A Bit of a Potter was had today

I decided in my infinite wisdom to go into town on one of the hottest days we have had so far here in the East of England. I was going to walk, but G put his foot down and took me in the car.  I do not mind the exercise by walking into town as long as I come home by car or Taxi as I can no longer carry shopping as I used to be able to because of my back.

I went into town for some plants.  I have been seeing videos of potting plants and other plants being cheap at Asda this week and so I went in to potentially get some.  Mostly fruit bushes and bedding plants  I was bitterly disappointed as they only had two racks of plants available and there was nothing on them that took my fancy.  So it is back to the seeds for the time being.  I am however hoping to go to Home Bargains shortly so will see if I can find anything there.

I had not been in Asda for quite some time as it is the other end of the town to where I usually go.  However I took the opportunity to have a look around whilst I was down this end of town. Some of their prices are a lot cheaper but they do have a good variety of items available on the shelves. They usually have a good bakery ingredient section and I ended up buying some bottles of essences for flavouring baked goods and icing etc. They had six varieties all for about £1.77 a small bottle however something I did not have on the Pantry shelf.  I have therefore come home with these and I have started off my baking ingredients pile earlier to what I usually do for the simple reason I am going to be baking more, but in any event if I leave things until the last moment I end up without those ingredients that I am after.  I thought a little each month on the baking supplies front will do no harm at all.  I am particularly keen to get stocked up on Chestnut Puree, Icing Sugar and some dark Cocoa powder and one or two other items as well as liquid glucose, Gelatine (Leaf variety) and things like Baking Powder, Cream of Tartar and Bicarbonate of Soda.

A couple of things I have noticed of late is that there does not seem to be a lot of Tomato products on the shelves or indeed Sardines in a lot of shops. They seem limited as to what they used to hold, bit maybe that is a thing across the board since Covid. I will be going back to Asda to add some of those items to the Pantry shelves though as the prices were good on both of them even though they were their own brand.  I am not buying chopped Tomatoes at all.  I am buying whole Plum tomatoes and then chopping them down myself as I think the Plum tomatoes have a bit more substance and flavour to them.  Once upon a time you could not buy them chopped. How times change.  I have also bought to trial two jars of their own Passata, these are flavoured with Basil and Garlic for £1.25 a bottle (smaller than standard but still enough for two).  So will see how we get on with this.  If we like it I will add a few bottles to the Pantry shelf next month.

I am still generally adding items to my stash for the Pantry shelf.  I have been electing to add a few items on a monthly basis working with what I have and what is needed for the shelf.  Each person's Pantry is personal to them and their family. I only buy what we will use.  However if you do have a good core stock of items available to you it does give you a larger degree of flexibility.  As I have said I do not go into supermarkets these days and fill a trolley up like I used to do monthly for the best part well before Covid.  However G has become unemployed over the years a few times through no fault of his own and it was only due to me keeping a well stocked Pantry that we got through a lot of the time.

Keeping a good Freezer and Pantry stock is essential for my peace of mind.  If we have food available to eat that is meals sorted and one less thing to think about when bills are bouncing around all over the place.  The meals are kept simple because of this.  Keeping it simple also gives a good balanced diet and less stress in the kitchen for those who are not keen on cooking.  I also have more control over the ingredients I do have as where possible I try and buy items that do not have any "nasties" in them.  That is important.  Even though I get it wrong sometimes.  I do believe overall that the supermarkets offer too much choice, which is why I tend to "cherry pick" the items we do have and use.

Talking of "Cherries".  To get to my Asda store I have to go through a small shopping /Centre known as the Riverside shopping Centre.  I had not been there in a long time either as the last time I went a few years back, there were a lot of empty shops.  I was therefore pleasantly surprised to see most units taken and quite a lively community is now present in the Centre.  There was a new to me veg and fruit shop and the produce looked excellent.  I saw some Cherries and thought ooh I will get G some new season's cherries until I saw the price.  I nearly died £11.99 a kilo.  Gulp guess we will not be having cherries this year at that price.  I think I will be trying to get hold of some Cherry trees at some point moving forward.  I thought it was bad when they went up to £5 a kilo pre-Covid.

Tonight for tea we are having like a Cheeseboard supper and if G so chooses there will be some Charcuterie meats available as well.  I do tend to keep some of these to hand as we use them on homemade Pizza etc.  Might have to make Pizza next week as the weather looks as if it is going to be hot.

We still have some of the wheel of cheese left, a small piece of Brie, a small piece of Stilton and some smoked Cheese.  There is celery, apple and some grapes to have as well and a fresh Sourdough loaf which I bought from Asda as well as Pickled onions and homemade Chutney.

One thing I do like is Peanut Butter. It is very good for  you. From time to time I do make it myself and it is very tasty.  It is good an honest and keeps in the fridge.  However just recently I bought a jar of Pip and Nut Crunchy Peanut Butter.  It is lovely and if I can find it on offer I buy it.  I love it with fresh Sourdough bread.

Right I am off to get some tea.

Keep safe, keep hydrated and with the son being vicious keep in the shade for the best part.  I know we all need to top up with Vitamin D as none of us really gets enough in this country.  But comfort and safety is paramount.

Catch you soon.

Pattypan

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