Its been another week of happily but slowly getting things done around the house. I didn't get everything done on my list which sometimes seems endless. There is always something to be done! I made a start on cleaning up my study which had become a dumping ground. I finished sorting out the last food cupboard and fridge and listed an unused couch for sale on Marketplace.
This week we were told that it would be the last for our community centre's free fruit, vegetables and bread. This is all reclaimed from supermarkets like Aldi because it is close to the best before date. Of course food is constantly being manufactured so there is quite a lot of waste. I've seen entire skip bins full of bread before. Food waste is something I am quite passionate about, so being able to save food from landfill has been great. I'm getting off track here but, the reason the community centre was able to do this was because the food is normally used for programs which are run at the centre. Of course due to Covid-19, these were cancelled but next week they start up again as more WA restrictions are lifted. We have been thinking of other avenues to rescue food. One of these is by using Olio and becoming a food waste volunteer. We would approach businesses like bakeries or supermarkets to donate food that would normally go in the bin. We would then organanise to pick it up on a regular basis and list the food on Olio for others in the community to come and collect from our house. I'll let you know how we go with this endeavour in the future!
From the centre this week we were able to get potatoes, lemons, raspberries, bananas, zucchini, onions, bread, tomatoes, salad bags, yoghurt, nut bars and flowers. The flowers look perfect!
Hubby went to the Foodbank truck and bought a $15 meat pack. They were also giving away each family a pantry box and flavoured milk. The box contains some cereal, uht milk, pasta, rice, tins etc. What a blessing! This really helped with building up our pantry supplies.
I started to wonder if with the restrictions being lifted the Food bank might change their set up. I mentioned that before it was set up like a warehouse and everything is charged by weight. Fruit and vegetables were 20c a kilo, general groceries were $1.25 kg and meat packs $15. Since Covid they closed off most of the warehouse and have now bagged up similar items into packs like the meatpack. They have a cleaning pack, school snacks, tea and coffee, toiletries, baby food, chocolate, pantry packs etc. Which all vary in prices. Then you pay $5 and you can help yourself to the milk, dairy, eggs, fruit and veg which is an absolute bargain! Most packs are really good value so I figured we should drive in and stock up before everything changes back. We bought a $5 breakfast pack which had a 2kg bag of hashbrowns and 2.5 kg of chipolata sausages. This was portioned up and frozen, I can use the sausages in a casserole or curried for dinner. Regular BBQ sausages at the moment are around $10 a kilo here! Meat prices have skyrocketed. We also got a tea and coffee, pantry, snack and chocolate packs. In the fridges there was flavoured milks, pasta sauce, cream, yoghurt, eggs, capsicum, corn, carrots and watermelon. We now have enough fresh food to last a few weeks and some to share. I asked a staff member at Food bank if the set up will be changing. She replied that she doesn't think so because the new way is working out really well and is a much fairer system with the packs. We agreed. Before if there was an item like laundry powder or shampoo some people would buy large amounts leaving none for others who need it. Really frustrating for the staff and customers!
On the school run I saw this sign with hooks out the front of a house on our street so i stopped to pick it up. Its cute and perfectly matches our decor. There was also some outdoor furniture but we have enough. By the time we drove home again everything was gone!
Every second Friday evening, hubby and I visit a good friend of ours and her partner. We have a few drinks and some laughs. I took her a bag of produce and milk. She gave me a bag of oranges and lemons, 2 family packs of biscuits, a bag of chips and muesli bars. I see some more marmalade making in my future!
I also made some butter from last weeks cream and kept the buttermilk to use in baking. I cooked a bread and butter pudding, a cob loaf dip and Mr 18 baked another chocolate fudge pudding. It doesn't look pretty but is delicious! I cooked spaghetti bolognaise for dinner one night and made a double batch of the sauce, bulking it out with zucchinis and carrots. I portioned out half of it for the fridge to use in another meal. Well I now have a large tray of lasagna cooking as I write. This will be enough for 8 large serves which is 2 nights worth of meals for us. As much as I love cooking, a night off is also great!
Mr 18 flew back out to Newman for work this week and had a list of supplies he wanted to take back with him. I told him to "shop" from our supplies and save himself some money. I love being able to provide this!
Hubby and I also celebrated our 22nd wedding anniversary. I set the table with candles and added a retro centrepiece I bought for 50c. I cooked us an entree of garlic and lemon scallops followed by pork steaks with a creamy potato bake and vegetables. Dessert was a small apple or salted caramel pie and cream. Yum!
I had to buy the cardboard centrepiece because I think it is something we would have had at our wedding in the 90's! When hubby saw it he agreed. We would have thought it was pretty fancy at the time! We talked about how we organised our own wedding on a budget for $1000, Mr 14 asked if that included my dress? Yes it did! The wedding was at a gorgeous little heritage church called All Saints which has a graveyard in the front of the building. I remember some people thought it was morbid, but that's where they were buried many years ago. To me its just part of history and life. Our "reception" was in my Nanna's backyard and I made the decorations and cooked most of the food and dessert for a buffet syle lunch. I also baked and decorated our wedding cake. Being only 19, the only cake I knew how to decorate was fruit cake. Even though hubby doesn't eat it! There was a variety of other desserts on the day and chocolate biscuits to have with tea and coffee afterwards so he didn't miss out! Hubby's sister was married a few years prior to us and had a big wedding at a fancy venue which she bragged about costing $10,000. I remember feeling that my family-my mum, Nana, Aunty and her husband as well as our friends were the only ones happy for us on the day. We faced a lot of criticism from hubby's parents and sister living overseas, that we were too young and that he needed to sort out his life (he has a son from a previous relationship) before getting married. Anyway here we are! We've been together now for 24 years and married for 22. Living happily and frugally!
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