Monday, 10 February 2025

A Job for Me for This Week, a Taste Test and a Snooze

 


This week, after weeks and weeks of sorting, shifting and stripping out at Mum's, we have finally reached a stage where the jobs left in her little bungalow are virtually all jobs for the professionals.  The kitchen fitters, the decorators etc etc, after they have done their things we will have to snap back into action again with choosing carpets and blinds etc, but for now this week I am going to concentrate on doing a job for myself.  We will still be visiting Mum of course, but the only thing we have to do or supervise this week is the taking away of the huge old fashioned storage heaters and luckily my grandson is able to do this in his removals van.

So what is my job for the week?

Well the photo at the top of the post is to inspire me to actually crack on and get it done!!

I need to go through my food cupboard, put like with like and in date order of using things up and finally get a proper look at what I have in my food stock.  I sort of started a couple of weeks ago and as you can see in the photo got all the pestos together, in date order of needing to be used ... and then something came up and nothing more was done.

Today is the day I start again ... and finish!!


I've started now, even though it is just after six in the morning ... I have just taken out the last jar of homemade marmalade to have on my morning toast.  Oh well that's one less thing to get out onto the worktop.  😁


I had these in the freezer, so I decided to taste test one of them on Saturday.  Alan was busy watching the Six Nations rugby, I was reading when I realised that I felt hungry so I just went for some something simple that I could put in the Remoska and leave for twenty minutes.  At just £1.19 for two I thought I would give them a go as I had heard some good reviews from others.

I'll be honest I really wasn't keen.


They came out exactly the same as the photo on the box, which is pleasing and quite unusual.  The overwhelming taste was the baked beans, I should have expected no less really.  They were edible and passable as a quick snack, but for me there was no substance to them and to satisfy me I would have had to eat both of them as the same time.

I had a baked potato later on, I should perhaps have made a meal of my 'snack' and had them together as a meal.  I am quite into baked potatoes at the moment, which thinking about it actually make a quicker and no doubt more nutritious snack instead of a manufactured pasty.

I might even have a go at making a couple of these for myself with the puff pastry that I have in the freezer, only to make it more satisfying I think I would actually add some mashed potato to the beans and sausage.


Alan and Mavis having a snooze on Mum's floor the other day after our final day of lifting and shifting.  All the carpets have been taken up as you can see, the curtains remain hanging until the kitchen is stripped out, to give the illusion of occupation.  But we had cushions and underlay so for a man that can sleep on a clothes-line this was ultimate comfort.

He had just finished running his final ever three-day international conference the day before, so I let him sleep for an hour before we went on to visit Mum.  I'm good like that!!  😄


Sue xx



Friday, 7 February 2025

Let Them by Donna Ashworth

 


LET THEM
Let them argue
let them fight
let them think
they are right
let them gossip
let them rage
let them build
themselves a cage
let them judge
let them talk
let them walk
the way they walk
let them laugh
behind your back
they cannot push you
from your track
let them steal
each other’s joy
let them silence
virtue’s voice
let them wrestle
for the throne
let them pick flesh
from their bones
but of all
you let them do
do not let them
alter you
keep your focus
on the sky
and all the beauty
you pass by
stay within
your well-built walls
and answer only
worthy calls
let them lie
if they must
it’s yourself
you need to trust.

Donna Ashworth
From Sunday Times Bestseller ‘Wild Hope’



Sue xx

Thursday, 6 February 2025

So, Can You Still Shop for £3.50?


We were talking about rising food prices yesterday and I remembered that back in April 2023 I did a Challenge to see if I could live for a whole week on just £3.50, so I decided to see what the prices of those same items would be if I were to go shopping for the same products today.  

Could it still be done?


These were the prices I paid back then.



So I went onto the Sainsbury's website and filled my basket with the same things, and found out that it would now cost me £4.61.

I had to buy two loose potatoes to make up the potato weight because sneaky Sainsbury's have reduced the bag of potatoes from 2.5kg to just 2kg ... and I hadn't even noticed!!

The only thing that has gone down in price are the peach slices, the onions seem to be cheaper but they are dependent on weight when you get there. 

So the shopping basket has gone up in price by £1.14, which doesn't seem that much, until you go to the shops with your £3.50 for your weeks food and realise you can no longer afford to buy it.

