SN2N: Day 21

The end of the third week. It's been interesting to reflect on how much NOT going shopping affects spending in other areas of life too! 

In the Kitchen....

I managed to do some preserving this week, and try out some new recipes, but didn't get as much done in the kitchen as I had hoped. 

I had a bunch of cucumbers I picked from the greenhouse, so I made a batch of our old favourite pickled cucumbers (a recipe also handy for excess zucchini), as well as batch of naturally fermented ones using a different recipe. The ones I made last week were just too salty and not as nice as I would have liked (apologies to anyone who made them and didn't like them - I should have waited to taste them before posting the recipe, as I normally would have!). This new recipe has been tested and tasted and is really nice! 

I'm having to remember to use smaller jars than in the past for most preserves, as we don't get through them like we used to!

A leg of venison that has been languishing in my freezer since my son got it probably 2 years ago was turned into a delicious slow-cooked balsamic shredded roast dish. I'm looking forward to trying it again using a mutton roast. Beef would be excellent too. The first day I served it on rice with broccoli. My husband had some leftovers for lunches. And then I finished off the rest tonight, reheated together with left over cabbage and cashews, served on cauli rice made with cauliflower from the garden. YUUUUM! 

Quite often dinner is just something simple, like a chicken thigh or some lamb chops roasted in the oven together with whatever veges are handy - potatoes, pumpkin, kumara, yacon, beetroot etc, and served with greens or a salad. You'd probably get sick of seeing the various permutations of that, so I am mostly just posting different meals that I make with recipes I want to post. Some nights I can't be bothered cooking at all, so we eat left overs, or soup from the freezer, or just a collection of chopped fresh veges with maybe some crackers and hummus or toast or whatever is handy that we feel like.

I also made some almond milk - next will be coconut milk. And a friend who was visiting gave us some of his wife's green tea kombucha. It was very, very yummy, and different than mine. So I got all the details, am brewing some up now. In a couple of weeks when I get to try it, I will post all the details if it works out right. 

In (and from) the Garden....

It's getting hard to keep on top of picking and using things as they're ready! Lots of growth at this time of year, and we finally have had some rain, which has really helped. 

My pumpkin and squash patch in the front yard has exploded! The plants have filled the space, and are now climbing trees, clambering over rose bushes, trying to run into the driveway, and escaping into the paddock. I will probable have to cut back some parts of it. I don't mind how rampant they are (except over the driveway) - just hoping for lots of squash when all is said and done. 

I picked up more fallen unripe apples, and set about cooking them up for more jelly and applesauce. I cooked up the yucky bits too, separately, to feed the chickens. 

Unfortunately, just as the pot full of good stuff was finished cooking, the glass lid just completely crazed. No chunks of glass fell in, but I could feel tiny flakes of glass on the inside when I ran my finger over it, so rather than risk the possibility of any glass in the apples, I will triple-strain through muslin and a very fine sieve the liquids off them and make into jelly after careful examination, but discard the apple pulp, sadly. Ah well. 

Picked the first cabbage, 3 small cauliflower heads, and first head of broccoli from under the mesh, 8 weeks after planting. Considering these plants normally take about 5 months to form heads, that's downright incredible! The cabbage weighs 2.5kg and will be made into sauerkraut. Homegrown cabbage is so full of moisture that its dead easy to make into kraut and requires very little effort to get the fluids flowing, unlike store-bought cabbage which is usually very dry by comparison. I've made some of the cauliflower into cauli rice, and will use the rest in a ferment. We ate the broccoli - YUM! This cauli looks a bit purple because I didn't notice it had hearted up, and it got a bit sunburned. But still tastes just as good.

I also picked more side-shoot broccoli from the greenhouse - these plants have been in since June and producing steadily for months. I'm contemplating ripping them out and putting a crop of dwarf beans in, as there is lots more broccoli under the nets coming on. 

I have a box full of rat-tailed radish seed pods I need to shell. Rat-tailed radishes are grown for the pod, rather than the root. The long pods are very hot tasting but delicious when young and tender, and can be added to stir fries and other dishes. I was given some imported seed some time ago, to grow for more seed to share.

My tallest sunflower, now over 3.5m tall (I can't reach to measure it now), is finally opening. The climbing beans planted on the trellis and up the sunflowers are starting to flower, so there will be fresh, sweet beans soon. I would really like to find some sunflowers that bear multiple heads and don't grow over about 2m, so I can easily support and net them and save the seed from the birds. It's fun to grow super tall ones, but not terribly practical.

