Tomatoes galore

For the last two years, I've really wanted to grow the tomato 'Hundreds and Thousands'. They're relatively expensive at about £3.80 for eight seeds but each year they were always out of stock :-(.

Yesterday I placed my main orders for seeds for the year and happened to look on ebay for these tomato seeds - I was lucky enough to spot some, and at the great price of £3.24.......for SEVEN packs!!  So fifty six seeds for less than the price of eight.  This seed is slightly out of date, but whenever I've planted old seed before, it's just had a slightly lower germination rate.  I intend giving some to my Dad too, as he loves his gardening as much as I do.  I also got seven packs of Tumbler from the same seller.

The remainder of my seed shop went through MoreVeg and Premier Seeds Direct on Ebay.  Again fantastic prices compared to the main stream retailers.  MoreVeg do smaller amounts for on avaerage 50p a pack - some things I don't need 2000 seeds of !!  Premier Seeds Direct do normal size packs at about 99p, so I balanced my order between the two.  They're all on their way in the post now and I can't wait to see them.

One of the things I love about gardening is that it really is a year round hobby - there's always something to look forward to.  Either choosing seeds, waiting for them to arrive, sowing, waiting to see those first signs of life, through to the final harvest.  I'm hoping to have a better year in the garden than last year - fingers crossed!!

Filling the Freezer

When I get paid (on a four weekly basis) I do a big shop at work - Sainsburys - and a shop at Bookers, as I still have the wholesale card for them from when we had the pub.  The majority of the shopping from Sainsburys is the Basics brand. All good quality, just not the perfect slices/shapes that seem to be in demand from other brands.

The Bookers shop consisted of -

4 x 9 luxury toilet rolls £7
1 kilo lean stewing steak - diced fresh for me from a whole piece £11
2 kilos lean minced steak £10
1 1/2 kilo lamb steaks £11
1 A6 tin of tomatoes - HUGE!!!  £1.50
5kg pack of chicken breasts £19.99
5kg pack smoked bacon £5.59
3kg pack of bacon bits £2.99

I then have a huge cooking session that day, to fill one of my two freezers - I have one to store pre cooked meals, the other to store ingredients, meat, bread etc.

On Friday I made -

Stewing seak - 8 portions of St James Beef (a rich beef casserole), 10 beef and ale pies

Minced steak - 8 portions bolognaise sauce, 2 big lasagnes, 4 individual lasagnes, 1 big cottage pie, 2 small cottage pies

Lamb steak - half I turned into 8 portions of lamb rogan josh, the othe half is in my freezer ready to turn into minted lamb steaks

the tomatoes I share between the bolognaise and the curry, with a helping leftover forhubby to have with bacon and cheese :-)

Chicken breasts - my Mum and sister had two kilos of these, the rest I turned into 8 portions of chicken curry, 8 portions sweet and sour cicken, 8 portions and barbecue chicken, with quite a lot remaining to be made into whatever else we meal plan.

Bacon - I divided this into three, froze two and kept one in the fridge as hubby quite likes his bacon sandwiches!

Bacon bits - I froze 2/3rds  of these and used the other third in the St James Beef to give it another layer of flavour.

Don't get me wrong - I actually LOVE cooking.  But by preparing so many meals in advance I know that

a) There's always food in the house, regardless of my money situation
b) There's always something in when my fussy nineteen year old doesn't like what I'm planning for tea
c) If I really don't feel like cooking or have time, there's a meal available

I then try only to buy milk, bread and fruit and veg during the week.  Easier said then done when I can't avoid  the temptation of the supermarket because I work in one !!

Clare

One small step for man.....or frugality !!

I have phases of being really good at keeping costs down, then totally forgetting and blowing money on a really unnecessary huge shopping trip to the supermarket. Since I've been working at Sainsburys I've been able to take advantage of staff offers - eg a 4 pack of yogurts that has one of the pots burst - we can buy the remaining three at dirt cheap prices. I've built up quite a lovely freezer full of reduced meats, but I always forget that they're there, and then buy more !! We are in the fortunate position of being able to keep our heads above water. Dave works full time, I work sixteen hours a week plus occasional overtime. We manage. However I really want to make the most of my wages - I want to stretch them to do so much more, so I'm making a concerted effort to reduce my costs. Some of the frugality blogs I've seen astound me - I'm in awe of some of the wonderful people, and of how much I can learn from them. And I really will learn - one small step at a time. Today's small step - our tea of chicken breasts roasted in those lovely oven bags with herbs, with garlic potato cubes and veg I cooked one breast too many. Instead of just finishing it off as 'seconds' (they were lovely !!!) I've chopped it up along with some tomato and cucumber, added some low fat mayo from Approved Foods and made my husband's sandwiches for tomorrow. One small step......one lovely lunch for hubby !! Clare xx