The OS Doorstep - a helpful and supportive thread in these tough times

VJsmum

And.....I'm back in the room

kittiej wrote: »

Hi everyone.

I love these type of threads :T

OK I'm going to settle down this afternoon and make a start on reading the whole thread from start to finish - I could be some time

Hi Kittiej

Is your user name a reference to the Seth Lakeman song? Just asked cos you mentioned about Glastonbury and he was a favourite act of mine there!

Thanks to all wishing us a good time and to those who mentioned mud :rotfl: We were extremely lucky with the weather and, apart from having to put the tent up in the rain and some mud around on Friday morning, we were basking in sunshine for the rest of the time. I have sunburned lips

For anyone interested in reading about Glastonbury then it is all here

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=62192139&postcount=22320

My wedding, 22 years ago, cost about £1500, church and reception for 80 but no evening do. THe frock was about £200 in a sale and I've never seen another like it - ever! Friends provided cars and another did the photography. Stag and hen do's were just a night on the town and a hangover the next day.

THe vicar was nuts - everyone was saying how fab he was afterwards. Loved it. The honeymoon was travelling to Nice, Florence, Lake Como and Interlaken by train - cos we got it for free as OH works for the railways. it rained. Alot.

We went to Zimbabwe 2 years later around the time of our anniversary and always think of that like a second honeymoon.

Fuddle, my friend used to go nuts with her youngest DD who didn't eat much. BUt she is now 13 and a tiny dot of a thing but strong as a mule so I shouldn't worry too much.

elona

GQ

I just worked out that the special deal of £2.50 at Mr S for sugar snap peas and fine beans would have cost me about 80 pence each at liddly :mad: That is about a pound dearer for just two items.

If that "person" had not smashed into our car I would have been able to stock up on fruit and veg at weekend and saved a lot of money and time.

Pal of DH's has just dropped off bag of new potatoes and tomatoes for us so very pleased.

[Deleted User]

GQ you as usual speaketh truly!!! I shall still go to Mr.T but I might just from now on wander round and if prices stay as high wander out again without purchasing anything. The Broccoli was £2.25 a head today, even the cabbages were £1.50 each and not nice and the Caulis were £1.75 , I can go to Ic*land and buy 1kg of frozen veg for £1 to £1.50 and someone else has prepared then for me to go straight in the pan. I know I would prefer fresh and most of the time we produce as much as we need, but it's not broccoli season, or cauli season or even good homegrown cabbage season yet so I can't supply our own. I know that the most sensible way to eat is seasonally but I have a sneaky feeling that once the prices are up and people paying them they will NOT come down again, even when there is plenty of surplus in the pipeline. The meat is explainable too if you take into account the price of feeding the livestock in a world where there has been sparse harvest of grain for the past few years but tht doesn't explain to me why the prices of the cheapest mince have spiralled beyond my purse price over the last few weeks. I find the smaller shops are currently affordable but the big chains are rapidly pricing themselves out of my range, Cheers Lyn xxx.

ArthriticOldThing

GQ you as usual speaketh truly!!! I shall still go to Mr.T but I might just
from now on wander round and if prices stay as high wander out again without
purchasing anything. The Broccoli was £2.25 a head today, even the cabbages
were £1.50 each and not nice and the Caulis were £1.75 , I can go to Ic*land and
buy 1kg of frozen veg for £1 to £1.50 and someone else has prepared then for me
to go straight in the pan. I know I would prefer fresh and most of the time we
produce as much as we need, but it's not broccoli season, or cauli season or
even good homegrown cabbage season yet so I can't supply our own. I know that
the most sensible way to eat is seasonally but I have a sneaky feeling that once
the prices are up and people paying them they will NOT come down again, even
when there is plenty of surplus in the pipeline. The meat is explainable too if
you take into account the price of feeding the livestock in a world where there
has been sparse harvest of grain for the past few years but tht doesn't explain
to me why the prices of the cheapest mince have spiralled beyond my purse price
over the last few weeks. I find the smaller shops are currently affordable but
the big chains are rapidly pricing themselves out of my range, Cheers Lyn xxx.

Oh Lynn you have expressed my sentiment exactly!:T
While my bus pass lasts I intend to use the market in town. Better, fresher and cheaper:A

Mrs_Chip

I lived for three years on a low carb diet, but could not afford to do it now. I don't subscribe to the Paleo theory in it's pure sense, but I do try to limit the amount of processed stuff we have - we do buy cereals and biscuits (not many) and that's about it. Oh and stuff in tins - baked beans, toms etc. But all bought at low cost. Everything else is either fresh fruit, veg, meat and fish. We don't eat meat every day, and the weekend roast gets recycled a couple of times.

I like the 5:2 diet because I don't need to buy anything special in to do it - apart from fasting days I eat normally. For those days I have a salad with hard boiled eggs or fish, or vegetables with some lean meat or fish - I spend my 500 cals in one meal so it's not too difficult.

