Frugal Friday - Keeping Warm

Source for this image here.

The picture above, which I found on the very useful Wikimedia site (link above), is of frost!  It needs to be very cold for this to happen!  As a child I remember seeing frost patterns on the window in our kitchen, and sometimes nowadays we get them on the windows of our car.

This morning it was very cold again, not cold enough for frost flowers, but almost cold enough for us to switch on our central heating.  But we didn't!  We try not to until the beginning of November, because the heating is so expensive - and just today, British Gas announced a 6% rise in the cost of fuel - not at all what we wanted to hear!  When I changed our bedclothes this morning I decided it was time to switch over our quilt from the light summer one we've been using until now, to the thick padded one that we have in winter.  Each year when I do this, I forget how thick it is!  It is like a huge squishy marshmallow!  It is quite difficult for me to manouvere as I put the quilt cover onto it, as the quilt is so large, and I am so small.  And at night, when I get into bed with that big squashy quilt on top of me I feel as if I am getting lost inside the bed, as it is so very thick and large.  Papa Bear always has to rescue me!  But I'm always very grateful for it.  Without it our nights would be very chilly!

Hedgerow Harvest

Source for this image here.

Today I have been finalising our menu for tomorrow and for the week ahead.  We are having a special meal tomorrow evening in honour of the birthdays of myself and Papa Bear.  Our birthdays are only a couple of weeks apart, so we like to have a special day that we celebrate together, as well as on the real day as well.  Just like Royalty!  Our food bill will be a little more expensive than usual tomorrow as a result, as much of what I am serving needs to be prepared fresh, so I haven't been able to plan very far ahead with purchasing the ingredients.  But do you know, God has been very kind to us!  There was a coupon printed in yesterday's newspaper, that was for the supermarket that we always use, which offers £10 off the cost of our weekly shop!  I am sure this was meant to be - and so it means we probably won't have to spend very much more than we do normally - and we'll still be able to enjoy our special meal.

Frugal Friday - Ways With Beans

Now that the weather has started to feel much cooler, our menus have begun to change.  Recently we've had lots of soups, stews and casseroles.  During the week, I soaked a large bowl full of mixed dried beans, which I then simmered on the stovetop for an hour or so.  That was all the cooking they needed - I then had the base for several different dishes, which we've been enjoying for our lunches and evening meals!

No Frugal Friday Today!

Hello everyone.
We are having some big problems with our computer today.
Therefore no Frugal Friday post.  Hopefully things will be back to normal tomorrow.

Frugal Friday - Preparing Our Daughters To Shop Wisely

Yesterday I wrote about "hope chests", and the modern-day equivalents that we mamas have to help our daughters prepare for their grown-up lives as wives and mothers.  One of the things that, as a mother, you can pass on to your daughter, is not so much a material item that you can put away in her "bottom drawer", but instead, it is knowledge.  Important knowledge!  There are many things that your daughter will learn, following your example, as she grows and shares in your day-to-day life.  She'll learn by imitation, but she'll also learn, of course, by instruction, and from you sharing the wisdom that you have learned, as a careful keeper of the home.  Some of this, of course, relates to managing your household income!  And that's what I am going to be writing about today.  I'll be focussing on supermarket shopping, since this is usually one of a family's most expensive weekly outgoings, and one that nearly everyone will be concerned with.

Frugal Friday - Simple Ideas For A Pretty Home

Source for this image here.

I read lots of "how to" books, mostly about homemaking and organising.  I really enjoy finding out about ways to make your home look pretty without having to spend lots of money.  Emilie Barnes is one author who has greatly inspired me, and helped me to rethink some of the ways I organise and store things around our home.  Some of her ideas are so simple, but work so well!

Frugal Friday - Girls' Day Out

Little Bear and I had a "girls' day out" today!  We hit the stores and had a great time - but we didn't spend much money!  How?

Well, there are a few strategies you can use, when you have a shopping trip, that can help to make sure you don't go over budget.  This is what we did today ...

Before we went, we decided what we wanted to look at, where we wanted to go, and perhaps buy, if we found what we wanted.  Little Bear needed to get some new nightclothes, and I wanted to see if there were any autumn scented candles available yet at the Yankee Candle store.  We also planned to look in the Lakeland cookware store, and stop at a coffee shop for a drink.  We worked out how much we could spend on the things we wanted to look at, and how much we wanted to spend at the coffee shop.  We then made out a shopping list, so that we knew exactly what we would be buying, and where.  And then we set off!

Frugal Friday (24th August)

I thought today I would share with you some links to websites that I visit where you can get lovely downloads, free e-books and lots of wonderful recipes.  These are all proper, well-run, legal websites that don't contravene any publishing laws.  They are ones I visit regularly and am happy to recommend.  Using the resources on these websites can save you lots of money, too!  The Taste of Home website has thousands of delicious recipes to try, and you can create your own customised recipe box and menus too.  And Project Gutenberg has a wealth of free e-books which are available quite legitimately because their copyrighting has expired, so it is no longer necessary to buy printed versions of the books.  They are a little harder to read, I find, than paper books (which is the main reason why I don't have a Kindle) but still well worth taking a look at, especially if you enjoy reading historical novels, or classics by authors such as Elizabeth Gaskell, Charles Dickens and Jane Austen.

Here are some of my favourite sites ...

Frugal Friday (17th August)

I have the shopping list for our visit to the supermarket finalised now, and looking through it, we don't have an enormous amount of things to buy.  Most of what we need is things we need to get each week - fresh fruit and vegetables, toiletries, things for the animals, the odd treat!  Not an expensive shop at all!  Which is just as well, as we have a few extra expenses coming up over the next months.

Recently I've been able to make some savings when planning our menus and the consequent shopping lists by substituting the supermarket's "value" range products for the more expensive versions wherever possible.  This has led to some considerable savings, which has been good, because although we have a fixed weekly budget for our food, we don't always reach that limit, and the money not spent can go towards other things.  So far Papa Bear has paid for a wonderful treat for us all which we will be enjoying this Christmas!  I can't wait to share about it - but I won't until closer to the time!  I am very much looking forward to this though, and extremely grateful to my wonderful husband, who has been able to work out a budget that allows us to stretch our pennies far enough to be able to have a little over for nice treats at the end of the year!

By using the "value" products I've been able to save a lot on simple basic ingredients for our meals.  For example, the "value" pasta, rice, flour and potatoes really are well worth the savings (in general they are about 1/4 of the price of the stores regular own-brand item).  But there are products we've bought that really are not worth spending the money on, and so for today's Frugal Friday, I thought I would share with you what our best and worst "value" buys have been!

Best Buys ...
Potatoes (fine but sold in a much larger pack than the more expensive versions, so per purchase you won't be spending any less, though the unit value of the items is smaller).
Pears (no noticeable difference when compared to pricier alternatives)
Bananas (no noticeable difference)
Mixed salad (very good)
Strawberries (fine for smoothies/sauces, though not so great for eating as they are)
Lemons (no noticeable difference)
Tomatoes (no noticeable difference, especially if stored on a windowsill
Avocadoes (usually unripe, but will ripen quickly at home)
Flour (no difference at all)
Pasta (fine but no wholegrain version available)
Rice (fine but as above, no wholegrain version)
Dried fruit (I wouldn't buy this to eat as a snack but in baking it is absolutely fine.  Try soaking it to plump it out beforehand)
Oats (no difference at all)
Margarine and butter (both great for baking, but not spreading)
Cheese (all kinds.  We only eat cheese when it has been used in a recipe.  I wouldn't ever waste money on more expensive cheeses as the "value" ones are so good).
Toilet tissue (basic, but why on earth spend more?).
Kitchen paper (as above.  It's thinner than the more expensive kind, but does the job just as well).
Hand soap (doesn't smell so wonderful as the pricier versions but does the job).
Washing powder (not very scented, but does the job and actually rinses out better than the pricer versions).
Fabric conditioner (actually smells nicer than the pricier versions, though the scent doesn't last quite as long.  Rinses well).
Canned mushrooms (no noticeable difference).
Frozen vegetables (all versions look and taste fine).
Canned tomatoes (they are a bit thinner than the pricier versions, but for most all recipes they are perfectly adequate).
White vinegar (in English supermarkets I have never seen a version that wasn't "value", so I can't compare it, but for the purposes we use it - mostly cleaning - it is absolutely fine).
Chocolate (for baking - better than using the "chocolate flavoured covering" and tastes fine).

