Bloo's Self Reliance

Today was “Sort out the potatoes day”.

2 weeks ago Tanny brought home 2x 5Kg bags of prepped potatoes from work that were about to be chucked. Today I managed to finally do something with them.

I also felt it was the perfect time to make the butter and buttermilk I’ve been putting off for weeks. So I did.

I ended up making 2 large creamy potato, bacon, onion and leek potato bakes, 1 Buttery potato bake ( kinda like a pommes Anna but with thicker potatoes, 1 Boulangere potatoes, 2 creamy chicken, bacon, potato and onion bakes and enough gnocchi to feed the 5000. Oh and to top it off multigrain potato soda bread.

I made a lot of this while having my weekly chat with my sister Perkle who was reminding me when I needed to sprinkle flour which was very helpful.

I am the kind of tired now that is a satisfied kind of tired and I think I might crawl up into my bed and watch tv. My arms are done in. But the satisfaction of knowing that our meals are set for the next week and I saved us approximately £150 on meals just by making use of some potatoes that were about to be landfill and making our own butter and buttermilk.

Ps I didn’t use anything we didn’t already have. I didn’t go and buy anything special. I used herbs, flavours and additional ingredients from the fridge, freezer and pantry.

Everything I made today cost a today of £18 all I have to do this week is pull meat out of the freezer or make something with what we have out to go with things which won’t be hard.

Sure I took a day out to do it all but it is a day I spent with my sister whilst I made most things talking to her which I would do anyways. It will also save me hours of work during the week and make life that much simpler and I am really ok with that.

#selfreliance #mealprepping #budgetmeals #leftovers #timesavers

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1 day ago | [YT] | 10

Bloo's Self Reliance

Day 2 - House Reset - February 2026

After yesterdays excitement and busyness today was a day of needing to be a little quieter and do what I could slowly and gently.

I found the coffee table YAY!!!

A job that had become a very overwhelming task has now been done and I’m honestly incredibly pleased.

Tomorrow I will tackle something else and bit by bit the room will look more liveable and less overwhelming.

#housereset
#disabilityawareness
#selfreliance

1 week ago (edited) | [YT] | 18

Bloo's Self Reliance

I am not in any way a Japanese chef or cook but I do love giving new things a go. Especially food from other countries.

We learn a lot about people from the food they eat. How it’s made, the effort that goes into ingredients. The work that goes into different elements that make a dish.

So I post my very first attempt at making a Char Sui Ramen. As a first attempt I am not entirely upset about it.

I made the chicken stock, the Char Sui pork, I cooked perfect from boiling 4 minute eggs. Wilted the Pak Choi so perfectly that Tanny actually ate his greens and enjoyed them.

The only thing that let it down was the noodles. I had thought to make my own, but found I had some “soba noodles” in the stores.

I really should’ve known bringing them out of the packet, the texture and colour was wrong. It was so wrong that we ended up binning the noodles and making up 2 minute noodles instead.

But you know what it’s ok, it happens and now we know for next time. Oh yes there will be a next time. Tanny has said so!

I’m just happy I got the egg right in all honesty.

Hey !!! And I got it to look reasonably pretty as well that’s a win lol

Just don’t let little things throw you off. Learn from them and do it again. Babies don’t walk over night and cooking new things takes practise.

#budgetmeals #leftovers #dinner #ramen #practisemakesperfect

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2 weeks ago | [YT] | 12

Bloo's Self Reliance

It’s been a busy old day. Started with roasting the pork, then got stuck into making chicken stock so it’s ready for ramen tomorrow and I’ve been honestly craving an apple crumble for months.

Tanny of course brought home some close to due date ready prepped potatoes. I think I’ll be making a few different potato dishes for the freezer with this lot.

Tonight though we are just having 2 minute noodles with Char Sui pork. I need it to be simple as a few things went pear shaped and threw me off today. All good though tomorrow is another day.

