Beds and pears

 

Now that I've decided to give up the allotment, I've been gradually bringing things home.  I brought 3 more raised beds and put 2 in the front garden.  My Lovely Mum visited yesterday and despite the light rain, we tidied up the front, put 2 of the beds in the opposite corner and filled one (corner top left) with compost.  

I planted it up with snowdrop bulbs (rescued from a relative's garden) plus the 39p pansies and violas.  It wasn't my best effort but at least the plants are in.  It's not the best time to either buy compost/top soil or even get it free from my recycling centre so I suspect not much more will be done until Spring.  At least it looks like it's been cared for now!!

2 weeks after picking these pears off my mum's tree they were still hard!  So I poached them in pear cider with a little sugar and sliced lemons.

The kitchen smelled delicious!! 😋

I got 6 generous portions.  4 for the freezer, 1 for me and 1 for my son and DIL to eat.  I've now got quite a variety of fruit in the freezer for the upcoming Winter months.

When I reviewed my September spending (it's on YouTube HERE) I came in at £70 under budget!  I was really pleased with that.  I'll use some of that £70 to add some storecupboard items to my shopping this week and the rest I'll put into my savings/emergency funds.

My wee channel is growing fast, I now have over 6K subscribers and lots of folk are watching the ads.  The predicted revenue is very healthy so I'll definitely be able to make a lovely donation to a wee local charity before Christmas 😍

Foodie Friday!

 

I got another decent Lidl box this week and was also early enough to get 2 chicken breasts for 90p!  I'm getting more useable coupons on the app now so had a 25% off for unsalted butter.  It's already a good price at £1.69 for British made butter so I was happy with the discount.  I had 3 free bakery items to claim as well but didn't realise the croissant one hadn't activated.  The wee focaccia with cheese and tomatoes and the pretzel are now in the freezer to test how well they freeze!

I made kiwi compote with the perfectly ripe kiwis 🥝 I'm not making jam this year (jars and equipment are somewhere still packed in a box) but compote freezes well and I've plenty of freezer space now.  Plus compotes use less sugar than jam!!

I also made apricot compote.  It was more fiddly as I had to skin them first.  So I now have 6 pots of compote, each one probably has about 2 to 3 servings depending on how greedy I am!

I also made strawberry top syrup!  I saw this on Pinterest and have been saving the tops all Summer in the freezer.  It's so easy.  Put in a pan with water, bring to the boil, add sugar and simmer until syrupy! Strain and bottle.

It's not going to last long in the fridge as I didn't sterilise anything  for long term storage so it's now frozen in wee tubs in the freezer!  It's absolutely delicious considering it's made from the bit you'd normally compost! 🍓

I did put all this in a video for Foodie Friday on YouTube but despite 3 attempts to upload it won't let me.  All I get is a corrupted file message 🙄 I haven't done anything different so suspect it's a ploy to get me to upgrade to the paid version of Clip Champ.  We'll see if it uploads the next one.

I'm realising now how much of a commitment having a 'popular' channel needs. Even when I'm not on the laptop I'm getting notifications/comments on my phone all day and all night.  I haven't figured out how to stop them yet!  I'd say about 90% of the comments are lovely/respectful/genuine.  The rest are people who clearly don't watch the whole thing and jump right in with questions (I'm STILL getting the how old are you/why are you not getting your State pension!!!) Some are saying I shouldn't have a dog if I'm poor (eh, where did I say I was poor??)  I've deleted a few personal ones that commented on my lack of make up (WTF?) and hair.  And banned one guy who was demanding a lot of personal details about my kids, grandchildren(???) and went on a rant about single women, the declining population and immigrants.

Someone said YouTube is like the Wild West!  Yup!!! 🤠

Filling up the freezers

I made my final car payment this week!  My wee 4yo car is now all mine 🚗 So that frees up a nice wee amount each month which I will be adding to my savings from next month.  But to celebrate I bought another freezer!!  Same silver colour as my fridge freezer and it fits nicely into the corner on the other side of the table.  It's not plugged in yet in this photo, it's just been dumped for the gases to settle!   I chose this Indesit one as it's able to keep food frozen for 12 hours if the power goes out.  