The lemon bergamot, watermelons and zucchini have put on enormous growth since the recent rain. Watering with tap water just isn't the same! Nasty chemicals in town water aside, rain water has dissolved nitrogen from the atmosphere in it, and this causes lots of growth in plants. 

Two days ago, I was rejoicing that FINALLY baby zucchini were forming as the first female flowers were pollinated. Checked them today, and they're baby marrows! Will pick them tomorrow.

Spuds in buckets looking good. Meanwhile, a small bed of potatoes is dying off and will be ready to dig soon. In the buckets I have planted a wide variety of potatoes saved from last year's crops, mainly to perpetuate my seed stock of those varieties. They include Agria, Ilam Hardy, Urenika, Purple Heart, and a couple of others. 


I'm really pleased with my shallot harvest this year (below) I have never had them so big! These are bunching shallots - one plants a small shallot from last season, and it turns into a small bunch of 5-8 or so little ones (usually). In a year where garlic and onions were big failures, getting good shallots is extra nice! These ones were growing in my raised strawberry beds, which may have something to do with it. 

Week 3 Spending...

This week I bought some items specifically for preserving, as well as a bottle of milk for my husband, and some toilet rolls because they were on a really good special when I went in for the other things. The ginger, raisins, cardamon, dill tips, mustard seeds and chillis are all for preserving recipes. The yoghurt is to make into cream cheese and whey (the whey to be used in natural pickles). These cost $36.14

I also bought a 2 litre bottle of sunflower oil (to make vegan "butter" spread) for $6, and a pair of nail clippers $4.25 when ours broke. 

On Friday we had a date night, and I bought the first junk food/treat items of the past three weeks - a bottle of coke and a small bag of M&M's each. These came to the ridiculous total of $15 (I wasn't paying attention at the time). I wasn't going to count them in these figures, as they're not part of our normal grocery budget, but then I decided I would, after the fact, for the simple reason that they have to be paid for from somewhere, and usually such things would end up coming out of the housekeeping one way or another. Note to self: make a more conscious decision ahead of time in the future and don't get ripped off!

We were in town today much longer than expected, and I hadn't taken any water with us - it was very hot, so we bought 2x $1 bottles of water from the Warehouse.

So total spend for the week: $63.39

Kitty total brought forward: $69.91
This weeks allowance:     +$50.00
This week's spend:           -$63.39
Balance:                             $56.52

Observations....

One of the things I've really noticed about the last three weeks is how little I've spent in other areas as a result of not spending on groceries. Because I'm not popping in and out of the local grocery store during the week, nor going to the bigger stores in the other towns for my regular shopping, I've spent waaay less on petrol than I usually would. I also haven't spent money on the things other than groceries I normally go shopping for while I'm there. When I usually go shopping, it's once a fortnight or so, and I usually have a long list of errands to do, so it takes most of the day. Which means I usually end up buying lunch as well. So that's another savings.

When I DO go to the supermarket, I've now gotten into the habit of taking my reusuable bags with me. That 5c/bag credit New World is giving on reusable bags really helped me get around to finally making it a habit. Now I do what I meant to do all along - keep a selection of bags tucked inside another one right by the door, and some extras in the car. I've been using reusable bags for my main shopping for a long time (as I generally shop at Pak'n Save), but it's remembering them for those shorter or impromptu visits locally that has been more of an issue up until now. 

Side note - my supply of plastic grocery bags, which I reuse at home to package veges in the frige or to line bins is now running extremely low. Will have to get used to other ways of doing things! It's important though - those grocery bags are a major environmental hazard and do need to go. It's just hard to change our collective habits - though harder in our heads than in reality.

I have so many ideas and so little time - to do them, or to talk about them. I really want to write posts on menu planning, the $21 Challenge, the best books for savings ideas and motivation, and lots, lots more recipes, articles about growing various foods etc. I have a lot more pickling and preserving I need to do, and lots of jobs I need to get done in the garden. Ah well, each day is new, and one can only do what one can do. I'm not into messing with humanity, but if I were, a few clones of myself would be very tempting about now!

I've also noticed that a lot of those things that I've been posting about as handy hints and thrifty tips are things I do without thinking about it. I have to notice myself doing them, write myself a note right then, or I forget when it comes time to writing the post. Like now. I know I've noticed several share-worthy things this week, but right now I can't think of a single one! Next time! 

I hope you all have a wonderful, thrifty week!