Moving on

Cherryfudge

DH was on the teas and coffees rota this morning so I left later and walked to church and back: there's my exercise for the day. We had a cold lunch of mackerel and some of the bulgur wheat mix from yesterday which has onion, tomato and peas in.

We spent a lot of the afternoon on the garden: DH divided up the male fern, which was massive and far too big for the space. We are keeping about a quarter of it but I will see if I can root the offcuts as I did last year, to give away. Unfortunately it was so hard that the garden fork snapped! Not a neat replaceable handle break but the metal where the shaft divides into tines, so no point attempting to repair it. Good job I still have plenty of garden centre vouchers to get us a really tough replacement.

I spent at least a couple of hours weeding: first the necessary ten minutes or so on ground elder, then an overgrown bit of border, including brambles that had grown into the tree above. I've kept the lower stems of the brambles for the blackberries but the high bits have gone as we can't reach them. The birds were curious and had a peck around the exposed ground once I'd finished.

I'm tired now from all the exercise, and wound down watching Celebrity Bakeoff and The Piano, a good evening's viewing though watching the TV makes me yawn a lot.

Cherryfudge

Here’s a scene from my run this lunchtime: I’m nowhere near ready to go up that hill! It was tough even when I ran regularly. I turn off before the track goes upwards.

The second picture looks flat but isn’t: the Dales are in the far distance and between where I was and the distant hills is the Vale of York, but it’s hidden by the rise of the ground.



It was bright but breezy and later on clouded over.

I did a bit of work towards my course this morning but I seem to have reached a fallow bit. I need to go back to it at some point soon and try to find some more to say. Other than that I popped to L!dl to get a refund for a discount that hadn't applied (all 22p's worth!), to Ice1and for pizzas then went to work. On the way home I bought salad stuff in preparation for pizzas with my friends tomorrow, only to hear after I got home that one of them has to work. The aforesaid pizzas are in the freezer and I'm glad I didn't splash out on feta!

Expenditure:
Car £853.35 (that's via DH's credit card and has been mentioned before. Brake repairs).
Housekeeping £32.49 (minus £1.09 because of the refund for the fruit bread which I then bought again at the discounted price).

That was an expensive day, but the car doesn't usually cost us a lot and has been going for years. And some of the food spending is pizzas which I now won't have to buy next week).

And a funny thing that happened: a complete stranger in the supermarket waved his calculator at me, saying 'I got that wrong, didn't I?!' He was adding up his shopping as he went along and the few items in his trolley appeared to come to £1,500!

I'm hoping to get to the shops tomorrow, to take advantage of the Easter 15p veg (I see Morries have them at 8p but we only have a very small Morries and I don't have the necessary loyalty card).

Sun_Addict

Well done on re-starting the couch to 5k, it looks like you've got some nice places to run. I've done C25K quite a few times, the first time in lockdown when I was missing my walks to work. I was never really sure if I enjoyed running particularly but I enjoyed the feeling of having done it. I used to enjoy doing the run/walk intervals podcasts by Motion Traxx. They stopped making them back in 2015 but they're still available. Good luck with it anyway.

Cherryfudge

Thanks @Sun_Addict, I think a lot of people will agree with you about the feeling of having achieved the run! DH says you never regret going for a run, and I think there's something in that.

I'll have a look at the Motion Traxx podcasts thanks - it will help me keep track of things if I have something working on the timing for me.

Cherryfudge

DH and I both managed to buy discounted bread yesterday! There's no freezer space... I've therefore broken my minimum wheat rule (wheat seems to make my reflux bad) and had some last night and some for breakfast. The good news on the reflux, though, is a big step forwards: when I had the strange health episode a few weeks ago, the hospital gave me a glass of soluble aspirin in case it was a stroke. I noticed that despite not having a meal anywhere near taking the aspirin, I didn't get reflux. I've been on gastro-resistant aspirin for years for another reason, and for a week or so I had to switch to a higher dose, but dispersible. Still no side effects. I'm now back to the low dose, but I've kept using dispersible: for me it seems to be preferable to GR and I rarely need the Omeprazole, just if I've had a largeish wheat item recently. A hot cross bun set it off the other day.