Don't Waste Your Money ...
Apples (very unpredictable.  Some are fine, but even within the same half dozen you will get maybe one nice one, four OK ones and one that is really inedible.  I'd rather go without if I can't afford decent ones).
Stone fruit, such as peaches, plums and apricots (so hard, and never seem to ripen no matter how long you keep them).
Fruit squash (it is 1/4 of the price of the own brand version, but 1/4 of the size, and much weaker.  The amount needed cancels out any potential saving).
Tea bags (again, 1/4 of the price, but you need to use two to get a decent cup of tea, so they are used twice as fast as the ones that are more expensive, and they don't taste as good either).
Mince (don't.  Just don't.  We'd sooner be vegetarians than eat this again.  Greasy, gristly, tasteless and I don't like to think what the poor cow suffered before it was made into this grey, gloopy mush.  EWWWW).
Bubble bath (it's so thin you need to use half a bottle to get a reasonable amount of bubbles, and it smells like cheap washing up liquid - which is another product not worth wasting money on).
Shampoo and conditioner (they feels as if they of reasonable quality, but they don't contain the same nourishing products that our family's varying hair types require.  Using them over time this becomes very apparent.  Not worth the small saving).
Toothpaste (1/4 of the price of the own brand, but 1/4 of the size!  No saving when this is taken into account - and it tastes kind of "chalky".  Only worth buying if you are travelling and need to pack a small tube for an overnight stop).
Canned baked beans (tomato sauce is extremely watery and sweet).
Foil (useless - too thin to use to wrap anything, and the roll is tiny).

I am sure there are more, so this is definitely a topic to revisit!

And now I am off to add a couple of last minute things to that list ...

Frugal Friday (10th August)

Every so often, when I have the oven on because I am doing some baking for the family, I mix up a few muffins for our birds to enjoy.  They are special "birdie" muffins, made with extra ingredients such as egg shell, fruits and veggies, that they will benefit from nutritionally.   It is much easier to get them to eat these wholesome goodies if they are in the form of a muffin - especially a warm one, and they freeze well too, so I don't have to make them very often.

One of the ingredients that I put in these muffins is a jar of pureed baby food - something like sweet potato and carrot, or apple and apricot.  The reason I use the jar rather than the actual veggies is that this way, I can add just the right amount to my muffins without having to go to the trouble and expense of buying the ingredients separately, preparing and cooking them, just for such a tiny quantity. 

Well, I was making some muffins for the birds this afternoon, and when I was adding the baby food, it struck me that the reason I was using it rather than preparing the ingredients from scratch, was really in truth, the exact same reason why people buy and use baby food in jars rather than making it themselves, for their human babies!  It's just more convenient.

If you have - or like us, have had - children, then you will know that what you decide to feed your children is a raging controversy.  People seem to feel very strongly about the whole baby feeding issue - from birth onwards.   Everyone has their own view - some people think that baby food in jars is as bad as junk food - processed gloop - and others are glad to have an option to feed their baby something which is not only quick and easy, but in their opinon, just as nutritious as home made food.  Some of the arguments I use to hear were that the manufactured food was tasteless, full of preservatives, colouring, sugar and salt (all of which aren't good for babies) and that they were very expensive.  Home prepared food, conversely, is much better, I was told, becuase it has exactly what you've chosen to put into it and no more.  It's much cheaper too, because you can simply prepare a separate portion of whatever the rest of the family is having for your child, instead of having to buy separate foods.  And because it is exactly what everyone else is having, then your child will grow up to be less faddy than a child who has learned about flavours and textures from the food in jars.

I will be honest here.  When Papa Bear and I were new parents, we didn't worry very much about what to feed our children.  We just assumed they would eat what we did, when they were ready.   The guidance about solid feeding for babies was different when Little Bear and Cubby were tiny, to the guidance that exists now.  And we tended to follow the example of our families.  I didn't really prepare separate food for our children - right from the start.  I didn't puree or blend anything either.  I just picked out the bits of our meals that were suitable for them, mashed them with a fork, added a little milk and fed them as they were.  We didn't even use separate equipment - just a saucer and a teaspoon.  They had "finger foods" like bits of toast or slices of apple, and yes, if we were out and we had fish and chips or ice cream, our babies shared it too.  This is how we grew up, and it doesn't seem to have done them any harm.   But could we have done it better?  Would it have been better to prepare separate foods, or buy them ready made, so that we knew exactly what they were getting?

One of the main considerations for us, should we have chosen either of these options, would have been cost.  When we were new parents, as for many families, we didn't have much money to spare.  We had a food budget, and out of that our babies' food had to come too.  Buying special meals for our children wasn't an option.  But would it have worked out much more expensive?  And if so, would the extra cost have been worth it?  Would our children have been getting better nutrition, if we'd bought jars of baby food - or if we'd been using organic, freshly prepared fruits and veggies?  Let's have a look - using today's prices, of course!

A jar of Cow & Gate's "Creamy Carrot And Potato" first food costs 60 pence and contains carrot, potato, cooking water and ground rice.  It can be warmed in a microwave, therefore using only a tiny amount of power (we didn't own a microwave so I recall that instead we used a bowl of hot water in which the food container would be stood until it was the right temperature - this entailed having to boil a kettle, so would have cost us slightly more).  It is ready to feed and any left overs that weren't fed to the baby, as long as they were not in the receptacle that the baby was fed from, can be kept for 24 hours in the fridge.

To create the same dish at home, using the same ingredients, would involve a potato (approximately 50 pence for one large one), a carrot (about 5 pence for one carrot), hot water and the ground rice (which costs 98 pence a box).  I am not sure why this last would be needed, other than to thicken the food, but if you are making it yourself you would simply add less water, so it wouldn't be necessary.  For the sake of proper comparison, we will say that we did use it, and that we used a tablespoonful - about 1/20th of the box, or another 5 pence.  So the initial cost of the ingredients is the same as the jar - 60 pence.

But - you are getting a lot more food for your money!  One big potato, one carrot and a tablespoon of ground rice, will probably yield at least twice as much food as you get in the one jar.  It will be fresher, and will have more nutrients because it hasn't been heat-treated like the jar of food to make it sterile (so that it has a long shelf-life - the shelf-life of the jarred food can be as long as 18 months).  This is even if you don't use organic veggies which of course will have even more bonuses health-wise, but be more expensive.

There's no competition when it comes to cost, but we do need to factor in the expense of cooking the home-made food.  To boil a pan of water for the veggies for 15 minutes probably costs about 20 pence - but again, you could boil many times the amount of veggies than that found in the jar, which will bring this cost down. 

It isn't necessarily less convenient, either, because if you do prepare a big amount of food in one go, you can then divide it into smaller containers and freeze it.  Some people use ice cube trays, and just use as many as their baby will eat in one meal.  This way although there's a little more work to start with, thereafter it is no more trouble than opening a jar and warming it up.  And it's better for the environment too - no glass jar to dispose of either!

Some of the other arguments for using home cooked food over manufactured are that of course you can choose from just about anything you like, rather than be limited by the choices offered by the baby food companies.  That being said, there are restrictions that you do need to consider - the baby food that is sold in stores is strictly regulated for levels of toxins and is balanced to ensure the right level of the good things, too.  And if you serve things like a lasagne made with a ready-made meat sauce and lots of cheese, this isn't necessarily an awful lot better than a meal straight from a jar, because the ready-made sauce could have just as many additives and preservatives in it as the baby food in a jar, but not be regulated in the same way, as it isn't manufactured to the same restrictions.

