Day 2: changing habits

One of the most regular complaints my sister makes when she comes for a visit is that 'there is no food in your house, only ingredients'.  I now know what she means, although I can't say I actually thought about it before.

My rake through the 'fridge yesterday unearthed not really 'leftovers' (apart from a bowl of spiced red cabbage) but unused ingredients.  There are some ends of cheeses, four eggs, non-dairy spread, a heel of bread, salad stuff (toms, cucumber, lettuce, radishes, two red peppers, spring onions), a couple of rather ancient courgettes, half a family-size pack of mushrooms, raw beetroots, carrots and cabbage.  Lots of cabbage (red cabbage, pointed cabbage, cavalo nero, cauliflower, sprouting broccoli).  Pretty much all of which needs using up quite quickly if it isn't going to be confined to the compost.  So these are the first habits I need to break - buying too much at once and buying more of things I already have.  All the books I have been reading recommend only shopping when you really need to, and of course to take a list.

So yesterday's lunch consisted of a toasted cheese sandwich (with salad) and last night's dinner a jacket potato with spiced red cabbage, a sprinkle of goats cheese (and salad).  And each of these meals prompted another thought about habits.  I put my toasties in a silicon bag in the toaster to cook as it's a more economic option than putting on the grill which is in the big oven. However to get the sandwich in, I have to cut the crusts off.  I was halfway to the door to take these to the birds when I paused, returned to the kitchen and made breadcrumbs out of them.  Sorry birds.  For the next month I shall be attempting to waste nothing.  And I baked three potatoes (grown in my own garden this summer) instead of just one to make the most of putting the oven on.  These will be turned into mash for some savoury cakes over the weekend.

The weather has turned wet and windy, and I really don't want another plate of cold food, so today's lunch was mushrooms on toast using the penultimate piece of bread left over from the loaf I made for Shirley's visit.  And tonight I'll use up the squishiest tomatoes in a pasta dish, at the same time using up some of the ingredients that lurk in half-used jars at the top of the 'fridge (olives, capers, anchovies?).

I had a peek in the freezer.  Now I knew it wasn't full of out-of-date stuff as I defrosted it in the summer, and this week I put two portions of dinner left-overs in there (I'd normally have consigned these to the food recycling bin) but I was thinking about my challenge.  So I have fish pie and savoury bread-n-butter pudding to look forward to.  In addition I have half a bag of peas, a bag of cranberries, curry leaves, and a packet of soya sausages.  Life doesn't get much more exciting than this.


Getting to the end of a loaf means making a new one, so the bread machine is on and a loaf of wholemeal will be the outcome.  But I am down to the last few ounces of flour and I'm out of milk so despite my wish not to go shopping for three or four days into the challenge, off to Lidl I went this afternoon.

I added sardines to my basket for fish cakes with the left over potato, so the first £2.20 of the £30 has gone, 20p over budget!  As Dickens' character, Mr Micawber said:

 "Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen [pounds] nineteen [shillings] and six [pence], result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery."

Fortunately the challenge is only for a month, but overspending this early could lead to a miserable first week of November.

This wet weather has meant that I've felt entirely guilt-free sitting around knitting, so Shirley's socks are done and I've started a scarf for her made out of the scraps she chose while she was here.  I understand the weather is not quite so dreich in Reading, so it may be a while before she needs to done these winter woollies.  It's very cheering to knit with bright colours when the day is grey.

If you'd like to sponsor me for this challenge and support  'Start-Up Stirling' you can do so here!