I wonder if there's anyway of changing the shopping to make it manageable again, or is it now just totally impossible?



Sue xx

 

Wednesday, 5 February 2025

Obeying the Meme


This popped up on my Facebook Memories the other day so I saved it to use on here.

Although it was from a poster published in America during the first world war it would seem I really am 'obeying the meme'.  America entered World War 1 on 6th April 1917.


1.  I am thinking more and more about what I am buying both food and non-food wise these days.

2.  I am cooking with more care, especially now that the air fryer has gone.  My frying pan is out more for simple stir fry type meals and the Remoska does really well with most things that would normally require the oven to be turned on.  I am careful with my timings as without a sense of smell I cannot tell if things are burning ... thank goodness for timers!!

3.  I am really trying to use less wheat, it doesn't agree with me in large quantities anyway.  So if I have toast for breakfast I rarely have bread again during the day, although I do like bread-crumbed things and can get away with a portion of something crumbed later in the day.  I don't eat any meat at all, although I am still eating fish and eggs at the moment, but this is about to be reviewed as it's not sitting well.

4.  Shopping at Booths means that I can get hold of quite a bit of local produce, and luckily we have a farm shop across the main road from us ... I really should try to use that more often.  I try my best not to buy things that have flown around the world, one banana a week being the usual exception. 

5.  I have always done this.  The only time I make more than I need is when I want to have leftovers to use on another day, or when I make a big pot of something with the intention of freezing portions for future use.  I find Miguel Barclays books brilliant for when I want to make single portion meals.

6.  Using what is left is possibly my favourite thing to do.  I used to purposefully save a tiny bit of a meal to see what it could be turned into or added into the next day on a regular basis.  I was definitely  inspired by old blogging buddy Suzy Bowler, whose blog Sudden Lunch was both useful and fascinating ... and is still on my sidebar.

And finally ... I never waste food, I wouldn't dream of it.



Sue xx



 

Monday, 3 February 2025

Getting Down to the Minutiae

After yet another day sorting through things at Mum's bungalow while we were waiting for some painters and decorators to come and give us a quote, I realised that while Mum was never a hoarder of  things in the same way that my Dad was, she still nevertheless has lots of stuff.

In Mum's case it's lots of little stuff. 

She has saved every leaflet that came with every bill, every shopping list that she wrote out to phone through to my brother, every paper clip that came on a letter, every photograph whether good or bad.  It's been as slow a job sorting through Mum's things, slower even than Dad's garage that was packed to the rafters.  

I can't rush any of it as I have found important documents hidden in old birthday cards.  For example, we searched high and low for Mum's DNR when the carers needed it and nothing, then last week there it was in a Mother's Day card from many years ago.  A treasured photo of my great-grandmother tucked in with old receipts for electrical items that Mum bought many, many years ago.  There's no rhyme or reason for where things have found themselves being deposited, well maybe Mum had one, but she never told us.

So while we wait for various deliveries and things to be quoted for I have been sitting and sifting through the minutiae of my Mum's life.  It makes me come home and do my own.  In little corners of my home tins are being tipped out and small things that might have been saved 'just in case', if they haven't been used since I moved here over three years ago, they will most likely not be needed anytime soon.

One thing for sure they will not be there when my son's have to rifle through my possessions in the future.  Even living simply and small as I do now, there are still little things hidden behind cupboard doors, in boxes and in tins that are just not necessary.  Yesterday I sorted through my ribbon stash and got rid of virtually everything, this morning it was my handy little box of screws, nails, hooks and the like.  It's not that handy if it contains nothing that I need to use.



I thought I had finished my decluttering ... well I have for the bigger things ... now it's the turn of the little ones.


Sue xx



Saturday, 1 February 2025

The Books I Read Last Month ... and the Final Days



How is it already the start of February, January usually seems to drag on for what seems like months, but this year it has flown by.

I didn't have time for a lot of reading last month, and some of the time that I could have spent reading I instead found myself too tired to concentrate, therefore it was oh so easy to simply turn the television on and binge watch programmes or catch up on my YouTube watching.

Anyway the books that I did manage are here for posterity.  😄

The first book straight after the New Year was An Ideal Husband by Erica James.

