Lose weight in '26 with Slimming World & SWIP's.

beanielou

Great loss Coxy. 

Matron_Midge

Great job coxy. That’s a fabulous loss. I’m shuffling in with a STS this morning. We had steak pie/mash and veg at my parents yesterday followed by treacle sponge and custard - I’m blaming that for the maintain but I have to say I enjoyed every mouthful 😳
Back at it today,
B banana and Greek yog
L wholemeal roll with cheddar and tomatoes and a small bag of mini cheddars. (5) 
Chicken breast, couscous and salad with beetroot and onion
snacks with the telly - grapes, babybel and maybe a rogue ice lolly I found in the freezer.
Keep up the good work everyone.

Longwalker

@Jellybaby , I trawl the charity shops at least monthly. I have over the years found some amazing bits, but these past two years - barely a thing. Seems everyone is sending anything decent off to eBay and Vinted now , our charity shops are selling shein, prmark and Tesco - at rediculous prices. I used to by all DH's work jeans from the charity shops, but now its often cheaper to buy new at Primark  - £9 - when charity shops are looking the same 

Unfortunately , even though the shop only posted on Friday they were closing, the shop had been stripped bare  I did get the dog a new harness though for half price and I was tempted by a tote , but Id only fill it up with a lot of stuff I dont really need to carry around with me so I put back. It was a rare old shop. It started life as an animal supplier - grooming tools  for horses, dogs  cattle and sheep, then pet food then pet toys leads etc. They they kind of went into posh bits of niceness for the home and then outdoor wear and these past few years they have sold jewellery, stationary , hats, scarfs , handbags - just the perfect shop to buy that perfect gift or something nice for yourself or pet   I was so very pleased with myself that I had managed to buy every gift I gave at Christmas from the local shops - including that one 

@Maman , oh that jacket was my find of the decade It will be a while before I get anything so good again. It really brings me joy putting it on. I wore it today - I should have worn my huge hooded fur lined Parker style coat - its ruddy baltic out there, and wet. 

I eat a lot of tinned fish, I love mackerel in spicy tomato sauce, and nearly fainted when even Lidl have gone from 95p a tin to £1.30 . I love the tins of Youngs kippers over the bags of kippers ( only a monthly fish van at the next town so fresh isnt an option ) Just drain, nuke, on top of a slice of wholemeal and a couple of poached eggs on top and a dash of vinegar . Im also very lucky I have a friend who likes to fish, who's wife isnt a fish eater, so I pay his fishing trip twice and year and fill the freezer with mackerel and pollock . In the summer, when lidl have their Spanish weeks, I lift the bags of sardines - £7 a kilo I think - excellent value and just throw them on the BBQ 

I personally do get great food bargains though. I work in a local Spar and the girls there are just totally paranoid about out of date , bruised, not looking its best food . At least twice a week I bring home a full bag - free of charge - of fruit and veg. I take what I want out of it and then divide it up to share with friends and neighbours - perfectly edible - to the friends and neighbour, bit suss - friends alpacas or my hens . My hens feasted on raspberries and blueberries every day last week, this week they so far are enjoying melon . And the meat and dairy - I never pay more then half price - there's stuffed chickens there with sell by date tomorrow I have my eye on Today I came home with eight avocados and 4 bags of bananas. My food bill has near on halved since Ive worked there Ive been given blocks of cheese, packets of butter, pints of milk, packs of bacon and sausages  - because its a day past the sell by date and its going in the bin!! Not on my shift it won't  

If only I could accept the amount of crisps, biscuits, cakes, chocolate  etc .... thankfully I resist 

beanielou

Sounds like a great place to work @Longwalker. 

bubbs

Evening all 😁

Well done Coxy and Matron Midge 👏👏

LW you are my kind of girl 🤣 I really don't understand people that chuck everything away , that's why i like the company shop.

Been unit this morning and yes it was baltic, even dh said he was freezing to we brought it back, done it here, took it back 🤣🤣 good job it's only 5 mins away.

Last night i made Pancakes with the rest of the flour from fibre choice. They was nice, i rolled them round fresh pineapple 😋 with ice cream and 2.5 sv caramel sauce.

Today
Lunch picky plate, 4 sv , half calcium choice

Tea, bbq chicken fillet , butterflied , used jd seasoning, free, bns chips, salad, 1 sv bbq sauce

Longwalker

beanielou said:

Sounds like a great place to work @Longwalker. 