I popped into Lidl on Monday and got lucky again.  I knew I'd be able to use up everything and put it in my new freezer 😊  From the above,  I chopped and froze the melon (it was perfect!!) and peaches (had to skin them first.)  I made a sort of tomato relish by chopping up the really ripe tomatoes and cooking them with some sugar and vinegar.  Delicious!!  I've used some of the peppers in a sweet and sour sauce today.  I squeezed the oranges and froze the juice in ice cubes.  And Luna has been eating the cucumber with me as a snack! 🥒

Then last night my DIL gifted me some of her 10p fruit bargains from her Sainsbury's Local.  The plums and apricots have been poached and put in the freezer.  The kale was just sorted into a freezer bag and half of  the pineapple was used in the sweet and sour sauce.  Guess where the other half is??  Yep, the freezer!! 😂

I made a short video of the sweet and sour sauce as I just can't edit in a lot of clips and photos to a longer video within a reasonable time.  I've got other stuff to do!  It took 3 hours to upload a 15 min chat for editing.  So I think creating shorts of me cooking works better then I can just do a one take chat to camera for the other stuff with a wee bit of editing.  Thanks to Mean Queen for that idea!  What do you think?  Opinions welcome!

Trip to IKEA and YouTube commenters!

 

I had a lovely day with my DIL, my eldest son's wife visiting IKEA in Glasgow.  I had a list and I stuck to it!!  I knew exactly what I wanted to see and what I wanted to buy.  I got a table and chairs for my kitchen.  It's Pinntorp, a gateleg folding table.  It fitted the space I had perfectly!

My DIL helped me build it.  We're both pretty handy with DIY so table and chairs were built in a couple of lazy hours.  It extends easily to seat at least 4 maybe more at a pinch.  I don't do big family dinners any more so I don't need a big table.

Ignore the 'mess' on the left hand side as I quickly moved stuff to set the table up.  But I'm thrilled with it especially as it leaves me room to fit in a second freezer!! 🎉 I make my last car payment this month so there will be some extra cash in the budget next month!!  I really miss having a big freezer so 2 wee ones will have to do.  More space to store bargains 😊

Thanks for all your lovely comments on my YouTube adventures.  As of tonight I now have 871 subscribers!  And the £1.76 video has had an astonishing 11K views!!! On the whole the commenters have been really supportive but I actually laughed and even put a 😂 in my reply to the woman who said she hoped my food was rotten.  Someone else commented on my £400 mixer (I'm assuming she thought I had a brand new Kitchen Aid and not a knackered 18 yo Kenwood!!)  And someone thought if I can afford to shop in M&S I shouldn't be using the food waste shop.  It's as if they didn't even watch the video!!! 😂😂😂 

Rhubarb and custard

 

I had some rhubarb in the freezer from the allotment.  I had picked some on one of the few visits I made this year.  I couldn't decide if I wanted to make jam or chutney so chucked it in the freezer.  Today I thought some stewed rhubarb and custard would be nice.

I knew I had an unopened tin of Birds custard powder lurking in the storecupboard but didn't realise it was a little out of date!!  No worries, I'll be using it any way.  So I made some custard and it's currently cooling.  I'll make a sort of rhubarb/custard fool dessert 😋 Just out of interest I googled 'uses for custard powder' and found these ideas HERE.  I'm definitely going to try the biscuits/cookies!

As I'm a bit limited in what I can safely do with Luna around, I decided to move my bedroom furniture around to create more space.  I moved my bed to the wall that backs on to the semi next door.  

As I was lying in bed the falling off wallpaper was really annoying me.  So I started pulling it off.  It came off in strips and I had stripped the room in 5 minutes!!

