Day 6

 

Picked this morning, first sugar snap peas and rasps from my garden :-)  Not much but it's a start and proves that I can grow stuff here.

 

These are the rasp freebies I got from my mum.  She has loads of raspberries in her garden and started potting up some shoots for me before I moved house. I've planted them against the fence in between the tree stumps so fingers crossed they thrive.  I've definitely lost a few to the birds as evidenced by the stalks still on the canes but once they're established I'll put some netting up.  Until then nature can have her share.

I planted my leek seedlings (bought not grown this year) in my winter raised bed beside the onions and they seem to be ok so far. My tomatoes are growing nicely.

 

But something is eating my purple sprouting broccoli.  Grrr!!

 



 

I picked up a 4.5kg bag of basmati rice in Lidl yesterday.  Use by date is 2016 so should last me a while.  I do use brown rice a lot but fluffy white basmati rice is best for biryanis and other curry dishes.

 

I am trying to keep my food costs down and now I'm on holiday I can spend time looking through my cupboards and freezers to use up stuff.  I've been making pizza bases to freeze as my bread flour and yeast is slightly out of date.  The Teenager isn't on a gluten free regime so he can use up all my 'old' flours etc.  My last visit to Sainsbury's showed that after 6 months I've accumulated £53.69 in points. Imagine what that total will be by Christmas :-) I do most of my food shopping there as well as buying the odd household and school item so it's built up quicker this year.  I've got my nectar account linked to Argos and Homebase (and a few other companies) so I tend buy any DIY supplies from there too. I'm hoping it reaches £100 by the end of the year.

 

Tonight the Teenager and I are going for a skiing lesson (his birthday present from OH)  I'm testing my 99p ski jacket and £4.99 salopettes.  I'll report back on their performance :-)