Pantry day

Tuesday is fast becoming my favourite day of the week.

I only had the butternut squash and a little bit of onion left from last weeks visit so that made its way into a Squash and apple soup.

It was delicious! With clean plates all round the table. We even mashed a little into a puree for Baby C.

This weeks meal was sausages, potatoes, carrots, onions, peas and gravy. 

Well worth a single token I think as I was planning to get more sausages anyway.

Blue token - more sausages. Meat options were a little thin this visit. 

Red tokens -

Stock cubes

Pasta

2x mushroom soup

2x baked beans

2x sweetcorn 

1x chocolate weetabix things

1x bolognaise sauce

2x mr kiplings Viennese whirls

1x chocolate biscuits

Free items -

Hard cheese 

2x cucumbers

6x oranges

A handful of sweet potatoes 

  I will be working out this weeks meal plan this evening when the children are in bed. I'm definitely thinking of spag bol and a sausage curry this week though. 

X x X 

When life gives you limes...

Make some lime curd! 

Someone on Olio was rehoming an enourmous box of limes. I asked for 2, not wishing to be greedy. I was gifted 9! I passed a few on to some fellow frugal neighbours and the rest have become 3 jars of delicious lime curd.

I had a bit of a panic about halfway through when a police man knocked my front door asking if we'd witnessed something. We hadn't but I approciate they have to ask around. 

I'm sure i looked really worried and desperate to get rid of him in case my curd caught while i was away. No one wants a lumpy curd! 

I've had to put my current sewing project on pause thanks to injuring my thumb. I've caught my thumb nail on something and somehow torn it about halfway down a lot lower than I could trim it back. The raw edge is catching on everything and any pressure makes my whole thumb throb. I'm not one for making a big fuss about these things but it hurts a lot more than you think it should by looking at it. 

My current crafty project is some unpicking. Easily done with a thin double ended knitting needle so relatively pain free.

The fabric is some sort of unfinished project i found at the scrap store with a beautiful late 70's print.

I think I might have enough fabric to make the girls some dresses for Easter/Spring. Perhaps a pair of pj trousers for Gman to keep things fair.

I will keep you posted of progress.

X x X

Almost free lunch

 

 Today's lunch was a complete bargain.

4x naan breads - free from Olio

1 packet of sliced corned beef - free from Olio 

Grated cheese - community  pantry

Topped naan breads are always a popular meal or snack in the Spurrier house. 

I pop them in the oven for about 5-8 minutes to melt nicely.

I served them with fresh sliced apple which were also free from OLIO.

X x X

Community pantry

 

 This weeks meal option at the community pantry was for a fry up. Sausages, bacon, beans, mushrooms and tomatoes. We were give double portions of everything as a large family. 

 

Apologies for the terrible photo. I didnt realise it was that blurry until I uploaded it 🙈

My remaining blue token was swapped for a bag of frozen sausages.

The red tokens;

1x hunters chicken cooking sauce

1x bolognese sauce

1x box of cereal

2x mushroom soup

1x roulade cheese

1x ice cream tub

1x mixed pretzals tray

2x cucumbers

Free items;

1x enourmous onion

1x butternut squash

1x enourmous broccoli 

1x bag of apples

3x leeks

2x pots of liver

1x wedge of hard cheese

 A very nice haul that will make some very tasty food. 

This afternoon will be spent finding recipe ideas. 

X x X

Upcycling fun

 

 After the excitement that is Monday's Homeschooling I needed something calm and relaxing to do. 

So I dug out an old net curtain from the depths of the airing cupboard and turned it into a collection of drawstring produce bags. I've made a fairly big one for things like spuds, medium ones for apples, oranges, carrots etc and a few small ones for single items like onions or little things like mushrooms.

 My poor punnet of mushrooms was all over the place once I got home last week. They seem to have had a whale of time in that carrier bag 😂

 It was a lovely peaceful sewing project to enjoy while sipping tea and watching a bit of Ru Pauls Drag Race on Netflix. 

I do like being useful AND thrifty at the same time.

X x X

Sunday Shenanigans

We were given a large bunch of banana's this morning via Olio.

The three squishiest were quickly snapped up by DD1 who made a delicious tray of banana cupcakes. They were decorated with homemade buttercream, mini eggs and rainbow drops. 

DD1's baking skills are starting to become  legendary.

 Once I was allowed back into my own kitchen again I made a quick batch of pickled radishes for the fridge. I'm looking forward to munching on them once they have had a day or two of pickling.

I haven't made these in quite a while so it will be a lovely treat.

 

My current knitting project is a little caridgan pattern I found on Pinterest. However now I've gotten to the sleeves it looks like it might be 3-6 size rather than 6-9. How annoying!

X x X

Chinese new year 2021

 

I was very lucky with my timing on OLIO last night. One of our local volunteer distributors had an enourmous load of fruit and vegetables to rehome.

I won't be needing to do a veg shop for a little while. 

Breakfast was pastries and fresh fruit.

Lunch sandwiches, side salads and more fruit.

Dinner this evening is a slow cooker chicken stew. 

  

 

 I spent a little time this morning collecting our Chinese New Year resources together.

My parents very kindly printed out the free pack from HERE.

Each activity is cut out and stored in it's own  envelope. I'm going to start getting a few activities out each day from Monday and make it a sort of theme until the 12th of Febuary. 

X x X