Wow, this week has been so much cooler and more comfortable. There has been a little rain too, mainly overnight, which has refilled the water butt in the garden, thankfully. The house has kept in the heat so we have been throwing open doors and windows as soon as we wake to let the fresh, cooling air in. Delicious after the oppressive heat.
Even though we don't have a hosepipe ban in our area, we are still using grey water on the garden and using rain water for lime hating plants and shrubs like the Acer. At the allotment we are, at last, picking a few ripe tomatoes and more French climbing beans. Those little plants have been super-productive and I'm freezing lots in small stackable boxes (re-used from DD's take away meals) to get us through the Autumn and Winter months. Our lovely neighbours, whom we share our produce with, gave us a bag of foraged plums the other day so I'm hoping to freeze some of those.. I've never frozen plums before. Should I cook them first or freeze whole/minus stones do you think?? Any tips very welcome!
On Tuesday I was extremely lucky to snag a Morrisons Too Good To Go Box once more. I often reserve one only for it to be cancelled by the store the next morning. This time I got.....
Sorry about my finger in the shot, I was so excited 😂 lots of the produce wasn't even out of date.
I have steamed and frozen the sliced cabbage (I would never buy a pack of sliced cabbage but won't waste it), The plums in the second photo were not out of date and, as I already had the foraged plums, I gave them to another neighbour with two small children. I froze the sliced bread and we ate the bloomer bread over the next 2 days in sandwiches and with soup. We ate a doughnut each and I froze the other three (now defrosted and eaten 👍) The grapes and little pot of fruit were delicious too. And there is lots of veg left for the weekend meals and all for £3.09
As the TGTG bag was so good we didn't have a food delivery this week saving up to £50. This morning I will need to go to Sainsburys to buy: Greek-style yogurt, sugar, either chicken or sausages for G, and teabags. I'm hoping £10 will cover it and the remaining £40 can go into the savings towards the energy bills. I really can't believe our luck.
Before I sign off I would like to offer a warm welcome to my three newest followers: David, Jeanette and Deborah. It would be very rude of me not to say hello!
Today I am thankful for:
Delicious food costing so little
Delightful neighbours
Cool weather and a drop of rain
Stay safe everyone and have a great weekend x
I wish we had a local Morrisons!
ReplyDeleteWe are so very lucky to have one close by.
DeleteWhat an excellent box, so much good stuff no wonder you don't have much shopping to get.
ReplyDeleteI don't remember ever freezing plums so I'm no help there sorry!! I used to turn mine into a mixed jam as it's the only way I can eat them. The fresh ones were always snaffled straight off the trees and eaten by Alan when he was out and about on the hillside, or by the chickens in Chicken World.
Alan would love these foraged plums then Sue. I'm not good with jam making unfortunately so stewing and freezing is the way to go 👍
DeleteFantastic! I loved stewed plums. They last a long time that way, because of the sugar. They make such a delicious dessert.
ReplyDeleteThey do, Stephenie, we are so very lucky.
DeleteWhat a fantastic selection of food in your TGTG bag and such a saving.
ReplyDeleteWe have also been using grey water in the garden where we can and using watering cans instead of the hosepipe where it is most needed. I think I shall be doing a lot of mulching this Autumn:-)
Yes, Beverley, I think we will all have to pay more attention to mulching our gardens if we will regularly get hot, dry summers like this one. We can't wait for a proper downpour, we've only had a little drizzle so far.
DeleteLooks like you got a very good bargain with that bag of food! How wonderful, too, that you received the foraged plums! I've frozen peaches, but, not plums; I'm sure they will be fine if you slice them first and remove the stones. Stewed plums sounds good, too! :)
ReplyDeleteThank you Bless!
DeleteWhat an excellent TGTG box you were able to get. I always made spiced plum jam, it is my favourite but I like to eat them fresh too.
ReplyDeleteI'm not good at jam :/ I always envy people who can make it at the drop of a hat.
DeleteWhat a great To Good To Go box. Lots of lovely veggies.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.