Tomorrow I have 2 choices, make egg noodles for ramen or use the soba ones I have in the pantry. I may just. Go the easy way for now. That way I can deal with the unexpected half tonne of spuds!!! Although where we are going to put them all is anyone’s guess lol

#budgetmeals #foodprep #charsui #applecrumble #stock

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2 weeks ago | [YT] | 10

Bloo's Self Reliance

We still have meat joints in the freezer we bought before Christmas making good use of the offers.

This week Tanny asked me to turn the leg of pork into a Char Sui style pork. I have to admit I did look at him sideways and asked him specifically questions about his wants from it.

Cut into smaller pieces? Nope keep it big and marinate it longer.

Remove the skin? Yup but turn it into pork scratchings.

Do you want it just as it is or lots of different things?
So far the ideas for the week/fortnight are Char Sui Ramen, Special Chow Mein, Banh Mi, Rice Paper Roll Ups, Char Sui Pork Pie… who knows lots of options it’s a huge joint and being careful we can make it last a good couple of weeks and longer.

Taking advantage of good offers even if it means getting a loyalty card for that one purchase can take care of you and yours for months afterwards.

The full cost of this joint was £19.83 but having the loyalty card meant it cost £6 that’s a huge saving. The rest of the shopping this month cost £65 but in that were large bags of chicken drumsticks on offer that will take us a few months to get through.

We are trying hard to stay around £50 for the months groceries for the next few months. Making as much as we possibly can of what we get and what we have already.

We are getting there. Making use of offers that make sense to us when they come up. Being able to because we’ve quartered our food budget.

Definitely looking forward to playing in the kitchen this week though.

#charsui #leftovers #budgetmeals #scratchcooking

2 weeks ago | [YT] | 9

Bloo's Self Reliance

If it’s Stew

If it’s Stew is all about “if it’s in the fridge, freezer, cupboard or fresh it’s in the pot.

It the end of January and we are at the end of the holidays fresh veg. We have run out of onions, on our last bag of baby potatoes. Our only fresh veg were the potatoes, Sweet Potato, a couple of salad tomatoes and the last punnet of baby plum tomatoes.

I remembered though last year I’d water-bathed some caramelised onions, and foraged in the freezer for a bag of diced pork, while using the last 2 slices of the Christmas ham and dicing up 4 slices of bacon.

I foraged on the shelves for what sauce to use and decided to use a jar each of my homemade tomato sauce and plum sauce and also a jar of my water-bathed sweetcorn kernels.

Once all the fresh ingredients are sauted you can add your choice of sauces. Maybe some in the half hour before serving add a cup of frozen peas or broccoli.

Whatever you choose to do make sure everything fits on a spoon without over crowding it and cook until the meat is falling apart.

I’ve also made vegetarian versions of this in the past and they’ve turned out just as well. Every single one is different too. It does mean though with the few bits and pieces we found we have dinner for the next few days and it just took a bit of chopping and letting the pot do the rest.

#dinner #budgetmeals #leftovers #usewhatyouhave

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2 weeks ago | [YT] | 7

Bloo's Self Reliance

Sometimes things turn out amazing and somewhere in the process it all turns a little ummmm pear shaped.

With the last of the rice I really wanted to make some onigiri and I did for lunch yesterday. To start with.

Salmon Onigiri

6 cups cooked rice
Tin of Salmon
1 Tablespoon dried Chives
1 Tablespoon dried Seaweed, in tiny bits
1/4 Cup Mayo

Mix everything together and add mayo in as needed to bind the mix but not make it saucy or claggy.

Press into moulds of choice I used a round egg ring. But cookie cutters work or ramekins lined with plastic wrap. Press mix in well.

These are ready to eat as is. If I have them as is I would cut them in half and wrap in a quarter nori sheet.

Of course these can be fried off and you need to make sure the fry pan is really hot for this and you need to be confident.

Let each side cook one time for 4-5 minutes on high heat.

Serve as you wish.

I made a boo-boo and forgot the mayo this time. It worked great as is and fried but as the rice started popping in the frying the rice cakes shattered.

Except the last one.

That’s ok though still all edible and for me I wanted more crispy bits and boy did I get a bunch of them.

Are they pretty? Not really but the flavour is there and I’m not going to say no right now to having fried onigiri for dinner.

