A Shopping Catch Up - Sorry Sue!!

I have fallen so far behind with my shopping posts, that this one is a quick round up of everything that has come into the house since the last one.

Last weeks Riverford box was a medium box for 2-3 people, and we also choose a couple of extras.

Choosing those extras was dangerous ... those Chocolate Chip and Orange Hot Cross buns were delicious, and lasted barely two days.  We both loved them, I might have added them to next weeks order too!  😁

14th Aldi - total of £34.90

Normal shopping in the order it was done and with prices.

This shop was in two parts.  

The items above were my normal weeks shopping at £13.15.

These items were a stock up at £21.75.  Although when I got home I realised that the Weetabix tin was just about empty, so these will have to be dipped into quite soon.

I went wild in the aisles at Booths on the 18th, spending a total of £54.40.  It included treats for each of us and some store cupboard items to stock up.  The sun was out, the store was lovely and quiet and I had earned myself some extra cash.

Definitely for the store cupboard were the tins of beans on offer at £7 for 8 cans.  A lot more expensive than my usual Aldi's own, but I do like Heinz when they're not £2 a can!!

The Booths receipt.

The finally, and to bring you bang up to date I went to Aldi yesterday morning.  I spent £19.68 on a mixture of store cupboard items and a couple of things that I actually needed

The things for the store cupboard were dated and stashed away, although I will have to dip into one of the peanut butters next month as my current jar is almost empty.

So, that's us all up to date.

The reason for the extra available cash this month has been some really good Facebook Marketplace sales, which me and Alan both agreed would be good to use for stocking up before any coming price rises.  Seemingly the things that are pretty much guaranteed to rise in price first are cooking oils, chocolate and coffee, but I get my coffee from Sainsbury's were I can usually get the best price, so that's possibly something for next week.

So with apologies to Sue in Suffolk who in this posts comments let slip that she finds shopping photos boring ... hey Sue at least I didn't video it all and talk you through it.  😉

Sue xx

Presents, Meals and Progress

 

My elder son and his fiancée called on Saturday for a coffee, they were on their way back from their yearly visit to Mum.  He had already sent me a box of 'Letterbox Flowers' ... not that any of our postmen have ever realised that the box will fit through the letterbox, they always knock on the door ... luckily the flowers were just starting to open out so he got to see them looking good.  They are even better today, fully open, really filling the jug and looking so fresh.

Alan got back later bringing me some sparkling water and some paracetamol ... oh he knows the way to a girl's heart.  😄

I've been trying to use a few things from the freezer this week, so my lunch was a bowl of the soup that I made here and half of one of the garlic breads that I bought here.  There's something very luxurious about a garlic bread dipped in a tasty homemade soup.  The soup gets a bit more garlicky with each dip.

A bang up to date progress report of the bungalow.

 Alan sent me this photo of the opened up loft space late afternoon yesterday.  We aren't using the loft for living space, there isn't the head height to add rooms as it is at the moment, and anyway we like the fact that our bungalow is a 'true' bungalow.  But we are having to have both the gable ends taken down and rebuilt as the wooden lintels above the windows below have all rotted.  We are putting in all new lintels above the windows and doors.  It's not a huge problem really as we are changing the sizes of all but one of the windows, so it would have made sense to change them anyway.

Alan got the photo because he was also up in the loft working to make a wooden pathway to the front of the roof space for access to what will be the solar installation panel.  He said at it's busiest there were six workmen and himself all getting on with various jobs.  

He is absolutely loving it.

Sue xx

Granny Would Be Proud

 

All today's photos are from Google Images

I've watched some really interesting YouTube videos over the last few days, slotted in here and there between shopping, visiting and visits to us.  Sometimes I choose YouTube in preference to watching a pre-recorded television programme because I can pick and choose and slot in viewing in the space it takes me to eat lunch or have a cup of coffee.  I can also watch it in preference to the news, as once I have heard the headlines I feel a real urge to take a step back.  After all there's nothing I can do except live my life calmly, quietly and as peacefully as possible.

https://youtu.be/2dmJVyRR4Mo?si=lCCb53A-WpPpETvz

28 minutes long

Just recently I have been watching a few tips and money saving channels and really retro ideas that actually make sense for now.  One that I came across on Saturday was this one. Try and ignore the annoying AI voice, but enjoy the photos that don't quite match up with the words, I found some of them made me laugh, so it was entertaining in every sense of the word.

