A Busy Foodie Day

A Proper Job Delivery

We had arranged for another Pasty delivery as we seem to have been going through them quite rapidly.  They arrived earlier on so we did not have to wait in for them which was perfect for what we had planned to do today.   

A Pasty is a good meal in itself but can also be padded out with veggies and gravy to make a lovely midweek comfort meal as well.  You can get a meal ready in well under an hour even when you are working full time if you have pasties to hand whatever their origin.  The other benefit we have found is that you can get them straight out of the freezer and they are cooked under the hour as well so when you fancy something good to eat but do not want all the "clatting" about or you are not overtly hungry.  These fit the bill beautifully.  

As a result of the food delivery I now have another polystyrene box with lid that is destined to go into the greenhouse with seeds in.  I now have four of these for my collection and am going to be using them for incubating the seeds in the greenhouse.  I have not put any seeds in as yet but will look at what the weather forecast is this coming weekend.  I will work with what I have seed wise with perhaps the odd packet or two of seed here and there being purchased as well.  Therefore being eco friendly and recycling/upcycling something that could well end up in Landfill for the time being at least.  So a "Win-Win".

Plans for Today

We had decided yesterday that we were going to pay a visit to Moor Farm today and therefore we had an earlier start, primarily to ensure that a Jack Russell was left sleeping in her bed, and unaware that we had left.  Today the ruse worked, she was not aware that we had been out and when we came back she was still fast asleep where we left her.  Less stress for her this way on.  Even Mischief was fast asleep.  

The Sun has been out but it is bitterly cold out - a very distinct change to the weather we experienced on Sunday.

Whilst out we also took advantage of the fact that Moor Farm has an extremely excellent Tea Room.  Today we indulged in a Panini each; G had Kitty B Sausage and Stilton and I had Bacon, Brie and Cranberry washed down with tea.  Went down very nicely.

On today's little shop at the Butcher, I spent approximately £70; predominantly on meat this time around - it is not always on meat as they have quite a lot of lovely bits and bobs in there. However, today I had already decided I was focusing on meat predominantly to go into the Freezer. One of the bonuses of going to Moor Farm is that they have a membership scheme where you collect points on a card and then when the card or cards are full they can be exchanged for a meat item.  These meat items are designated but vary up month to month.  When I went today I had two cards to use up that were full and the offer/exchange at the moment is for a chicken.  I therefore came away with two bonus Chickens. To buy this size chicken is approximately £7.20 per chicken.  It was lovely to receive a little bit of something back.

What I bought today

I stocked up on a few more meat items today.  I bought in three large tray bakes which usually work out at about £10 a tray.  If you buy three trays together you get them for £20.  I bought a Chicken Fajita;

a Beef Steak and;

a Lamb tray bakes.  The Fajita is a new one to us.  

I have been using these for a while, but had not appreciated that I could actually freeze them as they were and so today's purchases have indeed found their way into the freezer.  That should free up a little more space in the fridge, which is also at a premium.

They also had an offer on with Stewing steak for 4 packs for £17.  Stewing meat is always handy to have in the freezer, as it can be turned into the proverbial stew, Beef Bourguignon but also used for making meat pies etc.  A versatile ingredient I like to have in the Freezer.  We enjoy a lot of stews specifically during the winter months but I do like to have it hand all year around. 

I also bought in 1kg of Kitty B sausages;

1lb of Guinness Sausages; 

I also bought in a pot of Beef Dripping and a tray of eggs.

Kitchen Management

I also had some food items to make use of and also get into the freezer.    

I have the remains of the Roast Beef to get into boxes (went and bought some specifically), and covered with gravy.  This will be useful as we potentially have the basis now of some four meals for two to use at a later date.  Preparing my own convenience meals as it were.  Prepping for a rainy day.  There will be more on that shortly.

I had some veggies past their best but still worth prepping up and blanching and freezing.  Have therefore dealt with carrots and parsnips.

In the reduced section yesterday at the local shop I scored three bunches of Asparagus, currently £2.50 a bunch.  I managed to get each bundle for £1.25 each.  They are therefore going to be prepped up, blanched and frozen.  I like Asparagus. Job now for tomorrow.  Now I have the right containers for freezing them.  Will squeeze these in.   One day I would like my own Asparagus patch.