That's not medical advice, by the way! It's just an oddity in how it seems to work for me. Next time I'm due a medication review - which I think is coming up - I ought to make an appointment to discuss this.

That's gone a bit off track - meant to say I now have bread, hummus and cucumber to use up so Ill take some for lunch as we are taking care of the grand-girls today. They will probably be happy to share Grandma's lunch!

Not sure what's for tea yet. Plan A (pizza with friends) is postponed. Might get one of them there 15p swedes and do the swede and lentil recipe from Oddbox, as it's really nice.

rtandon27

OH went to MrL today and made avail of a few of the cheap veg - no swede for us, but carrots, potatoes, green beans and spring onions made their way home - strangely the carrots rang in at 8p while the other 3 went in at 15p - no swede made it our way though - I'm pretty sure OH made a unilateral decision not to avail!

badmemory

Lidl will be doing the 8p carrots in areas where there is an Aldi.  Aldi tend to do the same but they don't seem to advertise it.  It is just when they are doing these holiday specials though.

Thanks Cherryfudge for mentioning the hot cross buns.  I can eat several brioche buns but only 2 slices of bread unless I have the odd extra one toasted.  Teach me to have 2 hot cross buns.  I will stick to one only this time.

Cherryfudge

Another expensive day, though not on the scale of car repairs. I was walking into town to meet DH and the children when I got a phone call from J to say they were driving past and saw me. Long story short, we all went for coffee. I suggested the new place as it's spacious and allows dogs, and between us we were four adults, three children, two prams and a pooch! DH paid for the drinks and I got the points on my loyalty card, though it turned out the wrong tea had been put out for DH. He sent it back, then back again as it was clearly not what he'd paid for (it was reddish and smelled of chocolate?), and the shop finally found the wrong item had been put in the box they were selecting from... and I had a cappuccino as usual but really didn't feel that was a wise decision as I didn't get decaf. However, it was really nice to see J, L and baby A, now two weeks old, and spend a bit of time together.

The downside is that we've spent £12.40 and DGD will have pushed up my data use as we'd not come equipped to entertain her so she was watching cartoons on my phone. Nevertheless, as DH says, it's good being able to treat them.

After they left, we took the girls to the swings, which is good free entertainment and lets them use some energy.

I'd made a pram picnic for the children which was a good move but we then went to the supermarket which wasn't. Eldest DGD is keen on using the scanner so she and I went together but my supposedly sensible suggestion of buying bread sticks to eat on the way home was kiboshed when I gave her a choice of bread sticks. Instead of the 50p ones she bought the mini packs which are £1.55! Then she wanted a 'pouch' which are pureed meals and snacks of healthy stuff. I usually stock up on the cheap ones but those had already been eaten and she wanted a branded one which was double what I usually pay. She also remembered I'd bought milk for her in the past, but at least this time she chose one she likes and it wasn't wasted. And then... I'd asked DH which Easter Egg he wanted and it was in that shop, so another £8.50 (dairy free so can't go for cheaper options) and we'd agreed on salmon for tea with a sauce I bought (on offer) last week. And of course I could have got past the shop had I brought more picnic items and also remembered the Sains Easter veg prices don't start till tomorrow.

So that was an expensive shop, and lesson learned. I had bread sticks at home, I knew DGD likes to buy milk and could have avoided that, and I could have directed her to the (admittedly depleted) snacks in her backpack. As it was I ended up spending £17.59 instead of avoiding it totally. By the time we'd finished going round the shop, I was hot and tired and not functioning too well so I didn't have much resistance (knew I shouldn't have had that coffee!). On the way home we went to As da, as DH wanted some tinned peaches and I bought some of their 8p veg, so the balance has been a tiny bit redressed.

