Simple living in the country - back to basics

South_coast

Chopped up bits of veg sound tastier to me than chopped up bits of plants. Why have we stopped just saying "vegan", I wonder 🤔?

Cheery_Daff

Have we? If so, maybe because lots of people who went vegan in the last year or two haven't managed to keep it up, but there's still a decent market for eating more plant based stuff?

I'm speaking as someone who was vegan for 7 years many moons ago when there was literally no chance of getting a snack out and about (other than fruit). Slightly resentful of how easy it is now 😂😂 although I'm not going back myself right now. 

And I'd much rather some kind of soy or TVP protein type stuff than chopped veg in some kind of coating - but each to their own I say! 1st time I've ever eaten anything other than cake in Ikea anyway 😂

badmemory

I always worry about the chemicals they add to food to make it taste the way you want it to.  You know what I mean about fake sausages etc, surely it is better just not to eat sausages?

Cheery_Daff

Yes, there are concerning things that get put into food. I heard a radio programme recently about ultra processed foods being problematic - including, for example, things like cup a soups and bread.

I confess I've never purposefully restricted my intake of supermarket bread, or cup a soups though (not that i eat that many of those), and I will happily eat sweets, crisps, pop, lolly ices, and any number of other things that have all kinds of nefarious chemical ingredients. I love a chicken and mushroom pot noodle (not very often - and be reassured it has no ingredients that have been anywhere near an actual chicken!) I even (and this shocks many people i know) eat *margerine* rather than butter 😂 I don't think veggie sausages are the worst offenders, or even the worst things I eat (although I'm prepared to accept I'm wrong!)

Of course, it's perfectly acceptable to decide you're only eating unadulterated food etc, and I applaud people who do that, but that's never a road I went down (even as a vegan). I eat a lot of veg, pulses etc, but certainly could eat better than I do, and maybe I'll live to regret not paying more attention... 

In different news, I had my first text conversation in German today! 😂 I've been using Duolingo, just doing 3 mins a day, for 180 days now, every day. Actually managed to cobble together enough useful phrases to arrange a video chat with our friend who lives in Germany tomorrow night 😁 Won't actually be speaking in German, mind you, but I'm impressed I managed this much on 3 minutes a day. Little bits add up, whether finances or learning new things!

(Speking of little things - I found 4p in the car park on the way out of the supermarket the other day, most pleasing!) 😊

Ramouth

I think we might eat quite similarly.  I like the taste of meat but not the realities of where it comes from so am quite partial to a vegan sausage.  I don’t think I will start worrying about the chemicals in pretend meat (which I only eat about once or twice a week) until I get a handle on my Diet Coke addiction!

Cheery_Daff

Ha, yes, that's probably the more important thing out of those two! 

Well, the sun is shining again, and we have been to the cafe for breakfast, but alas the machine that grinds the decaf coffee beans is STILL broken so Mr Cheery didn't get a drink. If they don't fix it soon we'll have to find a new favourite cafe 😱

Still, I had a nice time 😁

Home now, chickens are sunbathing, I've done a load of washing, and just made £54 on the Happy wheel, so August's total is now back up to £71 - you may remember we were at this about 6 days ago and then dropped right back down to £16, August is very up and down so far!

Just going to peg out the washing, and then off out for the last of the secret birthday missions (and maybe a sneaky little holiday coffee shop trip on my own 😁😁)

Found the LPG delivery note - they'd tucked it under a bit of string attaching the bamboo screening to the gate, almost under a load of ivy. Why not just take an extra few steps and stick it in the porch?!  Hey ho.

We've had 968 litres delivered. It doesn't give the price on the delivery note, but if they stick to their 50ppl fix, it should be £484 plus the standing charge (which i think is billed separately, can't remember). If they have indeed sneakily increased the fix by 8ppl, that'll be an extra £77 🙄 Will find out when the invoice is online. We've got £530 in the LPG pot at the minute so it would be nice if it was less than that.

Last year we had a top up in July, December, and then Feb, so I'm anticipating similar this year. I put £167 in the pot each month, worked out on previous usage, but I don't think that's going to cover both Dec and Feb deliveries (if we need them) so will recalculate later.

Right, washing out, then me out!

Cheery_Daff

Gosh it's warm! I'm sat in a cafe but made the mistake of sitting in a sunny spot - what a plonker 🙄 Parking runs out shortly anyway.

Popping in to report excellent service from our doctors. Had a phone appointment on Monday afternoon (had to wait 5 weeks for it but let's ignore that bit for now!). She ordered a blood test, which i had less than 24 hours later. Then today, less than 24 hours after the test, I had a text saying mostly they were normal, but there was one issue, so they'd 'taken the liberty of writing a prescription' - which has already been delivered to the chemist and is ready for me to collect 😮

Not bad at all! Just need to go and collect it now.

Tomorrow morning is now unexpectedly free - I'd arranged to meet a friend for breakfast and a walk, she altered plans yesterday for one reason, and has now cancelled altogether for a different reason. Especially a shame as I'd booked 8am swimming as I was going to be in town for 9 anyway, and now I could have had a lie in! 😂

Hey ho. Might use it as a nice excuse to lie around at home in the sunshine. 

themadvix

That is very impressive from the doctors!

Re 'plant-based', I suspect it's because 'vegan' has a definite militant connotation to it! And people are now vegan (or 'plant-based') because of the planet rather than the animals. I don't really care either way, I just appreciate the fact that there are so many more options on menus and in supermarkets now - although I tend to only have the 'newer' processed stuff occasionally - never entirely sure but think that Quorn probably counts as less processed on the health front. (I think highly processed is anything that has more than 5 ingredients in it as a rough gauge - so most things not in the fresh produce aisle!) 

redofromstart

I remember old style being obsessed with Glamorgan sausages for a bit, I quite liked them but a faff to make so I haven't bothered for a while.  Always mean to try doing something vegan with the chick pea water but never quite manage to find the motivation.  

redofromstart

I am impressed at your duo lingo process btw, inspiring.