I also have some pumpkin to prepare, roast and then doing something with.  I may turn this into a soup and heat process it, but have not got to that yet.    This will have to be for tomorrow though, as I certainly do not have any freezer room at the moment.  I am therefore going to be very busy in the next few days on the cooking front.                                                

I also have some Sweet Potatoes that need processing as well. I think that will be a job for tomorrow now though. However I am going to have a go at creating my own slips from a couple of the older Sweet Potatoes.  We love Sweet Potatoes here and although I have never done this before or grown them before I am eager to have a bash at doing this.  Perhaps a candidate to go into the greenhouse with the seeds I intend to get started with.  

I did get all the meat and the pasties into the freezer though.

Ideally I had wanted to invest a lot of money into seeds and plants this year, but my intuition has led me to err on the side of caution for the time being, although I think I may be buying in some Strawberries and maybe some Raspberry canes I will not be running free reined on this as I would like to. The garden is not that big, big enough to do a little bit though. There is also the factor of the caravan and being away to run alongside this.  My dream is one day to live in Cornwall and have the house, land and garden that I am constantly dreaming about. That would be ideal and solve a lot of logistical angst! Yes hands up I am an absolute dream boat, however one day it will happen!  I can see it and can feel it!  This for the best part though is in the hands of the universe.            

This week logistically as I am still not 100%, I am going to do a bit each day.  Not necessarily sorting stuff out but concentrating on those food items that need sorting out so that I do not have any waste.  I still have a load of dried fruit and a lot of other items that need using up.  More on that later though. I am intent on putting stuff up into the Pantry, under-stair cupboard and Fireside cupboard where I can.  This also includes making up useful Pantry Mixes for my own convenience as I go along.  All part and parcel of Pantry Management at the end of the day.                                            

Needless to say, I am going to have a busy evening as the freezer needs re-organising before I can get anything else in there.  Needs a bit of tweaking.                                                 

Headed for the Freezer today are:

8 Cornish Pasties

All three Tray Bakes i.e. steak, chicken and lamb.

2 Chickens

4 packs of Stewing Steak packaged into 2 packs per bag.

2 packs of Mince

1lb of Kitty B Sausages in 2 x 4 sausage small bags. I have kept four sausages out in the fridge for G's breakfasts.

1lb of Guinness Sausages in a couple of bags; four per bag.  Think these will be delish in a Toad in the Hole.  A new taste of sausage at the Butchery today.  There was a taster and they were scrummy.  I might just have to make a chutney that will go very nicely with these in the next few days.

4 tubs of sliced beef in gravy

Three bundles of Asparagus

A bag of Parsnips

A bag of Carrots

I have also bought in some pitta breads and some wraps to pop into the freezer to make more of leftover bits and bobs without having to nip to the shop.  Yes I am limited on space, but I can keep little bits in to help.  Thought it might be a good way of serving up some of the tray bake meals that we get from the Butcher as well.

Do you know, it does not  matter what freezer I have, I always have ideas of what to put in there or to make and freeze from scratch.  Freezers never keep up with me though.  I am just a person who is used to using Freezers! Here though, I do not have room to have any more at the present.  Therefore making sure that everything gets cycled through and used and then replenished.

Organisational Matters

I have a load of seed packets which original container collapsed.  I have had them in a carrier since then.  I have been umming and ahhing what to do with in respect of these seed packets as they are doing my head in and getting in the way at the moment.  I have had my eye on a couple of seed boxes on the Dunhelm website and so today for starters I have ordered them.  Hopefully they will be delivered by the end of the week.  Another little step achieved in getting things organised.  I may well add in a few more yet as I have a lot of seeds all viable.  I also may buy in a couple of the seed boxes from Sostrene Grene as well.  Might have to nip into town to the shop to see if they have any instore.  So getting all prepped up to get my seeds sorted out at long last.  The idea is to keep the seeds on a shelf in either the under-stair cupboard or the main Pantry itself so that I can get to them easily.

I keep telling myself that each little step makes a difference and makes me feel more positive that all my efforts are slowly clicking into place.

Today therefore has been very busy and by the looks of things a lot more food work is going to be carried out over the next few days or so.  I am sort of abandoning the house per se in order to get the Pantry, and food supplies back on course which is going to take a little time.  Then I will get back on track with the rest of the house after I have that all done and dusted.

Right am off to put my feet up.  I am slightly tired, but it has been a good day.

Gone bitterly cold again though.

Catch you soon.

Pattypan

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