Very cold here today, blizzards on and off, and snow laying from last night. An ideal day for cosying up inside, venturing out only to pick some sage and rosemary and to empty the compost caddy from the kitchen.
I spent the day largely in the kitchen, cooking and baking and organising my larder. Yep, the culling and cleaning up of the chaos continues. First I have to show you the results of a wardrobe cull - a '30 minute' job I did on Friday.
Sorry, you may have to stand on your head to see this properly! I bagged it up and took it to the re-cycling centre on Saturday morning. Can't tell you how virtuous I felt!
Yesterday I began purging my larder cupboard, cleaning up, chucking the out of date stuff - though to be fair there wasn't much - and re-arranging things more logically and usefully. This took me well into today too, and I still have the corner cupboard to do, but that can wait. Here are the finished shots.
Top two : sugars, cornflour, custard dried fruit; grains, rice, seeds nuts and lentils.
Middle two : honeys, nut butters, marmite, coffee, breakfast oats. vinegars, mustards and sauces. Various pastas. Gravy powders and stock.
Bottom two : pesto and other pasta sauces. Beans of all varieties, peas. Tinned soups. Tinned fish, such as tuna, sardines, sild and salmon. Coconut milk, and tinned tomatoes. That's it.
Now this really did give a lot of satisfaction. It can be taken a bit too far though; I read one 'organising blogger' who confessed that her tinned foods were kept in a cupboard where she couldn't see them, as it would upset her to see all the different labels - this is a woman who Tupperwares as if her life depended upon it, and really could not deal with foods which were not in a plastic container which matched all the others. I'm not criticising. I'm just amazed at how some people take this organising to an extreme degree. There is a lot of OCD out there, folks! Now where are those wipe-clean boards I ordered the other day..............
In between sorting and wiping and re-arranging I was making a huge lamb stew with meat from the big freezer in the garage (I'm trying not to spend any money on main ingredients for as long as I can, to use up my back-log.) There was enough for supper tonight with herby dumplings (yummy), and enough for two very decent portions for the freezer.
While the stew was simmering in the slow oven I was roasting some peppers, cherry tomatoes and garlic for tomorrows pizza.
Also in the top oven was a large spelt loaf. I love this flour, it gives a soft, nutty flavoured loaf.
Very pleased with the way this turned out. There is a lump of dough in a bag in the fridge to make pizza with tomorrow. I did my menu plans on Sunday along with the shopping list for the week - a much reduced list because so many ingredients are already in the larder or freezer, and because I know exactly what I want so hopefully will not be diverted! Watch this space!
Monday : lamb stew and dumplings
Tuesday : Homemade pizza with roasted veggies, ham and mozzarella. (Just some salad to buy)
Wednesday : sausage bean-pot and green beans. (nothing to buy)
Thursday : Pork chops, mushrooms and rice. (just the mushrooms to buy)
Friday : plaice fillets, garden peas, home made chunky 'chips' (nothing to buy)
Saturday : pasta with meatballs in tomato sauce - from freezer.
Sunday : Chicken pot roast (chicken and some veggies to buy)
I'll probably get a butternut squash to make soup for lunch, and some for adding to pasta, some fruit, replenish the veg basket, some eggs, cheese...and that is probably it. I know from your comments that these posts are spurring some of you on to try and make a few plans around the home, it'd be good to hear how you get on. Sorry no textiles today, but Wednesday I look forward to having my Stitch and Bitch friends around so that will pull me up sharply on the sewing front! Til then, keep warm - unless you are enjoying sunshine and high temperatures, in which case I wish you coolth!
Ahhh Lynn your bread and peppers make my mouth water !!!
ReplyDelete(here also an icy wind .... and snow forecasted brrrrrrr ! no spring in sight )
So cruel, Els, because we had a taste of Spring for a couple of weeks; the snow drops and crocus's were blooming, we really thought we had turned away from Winter! But no, back comes the snow! Ah well, not for too much longer, I hope. Lxx
DeleteLovely loaf!
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like a super menu for the week and perfect for this cold weather. Your organising is looking like serious business and also looks like it's working well. I notice jars of Nut Butters in your larder. I've only recently discovered these and I LOVE them. Added bonus... my neighbour told me that a spoonful is a great relief for indigestion. I tried it and it works.
Keep up the good work,
Jo x
Ha Jo! Never heard of them as indigestion remedies!! But yes, I've used ordinary peanut butters, but these - almond and cashew - are really lovely. Lx
DeleteYour organizing is going great. I admire you. Things around here could use some organizing but I'm a bit of a slug these days and can't seem to get any mojo going. That loaf of bread looks delish. The Hubs and I are starting a plan to use up what we have around here and to slow down on the quick foods. I like your idea of planning meals and I have tried in the past, but haven't stuck to it. You give me inspiration to try again. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteHave a wonderful day.
Hugs,
Sharon
Hello Sharon, you know, it's not so much the getting down to organising/de-cluttering/ meal planning, though it does need a shove to get you going; the REALLY important and difficult thing, I find, is KEEPING GOING! I think that's the whole central theme of my current posts, my inability to sustain things over a long period, while picking up the threads of other things I'm interested in. But I am trying.
