Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

thriftmonster

When I first got His Cattiness he was walking along the back fence and fell off onto the other side into a big clump of nettles and brambles. Cue much anguished wailing. It's all fields that lead up onto the tops so no way of getting round. Luckily the plank trick worked in this case -although he's never left the garden since.

foxgloves

Thanks for all your comments & contributions about feline escapades. Soot was up to tricks again last night as you'll soon be hearing. They are very entertaining but will insist on doing silly things sometimes, won't they?

foxgloves

Hello Weekend Readers,

I've just sat down with a big glass of water & thought I'd post a weekend update of my budget-friendly doings

SATURDAY: *Visited local bargainaceous butcher fist thing to secure optimum choice on his multi-buy deal. Also bought a brisket for a slow cooker recipe at some point which will secure several portions.

*Avoided coffee shops while in town - largely tbh this was because our favourite indie wasn't yet open & the chain one while perfectly acceptable doesn't seem like so much of a treat when using our Personal Spends.

*Made blackberry & apple jam - 8 jars plus a taster pot now in the pantry where I am squirrelling away good things for Autumn & Winter. It occurred to me that I still make blackberry & apple jam EXACTLY as my Mum taught me when I was about 12 & that was how my Nan taught her. See following post.

*Did a survey.

*Vacuumed upstairs & did a thorough clean of main bedroom. Changed bed linen. I don't enjoy very hot weather but it helps if I take advantage of it for getting large items of laundry dry for free.

*Mr F did a BBQ in the evening with some of the butcher bargains plus some of our homegrown stuff. He did a bowl of our new potatoes, used a big one of our jalapenos, garlic & a black Russian tomato in the guacamole & I made a salad bowl with our leaves, spring onions & tomatoes.

*Because of a money saving decision I made, there was a cat-related incident in the evening. Soot & Ash have a favourite toy - a little furry hedgehog which has a concealed pocket for inserting a pouch of catnip. They have absolutely loved this thing half to death & it was looking frankly so unsanitary that I decided to bin it & spend £6 on a new one. Then I thought, well, we still have spare catnip pouches left which came with it, so why don't I try washing it. It came up much better than I anticipated & after pegging it out to dry, I brushed up the fur & popped another pouch of nip inside. Now, I should add that I went to remove the old pouch of nip prior to washing & there was no sign of it. Hmmm. Neither of us had found this or any remnant of it on the floor so can only assume one of them maybe removed it & it is under the sofa or piano? Anyway, after the BBQ when the cats were both sitting in the living room, I threw the toy to them & went in the kitchen to pour myself a gin & tonic. This took TWO MINUTES. By the time I got back, Soot was gobbling catnip. It was all over his face & the rug. He had managed to remove the pouch from deep inside the hedgehog toy, refused to let me have what remained of it & was absolutely off his head!! I managed to remove the fabric pouch before he could swallow it (it makes me think that's what happened to the other one), which he thought was the most brilliant game of swiping my fingers. After I'd finally removed it, he proceeded to roll around in all the spilled catnip breakdancing, before spending 10 minutes engaged in trying to chomp his own tail!! Ash looked on with a certain amount of derision, politely waiting for his turn with the much coveted toy. So, I have learned that it IS washable, but that in future, I will refill it with a little loose catnip instead of the ready-made pouches provided. Oh, you should have seen him - he was so funny. Mr F said, "He'll be off down the late-night garage soon with the munchies" but he did crash out on the back of the sofa for the rest of the evening with his paw in Mr F's ear.

Anyway, that was Saturday's efforts.

F

KajiKita

That had me chuckling and then guffawing when I got to paw in ear … 😉😂😂❤️

KK

Sun_Addict

Your cats antics are so funny. They’re such crafty creatures. Soot sounds like Mr SA and his beer 🤣 We had a catnip plant in the garden once, it lasted all of 5 minutes after several cats rolled around in ecstasy on it 🤣

foxgloves

BLACKBERRY & APPLE JAM

Now, I know there will be loads of people on these diary threads who make jam, but if anyone hasn't yet had a go, isn't sure where to start or what kit is required, I thought I would put on sort of beginner's level instructions in case they are helpful to anyone. Home made preserves make nice little gifts. I have sometimes taken a jar of home made jam, a batch of home baked scones & pot of cream to people's houses instead of a bottle of wine or chocs, just for a change, & with a pretty lid which can be cut from scrap fabric, pretty recycled gift wrap or even brown paper with a natural raffia tie & home made label, that's a festive gift I'd always be happy to receive & economical too. If your child made the label & pretty topper, it'd also be a nice original teacher gift, I think.

