Paint and puds

I had to do the 120 mile round trip to the hospital yesterday to take Ian to see a consultant. As we were passing the nearest town with a Wilkinson's store I had offered to drop in and pick up a few large sacks of cat litter for a friend, as it is very expensive locally.I was really glad that I had when I walked into the store and the first thing I saw was a display of pots of paint on a half price offer,  once again the cosmic supply company had directed me to what I needed at the right price.A five litre tin of paint locally is around the £20 mark and I need two tins for my living room revamp. The tins of paint on offer were £5.49 each, I grabbed two quickly as I scooted past for the cat litter.I already have gloss paint from a past project so I now have everything I need to start my decorating. 
I had toyed with the idea of paying someone to do the painting now that Ian can no longer help with stuff like that but I have decided to get on with it myself bit by bit and just take my time doing it.It may take me a while but I will get it done in the end.
Yesterday evening was also the monthly meeting of The Pudding Club so between arriving home from the hospital and taking Jake for his evening walk I just had time to put together an easy pud of Eton Mess to take.
Among the puddings last night were individual rice pies which are a sort of cross between a lemon tart and a rice pudding with a shortcake type crust.

A very light citrus flavoured bread and butter pudding made using panettone. 

A curd tart which was made with cottage cheese.

A rhubarb and orange meringue pie 

 and the Eton Mess.

An enjoyable couple of hours was spent drinking coffee, chatting, laughing and sampling the desserts.It was a relaxed ending to a hectic day. 

Stuff

I was having a conversation with a friend the other day about the amount of surplus "stuff" we all have lying about our homes nowadays. This friend has recently set up house and has almost entirely furnished and equipped it using items from the local auction house, charity shops, second hand sales and items passed to her from friends. There is no shortage of  stuff available if you just let it be known what you are looking for and friends are often happy to rehome their excess bits and pieces and clear out clutter.
I am about to redecorate the living room. I managed to pick up two loose covered sofas and a lovely glass doored pine bookcase at the local auction house, but I still needed a few things for my change about. I had been collecting unusual mirrors to make a wall of mirrors but was still a few short so asked friends if anyone had any old mirrors not being used. Within days I have been given two, promised another three and another friend has picked me two more up from her local charity shop warehouse. I have also been given a lovely chair , curtains, cushions,and several house plants all destined for my revamp. In return I have rehomed a sofa and chairs, a small flat screen tv/DVD combo, and the current living room carpet is destined for a friend as I am returning to wooden floors.
Basically the only new item expense I will have will be the paint I will need to buy, although I did also treat myself to two locally made cushions using birthday money.
I am more than happy to make use of items that friends no longer have a use for and I actually prefer older sturdier furniture than the ultra modern stuff available today. I like reusing and repurposing items that may otherwise be discarded or just left languishing in a shed or garage and if I can prevent something from ending up in landfill even better.
Now if I could just conjure up some extra days in the week to get on with the decorating that would be great :)

Monday meal costings

Following on from my abandoned attempt at living below the line I am going to be logging our meals each Monday and working out the costings for them. I know we spend very little on food shopping but it will be a good exercise for myself to actually cost out the meals we eat. I am lucky in that we have access to things like free range organic eggs, pheasants, fish, home grown vegetables and goods traded through the local LETS bartering system to supplement our food purchases, which goes a long way to keep expenditure low. I also cook from scratch, preserve our home grown produce, make jams, chutneys and pickles, dehydrate, and bottle veggies etc using a pressure canner, as well as freezing any surplus, which also helps.

Today for breakfast we had scrambled egg with tinned tomatoes. The eggs were freshly laid by our chickens and we just had one egg each which I whisked with a little water before scrambling.We had 1/4 of a tin of the tomatoes each with the egg.
I estimate that the eggs from our chickens cost around 3p each taking into consideration the cost of the chicken food.The tinned tomatoes were bought for four tins for £1 so 25p a tin. Breakfast for the two of us came in at 18.5p

 For lunch we had another egg each, this time hard boiled - 6p.We also had tuna, tomato, mayonnaise and a sprinkle of grated cheese. The tuna was 54p a tin, tomato from a pack 8p, a tablespoon of mayonnaise 4p, and 10p worth of grated cheese. So a protein based lunch for the two of us cost 82p.

Dinner tonight was a white fish fillet, kale and cauliflower from the garden with a parsley sauce.
The fish was £1.75 a bag for 6 fillets in Sainsbury's, so 29p a portion.The parsley sauce sachets are from my stores and were 99p for a dozen , 8.25p each, I added 200mls milk 7.9p. Dinner for both of us cost just over 74p

Breakfast 18.5p, lunch 82p, dinner 74.1p   =  £1.75 (rounded up) for two adults.

Spring Fest

I'm linking with  Mum's Spring Fest post today  in a celebration of all things Spring like :)

It has been a long and cold winter and even though we are still cold and windy here in our corner of South West Scotland there are finally some signs around that spring has sprung. The arrival of this year's lambs over the past month or so has been a welcome sight around the farm where we live, along with several calves. 

