How Do You Get The Time?

This Christmas I made lots of homemade things, like jam, jellies, chutneys and aprons. I made about 30 jars, from October to December. People often ask me, how on earth I fit it in. Here's some of the things which help me:

Slow cooker, I love our slow cooker. Not only perfect for making curries and sources. It's also great for slow cooked chutney. (Will share my recipe soon.) What I love is with a slow cooker it can work around you.

My top tip is that when your already in the kitchen cooking, that's the perfect time to make something else. So this morning while cooking our mini people porridge  (in the times that it was cooking and cooling) I put a batch of chutney in the slower cooker. I also used the apple peels and cores to start a batch of Apple vinegar. 

What really helps, is our family living room/kitchen. We have an open family living space, so I can be in the kitchen but also still with the mini people. They can help out with cooking too :)

Have things to hand, have a really good tidy up of your kitchen every few months, do you still use that item? The top used items in my kitchen are: bread maker, slow cooker, large iron cooking pot (my Nana's hand-me-down, when ever I use it I think of her,) wooden spoon and large mixing bowl, hand mixer. 

Our breadmaker was such a great buy, brought on sale and on every day to every other. Being a family of 5 we go through a lot of bread, from sandwiches to toast. If you have bread in the house you will always have a meal! What I love is adding my own bits to the recipe, I mostly use the plain white bread recipe but add nuts, seeds or sultanas. I love knowing what's in there and wow it's so much nicer. I used to make my own bread and I know many people mange to make the time for it, but I love that I throw it all in and forget about it. 

I keep everything in jars, from flour to nuts, that means I can quickly see what am low on and also grab things quickly. Don't throw your jars out, I have a stash to hand for all my home made yummy stuff or to use for storage (not just in the kitchen!) My friends and family save them for me too :) 

I haven't brought a pasta source in over 7yrs so I do rely on others saving the odd jar for me. I will share my basic pasta source soon too. 

This was my kitchen side this morning, chutney on, Apple peels and cores ready to go to the laundry room and a bag of left over veg scraps to be thrown in the garden. All while the porridge cools. 

It's amazing how much you can fit in, when things are to hand!

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