Day Ten - Final Day - Using Up All the Leftovers ... and Fridge Comparisons

I had three slices of bread left, so I had peanut butter on toast using one of them for breakfast, with the jar being rinsed out with a bit of boiling water for a future 'satay style' sauce addition to a meal.

Mid-morning snack, not something I do very regularly, but I had the nibbles after such a small breakfast.  Three of these Cheeze flavoured Corn Cakes, a bit like rice cakes ... but made with corn. 😁

I used the last of my mayo with my one and only carrot, some leaves from the lettuce and a couple of tiny onions from the garden to make a bowl of coleslaw for my lunch.  At the last minute I crumbled over some walnuts which made a wonderful difference to the flavour and texture of it all.

The final two slices of this loaf, that had been in the freezer, were calling to me.  So I decided on a cheese, tuna, onion and tomato toastie for my tea.

I took a photo before the top went on, just in case I burnt it ... I have a habit of wandering off and having overdone toasties.

But in this case I needn't have worried, it turned out just fine.  I had the last of the baby plum tomatoes as an after-toastie nibble, the sharp flavour really cuts through any greasiness in your mouth.

Still in a 'use up the leftovers' frame of mind I made myself a small bowl of noodles and had them with the last of the roasted vegetables.  It felt really good to get all the little pots of bits and pieces out of the fridge on this the final day of the Challenge.

Comparison Fridge Photos

The fridge at the start.

The fruit and cheese drawer.

The fridge this morning, there's no need for a separate photo of the fruit and cheese drawer as only the cheese is left.  It's what's left of the beetroot in the glass container with the wooden lid.

The easy peelers (which were past their best), and the trimmings from the apple and the lemon have been turned into the juice you see in the jug ready to be made into a pot of Breakfast Jam.

The vegetable drawer at the start of the Challenge ...

... and at the end, with most of my new cucumber left and some of the homegrown onions.

One green Stay-Fresh bag has the lettuce heart in it and the other the last of the celery sticks.  So I actually have the makings of a nice bowl of salad left.

It's been a good Challenge for the last ten days of July, and now heading into a new month I have a whole new £100 food budget all ready to go.  

My total spend for the month of July was £98.79, so there was just £1.21 left over to add to the savings pot.  Without the Challenge it would have all gone to pot.

Sue xx

Day Nine - A 'Nine Day' Challenge? ... and a Pining Cat

 

I don't know why I thought this was going to be a nine day challenge ... when there is quite clearly another day left of this month!!   I am determined to mine the last of the bits from the fridge to complete this month.  There are some snippets to be had, and I'm having them. 😄

Anyway here is yesterday's food.

Breakfast scrambled eggs on toast, with three of my remaining seven baby plum tomatoes.

Lunch was a cod fillet and bun from the freezer and the last of the coleslaw from the fridge, well almost the last of it, I ate the rest while the fish was cooking.

My tea was a microwave pouch of Peri-Peri rice that I found in the cupboard, I have no recollection of buying it, but there it was.  I just cooked up some mixed veggies from the freezer and added the two together.  It worked really well actually.  

I do love rice. 🍚

Ginger is still pining for Suky.

As far as he knows Alan took the dogs for a walk and only returned with Mavis ... he has been sitting at the front of the house in front of my car every day for hours at a time ever since he noticed Suky was missing, which actually, rather weirdly, was about two days after she died.

He watches ...

... until he decides it's time to give up and come back inside.

My heart breaks for him, although once he is in he is very happy in our company.  He simply thinks that one of the gang is missing and doesn't know why.  😢

And now because I have finally realised that this is a ten day challenge, I need to go and  peruse the shelves and drawers of the fridge ... it shouldn't take me long!!

Sue xx

Day Eight - Sweet Breakfast, Fishcakes ... and 'Almost' an Action Replay

 

Sorting the freezer drawers out the other day was a brilliant way of refreshing my mind to what was actually in there, and one thing I had forgotten about was my 'teacake style loaf' bought right at the beginning of July.  

It made for a sweet and tasty breakfast.  I don't usually go for overly sweet things but when tempered with a black coffee they go down well occasionally.

I wasn't overly hungry at lunchtime, so I thought I would have the remaining two fishcakes and the last of the 'swapsies' tomatoes from Alan.

My tea was almost an action replay of yesterday's but I thought I would add some of the roasted vegetables to the rice and peas and slice up one of the beetroots for a bit of freshness.  It was a very tasty mix.

I'm keeping it short and sweet today as we are off for a meeting in Manchester to discuss Mum's ongoing health concerns with the Assessment Centre staff.

Sue xx

Day Seven - Olympic Nibbles, Kyivs and Toilet Rolls

 

I forgot to add this photo to yesterday's post, the nibbles I got together for us to have while we watched the Olympic Opening Ceremony on the television on Friday night.  It's surprising what you can rustle up at the last minute when you stand in front of the cupboard and fridge with a blank look on your face.  😶

Just the spread and the little silver-skin pickled onions were from the fridge, the ever so slightly soft Ritz crackers and the sardine and tomato spread were from the cupboard, and three little bags of Harvest Snaps were from the snack basket.

