Wednesday 5 April 2023

April 5th - The Penultimate Day

Thank you to everyone for comments yesterday. It's the fresh fruit and open space all round that I miss most as well as Colin of course!
Those photos from the smallholding were from the last two years but before that we'd kept goats and sheep, established the popular camp-site and built the selling side up ready for Colin's early retirement from the County Council, because for most of time he was working full time too! Have no idea how we fitted everything in - much younger and fitter back then I guess!


Day 30 and the penultimate day of the experiment was a pasty using the rest of the shortcrust pastry that I put in the freezer when I made the sausage rolls. I part cooked a couple more small potatoes, and softened a small onion and the last chopped leek, put in half the last of the grated cheddar cheese and some of the grated parmesan .
It made a rather(too) large pasty which I ate with yet more of the frozen mixed vegetables and a good spoonful of my homemade red onion sweet chutney.

Very filling and quite tasty, would have been even better with extra mature cheese instead of the rather bland  Asda Value Range grated cheese.

Tomorrow is the last day and I'll see what's still left and do a round up of meals eaten and costs on the day after.

Back Tomorrow
Sue

17 comments:

  1. Your experiment has been fascinating to read, thank you very much. xx

    ReplyDelete
  2. Gosh, the pasty was definitely Ploughman size! Your experiment has been interesting to follow and you have certainly shown that you can pare down the food costs. Here I am still having to buy kitten this and kitten that on the food front which raises cat food costs a lot.

    Tonight's experiment here will be to take some curry sauce which I will have left over after eating the 2nd half of the chicken curry, add Red Lentils and make it into a tasty Dhal for the freezer.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I would like to say a thank you too for letting us in to your experiences with living off the value ranges and doing your very best to eat a healthy diet. It was fascinating reading and I am looking forward to reading your conclusions.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I like the sound of that pasty.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I love the word "penultimate"! It's one of my favourites 😁

    ReplyDelete
  6. Do I sense a feeling of relief as the end of your experiment draws nigh? To the onlooker, it has been fascinating and informative, but it has taken hard work and determination to see it through. Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  7. What a pasty and I agree about cheese having to be tasty and strong-I find I actually eat less when it’s tasty. Well done for sticking to the 31 days of the challenge and for sharing it with us. Catriona

    ReplyDelete
  8. Yes, thank you for sharing your experiment, it has been very informative and hard work for you, I imagine. I look forward to your summing up 👍

    ReplyDelete
  9. I have enjoyed this collection of posts and will be interested to see the final numbers. Yesterday, I went shopping as well. I bought nothing without a yellow sticker and wound up with saving $16 on $42 worth of groceries. I thought of you and Sue as I checked out!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Seems like most of us commenters have loved this series of posts about the value ranges and are looking forward to your conclusions. That is certainly one serious sized pasty - cup of tea and a feet up after that I reckon!
    Alison in Wales x

    ReplyDelete
  11. I do love a pasty, and yes, the contents have to be full of flavor. I keep scraps of dough frozen to use the same way. I wonder what approaches you'll keep after your experiment ends?

    ReplyDelete
  12. I've enjoyed your experiement and also the photos your meals.

    ReplyDelete
  13. That pasty looks big enough for you and me - wish I lived next door!

    ReplyDelete
  14. That looks like an excellent meal. You've created outstanding Value meals and kept the costs at a minimum. You could write a book.

    ReplyDelete
  15. What a lovely meal you had. Now this could be a silly question but I notice most UK bloggers talk about short crust pastry and I am wondering how that differs from ordinary pastry?

    God bless.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I guess shortcrust pastry could be considered as 'ordinary pastry'. It's just that we also use puff pastry, rough puff pastry and sometimes suet and choux pastries here in the UK so we tend name them individually when we talk about making things with them.

      Delete
  16. That is a magnificent pasty and you know how much I love a good pasty. You've done brilliantly well with this challenge.

    ReplyDelete