Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

foxgloves

It smells like autumn loveliness,  @Makingabobor2 - Nature is so generous at this time of year when I always turn into a squirrel, making lots of tasty things to fill the pantry shelves.
F x

PennysIntoPounds

Cor
(According to MSE my 'body is 6 characters too short' which seems a bit judgey, but I am more than happy to add another 'cor')

Cherryfudge

Those sound amazing! 

foxgloves

Thank-you! I do like this time of year.....though it does involve a lot of standing over the hob stirring.
Today I intend to water the veg, pick anything that's ready - I think it will be chillies, tomatoes, cucumber & an aubergine, do a bit of hoeing so that the sun can frazzle the chopped off weeds & make another batch of jalapeno sauce as Mr F seems to be getting through the first batch like a chilli hoover. 
Bathroom cleaning also on the agenda while sauce is simmering, then I will see where the rest of the day takes me. I would like to progress my new dress so I could usefully sew in the sleeves, bind the neckline & see if I have time to begin constructing the additional tier.
Tonight's nosebag will be pasta bake - a standard go-to here for using up various ingredients plus plenty of homegeown salad. Intend to eat my lunch in the garden & read a couple of chapters of my book.
Have a good Friday all...... & remember that those naughty little plastic cards can't get up to any tricks if you keep them fully shut in your purses.
F x

Suffolk_lass

Ha! A quick catch up and I kept my purse shut but just went over to the other side of the big town and collected some concrete edging stones that were free on face-ache MP. Left a jar of honey by the front doorstep (out of sight from the street) as a thank-you but when I went to take a pic of it to send him, it had gone! His hidden visitor had sneaked it indoors (without alerting me as that might have meant helping me). I have just copied that recipe for ketchup and I might make it. Someone sent me a courgette recipe with onion powder and garlic powder - I don't have either, but I do have homegrown fresh so I will mix them with a bit of parmesan and top the courgette, split lengthways and grilled, as a side for the soup at lunchtime. Then we can just have a bit of pie (leftovers) for supper.

Makingabobor2

foxgloves said:

It smells like autumn loveliness,  @Makingabobor2 - Nature is so generous at this time of year when I always turn into a squirrel, making lots of tasty things to fill the pantry shelves.
F x

You should make candles and call them Autumn Loveliness....lol

foxgloves

Morning Campers, rise & shine!
Windows already flung open here to let in some lovely cool air. It's going to be a hot few days - too hot for the residents of Foxgloves Manor, except for Ash, who seems to be able to take any amount of heat.
Well, a change of plan here. We were all set for visiting one of our favourite NT sites over in a neighbouring county, but Mr F's team have a staffing crisis due to illness, so he volunteered to swap a day to help them out. As he said while departing through the door earlier, it will pay off by making a long weekend next week.
So it's just me & the cats today.....talking of which, Soot disappeared yesterday......I found him in the pantry, cleaning his feet!
Today's budget-friendly stuff will be as follows:
*Use up some v ripe tomatoes by skinning & chopping for Mr F to use in his chilli tonight instead of a tin.
*Garden pickings: French beans, tromboncino, blackberries.
*Laundry. The free line-drying months will soon be over.
*Clean downstairs - usual minimal products & washable cloths.
*Will probably need to water veg tonight, esp squashes & the seed troughs/tubs I sowed recently (rocket through already).
*Make use of today's free electricity hour between 2 - 3pm by moving all charging, a load of laundry & various other stuff into this slot.
*Bake bread.
*Have a sewing afternoon. I didn't do any yesterday as I did some weeding & cutting back in the garden instead so getting the sleeves sewn in as an absolute minimum would be good today. I shall also have some sewing time tomorrow, so unless I make any silly mistakes & bog it up, there ought to be significant maxi-dress progress by Sunday night. 
And that, mdears, is the end of my 1st coffee of the day, so I shall swing into action (albeit at a hot-day-leisurely-pace). The sooner today's jobs are out of the way, the sooner I can sew.
Have a lovely weekend, everyone,
F x

foxgloves

@Suffolk_lass,
I never bought onion & garlic powder until we got a couple of the 'Pinch of Nom' books as they do turn up as ingredients in some of those recipes. 
I love the smoky blackberry ketchup. Apparently my teenage nephew has temporarily abandoned tomato ketchup & is eating blackberry ketchup on everything. Had to send him back with an extra jar! 
F

Suffolk_lass

Just making my second coffee of the morning and catching up on here with your plans and latest exploits. You put me to shame.

Over here, we are still picking raspberries, courgettes, beans and tomatoes (and cucumbers) and I moved the trough (plastic window box) of very sad chillies into the garden and they have perked up. I need to pick gages and plums today to keep the sweet smell down and deter wasps. I also picked another GBS (so four huge fruits now) and two more that might come to something before I compost the plant. I fell into it (doh) no harm to me but one of the growth tendrils is fatally damaged! And the first Crown Prince is picked. It weighs more than four kilos and any larger and I won't use it! I can see another five... One of my greenhouse plants is not the cucumber I planted, it is a crown of thorns ornamental gourd by the looks of things. Anyway, I am tying it to the ceiling struts, as it is rather rampant. I'm going to collect and scatter flower seeds today too. Tomorrow we have three things on so today can be mostly garden activities.

foxgloves

I've never grown Crown Prince, @Suffolk_lass. Have often fancied having a crack at Turk's turban - they look so interesting. Quite tempted by the white ghost pumpkins too. We have 3 GBS plants. Each one has a big squash (plus a decent secondary one according to Mr F who has been poking around under the vines). There are several small ones starting but I will most probably cut those off to concentrate on the best ones. We get quite a lot of meals from a single large GBS. They seem to keep pretty well.
I am surprised you think my activities 'put you to shame'. You do all your bee-keeping work & study and sound much more involved in the community than I am. Much as we can be the life & soul of the party if we're in the mood, the vast majority of the time, we are quite shockingly unsociable, so I have plenty of time for kitchen witchery & such-like. I was a lot busier when I had an active role (2 in fact) in local politics.
F