It was good to make a little 'party' out of nothing ... and Alan supplied us with a glass of wine each.  🍷

After all that stodgy nibbling the night before I fancied a light breakfast so my one and only apple was called into service.  Along with a slice of toast and my usual black coffee, it was a nice simple breakfast.

Lunch needed to be a bit more filling, so I used another two eggs and a bread roll from the freezer.  Served with a little trio of my 'now going wrinkly' plum tomatoes and a couple of lettuce leaves it made for a nice lunch ... and yes more black coffee.  My world would not turn without it.  😄

Tea was nice and simple, just a Garlic Kyiv and rice and peas.  

I just throw the peas into my rice-maker along with the uncooked rice and leave it to do it's own thing.  As you can see I have the same sized portion now chilled in the fridge, so I might just replicate this meal for tomorrow nights tea.  I don't like to leave cooked rice sitting around for more than one or two days.

While this Challenge is all about using up the fresh foods, I am also mindful that my longer term  challenge of Eating and Living Well on a Small Budget is ongoing, and by monitoring my shopping I have been able to find out how long some things last me.  Back in early January I bought two packs of 12 'longer lasting' toilet rolls, supposedly meant to be the equivalent of 18 normal rolls.  I started on the last of these at the beginning of last week, so I needed some more.  I have been watching out for them coming back on a reduced offer for the last few weeks, but no such luck!!  However, those rolls lasted me for 28 weeks, just over a roll a week, so I think they were pretty good value really.

Now my remaining £2.71 of this weeks budget would not have cut the mustard in buying any more toilet rolls, and then Angie (Pensive Pensioner) gave me an idea.  I could use some of my Nectar points alongside a bit of cash to buy some more.

So I found these in Sainsbury's for me to try, and at just £6.50 a pack affordable for me if I used £1.50 in cash and £5 of my Nectar points.  I'll have to wait a while to see how long these last me, they do seem to be almost as good a quality as the others.

So I have now spent a total of £98.79 this month ... under budget and no more spending needed, yay.  😃

Back tomorrow with more meals ... and less talk of toilet rolls!  

Sue xx

Day Six - Beans, Crimpit, Imagination and 99p Shopping

 

Totally different to yesterday but this morning I woke up hungry, and after a couple of cups of coffee and a shower it was time for a proper cooked breakfast.  Beans and egg from the fridge and the hash browns from the freezer.  The Aldi frozen 'McDonalds dupe' hash browns are delicious and a nice little treat every now and then.

It made a lovely change for my breakfast.

I have this pack of Tortilla wraps in the freezer too, so I decided on a cheese and tuna Crimpit for lunch.  

We both went a bit mad for these a while ago when we got the little Crimpit presses and they make for a nice quick lunch either cold or heated up in the air fryer.

It was just enough for my lunch after a filling breakfast.

I forgot to take a photo of my finished tea, but imagine this with the pasta nicely swelled up, the cheese squares all melted and the spinach pellets softened and stirred through ... and that's what I had. 😁

Alan was busy with work and needed some bread and milk, so I volunteered to go to Aldi for him.  A cucumber fell into my trolley.

That's 99p of my remaining £3.70 gone!!

During the afternoon I had spent a while having a good sort through of the freezer drawers to see exactly what was in there.  The fridge is looking pretty sparse now so I wanted to double check what I had available.  

Freezers always hold so much more than you think they do don't they.  I have lots of stuff, there's absolutely no need for me to panic.  I tried to put it back in a slightly more sensible way, with the bottom drawer now being full of all the bread products and all the veggies together in one drawer etc etc.

Sue xx

Day Five - Swapsies and Homemade Fishcakes

It was a 'non-hungry' morning, I have them occasionally and just go with the flow.  So today for my breakfast I just had a slice of toast with a smear of spread and the dregs of the marmalade brought home from Dobbie's the other week. 

It was enough.

But by lunchtime I was definitely ready for something more substantial and decided on a sausage bun.

I simply cooked some homegrown red onions with a sprinkle of chilli flakes and some mixed herbs and the sausages in the small frying pan.  The sausages looked really good.

I split the sausages and layered them up on the bun with a generous spreading of the posh tomato ketchup.  Now, while the flavour of this was great the texture of the sausages was just not for me.  I'm finding I'm really going off a lot of the replacement meat products ...which can only be a good thing really!!

I was debating throwing the rest of the pack away, but I decided to offer them to Alan first and he said an immediate yes, he's not as fussy about food texture as I am so I think they will suit him just fine.  He offered me a swap for them and as I was already thinking about what to have for my tea, I chose one spring onion, about a quarter of a cucumber and half a punnet of cherry tomatoes as my little plum tomatoes are nearly all used up.

Tea was to be homemade fishcakes with these ingredients, none of them from the fridge.  The mash was thawed from the freezer, Alan's spring onion, a whizzed up bread crust and a tin of salmon from the cupboard.

Once everything was chopped, mashed and mixed together I made four good sized fishcakes ... and aren't they nice and round and well-formed, I usually struggle with this but it just worked out so perfectly for once much to my surprise and delight.

