Shopping Catch Up for the End of the Month

 

24th  Aldi - £19.88

I didn't really need anything but on the way back from somewhere else Alan suggested calling into Aldi for the few bits he needed, so of course I volunteered to come in and push his trolley for him.  😁

A few cool salady bits, some ready cooked salmon ... gosh what a splurge ... and some ice-lollies.  Also they finally had Gingers favourite Tasty Licks in, these are really good for hiding his thyroid medication in twice a day, luckily he is addicted to them.

As we shared a trolley, we also shared the receipt, my things are in the box.

24th  Barton Grange Garden Centre - £3.29

So that's where we were on our way back from before the Aldi shop.

These buns are a bit expensive but they are delicious, and they make a nice treat every now and then.

27th  Aldi - £17.85

I may have splurged on some more salmon, this shop seems to be a bit fishy and winey, perfect for the hot weather.  

The receipt for posterity.

I had planned to write this post today, but after reading Sue's blog first thing this morning, I thought I would also add up everything that I had spent this month on food for myself.  Seemingly it has been a grand total of £113.39.

All these little shopping trips really do add up don't they, especially when I keep buying fish and wine.  But I guess life's little pleasures are never to be sniffed at, if you can afford them. 😄

The little laughing face is there because the cash is quickly running out on the bungalow renovations, so I might have to tighten the belt a little bit over the next few months.

Sue xx

Pies ... and Dates

 

One minute I was looking in the fridge for an egg to make myself a fried egg on toast for my lunch, and the next I was making pies.

I do that sort of thing a lot, it's as though I have a brain that tells me to do something else other than what I actually have planned.  Hey, brain just who do you think you are, who's in charge here ... and where is my fried egg? 😐

Instead I stood looking at all the little tubs of leftovers in the fridge and the roll of ready made pastry that was well out of date, and decided to add them all together and make pies.

The potatoes were actually boiled and in lovely big pieces, but I warmed them up for a few seconds in the microwave, mashed them up with a fork and added in some of the onion chopped into small pieces, and all of the cheese in that tub ... plus a little bit more for good measure.

As I was cutting out the pastry circles I realised that there wasn't going to be the usual perfect fit for my four bases and lids, then I remembered Angela mentioning quite a while ago that the pastry pack sizes were now smaller ... shrinkflation at it's invisible best.  

  Happily though I just about managed to roll out all the scraps to make a circle that just about covered the fourth pie.  No little pastry 'chef's perk' of a couple of jam tarts for me then from now on.  Unless I make my own pastry, which of course I should do.

They are very tasty.

 I had one for my lunch straight out of the oven, I gave one to Alan when he got back from the bungalow after a days work, and the other two are temporarily living in the fridge.  I don't think they are going to make it to the freezer though, they are far too delicious.

Someone asked me the other day if I was still writing the dates on any long term foods that I buy for the cupboard.  The answer, as you can see from this weeks photo is yes.  😊

Sue xx

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

Inspiration ... Three Slices of Egg

 

Yesterday's breakfast on the left, and part of todays lunch on the right.

Saving little bits from one meal as the basis of another has always been something that I like to do, a spoonful of this or that can be the inspiration behind a whole other meal.  I think I really got into this a few years ago when I used to read Suzy's blog Sudden Lunches every day and she would make the most amazing meals which started off from the remnants or purposefully picked out bits of others.

I posted here about her book when it first came out.

The Leftovers Handbook by Suzy Bowler

I think I am going to have another read through of this to give me even more inspiration.

But in the meantime, I have a couple of spring onions in the garden, and a sad looking remnant of a lettuce and lots of lovely homegrown tomatoes in the fridge, so I see a lovely egg salad bun on my very close horizon.  😁

Edited to add in:

My egg salad bun.  😀

Sue xx

Bloggers and Vloggers ... and Their Basic Rights

I received the comment below last night, but didn't see it until this morning. At first I didn't understand why the person had commented on one of my old posts, but it only took Googling Tania to realise that this brings up a post of mine that she was mentioned in when she started her YouTube channel.

I'll let you read it before I say anything else -  

 Anonymous28 July 2025 at 18:22

It seems that Tania of Living on a UK state pension has closed her you tube channel. It sounds like she was being harassed terribly via comments. I don't know why people feel the need to be so cruel. I thought her channel was fantastic and I really will miss it. I was particularly disappointed that I wasn't able to send her a comment letting her know how much she will be missed. Anyone know how to get in touch with her?

