From Frugal Foundations to Fortified Family Future

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning MSE'rs

Dank and rainy start  with us 🙁

I forgot to mention yesterday when I was in MrS, I spotted the people that had been in a couple of weeks ago and their weekly shop had come in at over £200 and they were commenting on price rises to the cashier - it was a similar time of day/same day, so probably why they were so chatty to the cashier, they were 'regulars'.  And my point isn't about expenditure level - it's much more about how we're all feeling the pinch, whatever our budget point.  Interestingly, the shopper in front of me at the till, yesterday was purchasing alot of foods that we are "supposed" to purchase.  I wasn't overtly nosing, but certainly the latter portion of the shop (on the conveyor) was whole/unprocessed fruit and veg - including items that you might use to cook from scratch etc.  When the last item went through, I was a little taken aback when the total came in at 3 figures....  Anyway, the customer had a n*ctar card and possibly some points or offers/coupons or whatever, and the final total came in at low £90's.  All I could think to myself was that even buying what we're supposed to eat - you know, 'five a day' or 'colours of the rainbow' or higher welfare, or 'British produce'; is mightily expensive.  I don't even think the fruit/veg was organic - the packaging seemed MrS's 'conventional lines' (if that makes sense).  And certainly the shopper's trolley wasn't over-flowing for that spend.  I just mention it purely from the point of view of 'good' food is expensive - I have no way of knowing how many the shopper was buying for, whether that was all they needed for a week, whether they could comfortably afford to meet the bill/whether it was a squeak etc.  I was just struck by the cost for decent food.......

Tea last night ended up being mash, beans and chickpea and mushroom bangers.  We all ate lunch later, and I thought we could possibly skip tea......  We were supposed to all be watching a film, but I pointed out if I had to make tea, I would miss the film......  Anyhoo, LG suggested mash, beans and omlette, so I agreed (as I thought that was quite a good suggestion from them!).  It was only after I started that I realised I had wanted to do some baking with our remaining eggs, and MrL had been out of eggs (that I would buy) again yesterday, so I opted to use the HM chickpea & mushroom 'sausages' instead.  I used the last of the MrS Easter potatoes to make the mash.  It was lovely and smooth, but not quite as 'potatoey' tasty as the tatties had been baked.  Anyhoo, clean plates all round, and pineapple and greek yoghurt for pud.

I'm hopeful it will be pizza and wedges for tea tonight.  

I need to get the last bits of new school clothing for LG.  I had pencilled that in for today, but we'll see what the weather does.  That comes from the CHB, so there is money available - not alot, but a remainder of the budget.

Right, the rest of the household has finally stirred itself, so I had better shift-a-tail-feather.  

Greying X

Greying_Pilgrim

Forgot to say, I used some of the Kimchi on my cheese sanger at lunchtime yesterday.  Definitely like it - it's different (seems milder) to the 'conventional' kimchi, but nice.  I offered some to DH to try - and he liked it too.  I did have to laugh though as he optimistically enquired whether it was 'cheaper' than MrL's sandwich pickle, so that he could have it on his work butties 🤣  I suppose maybe reverse psychology was at play - after all, I moaned about the price of sandwich pickle, but compared to kimchi it is cheap, so......... 🤣🤣🤣

I don't think I will be adding it to my weekly shop, but I am hopeful perhaps as an occasional treat....  I may yet pluck up the courage to try to make fermented veg - even sauerkraut would be a start and get all the nice gut bacteria into my diet. You don't need particularly fancy equipment to start making sauerkraut.

Greying X

debtfreewannabe321

  Interestingly, the shopper in front of me at the till, yesterday was purchasing alot of foods that we are "supposed" to purchase.  I wasn't overtly nosing, but certainly the latter portion of the shop (on the conveyor) was whole/unprocessed fruit and veg - including items that you might use to cook from scratch etc.  When the last item went through, I was a little taken aback when the total came in at 3 figures....  Anyway, the customer had a n*ctar card and possibly some points or offers/coupons or whatever, and the final total came in at low £90's.  

I may yet pluck up the courage to try to make fermented veg - even sauerkraut would be a start and get all the nice gut bacteria into my diet. You don't need particularly fancy equipment to start making sauerkraut.

I had a bit of a moan on my diary about my shop at Mr S the other day, it was an online order and only two trays turned up at my house (neither full or even half way there) and I spent low £90s on that. I actually was in utter disbelief at what I had gotten for my money and went and downloaded a receipt and listed it all out on my diary in a bit of a rant I couldn't believe it!
Anyway, moving on , I make my own sauerkraut, the only thing I would say to get special is organic cabbage as you don't wash it before making it. I made some just the other day (I shared a pic of it on my diary) and one cabbage doesn't go far when you compact it down. It is easy though and like you say no special equipment needed (although I did have some weights and fancy lids and jars from a NON MS month pre logging back on to here )

Greying_Pilgrim

debtfreewannabe321 said:

I had a bit of a moan on my diary about my shop at Mr S the other day, it was an online order and only two trays turned up at my house (neither full or even half way there) and I spent low £90s on that. I actually was in utter disbelief at what I had gotten for my money and went and downloaded a receipt and listed it all out on my diary in a bit of a rant I couldn't believe it!
Anyway, moving on , I make my own sauerkraut, the only thing I would say to get special is organic cabbage as you don't wash it before making it. I made some just the other day (I shared a pic of it on my diary) and one cabbage doesn't go far when you compact it down. It is easy though and like you say no special equipment needed (although I did have some weights and fancy lids and jars from a NON MS month pre logging back on to here )

Oh sweetie, I hear you.  It was precisely because this shopper's purchases were so on the lists of 'whole food', 'healthy', 'fruit and veg' that made me think of us all on MSE, because it was 'textbook' nutritional shopping.  I think there was a box of breakfast cereal, and a packet of sausages (they struck me as higher welfare/higher meat percentage ones), but even so......

