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

Making Money ... and a Renovation Update

At the end of last week with a car loaded up and jingling all the way, we took a trip to the scrap metal recycling merchants that turned out to be reasonably near us in Preston.  We both had a guess at how much our offerings would be worth.  We had heard from a few sources that the price of copper was at an all time high, so I guessed at £200 and Alan at a slightly more conservative £150.

Which one of us was the nearest?

We had a copper water heater like the one in the top photo, which I borrowed from Google Images, and the pipes in this photo.  You can see our actual water heater in the last walk through YouTube video that I made at the start of March.  We also had all the stripped out electric cables that Alan had pulled out from under the floors and up in the loft.

The scrap metal yard was a fascinating place, we were pointed to the right 'weighing in' area and had to unload onto the scales, first the tank, then the pipes and finally all the wiring, which were all individually priced.

 

Then we had to drive over to the office, show proof of identity and give our bank details, as all money is paid straight into your account these days to discourage theft of metals from church roofs etc. as this then gives a complete transaction trail.

Anyway, what was the total I hear you shouting ... it was £509 of which £106 was for the old copper boiler.

So I was the closest, even if I was a long way out.  😀

We treated ourselves to breakfast at Barton Grange Garden Centre on the way home to celebrate.

Now the bungalow is completely stripped out, we also got our planning permission through last week, so the alterations to the front of the bungalow will be allowed, and the garage is now almost finished.  The next steps will be to take a couple of walls down, and then start filling in the floor space again.  We will be using the bricks from the walls to fill in the floor, you don't get much money for selling off old blocks!!

Sue xx

 

I've Learnt This Lesson Now

 

Haha ... only joking.  😄

It's actually been rather nice waking up to daylight and occasional sunshine this past week.  In fact yesterday morning I was quite disappointed when the sunshine didn't make an appearance, it seems she was kidding us into what Spring could be like without rain, before going back into hiding.  🌞

I think I jinxed it by washing a few of my more Summery tops in readiness ... sorry!!

I had a white sink reset day yesterday.

A bit of bleach in and under the bowl with the washing up cloth soaking in it, then a good wipe down of all the sinks surfaces and edges, then transfer the bleachy water from the big bowl into the middle section, put the cloth back in and then an hour later finally pull the plug out, wiping everywhere down again with now sparkly white bleachy cloth.

It's a good multi-use of bleach, something that is not the best for the environment but that does the job well when used sensibly.  I learnt all this from when we had our septic tanks in various previous properties.  Put too much bleach into a septic tank and you kill all the good bacteria, so plan ahead when you want to use bleach.

And my biggest tip of the day ...don't put a white sink in your kitchen if you eat a lot of turmeric containing curries and red pasta sauces.  I've learnt this lesson now.  😄

Sue xx

But Is It Food?

 

I stepped into Aldi a couple of weeks ago and rounding the corner from the fresh fruits and vegetables and the fridges full of meats, yogurts and cheeses etc, I was met with this view of the next aisle.

This photo was one side ...

... and this the other.

I just said to myself, " Is this actually food?"

I think it's that over the last couple of years my eyes have been opening more and more to the ultra processed stuff that manufacturers are passing off as food, and that a large percentage of youngsters are now growing up thinking that these are their only food choices.  At least the garish packaging makes it stand out from 'real food' I guess.

I'm completely honest and I hold my hands up and say that I do buy some things that are most definitely ultra processed, but I do try to keep this to a minimum these days.  I definitely prefer something like this that at least contains vegetables and beans rather than fake meat.

But are these food?

Well, just about I would say, but I now tend to let the vegetables on my plate outweigh the processed item.  Of course I could have a go at making veggie burgers myself, but I usually have these as a 'I can't be bothered to cook' type of meal, so unless I set to and make a big batch of homemade veggie burgers for the freezer ... which I definitely should do one day when there is a bit of space in there ... these are currently staying on my menu.

Do you find yourself eating less and less ultra processed food items, or did you never eat them to start with?

Sue xx

Using the Riverford Vegetables, and Filling the Freezer

I made the soup that I spoke about making the other day, in fact it made so much more than the two portions I thought that I would get.  I ate one meal as a vegetable stew and then blended up what was left into two smallish portions for the next two days lunches and two larger portions to put into the freezer.  It's delicious, so I have something to really look forward to.

I dealt with most of the other Riverford vegetables last week and made up a large tray of Mediterranean style veggies and one that was more tomato and rice based.  I shared a tin of tomatoes and a tin of chickpeas between the two mixes and slightly varied the spices that I used so that they wouldn't taste too similar.

Once cooked they looked like this and they were both portioned into single serving sized helpings, and all but one of each was put straight into the freezer.

I had a helping of the rice and vegetables with a breaded fish portion, and then the next night I had the tomatoey vegetables with some tagliatelle.

 It's nice to have a few things stashed in the freezer for quick and easy meals.  But it does explain why my freezer contents never seem to go down. 😄

Sue xx

One Reset a Day

 

I follow an account on Instagram called One Reset a Day ... 'oneresetaday'.  On her account Anna,who is a 33 year old lady living with her father-in-law after a life change for herself and her husband, tackles one small reset a day in or around the house.

She inspired me. 😊

After feeling so bad for so long my place is tolerable, but it hasn't been deep-cleaned or sorted out properly for a while and the thought of all out Spring cleaning was filling me with dread, and yet I do want to make a start on sorting out the nitty gritty before our house move so that it is not all left until the last minute.

So like Anna, I am tackling just one thing at a time.  

Today it has been sorting out the fridge and seeing what is in there that needs using now, or dealing with in some other way.  First I found the cheese selection pack that I bought for Christmas and never actually opened.  Yes, it was out of date but the cheeses all seemed fine, so I set to and grated them all, put them into individual tubs and put them in the freezer.  Then I realised that I still had the potatoes, two onions and a couple of carrots from my last Riverford delivery to use up.  I am going to make a simple vegetable stew for my tea to remedy this immediately, along with a few lentils this will make a stew and probably a portion of soup for tomorrows lunch too.

Then I will stop and decide what to do next ... just one thing at a time.

Sue xx

The First Shopping of the Month ... and How the New Kitchen Actually Looks Today

 

Well this is the first shopping of March and as you can see I am still in a very random shopping mode. 

Aldi - £11.89

 It's a good job I still have a freezer full of vegetables and a cupboard full of tins that I am determined to use up before we move house.  All I am buying at the moment are things to plug gaps and things that I really fancy.  We are taking it in turns recently to buy a cucumber, and this week it was my turn.  We just have half each so it makes sense to pay for a whole one rather than two halves ...  which being more expensive I always think that this is very cheeky and unfair to single people!!  😄

And before you get too excited about my soon-to-be lovely new kitchen, that I showed on Saturdays post ... and which is actually pencilled in for installation in September ... here is this months walk-through of the bungalow, made possible this week due to the slightly more level surface that has been created, because as well as the floorboards having gone, all the floor joists are now out.

https://youtu.be/ZeWLlploSsg?si=nP3eNIWyGyMqWyDO

It's nowhere near as light and airy and gorgeous in reality is it.  😄

Oh well at least we have the images to keep us heading in the right direction.

Sue xx