rest..waste not eh