I had my bed against this wall facing the window from day 1 but it made the room feel smaller.

The walls under the blue wallpaper had previously been painted cream.  I remembered that I had 3 rolls of Laura Ashley wallpaper with a pink and cream design.  I've had it at least 14 years!!!  I'm going to use it behind the bed as the feature wall and paint the rest cream.  Zero cost as I already have a ton of magnolia paint leftover from decorating the flat.  I'll swap the purple headboard for the leather one I had in my previous bedroom and use the matching chests of drawers.  The cream chests of drawers will get donated and I'll have more space to move around the room!

Reality sets in

 

The first few weeks in a new house are always scary and exciting in equal measure as you get to know it's quirks.  Unfortunately most of this house's quirks need money thrown at them 🙄  And the reality of not having much savings in reserve to deal with them is beginning to sink in.  The integrated fridge freezer was beginning to be very erratic temperature wise and was making loud banging noises 😲 So I made the decision to buy a free standing one that will be more energy efficient and will hopefully last a good few years.  But it wasn't in my plan to spend £300 on an appliance so quickly.

My shed is in place!  It took them 45 mins from start to finish!!  The guy said all the hard work is in the construction in their workshop but I was still impressed.

I've started moving all the DIY and garden stuff in already.  Not shown is the new lawnmower I had to buy as the grass was almost knee high in places!!  I've not needed one for over 20 years!  It lives on the right hand side.  I've bought some shelving for the left hand side to store more stuff.  £121 for the lawnmower, £890 for the shed and £35 for shelving.  It's all adding up 😭

My DIL shared a good £1.50 Lidl veg box with me!  She's really enjoying scoring all the bargains 😂

I got the tomatoes, green peppers, a cucumber, the lemon and the carrot.  She also scored a dozen reduced eggs so I got 6 of those too.

I prepped the peppers and carrot with some red onions and sliced the lemon.  It's all in the new freezer now!  I made a chunky tomato sauce with the tomatoes, some onions and seasoning.  When it's cool I'll freeze it too.  I'm going to have to get used to having much less freezer space 🥶 I think more shelf stable storecupboard supplies are going to be the way forward for me.

Different kind of leeks!

 

I went to the allotment today for the first time this year.  It was a mud fest!!  I was going to plant some potatoes but my plot neighbour John said it was too wet and he wasn't planting his spuds yet!  John is an old school allotmenteer (he calls me dear mainly because I think he can never remember my name!!) and if he says don't plant them yet then I'm not planting them!!  Maybe give it another week if this rain ever stops!! 🌧

Despite the mud, the plot isn't in too bad shape.  My leeks had survived the burst river bank episodes so I harvested them all.  They're now cleaned, chopped up and in 3 big freezer bags!!  We all love leeks and often use them instead of onions 🧅

Despite filling the freezer up with leeks, I am trying to eat down the contents in general by using up what's lurking in the bottom.  I found a ton of unwaxed lemons and limes (slices, quarters and ice cubes of juice/zest) so I simmered them in a big pan of water with some dried rose hips I found in the back of the cupboard.  Then I strained them and added icing sugar (it was all I had!) to taste and simmered it until it was a bit syrupy.  It filled a one litre bottle.  Lemon, lime and rose hip cordial.  It's really lovely hot or cold 😋  I'll definitely be making it again.  I could have added citric acid powder to extend the shelf life but I'm just keeping it in the fridge.

A bit of meal prepping

 

I popped into Tesco yesterday on my travels and got some meat bargains in my top up shop.  The chicken breasts (5 of them) were seasoned with garlic and herbs and baked in the oven.  The beef olives were fried off in a pan and baked with a little chicken stock.  I also chucked in some potatoes to bake to fill up the oven!  I cooked off the lamb mince with some carrots and onions.  Everything was portioned up and chucked in the freezer.  Another few weeks of meal prepped ingredients sorted!