This was a really well thought out and well executed story, not too predictable and with some neat twists and turns and well worthy of it's No.1 bestseller status on Amazon.  It's inspired me to look out for more of Erica's books on the charity table in Booths ... which was where this one came from and went back to after I had finished reading it.

I am being quite ruthless with my books this year, if I doubt that I will read them again they will be donated right after I finish them.



I read this book over the snowiest, coldest and windiest couple of weeks for a long time.  The atmospheric conditions here made it an even better read.  

I highly recommend this book ...


... especially if you used to liked watching The Little House on the Prairie.

For me it worked out cheaper to buy this book as a modern reprint and as a full set than it would have been to buy a single new or even used copy, absolute madness but that's how it was.  I will be keeping this book and all the others at least until I get around to reading them all.


After finishing The Long Winter I struggled with what to read next, so in the end I switched to reading a few cook books.  The first one was Deliciously Ella by Ella Woodward, I bought this book way back in 2015 and have been cooking from it on and off ever since.

My most used recipes from it are the hummus recipes and the Cauliflower and Potato Curry, and it was this book that introduced me to Banana Ice-cream.

Of course this will be remaining in my collection.


The next two books will not though and have already been donated to the Booths charity book table yesterday morning.  There was nothing that I wanted to make from either of them.




While there are a multitude of good recipes in both, there are none that think that I would go out of my way to make, and nothing outstanding enough to make me want to keep them on my shelf for future reference.


To round the month off nicely we had two garden centre visits during the final days of the month.  

At Barton Grange, which is just five minutes from our front door, we had lunch and then got acquainted with some friends.  

Alan with a Grizzly Bear.


And me with Eric ... I'm not entirely sure who Eric is or was, but this bench is called Eric's Bench and he's sat on it.  😀

Neither of our friends had much to say for themselves!!


Then yesterday to take last minute advantage of the two free coffees per month that I am allowed with my Dobbies Plus Card, we went to Dobbies in Preston.  

We had our coffees along with a fish and chips lunch each, and with the multiple discounts that were on for January managed to get our lunches for a combined total of just £18.60, saving us a whopping £19.30.

I also had £9.50 of Dobbies vouchers, so these were used towards buying a fresh bag of bark chippings to go on the back garden later this month when we have a tidy up.  Somehow Mavis, who was with us all day, managed to talk her Dad into buying her a doggie pick n' mix biscuit box.

So we all came away very happy. 🐶


Sue xx



Thursday, 30 January 2025

Moving Towards Healthier - Part Two - Recent Lunches

 


I bought these just before Christmas and had one over the holidays, the other had been languishing in the freezer until the end of last week.  So, I thought I would have it for my lunch and do a quick food review of these Aldi 'Melting Centre Nut Roasts'.  


They taste quite nice, are full of vegetables, maybe not so perfectly formed as the image on the box, but they are there, and have a lovely gooey and tasty centre.  Possibly a few months ago I would have rated them very favourably, but in my move away from the more processed foods I found them to both look and maybe even taste a bit 'manufactured'. 

I ate them with all the trimmings at Christmas and with some leftover frozen roast potatoes on this particular afternoon ... and yes, there is way to much mayo on that plate it came out with a big splodge!!  I do love mayo, but even for me that was excessive. 😄

Would I buy them again?

 I doubt it really as I am trying to limit this sort of ready made food, and once the freezer is emptied I will be batch cooking homemade food and meal components as most of my future ready meals instead.  But of course the few processed foods that I do really, really love will stay in the repertoire, I'll never say never but I will say occasionally.


Other lunches over the past few days have included:

Salmon, rice and garden peas, which were leftovers reheated.


Egg mayonnaise sandwiches, with sliced cucumber on the side.


The saved and frozen portion of curry and rice that I mentioned on this post.


And finally some homemade pasta sauce with a pack of  Deliciously Ella's  'plants' tortelloni.  Now although my homemade sauce had been in the freezer for over two years that was absolutely delicious, while the tortelloni was very debatable.  This has now joined the ranks of yet another ready made product that I won't be buying again.

It's been a good process this month for whittling down slightly some of the foods that I used to eat but that I probably won't buy again in the future.  There are still some things to get through and now that Alan has his new fridge freezer I can at last see just what foods I have left in my freezer, and actually get the drawers open more easily now that his foods are back home.  