It's a difficult choice - and as a parent myself, I can't say that I think there is one right way to feed your children.  Other than that, as long as you are providing the best that you can for your babies, then you are definitely doing a good enough job!  We all start out as new mommies wanting the very best for our children - and that is just how it should be.  But we quickly learn that actually, being good enough, is all we need to be!  The odd jar of food won't hurt anyone - but preparing your own food can be fun too, and sharing a meal that the whole family can eat, as we found, is the best way to enjoy each other's company - no matter how fancy the food is!

Now with that in mind, I just might try to make my next batch of birdie muffins right from scratch.  I'd better make sure I label them clearly in the freezer though!

Frugal Friday - Tropical Banana Smoothies

Today I had some over-ripe bananas that needed using up.  It's really difficult to stop bananas from becoming too ripe.  Apparently you can buy a special sort of bag for keeping them in, but I haven't got one of these.  I try to keep them separate from other fruits as this can cause them to ripen too quickly, and I also do tend to keep them in their packaging, because unlike other fruits, this also seems to prevent them from ripening too fast.  As we only shop once a week (it wouldn't be convenient to shop more often than this, and although there are stores nearby that do sell fruit and vegetables, they are more expensive than the supermarket, so we try to buy enough to last us all week) I do find that we sometimes have a few bananas by the end of the week that are really too ripe to be pleasant to eat just as they are.  But that doesn't mean they have to be wasted!

You can use bananas that are too ripe to make banana bread or muffins, which I often do (our favourite banana muffin recipe can be found here on the Taste Of Home website).  But today, I decided to make banana smoothies instead.

Smoothies have gained a lot of popularity in recent years for being a "superfood" - a quick and easy way to get lots of vitamins and minerals, without much effort.  There are thousands of smoothie recipes available online for inspiration, and even blogs and websites dedicated just to them!  We agree that they're a great way to get your "five-a-day", especially for those who are not keen on the taste of fruits of vegetables, or who dislike the texture of them when whole, but we aren't so sure about some of the hype that surrounds them which implies that there is something superior nutritionally about taking your vitamins in the form of pulverised fruit and vegetables, rather simply eating them as nature packaged them.   If you are keen on smoothies, they can work out as a very expensive way to get your fruit and vegetable dose for the day - especially if you have lots of mouths to feed, because as you are getting a big dose of goodies in each smoothie, to provide enough fresh produce to make a large quantity of smoothie each day would work out more expensive than to just eat a normal quantity fruit or vegetables in their whole form.  It isn't actually better for your health to overdose on vitamins.  While a smoothie is a great way to condense lots of goodies into one drink, it isn't nutritionally necessary to consume them if you are eating a varied, balanced diet which includes whole fruit and vegetables anway.    Also you do need a bit of kit to be able to make the more sophisticated ones - things like blenders and juicers, which we don't have, so we tend to avoid the very fancy recipes.  But there's no denying that smoothies are delicious, and extremely good for you!  We do often have them for breakfast anyways, but as with today, although they weren't on the menu for breakfast this morning, I made enough for everyone to have a small glass with their waffles and fruit.

Here is the recipe that I used.  Unlike many smoothie recipes, using just overripe bananas, canned peaches and crushed pineapple means that you don't need to use a proper jug blender (though they will be great if you do have one).  I use my basic wand blender, which cost £5, and they work out fine.

To serve 2 for a main breakfast dish, or 4 as part of one ...

4 overripe bananas
1 14 oz can peaches (apricots would work well too)
1 can crushed pineapple (in England the only brand of this that I can get is Del Monte)
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1 pint semi-skimmed milk

Use a large jug or high sided bowl to mix the smoothie if you are using a wand blender.  If you have a jug blender, simply follow the manufacturer's instructions as usual.

1.  Peel and chop the bananas.  Place them in the jug or bowl with the well drained peaches and the crushed pineapple (I don't drain this first).

2.  Add the spices and milk, and give it a quick stir.

3.  Whizz it up until well blended.  We aren't keen on really thick smoothies, so depending on how large the bananas were, I may add a little more milk. 

If you use really ripe bananas for this recipe then there is no need to sweeten it (in fact I wouldn't anyway, as the cinnamon also lends a nice sweetness to this, though Papa Bear does like it with a little maple syrup too!).  Sometimes I add a tablespoon of oatmeal, or wheatgerm (the latter will also boost the nutritent qualities of this smoothie, especially the B vitamins).  You may want to add some yogurt, but we prefer it just as it is.  Yum!

Zucchini - A Versatile Vegetable

Source for this image here.

In point of fact, zucchini (or courgettes, as they are more commonly known in England) are not vegetables at all but botanically speaking, a fruit.  They are members of the squash and pumpkin family (the word "zucchini" simply means "wee squash"), though the plants usually ripen earlier, and at this time of year, many gardeners who grow them can find themselves with a glut of them to use up!

We don't have a garden, so we have been the very welcome recipients of several beautiful home-grown zucchini, thanks to the generosity of one of Papa Bear's colleagues.  He brought them home yesterday, and so far I have already used one, to add to a salad that we ate (both at home and at work) today for our midday meal.  You may be surprised to hear of it being eaten raw, in a salad, but in truth it works very well, partly because on its own, it doesn't really have very much flavour.  It picks up the flavour of other ingredients very well though, so it is a great addition, bringing colour and texture, and, since it was free, a frugal one too!  Even if we buy them at the supermarket, at this time of year they are inexpensive, and so useful in many different recipes.

For the salad we had today, I simply cut up the zucchini into thin matchsticks, and added it to chopped apple, cucumber, celery, red onion, a few fresh peas we had left over, mixed leaves and some pea shoots, and then mixed these in a home made salad dressing using red wine vinegar, walnut oil, a little garlic paste, a teaspoon of honey, a dash of mustard, the juice of 2 lemons, some celery salt and ordinary sea salt and freshly ground pepper.  As I made this first thing this morning so that Papa Bear could take some to work with him, the veggies were able to marinate in the dressing for several hours (I lay the salad leaves on the top, to be mixed in just before eating), so if I was making this when we were all at home I would want to prepare it at least an hour beforehand.  It was lovely!  I shall definitely be making this again.

That's not all zucchini are good for though!  You can use them in all kinds of savoury dishes - they work well with the warm, Meditteranean flavours of tomatoes, garlic and a good quality oil, such as olive or walnut.  They are lovely roasted with peppers, tomatoes, mushrooms, aubergines (eggplant) and red onions, to be used as a base for a pasta sauce or rich vegetable casserole (rattatouile).  I like to use them in summer soups too - and they can be stuffed with other veggies, nuts and breadcrumbs to be roasted in the oven.  I've also made them into curries with pulses in the past, and sometimes add them to the ingredients for a vegetable quiche very successfully (they are quite watery so I tend to gently sautee them first).  We will be eating them again tomorrow, sauteed with onions and garlic and mixed with wholegrain pasta (we are really enjoying pasta dishes just now) and more walnut oil to create a warm spaghetti salad.

Later in the season, as summer nights start to draw in and the first leaves begin to fall from the trees, I like to set aside some time to make chutney, which I often use as part of the gifts in the Christmas baskets I've made in past years (we have an enormous family, which makes for an awful lot of gifts, even if we just stick to "close" family members, so home-made gift baskets are a great way to give a present to a whole family - parents and children - that they can all enjoy) .  I use a very old recipe that comes from a sweet wee book that I got years ago in a thrift store, by a lady called Mrs. Arthur Webb, which was published way back in 1947!  I normally make enough for several jars, and bottle the chutney I am going to give away in pretty jars, with a handrwritten copy of the recipe attached, and a wee "tea bag" of pickling spice to make it even easier!  It is so simple that I hope everyone will give it a try!

