From Frugal Foundations to Fortified Family Future

Blackcats

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81988029#Comment_81988029

🤣 greenbee. at least I'll know what to do if I ever have a glut of Persian hogweed

Fortune_Smiles

I love that DH always brings home his work treats to share.

Fortune x

Watty1

I just had to look that spice up. Not easily available 😀

Greying_Pilgrim

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81988196#Comment_81988196

Indeed Fortune - for sure, Fam. Greying don't always have that much, but LG is getting 'sharing' modelled in the home. Just as well, as sharing and teamwork for sure are non-existent 'lessons' at school. It's all about having 'all' the stuff (and for sure not sharing - more is more is the mantra), and being No.1, top of the pile and stamping all over everyone else on your way to the top ☹️. Funnily enough we've just been having a family conversation about how to navigate school life, with those two issues being at the heart of the problems currently…… ☹️

I feel less than, as I don't have any golpar……. 🫤…… 😁🤣

Watty - I knew that the golpar was referred to as Persian Hogweed, and that the plant is apparently a member of the carrot family. I only know Angelica from the green ('candied') stems that were strewn over trifles in my youth (I much preferred the silver, tooth shattering, sugar balls). I really enjoy middle-eastern, Persian cooking - and its use of spices which can differ from the whole range of spices use in Asian cuisines. But I'd never heard of golpar before, and suspect that it's not worth me purchasing any. In indian dishes, I have used Ajwan seeds (Bishops weed) and Amchoor (dried mango powder) before, but the products have gone dried and musty before I've made much of a dent in them. So whilst my dishes will never be authentic, I do use the given work arounds. The mint and sumac worked quite well. If I ever get to Peckham, I shall be sure to pop into Sally Butcher's shop and pick up some golpar tho, give it a go 😁Although having read up about it, it is another spice that smells alot worse than it tastes, is an aid to counter flatulence, and reminds me of the description of Asafetida…….

I am probably going to do some food shopping today. I am less likely to be doing clothes washing - as whilst the computer currently says it's raining with us - it's not. However, I don't have a full load of any one thing, and whether it stays dry or not, I don't think it's a top notch drying day, given we have little or no wind currently …(must have all been ingesting our golpar….. 😉).

Right, tail feathers to shift.

Greying X

Greying_Pilgrim

Rigtho, back from shopping.

Quite a spend, but a) I'm stocked up on 'snack' things for lunches until the the end of term, b) I stocked up on the Carioca (pinto) beans in MrL whilst they were on offer in Latin America week and c) I did use my MrL app to buy one or two extra things that will come in useful, were an OK price, but which we could possibly have done without……… There were green boxes today, 6 I think. They were on the 'light' side, but there was only one that was a slight possibility, but as I had bought a bag of 'wonky' carrots in MrAl, before I went to MrL, the box having another bag of 'simply' carrots, that were the size of parsnips wasn't terribly appealing. In contrast, the MrAl wonky carrots were much more conventional size, and I was happy to spend 79p on them. So the opportunity of a box, but nothing that appealed/was worth £2 spend this week.

I bought some smoked hummous that was on offer, to try, as well as the red pepper version that we like.

I spent £9.04 in MrAl, £30.22 in MrL on groceries, and £5.98 on dried beans (bulk fund). So total grocery spend today is £39.26 and £5.98 bulk fund.

It does annoy me that I paid £2.99 for just over 2oz more for the pinto beans that you'd pay $1.98 for 2lb in the US for the Wa1m art greatvalu3 brand. Dried beans seem so much cheaper in the US, and there is much more variety too.

The weather has completely changed, its lovely here now.

I'd better finish off stashing the rest of the shopping away, amend my siggie figgie and update the GC thread.

Greying X

rtandon27

@Greying_Pilgrim - Try a mix of celery seed & cumin, pounded with a pestle and mortar - gives the flavour profile, if not the 'added benifits'. 😝

Greying_Pilgrim

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81988651#Comment_81988651

It's interesting rt - how many of the 'deflating' herbs are in the carrot family. I don't currently have any celery seed, but should have given the asafoetida a go, as I think from the description of golpar, it is a similar sounding compound.

I shall add a bit of asafoetida to the splodge of soup that is left, and have it for my lunch.

Greying X

themadvix

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81988029#Comment_81988029

I’m more shocked that LG didn’t want crispy onions on their soup- guaranteed to be my favourite bit (regardless of how tasty the rest is - and it does sound it!).

I didn’t realise Sally Butcher has a shop in Peckham. I have Veggiestan but have only ever really cooked a couple of things from it, mainly because the recipes all call for difficult to get ingredients/spices. I’ll have to have another look and if I get to Peckham GP, I’ll send you some golpar!

Greying_Pilgrim

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81988775#Comment_81988775

Well, if it's still there, Sally Butcher's shop (with her hubby) is Persepolis - I think they still run it. Not too sure if the cafe is still operational, but the 'dry goods' side is still operating.

I tried asafoetida in the left over soup. We'll quickly gloss over how old said asafoetida may be…. but it seems OK. It didn't make any significant taste difference. I don't know if there was enough soup for it to counter any 'adverse' lentil effects…..

Greying

Greying_Pilgrim

Good evening MFW'rs

I haven't done anything spiffingly money saving today. Although I was pleased to get 'quite a bit' whilst shopping. I do need to get a cucumber at some point though, as the ones in MrL today were not great, so I left them in the shop for 99p.

I wandered off to Persia again for inspiration for tea. I made Persian Tomato Rice (Estamboli Polo), Shirazi Salad (Salad-e-shirazi), with an omlette and the last of the green beans. I would make the tomato rice again - it was good, even though I used chopped tinned tomatoes, rather than fresh tomatoes. I didn't do the full cook, to get the crust on the rice - I'm always scared of doing that, that I will get it stuck to the pan. However, I left it on the hob to steam after i had cooked it (which was the right thing to do, as it just finished off the potato to toothsome rightness), and as it happened, it developed ever such a slight crust - without sticking to the pan. YAY! The salad was OK, but by my own admission, I was too heavy-handed with the dried dill. It wasn't too bad, but too much for LG. However, the dressing I made, with garlic, mayo, yoghurt and mint, with sumac and nigella seeds sprinkled, did ameliorate the dill, and once LG was inspired to at least try the combo, they found that it did soften the taste, and they ate everything on their plate.

I used some radishes in the salad, diced very finely (another thing LG wasn't too keen on), and didn't use any lemon juice. I've finished off last week's radishes, the last of the frozen green beans and all last week's eggs (well in date).

I can't think of anything else to add - other than I wish I'd pictured LG's plate instead, as you could see the tomato rice better. Ah well, I ain't no food stylist. i was enjoying listening to an older episode of The Food Programme as I was cooking - I managed to broadcast it onto the radio - go me 🤣 Anyhoo, it was really interesting and had been looking at the role of food in Bradford's 'City of Culture' year (2025).

Ta for popping by.

Greying X