DeleteAnd I can say, the feeling of delight when you look at clean, tidy and re-organised shelves is immense. So much easier to use too. And I am beginning to see the money I'm slowly saving by not shopping so often, using up what's in the freezer, and then having the convenience of having a few ready cooked meals - from batch cooking - in the freezer. Have a look at some of the blogs I've mentioned - I'll mention some more next time. But beware, it addictive surfing for frugal blogs, and also some of them are really extreme, I couldn't aspire to their level of organising! Lxxx ps give it a go!
Goodness it's cold isn't it? The lamb stew looks SO comforting, and we love dumplings too. Your menu is very much like one I would have, though probably not the pizza and salad, too cold for the salad methinks!
ReplyDeleteHi Maggie, I really thought we were going to escape the worst of the snow over ere, but it got us in the end, didn't it?
DeleteI know what you mean about the salad, but actually we probably have some salad almost every day - it don't have to be a chilly bowl of icy Iceberg! I can't imagine having anything else with pizza, we certainly wouldn't have chips, and cooked veggies just doesn't seem right, somehow.
Bright sunshine today, just had a lovely chat with our postman about sunshine lifting your spirits!
Look at you.....your on a roll! Your husband had better watch out or else he'll be bagged up too! :) x
ReplyDeleteAda, he's too useful on the loose! But it is getting a bit like that.Lx
Deletedid you get the idea to eat everything in your cupboard from me? I'm still trying to do it, but I managed to eat everything just before we got snowed in which has made me stock up again, Caroline
ReplyDeleteHello Caroline,
ReplyDeleteI'm mostly trying to slowly use up the stuff in the freezer before I go to a great butcher and get some serious meat in. My larder isn't so bad for having old stuff, it mostly just needed a good re-jigging. But I am trying to use in rotation and be sensible about what I stock up on.
Lx
My pantry is in a serious mess - things piled up and balancing precariously...can't tell you how many jars have fallen and smashed on my feet (including a bottle of white vinegar..oh the pong!)...I know, I should just get in there and sort it out but when I look at it I become overwhelmed and shut the door. I saw a great idea for organising a pantry on Pinterest but it involves buying a whole load of containers and I don't want to spend the money on it right now, so messy it will stay.
ReplyDeleteI made butternut squash soup yesterday - I used some streaky smoked bacon and a couple of chorizo sausages for a rich smoky flavour (and also put in smoked paprika, cinnamon and nutmeg) it is heavenly. I can't get enough if it. It will do for lunch again today.
Hi Wendz, there is something so comforting about homemade soup isn't there, and butternut squash makes such a good one. Yes, I usually roast it first in olive oil and Morroccan spices, then add stock and blitz.
ReplyDeleteRe your pantry. I am not the one to be giving out tidy advice, now am I?????But I will say, I haven't bought new containers, most of my stuff is in its own package - mostly. Do what I did, tackle one shelf at a time. I spent "30 minutes" just on my 2 baking drawers, and I was done. Give yourself a time limit, - and you can go over it if you are on a roll, but you know you don't have to. And once you have started it is easier to do a bit more the next day, or when you tell yourself you have another 30 minute block to spare. Believe me, that is the only way I am going to get anything done in my sewing room. (And if I remember, your home looks lovely, and much tidier than mine!!) Lxx
A quick PS.... where did you get your larder cupboard? I have been thinking of one for a while to replace wall shelves - which I have trouble reaching since losing height - and yours looks brilliant.
ReplyDeleteMaggie that larder was the whole reason for my new (2010) kitchen! I had been despairing about having some sort of pantry/larder but the kitchen is so small there just didn't ssem to be a way we could squeeze one in without pulling the existing kitchen to pieces. (Jim built it about 10 years ago.)
DeleteSO eventually he said how much would a new kitchen cost - ha, sez I too much for the likes of us!
But we toddled along to Home Base (no handcrafted jobbies for us, I'm afraid) and there was a sale, and then we got further discount and in the end it was really reasonable. Which of course is only relative to what you can afford. The selling point for me was the larder cupboard, oh and the corner base cupboard which has swing out shelves so you don't lose stuff in the inaccessible corners. I do like my kitchen, small as it is, but my larder and corner cupboard a re what make it work. Hope this helps! Lx
It certainly does, thank you. Small kitchen here too and I have worried that a larder cupboard would overpower the space, but I think if I put it in one corner, it will balance out the built in ovens at the other end.... mine is a handbuilt-by-Himself kitchen, and I love it for its simplicity.
DeleteHi lynn
ReplyDeleteWell, I think you're very brave telling the world (!) about your new tidying/organising routine, I'd just keep it to myself just in case! Actually I'm pretty together on the food front. I mostly buy bits and pieces from local shops, use up whatever needs eating from the allotment and am near to obsessive about not wasting anything. You even got me taking a photo of my larder. We have an old fashioned larder in our house which is wonderful. The rest of the house/life/hobbies hmm, not so tidy/together. I survive with a big blitz/clearout every um, year or so!
Nina I'm so sorry I missed your comment! I do envy you your proper larder - my mum has one and always had one when I was little. A proper pantry. But I'm chuffed with my larder cupboard - two would be even nicer!! Lx
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