Food Matters

I had to nip to Home Bargains today as I broke my glasses and I just needed a cheapie pair to get me by until I get replacements.  I am a disaster with glasses and not suitable for contact lenses.  I have tried wearing them on a neck chain and get taffled up with stuff and end up getting the glasses broken that way on and I usually end up with them on my head and then they lose their grip and end up falling off in the most disadvantageous places.  This time round I broke two pairs in two days.  I must have looked odd with a broken pair on (minus one of the arms) whilst I was shopping but I am as blind as a bat these days without my glasses.

In any event that is the reason why I went shopping but it would have been rude not to have a look whilst I was in there.  Ever one for the food section and for stocking up items for the Pantry shelf, I try and take advantage of bargains where I can and stock up a bit if there is a genuine offer on. 

I started off with a 1kg bag of Himalayan Fine grind Pink Salt for 99p.  Therefore a bag of that came home and part of the bag has found its way into one of my glass storage jars in the Condiments cupboard.  The rest has been squirrelled away in the Pantry for the time being.

At one point in time I used to keep tinned custard in more for G than myself, but it is handy to have on the shelf as well as the custard powder. In any event Home Bargains had an offer on with Ambrosia Devon Custard and Rice pudding in that if you bought 3 tins together you got them for £1 a tin. I have seen them in excess of £1.30 a tin for the custard and £2 odd for the Rice pudding! I therefore ended up buying 6 of the custard and 3 of the rice pudding for the Pantry shelf.  It will not be a constant at the moment, but as I have a lot of pudding stuff available to me in the house in any event just a useful item to have when in a hurry or when time is a rare commodity.

Equally last year I bought some Belvita Breakfast biscuits whilst they were on offer and I have eked them out to have when I do not really fancy a full blown breakfast. A small pack of these usually does the job with a nice hot drink.  

I was only thinking the other day that I need to get some more of the Belvita breakfast biscuits but as I had not seen any on offer I had resisted buying. I try and buy items when they are on offer and do a little stock up then. Today they were on offer again at 99p a box so three boxes have come home with me.  It provides another option for me.  G will not touch them.

I use the items I have in the Pantry but I am also conscious of the fact that as soon as I have used them I will need to stock up again. We eat well considering but that does not mean I have to use everything on the Pantry shelf so I try and pace things out a bit in order that we eat well at all times. Food is the fuel that keeps you going and with a bit of work and effort you can achieve this and save a few pennies as you go along. It makes it easier that there are only the two of us, even with a family though you can save the pennies to put towards something else by making considered choices which is what I try and do.

Equally they had an offer on Country Crisp breakfast cereal. There were only a couple of boxes on the shelves so they came home with me as well. I am a big one for cereal for breakfast. 

I also bought a box of Oatibix. I have been looking for my Jordans Strawberry and Honey and Nut Breakfast cereals but thus far have not found them at a good price. Hopefully will get into Iceland next week where I found them on offer originally next week. I really love these two granolas but equally I will not pay through the nose for them. This also helps vary up what I actually have to eat for breakfast in the morning. Some times it can be simple porridge another morning breakfast pots with some preserved blackberries and yogurt. Once you have the basics on the cereal front you can mix things up pretty well. The same as if you have access to a good supply of different bottled/canned or bought tinned fruit or other foods.

A meal can always be assembled which is one of the reasons I want to get cracking on the preserving front.  Cereals can also be  used in homemade baked goods think Rice Crispie cakes or Cornflake cakes or Treacle tart or All bran in a fruit loaf.  Once you start "rootling" around you can build up quite a lot of useful recipes.  Only one rule I have when it comes to recipes really is that they must work for us as a family and are to our tastes.

I also came away with my fabric conditioner, stain remover and a big box of Persil (77 wash about £11.79 a box at HB) as well.  I have to have these every month as part of my basics.  If you can keep things clean you have won half the battle.

I also keep plain biscuits in-house as well as different crackers and crispbreads for eating as an alternative to bread or indeed to use with cheese like crackers (for the crispbreads).  I have two separate boxes that I keep these in that are air-tight.  Today I added to the crispbread stash by buying in a couple of different varieties of Ryvita ( Pumpkin seed and Oat and a Multigrain version as well as two different finishes on some Scandi-style bread Ryvita thins in Sour Cream and Chive and Multi-seed.

G likes the Anchor Spreadable butter but equally we will not pay through the nose for this.  We do not like replacement spreads per se but tend to us butter either in block form or the easy spreadable version.  Sometimes have been known to make my own as well.  This is currently on offer for £2.99 a pack so four came home with us.

Therefore am quite pleased with the little haul I came away with.  I find HB very useful for lots of things for the Pantry at very good prices.  Will probably nip in again soon to see what else they have to offer.

Oh and I got my new glasses!  Thank goodness for that as I just cannot see without glasses these days and not having them drives me stir crazy in any event.

Still loads of stuff being dealt with at home, each little bit done though is a serious win for me.

Catch you soon.

Have a lovely evening.

Pattypan

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