Saturday 5 January 2013

A quietish day here.
Foster dog continues to live in our large spare room ( en-suite no less!) and to exercise whenever our cat is locked in a downstairs room. This dog really doesn't like cats, and I reckon our cat is not too keen on this dog either!, she's usually good with dogs, but not this one... Cats are canny things. We thought that he had been rehomed today, but unfortunately the guy who was giving him a "forever" home had some bad news and couldn't guarantee it would be forever. So better if the poor dog is not just moved on from pillar to post. However the situation here is far from ideal and is not fair on either animal. let's hope tomorrow brings some good news.
 On clearing out the sewing room(  I still haven't worked out how to load a photograph from my mobile to show how well I have done) I find I have 6 unfinished projects. The lovely neat piles of material and wools tempts me to start something new (especially Frugal Queens latest project...genius patchwork!) But I resolve to finish the projects first.
 Like just about everyone else in Frugal world I have resolved to keep away from the shops ( not TOO difficult for me as I hate shopping) and feed us from whatever I have in the fridge , pantry and freezer. This is also is not in the least bit difficult as I am closet Prepper and have three freezers, all just about full! it tends to be butter and milk that I run out of as I no longer have milking goats.
 Today I threw some cooked potatoes in the oven with some spare garlic butter I had made, with some chopped onion I then added a jar of feta cheese in oil  ( good old Aldi) ten minutes before serving and we  had this concoction with the last of the mushrooms from Lidl and some of my green beans in tomato sauce that I froze in the autumn. Oh yes and some home made bread. No pudding.. too full.
Iv'e just realised that all that food put aside makes us sound really greedy. Tho' D and I live here alone with our animals we are rarely on our own, being blessed with family and friends and our Shared Lives Guys so we do get through an awful lot of food.
 As we have had no rain for four/five days now (Shhhhhh!) we can start to work on some of the vegetable patches tomorrow in readiness for the big spring plant. Excellent so long as nothing happens to scupper the plan !
To Bed... Thanks for reading

4 comments:

  1. Only six unfinished projects........I have at least eights including mending.
    My dear hubby says it is the sign of a creative person to start something and not finish it - so sweet but not what I need to hear ! This weekend I shall finish them !
    Your potato cheese dish sounds wonderful - just the sort of think I make all the time, so tasty and frugal ! Nothing on earth like good home cooking.
    Hope dog gets a permanent home soon.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I don't think I shall finish all the projects by the weekend as one is a jumper I am knitting! I took it with me to my friends last night and knitted as we chatted. I reckon I should finish three "projects" by this weekend. Would love to hear how you do with yours.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi there,
    I've just found your blog via The Frugal Graduate. Do you mind me asking if you have any kind of back-up generator or power supply in place for your freezers in case power goes out? Assuming you're normally on mains supply, that is. I just have a small freezer on the top of the fridge (proper freezer with separate door at least, not just an ice-box) and have been contemplating a bit of rearranging in the kitchen so that I could get a proper one and think about ordering a half-pig or other meat in bulk. But I'm a bit nervous as to what would happen if I spent all that money and the power went out for any reason. It has only happened once since I moved here four and a half years ago and it was back on by the end of the day (to be honest, if I hadn't been still at home when it went out, I wouldn't have noticed because it was back by the time I was home from work) so it's not a big issue really but I'm trying to take all eventualities into consideration.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. hello Moonwaves
      We do now have a generator, which we brought four years ago so that we could use power equipment around our smallholding and as yet have had no need to use it to power our freezers. Though of course the facility is there now to do so.
      We have had power cuts over those years but they have only been of a few hours duration. I follow the theory that if your freezer is full the food stays frozen longer, and so long as you don't open the freezer your food is okay for up to 36 hours (much less than that if half full) When the power is back on, yet again I wouldn't open the freezer until a good 24 hours have passed.
      Our worst power cut was for 6 days after an exceptional snow storm ( we live in a rural area with overhead cables) We had no generator and lost three freezers worth of food. We claimed on the household insurance for the contents.
      This is, however a very rare occurrence (19 years ago!)and would not stop me having a freezer. If you have notice that the power cut is to be longer than a day, I would suggest you visit a friend who HAS power with the contents and cook the raw meat and eat the cooked. I suppose what I am saying is, Go ahead and get a freezer and stock up, all is not necessarily lost in a power cut. Good Luck Gill

      Delete