Thursday thrift....

Entertaining essentials.

I was thinking back to the early days for His Lordship and I and how little money we had. Our first mortgage, a wedding to pay for, two children with a third soon to follow!

We rarely went out together-we just couldn't afford the cost! With no family nearby we couldn't even afford to pay the teenager down the road to babysit-in fact, we would book my mum a year in advance to stay for a weekend in Decmber so that we could both attend a work Christmas Party!

Sounds like a dull life doesn't it? Nothing could be further from the truth! In those days we had far more dinner parties than we do now!


Friends seemed to love coming to our house for a 3 course meal-all cooked from scratch with very cheap ingredients!

Our street at the time resounded most Saturday nights with lots of laughter as we took turns gathering at one home or another-sometimes it was bring a dish, at others someone or another would host us all

In the years since then our income improved-and at times we became "busy" with the number of social outings to attend. Our children are no longer at home, so babysitting isn't an issue!

Now however, I find playing host at home much more satisfying. Once again I am enjoying cooking those meals for appreciative friends & family-these days the young children playing in the house are our grandchildren and their friends and I couldn't be happier!

It doesn't take much to pull together a meal for people and in this colder weather something cooked in the slowcooker is always a hit!

Pasta, roasts, curries-all relatively cheap to provide and please most! Homemade Pizzas are usually met with enthusiasm by younger generations-especially if they are allowed to assemble them!

What do you do to entertain on a budget?

Friday's fridge.....

Forgive me, it has been two weeks since my last Friday's Fridge  ( apologies to any offended religious sensibilities- although non Catholic I love the idea of confession!).

A quick post because I have to drive to town for the car to be serviced-and to do some others tasks I have been putting off....would much rather spend all day home in the garden!

Today's Friday Fridge has pork belly, bacon, salami, eggs, pumpkin, cheese, milk, yoghurt, sourdough starter, green tomato pickles, carrots, celery, homemade pea & ham soup and spicy eggplant relish-oh, and some leftover lemonade. Not in the fridge, but defrosting is some casserole beef.

Ergo-tonight's meal will be Slow Roasted Pork Belly with roasted vegetables ( we have a friend coming for dinner).

Snacks for the weekend will probably be lemonade scones...

Saturday Meals:
Breakfast-grilled cheese with relish or chutney
Lunch- Frittata
Dinner- Slowcooker sweet Beef Curry with rice

Sunday Meals:
Breakfast- Eggs Anyway
Lunch-Pea and Ham soup with sourdough bread
Dinner- Homemade pizza or Fridge forage!


How does your Friday fridge look?