You need ...

2 lb apples (weighed after peeling & coring)
2 lb zucchini (weighed after peeling)
3/4 lb onions
1 1/2 lb sugar
1 tablespoon root ginger, peeled and crushed
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons mustard seed
pinch cayenne pepper
1 quart vinegar (you can buy special pickling vinegar in most supermarkets)

Start this recipe the day before you plan to make the chutney.

1.  Dice the zucchini, then place pieces in a bowl, layering with a little salt as you go.  Cover and leave overnight (no need to refrigerate).

2.  The next day, drain any water that has come from the zucchini (there may not be much - it depends how large the vegetables were.  In the autumn they tend to be bigger, and in fact you can substitue the zucchini with the same weight of marrow, but I prefer not to use these as the skin is so tough I find them impossible to cut open).

3.  Chop the apples and onions, then place in a large preserving pan,  and mix the zucchini pieces with these.  Add the vinegar, sugar and salt and mix well.

4.  Take a piece of muslin cloth (I use an old baby muslin, cut to size and reused just for this purpose - a clean dishcloth or handkerchief will do just as well) and tie the mustard seed and ginger inside this so that it makes a little bag (you may need to tie it with string, rather than use the cloth itself).   If you don't want to do this stage, omit the mustard seed and ginger, and use one of the commercial pickling spice mixes instead, which come ready packaged in a "teabag" that you can add to your chutney.

5.  If you are using the muslin bag technique, then place it in the preserving pan with the other ingredients, and tie the ends/string to the handle of the pan.  This way it will be easier to fish out when you are done!

6.  Simmer for 2 hours, until it is well blended and reduced down.  Unlike jam, which you have to worry over a little more, chutney is much more well-behaved, and there is no need to check for a set - it can take a little more, or less cooking and will still be fine.

7.  Remove the seasoning bag (whichever option you chose), then turn the cooked chutney into warmed, sterilised jars (I sterilise my jars by baking them in a low oven for about 15 minutes, which means they are ready to use immediately).  Seal when cold.

Of course, because zucchini is so delicately flavoured on its own, you can also use it to make sweet things!  You can in fact use it to make jam, though I have never tried, and you can also make it into breads, or cakes, when it often takes on a similar characteristic to carrots or bananas, adding a delicious moistness to your baked goods.  Here is a link to a recipe for zucchini cake which is very easy (and successful) to make, from my favourite recipe website, Taste of Home.  My family thoroughly recommend this cake (even with my hungry menfolk I tend to halve the recipe) though unfortunately, this time around, there isn't quite enough zucchini to make it! 

Finally, it is also possible to use the flowers of the zucchini plant to add interest to your cooking as they are perfectly edible, and considered a delicacy in many different parts of the world.  We have only eaten zucchini flowers once, when one of my sisters served them fried in a light batter.  They were interesting - but not something I'd hurry to eat again!  However, I am sure that there are many other ways to eat them, perhaps as part of a salad, and they certainly add a lovely summery brightness to any dish with their vivid yellow colour.

So don't overlook the zucchini when you are wondering what to serve your family for a change of pace with your menus!  It may not seem like a very exciting vegetable on its own, but it has many possiblities, and as it is so cheap at this time of year, it is also a great way to eat economically, but healthily too.

Frugal Friday - A Frugal Find!

"She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness". (Proverbs 31: 27).

We were so happy today!  Little Bear and I made a great frugal find!

We've been having lots of problems with our TV recently.  It's a very old television, given to us by a member of the family when they replaced it with a new one.  We were very grateful for it, and were happy to hang on to it until it came to the end of its useful life - and unfortunately, despite a temporary reprieve thanks to the interventions of Papa Bear and an engineer, that now has happened - and a new TV must be got.

Well, we've been able to purchase a new television set, which is being delivered to our home next week - but we didn't have a stand to put it on.  The old TV has an integral stand, and when Papa Bear took a look at it last weekend, he said that there was no way it could be separated without damaging the stand so that it could not be used.  Also, since TVs have changed quite a bit since this one was new, the stand it is on would not be large enough for our new television anyway.  We had a look at stands on the internet to see where we could get a good price for one, and they seemed so expensive.  So then we looked for second-hand ones - and they were nearly as bad!  We decided not to buy one but to wait and see if we could find one in a thrift store.  In the meantime, the new TV would have to stand on the floor.

This morning, Little Bear and I went downstairs to retrieve our dustbins, which get emptied on Fridays and are always left scattered about for the tenants of our block of apartments to take back from the roadside.  So we went down to the yard where the bin sheds are, and what did we see, dumped at the edge of the yard?

A TV STAND!

It was in perfect condition, too!  Just a little bit dusty from having been stood outside - but it couldn't have been there long, as we didn't see it there even only yesterday!  We were so excited and happy!  We carried it carefully upstairs back to our flat (we were quite sure it was most definitely dumped - there were bags of rubbish, empty cardboard boxes, and all kinds of other stuff, mostly junk, also there).  It was very heavy, so we had to go slowly and carefully, but we managed to get it there in one piece.  Once indoors, we cleaned it down thoroughly, using disinfectant first and then polish.  It came up great!  It is black and grey, with a glass door and two shelves inside it, and it is shaped to fit into the corner of the room - just exactly what we were looking for!  It is on casters too, so easy to move into place.  We were so delighted - I couldn't wait for Papa Bear to get home so he could see it.  And when he did, he was delighted too!  He coudn't believe that just when we needed that exact thing, it would appear in our yard - for absoutely nothing!   He said he thought Little Bear and I were very thrifty to have thought to resuce it from the dumped items in the yard and bring it upstairs!   Cubby was excited too - he says Little Bear and I have been "freecycling" - and so we have! I can thoroughly recommend it! 

It's the very best way to be frugal - and it just shows, that if we are patient and prepared to wait, then God does indeed supply all our needs.  I wonder what He will send to us next!

"But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus". (Philippians 4: 19).

Frugal Friday (13th July)

Yesterday I wrote about how important it is for families to share mealtimes and eat together.  This is something that we as a family certainly enjoy - and I also enjoy the privelige, as keeper of our home, of being responsible for creating our menus, and preparing our meals.  I always endeavour to keep our meals reasonably frugal - trying to make use of left-overs, and cooking from scratch wherever possible rather than buying expensive, packaged and processed meals.  Recently, Papa Bear and I have been examining our diet as a whole, and have decided that we'd like to take this a little bit further and try more specifically to ensure that what we eat is wholesome and nutritious, without costing us any more money.

I've been doing some research that has led me to want to try some new ways of preparing and cooking foods to make them provide us with the greatest benefits that I can.  As a family, we have always felt strongly that gimmicky diets which exclude certain food groups, or rely on foods being prepared a certain way, are not God's way for us to nourish ourselves, and therefore, not how we ourselves want to eat.  On the other hand however, we also feel strongly that God does want us to keep our bodies as fit and healthy as we can, in order that we glorify Him  -

"What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's". (1 Corinthians: 19 - 20).

For this reason, we've decided to make the following changes ...

1.  Eat less meat, especially red meat, and increase the number of vegetarian meals we have each week.  By vegetarian, I simply mean, meatless meals.  In England it is possible to buy quite a wide variety of vegetarian products, foodstuffs made of Quorn or Tofu, or other vegetable proteins, which are designed to look and taste like meat.  Some of these are much lower in fat than their real meat counterparts, and are sometimes much cheaper to buy.  But they are not without drawbacks - they are often full of artifical additives, in order that they taste good, and they are not necessarily always cheaper than meat products.  On the whole we prefer to do without meat substitutes like this altogether.  Instead, our meatless meals consist of dishes that are naturally vegetarian - such as macaroni and cheese, chilli bean bake, and green pasta to name but a few.  These are all meals that we eat regularly anyway as they are cheap, filling and good for us, so this is not so much of a drastic change, just a slight alteration of direction!