Right, so let's start with kit. Like anything, there's plenty of stuff available to buy, some of it unnecessary. I've been making jam since I was 12. I still use only the basic things my Mum & Nana used & have never been tempted by an electric jam-maker & I have never paid for jars. There are always plenty of decent jars to wash out & re-use & they're going to be sterilised anyway. The essential kit is:

*A large preserving pan (I inherited mine from my Nana. They do turn up in charity shops from time to time & it's also worth asking around to see if anybody, maybe an older relative who no longer does preserving) if they have one they don't want. If not, it's the one thing really worth buying).

*A long handled wooden spoon. The 'preserving' versions are squared off for getting around the edges of the pan. I have one of those now, but didn't acquire it until a couple of decades into jam-making, so a simple long handled ordinary one will do the trick, but it does need a long handle as you don't want your hands too near that boiling pan.

*A wide-necked funnel which does make it easier, quicker & less messy to fill the jars.

*A ladle. Any old one will do as long as it's clean.

*A pack of bog-standard jam-pot covers which contain the waxed circles, cellophanes & elastic bands for sealing your jars.

A jam thermometer is not necessary. I do have one, which I use for fudge-making, but I have found no advantages when using it for jam where it just becomes a fiddly item to wash afterwards!

You'll also need some clean jars - I only ever use re-used ones from my stash so that's a saving on buying new ones. If people know you are a jam maker, they are usually happy to save jars for you.

Right, why blackberry & apple jam? It's a good one to start off with because 1) It sets easily 2) You can pick wild blackberries yourself which saves money on ingredients 3) You can also substitute bramley apples with any free windfalls you come across or are offered. Apples for jamming don't have to be perfect as you are going to peel them & cut away any imperfect bits. 4) It is delicious on toast, in cakes, on porridge, etc, & isn't often available in supermarkets.

Although I usually work in metric, I'll give the ingredients in imperial on this occasion as that's how it was taught to me by Mum back in the 1970s….

INGREDIENTS

2lbs blackberries

2lbs bramley apples or use windfalls

Juice of half a lemon

4lbs of white granulated sugar.

About half a pint of water

A small knob of butter (about the size of a grape!)

You will also need about 8 or 9 standard size glass jars in addition to the equipment listed above.

NOW TO GET JAMMING:

1)First sterilize your jars. Wash them in very hot soapy water, rinse (no need to dry) & place on a clean baking tray. You can also put them through a hot dishwasher cycle apparently but I don't have one so this is the old-style method I use. Set oven to Gas 2 & pop them in so that they are sterilizing while you are cracking on with the jam.

2)Put the blackberries in the preserving pan. Peel, core & chop the apples & add to the blackberries. Pour over the half pint of water & simmer gently until the fruit is soft. If it looks like it might be thinking about sticking, add a little more water, but remember that if you add too much, then it will take a lot longer to set.

3)When the fruit is cooked, add the sugar & lemon juice & stir well until all the sugar has dissolved.

NOTE: I know a lot of new jam makers are shocked at the amount of sugar used in jam. This is because the sugar is preserving the fruit. Some people experiment with using a little less, but as with other things in life, I stick to the Old Ways because I want my jam to keep for a long time. Jam isn't something most people eat in huge sugar-problem quantities, a couple of teaspoons on a slice of toast at a time is going to be lower sugar than many other everyday treat foods, I always think. And your jam should easily last for a whole year, so no need to gobble it all at once!

4)Bring the jam pan up to a fast rolling boil. Don't be shy, it needs to boil to reach setting point. Stir carefully now & again to check it isn't sticking.