I think a menu plan for next week would be a good idea and keep me on the right track.

Do you have any pre-prepared foods that you used to buy regularly and enjoy eating, but that now seem like something that has become a bit of a no-no?


Sue xx



Tuesday, 28 January 2025

So What's Next?

 

I finished Laura Ingalls Wilder's 'The Long Winter' the other day and I have yet to start another book.

Sometimes when you finish one book it can take a while to get into another one, and I usually like to really vary what I am reading, so it won't be another in the series even though I do own them all now.

I stood in front of my tall bookcase and didn't see anything that inspired me, so I stood in front of this one, well I stood back in the bathroom which is where I had to crouch down to take this photo.  My little hallway is only narrow, perhaps two foot of passing space between the wall and this glazed bookcase when it's doors are closed.  I do like living small, but it occasionally has it's disadvantages.  😄

Still nothing jumped out at me, I'm obviously lacking inspiration ... maybe it's something to do with yesterdays blog post.


I gave up, but later I needed my hummus recipe so I lifted down this book which it's in.  Why I can't get this recipe fixed in my head after making it since 2015 when this book came out I have no idea. 😕


I found it, and made it.

Then I thought perhaps that's what I need ... to read a couple of recipe books and re-invigorate my cooking mojo.  So that is my next book of choice.  I might as well read through it all and make a list of things to make.

It could end up being invigorating and tasty.


Sue xx



Monday, 27 January 2025

Complaining, Annoyed and P*ssed Off

 


Complaining ... my brain is full of complaints at the moment, the negativity surprises even me.  Contrary to popular belief I'm not all Little Miss Sweetness and Light, I have been known to be Big Mrs Totally Pissed Off on thousands of occasions.

I don't tend to share lots of negativity on here, there are more than enough people doing that in blogland and on social media these days.  But sometimes enough is enough and I have to take a step back and reassess my thoughts ... and on occasion my actions.


That just about sums it all up.  😄



I'll be back tomorrow, hopefully in a better frame of mind.  😉


Sue xx



Friday, 24 January 2025

An Atmospheric Read, and Bargains That Just Had To Be Had

 


With storm Eowyn battering the lodge and the wheelie bins making a break for freedom, I sat cuddled into my fleecy heated blanket this morning and finished the final couple of chapters of this wonderful book.  

I started reading it with snow lying on the ground, so it seemed very authentic to finish it with high winds whipping small items into the air all around our house.  I could easily imagine the Winter long blizzards that battered the prairies and left the families battling to survive The Long Winter.

It was a very good read and is a book that I will be keeping to read again, perhaps next year if we have another storm. 😬


In other news we battled the storm to take some clothes and china from Mum's bungalow to the local Hospice shop this morning, but we got there at 9.20am and it didn't open until 9.30am.  So we took refuge in Booths to wait with a cup of coffee and a toasted teacake.  I obviously brought home the leftover sugar, sweetener and butter along with the unused napkin.  It's my mission to gather in as many freebies as possible this year and document them for my own amusement.

On the way out the charity book table grabbed me and made me buy this book.

The manager was serving someone when we got into the charity shop so we stood waiting and these two items, hanging together just like this, caught my eye.  A brand new Barbour t-shirt, original price £34.95, and a new Weird Fish fleece jacket, original price £60, but currently reduced in the sale to £40, for a combined cost of £19 ... and in my size.  

It had to be done!!

So we went out to make a donation and I ended up spending £20, but what good bargains I got, I'm happy.  😁


Sue xx



Thursday, 23 January 2025

Moving Towards Healthier

 


I've always tried to eat relatively healthily, but bad habits creep in sometimes when you least expect them, and sometimes simply for convenience.

For instance I nearly always have a bottle of this lemon juice in the fridge, and when I ran out of lemon slices towards the end of last year I started to use it in my morning hot water and lemon drink.  The habit stayed for quite a while.  It's not too bad to do occasionally but even just looking at these lemon slices shows you which is obviously the healthier of the two choices doesn't it.

Lemon juice in a bottle with added lemon oil and preservative or just lemon?

And of course with the slice of lemon, after I've had it in the hot water I can drop it into a glass of cold tap water, put it into the fridge and have another drink later in the day.  