2.  Soak grains before using.  This isn't going to cost us any more than not soaking them, of course!  I do already soak rice and pulses before cooking them, usually for about 12 hours.  But I am going to try the pre-soaked grains method for breadmaking.  I already make all the bread we eat, but don't usually soak the flour beforehand.  I am going to try out several different techniques before I settle on one - I'll see which the family prefers.  There are two reasons why soaking grains is valuable.  First of all, soaking breaks down the proteins in the grains so that they are more digestible, and secondly, it also neutralises the phytic acid which is present in them, which can prevent the proper absorbtion of the nutrients in the grains when they are released as they are consumed.  It is best to soak grains in an acidic liquid such as whey, buttermilk or ideally, kefir (a kind of cultured dairy product a little like yogurt, but with a more sour and pronounced flavour).  You can also use lemon juice or apple cider vinegar, and as I always have these 2 last to hand in the kitchen, I shall be using them to start with, or perhaps buttermilk, as I very often use this in baking anyway.  It will really just mean a very slight change to the way that I prepare our bread.  Instead of putting the ingredients together and starting the breadmaker immediately, I shall combine the ingredients (apart from the yeast) the night before, and leave them at room temperature to soak overnight.  In the morning, I will add the yeast and start the breadmaker as usual.  In all truth it is no different to leaving the mixture in the machine on a time-delay setting, except that I shall combine the ingredients thoroughly to allow the flour to soak in the liquid, and instead of using water and milk powder, I shall use buttermilk.  For all other grains, I will use lemon juice or vinegar.  And wait to see if we feel any difference, using this technique!

3.  Another cost-saving change that I am making which will hopefully also have a beneficial effect on our health is to do away sweet treats and high-fat foods such as cakes, scones and cookies.  We don't eat dessert during the week, only at weekends, and this will not change.  But Papa Bear feels that he would like to try eating healthier snacks between meals and in the evening, so there will be a few changes there.  Instead of the less healthy treats, he'll be eating things like fruit, raw vegetables with salsa as a dip, or yogurt for a treat.  I'll be making some healthy cereal bars for him to take to work, and this week coming he has got home baked wholegrain bean pasties to look forwards to as well!

There will be some other changes too - a leaning towards less sweet food overall, and fewer ready-made products - for example, instead of using canned soup in recipes such as casseroles or bakes, I'll make my own sauces, and we'll be eating more vegetables and fewer carbohydrates.  But we won't be making a big deal out of this.  No food will be "banned" (this is just calling for us to crave it, and possibly even make an idol of it) and no foods will be considered "good" or "bad".  All food is good for us - in moderation!  We believe in a simple approach to healthy eating.  As long as most of what we eat is wholesome and nutritious, the odd treat cannot do any harm.  A healthy diet consists of all the food groups - with a bigger focus on wholegrains, fruit, vegetables and low fat proteins.  There is no need for it to be any more complicated than this.  We don't need to spend lots of money on fancy food products or detailled cook books.  There is no need to follow rigid eating schedules and schemes that suggest we exclude certain foodstuffs or eat others to extremes.  This isn't how God wants us to eat.  And if we have more food than we need - then we must thank Him for such abundance, be grateful for what we have, and enjoy it - whilst keeping some back to share with others!  It's wonderful to have the freedom to be able to choose from such an incredible variety of delicious things to eat.  I just pray that we'll continue to use this freedom sensibly, and make wise food choices that will keep us healthy and vigorous, and make good use of our resources.

Now, I'm off to do some menu tweaking!

"Behold that which I have seen: it is good and comely for one to eat and to drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labour that he taketh under the sun all the days of his life, which God giveth him: for it is his portion". (Ecclesiastes 5: 18).

Frugal Friday - Bird Care Expenses

 

One of the things that we have to budget for each week is the expense of keeping our pets.  We've had animals all our lives - both Papa Bear and I grew up around animals - although since marriage, we have only kept small animals that live in cages, rather than dogs or cats, as culturally we consider these animals to be unclean, and do not prefer to have them living indoors with us.  Currently we have 4 birds, a large goldfish, and 2 chinchillas that are the sole responsibility of Cubby and Little Bear.  We don't factor in the expense of keeping the chinchillas, since they fund this themselves.  But the birds and the fish are our concern!

It's often a surprise to people who are new to keeping an animal, just how many expenses there are, even with small pets like ours.  It isn't just the intial expenses of purchasing the animal and the items it needs such as a cage, toys, food bowls and such.  It is the ongoing costs - the food, bedding, cleaning materials - and of course the vet's fees.  It surprises me just how many people seem to be willing to take on the responsibilty of caring for an animal without considering this.  Although it is possible to pay for insurance for the vet treatment of some animals, such as cats, dogs and rabbits, the cost of insuring exotic animals like birds, is outweighed by the fact that many of the conditions they would need treatment for which would be very expensive - such as egg binding - are not covered by insurance.  It is actually cheaper for us to make a monthly saving towards vet's fees, rather than have an expensive insurance policy which might not actually cover what we need to use it for.  But many people do not bother with insurance, and in the case of dogs particularly, this can lead to enormous vet's bills if you are not careful - maybe running into hundreds, if not thousands of pounds.  Sometimes, this can mean that sadly, animals don't get the vital medical care they need - because their owners can't afford it.  They went into getting the pet without considering the ongoing costs.  This is not only irresponsible, but very cruel.  No animal asks to be owned by a human.  If you've chosen to take an animal into your home, then you have a responsibility to that creature, for the rest of its life, to take care of it - as it deserves to be taken care of - whether it is a fish, or a horse.  There are far too many animals languishing in rescue shelters because they were purchased by people who didn't consider carefully just how much money it would cost them to keep the animal.

Our view is that if you are thinking of getting a pet but are unsure of the expenses, and whether you will be able to meet them, then a good way to be sure, without causing distress to the animal (and yourself, if you find you can't afford the ongoing expenses, and have to part with it) is to sit down and work out just exactly what it would cost to keep the animal, and then try to put aside this amount of money every month for a minimum of six months.  If in that time you find it easy to put this money aside without causing hardship in other areas of your budget, then you are probably OK to go ahead with your purchase.

Here is how we break down the expenses of keeping our birds (the fish's expenses are minimal - in all the years we've kept goldfish, we've never had to take one to the vet - and they don't eat much, either.  But they are still animals, and deserve proper care and attention, just as much as any other animal).  This is roughly what we have to buy each month ...

• Sandpaper - 8 packs of 8 sheets (both sides of each sheet are used - the sheets are changed each day so one side is used one day, and the other the next day, then they are replaced with new sheets).  Newspaper is a safe alternative, but our birds are afraid of it and we prefer the rough texture of the sandpaper, which wears down their claws and saves on vet's bills having to get them clipped.  We can also clip them ourselves - but this is very difficult to do with a nervous, wriggly bird.
• Grit - 1/4 sack mineral tonic grit
• Cuttlebone - 4 large
• Millet spray - 1 bag of approx 8 sprays - only given as treats
• Hay cookies - 2 (bought in pack of 6) - the birds like to nibble these
• Seed - two large sacks, one of mixed cockatiel seed, one of tonic seed (we use to buy pelleted food as well.  But this is very expensive, and research is divided on whether or not it is better to give birds pelleted food.  We choose currently to give our birds a mixed diet instead as we feel this is healthier and more econimical).
• Veggies - 4 large bags of spinach, 6 bags mixed leaves, 1 bag romaine lettuce, 1 cucumber, 2 bags curly kale, 4 packs sugar snap peas, 1 bag frozen peas, 1 bag frozen sweetcorn.  Other veggies given as treats.
• Fruit - punnet of apricots, 1 orange, 1 apple, 1 peach, half a banana (the birds aren't keen on fruit).
• Pulses - 1/2 bag mixed pulses (to sprout).
• (Veggies and fruit are shared with the humans!).
• 1 bottle bird safe antiseptic spray
• 4 rolls kitchen paper (used for quick cleaning of cage in the mornings)

