It was really nice yesterday evening to be able to go to my wardrobe and select a new shower gel from the lovely array I've picked up over the summer at car boot sales. Should I go for the chocolatey-looking one from Boots, or the rather posh Chloe tube, or how about a large selection of different Body Shop fragrances? In the end I chose one of the Body Shop White Musk bottles, as this is probably my all-time favourite. I'm not someone who uses a lot of shower gel every time I shower so this little lot should easily see me through to next summer - with the hope that I can add to the collection at the upcoming Christmas Fayres. I can't tell you how satisfying it was to have such a lovely choice and knowing that none of them cost me more than 50p.
By nature I'm not really much of a pack-rat, and in this particular house there isn't really that much room to stockpile things - although giant packs of toilet paper are stacked in some rather unusual places at the moment having been bought over the past few months when Somerfield always seemed to have one toilet paper or another on really good offer. I do envy those bloggers who seem to have beautifully organised craft rooms with their thrifted fabric and yarn all neatly stacked away. Or those who have large cellars in their houses (this seems to be an American thing in particular) who can stockpile non-perishable food stuffs down there, or any other useful bits and bobs they come across.
Having no freezer and a fridge the size of a cardboard box means there's very little space to stockpile perishable food stuffs (although we do have a fine collection of tinned and dry items in various cupboards and wardrobes around the house.) Feeling particularly lazy at the moment and not wishing to make yet another journey to the High Street, I spent some considerable time yesterday evening (whilst watching Hugh Fearnely-Whittingstall and his wonderful selection of fresh veggies) trying to decide exactly what I could cobble together for a few evening meals from the meagre bits in the fridge and on the shelves - whilst not subjecting us to the threat of scurvy!! Everything I thought of seemed to be missing one vital fresh ingredient - I had bacon, parmesan and dried spaghetti but, oops, had used the last of the eggs to make a cake so couldn't do Spaghetti Carbonara. Bacon and mushroom pasta bake - nope, no mushrooms. Tuna and pasta salad - nope, no cherry tomatoes (or, indeed, tomatoes of any kind.) Finally I came up with the idea of homemade pizza with a bacon and pineapple topping - not quite a Hawaiian pizza, but near enough.
I know there is quite a big bag of carrots in the fridge and some broccoli, and I've got plenty of potatoes so tonight's evening meal will be the above veggies with a tin of stewing steak. Any left over veggies will go to make a weekend lunch soup.
It took me a while to figure it all out, and what with that and the knitting I had on the go at the same time poor old HFW didn't really get much of a look in, but I think I'm sorted for the weekend food now, and it won't cost me an extra bean - nor any time schlepping to the High St and back!
That made me smile - I've given up on stockpiling, got tired of the constant "why are there lentils in the wardrobe/tins behind the books...." Got to the point I'd forget where I'd put stuff. Oh what I'd give for a huge kitchen, nothing fancy, just huge!
Posted by: Wendy from Scotland | 10/24/2008 at 11:45 AM
Well done you! I shop in my fridge each week and find it saves me probably £15 a week!
Posted by: Frugal Trenches | 10/25/2008 at 05:04 PM
Do UK houses have the same as Aussie and Kiwi houses: crawl space above the ceiling (under the roof)? If so (and if the toliet paper is in plastic wrappers and you don't have mice) you could store it in stacks around the access hole to keep it out of the way but (fairly) easily accessable with a step ladder. Could be handy insulation too ;-)
Posted by: The Shopping Sherpa | 10/26/2008 at 08:43 AM