This week’s meal plan

Posted by louisa on Monday 9 May 2011 in weekly meal plans | 0 comments

We seem to be having a rather carb-heavy, vaguely Italian themed week this week – lasagne for two nights, pizza for another two meals and a ravioli experiment on Friday. Mmm carb-heavy vaguely Italian food ;)

Sunday brunch – scrambled eggs I got up too late to have them, just had cereal instead ;)
Sunday dinner – curry, weeee! we heart curry

Monday lunch – bread with cheese & pickles
Monday dinner – lasagne using one of the frozen portions of John’s special pasta sauce & a whole heap of veg, with salad

Tuesday lunch – bread & cheese etc fish and chips
Tuesday dinner – leftover lasagne, with salad bread & cheese etc

Wednesday lunch – samosas with salad
Wednesday dinner – movie night pizza leftover lasagne, with salad

Thursday lunch – leftover pizza (if there is any); if not, just bread & stuff
Thursday dinner – chicken & mushroom egg fried rice

Friday lunch – french toast with bacon (because I want it for brunch on Saturday but won’t be here ;) )
Friday dinner – experimental homemade ravioli…!

May’s mini goals

Posted by louisa on Friday 6 May 2011 in meta | 4 comments

I’ve noticed a few fantastic bloggers set themselves mini monthly goals in addition to their bigger year/multi-year ones and for the first time, I’ve got some tiny frugal/simple living goals I’d like to do too in addition to my 2011 ones. This is more of a to-do list for me than for anyone else really but advice/tips are always gratefully received :)

1. Clean & replace the sealant on the office windows & door. And check the opening window and door’s insulation is fine while I’m at it.

2. Pressure clean the chicken coop inside and out. Something I’ve been meaning to do for a while to get rid of the green-ness and other grime.

3. Sort through the kitchen cupboards. Been meaning to do this for a while but Shoestring Alley’s recent experience of doing it has spurred me on. I’m going to use my findings to influence near-future meal plans and a possible an “eat only from the pantry/garden” week next month.

4. Buy/find and fit a long (retractable) washing line. I’ve got one of those rotating ones which is great and I will continue to use most of the time, but a long straight line would be better for big bedding. I think I have some line somewhere from putting up our little line in the old house so will use that if I can find it. I’d like it to be retractable (either by design or manually wound around a hook) if possible too.

5. Get a better mobile phone deal My contract is up next month – it’s pretty cheap and is a decent deal already but I think I can get a better one. It’ll also be a chance to stretch out of my comfort zone by having to barter/negotiate with someone — I hate doing that.

Have you got any mini goals for this month?

Foraging for wild food: do you forage near roads?

Posted by louisa on Friday 6 May 2011 in wild food | 18 comments

I’ve got a question for anyone who forages/enjoys wild food – do you forage near roads? And if so, how near?

It’s obviously much less of an issue for people foraging in woods or the countryside but it’s an important issue for us urban dwellers as, well, just about everywhere is near a road.

I started thinking about this issue a few weeks ago when the empty bank at the end of our side street was *covered* in sunny yellow dandelions (6ft away from a busy commuter-packed A-road) and the plum-ish tree in the car park of our local supermarket was white with blossom. There are plenty of dandelions around elsewhere, further away from pollution and dog pee, so there really wasn’t a dilemma about those, but the plums, when they come in, are a rarer and more desirable beast. Last year, when John first spotted them, a few people in our lives expressed concern about picking them because of the exposure to exhaust fumes – one person was concerned about the chemical impact on the body, another more bothered about the residue creating a slightly metallic taste in the resulting jam or wine — so John left them be. But on the other hand, I’ve heard other people pick road side fruit and use it without (seemingly) any concern whatsoever.

So if you forage for wild food, what are your rules/guidelines? How close is too close to the road for you? Does it depend on the busy-ness of the road? Or the scarcity of the plant/fruit? Or does it depend on how long the plant/fruit has taken to grow etc? Would love to hear from experts and newbies alike :)

Some recent treats from blogland

Posted by louisa on Thursday 5 May 2011 in frugal, growing, personal finance | 0 comments

I seem to have spent nearly all of today reading. No, not our many many books but blogs. I’ve read some great stuff so thought I’d share:

• First up, Failure Is An Option by The Greening of Gavin‘s Gavin. Oh my yes. I have “failed” so many times over the last few years – and every single time I learnt a lesson and will not repeat that mistake. I rarely use super expensive seeds and compost/pots can be reclaimed so it’s only costing my time to try, fail and learn not to do that again. I like hobbies which allow free/super cheap do-overs (I have frogged certain yarns oh so many times). Yes, failure is frustrating and it makes it feel like a waste of time but if you treat it as a learning curve then it’s not a waste, it’s a building block of knowledge.
• And speaking of minimising time expenditure, Fiona, The Cottage Smallholder, has been writing about perennial veg recently – tree cabbages and orach. (The latter isn’t perennial but is a self-seeder, and has a very long harvesting window.) Two interesting veggies to think about when I’ve got my “miniature forest garden” planning hat on.
• Changing the topic, I liked this post about avoiding slipping into the trap of always having to make the ultimate healthy homecooked food for every meal – especially when you’re just starting out. I’m a fan of gradual but steady changes that’ll stick rather than extreme shifts which might not. Looking back now, I’m amazed at some of our old habits or the way we used to cook things – but like with gardening, they were steps along the path which is taking us forward.
• It’s not a wise, overreaching philosophy for life like some of the other posts above but I really enjoy Jono’s Real Men Sow updates each month, working out exactly how much money he’s saved by growing his own. That’s how I’m going to keep track of our output this year too.
• And sticking with the super practical, I’m going to treat ManVsDebt‘s latest action list as a to-do list for the next few months. There is, obviously, an irony that some of my favourite recent blog posts have been all about action while I’ve been reading rather than acting today…

Have you read any good blog posts recently? Do share!

We *heart* books too (warning: picture heavy post!)

Posted by louisa on Wednesday 4 May 2011 in meta | 18 comments

Last week, Swirly Arts’ Lynsey wrote a blog post called “we *heart* books” and included photos of the many, many books around her house. Well, we *heart* books too so I thought I should do a similar post ;)

It’s a very picture heavy post so people on slow/expensive-per-MB connections may want to skip it! People who like perusing other people’s bookshelves though should probably settle in for a long session (all the pics, except for that first one, can be expanded if you want to nose properly ;) )

(And probably much to the annoyance of my mum, I didn’t tidy or dust at all before taking these pictures ;) )