ReplyDelete

1. 
   Sue29 July 2025 at 10:49

   Perhaps she doesn't want anyone getting in touch with her for the moment or for the future. Her videos are all still there but turned to private, as is her right to do so.

2. Now, hopefully this is all innocent, but it was sent as an Anonymous comment when I specifically ask for ... at the very least ... a name to be added at the end if you have to comment anonymously due to technical issues of any kind.  It is also someone 'chasing' a vlogger who has decided for her own reasons to stop for a while or for good, and is not allowing comments on her last video.  The one in which she says why she is stopping and says goodbye.

3. Now I am definitely NOT trying to embarrass the Anonymous commenter if it is all innocent, but I would like people to have a little think about the blogs and vlogs that they read and watch.  Someone is sharing parts of their life with you because they choose to do so.  They ask little of you other than friendly words and a nice community and it is completely within their right to stop sharing at any point, especially if, as in Tania's case, someone starts to wear them down with negative and hurtful comments.

Just simply ask yourself  ... 'Would I put up with that and carry on?'

I currently have no way to contact Tania as all my old emails have been deleted by accident, and while we did contact each other in the past I am not able to do so now, even if I could I would not be sharing any information about her to anyone.

Lets just take her at her word and hope that she is doing okay.

Sue xx

'New to Me' Blogs ... and Price Increases

I was looking through the sidebars on all my blogs yesterday, both this current one and my old ones ... Our New Life in the Country, A Smaller and Simpler Life, Challenging Myself and My £2 a Day Food Shopping blog, (which was the most recent challenge I think and the shortest lived blog).  

The reason for my searching was to try and find 'new to me' blogs to read or ones that I had previously read regularly but then stopped. Instead I found that I have been quite loyal to the same list of blogs over the years and they nearly all appear over and over again on all of my own blogs.

Then somehow I ended up falling down a rabbit hole on my Challenging Myself blog and read the whole of a challenge I did in 2021.  The £3 a Day Challenge.

 I went out three times a day and spent £1 for each meal.  The prices were an eye-opener, in fact I really doubt I could do the same again.  Of course I lived directly across the road from Sainsbury's when I did this challenge, so nipping over three times a day on foot was not a problem.

While I was very tempted to do this again, I don't live as close to the store now and it would mean getting the car out three times a day.  So I decided a quick online comparison would suffice. 😀

This was my Day One shopping basket, a total spend of 78p.

Pitta breads - 35p, onion - 15p, and tinned tomatoes - 28p.

Todays prices in the same store are -  pitta breads 50p, onion 11p, tomatoes 45p.  This can't be a perfect comparison as the onion was weighed out and the current shopping basket could be showing a lighter one.  But even so at todays prices the same three items would now cost me £1.06, a whole 28p more.

Now this doesn't sound a lot, but if you're living on a tight budget and this was the rise in price for just for one meal, it's a pretty big increase when wages and benefits here in the UK have not risen at anything like this rate.

And I'm still looking for 'new to me' blogs to read, challenge ones if possible ... any ideas?

Sue xx

Thanks Angela ...

 

Angela from Tracing Rainbows gave me a real earworm yesterday ... all day.  

Her post was about granola and she very cleverly called it 'Her Name Was Lola ... She Ate Granola'.  The tune was stuck in my head, the only way I could get rid of it was with the old Postman Pat trick, but Lola came back again and again. 😐

The reason that most of Barry's songs turn into an earworm for me goes back to the mid eighties, when he was really popular with my ex-husband.  I made the mistake of buying him the double album on cassette tape for Christmas ... it was the only cassette tape we owned and our little orange Mini car had a cassette player in it.

From then on every single journey we went on, local or long-distance, had a Barry Manilow soundtrack, and we travelled to Manchester every week from Barrow in Furness.  We must have had the only five year old that knew the words to all of Barry Manilow's songs off by heart.  Simon would sit in his little car seat in the centre of the back seat of the Mini belting out the songs as loud as his little lungs would let him.  If it got too much I would tell him to sing very quietly and we could see his lips moving via the rear view mirror.

Happy memories in so many ways, except for the earworm that I have now given myself!!

https://youtu.be/Yj1r0sGV38s?si=saGu2xVpXfVFJnK_

Sue xx

Us Bloggers Did It First

 

Instagram verses Facebook verses YouTube verses blogging.  

