Starting to Fill the Freezer and the Pantry

Unfortunately these days I cannot afford to fill the freezer in one fair swoop like I used to.  I am not alone in this, many households have been affected over the last few years. It is a sad state of affairs as I believe that every family should be able to eat properly.

I usually take the view that as long as all the bills are financed, and we have a roof over our heads and that there is some kind of food on the table then we are indeed rich. Some of those meals might not be the fancy meals that we would like, but they make good eating, fill bellies and make the pennies go that much further.  I will say however, that when it comes to meat I will not sacrifice quality.  I like good quality meat however I will not pay through the nose for it especially when pennies are tight.  What I save can often go towards something more for the Freezer or for something for the Pantry shelf. There are some items that we really like and that we pay out for - cherry picking.  These days though I do not buy from just one supplier.  There are several Butchers locally and each Butcher has different things to offer. 

My method is simple.  I do prioritise food, often baking items myself, and sourcing offers where I can, going to the Veg Farm shop and essentially buying in veggies for a fortnight and storing them in the fridge.  Using up veggies that are more fragile/volatile first. If there are any fresh veggies that I will not use  up then I will prepare and freeze the veg for use later on - more often than not towards the end of the month when pennies can get sticky.  One day we will be past this with concerted efforts going on in the background.  I do not think it is a bad routine to get into though as really it is preparing for all eventualities.  That is why I like my freezer predominantly stocked with meat in an effort to have regular good meals and not all of them meat based.

The next project for me with the veggies is that I love vegetables and I love a good soup. In the coming months I am going to be heat processing a lot of items such as soups and pie fillings as well as all the fruit that I like to process.  Fresh vegetables and left over veggies will also find their way into these home produced products.  I intend to have a concerted effort with onions over the next month or so.  Preparing them for French Onion soup, Onion Chutney, Onion and Garlic Jelly, Onion Marmalade etc.

I have also stored a lot of fruit in the last year in the freezer and it is coming to the point where I will make a stack of preserves and get them onto the Pantry shelf.  The Cupboard under the stairs hit a few set backs in execution mostly to me not having the energy to complete it.  Hopefully that will get completed in the next month - it is about half way there.  Then I can get all the preserves back on the shelves] and get all the fruit turned into preserves.  Then it will be time to start again.

Talking of which Marmalade season is upon us and I have Marmalade to make as well as some Seville Orange curd.

Realising that I cannot do what I used to do, I am taking a different tack this year in an effort to get the freezer all stocked up again for good eating during the week G has really helped out this week.  He went off to the Butcher yesterday and came back with four pieces of Rib Eye steak for £20 and a pack of 20 Loin Pork Steaks for £20. There was an offer on, which is why it is always important to make friends with your Butcher.  There are now 10 packs of two Pork Loin Steaks in the freezer.  They will be used as a "Roast" meal during the week, put towards making a Pork Pie or two, used as a supper for G with a tin of Beans. This particular Butcher is what I call a good all round moderate Butcher with lots of useful bits for families to eat.  I will be going to this Butcher at the end of next week to top up a little more.  

The steak was like Butter after I had cooked it and is one of the nicest bits of steak that I have had in a long time.  I am hopeful that they will have some next week.  I shall get some items for turning into other items gearing more towards the Charcuterie side of things which I have talked about experimenting with previously. Mostly cheaper cuts.  I can get Pigs Liver for about £2 a pack - I think the weight is about 1kg.  I am also after some Beef Skirt,  I therefore intend to do a little meat shopping every month moving forward.  I also would like to get hold of a Gammon joint or some Pork Hocks as well.  Will see what they have though.  This is usually where I get my minted Lamb steaks from.  They also have good offers on joints of meat and I will therefore have a look at what they have here as well.

Today though, G came back with 2kg of some sausages that we like for the flavour.  Not all sausages "cut the mustard" for us, and although these are a little pricier they do what we want them to do.  These cost £12 a kilo.  They have all been prepped, bagged up and labelled and I have 8 packs x 4 of sausages now in the freezer.  For us a four pack works well.  It gives me the option of using the sausage in a tray bake, a Toad in the Hole, or one pack of four will go towards four breakfasts for G.  There were also two sausages left over from the 2kg bought today which have gone for "G's" breakfast for the next couple of days.

I am planning on more additions to the Freezer and also making items for the Pantry shelf in the next week/month.

Last night we had a piece of the steak each and served it with salad, coleslaw, tomatoes and fried onion.  There is always a piece of bread and butter as well, a habit which is carried on to this day from my childhood as both my Nan and my Mum used to do this to pad things out a bit more.

Tonight we have a small quiche each which is also being served with the remainder of the salad from last night.  Nothing much but enough to fill an empty belly.  A bit of salad every now and then never hurt.  I do not buy salad in every week though.

At the moment I tend to buy a carton of mixed salad as this has crunchier leaves in which G prefers.  I have a little bit of this, but I prefer the greener mixed salad leaves which I also buy a bag of usually accompanied with some coleslaw and tomatoes and that is what constitutes a salad here and I always add fried onions in if I can.  I have found this the cheapest way to have salad at the moment.  However this year I also intend to plant lots of different varieties of lettuce up for fresh eating.

As I also keep potatoes in, if we fancy a potato salad this is easily done.  Other salads such as egg salad, pickled veggies such as beetroot, red cabbage pickled onions or shallots etc are also to hand which helps pad out the meal that bit more.  Occasionally I buy in some Oyster mushrooms, gently fry them in butter and then use them as a hot dressing over the salad leaves.  That is really delicious.  They are a treat though.

It has been a miserable wet, dull grey day here today.  It has not stopped raining all day and is not due to stop until about 10:00pm tonight.  I hope tomorrow is a  little better.

Right upwards and onwards.

Keep warm, keep safe and have a lovely evening.

Catch you soon.

Pattypan

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