5) Meanwhile, prepare a couple of clean plates or saucers ready for using to test for setting point. If it's a hot day, I pop these in the fridge. After about 8 minutes, drop a little blob (about the size of a penny) onto one of the plates & leave for a few minutes to cool. Now push your finger into it from one edge across to the other side. This is the 1st of the 2 best-known 'setting' tests. You are looking for it to be thick enough to form wrinkles as you push it. It will probably still be liquid, so keep boiling & repeat the test about every 2 minutes. When you see a definite wrinkle, you can double-check with Test 2 which is the drip test. Pop the spoon over the plate, let the surplus jam run off until there is one final drip which will set, instead of running off. Whereas you started out with liquid, you should now be seeing more of a 'starting to gel' like consistency. When these tests are passed, the jam has reached setting point & is ready to bottle! Don't be tempted to overboil as you will end up with overcooked jam that will need cutting with a knife. If you don't boil it enough or skimp on the tests, you could end up with syrup, which will be nice on ice cream but you probably wouldn't want 8 or 9 jars of it.

6) Take the pan off the heat & skim off any obvious sugar scum. No need to go obsessively fishing out every bit, just one good skim with a big spoon, then add the knob of butter & stir it in, which will get rid of any little bits that are left. It isn't harmful or bad-tasting, just something which happens when sugar is boiled for a long time (less so with cane sugar, I believe).

7) Remove your hot jars from the oven, pop the funnel over & using a ladle, fill each jar almost to the top. Easier to do a tidy job of this while the jam is still nicely liquid, so work quickly but remember that everything is VERY hot!

8) Wipe the tops & sides of the jars with a clean dishcloth wrung out in hot water, then pop a waxed circle (waxy side down) on top of each one. Finish off by attaching a cellophane top to each jar with an elastic band. Wet each of these slightly on the top before attaching so that they shrink to fit from the heat of the jam. Allow the jars to cool then attach labels of your choice, which can simply be the plain sticker ones from the jam covers pack or you can go all la-di-dah fancypants with handmade labels & pretty paper tops over the cellophanes.

I hope this may be of use to somebody in MSE Diaryland along the way. There's no need to buy anything extra. I know supermarket jam often contains other ingredients, but there is no need. Some fruits, which are low in pectin require specific jam sugar containing added pectin, others just need additional lemon juice, but some, like Mum's blackberry & apple don't require anything other than what I've listed & it's nomlicious! Good luck if you decide to have a go!

F x

foxgloves

And finally, today's budget-friendly efforts:

*Watered veg first thing before the heat got up too high. Everything is struggling & would dearly love some rain.

*Made a sourdough for baking tomorrow morning.

*Started off this year's blackberry & pear gin using home grown fruit.

*Did 4 loads of laundry as it's fairly breezy as well as hot.

*Wrote to my sister - a nice card & stamp from my stash.

*Mr F defrosted both freezers because he started worrying that we've got a fish box coming tomorrow & that I wouldn't be able to fit it in. We did a new freezer list too which was much needed. He got extra points for saving a bucket of ice for watering containers later on.

*Helped Mr F manoeuvre a bookcase downstairs onto our drive before popping it up on our village FB group as a freebie. Delighted when a young couple came & collected it shortly afterwards. Not money saving for us, but defo worth doing from a sustainability point of view & we are still decluttering generally.

*Very easy meal later, as Mr F made use of still red hot coals from last night's BBQ to cook some extra chicken to feed us tonight, cold with salad. Seemed silly wasting that heat then paying for gas to roast it tonight.

Well, that's a lot of chat from me - 3 posts - & I need start fetching that mountain of laundry in now. Apart from that, a lovely hairwash later & a manicure, that's me done for today. I have fewer appointments/interruptions over the coming week so would really like to crack on with a lot of things. That's the plan, anyway.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend,

Love F x

KajiKita

Thanks for the jam post - answered a lot of questions I had and some I didn’t know I needed to know! 😊

I have zero confidence with jam and the only time I tried made ‘brick’! 😉😂

KK

Blackcats

I don't even like gin but the blackberry and pear gin sounds fabulous!

Cats and catnip are so entertaining.

Baileys_Babe

I too appreciated the jam post, in the past, I have successfully made jam and other times it has overcooked, I now feel more confident. I plan on taking a copy of your recipe and tips.