They even stayed nice and round, and held together well in the pan while I cooked them.  I had two for my tea with Alan's cherry tomatoes and cucumber and some of my lettuce.  It was a really nice fresh tasting meal and surprisingly filling.

But it's got me craving more cucumber ... I'm going to have to go shopping. 😄

Sue xx

Day Four - Fresh Fruit, Eggs and Pizza

 

I just wasn't hungry at breakfast time, so I decided to have the little pot of fruit that Alan gave me the other day.  It was out of date but tasted perfectly fine, Mavis came in when I was nearly finished and cadged a little bit of apple, she's getting very healthy in her old age.  😀

After such a small breakfast it had to be something a bit more substantial for lunch, so I made myself some egg butties.  Two eggs, a finely chopped small onion from the garden and lots of lovely mayo.  Now that the Ancient Grains bread is sliced thicker it seems to be only good for sandwiches for the first couple of days of having it, so the rest of the loaf was added to the freezer after I made my sandwiches.  I finished off the orange juice too, it's a good idea to have a glass of orange juice when you eat eggs as it enables your body to absorb more iron from the eggs.

I've been using the smallest of the homegrown onions up first and now the slightly larger ones are drying in the sun ... while it lasts.  I'm learning not to take a sunny morning for granted so I have my eye on the weather.  These are 'Snowball' onions and have been really handy as you can use them as spring onions while they are growing, and then leave them to bulb out to use as normal onions.

I decided to use two of my free naan breads to make a couple of small pizzas for my tea.

Simply a dollop of this fancy ketchup from the fridge, some of the roasted vegetables from the other day and a sprinkle of cheese.

I added a sliced up beetroot for a bit of extra nutrition and freshness.

Not a bad days eating and very satisfying food too.

Sue xx

Day Three - I'm Trying to Eat My Vegetables ... Honest!!

 

Breakfast on day three of this little 'use it all up challenge' was another round of 'bacon and egg on toast'.  I find this really filling and very satisfying even though it doesn't look very much.  I had a glass of fresh orange juice with it to make things a bit more healthy.  That was the last two slices of the Quorn Smoky Ham.

I think I have about one glass of orange left for another day.  I have phases when I really fancy fresh orange juice and then I stop drinking it for months at a time.  I think I'm about to stop.

Lunch was quite late as breakfast kept me satisfied for ages.  

I decided on the last three of the chunky fish fingers I bought from Morrisons the other week, they had been thrown in the freezer for safekeeping.  As I wasn't that hungry I just had a bit of a 'token salad' with my bun (which came from the freezer).  It's surprising how adding just that amount of freshness to a meal really lifts it.

To bring up the vegetable content of the day I decided to have one of my homemade pasta sauce pots from the freezer, along with half a pack of Deliciously Ella's Tagliolini.  It's made with added turmeric so it gives everything this lovely golden colour.  It was delicious and very filling, and cooking it in the oven so that the pasta absorbed lots of the sauce and the added vegetables were really soft, made it a dreamy meal to eat while watching a particularly blood-thirsty edition of Dexter.

Anyone else eat faster when they are watching something exciting?

Not a bad third day at all, and although the fridge food is going down there's still some tasty things to pick from.  😀

Sue xx

Day Two - Forgetting to Take Photos ... and the Perks of a Long Snout

 

Here's the lovely Mavis showing what was left of my breakfast.  😄

I get five portions of yogurt out of one of these large Alpro tubs, so on the final day I simply chop my banana and spoon some peanut butter straight into the tub, anything to save washing up is good in my opinion.  Alan came in and asked me something while I was chopping and spooning so I completely forgot to grab the camera and get a quick photo of my breakfast in it's receptacle.

I also forgot to photograph my lunch but it was beans on toast.  I got this photo when I was decanting beans into my little Gu pots before the challenge started.  I had already eaten the contents of one, one was on the worktop when I took the photo of the food in the fridge and one is shown in the fridge photo.  So if you are following this ... I have one more left.

I find a third of a tin of beans is the perfect sized portion for me and happily that is exactly what fits into these handy little pots.

After lunch I checked through all the contents of the vegetable drawer more closely and decided to prep some things.  So the celery was chopped and washed and the offcuts put into a bag for the freezer to be turned into soup in the distant future.  The celery sticks are now in a Stayfresh bag back in the drawer.   The peppers really needed to be used so I chopped them up along with the squishiest of the large tomatoes and the garlic, added some dried herbs, spices and olive oil and put them in the oven to roast.

Later a portion of the roasted veg went onto some brown rice and I served it with the remaining salmon fillet for my tea.  

I have enough roasted veg for possibly two more meals in the fridge.  I'm thinking maybe a pizza and a quiche.  So that's day two of using what I have and making good use of what's in the fridge.  

Oh, and I did slightly better from the store-cupboard today, after all the beans and the rice both originally came from there, although these particular beans had been in the fridge and the rice lives in a large jar on the shelves once opened.

There are perks to being a Jack Russell with a long thin snout ... she can reach the bottom with a bit of effort.  Nothing wasted.

Sue xx