FOOD SHOPPING FOR A FAMILY - ISH

System

Mea culpa, mea culpa 160.Just reread my post and realised it may have appeared a little crass to you. The last point was aimed at figjam so my apologies for any upset 160. :-[

Chipps

if anyone has any advice for sorting a loved ones things i'd really appreciate it, cos thelonger I leave it the harder it gets, but it was never going to be easy if you know what I mean.

Hi 160, I can't speak from personal experience (for which I am grateful) but I know that my mum had the same problem. I think there is no easy answer, but she determined to sort through all my dad's things - including an entire garage full of stuff, and she just tackled a little bit at a time - when she couldn't manage any more she stopped & left it until another time.
A neighbour of ours, in contrast, got rid of everything of his, sold up and moved very soon afterwards - to get away from sad memories. But she did regret it later on.

16011996

silverback, wasn't upset by your posts at all, so do not worry about it.

and thanks chipps have decided I will do half an hour a night and see how I get on,

Sarahsaver

Good luck however you decide to sort things out.
I would advise anyone that sooner rather than later is better. My mum still had my dads clothes in the bag from the hospital when i left home at 18, and he died when I was 15. My sister and I would have loved to sit down with her and sort through clothes, photos, etc with mum, but she has never been ready to do it. As far as I know the contents of his bedside table remain the same.
Im 33 years old now.
I spose you have heard of the idea of making a memory box, get a nice box or decorate a shoebox(moneysaving!) and put special things in, your kids could each have one.

System

Memory boxes.

My Mum died on Christmas Day last year so I'm trying to make some memory boxes for my 3 children and I to keep.

I found some really nice cheap boxes in Marks & Spencer after Christmas and will use them - they aren't specifially for Christmas.

I think there are probably some "summer" boxes on offer at the moment if this helps.

S

System

I didn't understand what this meant  :-[.... until I came home from Tescos yesterday and sat down to study my receipt.
I bought two Pizzas from the reduced section, with a full price of £2.99 reduced to £1.94. These Pizzas were also bogof. So when it came to scanning them, they took off the £2.99 and not the £1.94. Leaving me paying 89p for TWO pizzas. 11" pizzas for two people not baby ones! BARGINOUS!!
One of them went down a treat watching England romp through last night!!

This thread has given me so any pointers when it comes to shopping (which I detested before) Thank you.

16011996 I am sorry for your loss and hope that things are going well for you.

C

I have had a barginous day today!!

Bought 2 x 5 New York Bagels at Sainsburys reduced to 49p.then found out at till that they were on mutlibuy & had 68p knocked off therefore 10 bagels for 30p!!!Would have picked up more if I had realised. Also went to Boots to avail myself of the 100 Advantage points on purchasing any Natural Collection items(excluding cosmetics & minatures) and bought toe seperators(49p)
Hair shots(little sachets of conditioning treatments)79p
and a lipsyl 99p and got 800 points altogether. These things will come in handy for pressies for nieces etc and £8.00 worth of points for me!!! Best of all I discovered that they do Dewberry fragrance which I have been hunting for since the Body Shop stopped doing it.

Finally checked out the local British Heart Foundation charity shop and got huge stainless steel stockpot(£3.99) pyrex baking dish(£2.99) brand new pair of flip flops for beach (£1.99). they had a matching frying pan for £3.99 but I couldn't mange to carry it!!!

It may only seem like a little saving to you professionals out there but I am chuffed-as my mum used to say take care of the pennies etc etc

Janeryan

Don't know why it put me as a guest!!!

MA

Just read through this thread and found it very interesting. One tip that I do - again on the bolognaise front - I buy one packet of mince (as often as possible from the cheapy shelf) and then double the volume with a mixture of grated carrot and celery (whatever I have in the fridge). I then add mushrooms at the last minute. This way, I get my other half to have veg, ::) it's healthier and I get 3 meals outs of one packet of mince. (Freeze two meals and eat one on the night.) Best of luck with all of your endeavours.

ashmit

thanks nicki for the website address I have become a member and found some good recipies that i'm going to give a try, also some ideas on decluttering, which I have decided I must  get around to doing. tried this weekend, but is so hard to decide what I get rid of, what I keep etc, just ended up in a soggy mess on the floor. if anyone has any advice for sorting a loved ones things i'd really appreciate it, cos thelonger I leave it the harder it gets, but it was never going to be easy if you know what I mean.

I've never had to sort through a loved one's things, but one tip I found in a decluttering book was that if you need to get rid of something but can't quite manage it, consider taking a photo of it first.  Obviously doesn't work for quite a lot of things but might just help you get rid of some of those little things that you can't justify keeping but that you don't want to lose.

I wish I had better advice than that, but I just thought it might help.

had a sit down last night and worked out how much better i'm doing since my first post on the 10th may. I reckon we are saving on average £20-£30 a week on food alone, but it has lead to many other changes too.

We now sit down together for a meal most nights of the week, and I feel I learn more about my kids day at this time, than I ever learnt before. We seem to be eating more balanced meals, as I am making meals rather than using ready meals, and we eat more fruit and veg as I get it late in the day, and quite often it needs using up.

this made me sniffly. I'm glad you're getting to know your kids better.

Hope you're doing well.

Petree

Since no-one else seems to have commented on the meat trailer thing, i thought i would :P

According to the book i got on my food hygiene course, as long as meats are cooked to over 75C in the deepest part then all bacteria are dead, the only remaining bit is spores, which resist up to 121C, spores only infect other meat not you.

According to my Biology A level (results waiting) :P
The only danger is toxins and secondary metabolites produced by the bacteria, providing the meat has been stored below 8C then the risk is minimal, these toxins cannot be destroyed easily, thus is the meat has been in the danger zone 9C-60C for more than 2 hours it needs binning.
once defrosted do not re-freeze, ask the butcher if they have been defrosted to be sure.

Also to figure out whether you should trust him ask him
what is commercial freezer temperature? -18
commercial fridge? 2-8C though 2-5c is preffered.
what chopping board and knife for cooked meat? yellow
etc... he should know all these off by heart, we take readings every hour at work, it's compulsary for due diligence, if he looks puzzled or unsure walk away.

When ordering meat from an unusual place, don't buy chicken, it's the one that is most often bleached 'animal use' meat, to check a butcher, order a chilled chicken breast, warm to room, smell, any smell of bleach or any chemical means you should stay away, don't eat this chicken by the way unless clean and been at room temp for less than 2 hours. To stay safe order pork, beef or lamb, these are harder to fill with water and add artificial proteins into, which make them bulk up.

To check his hygiene policy, look for glove use, or regular washing, gloves should be washed after moving from any raw-cooked and vice versa as well as from dirty-clean, if he takes your money with his hands and then uses them to pick up the chicken, run!, think where that money has been!!

Saying all this, i have had some good meat from the 'all this for a tenner' in a trailer type butchers, providing good hygiene is followed and all hazards are controlled you should be fine.
The best bet is to eat meat which isn't overly popular, chicken breast is often bleached and modified simply because people want lots of chicken breast and not much leg, use the leg and you are more likely to get better, cheaper meat.


HTH even if it is a bit obsessive! (i'm like monk in that respect!)