Money is also put towards vets' fees, which we invest at the end of the year into our savings if it has not been spent.  On top of this there are other expenses - toys, new food bowls, water bottles, perches, vitamins, homeopathic medications and other specialist cleaning items for deep cleaning the cage.  In addition, for moulting and breeding periods, there is extra food including egg biscuit food and extra seed for brooding parents, plus nesting materials and the specialist equipment for incubating chicks (these are purchased as a one-off).  To raise chicks by hand is extremely difficult and at a minimum requires a lidded tank with a temperature gague, heating pads (these are safer than lamps, and are placed under the tank), at least one extra cage with enough equipment for all the chicks once fledged, a baby bottle warmer (for ensuring that their feed is precisely the right temperature - too cool or hot can cause serious illness in young birds), syringes for hand-feeding young chicks, a steriliser for ensuring all items that come into contact with the chicks is clean, and plenty of kitchen paper and washable muslin cloths for keeping the birds warm and clean.  It is best to acquire these items unless you are absolutely sure that your birds will never breed - even if you don't plan for them to, if you have a male and female they will probably do so, and unless you are happy to destroy the eggs (which I would not recommend, as it causes double-clutching and chronic egg laying) then you may well fetch up with chicks. 

All in all, you can see that keeping birds as pets isn't as cheap as you might imagine - it is not as costly as having a dog or a cat, but they do still cost money, which we are happy to spend.  Our birds are a part of our family, and they are a pleasing and much valued additon - we enjoy caring for them and interacting with them, and find them very rewarding to look after.  We don't spend much money on enetertainment, holidays or other treats, so for us, the birds are a "passtime" we are happy to invest in.  The whole family benefits from having them around, and we feel they are worth every penny of what we spend on them! 

  

 

Frugal Friday (29th June)

Do you enjoy reading?  Perhaps that is a strange question to ask since you'd have to be reading this blog post, to be able to answer that question.  But when I say "reading", I mean books.  I love reading!  It is one of my favourite passtimes.  It is also a favourite passtime of Little Bear, and although the menfolk in this home don't choose to read actual books quite so much, they too both enjoy reading websites, newspapers and other informative sources of writing. 

If you do enjoy reading, then you'll know that these days, buying books can be quite an expensive indulgence.  Especially the hardcover versions, which in England can be over £20 for a new copy.  Even paperbacks can cost as much as £12 if they are newly released.  But you don't have to spend as much as this to be able to grow your very own "home library".  There are many ways to save money and still enjoy indulging yourself with something new to read!

The most obvious way to save on books is to buy second-hand.  You can easily pick up second-hand books in thrift stores, though of course you will be limited by the selection available in the store - there won't be a full range of authors or even topics, of course, because their stock depends on what people have donated.  But if you aren't too worried about getting hold of a particular title, they are worth looking at.  They're particularly good, I find, for cookbooks and other informative books, and for "airport lounge" novels such as romance or thriller titles, which may not be to everyone's taste.  Children's books seem to be quite scarce in thrift stores, probably becuase they're either too battered to be sold by the time they get to the store, or they have been snapped up by the people who sort out the donations!  When the Cubs were small we tended to rely on the library instead of thrift stores.  Not only is the selection more varied, but of course library books are free (as long as you return them on time!) - in some thrift stores, the cost of a second-hand book is greater than buying some new ones on Amazon.

Libraries are great for families - as well as having lots of free books to borrow, they are usually good places to take your children to experience other cultural events, such as puppet shows, storytelling sessions and talks about topics of interest.  This is how it is in our big library in town, anyways.  Libraries are also a very good way to encourage your children to take care of books and treat them with respect, and from quite a young age, your child can independently check out their own books and return them, which encourages a sense of responsibility even in quite tiny children.  We use to visit our smaller branch library regularly - at least once a week, when the Cubs were wee!  In our town there is a strict limit on how many books you are allowed to have out at once, but each person has their own library card to take care of and use sensibly, which again is a good way to encourage your children to be self-reliant and responsible. 

As I mentioned above, we do find Amazon great for being able to buy cheap books.  If you buy used books from Amazon Marketplace, they can be as little as a penny (plus postage) - check the rating of each seller, and also the condition of the book.  We tend to go for "like new" or "very good condition" and avoid sellers with a rating of less than 97%.  So far, we have only once had a disappointment using this method of book buying - and on that occasion we were given a refund by the seller, without having to return the book!  Of course Amazon also sells new books, and some of these are also extremely good value.  The classic authors, such as Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Emily Bronte and Elizabeth Gaskell, are often on sale for £1.99 or £2.49, and even some of the anthologies are less than £10.

If you don't mind using technology, of course, Amazon also offers a wireless alternative to reading a book - the Kindle.  There are numerous book titles that can be downloaded to a kindle for free - and many, many more that are available much more cheaply than their paper counterparts.  This is not always the case though - so before you buy, do check out the cost of the paper copy first.  I have noticed on several occasions that the paper copy is cheaper than the Kindle version.  There are many advantages to using a Kindle over books - especially if you travel a  lot, or work.  You can slip the equivalent of a whole library into your bag, and it can be taken with you, wherever you go.  Furthermore, you no longer need to find storage space for paper books if you have a Kindle.  Everything is stored on the device instead.  However, both Papa Bear and I feel that we would prefer not to read literature from a screen unless there is no alternative.  We enjoy the experience of reading a proper book - the feel of the paper, the appearance of the font on the pages, the pleasure of holding it and interacting with it.  Neither of us are yet willing to switch over to using a Kindle.  The Cubs may choose to buy one at some point - if they wish to, that is their decision - but we prefer to stick with our good old fashioned books!

You can also download or view entire books online, for free.  Project Gutenberg is an excellent resource for finding free online literature, but there are many other websites.  You can also purchase e-books online for far less than the cost of a paper book.  We've found some wonderful texts, now out of print, on Project Gutenberg, including the letters of Queen Victoria, the whole Elsie Dinsmore series, almost all the works of Charles Dickens, several works by Mrs. Beeton (such as Household Management) and many more.  It is easy to search the catalogue using keywords, and you will find that many of the books are now no longer easily available except online.  Independent websites also offer online books - we particularly like the J. R. Miller archives and the Charles Spurgeon archives which provide a wealth of spirital inspiration and guidance.

Of course there are also many websites offering online Bibles and Bible Studies.  The one we tend to use most is Bible Gateway, which has full online versions of many different Bible translations, plus audio readings, and concordances.  If you have access to a computer with internet connection, it's possible to read the Bible wherever you are - and in whatever language you want too!

There are so many ways to enjoy reading - many of them for free.  There's no reason for anyone not to be able to access the written word should they want to, and to be able to share their favourite books with their loved ones too - because reading aloud is one of the loveliest things you can do together as a family.  If you aren't use to doing this together, why not try a daily family Bible reading?  We have found this to be so enriching that we continue to share in our Bible study every single day, and believe that it has brought us many blessings as a family.

Frugal Friday (22nd June)

The weather here today has been windy, wet and cold - not at all like summer!  Not everyone is complaining though.  The rain has been welcomed by gardeners and farmers, and Grandmama Bear has been glad of it too.  Her wild strawberries look better than they ever had this year!  She has lots growing in hidden spots and corners in her garden.  They taste wonderful.

To make sure she has enough water for her garden without having to run a tap, Grandmama Bear has a big plastic tub in her garden into which one of the drainpipes runs.  It means that every time it rains, the tub collects the water that is running from the guttering on the roof, instead of it going back into the ground.  The water isn't safe to drink, but it can be used to water the garden or wash the car.

