Welcome to another post where I talk about the small, frugal and, hopefully, sustainable things I have done this week. I have been cooking, using stuff up and making marmalade!
Paddington would be impressed
I have to admit the marmalade was a bit of a cheat, but satisfying to make nonetheless!
I had marmalade on my shopping list, but when I saw this Ma Made can of prepared Seville oranges for £2.60 I thought it might be fun to do.
I make a lot of jam, but prepping oranges always seems like such a faff. This couldn’t have been easier. I just had to add water and sugar, bring to a rolling boil for 15 minutes, and pour into clean jars.
It made seven jars. I estimated it worked out at 68 pence a jar, and allowed me to reuse seven jam jars (and not buy seven more that would then need recycling).
I will definitely be making this again!
Eating from the stores
I continue to reverse meal plan using food items we already have, as I explained in this post.
My plan for last week included finally eating the last of the Lidl eight pence Christmas parsnips, which we consumed by making parsnip and apple soup. I thought it was delicious, but Justin found it a bit sweet.
I also made apple turnovers using a roll of puff pastry that had been in the freezer for almost a year. Justin was more impressed with those!
Most of the apples for both of these dishes came from Justin’s mum’s garden. I plan to make apple and Stilton soup next to finish them up. Hopefully Justin will prefer that.
Keeping snug
It has been so cold over the past few weeks. It’s tempting to keep the heating blasting non-stop, but in a bid to keep the bills manageable we resist.
Instead, we layer up and there is a pile of throws in the living room, including an electric one for when it’s really nippy. When I’m working I snuggle up with the dog!
My no-spend January is still going well, and my bank balance is certainly looking healthier than it was this time last month! Is anyone else doing a low or no-spend month, and if so how’s it going? And have any of you tried making marmalade with the Ma Made kit?
Anyway, that’s me for now. As ever, don’t forget you can catch up with my frugal life on my YouTube channel.
If you need a bit more frugal inspiration check out my book on Amazon. If you have Kindle Unlimited you can get it for free.
Jean Scholefield says
I’ve always used marmade rather than faffing about with oranges. I will be making more soon. Your no spend month is good. Well done.
shoestringjane@outlook.com says
I’ve been given lots of ideas to vary the recipe now, so I will experiment next time
Alex Murphy says
What a great idea for marmalade! We were sent a bunch of citrus fruit this winter, but my husband complained it was not very flavorful. So I made it into a jam using mostly the same process as marmalade. I love using it to spread over salmon before broiling.
We are in a deep cold snap, and I love that my little dog likes to sleep under the blankets at night. That is my favorite thing about winter, I think.
shoestringjane@outlook.com says
Aww, that’s cute!