Thursday again!! and shopping day, where do the weeks go? My frugal pursey is getting a bit carried away with the heat at the moment and she is spending far too much, naughty naughty!! and our stocks of food are ever increasing. Nothing is getting wasted but not much seems to be getting used either. So for next month it will be Austerity August and I will NOT do unnecessary shopping, just the very basics and try and use some of the stocks.
I have a huge tub of Roasted veg Cous Cous in the cupboard and in the fridge were a few mushrooms going wrinkly so I quickly put together this little lunch with a drizzle of Honey & Mustard salad dressing it was very tasty indeed. The mushrooms were just broken into pieces and microwaved a couple of minutes, the liquid was poured off and then they were popped into the frying pan with a tiny bit of oil and "fried off" I find doing them this way stops them absorbing too much fat and being greasy.
I love a nice chilled fruit salad on a hot day.
Tea for tonight will be Pork Steaks and the last few wrinkly mushrooms, new potatoes and salad.
The last of the homegrown strawberries with a blob of greek yogurt for dessert.
Then when its cooled down a bit I have to hoover the caravan and pack up for the weekend, again it will be free camping and a free "do" at the flying club. I think the weather forecast for the weekend is much the same HOT HOT HOT!!
Have you been using up this week? Will you be having Austerity August in your house or do you manage to keep your food stocks at a low level. How are you coping with cooking in the heat?
Have a wonderful weekend and take care
I will only be buying fresh and dairy for a few weeks, once I have stocked up on bread flour and yeast. I did slip off the wagon today but everything that I snapped up will be used.
ReplyDeleteI am loving this heat, even when the sweat is trickling down my back at work, I do not sit or lie in the sun but love the heat.
WOW Pam what super bargains you managed, well done. I never seem to drop on many these days. I am getting ready for a thunderstorm so the plants get watered and it cools down enough to get some jobs done! Not next saturday though, we have grandaughters pool party at our house, 8 x 10year olds running riot lol
DeleteThe fruit salad looks delicious. We're eating a lot of salad, new potatoes and ' something else' at the moment, which is great as the potatoes and salad are homegrown so we're eating very cheaply indeed!
ReplyDeleteOur garden produce is hardly anything this year :-( we changed the veg plot into raised beds and hubby hurt his back in the process and everything just got too behind. We have tomatoes peppers cucumbers french beans runner beans courgettes squash and lettuce as well as a few herbs, whether they survive while we are away we will have to see, daughter in law will be watering. Next year we will be back to normal.
DeleteYummy x
ReplyDeleteThank you Sarah, it was yummy! xx
DeleteThat all looks great! We've been using the crockpot since the heat index has been over 100F here for two days. Adding to the heat I've been canning/jarring tomatoes most of the week and I've not felt like cooking complicated meals by evening time...and we've relied on leftovers for lunch.
ReplyDeleteWell done Shara, you will be so please you braved the heat to do the canning and jarring over the winter months when you can just grab something homemade from the stores. Left overs for lunch are often better than the original meal :-)
DeleteLooks lovely. Despite my best plans I am spending more than expected in July, but do have stocks (something I am not really allowed in the motorhome) and have use of one of the campsite freezers. We are so busy now it is sometimes difficult to get time to cook and eat regularly and I am desperate to avoid the trap of take aways and convenience food (although we really do not like convenience after so much home cooked). I would really be interested to know what type of food you cook when you go away in the caravan. For our busy time from now until after the August Bank Holiday our food will need to be very simple and hopefully quick.
ReplyDeleteHi Alison, when we are in the caravan we eat as simple as possible, both of us aren't fussy about what it is as long as its filling. We have lots of salads with pasta and a stir in sauce (Lidl 86p) a bought quiche cooked meats or BBQ. We have boil in the bag rice (no blocking up the pipes) chicken curry from a jar of sauce. I make and freeze those small takeaway type tubs full of bolognaise, chilli or mince&onion. I love my pressure cooker too for things like Corned beef/ chicken stew we both like Basics "Smash", cous cous is easy just add boiling water. Wraps with chilli and a splodge of greek yogurt go down well too. Whatever is easy even if it is a bit of supermarket convenience stuff or even a cooked chicken at the end of the day it won't break the bank. We don't have electric hook ups so I have to rely on gas, I try to plan what we are going to eat for the first 5 days and take it in the little freezer, its much easier when there is only 2 of us!
DeleteHi Karen, Thanks for the great reply. When we used to go away for weekends and the odd week in the motorhome I used to prepare meals in advance. Not just to go away, but it was easier for me to cook for 4 and freeze half for another day, but now we have a small ice box only. I do not want to rely on using part of the campsite freezer as we will not have it when we are on the move again. After a recent bought of tonsilitis I realised that I really SHOULD have at least one or two shop bought convenience sauces/foods so that either of us can cook if we have to! I did make a (small) batch of pasta sauces using Sue's idea of 'pop' jars, and they worked really well, but of course, I cannot make lots as I only really have one shelf for sauces, jars and tins. I try not to use the oven too much as it is full sized one and takes quite a lot of gas to heat up, so much of what would be cooked in the oven gets cooked in our tiny slow cooker; also if we are working a late shift the food can be prepared in the morning and almost ready to eat when we finish. Trouble is when it is so hot we do not really want to eat casserole type meals. Will try some of your suggestions though. Thanks again, and happy caravanning - not long now until Wells!
DeleteAusterity August has a ring to it!
ReplyDeleteFeeling a wee bit too hot to do much cooking, so we are mostly on salads this week - which has to be good for me, don't you think? My cupboards ad freezers are pretty much ok since I began the Big Clear Out and more frugal buying, but there is always room for improvement! Lx
ReplyDeleteI like the sound of Austerity AUgust. Our pantry stores are down at the moment but I'm sure sticking to the necessities will be a good thing.
ReplyDeleteI think Austerity August is a brilliant idea! I'm trying to use up what I have before I go out and buy even more. Looking forward to following this month's posts.
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