There are other ways that you can save water around the home too.  Showers use less than baths, but if you don't have a shower, you can still be economical with your bathwater! If you have tinies, bathe them together rather than one at a time.  And if you bathe every day, there is no reason why you shouldn't "recycle" your bathwater - the cleanest person washes first, and then the next cleanest can use the same water!  This is how my parents bathed as children - in a tin bath in front of the fire - there was no running water.  You may prefer not to do this nowadays, when water comes freely from the taps - but in England water rates can be quite high, and if you are on a water meter, this is a good way to save it.  You can also use bathwater to water the garden, and I've also used it to soak garments in before they go in the washing machine.

Always run your washing machine (and dishwasher if you have one) with a full load - it wastes water to run it only half full.  Dishwashers do save water if you have a large family, as you are only "washing up" once a day, instead of 3 or more times, but for a family our size (4) it isn't so economical.  We don't have a dishwasher.  But I do use a washing up bowl - using running water to wash up with is very wasteful. 

Also don't leave the tap running when you brush your teeth - the water is just going straight down the plug hole.  Turn off the tap and only put it back on again when you need to rinse.

Some people have a special block or brick that they can place in the cistern of their toilet to reduce the amount of water that is used with each flush.  We haven't tried this but if you have a water meter fitted this might also be an easy way to save water.

Filling your kettle totally full each time you boil it for a hot drink is wasting not only water, but also electricity!  But it is surprising how many people do this.  Just boil the amount you need - and consider getting a smaller kettle too, to save fuel.

We take our water for granted - all we have to do is turn a tap and it is there for us, in abundance.  But for many people in the world it is a precious commodity that they don't always have easy access to.  I thank God that we are lucky enough to have as much water as we need, whenever we want it - and try always to make sure that what we use, we use sensibly.

Frugal Friday (15th June)

It will be Father's Day on Sunday this weekend!  I love the opportunity to honour Papa Bear with our children on his special day, but I don't like to get caught up with all the commercialism that comes with it.  Any day is a good day for celebrating just how special and precious the father of your children is - and of course your own father too (sadly for Papa Bear and I, our fathers are not here with us any more, but we still remember them on Father's Day too).  At this time of year, the shops are full of gifts manufactured and advertised especially for Father's Day, and the media is full of reminders for ways to get us to part with our money.  But in truth you do not need to spend money to show how much you value your husband on Father's Day.  It's possible to make him feel special without spending much at all!

Here are some ways that I've used that have worked well!

If you have small children, one nice thing you can do is to arrange a day (probably not actual Father's Day, as you will want to spend that together as a family if you can) when your husband gets a whole day off to himself!  You can give him a "gift certificate" that entitles him to a whole 8 or 10 hours of uninterrupted time alone doing whatever he wants - even if that is absolutely nothing!  For husbands who have to work many hours each week outside the home, this can be a wonderful gift - a bit of solitude relaxing at home with perhaps the TV or radio, or maybe the computer or some video games, and no one to bother him!  I organised to do this on a regular basis when our cubs were wee - I would take them out for the day to visit with family or friends, and Papa Bear would have time "chilling out" at home by himself!  It was good for all of us, and we were always delighted to see each other at the end of the day!

Why not also give your husband a "gift certificate" that entitles him to have some time off his chores as well?  This could mean not having to see to the garden for a week, or wash the car (in our home this is one of my chores, as I quite enjoy it!), or perhaps see to the gutters or other outdoor home maintenance.  Chores at home in our family tend to be large, one-off chores rather than the regular daily type that I do myself, so when I have done this, instead of writing what the actual chore is, I give a set amount of time when Papa Bear won't have any responsibilities at home - a week or month, say - and whatever crops up during that time, I have to take care of!  Thankfully so far, I have never had to let him down - but I am always relieved when the time is up!

Plan a "mystery tour"!  Pack a picnic, and offer to drive the car to a secret destination!  Choose a place that you know your husband will be pleased to visit, and then drive off without giving him any clues as to where you are going.  When you arrive, surprise him with the picnic - with his favourite treats packed in it, and perhaps a small gift as well.  If you don't want to drive, why not buy some cheap tickets for day travel on the bus or train? We did this one year with the cubs, and visited a local harbour, where we had a trip out in a pleasure boat - it was a wonderful day out, and we all enjoyed ourselves, for under £20 for the whole family (book well in advance and you will find the tickets cost much less than if you do this at the last minute - so perhaps not for this year's Father's Day!).

This one will also require a little planning ahead - arrange for his favourite family members or friends to take him out for the day!  I have done this lots of times with his brothers, who don't live near to us.  For a birthday with a "0" in that Papa Bear had not all that long ago, I arranged with 2 of his brothers for them to come up and stay with us for his birthday.  He was so delighted when they appeared on the doorstep on the morning of his special day - and announced that they were going to be staying with us for a week!  They went out on lots of "men only" trips that week - and it was a wonderful rest for all of us.  You needn't make a whole week of it though - just an afternoon watching a game of football or cricket can be almost as much fun.

Of course, it goes without saying that on Father's Day you should be cooking your hubby's very favourite meal for him!  We are going to be enjoying roast belly pork with all the trimmings, followed by caramel apple cake and brown bread ice cream this year.  But to make the occasion extra special, I twill urn our dining area into a restaurant, complete with "menus", and Little Bear and Cubby will be waiting on us!  There will be candles, "wine" glasses (we use cranberry juice or grape juice instead) and of course, our very best dinner service.  I'll play lovely music, and make sure that Papa Bear feels really pampered and special.

Another lovely thing that we plan to do this year, is for Papa Bear to take Little Bear out on a "date night".  This is the first time we have done this - and we plan to make another occasion for Papa Bear to have a special night as father and son with Cubby.  But this is going to be a really special night.  Papa Bear is going to give Little Bear a very special gift.  We have prayed and thought about this a lot recently, and we decided it would be so precious to make this beautiful event unforgettable for them both - so we chose Father's Day as the occasion when it would happen.  Papa Bear is going to take his wee girl out alone, and they will have their very first father and daughter night together - tomorrow evening.  We can't wait!  Cubby and I are going to have a nice cosy evening together too - watching a DVD and playing Bananagrams!

That's another lovely way to spend a special occasion like Father's Day without it having to cost much money.  Games nights are wonderful for all sorts of special days, but on Father's Day of course, it's your husband's turn to choose the games!  OK they may not be the ones you'd necessarily choose - but that's probably because they're the ones your're not best at, and you want to have him win them all, don't you!  We love Bananagrams, Scrabble, Boggle, Jenga and Cluedo to name but a few.  These days of course, video games are just as popular, so if your hubby prefers these then they can be just as much fun too.

Finally, don't forget to make sure you bring him breakfast in bed!  Papa Bear is quite a spoiled husband, he says, because he gets breakfast in bed every day - but nevertheless, I am going to make sure his breakfast on Sunday is extra special!  And that means me making a special effort with me, too - I am after all, his most prized possession, so I want to be the gift he most enjoys of all on Father's Day!   I'll be wearing my prettiest clothes and shoes, and have my hair in his favourite style, and no matter what, he can be sure I'll be smiling, all day long!

Well who wouldn't be, when they are married to such a wonderful man?

