It's getting tough out there. Feeling the pinch?

weenancyinAmerica

Probably is - it is just cheaper here to get the other.

Siebrie

DD1 (14) has cookery classes at school, and for her end-of-year test they have to cook a 3-course meal based on a fairy tale. She picked Snow White; first course: a hot spicy apple drink, then a poké bowl with fake chicken (Snow White is veggie ), and dessert is a bramble pie. Apparently, the teacher had offered to take them all to the supermarket in the morning, and then they would cook in the afternoon. They had to price their dinners, and then the teacher decided that they could just use the school supplies and bring anything else from home. According to the supermarket's website DD's dinner for 2 came to €45!

So, we made a few changes: normal rice instead of sushi rice, frozen brambles instead of fresh, normal sugar instead of the softer one, etc. That brought the price down to €20 for us. I've ordered her to bring all leftovers home, and all leftover ingredients.

euronorris

There are health risks to talcum powder, and it's use (particularly with young babies) is not recommended. There are links to it causing cancer (though this is still hotly debated), and it can be toxic if inhaled. So if you have cornflour available, that is probably better from a health perspective.

Very frustrated at Morrisons. Did a shop, scanned my morrisons more card and handed over a voucher to get 1,000 points added. None of the promotional discounts were applied, neither were any points! So I've emailed them about that!

On keeping cool. If you can get some cheap, basic hot water bottles, you can fill them with cold water and freeze them. Then use at bedtime/as needed. But, please DON'T then use hot water in them afterwards. The freezing can affect the rubber and no one wants to get burnt!

linz

Some good fortune this evening. Whilst walking back from visiting some nearby relatives I popped in to Morrisons Local and picked up some YS quarter pounders and sausages, stickered at £1.75 each (would have been this full price months ago!) Got to the till and the nice cashier said she was giving me them both at a very reduced price as she hadn't got round to reducing them further yet. I got both for 35p each. Will do for a BBQ if this weather carries on. Grabbed a bunch of easy peelers for 16p too, still plenty of life in them. I'm grateful for little things like this given how extortionate food is at the moment. 

London_1

Only thing I managed to get at Dobbies food hall this week (it's a Waitrose concession) was a two pinta of milk. but its made me a jug of custard and I have enough left to last me until Sar=turday at least and at 39p I was quite happy as it was dated to 31 May. At the desk where you go into to Dobbies they were giving out some free packets of seeds so I go a packet of Calendula which I will save for next year as they are dated to 2025 I'm not one to turn away a freebie

So I've really only spent 39p this week as I didn't need anything foodwise at all.I found a frozen chicken curry in the freezer which I had today for dinner.
Only four weeks until my holidays so I'm using up stuff from my indoor food stash instead of buying any more. DGS Jack dropped me off a nice doughnut yesterday when he popped in and I wasn't that hungry (It was quite a large doughnut from our local bakeries think tea plate size ) so I only ate half yesterday, had the other half today for pudding after the curry with some thick gloopy custard poured over it ,very yummy  
Jackie O xxx

Siebrie

Would soaked bran work instead of cornflour? It's what I used on my dds' chicken pox and it worked a treat. Just put a good serving spoon full of bran in a fabric baggie (e.g. a laundry bag for delicates), hang it in (luke)warm water, squeeze carefully (not thoroughly - that only creates a mess), bathe child in the water, or dab the itchy spots with the bag. Let air dry, or just swathe in towel, do not rub.

Mummy2cheekymonkeys

Not sure if its been mentioned before or whether it would work for prickly heat but when my youngest got chicken pox and there was a shortage of calamine lotion everywhere, I was told by the chemist to bath my son in head and shoulders. Apparently they both contain the same key ingredient to help with itching. Might be worth a try.

Floss

I've bathed chicken poxy boys in bicarb water which stopped the itching.

JIL

My grandfather recommended hot baths with dettol for chicken pox!! Shudder at the thought now.

I believe Aldi do a home brand histamine if the child is old enough, sometimes it's worth getting one that makes you sleepy.

YorksLass

Woke this morning to find we have low water pressure and, after having checked our water supplier's website, it seems there is a problem in our area that they're working to fix.  That's put paid to my plans to do a towel wash today - even when it returns to normal there will probably be discoloured water in the pipes at first and I don't fancy that in my washing machine.      Morning showers were also abandoned in favour of a strip wash at the basin.  

May seemed to flash by so quickly and it's hard to believe we're now in June - where is the year disappearing to?  I managed to stay within budget and have £16.50 left in the housekeeping pot, although £14.55 of that is set aside for cleaning supplies, toiletries and "miscellaneous" (none of which I need at the moment) so just £1.95 of grocery cash carried forward to June's budget.  I've been using a lot of stuff from my pantry that's now looking a bit bare so I have a delivery coming on Tuesday to re-stock - if I get everything I've ordered, that will use up almost half of June's food budget.    The freezer is fairly full though and, with home cooking/baking and careful planning, I'm sure we'll manage.

Having had today's plans scuppered, I'll be doing a bit more decluttering and will take the carrier bags to the CS later in the week.  The idea is to combine that with calling at the opticians to make an appointment for an eye test (long overdue) and also pick up a click+collect from M&S.  I've ordered two bras as I'm down to just three - and I've had those quite a while.  So far this year, I've only  bought a pack of socks (needed) and one summer top (replaced an old one).

Update: Have just had a recorded phone message from water company to say they're still working on the problem.