ETA: I agree Lyn. I don't buy if the price is too high, I do without or find a substitute. I rarely look at the fruit and veg in Mr T nowadays, but remember reeling back in horror at the price of some of the stuff!

fuddle

Can you explain this one? It's tomato season and pea pod season. Why have those gone up in price? £2 for a bag of pea pods. I walked on by - waiting for mine to grow!

It's Morris0ns for me on a Tuesday and household/toiletry in Home B4rgains on a Thursday. Now there is a place that is consistently cheaper than anywhere else.

No, I don't think for one second that the price of veg will come back down, not now. I have no idea how much I paid for my broccoli today but I picked the smallest headed and shortest stalked one there (stalks annoy me - weight = money and that = money wasted)

Good recipe for healthy snack/pudding chopped banana coated in honey and cinnamon. Fry off - outer goes hard with the sugar in the honey, inner soft. Serve with custard. Has gone down a storm here.

I don't know about just giving her puddings so she gets something. She needs goodness too and I'm scared she'll fall into a trap. If she cooks something herself I am sure she would eat it better, yeah. About to give them a snack pot of nuts/coconut shavings/raisins and a horl1cks drink before they wind down for bed. I'm very happy at her consumption today. It just takes some secret calorie counting on my part, good wholesome snacking recipe tactics, sweeten things with coconut or honey etc.

I ate beetroot in my salad today. Loved it!

DH out at his fishing meeting tonight so I am going to enjoy r-e-l-a-x-i-n-g

bunbun2

I have been reading the past few days but not posting and I am so far behind...

fuddle hope your dd feels better soon

kezlou hope your foot and ankle heal quickly. hope all went well with your ds getting home from school

we shop and lid* and ald* now and only use the SM for special offers and YS. OH goes shopping for the YS at least once a week sometimes two. he said the other day our shopping bill is considerably reduced and we are eating so much better than before. Our Mr T has alot of finest foods and salads reduced.

ds2 is off to London for the day tomorrow (yes from Durham!) they leave school at 4.45am and get back between 11.30 and midnight:eek: early night tonight I think. They are going to the Pompeii exhibition at the British museum. A long way to go but they will love it.

Mrs_Chip

Fuddle - eat the stalk! Chop off the end and if needs be peel off a bit of the outer skin and chop it up and cook with the rest.

Or eat it raw - I always eat the cauliflower stalk as I prepare it

Pooky

We fight over the stalks in this house.....yum!

The people at the eating disorder place we've been to with DD1 have said let her eat anything, if she wants to eat Mcblugers and fries for every meal than encourage it - they're more focused on calories than health at this point. The explanation being that once a body has some substance it will start to want more good things and her cravings should shift towards better foods. I was very sceptical but it's working for her.

Broccoli was 60p a head in our A$da yesterday, obviously a new "roll back" price as the manky looking bits in the YS section were 89p! There's logic.

We're not big fruit eaters in this house but veg is our thing, this week though it was cheaper to buy fruit (lots of YS bargains and special offers) so veg will be frozen or tinned and fruit will be fresh.

GreyQueen

I reckon that this galloping food inflation will damage the health of many people, esp those who struggle to afford wholesome food now. It's not looking good for the generations being raised with little or no veggies.

I think those who may have considered veggie growing in the past and computed that the time spent wasn't worth the output of the veggies harvested, may choose to thing again if this carries on much longer. I'm still eating the home-frozen 2012 crop of broadbeans from my freezer, after whacking them with the rolling pin to get them to separate, of course.

I've read that testing of veggies on supermarket shelves has produced nil readings of vit c before now; they're often harvested long before they're sold and kept in cold storage. Those of us who've eaten homegrown know that straight-off-the-garden veg is much superior to bought.

Frozen veg is prepped and packed pretty sharpish and should be in good conditon and nutritious. It also saves time and is advantageous for people in a rush or those with limited mobility in their hands. I rarely buy it due to the fact that my table-top freezer is invariably rammed with YS meat/ fish and HG veggies, but lack of space the only reason.

Please remember that you can bump up the nutrients of a meal by adding fresh herbs, uncooked, and wild salads, tho be careful of harvesting them on dogwalking routes, IYKWIM.

On the subject of easy HG veg, could I recommend letting chard go to seed? I did this accidentally in June a few years ago and the stuff germinates like cress several times a year and thrives on my complete indifference. If only some other things grew so easily, my life would be complete.

I think shopping these days is a bit like guerilla warfare; you need to be armed (bagged and cashed up) at all times and ready to go into action when the price is right. Prices are flickering up and down like fireflies and I keep having OMG moments.

Mum taught me that you should respond to silly price hikes by leaving the stuff on the shelf. Her mantra; Don't pay that, you'll only encourage them!

PS If you live or walk/ bike in veg growing areas, do take a doggy bag out with you. Many's the time I've collected roadkill carrots, onions and misc. Bends in the road are particularly productive but do be careful in the traffic - this is a game best played on the country roads.