Insourcing....Food Porn and Rewards...

 

For me, insourcing has always meant a kind of freedom. Freedom to have my life the way I like it. Freedom to choose when we have a holiday, where we go, how we eat, how we dress, how we socialise.

 

 Some see food preparation, cleaning, decluttering, ironing, gardening and cooking as some sort of terrible punishment to be endured. Not me. I love that I have the opportunity to be a Homebody. To nurture my family, my home, and my garden and to know that I am making a difference. I love the rhythm of my week, and relish the sunny days and the rainy ones, the busy times and the quiet breaks, and the financial gains I am able to contribute to the family budget through our simple life.

 

 We've just been through a bit of a busy time. In addition to home renovations and insurance claims on our weekender, we've had Daughters final year of school, her recent Appendectomy, grandchildren's birthdays and other celebrations, and Daughters University Auditions. It would have been easy to throw caution to the wind and indulge in all sorts of expensive takeaways, treats and indulgences, even if only to cheer ourselves up sometimes! Midnight trips to the Emergency Room are not fun :/

 

Thankfully though, due to wise shopping practices, a bountiful garden, and a bit of insourcing, our pains were fatigue and a sense of relief, rather than overwhelming financial despair.

 

Five minutes spent dicing some pumpkin, halving a couple of carrots and throwing in walnuts and baby capsicum, meant a Mediterranean style feast on the fly one night, and delicious it was too. See pic above.

 

Another night, when we were all a bit weary and the weather had blown hot and cold for two days, leaving us wondering whether it would ever be Spring, led to delicious platters, called Salagumundi in some cultures, but just called a nibbles plate in our household. A different one for each of us, just an assemblage of things we enjoy eating. For me, Smoked Salmon, lots of veges and nuts, hard boiled eggs and roasted baby capsicum, and I was happy. 

 

 

Daughter too, has learned the lesson of Feed Thyself, and Who Needs Cafes, and conjured up this delectable looking breakfast one morning. That's peanut butter and granola on her toast. I take no responsibility, and make no judgement. I'm just happy to see her embrace the idea of INsourcing!

 

It's Beetroot season here. I do not liked tinned beets, but adore the fresh ones, simply roasted. Cubes of beet, and a bit of this and that, served me well for lunch for several days. Beets are so easy to grow too, even in pots.

 

It's Cauliflower season too here, and Roasted Cauliflower, tossed with lemon juice and Moroccan spices was a treat above and beyond simple, tacky potato chips. Yummy, crunchy, and tangy.

 

Husband brought home a rib roast on the bone one night. He saw it in the butchers window and thought it looked good. Therein is the reason I do not allow him to do the grocery shopping. Goodness knows what he'd come home with! I'd never cooked a Rib Eye on the bone before, but slow roasting it seemed a good idea. A bit of port wine, some stock, bay leaves, and finely diced garlic and onion, and we were off and running. 4 hours in the pot on 100C, and out it came, mouth-wateringly tender and completely restaurant worthy!

 

Oven baked veges, a treat style lunch for me. I do love my veg.

 

And one day when shock-horror, we ran out of strawberries for The Man of the House for his breakfast, our mulberry tree yielded these little morsels as a very lovely substitute. I look forward to a year or two from now when these trees will supply us with all the 'berries' we need for breakfasts, jams, desserts and snacks!

 

 

So life is not all about deprivation and budget. I couldn't possibly hope to replicate this mini éclair, filled with vanilla cream, and topped with edible gold and freeze dried raspberry 'dust'. Not gluten free, but in small doses, okay for a treat. Very pretty too!

 

 

The $6.50 price tag left me reeling a little though, so the next day it was back to home baking, and these little peaches and cream cakes, the result.

 

Manicures were done, always saving significantly...what do people see in those stinky nail salons??

 

 

And the reward for all the chopping and dicing, and growing, and baking, and roasting?

 

Pretty flowers (although I'm hoping to grow these too soon!)....

 

...roses, which I don't think will ever grow successfully where I live...

 



 

...coffee in a lush new café near where we live...

 

...and a weekend away, somewhere peaceful, tranquil and restorative....

 

I estimate my Insourcing savings last month to be well into the hundreds. A simple roasted vegetable salad hovers around the $8 mark for a single serve, a rib roast in a restaurant is about $40 a serve, café breakfasts top around $30 a head with juices and coffees, manicures $35, a deli tub of roasted pumpkin and capsicum $10-$12, and so on. It's not hard to see that all of those little savings add up.

 

I'm calling it a $900 month EASILY. Realistically, if we had just given up and bought meals and treats all month cause things were a bit tough with hospital visits and whatnot, we'd be out of pocket at least that much. Throw in parking, petrol, and doctors visits and it could have been a disaster for the budget.

 

Thank goodness for our insourcing ways.

 

How was your September?

 

...Mimi...