November ninety – day nine

Posted: November 9, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Yesterday my spend was at £26.52, which was over my goal of £24 for day eight. I wasn’t able to get back on track today either, as I had work too far away from my house to walk it so needed to pay bus fare. Also, the bus got me there twenty minutes before the building opened, and the only warm place to go was a nearby Co-op, where they happened to have reduced-price goods I wished to purchase, such as not-from-concentrate orange juice and ‘truly irresistible’ seedy bread at half price (even though the use-by isn’t until tomorrow), with the result that my spend today was £5.69, taking the month’s total to £32.21, that’s £5.21 over today’s target.

In better news, the pasta I put raw into yesterday’s leftover stew softened up just fine and it made a good, filling lunch after heating up in the microwave at the place I was working.

November ninety – day eight

Posted: November 8, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Much as I do like butternut squash, pumpkin and courgette, I do feel rather overdosed on them at the moment. I couldn’t face another squash-based dinner tonight, so I bought potatoes and frozen peas (and a bottle of fizzy water) at Morrison’s after work. I also contributed a pound to the tip for yesterday’s meal, so my total spend for the month is now at £26.52, which is £2.52 over my goal for the day. I did really enjoy my dinner of mashed potatoes and a stew of onions, cabbage, peas, tinned tomatoes and garlic. Probably sounds boring but it tasted good, and tomorrow I’ll have the stew with pasta.

I’m experimenting with soaking the pasta in the stew overnight to re-hydrate it. Then the whole thing just needs re-heating rather than having to waste energy bringing a pot to boil, adding the pasta and keeping the heat on under the pan while it cooks for 8-10 minutes. I read a blurb on Serious Eats earlier about a similar method, so hopefully I should have perfectly and cheaply-cooked pasta tomorrow…