Thanks for the Sauerkraut advice, I think I will pluck up the courage to have a go.  

Greying X

themadvix

The key with sauerkraut is to pack it right down as dfw says - it will self-brine if you pack it hard enough - and it is amazing how small a space it will fit into! If you're using a kilner-type jar with a rubber seal, you don't need to burp it - just leave it for six weeks on a saucer (it will self-burp) and then it's done. Don't leave too much headroom either and make sure all of the cabbage is underwater - use an uncut leaf to cover the top and then weigh it down - a clean large pebble or, if in a kilner jar, a Gu pot (ask on Freegle/Olio/Freecycle - people always have loads to give away) fits perfectly. If just using a normal jar, you'll need to burp by just loosening the jar lid once a day - don't take it off, this will allow bad bacteria in. I don't think you do, but if I've missed it, if you use FB, then the group UK Fermenting Friends is a really helpful friendly place for all kinds of fermented recipes - and great videos on sauerkraut in the files.

Greying_Pilgrim

themadvix said:

The key with sauerkraut is to pack it right down as dfw says - it will self-brine if you pack it hard enough - and it is amazing how small a space it will fit into! If you're using a kilner-type jar with a rubber seal, you don't need to burp it - just leave it for six weeks on a saucer (it will self-burp) and then it's done. Don't leave too much headroom either and make sure all of the cabbage is underwater - use an uncut leaf to cover the top and then weigh it down - a clean large pebble or, if in a kilner jar, a Gu pot (ask on Freegle/Olio/Freecycle - people always have loads to give away) fits perfectly. If just using a normal jar, you'll need to burp by just loosening the jar lid once a day - don't take it off, this will allow bad bacteria in. I don't think you do, but if I've missed it, if you use FB, then the group UK Fermenting Friends is a really helpful friendly place for all kinds of fermented recipes - and great videos on sauerkraut in the files.

Thanks sweetie - that's super helpful.  I have got some jars - they are the clamp type, but I suspect you would just need to 'place' the glass top(with the rubber seal), onto the top of the jar and not clamp it - otherwise you would need to 'burp' it daily.  But if the glass top was 'weighing down' the Gu pot, (that in turn was keeping the leaf submerged) then that would be correct wouldn't it?  I have a number of 'spare' tops/seals, so could certainly do it that way.  I am a fool to myself really, as I have always believed that good gut health is one of the pillars that can perhaps contribute to better health overall - alongside trying to keep active, mentally stimulated, avoiding excesses of sugar, alcohol, smoking etc.

I haven't made yoghurt for an age - not since we left Greying Towers - so that is something that I could also get back into the swing of.  

Greying X

themadvix

No, the lid should be clipped - trust me - enough air will escape round the seal, that's what they're designed for. Once it's got underway it's likely the brine will force itself out round the seal, so you'll know the gas isn't building up. Preferably don't pack it all in so tightly that the Gu pot is really pushing against the lid - that way cracks lie (I speak from experience!).

redofromstart

Vague memories of making it under instruction from a German friend who had been taught by her mother, and using a saucer and weights! It worked ok actually but then I went back to work full time for the first time in 15 years and everything 'extra' stopped. 

I did laugh at the is it cheaper than pickle convo though. I'm growing cucumber again this year because my HM fridge cucumber pickle was spot on last year.

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Afternoon MFW'rs

Wee bit windswept with us 😬

Bit of a bitty day, changing plans to not go adventuring meant that we didn't really have an alternative plan of action in place.  But we've done a teeny bit of shopping, as we had to go in the direction of MrA anyway, and then I've been doing a bit of cooking, DH a bit of DIY and LG has mostly been eating chocolate 🤔 but they have shared it, so......

I have made a vat of HM tommie sauce, as we were getting a bit low.  I also made Makhlouta (rice and lentil soup) for lunch.  I used Arto der Haroutunian's version out of 'Vegetarian Middle Eastern cookery' and it was the Syrian version - Turkish versions may be more likely to use bulghar in place of rice, and some other recipes use beans as well as the rice and lentils.  Mine was simple and straightforward, I used l/o brown rice that I had in the freezer, red lentils from stores and I added in some small diced carrot too - as I had some, and to add a bit of interest.  LG lapped it up - I think we have had it before, but although it is a spiced soup (just cumin, cinnamon and ground cloves - a dash of cayenne for serving is optional, and I didn't add it), it isn't complex, so I was a little surprised LG raved about it.  

I spent £4.58 in MrA, on some plant based burgers (MrA are often out of this product, so I made hay and bought 2 boxes), and a bar of chocolate for cooking.  I must amend my grocery totals.

I have just been enjoying watching Andi Oliver's new series on the eye-player.  I watched the Bristol one.  Oh my word, I loved it.  Such a range of cuisines/flavours/ingredients.  And whilst I loved that the series tells the 'story' of whatever project they are focussing on (which is important), I also wish there had been more time to investigate the ingredients/recipe ideas that inspired the dishes that were served up.  I thought the flavoured cream that Andi made for the doughnuts sounded great.

Tea was going to be some sort of curry, but I may scratch that, as we had lentils in our lunch, and instead we may have burgers (with kimchi - yum!) and oven chips.  Will have a ponder.

Greying X

Paspatur

GP thank you so much for the mention of Andi Oliver
Just watched 2 episodes and they are wonderful
There are still decent people in this world