One of the hardest things about not having much money is having little to give away. I love giving small spontaneous gifts, choosing the right Christmas present or bunch of flowers "just because".
And home-made food gifts are a very special pleasure. Making biscuits because a friend is coming or even just sharing a bowl of soup and some home made bread is wonderful. One of my favourite words is "companion", literally someone with whom one shares bread.
It would be easy to take gifts of food out of my food budget into another category but I feel it would also be cheating. My dear friend Clare, who lives along the road, had a knee replacement op last week and I offered to make a meal for three and take it along to her house to eat with Clare and her husband. I looked through the freezer and found several small amounts of fish - pollock, smoked river cobbler, salmon, prawns - and combined them all in a fish pie. Actually I found enough fish to make several pies which I have frozen for myself. I made parsley sauce using probably the last parsley from the garden for this year and then topped the lot with mashed potatoes. Delicious. And Clare agreed!
I also made a rice pudding to take to 94 year old Auntie Hettie. A rice pud is such a simple homely thing and she loves it.
I've had to go shopping again, this time to buy potatoes, milk, carrots and cucumber, totalling £3.72. This means I have spent £9.79 out of my £34 so I have £24.21 to last for the next twenty days
Very creative to use what you have to give so generously. The company is the best treat I'm sure.
ReplyDeleteI love home made gifts and a meal made by someone other than me is heaven. You're doing well with your budget.
ReplyDeleteI think the gift of a meal is great.
ReplyDeleteMaking a meal or treat to share with someone else is the perfect gift.
ReplyDeleteYou can make that budget last.
God bless.