Lavosh, Good Nosh, and Budget Posh

Have you visited www.pigstitsandparsleysauce.co.nz?  The story of a NZ woman who challenged herself to a weekly grocery bill of $100 for her family (dogs included) to save at least $12 000 in a year to invest in a rental property.  Long story short she exceeded her savings goal and now writes and shares about how she achieved this.  I found it all very exciting.  So I am giving it a crack.  Will let you know how it goes!



One of Lyn's tips is too shop at Bin Inn (or the like), your local butchery and produce stores. She says avoid supermarkets and if you must go there have a list and stick to it.  Well I have been doing that for the last fortnight.  Our local Bin Inn type shop is Simplifood in Mount Maunganui.  I spent quite a bit of our budget, with most of the cost going toward supplies for Wendyl's cleaning products.  I was very excited to see that they stock her range including the liquid soap she recommends - Dr Bronner's castile soap!! Wonderful!  My next cleaning product will be the peppermint paste as my bloggy friends are raving about it as a jiff equivalent.  My stove stop is hideously dirty so wanted to see if the peppermint paste can work its charm there.

I stayed mostly to our list in the supermarket managing to forget one item - K's corn thins.  This inspired me to dig to the back of my pantry and memory banks and  create Annabel Lanbein's Lavash.  Mmmmmmmm, low in salt, filled with yummy sesame seeds - I am liking this option for K's savoury snacking.  It is so easy to make.  Takes a while to roll.  I love the taste and the rustic, odd shapes.  I am looking forward to Dad and K's reviews as they took it too the park for afternoon tea.

On this particular weekend morning I was up before the family and whipped up soup for dinner and some delish home made bread - thanks to the Edmond's Cook book wholemeal bread recipe - we are really feeling like we eat well with the seasonal food focus, homemade goodness and budget attempts.

This week I will use the last of our tomatoes to make more tomato sauce, and try some pear and date chutney from my gorgeous recipe book "Ripe" pictured above.  These will hopefully become birthday gifts.

What's cooking in your seasonal kitchen?