I guess it's all a sign of the times.

 I know my youngest grandson wouldn't touch Facebook with a bargepole and to my knowledge he doesn't have an Instagram account.  He is a gamer and used to be on YouTube, but I don't know if he still is or whether he is now on some other platform.  My older grandson shares the occasional thing on Facebook and chats with me via Messenger, and my eldest grandson advertises his removals business with a Facebook business account, free advertising is never to be sniffed at when you are running what started off as a small company.

Quite a few bloggers have made the leap to YouTube and are being pretty successful in their new 'careers'.  I only ever used YouTube as a vehicle to be able to download little films off my phone or camera onto blog posts.  I have never felt the urge to be a YouTuber and can't see myself ever doing it.

I have quite enjoyed my dalliance with Instagram, and have been astounded at the viewing figures on my little reels, posts and stories ... I still get confused about which is which. 😕 

But looking at my professional Instagram dashboard, I have had over 13,000 views in a little over a month ... that is crazy!!  It is also a little bit alarming to think that all those people have been looking at my posts, and the question is of course do I even want so many strangers looking at my films, pictures and ideas?  

As you can imagine I am having a really big think about this one.

I think my forte and my heart will always be in blogging.  

I love the written word, it's tangible, it stays where you put it, and bar a little mis-translation occasionally is exactly what it says it is.  Us Bloggers were also at the forefront of the whole 'Influencer' and online advertising thing.  I remember myself and a few blogging buddies being asked to choose three tea towels each from a lovely small company and do a review of them.  These were actually brilliant by the way and lasted me for years.  Most of what I agreed to review turned out to be really good.  I was very picky and choosy and rarely said yes to an out of the blue offer ... although we did once jump at the chance to get an anniversary meal completely free of charge by agreeing to review a pub chains new menu.

One of the stranger offers was for me to make something with British Onions, and to be able to do that I was sent a goody box of various condiments along with a couple of pounds of onions.  I can't remember what I made but I know that the jar of Marmite sat in my cupboard for years afterwards as neither of us are Marmite lovers.

One of my favourite gifts was rather strangely from Argos.

 They asked me to choose something from their new gardening range to review.  I didn't know what to pick so I settled on giving them a list of three things, and asking for any one of them.  They obviously were expecting bloggers to choose much more expensive items because they sent me all three.

You can read all about it HERE.

These days YouTubers and Influencers, as vloggers are now usually called, get all the freebies and manage to advertise millions of pounds worth of goods for the manufacturers, some of which are downright ridiculous and a waste of a 'normal persons' money.  This has no doubt turned into such big business as less young people watch television and therefore the advertisements, and the advertisers have all had to find new platforms for their wares.

But always remember us bloggers did it first.  😁

Sue xx

Stealing Ideas ... and a Confession

 

Reading Angie's post (Small Treasures Revived), the other day reminded me that I had some wraps in the cupboard.  Actually I had unearthed them at the weekend when I opened a tin of Christmas biscuits to use as a little nibble when we had guests ... and there they were underneath the tin in the food cupboard. 

Everything was still in date.

Angie had 'borrowed' Tania's idea (Living on a UK State Pension - YouTube) to make a delicious tea for herself and Graham.  So I thought if it's good enough for everyone else it is good enough for me and it would use up some of the fridge items that I am currently working my through.

Grated parmesan style sage and onion 'cheese' leftover from Christmas, a third of a pack of grated cheddar-style Aldi cheese, some of the now slightly sad looking spring onions from Aldi's cheap Easter veg deal and two of my six remaining eggs.  Oh, and at the last minute while I was putting the 'parmesan' back in the fridge I spotted cherry tomatoes, so three of those were added to the ingredients.

Add them all together, pop them in the pre-heated oven for fifteen minutes and what do you get ...

A truly delicious looking quiche, I wish I could have smelled it, I bet it was gorgeous.

With some of last weeks choppy salad mix and a dash of mayo it made for an absolutely delicious evening meal.

So delicious, that I have to confess to eating the second half of it as well.  😁

Sue xx

Down Memory Lane ... on a Hard Drive

Possibly the most photographed shelves ever!!

What is the one thing that bloggers that use a lot of photos in their posts have ... yep lots of photos stored from the years gone by!! 

