Monday, May 24, 2010

Lets Trade

We are lucky enough to have family with gardens that produce abundantly and are often blessed with a supply of seasonal fruit and vegetables.  This week we were given a huge bag of lemons, the tastiest, sweetest juiciest lemons you could imagine.  With lemons, I like to juice them and freeze them into ice cubes, then store them for winter when we have sore throats to make honey and lemon tea with.  However at the moment, I am loving making my own version of lemonade.  I squeeze a lemon, add 1dspoon of caster sugar and then fill the cup with cold water.  It is really thirst quenching and satisfies my pregnant cravings nicely.

There are dozens of things that can be done with lemons: lemon butter, lemon merangue pie, lemonade, lemon slice.  You can also put half a lemon in your fridge to absorb smells and freshen it up.

As with any vegetables that I have in large supply, rather than letting them go to waste, I will cut them up and freeze them into meal sized portions.  We often receive pumpkins and as a major fan of pumpkin soup, I like to make up a huge pot and freeze that into meal sizes for those weekends when I just cant be bothered cooking.

The other great thing with fresh produce that you are given is that you can trade with other family and friends, that will give you variety and it helps you both save money.

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Coming Back Online

I am back!  After taking a month off I am back online with plenty to say.  I have spent the month of April basically being slack and definitely a financial backslider.  I left lights on, used hot water to rinse the dishes and spent every cent that came my way and it felt like crap.  So I am back on the bandwagon and about to reclaim my control of money.


Stay tuned for the next installment of what I have learned along my journey.