From Frugal Foundations to Fortified Family Future

Greying_Pilgrim

Right, confession time......again.....

Dearest MSE'rs. I have thrown caution to the wind, and decided to live life on the (v)edge, and have used my LAST tin of chopped tomatoes 😱

I promise, if I have broken too early, and such cavalier actions come to bite me on mine overly large behind, then I shall not come crying to the posse.  It is nobbut mine own fault if we go hungry for want of chopped tomatoes before the month end.......  I hereby hand in my MSE'r badge, for faulty stewardship of canned goods 😔

Greying X

PS - I have used the tinned tomatoes wisely, to make Coconut and cauliflower curry, and have also whipped up a vat of carrot dhal (which is nowt but red lentil dhal with carrot puree and chopped carrots added to the pan).  We'll have summat to munch whilst watching the rugger 😁  DH and LG have stayed out playing for far longer than intended, so I've not bothered making lunch.  I could whip up some soup if necessary.  But they seem to be getting by on JaffA cAkes 🙄 

redofromstart

I hate to admit I but I don't actually have any chopped tomatoes. It's quite liberating to be free of the tyranny of the MSE store cupboard. One day we will use up all of the beans and tuna too. 

KajiKita

Joining in with a chopped tomatoes tins - 6 in stock, in the cellar. Bought when on offer as a I see them. We both use them a lot! 😊

KK

themadvix

No tinned tomatoes here (avoid acidic contents of tins with dubious linings wherever possible, although baked beans are an exception), but use jars of passata instead. Only ever have two jars in stock though - find that’s enough each month 🤷🏼‍♀️

greenbee

I have lots of tins of tomatoes as I don't seem to be using them. 

Cheery_Daff

I don't really like chopped toms so we have passata instead. Still trying to wade through our endless stash of tinned spaghetti (i think we're down to 9 tins now 😂😂) 

Our storecuoboard's not in as much action as I'd like, partly because there's a piece of furniture in front of it now 🙄 Doesn't stop access, but makes it harder to reach the shelves, and it's all got a bit higgledy piggledy 

thriftmonster

I don't know if it helps @Greying_Pilgrim but I keep my spreadable butter out on the counter in the winter all the time. Otherwise it's not spreadable  up here in Yorkshire. I've never had any issues with it. 

Greying_Pilgrim

thriftmonster said:

I don't know if it helps @Greying_Pilgrim but I keep my spreadable butter out on the counter in the winter all the time. Otherwise it's not spreadable  up here in Yorkshire. I've never had any issues with it.

Oh, thriftmonster - same here, regarding the kitchen temperature!  And all these discussions are giving me great food for thought (pardon the pun) though.  Thanks for posting 😁  I've got some testing to do 😁

Greying X 

Greying_Pilgrim

Good morning MFW'rs

Workwear long hot wash on 🙄 We're supposed to have sunshine today, although not alot of breeze, but needs must.

Yesterday's wash was drier than I thought it would get, and I brought it in because it looked like we were going to get a downpour (rain was forecast, and the computer said it was actually raining at the time - it wasn't).  Needless to say, 10 minutes later we were treated to pavement splitting sunshine 🙄However, I put the clothes on the airer, and they're ready to be folded and put away now.  

DH got the grass cut just before the rugger, which was just as well, because it was dry when he cut it, but we did eventually get the rain, and everywhere is sopping wet now.  

I thought the rugby was brilliant.  The whole tournament has done so much to demonstrate how good the Women's game is, and how enjoyable sport is to watch - and to play - when you're involved for playing's sake, not pay packet's sake.  I didn't see every match played, but I didn't see any poor matches - even when the scoreline made it look one-sided, it wasn't a reflection of the grit and determination exerted - until the final whistle - on the field.  And I think (may be wrong), that the refereeing of the whole tournament has been to a good standard - not something that you can say about all sporting tournaments. 

The 'curry buffet' at half time sort of worked.  DH and LG were still full from their late lunch 😡 They came home over 1hr later than they said they would (which was over 2.5hrs later than originally intended), and then proceeded to sit 'Desperate Dan-like' with forks poised at the table, waiting for lunch 😱 I was a little miffed, to say the least.  I had made some carrot puree in the PrC, to add to the dhal, so I ended up adding some stock to it, warming it up and adding some pasta to it - in the end there was only enough for 2 bowls of soup, so I did without 😭  At least it apparently tasted nice.  Although we all had full bowls for tea, there was 2 pots of curry leftover (I used all the cauliflower that came in the box and a whole can of coconut milk), 1.5 pots of carrot dhal, and 2 pots of boiled rice.  That all went into the freezer for another day.  The freezers are getting quite full now, but this will all help with keeping October's grocery spend low (I hope).  

We had a pain au chocolate for breakfast, as DH had bought a packet from MrL yesterday, and there were 4 left over.  I don't usually have breakfast, but it was OK.  I find them difficult to heat up tho, to get the chocolate melty without burning the pastry ☹️

Lunch will probably be soup again - I'm not sure what sort, but although it is sunny, there is a definite autumnal nip in the air.  

I intend to finally get around to some baking today.  I shall be making an apple crumble for sure (DH and LG found a - 'free cooking apples please take' box on their travels yesterday, and brought 3 medium sized apples home.  I was thinking about making pizza and wedges for tea, but on reflection, we have no black olives (used them for the stew), or mushrooms - which are our usual goto toppings.  Not that there is anything wrong with a cheese and tommie pizza far from it! but I will just give a bit of thought as to whether to choose something else.  A better use of resources would be smoked tofu wraps actually, thinking about it 🤔

Should be a nsd today.  

Can't think of anything else MSE at the mo.  So I'll push orf, see if the wash is ready to peg out.

Ta for popping in.  Greying X

Greying_Pilgrim

I've been busy baking.  I have made 12 (sponge) spiced apricot buns.  The 3 apricots that were in the box halved easily - and the stones dropped out.  I had a plan to use the halves, and was pondering an upside down pudding (too few halves/not got a small enough dish) but then I settled on topping the buns with a half, which got reduced to a quarter when I saw the size of the apricot piece, in relation to the bun.  With a degree in hindsight 🙄 I should have just chopped the apricots up into little pieces, and run them through the spiced batter.  But hey ho.  

Then I used 2 of yesterday's apples to make an apple cake.  And I used the 3rd 'yesterday's' apple and 2 from our summer holiday accommodation to make an apple crumble for tea.  The cake will be cut up, when cool, and the pieces, along with most of the buns, will go in the freezer.  

For lunch I made minestrone soup.  It used an onion, celery, garlic, box carrots (I specifically picked a couple of weedy ones, but sliced them up as small circles, to look "pretty" 🙄🤣), a couple of weedy sweet potatoes from the MrL offer a couple of weeks ago, water, tomato puree, a stock cube, a couple of handfuls of orzo pasta and a tin of baked beans.  Cooked that up in the PrC, then after 10 mins, I put in some chopped up frozen bell pepper, some frozen peas and 3 cubes of frozen spinach.  The hot soup cooked the peppers, peas and spinach.  It was sufficiently "tomatoey" without chopped tommies (thankfully).  Clean plates, and LG finished off the bit that was left.  Even though it contained peas.  LG doesn't like peas...... 🤔Win.

I must fold up yesterday's washing.  We've had a slightly better breeze than forecast, so I'm hopeful that today's washing will be well-dried, even if not bone dry.

Right.  Better vamoose and do a bit more. 

Greying X