Wouldn't a step back to a lot of the old ways be a welcome relief at the moment, well I think so ... but then I am a Granny.  😄

My washing goes out on the line in all but the worst of the weather, I shop predominately with cash, I don't buy what I don't need and I repair what I already have.  I reuse, recycle and re-invent before I throw most things away.  Oh, I make mistakes sometimes, but then don't we all.  But doing our best in difficult times can only be a good thing.

https://youtu.be/Y3Rg-UJ39pU?si=oXNdHGKyPI8CcGCU

Under 9 minutes long.

This more food based one is charmingly retro, and very on point with todays escalating food prices.  It's also American so I loved the completely different foods that it shows.  I do like the idea of 'biscuits and gravy' still popular I believe in the USA today, but for me in the UK that always brings to mind a dish of custard cream biscuits smothered in Bisto.  😐

This mornings little 'reset' was lightly stewing up six little apples that had lived in the fridge for far too long.  One portion for breakfast with a Weetabix and three more in the fridge for later in the week.  Nothing wasted, everything being used up in a good way ... granny would have been proud.

Sue xx

What Do You Get When ...?

 

What do you get when you have two slices of bread that are too thin for a decent slice of toast, one egg, two and a half slices of Quorn ham, and a slice of cheese that is very quickly drying up around the edges?

Well, if you crack and beat the egg, pour it into an oiled pan and then top with the bread.

Flip the whole thing over ... the hardest bit of the entire procedure.  Then top with the Quorn ham and the cheese slice, folding the excess egg into the middle.

Then fold the other half over like a lovely ham, egg and cheese book.  Then toast it until it reaches your perfect shade of toasty-ness and crunchy-ness

You get a filled omelette toasted sandwich, that is delicious and remarkably filling considering the sum of it's parts.

You also get to use up lots of random leftovers from the fridge, and no wastage.

And ... you get something very random for a blog post.  😄

Sue xx

Is Everybody Stockpiling?

 

I was watching a few of my regular YouTube channels this morning over my first cup of coffee of the day, and there seemed to be a regular theme running through their latest updates.  Stocking up their food supplies.

It made me wonder if this would be a sensible thing to do.  Fuel prices have already risen twice in our area in the last week, which of course will have a knock on effect very quickly on the price of food.  My first thought was to go to the shops immediately after breakfast and buy a few things, then I realised how dizzy my early morning tablets had left me, so I changed my mind.  

I'm not supposed to drive when they have this effect on me, I usually take them in the middle of the night if I get up for the bathroom, but this morning that was at 2am, much too early, so I took them at 7am ... hence the morning dizziness.

I decided to do something much more sensible instead, check the contents of the store cupboard to see what I already had in stock and finish off the moving of all the food dated 2026 to the top cupboard.

Everything in the top photo needed moving up ... and the spaghetti with the orange banded label wins the award for the food that has been neglected for the longest.  

Best before January 23 ... oops!!

It turned out to be a good exercise to do as I thought I had just two tins of tomatoes left in total, and I was all set to buy some more, but then I found these four cans tucked away at the back of the bottom cupboard.  Funnily enough I didn't remember buying them, but happily ... due to me showing my shopping in great detail to bore you all rigid over the past couple of years ... I found out that they had been bought HERE, in April 2024.

Now the top cupboard is fully stocked again with all the foods that either should have already been eaten, or that should be eaten at some point during this year.

And the lower cupboard has all the foods date during 2027 or beyond and some space should I choose to gather in some more supplies ... which according to the dictionary is another way of saying 'to stockpile'. 😁

The very old spaghetti though has gone back into the basket in the lower cupboard, waiting it's turn to be used, as the spaghetti in my spaghetti jar is even older.  😆

Have you been tempted to get some more supplies in yet, or do you already hold a really good supply of foods ready for any emergency?  I know we used to when we lived on our various smallholdings and were further away from the shops.

Sue xx