I also did a batch of scones using some buttermilk and butter from the freezer.  I'm getting better at them although they still wouldn't win any prizes on Bake Off!  They do taste fab 😋

I also made some Turnberry soup, which is really a cream of vegetable soup.  Recipe and story behind it HERE on one of my old blogs.  I added some extra cream 😋

Today has been a day of painting and cleaning.  The for sale sign is now in my front garden with a 'coming soon' sticker on it.  I feel a wee bit sad.

Butter

 

This is how I make butter.  I've got it down to a fine art and can make a batch within 10 mins.  It's probably not the 'correct' way so if the butter police are reading, I've not poisoned anyone yet!!  I use  my old mixer to whip the cream.  I've had it for about 17 years.  I really wanted a Kitchen Aid one back in the day but couldn't justify the cost so got this Kenwood Patissiere instead.  It's a great work horse in the kitchen!

It takes about 9 mins of high speed whisking to get to this stage where the butter and buttermilk separate.  I do use the splashguard but even then if you're not quick enough to switch it off, it splashes all over the place!

I strain the butter and buttermilk through some muslin over a sieve.  Then I gather the corners and squeeze all the buttermilk out.  You're supposed to now rinse the butter in cold water to get rid of the last traces of buttermilk so the butter doesn't spoil and keeps longer.  I never do this! 😱😂  I just pat it dry and shape it into a block.  I never salt it, preferring to leave it plain.  Sometimes I freeze some of it if I know I'll not use much in the coming week.

My mixer copes with a 600ml carton so I did 3 separate batches yesterday.  1.8 litres of cream (3 x 600ml) made just under 900g of butter.  I portioned the butter into 100g blocks and the buttermilk into 175ml portions as that's how much my scone recipe needs.

I froze 8 of the blocks of butter along with the tubs of buttermilk and the tubs of minced beef mixture.  I also had some chicken stock to freeze as I'd poached some chicken breast in the Crockpot.  I keep saying I need to run down my freezer to clean it out but I can't help filling it up when I get a bargain or two, or free!! 😊

Free food haul

 

I got my M&S vouchers this week for the last quarter.  I get vouchers for using their credit card which I use to buy everything from food to petrol and pay it off each month.  It was a surprising £11!  I guess Christmas presents and a few vet bills added to my spending total.  So it was very welcome.  I went to M&S this morning with an open mind and was thrilled to find reduced double cream (600ml size) and minced beef (750g.)  I also got some brown sugar (500g) as I have none left and treated myself to a bag of sweets.  Total cost of above was exactly £12.  BUT I had counted it up as £11.17.  I just assumed I'd miscounted until I got home and checked my receipt.  I can hear Sarah shouting at me through the screen!!!  One of the pots of cream had scanned at full price as the yellow sticker doesn't quite cover the original barcode.  So I was overcharged by 83p.  When will I learn??  But hey, all of the above only cost me £1.

On the way back to the car I popped into the community food place and got some chicory, 4 tangerines, a lemon, 2 peaches, a doughnut and a haggis.  My DIL took a tangerine and a peach.  Everything was free.  The lady was very apologetic saying they didn't have very much today but I got a treat, some fresh fruit and a haggis that will make a few meals.  It's currently defrosting in the fridge.

It was a very chocolatey doughnut!!

I've cooked the minced beef with my usual onion/carrots/red lentils mixture to stretch it.  I reckon I can get at least 8 generous portions to pop in the freezer.  I've left it unflavoured so I can use it in various different meals.  I'll make a ton of butter from the cream later and freeze it too.

The weather is still cold and damp here.  Luckily no ice or snow yet which is unusual given other parts of the country do have some.  But I'm still inclined to stay indoors and be a hermit any way! 😊

On being a hermit

I've found myself in a weekly routine of making butter and starting a sourdough loaf one day.  Then baking the bread and a batch of scones (using up the buttermilk) the next day.  Each keeps me going until the following week.  The bread is sliced and added to the freezer with the freshly made scones.  Sometimes I freeze some of the butter too.