The rest of our day with them was nice: too much TV but then hide and seek (3 year-old's version is 'Where will you be hiding?') and playing in the garden followed by more TV and a late afternoon snack. The younger one gets enormous enjoyment out of being pushed round the garden in a pedal car shouting 'Round! Round!' followed by a short break for DH's sake and another circuit in which she shouts 'Beep! Beep!' That's also cheaper than the soft play centre that DH thought of going to.

By the time we got home, there were too many midges to do any garden work. DH cooked dinner and we watched the Repair Shop. I had a letter from the consultant I saw the other week confirming the results of the MRI, and a copy has gone to the GP so that's all going in the right direction.

Lessons learned: you can't prepare for all eventualities but pack bread sticks and yet more pouches, or buy French bread as I used to for their Dad. It takes longer to eat! Also bring bananas, but the ones I bought yesterday aren't ripe enough yet. Also watch myself: if I'm hungry, hot, under par or anything, I won't think as well or react as well. Also it's all right to say 'no' to DGD. She doesn't understand the full context of shopping and is reacting to how she feels here and now. I can short cut that at times by pre-planning even more than I did this morning (picnic was sandwiches and it worked as far as it went, but wasn't enough).

So those are my MS reflections for the day, at a time when food prices are certainly rising. The intended menu for today has gone to tomorrow as there wasn't time to cook the Moroccan slow cooker thing. I'm pleased with some of the things I did: my breakfast and lunch were healthy and used ingredients I'd bought yesterday intending to make a pizza supper for my friends. Also those sandwiches for the girls were a good move, and seizing the day to spend time with J and L.

Cherryfudge

H'm mega post above and I didn't even look in detail at yesterday's Mr T receipt as I'd intended.

I bought pizzas at Ice1and, totally £1.50, plus 80p bread (half price) and something or other forgotten.

In T, I got organic hummus discounted from £1.65 to £1.02, so still more than the basic version but a better texture. What would it cost to make my own? 45p for chickpeas, plus a clove of garlic, lemon juice, tahini, spices and the electricity to blend it.

Punnet of tomatoes, on offer at 75p instead of 91p, for the salad.

DH's chocolate £2.20: even he says this has gone up massively but it's dairy free. Even the cheapest dairy free is now about £1.20.

Posh biscuits for my friends (saved in the emergency food cupboard for when they visit) £1.50 instead of £2.20.

My bread alternative on offer at £1.25 instead of £2. Not an urgent need: I buy it when on offer as it will keep, and buy unbranded in between times.

Soda water 80p for friends and also for me. Much cheaper in L1dl but they only seem to stock it in winter. Perhaps I should get fizzy water but for some reason I'm put off that because I've read the blurb about plastics in bottled water, but my head hasn't transferred that information to what must be in bottled soda water.

Nice cordial for friends, £2.50 instead of £3. Also it's a treat for me to finish up later.

Fresh blueberries £2.45 for 250g. I think L1dl is cheaper but the last few punnets from there have started to go off quickly, and the last time I bought frozen ones they were bitter.

Chorizo £2.15 instead of £2.40 for 225g. Grab it while the price is reduced, it keeps well and we use it quite often. Am I imagining that there's a lot less in the packet than there used to be as well as the price going up? It seems so small! Perhaps I should use the same percentage of the ring but add more paprika to compensate?

Red wine stock - 2 boxes at £1.50 each instead of £1.85. These are BB January and will be used as they work well with some favourite dishes, but if you look at it another way, suppose they were stock cubes instead of gel pots. Would I want to pay 25p per stock cube?

Any thoughts on the above? I know if we were really stuck I could cut back somewhere and probably make biscuits and hummus at home, and the list didn't include the feta substitute as I intended to buy it in L1dl but they're run out.

peb

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