Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

slm6002

There is something comforting about stocking up the cupboards with food ready for autumn and winter.  Even better when its come from our own gardens

PennysIntoPounds

Ooh you've made me hanker for Autumn with your talk of tomato soup with warm bread 😊

Great that Mr F could use the Sainso voucher. I think their 25% off 6 bottles of wine deal is back on if anyone needs to stock their 'wine cellar'. Mine and mums wine cellar is the end of the kitchen counter but we do often do the 'going down the stairs to the cellar' walk on the spot to get a bottle so it's a completely legit description 😁

That book sounds a really good reminder of how small adjustments make big differences over time.

So lovely to feel connected with nature and the women who came before us. I desperately hope to have a small garden of my own again some day. I'm always aghast when I see non-appreciated gardens, especially here in London. I just want to ring the doorbell and shriek 'don't you know what you've got?!' 

DawnW

It definitely felt autumnal here this morning - I had to put my big hoodie on to walk the dog as it was chilly!

I make my excess tomatoes into roasted tomato sauce which I then freeze. It concentrates them into quite small packages and has so many uses.

starnac

foxgloves said:

I love this time of year. Having a veg plot means food metres instead of food miles, no chemicals, no plastic & good things stored to eat or gift over the coming months. 
F x

I love this! We've been working on cutting our food miles and have a veg patch for this reason. I love how you've worded it. I might steal this, thank you

foxgloves

@Starnac - I think I got the 'food metres not miles' thing from a gardening magazine a while back. Can't remember. It just resonated with me because 'food metres' cuts out all the unsustainable issues. 
F

EssexHebridean

I'd far sooner have food metres than miles - I mean I think we all would, wouldn't we! Very much looking forward to being able to create more of that level of food travel when we've got the garden, too. 

I too love roasted tomato sauce for excess toms - delicious! 

Cheery_Daff

I'm missing counting my eggs in metres rather than miles 🙄 But I DO want to make it a priority to get the garden producing properly for next year - it's been very haphazard all the time we've been here, some years I think I produced far more in our tiny front garden at the old house because it was far less overwhelming! 🙄😂 

Keep posting about your enthusiasm and activity Foxgloves, it's keeping me going!

Blackcats

I enjoyed the Atomic Habits book too and can now describe myself as a twice weekly swimmer who swims 1 km a week instead of a person who regularly went past the local leisure centre and thought about how I'd like to start swimming again. 

foxgloves

Yes, I do agree about how good it feels to gather homegrown food from one's own garden. It is well worth it for health, exercise, the budget & the environment. We've decided we are going to plan next year's food growing a little earlier for next year. I usually buy my seeds in Jan/Feb from garden centres, then use an online order to mop up anything I've been unable to get. This year, however, I was just a little later & was unable to get certain varieties that I like to grow, so I am going to aim to buy a couple of packs of seed each time we visit our favourite garden centre, which will also spread the cost. I know I always bang on about the start of the gardening year being October, but it really is. The difference between wishing there was a veggie plot with actual plants in it & actually having one, is planning/getting the space ready. We will definitely be putting our backs into weed-clearing big-time once all the food plants are done, as the rain has caused jungle-like overgrowth this year. 
@Blackcats - Yes, it was quite an interesting book, I thought. I was feeling its influence this morning when I really DIDN'T want to clean cupboard doors, but thought I'd just fill a bucket with soapy water, fetch a microfibre cloth & do a couple, instead of wasting 20 mins thinking about it & probably putting it off again. It turned out that it didn't take me nearly as long as expected to do 2 doors, so I did another & before I knew it, the whole of the top run of them on one side of the kitchen. Was then motivated enough to do the rest of them. The real difference wasn't the actual cleaning of them, it was the decision to fill the bucket! Maybe bucket-filling might be a useful little 'atomic habit'!
F

Makingabobor2

I'm definitely starting to plan my garden for next year. I hardly did anything this year, compared to last year, with veg or flowers. Think it was a combination of a cold spring, then I got fed up with it and then real life got in the way and I was short of funds.  But all should be good now.  
Do you have a recipe for the roast tomato sauce?