Savings Sunday

During this week I finally finished tidying my study/doll/spare room. It didn't take too long to actually do, it was more of a motivation thing. Just looking at the mess made me feel overwhelmed! Here's the before and after pictures.

I sorted my bedroom built in robe and went through my gift stash. There were a few things in there which I forgot about, so I also made a list of people we give birthday and Christmas gifts to and wrote some ideas of what to buy, make or if I already had something. That way I can acquire things gradually. I added some labels and toppers to the marmalade I made a few weeks ago and these have gone in the gift stash too.

I used my slow cooker to make tomato sauce- for adding to recipes instead of tinned tomatoes and not the ketchup type!  I just dice the tomatoes with an onion, garlic, herbs and a bit of tomato paste then leave until it is cooked and mash up a bit. This was used in a tray of enchiladas and the rest was frozen.

Our neighbours had an old fridge sitting out the front of their house which they said we could have. It needed a really good clean but is much bigger than our indoor one. The freezer part freezes OK, but only on the bottom, so the top part we are just using for bread. This is fine until we can upgrade! 

I used up some bananas and made banana bread. As well as large pot of pumpkin and sweet potato soup. There was marscapone from Foodbank which I used to make a tiramisu. Hubby defrosted some cream and made butter, the buttermilk went into the banana bread, some was used instead of egg to crumb chicken and the rest was given to the dogs.

We did a grocery shop at the Foodbank and they had large bags of about 5kg of chicken for $5! Meat is normally $15 a pack so this is tremendous value. I only got one because i wasn't sure what cut of chicken it was and because our freezers are pretty full. It ended up being chicken tenderloins. I wish I had of grabbed another bag! 

There was also yoghurt, tofu, milk kefir and flavoured milk which we froze and gave some to our neighbours. We also got another free pantry box and bread corn cobs, capsicum, apples, potatoes and spinach.

We caught up with friends on Friday night for drinks and she sent us home with a bag of tinned corn, chickpeas, icecream topping and biscuits that they won't use. 

We sorted out the freezers and defrosted some things to eat up immediately. One of the items was a large catering bag of chilli con carne. I used this a couple of nights ago in the enchiladas and we will have some tonight with rice. I'm just trying to use up any cooked food that we have. 

On a serious note, Ive been talking to hubby about what Annabel and the Bluebirds have said about maintaining a stocked pantry. We have both felt strongly that the events of this year have been a "trial" to prepare for what is to come. There is now a second wave of COVID in Victoria and lockdowns. We all know how quickly stores can run out of supplies, so in my mind it is sensible to have enough of what my family uses on hand. 

I'm not sure whether to expect an economic depression, inflation or a New World Order but things will get worse and we want to be as prepared as we can be. If nothing come of it, good. We just won't have to go shopping for a while!