Frugal Friday (8th June)

Early tomorrow morning as usual we shall visit the supermarket to do our weekly shop.  We have shopped this way for a long time, as we find we spend less and it is far easier for me to plan our meals on a weekly basis, if we shop once a week on the same day each week.  I think many families like to do this, as every week when we go to the supermarket, we see the same people!  In fact there is a small group of us, that calls ourselves the "Saturday Club", that all arrive well before the store opens, and park in the same parking spaces each week, very close to the store entrance.  We all know each other by sight and greet and ask after each other, and if we bump into any of the other families whilse we are going around the store, we will stop and visit with each other a while, so over the months and years we have got to know some of them quite well.  Theres a lovely friendly comradeship in our weekly meetings, and although we really couldn't call each other friends, there is nevertheless a sense of having a shared purpose that brings us all together each week, and I feel this is important.  Without necessarily ever saying so, we are witnessing to these other people, by our example as husband and wife, father and mother, and we enjoy our Saturday chats outside the supermarket doors before opening time, just as much as we do the ones we have after our Church service on Sunday, when we share tea and coffee with the rest of the congregation at our Church.   Good people can be found in the strangest places!

This week when we go to the supermarket, I shall be doing our shop slightly differently.  In fact already, as I have thought and planned over next week's menu, I have been doing things slightly differently, because I have made a simple, but quite significant adjustment, to the way that I plan what we need to get when we do our supermarket shop.  Before now, each week when I start to plan my shopping list, I will begin by noting down all the things that I've noticed we have run out of, or are about to run out of, that we will need to buy.  I keep a list on the door of the fridge, and every time something gets used up, or I notice it is going to need replacing, I will note down on the list that we need to buy that item at the supermarket next time we go there.  In addition to this, during the week, I will plan our menu for the following week, using what is available already in our cupboards and the fridge and freezer, and then add to that any extra items from the recipes I plan to use, that we haven't already got.

Now however, things have changed.  Instead of having my "working list" on the door of the fridge, I have devised on the computer a "master list" instead, which is simply an A4 page divided into a 4 column table, with a list on it of all the items that are staples in our home.  Things that we use each and every week - like apples, potatoes, eggs, cheese, butter, tea, fruit juice, washing up liquid, shampoo, toothpaste and so on.  The first and third columns on the page are quite wide, and the second and fourth columns are much smaller, so that these can just be used to place a tick in (or a number, if we are going to buy more than one unit of that item) beside the things we need to get.  There are spaces on the page so that if there are items not ordinarily purchased, or a subgroup of an item such as "spices" or "sauces" that I need to list individually only on an occasional basis, I can write this down.  I have kept the font quite small, so that I could fit everything onto one side of paper.  It took a bit of doing (and some paring down and grouping together!) so that when we go to the supermarket, all I have to do is take the list with us!  No more re-writing it out again to get it ready to take with me on Saturday morning.

The reason for this change is that I believe it will help us to cut down how much we spend on food.  The supermarket is full of wonderful goodies and treats that are extremely tempting, and even though we are very good at only sticking to the list and not getting things that aren't on it, what I have found is happening recently is that we will see some particular item one week in the store, and be excited about it, and instead of buying it that week, it will find its way onto the list the following week, even though we don't need it then any more than we did the week before!  Somehow because we have planned to buy it, we can justify spending the money on it, even though we don't really need it.  But this is still a wasteful way to shop - we are quite literally, giving in to temptation - and we are buying things we don't really need to eat.  This way, by having only a limited selection of items that I know we do need to buy from which to choose, I believe we will be able to shop more wisely.  To put it another way, instead of choosing what we want to buy (and eat) from the whole entire supermarket, we are choosing from a pre-selected list, and that cuts down the opportunities to get things we don't really need.  It is wasteful to buy these things, when we could be putting that money to better use elsewhere.  Although we all enjoy the meals I prepare, and I love cooking them, food is ultimately just fuel to keep our bodies healthy and energetic.  We don't need to have anything too fancy or unsual to keep us functioing well on a daily basis.  For an occasional treat, that is fine - but not every single week! 
Instead, I am going to use my "Master List" to see if I can get our food bill down - and still make interesting and wholesome meals, using the simple ingredients that our mothers and grandmothers would have had.  I've been inspired by the cookery books and homekeeping manuals from the 1950's that I've been looking at recently - and while I don't want us to feel as if we are having to live on rations, as families then would have, I do feel that adopting a more frugal and restrained approach to food preparation and shopping will enable us to have more control over how our money is spent.  Papa Bear thinks it is a great idea, and was very proud of me for thinking it up!  He says he has a "Master Plan" for the money that we save - but he won't tell me what it is!  And we already have one exciting plan for our food shop savings - an exciting trip that's going to happen later this year!  I am not quite ready to share all yet - but I will soon! 

We only have our money to spend once, so its only sensible to make sure we spend it as wisely as we can.  I shall report back on how we get on with this new method of planning and shopping in a few weeks - and hope that the update will be very favourable!

Frugal Friday - Pasta Primavera Recipe

For today's Frugal Friday, I thought I would share this very frugal and healthy dish with you, which we eat often in the summer months, sometimes just as it is, and sometimes with a salad.  Although it could be eaten as an evening meal quite easily (perhaps with salad and some bread, or garlic bread if you prefer this), we usually eat it for our dinner (lunch).  This is what we ate today, as we were all at home!

Now this is not proper pasta primavera, which has asparagus peas and broad beans in it (though indeed you could use these, though it will then not be as cheap to make).  The idea behind this frugal meal (and why we often eat it for our dinner on Fridays) is that it is a very good dish for using up all the odds and ends of fresh vegetables that are hiding in the fridge!  We do our supermarket shop on Saturdays, so Friday is the day for eating up any leftovers before the fridge gets refilled. 

In Italian primavera means "springtime", so this dish normally has a mixture of fresh vegetables in it, and a tomato sauce.  In fact it isn't strictly an Italian dish - apparently it originated in New York!  Whatever it's source, we think it is delicious, and it is also very nutritious.

Today I made this as follows, using just what I happened to have in the fridge ...

1 onion, finely chopped
2 red peppers, deseeded and sliced
4 sticks celery, chopped
about 12 large tomatoes, quartered
2 courgettes (zucchini), chopped
1 head of broccoli, chopped
1 graffiti aubergine (purple and white striped - if you can find one, do buy it, they are so pretty!), chopped
3 tins chopped tomatoes
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 teaspoons Italian herb mix
1 teaspoon garlic paste (or you could use the same amount of chopped fresh garlic - in which case add with the other vegetables)
pinch nutmeg
pinch sugar

A bag (I go by 2 large handfulls for Little Bear and myself, and 3 for the menfolk, which is pretty much a whole bag) of dried pasta of your choice.

1. Start as always by sauteeing the onion for a few minutes until soft in a large saucepan to which you have a well fitting lid.

2.  Add the rest of the vegetables (I tend to chop the harder ones, like the celery, smaller than the softer ones, so that they all cook at the same time).  Add chopped garlic too if you are using it at this stage.  Sautee until for a few minutes, until tender, but not soft (you want a wee bit of crunch left, to contrast with the softness of the pasta).  To stop them browning, add a little salt - this draws moisture out of the vegetables so that they simmer more slowly.

3.  Add the chopped tomatoes, tomato paste and seasonings, and bring to a gentle bubbling.  Then turn down the heat and put on the lid of the pan.

4.  Allow to simmer at a low heat for about 40 minutes.  Halfway through cooking time, remove the lid to reduce down a little.

5.  At this point also put your pasta on to boil in another pan (I don't have 2 really large pans so I cook my pasta earlier, and keep it in the refrigerator in a plastic container with a drop or two of cold water, and then just reheat in the microwave for a few minutes when we are ready to eat it).

6.  When the sauce is nicely reduced down and the pasta is soft, drain the water from the pasta leaving just a very little water, about a tablespoonfull, in the pan with it, then add the sauce to the pasta (the remaining water will loosen up the sauce a tiny bit and help it stick to the pasta).  Stir well, and serve.

Although this tastes best when it is hot, it is also quite delicious cold, eaten like a salad.  You really can add any vegetables you like to it - I sometimes add mushrooms, as well, or even sweetcorn.  It is good with a little parmesan sprinkled on top as you serve it, or even (as Cubby and Little Bear like it ... ) with grated cheddar!

Enjoy!