Tuesday 19 February 2013

A Stockpile Challenge Pt 5

Well here we are 19 days in to the challenge and 28 days since I did a "normal" shop and so far I have spent $15.75.
I am starting to think that shopping will be different from now on.  This challenge has really opened my eyes to where we waste food, where I fail to be creative with ingredients and how much variety a few ingredients can provide.  In fact I think we are eating really well.
Last week I made an eggplant and macaroni lasagne which lasted us most of the week teamed up with salad.
I made up a meat mix loaded with our home grown capsicums and tomatoes, then I sliced home grown eggplants into 1cm thick slices and made a white sauce loaded with parsley.
Then it was all about the layers.  Eggplant, meat, white sauce, macaroni and repeat.

Then I retrieved and very hard and slightly mouldy block of parmesan from the fridge.  After trimming off all the surfaces to get rid of the mould I grated it on the top.  Let me just say it was a hit.

At the end of last week I had to got to Brisbane for a few days for work.  While I was down there I decided to go the Rocklea Farmers Market and buy Tomatoes for preserving.

I had to really stop and think about if I should buy them or not since I am doing this no shopping challenge.
Hubby and I talked it over and we decided that we should buy them now regardless of the challenge for a couple of reasons.
1. This challenge is self imposed and there are no prizes (other than the money saved and the pantry clean out)
2. Tomatoes are currently cheap to buy and even cheaper from the markets but will not remain so.
3. It is a 260km round trip to go to the markets from home vs an additional 30km since I was already in Brisbane.
4. Since all the of tomatoes were destined for preserving and we still have a few jars in the pantry they will not form part of our meals this month.
So I purchased 2 x 10kg boxes of roma tomatoes.
Hubby helped me dice them up and each 10 kg box completely filled my 12 litre stock pot once they were all diced up.
And once bottled up I ended up with 20 x 1 litre jars and another litre that I froze in small portions.
So although the challenge this month is to put a dent in the stockpile this lot will keep us going for quite a while but I don't feel bad about it.  This is the sort of stockpiling that will allow us to continue to shop frugally in the future.

10 comments:

  1. whats your recipe for your tomotoes?

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    1. No recipe really. All I do is dice all the tomatoes and cook them first till they are soft. Then I put them into hot fowlers jars and put them in the preserver. They boil for 10 min then I turn the unit off and the stay in there for an hour before I remove the jars. In the past I have added garlic and dice onion to the mix but this one is just plain. Not even any salt. Just plain old tomatoes.

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  2. Well done Fiona...that's great! I know I waste too much food too!

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  3. Great planning there. Now you have that wonderful home made goodness for when you need it.

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  4. Well done Fiona...that great! I know I waste too much food.

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  5. We are yet to do 'sauce day' here.......no doubt it will be soon though...your challenge seems to be going remarkably well. I find that my husband and I could do this easily, its the children that put a dent in it all...not meaning that nastily, its just that they eat differently and have different needs to what the husband and I do..........so most of our shopping bill at the moment goes to preparing food for the children .....

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    1. Suzanne I am sure that the fact it is just the two of us make a big difference. Also the fact that we are not buying meat at all.

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  6. This is s terrific challenge. I really should give it a go myself. I hate wasting food but find I do. Well done Fiona.

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    1. Thanks VG It has not been as hard as I thought. Maybe just try and do it for 2 weeks if you do not feel that a month is manageable.

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