Five minute break

I am sat down for five minutes having a coffee break.  I have been cleaning most of the day and very slowly I am starting to see that I am clearing a path.  Very slowly though.  I was starting to flag so I thought a coffee break was in order just to sit and rest my back which is starting to twinge just a  little bit.  The coffee has gone down very nicely.

We are having fish for tea tonight. The reduced monk fish for OH which I got for £1.80 and the smoked haddock for £1.70.  So I did not do too badly.  The smoked haddock is a little bigger than the monk fish.  The haddock will be served with a poached egg and some bread and butter and OH will have a full meal with the fish, home made fat chips and also mushy peas and bread and butter.

I also managed to find some reduced lemons when I nipped to the Co-op to get some bin liners as I had run out.  One or two will be used for pancakes tonight but the rest will go into lemon chutney - this making use of the ingredients I already have in whereas if I were to do some lemon curd I would have to go and buy butter. 

I bought the lemons at 45p per net of four lemons x 4 which is 16 lemons.  Lemons are averaging 45p each or more at the moment.  Granted these are a little smaller but a bargain is a bargain.  So at the moment if I am finding bargains rather than buying any ingredients in and adding to make the most of them, I am using what is in stock.  Naturally there is going to come a point when I will need to re-stock on these but that will come in time as I tend to stock pile on these items in one fair swoop i.e. sugar, vinegars, pectin.  

It is therefore well worth looking out for the bargains as fruit can be turned into jams or chutneys, or frozen. Lemon cordial and syrup can also be made. I am particularly honing in on the reductions as it saves a lot of money and a little bit put up here and there saves an awful lot at the end of the day and gives you something to go at out of the pantry.

Right coffee break over.  Time to return to the job in hand  - the kitchen and it always takes me longer to clean this room out!

Catch you soon.

Pattypan

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