And that's about as exciting as my life gets at the moment (plus sock knitting in front of the woodburner!)  But you know what?  I rather like it that way.  The weather here is continually wet and cold so doing inside tasks is as much as my mojo wants to do!  The dogs still get walked daily but I'm happy to be a hermit the rest of the time.  

A few of my dear friends are feeling exactly the same way!

Although in a fit of 'I must get started on getting the house ready to sell' I replied to a local bike charity's appeal for an IKEA Kallex unit.  I'm donating the above unit that holds all my craft supplies.  A whole load of junk and DIY stuff has just been dumped on it too.  I won't have room for it in a smaller house so it seemed a good chance to get rid of it now.  I'll have a bit more space to work in and finally get that room wallpapered!!  It gets collected on Monday so I need to get some sorting out done asap!

The housing market is starting to pick up so I'm keeping an eye on what's available.  My ideal would be a 2 bed cottage with a decent sized garden in the middle of nowhere but that would just encourage me to become a permanent hermit!!  I don't think I'm anti social but I do crave the peace and quiet I never seem to get just now. 

Beef!

Well, despite costing me a small fortune the beef was actually delicious! 😋 My son and I each had 2 large slices in gravy with roast potatoes and veg for dinner last night.  I then let the joint rest for an hour and sliced it up.  I'm rubbish at carving joints (mainly cos I do it so rarely!) so each slice was a generous 'chunky' one 😂  I layered them in a dish and covered it all in the gravy.

I portioned it up this morning for freezing.  The tubs have a large and a smaller slice (these are for my son) and I wrapped single large slices in individual freezer bags with a few spoonfuls of gravy,  In total the joint gave enough beef for 5 tubs, 7 freezer bags plus the 2 dinners last night.  So 14 meals in total makes it £1.53 a serving, still way more than I like to spend on meat.  I could have been meaner in my portion sizes and got more servings.  But I decided some of these would be 'treat' meals for my son so I didn't skimp.

I remember years ago in the 70s when I was a child, my parents had a meat slicer (similar to the above) that carved meat into really thin slices.  As I was 'carving' my chunky slices last night I was thinking 'I bet my mum and dad could have got triple the amount of slices I've got!'  😂

Free food

 

Luna was at doggy day care today for the first time in a month.  This meant I had the chance to pop into town to do some errands and collect my new glasses (paid for in November so not in my 2024 budget!)  I popped into my local community food shop and got all the above food for free.  

I've talked before about how this particular project is free to anyone (not means tested) and their aim is to reduce food waste.  None of the above food could be donated to a food bank as it's all past their dates.  You can't tell from the photo but all the M&S produce is actually frozen.  They have big freezers now and freeze as much of the fresh ready meals etc as they can.  Full price on the above should have been £31.45 but once it's past the date it can't even be sold with a yellow sticker.  If the community food shop doesn't take it, it goes in the bin 😲

It's just pot luck what's available.  Today there was hardly any fresh veg and I got the last bag of lemons.  I'm not a fan of turnip/swede/rutabaga as a side veg but it's good to bulk out a stew or soup.  Everything got chopped up and frozen asap!  

There's always loads of bread at the shop (today it was all M&S bread) but I'm now in the habit of regularly making my own sourdough bread.  I also made more butter this week so had buttermilk to make scones.  Not my best looking effort but they're delicious.  Also portioned up and in the freezer!

I know I'm very lucky to live somewhere that is so proactive in stopping food waste.  There are many other fab projects within Stirling that take food waste from the supermarkets, restaurants and local shops and make 'ready meals' to give away free.  They even deliver!   As far as I know you do have to be referred by social work or a school so by using the community shop I'm not taking away anything from those in need.  There are also many drop in cafes and warm spaces where folk can always get a hot meal, no questions asked.

Once I've moved house and get everything settled I'm planning on volunteering with them 😊