Bloo's Self Reliance
Self Reliance, Urban Homesteading and Wellness on a rain water budget.
Hi my name is Pam but please do call me Bloo. I am a qualified Chef, Nutritionist, Dietitian, Herbalist and Naturopath. I have always worked towards being as self sufficient as possible and supplying my families food from the ground up. 10 years ago an accident forced me into retirement due to major injury and from there things went kinda pear shaped. This channel is what I am doing to claw my way back to where I was and beyond through natural therapies, and urban homesteading, whilst teaching others to do the same on a very tight budget.
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Bloo's Self Reliance
Tell me you’re a mum of boys without telling me you’re a mum of boys … I’ll go first…
I’m in the middle of making a first batch of chocolate concrete to see if it works.
Apparently my son smelt it cooking from across town and can’t wait until it’s cooled to try it.
Literally out of the oven less than 5 minutes.
Mums of sons, it doesn’t stop … they are still here in their 30’s and they still can’t help themselves … except they do lol
#mumofboys #selfreliance #baking #budgetrecipes
5 days ago | [YT] | 23
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Bloo's Self Reliance
Genuinely this was the biggest success I have had in a very long time with Tanny.
It can be quite anxiety ridden when Tanny tries new things. Sometimes he’ll like it and sometimes not. Today was a massive win and the relief was physical as well as mental.
He loves the chilli so much he wants chilli dogs tomorrow again AND the next day with rice.
My whole body relaxed and I actually breathed out heavily as I don’t exactly know I was holding my breath the whole time as he tested it.
In the end though he had 2 chilli cheese dogs. Ate them…. More accurately demolished … inhaled… swallowed whole…???? Either way he got rid of his in half the time it took me to get through my one.
Well today has been fun and tomorrow will be equally fab I’m sure so off to chill now and munch on a chocolate cherry muffin.
Just remember guys keep trying and do try new things and encourage those who rely on you to try new things. It can be hard sometimes especially as a neurodivergent person or peoples. At the end of the day though it’s worth the risk. You never know you might find your new favourite food or meal.
#dinner #budgetmeals #leftovers #frugal #chillidogs
1 week ago | [YT] | 8
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Bloo's Self Reliance
Sometimes we don’t always have the same thing for dinner.
Tonight Tanny wanted ham salad sandwiches so I made him a plate with 2 rounds and a pack of Smokey bacon crisps.
me I have a serve of the Prawn and Bacon Potato Bake. I thought it was a good idea to add a dollop of jarred hollandaise to it. Frankly it was a good idea and it worked much better than on eggs. I will definitely make my own when it comes to eggs.
Today has been a day I needed to sort my brain out and I am feeling a lot better honestly. Tomorrow lots to do and lots to get going for the rest of the week and beyond.
Somedays we have to put ourselves first so we can do what’s expected of us later. Today really shouldn’t have been that day but it was and honestly it is what it is and I’m not upset about it.
#urbanhomesteading #budgetmeals #leftovers #zerowaste #selfreliance
2 weeks ago | [YT] | 7
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Bloo's Self Reliance
Ahhh Sunday morning.
Chilling and planning for the week ahead. Snicky Snacking for breakfast whilst catching up on the latest episode of Starfleet Academy before setting things up for breakfast and prepping my space for tomorrow’s weekly prepping.
I want my main spec to be clear and reasonable so I don’t have to panic about it tomorrow before I start anything so I can do things without the distractions.
I have some baking to do this week and I’m hoping it’ll all work out so we have yummy things for the next couple of weeks.
Today though it’s a “might as well” day. Where if I’m up and seeing things I could take to the bin I take it with me. Or if I’m going to the bathroom, take the clean towels, or heading to the bedroom take the clean folded clothing.
Might as well helps a lot getting the overwhelming little things done for me anyway so maybe it will help you too xox
#selfreliance #selfcare #frugallife #quietrebellion #urbanhomesteading
2 weeks ago | [YT] | 14
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Bloo's Self Reliance
Saturday night is fakeaway night and tonight I got to have my favourite fried chicken.
I used the buttermilk I made earlier this week to marinade the chicken with 2 eggs, paprika, garlic powder and onion powder all mixed in.
I used the last of my plain flour with dried basil, rosemary, chives, celery seeds, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, Turkish spice blend and Lebanese 7 spice blend.
The seasoning changes depending what I have in the cupboard, but I always end up putting double in as it can be very deceptive.
The 2.5Kg bag of chicken drumsticks from Farmfoods £9.99 the buttermilk £4 (half the cost of the cream I used) flour £1 seasonings £1. Total £16.
KFC 10 piece family bucket delivered £35.77.
We were able to make enough chicken for us for 2 days. Massive win!!!
We never eat the chips. We have our own sides should we want them with what’s made already and what’s in the fridge.
The marinade takes minutes and sits in the fridge until you’re ready to use it. The seasoning also a few moments and the chicken around 10 minutes per batch which takes less time than it does for delivery to turn up.
Make Saturday nights a part of your quiet rebellion and make your own takeaway or if not choose local small businesses and not the big franchises.
#selfreliance #fakeaway #friedchicken #quietrebellion #scratchcooking
2 weeks ago | [YT] | 12
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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
3 weeks ago | [YT] | 11
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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
3 weeks ago (edited) | [YT] | 18
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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
4 weeks ago | [YT] | 12
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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
4 weeks ago | [YT] | 10
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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
4 weeks ago | [YT] | 9
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