Ps don’t forget you can have these plain or with tuna, ham, bacon, bonito flakes… the flavours are only limited by what you have in your cupboards.

#leftovers #onigiri #rice #budgetmeals #recipe

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2 weeks ago | [YT] | 9

Bloo's Self Reliance

I know, I know, I didn’t use my wok … AGAIN. But honestly it was so much easier to make this fried rice in the multi cooker.

Fried Rice with Mini Meatballs

1 pack Sausages, deskinned, meat made into mini half teaspoon sized meatballs.
4 Cups Leftover Cooked Rice. Cooled.
4 Cups Small Diced Veg.
1 TablespoonHoisin Sauce
3 Tablespoons Light Soy Sauce
2 Tablespoons Kecap Manis
2 Tablespoons Dark Soy Sauce

Sauté the meatballs.
Add the veg and sauté with the meatballs until cooked.
Add Rice and mix through thoroughly with the light soy, Kecap mania and hoisin.
Once thoroughly cooked and all mixed well drizzle the dark soy and mix well then serve.

I think people get too caught up in what’s right and what isn’t and whether they have the right pots and pans or utensils.

Meals like this don’t have to be perfect they have to taste good, use what you have and make what you have go further.

This will feed us for the next couple of days and would happily feed a family of 4 as a main meal or as a side dish for a couple of days or bigger families for the day.

Our monthly shopping budget right now is £50 so making the most of everything else we have is really important.

#leftovers #costoflivingcrisis #budgetmeals #recipe

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3 weeks ago | [YT] | 7

Bloo's Self Reliance

Turning a fail into a win is such an important skill to have, especially when it comes to things like food.

No one can afford to waste good food so being able to think on your feet and turn what looks like a bunch of off cut and wonky veg, leftover cooked rice, overcooked, leftover or overly salty meat and a few splashes of this and that from the cupboard into meals for a couple of days or an amazing side dish for something else.

I know Uncle Roger would rip me a new one with this fried rice not being authentic. However from my experience while travelling and working across South East Asia and China over the years, every home saves leftover boiled rice to make fried rice the next day. Every family makes the everyday staple with what they have available it is not always the same.

So make it with what you have. Use up what is available for you right now and make something that will fill bellies and put smiles on faces for a fraction of the cost of buying it as takeout.

Something from nothing is a skill that keeps us going when all else seems to fail. Fried Rice is just one of the many dishes you can’t create using that principle.

#somethingfromnothing #leftovers #friedrice

3 weeks ago | [YT] | 16

Bloo's Self Reliance

Ribs in Plum Sauce.

Before Christmas Tanny got us some pork ribs from @trotters_farm_shop . (Who we love and trust and have half a freezer full of their products )

Kept in the freezer until today we were really looking forward to finally being able to have an awesome rack of ribs we could cook properly. Unlike the precut BS supermarkets seem to supply.

What we didn’t expect was them to have been brined. Nowhere on the label does it give any mention of them being brined and should I have known I would’ve soaked them in a tub of water over night to get the excess salt out.

So after making my own marinade of home made Plum Sauce, Hoisin Sauce, Light Soy and Kecap Manis. Cooking them covered in the oven for 2 hours and then uncovered for the next hour.

I cut them individually because Tanny asked me to. 2 mouthfuls in and it was obvious that they had been brined. The salt overpowered the sauce I had made and was so strong you couldn’t even taste the meat.

Gutted honestly. Properly gutted. The only thing I can think to do with the meat so not to waste it is cut it into small pieces and made into a fried rice dish. Hopefully that will absorb the salt so we don’t waste this. Otherwise the meat is literally inedible.

Brining meat without letting people know is one good way to stop them from cooking for themselves. It threw me for a loop I had to go and taste the sauce again to make sure it wasn’t something I did.

Even as a seasoned cook/chef this kind of incident can completely derail your confidence. So please if you are selling raw racks of ribs, label the pack as such. Make your customers aware. It’s hard enough to find good affordable meat without having nasty shocks like this that genuinely aren’t our fault.

#butchers #farmshops #ribs

3 weeks ago (edited) | [YT] | 8