Ten years ago, I went through a phase of writing posts about frugal living. They’re listed here, and you might find them useful in this current climate.
The thing is, back then, I was mostly concerned about not wasting and saving money. But when I read back through the posts, I realise that they’re equally applicable for times when we have to stay at home and limit our trips to the shops.
In times of difficulty, being able to eke every last ounce of goodness from what we have at hand has a two-fold benefit: it saves us money, time and trips, but more importantly, it reassures us that we have the necessary skills and resources to survive on very little.
Last week, I uncovered an old packet of chicken mince in the freezer. It’s become surprisingly difficult to buy chicken in Sydney – Pete thinks that’s because it’s less daunting than a leg of lamb, so folks who would normally eat out have grabbed it as a safe option for home cooking. Our one kilo of free range chicken mince became 75 dumplings the first night – enough to feed four adults…
…and curry puffs two nights later…
I had a little stale bread – half a sourdough fruit loaf and some wholemeal – which I turned into two leftover bread and butter puddings. I followed our very simple recipe but omitted the ricotta as I didn’t have any at hand…
I also used treacle from the pantry and some packets of sultanas which my mother inexplicably found in her handbag one day…
The occasion called for a generous splosh of Calvados…
Et viola! One for us, and one left on the back deck for our friend and neighbour Will to pick up…
The next day, Pete and I discovered that cold leftover leftover bread and butter pudding is delicious…
A lifetime ago in a kindergarten playground not far away, a fellow school mum said to me “when times are hard, it forces you to tighten up and take back control. And I don’t mind that, because it makes me feel strong”. At the time, she was talking about her financial difficulties, but her point is still valid today.
When life is easy, we all get sloppy – food gets thrown away, we discard materials instead of reusing, and we fly by the seat of our pants instead of planning ahead. Now is the time to tighten up and take back control. May you all feel strong and powerful today! ♥
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
Bread Pudding, YES. Made quite a few this past winter, even a Chocolate one!
Yes, waste not, want not. Cheers
We never have enough bread left for b&b pudding. Leftover sourdough gets turned into breadcrumbs to eke out the chicken mince to make meatballs… Glad it’s not just me that discovers forgotten chicken mince in the freezer. One of these days, the Husband will be forced to eat chicken livers too, which I adore and he doesn’t much care for. So delicious, and so good for his iron deficiency. What he doesn’t know is that if you add a few minced chicken livers to beef mince he can’t really tell the difference in a bolognese sauce. Extends the mince, extra iron for him.
I especially love that your mum had raisins in her handbag!
I know, right? And all this time I thought my madness came from Dad… :)
Wise words today Celia. I agree that coping well shows us just how strong we are – and we ARE strong. We are women.
Ah, cold Bread and Butter pudding. I love it, Since we can’t seem to leave winter behind here (it’s snowing AGAIN right now!) I think I’ll put together a savoury version for our supper. Stay safe, everyone.
I love bread and butter pudding … warm or cold! I think, in hard times, there are things that we can discover about ourselves. Perhaps, things we never knew we could be or do. MegXx
Thanks Celia, we just sat down with our morning coffee and reading this made me jump up, cut a slice of B&B pudding for hubby, served it cold and he thoroughly enjoyed it with his coffee. 😊
I love being frugal, it makes me feel empowered. It also makes me more organised and less lazy!!
Funny that we both made B&B pudding the same night, great minds.
It was the raisins in the handbag that got to me as well. Humor is especially important these days. Thank you Celia.
I’m with Kim. I loved reading your kind and wise words today.
I freeze all the leftover ends of our bread, so when I need to make breadcrumbs or an unexpected pudding, I just pull them out of the freezer and have enough to do what I want to do with them. Hubby says ‘what are all these bits of bread doing, taking up freezer space?’, but he certainly enjoys the puddings I make …
Love this post. Such wise words. Those dumplings look scrumptious. Thankyou for your daily posts. So nice to have interesting snippets to read and think about each day 👏🌈
I can’t wait to see what else your mum finds in her bag for your next project!
You have no idea! That thing is a TARDIS. :)
Curry puffs look very tasty. One of the bonuses of this whole thing is that the supermarkets have cut down the number of lines, so it makes it much easier to decide what to buy. I’m doing my grocery shopping online, which I hate and usually get fed up and end up not buying everything on my list. Often turns out I didn’t desperately need it after all.
You have again come to the rescue with your innovative recipes. Thank you, they all look delicious. No wonton wrappers in my house, I don’t suppose you have a home made wonton recipe? Thank you for your daily posts they bring a ray of sunshine to my day. xx
Merle, I’ve tried this recipe from the Dumpling Sisters before. It makes a much thicker skin (I suspect that’s my fat hands) but it’s fun to do! Hope it works well for you! x
Lovely to read your post Celia, and I must spoil my better half tomorrow and make a bread and butter pudding out of some homemade stale sourdough bread. I keep lots of end pieces in the freezer. And I love dumplings, my mouth is watering just thinking about them. Wise words from you and to think I used to go to the supermarket every few days. Stay safe, Pauline
Bread and butter pudding, another blast from the past.. may need to have a go at making..
This is how I grew up. Bread and butter pudding or bread pudding was a staple – you never threw away a stale crust. And yes it’s lovely cold – bread pudding goes quite solid, and bread and butter is all about the custard…. which I can’t resist as you know! As yes to a slug of booze :)