Double use from one slice.  😀


I dug these up from the bottom of the freezer, I have no idea how long they have been there but when the best before date is up on a commercially frozen food you know it's been quite a while.


The ingredients are not the end of the world, but the sausages are obviously very processed.


The two that were left in the box made for a debatable breakfast,  I possibly enjoyed the tomato ketchup and the lovely fresh bun more than the sausages.  If I am to move away from UPF foods I have to choose my poisons wisely.  Of all the Linda McCartney sausages I think I prefer the 'Lincolnshire' variety the most.  

So these won't be purchased again.


Occasionally I fry these 'Ham Free Slices' and make a 'bacon bun'.  They are also useful as a addition to a nice salad sandwich, adding flavour and some additional protein.  These will be purchased occasionally.


But one of my favourite breakfasts, when I'm not in the mood for a simple bowl of porridge with a dollop of peanut butter, is a slice of toast topped with sautéed tomatoes, onion and a smidge of garlic powder and finished off with a good grinding of black pepper.  

Any day that starts this way is going to be a good one, and of course I will always be purchasing tomatoes, both fresh and tinned.



Sue xx  



Tuesday, 21 January 2025

Feeding the Addiction, Explaining This Year

 


I got a lovely email the other day, thanks Gail.  In it she mention she was having 'withdrawal symptoms' after following along all through my last years shopping challenge.  She was seriously missing the shopping photos and being able to compare our UK available products and prices with her local ones.

So especially for you, here's this morning's shopping.  😀

As the photo isn't brilliant ... it's a dark and gloomy January morning and the light is bad here, even under the skylight .. I will list what you can see in the photo and the price of each item.  I shopped at Aldi as I wanted to see the new vegan ranges that they have in for Veganuary.  They did have a lot of items, but I was very restrained as this sort of food is virtually all UPF and I am trying to steer away from most of it, but saying that a few new things did catch my eye and I thought it would be good to try them.  Served alongside a half plate of vegetables it won't be the end of the world occasionally.

Wholemeal Seeded Loaf      £1.09
Extra Large Breaded Cod Fillets      £4.49
Garlic and Herb Dusted Basa Fillets    £3.29
Titan Ice-cream Bars     £2.49
Vegetable Nests     £1.99
Mediterranean Style Fillets   £ £3.29
Ready to Wok Noodle   2 x 85p 
Cucumber   89p
Mediterranean Style Vegetables   £1.59



And finally some savoury snacks, as I am trying to steer away from the sweet stuff that I've consumed far too much of since Christmas.

Eat Real Veggie Straws        £1.49
Eat Real Hummus Chips        £1.49
Snack a Jacks        £1.35
Harvest Snaps        99p

Making a grand total of  £26.14


This is the main reason that I have not shared anything about shopping this year, today is the first time I have been shopping and bought something for myself.  

Alan paid for a loaf of bread for me when he was getting his own shopping on the 8th January, and on a different day ... I forget which ... he bought me a dozen eggs, and took no money for either.

This year is a strange one for me, and one that I have intimated about but not properly explained before.  So here goes.  

 Although Alan is now in receipt of his State Pension he retires officially from the company at the end of this financial year which is the end of March.  This means that we can then close our company down, and I will actually have no wages after my March pay-packet, I am effectively making myself redundant.  There will be a directors dividends payment to come, but that will be much later in the year when all the final figures have been dealt with ... and then that is it.  No more regular money coming in until I retire in May of next year.

My quiet mission is therefore to live off my three months salary for as long as I can, and try my best not to dip into savings.  Of course it would have made a brilliant Challenge if I had still been of the mindset to do challenges, but instead I am quietly ticking over in my own time and taking stock of what I have.

Last years Challenge really helped me to prepare for this and to learn what I need, what I can do without and it got me into gear for a year of living even more cheaply than before.  I also made sure that I completely cleared my credit card at the end of December, as well as the usual clearing of it on its due date at the start of the month, in fact I overpaid it by almost £100 so that I had a small buffer for January.

So this year is going to be an interesting one, as well as a very busy one.  But when you're busy you have less time to go shopping and thus you can avoid all temptation to spend any money.

It will all be fine.  💖



Sue xx