Fresh Frugal Food?

So this week has been a very exciting and terrifying week... Exciting in the fact that I put in an offer on my first ever house [squeal!] but terrifying in the fact that I have discovered just how much it costs to actually maintain a home and actually afford to eat.....Having lived at home with my parents for free for the past 23.5 years, the realisation that food is not actually going to be free forever has hit me hard! Since starvation/ forced anorexia probably won't be a long-term option, I'm thinking a sweet little seasonal veggie patch is going to be my best solution to the produce panic and also be a fun project to keep me busy in my 'spare' time [insert hysterical laugh]. 

Anyway this is what I bought!

Super cheap potting mix from Woolworths - 2 bags for $5! Apparently you are supposed to use 'seed-raising mix' but with my current budget these seeds are lucky they don't have plain old dirt.

Dare I say it was dirt cheap?

Seeds! Since we have just gone into autumn I checked the Adelaide planting guides and chose these bad boys. I decided to live life on the edge with the tomatoes as they are supposed to be grown in summer, but I like to live dangerously. The Country Value range from Bunnings were $1.47 each but then we made the exhilarating discovery that Foodland has DT Brown seeds for $1.39! Take that, Bunnings!

Sadly it seems that we are in the midst of a serious silverbeet drought so spinach will have to suffice.

There were two more packets but my helper got a bit excited and lost them...

I didn't have any proper pots for my seedlings, but recycling - and forcing your dad to drink a few glasses of orange juice so you can use the container - is good fun! The eggs are now being stored in a bowl in the fridge as teensy little basil seeds have now moved in. I just stabbed a few holes in the bottom of each makeshift pot to allow for drainage and put them on this iron table so they can easily drain right through.

There's something about the disarray that puts a huge smile on my face.

I was totally stoked by how many seeds were in each pack, easily enough for another batch of seedlings or maybe two. Sadly two packs were emptied by my over-enthusiastic helper who doesn't seem to understand the dismal state of my finances, but hopefully I'll just get loads of seedlings from them.

Now these other little babies can just be stored away for next season! 

Considering each seedling pot used about a third of a packet and only a few handfuls of potting mix, each one has only cost me roughly 80 cents to plant, which is a huge saving on the $3.86 Bunnings charges for a budget seedling pot, hoo-rah! 

So my Sistema addiction pays off! But that's a whole 'nother blog post.....

I also grabbed these two bags of necessities from Woolworths on sale for an extra $12.50 but they will last quite a while and nurture and protect my precious seedlings when they grow up.

Please note that the 'reduced odour' Dynamic Lifter made the checkout girl at Woolworths gag so God only knows what the full strength smells like.

It smells like a barn yard but hopefully my plants will love it!

So now I am just excitedly waiting for my little darlings to grow and watering them daily from an empty Gatorade bottle as I don't have a watering can, which makes me feel a bit like a homeless Earth mother in the best of ways.

Stay tuned for updates and hopefully pictures of my glorious eggplant lasagne that I'm already planning....

Budget Check:

Total Spent: $32.36
Total Saved: We shall see...