Monday Shenanigans

 We did not have a cooked tea last night.  Despite being an overcast day, it was warm and muggy, and to tell you the truth I was just not hungry.  Despite pennies being tight we have not done too badly for food the past few days and so I checked on the Pantry situation.  That is low at the moment, but I am hopeful that in the not too distant future I will be able to remedy this.  Just a matter of waiting and timing.  I located what I thought was the last couple of tins of Tuna on the Pantry shelf and I fancied Tuna and Mayonnaise sarnies for tea followed by some fruit and cream. Propeer Sunday afternoon tea.  In this instance we had Mandarin oranges with the last of some cream that was in the fridge.  Nice and simple but it did what it needed to do.   I had initially planned on prepping a cooked meal probably a Toad in the Hole with the remaining sausages and some simple veg like mashed potato, Broccoli and carrots for today.  However that has now been deferred until tomorrow as far too warm, and have been pottering around with small things.  Will see how it goes in any event.

Yesterday I did not get out in the garden at all; this was by choice.  However later on I did go and water up the plants that I had sorted out and gave them a little more nurturing.  The Strawberry plantlets seem to be thriving. My two tubs that I sorted out are also looking a lot better than they did.

Today, I have harvested Rhubarb for putting up on the Pantry shelf.  A bonus from the garden which is much appreciated in tight times.  There is just under 3kg to process.

For tea tonight, as have mentioned we were having Toad in the Hole. However, that changed to cheese on toast.  In any event I needed a few more bits and bobs on the veg front as was completely low on the veggies to be honest I nipped around to the shop.  I will therefore be able to use the veg purchased for tea tonight.  

The Universe was certainly smiling on me yesterday though and I feel very blessed.  I just went to the local shop Co-Op and came away with quite a lot, some of which was reduced, but once in the fridge will last for quite a while.

I needed some peas which were frozen £1.25 a bag, two bags of larger white potatoes £1.25, two bags of reduced baby potatoes 75p a bag, a pack of two sweet potatoes reduced to 65p, three bags of carrots (nice and chunky) 500g bags 50p a bag, a Sweetheart pointy cabbage £1, a pack of two courgettes, £1.35, a large head of Broccoli £0.85.  This came to a total of £10.60.  This achieved a member discount of £1.35, which brought the total down to £9.25.  However I had not realised that there were some pennies still on the card which amounted to £5.84 which left me just to pay £3.41 for everything above.  To say that I was pretty pleased about that is an understatement.  As a result I now have some basic but not exotic veggies which will be very useful for the fridge now and the important thing to feed us.  I have found that having a variety of veggies in can help create some different eating if you pick the right selection in the first place, obviously used with some other in-house ingredients.  Hopefully will get to the Veg shop tomorrow to see if I can pick up any different goodies from them. A lot of the time I can pick up Peppers, oranges, Lemons, Tomatoes, apples etc. from them especially if they are also on reduction. They charge £1 a bowl. I also need celery and one or two other bits as well as some salad leaves and beans. It pays to be tight!  

Needless to say I was very pleased about this in fact highly chuffed! I might go back and get some more of the Sweetheart cabbage and make some Sauerkraut and also some more Broccoli.  Will see how things pan out.  That is the hope in any event.

I still do need to sort out preserved veggies for the Pantry shelf though.  This might happen in the next week or two.  I want some supplies on the shelf just in case and am determined to have a stash ready and waiting to use going into winter.  Not just of vegetables but other items as well.  I do however need to get some new jars and lids.

I did not manage to process the Rhubarb last night, but intend to do that first thing this morning to get it out the way with.  Then intend to go into the garden again.

Lots to do as usual, but things are coming along and I am not overwhelmed at the moment, just dealing as is and enjoying the playing and doing.

Take care and catch up soon.

Pattypan

x