I have always been picture heavy in my posts, right back from the beginning in 2008.   I find illustrating my words with my photos is a good way for people that don't know me that well to be able to piece together meanings and understand more easily what I am talking about.  In my opinion it also makes reading a post more enjoyable if the written word is interspersed with a few pictures, be they photos, memes or even just borrowed images from Google etc. 

Alan having a peaceful snooze with all the furries on a January evening.

It does mean that my external hard drive is absolutely packed with over 17 years of blogging photos and all their duplicates, as well as all the family photos, both my own and those that I have been entrusted with.  So over the past few months whenever I have a spare half an hour and the computer is flashed up for something else, I spend a little bit of time, or what should be a little bit of time going through the photos and deleting duplicates, particularly poor photos and some that just make no sense whatsoever.

The results of a couple of days processing the Damsons that we had picked on the farm in Oxfordshire and brought with us to Wales in jars of whiskey and gin.

As you can see from the photos here, I go down into a rabbit hole of memories and end up finding out from original blog posts, just what was going on in some of them.  Old blog posts are a brilliant source of your own personal history.

A day out with Alan on one of the weekends when I went down south to stay at his weekday digs for the weekend.  Seemingly we were HERE.

My polytunnel looking fresh as a daisy in July.

John Gray's First Prize winning hamper at the Prestatyn Flower Show. There's a story about that one ... but my lips are still firmly sealed!!

I have been determined to go through this huge collection of photos, and get rid of lots of them as I don't even want to leave too many computer files and millions of photos for my sons to go through when I am no longer here.  I want the things that they find to mean something, and they really don't need hundreds of photos of our dinners, shopping and Alan chasing pigs.  Of course I have saved quite a few of all of these, but only the very best ones.

All these photos have been from 2015, which is where I am up to at the moment ... so only another 10 years of photos to go!! 😄

Sue xx

A Warning to Fellow Bloggers

 

I'm putting this post out as a warning to my fellow blogging buddies.  

Perhaps you don't need it, or want it or even care about it, but the subject matter has been bothering me more and more over the past few weeks ... and it is really ramping up.

The subject is AI.

Perhaps you have been quietly deleting comments that seemed a little strange for a while, I know I have.  They don't quite ring true, and when you click on the name of the poster it does actually take you to a blog or occasionally a website that could be deemed quite harmless.  But, when my gut tells me something is not right I follow my instincts and I check things out for myself.

The first time I felt that something was off was when I wrote about something to do with Mum's bungalow and a comment came back saying how wonderful it looked ... it did, but I hadn't shared a photo of it at that stage!!

To protect myself and my readers who might click on commenters names, I now have an AI Detector installed on my computer and phone so that I can check them out for myself, and virtually all the comments over the past few weeks that I was doubtful of have come back as 100% chance of being AI generated.  The one I was unsure of came back as 56% chance ... enough for that also to be deleted I'm afraid.

It's easy to check comments out by simply copying and pasting the comment into the checker and you get an immediate reading of the likelihood of it being AI.  I did a check on a couple of my blogging buddies comments as a balance to see how effective this tool was ... and you will be glad to know Sooze that you are most definitely not AI.  😄

Scribbr - Free AI Detector

I hope this helps someone, or that you find it useful going forward.  Has anyone else been quietly deleting unusual comments?  

Sue xx

Garden Vegetable Pie Review

 

I bought this Garden Vegetable Pie ready meal well before Christmas, when I had the voucher for £20 off an £80 spend at Waitrose  and somehow managed to work spending that amount into my self imposed budget for the month.  I didn't manage to eat it before the best before date so it was popped into the freezer.  I fished it out one night last week when we returned tired and hungry from Mum's.

Now I didn't actually notice that it should have been thawed slowly in the fridge before being cooked after being frozen, so perhaps my review is slightly skewed as the mashed potato topping tasted very watery.  Oops!!

The ingredients are pretty good, but there are just such a lot of them, which I guess is the downside to virtually all ready meals.  Making this at home would mean using a lot fewer ingredients ... well it would if I made it.

Anyway it was quite tasty, a little bland, but definitely better than some of the ready meals that I used to eat 'back in the day'.  Would I buy it again, possibly if I needed a ready meal for a specific reason and there was nothing else available.  It was very edible and gets a 7/10.  😊 

I saved the foil tray to use again as it was nice and sturdy.

Homemade ready meals are so much better.  Vegetable curry with Basmati rice, cook once eat twice.

Sue xx