Watching the lambs playing together in the fields never gets boring to me, they are so funny, and often mischievous. So the weather may still be horrible and the garden way behind where it should be but watching the spring lambs in the fields gives me hope that very soon nature will sort itself out and everything will be blooming again.

Still sick

This was supposed to be lunch on my below the line week. I had budgeted to have this filling hearty veggie and bean soup each day along with a small apple. I made a huge pot of this soup using a pack of dried soup and broth mix and a pack of prepared mixed vegetables from aldi. The mixed veg is quite expensive at 89p for the bag but it does give a variety of fresh vegetables and includes veg like leeks with plenty of flavour to add to the soup.There are about 6 kinds of veg in the pack so otherwise it would be uneconomical to try and buy the same assortment for the money. I also threw in a few fresh herbs from the garden; some wild garlic leaves, chives and thyme.The whole pot of soup which will make 10 bowls of the above serving size cost just £1.14 to make, with the pack of small apples costing 89p, so lunch as above per person each day would cost less than 21 pence.
I could have used the chicken carcass to make the soup stock but instead had planned to use the chicken stock and a handful of the chicken. some rice,carrots and an onion to make a further pot of soup which could have been used if a snack was needed. As it turns out the chicken ended up being passed on to my neighbour to make use of as I was too ill to even think about cooking it.
The soup got made and got as far as on the table but feeling so ill and with absolutely no appetite it did not get eaten.
So it was back to water and mint tea and I have had to concede defeat with the challenge just through being too ill to continue.The last solid food I ate was a flapjack around 7am last Monday on the drive home from visiting my mum. On the bright side I have lost 7lbs this week but I can think of much pleasanter ways to achieve the weightloss.
It has made me think about things on a different level though. What if I were the person who cooked for the family on such a tight budget and I became ill? There would be no cash for the family to pop out and get a take away or buy a ready meal, no contingency pot of money to deal with emergencies.What about other incidentals like doing extra laundry, buying over the counter medicines, extra toilet paper, cleaning materials? Living below the line isn't just about food it covers lots of living costs and sometimes we need a wake up call to appreciate these.

So, my challenge may have been cut short but as a reminder to myself not to take things for granted I am planning to have a day each week living on £1 which I will record on here, starting on Monday.In the meantime good luck to any bloggers who are almost through their week of living below the line.

Update

Just a quick post to catch up, shortly after my post on Monday the household was struck down with a case of norovirus. This has meant that none of the foods that I had bought for my challenge have been eaten, instead it has been a matter of existing on water. Definitely a case of living below the line but not recommended. There is a slight improvement in symptoms today so some of the veggie and bean soup might get eaten later, but up to now I have been feeling too yucky to even post on here.

Living below the line

I am joining in with the Living below the line challenge this year. The aim being to help highlight the plight of those in poverty across the world. During the challenge period we are allowed £1 per person per day for all meals and drinks, obviously this is actually a lot more than some people have to exist on, but it is a good starting point to draw attention to the challenge.
The challenge should actually be running from Monday 29th April for 5 days - but as I have been away over the weekend until earlier today I was behind with my shopping and so will start my challenge tomorrow and continue until Saturday so that it runs for the five days.I also had an early morning roadside coffee en route home which would have blown my challenge budget before I had even started!!!

I will be making all meals and drinks for two adults on a budget of £10 for the five days.

So here is what I have sourced for my £10 budget. I have tried to stay away from too many heavily processed foods and have tried to include nutritious foods including fruit, vegetables, pulses and different sources of protein.

Chicken with stuffing                                          Sainsburys bargain £2.49
Minced beef meatballs                                      Sainsbury's bargain 99p
Sliced loaf                                                           Sainsbury's bargain 34p
Spaghetti pasta                                                  Aldi 19p
Rice 1kg                                                              Aldi 40p
Soup and broth mix                                            Approved foods 25p (from stores)
Baked beans                                                      Aldi 25p
Mixed veg pack                                                  Aldi 89p
Salad potatoes                                                   Aldi 69p
UHT milk 1 litre                                                   Aldi 53p
Fairtrade tea bags                                             Aldi £1.29
Curry sauce                                                        Sainsbury's 26p
Gala apples 10 funsize                                     Aldi 89p  (not in picture)
Eggs (15 assorted duck and hen eggs produced at a cost of about 3p each) 45p

Total £9.91

I have included the cost of the whole pack of tea bags even though we will probably only use half of those over the five days. 

I also have two canning jars of tomato and herb sauce, two jars of sliced carrots, 7 small onions and some kale all of which are completely home grown and home preserved.There are fresh herbs growing in the garden if they are needed too.

I would imagine that the more people you are catering for the more leeway you would have with ingredient costs and the better meals you would be able to produce from scratch. I am hopeful that we can eat well with the ingredients I have put together and can produce three meals a day plus drinks. 

Breakfasts
day 1- poached egg on a slice of toast
day 2 - beans on a slice of toast
day 3 - poached egg on a slice of toast
day 4 - beans on a slice of toast
day 5 - soft boiled duck egg and soldiers

Lunches
Lunch will be the same each day and will be a bowl of hearty veggie and bean soup along with an apple.

Evening Meal
day 1 - roast chicken, stuffing, carrots, kale, potatoes
day 2 - chicken curry and rice
day 3 - spaghetti with tomato sauce and meatballs
day 4 - vegetable fritatta ( potatoes,kale and onion)
day 5 - spaghetti with bolognese sauce
DrinksDrinks will be tap water, or tea with UHT skimmed milk.

Today

  I was off in to town this morning for coffee morning at the workshop. I made a coffee and walnut tray bake this week for a change. Whilst I was in town I popped in to the local auction house to look at some furniture. I managed to get a good deal on two identical cream Ikea sofas with loose covers and a pine book case with glass doors. All were in really good condition and I ended up paying a fraction of what they would have cost me new, they are also being delivered to the cottage for free so that is another bonus. I have been looking out for some sofas with removable washable covers but didn't want to spend loads, and today  spotted these in the auction house window. I am a great believer in. The Cosmic Supply Company   Things I have a need for will appear to me in one way or another, whether it is from a friend, in a charity shop or an auction house. I always seem to receive everything I "need".
The old suite has been promised to a friend for her daughter so someone will be getting the benefit of that too. I had planned to contact a local furniture project and offer it to them but gave my friend first refusal.
Somehow on the way home I managed to get a flat tyre on the car so that had to be sorted this afternoon. Yet another job that Ian would usually have tackled, but never mind I managed it by myself and my car is safe and sound again.

Made a start.....

I made a small start on my garden to do list yesterday by picking the remaining curly kale and clearing that bed out. I picked the first half of the small bed and had plenty to cook and freeze, lots for the chickens, and some to go with dinner last night. Just half of the small bed yielded a table full of kale leaves to cook

.The second half of the bed I picked and packed up and it was dropped off at the workshop this afternoon and given to friends. The kale has been really bountiful, we have been eating it ourselves and feeding it to the chickens right through the winter, it has been virtually indestructible and one of my best crops from last year's washout growing season.
Today I have harvested the remaining purple kale and cooked and frozen that too, I should have enough kale in the freezer to do us until the next crop grows. So that is two of my raised beds cleared and sorted ...... Only another 15 to go :)

Whilst we are on the subject of food ......It is almost time for the "live below the line" challenge which is a joint effort run by many charities including Oxfam, Christian aid, and Save the Children, it is run each year to raise awareness  of poverty both at home and abroad. There is an informative post and links on Frugal mum of three's blog if you feel like joining in.

This is about the amount per person per day that we sort of end up at here, but this is through choice and our food costs are often supplemented by home grown fruit and veggies and herbs,along with locally sourced game,fish or seafood and local eggs which are often traded on LET'S or passed to us by friends.
I will be joining in with the challenge though to offer support and also to have a week really taking stock of our food costs.

Anyone else up for a challenge?

Lots to do

After our afternoon of lovely sunshine yesterday today we are back to chilly and wet again. I wish the weather would just settle down and warm up as there is just so much that needs doing in the garden to get this year's veggie growing underway. At least the herbs, rhubarb and soft fruits don't need much preparation and are just quietly getting on with things. It's good to have some low maintenance perennials and self seeders to give us a start with the fruit and veggie growing.
I still have a bed of purple kale, a bed of curly kale and the last few red cabbages left to harvest in the raised beds. The next dry day will see me pick everything that remains and cook and freeze it in one form or another. After that it will be a case of clearing all the raised beds and adding home made compost,wormcasts, worm juice, and some spent mushroom compost which has been breaking down nicely since last year. Once that is done I will be covering the beds with some black plastic sheeting to get them warmed up a little ready for planting.
Ian won't be able to help much in the garden any more so I will have to pace myself more and break projects down into smaller tasks.The list of jobs that need doing is growing by the day and it is so frustrating to be hampered by the weather when I really need to be making progress. So from today I am setting myself a goal of taking one item from my garden to do list and getting it done, it doesn't matter if it is just a tiny five minute job it will all help in the scheme of things. As I check my blog and spend time online daily this is where I am going to post my list of tasks to do :)

• Harvest remaining veggies from last season
• Cook and freeze picked veggies
• Clear one raised bed a day until all 17 are clear
• Weed the three strawberry beds
• Weed the herb garden
• Sow more seedlings in greenhouse
• Plant seed potatoes in growing bags and barrels
• Plant onion sets
• Put together and fill large strawberry tower given to me by mum
• Mow lawns after removing mole hills!
• Get hedge trimmer out and give conifer hedge a trim
• Repair few damaged parts of fencing
• Paint both sheds
• Paint summerhouse
• Paint two cold frames
• Put up posts and mesh for growing beans
• Relocate crocosmia plants to make mowing easier
• Finish laying weed control fabric and gravel at rear of cottage
• Clean out hanging baskets ready to replant
• Weed around fruit bushes
• Sow more salad veggies
• Declutter the shed
• Lay some flags for seating near the greenhouse
• Paint two lots of garden seating
• Sort out potting bench and pots
• Clean out and replant flower tower
• Weed gravel areas around the front of the cottage
• Paint small tomato house and do some small repairs needed
• Hang ladybird house
• Hang bee house
• Fix bird table broken in gales