@beanielou , it really is. An early start ( 5;30am ) but home around 10 am. Yes this time of year its very cold , the kitchen has been put in the warehouse which is no better then a garage , but the girls, even though Im oldest by 30 years, are great. It's a fun place to work - and the bargains are fantastic . Slowly Ive trained them not to throw F&V and to save it in the kitchen for me, even if its not really edible by humans , like I say loads of animals will eat it - the alpacas love a very very ripe banana  

My last job, the one I got through losing the weight and getting myself looking presentable, in a family run department store , well I got 30% discount on all purchases - even sale items. That was a sad loss tbh. All the good brand clothing ( not designer but good brands like Barbour ) OMG the things I bought there lol. And I got lots of free food there as well like a bucket of Irish stew - DH and his work colleague were more then happy having that for their lunches 

And my job before, veg prep. The most hateful and hard work I have ever done in my life. That's when my depression seeped back in , confidence went, I let myself go, because we worked in dreadful conditions, but I stuck there because it was close and I got free veg 

@bubbs, the older I get, the worse I am for refusing to waste food lol. Also whilst we arent on our uppers , we do have a limited income, the less I spend on groceries the more we can spend on heating and a life 

So many food stuffs I no longer buy because I cant justify the cost and I need to keep the protein, fibre and fruit and veg content high - all costly now 

In the shop, we reduce and throw out a lot of meat and veg ( well they did until I worked there ) and yet the £6 freezer deals - a pizza, bag of chips, bag of dippers, and a vienetta will fly out , I understand why - family fed cheap with so little work 

from the same families who stop off on the school run and buy the !!!!!! food from the deli counter for their kids breakfast - nugget, sausages, sausage rolls, jambons etc as well as 3 or 4 quid on sweets and sodas 

bubbs

LW, look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves 😁 

DH had baked beans for tea, he said what baked beans are these? I thought oh here we go 🤣 i said farmfoods why? He said they are nicer than Heinz, (which i never buy unless they are giving them away) i said yes and you get 3 tins for £1 , less than one of Heinz!

The youngsters do wind me up, it's the entitlement with them and they put no effort into cooking!

We are going company shop way tomorrow, so no doubt i will call in 😁😁

While we are on it, forgot to post this earlier , Morrisons.    I don't need potatoes or cabbage but green beans would be nice, might even get some Kale to make crispy kale

Coxy11

Morning all - raining here!! I was meant to meet a friend at a NT property cafe this morning (actual house is shut) but too many flooded lanes hereabouts plus given the issue I have with the car, I don't fancy driving an hour each way. Will rearrange for mid-Feb.

Well done on the STS @Matron_Midge and great that you are heading towards another stone bracket @milann - let's cheer each other on for that milestone.

Have realised this morning that I didn't have my HEB choice yesterday as forgot to have my 20 almonds. No matter. Did have HEA of half milk, half cheese - have switched to lacto-free milk now and am finding it's helped my sinusitis so will be sticking with it.

I too ignore dates on food - use my judgement and the sniff test. Too much food wastage for my liking. I have used Olio before but not so much now I'm in this neck of the woods. Seems to always be a lot of bread, which is no good for me.

Food today:

B - satsuma, blueberries, toasted protein bagel thin, poached egg - S, HEB, P

L - orzo pot - orzo, feta, sundried tomatoes, red pepper, red onion, red wine vinegar, apple - free, HEA, 3, S

D - SW sticky chicken, plain rice, sugar snap peas - 1, free, S

HEA - milk

Syns - skinny bar plus 4 = 7 total

joedenise

Morning all, horrible weather here too, been raining a lot overnight and woke me up a couple of times it was so heavy and was blowing towards the bedroom windows. Supposed to be dry tomorrow so planning on soaking the whites overnight before washing tomorrow morning and hopefully hanging out on the line.

Went to the opticians this morning to pick up my new glasses and they're wrong! Can only see through them if they are perched halfway down my nose so they've got to be sent back to be reglazed so no doubt another couple of weeks to wait for them to come back.

Well done on your STS @Matron_Midge and good news that you're heading towards the next stone down @milann. Keep plodding both.

Been shopping this morning and picked up a couple of YS bits - half leg of lamb and 5% pork mince so they'll get included on next month's menu plan. May well pick up some lambs liver at the butchers and make some faggots as not had those for a while and find them very tasty once they're in the onion gravy!

Today's plan:

B - Welsh rarebit - HEA2; HEB; P; F

L - mushroom omelette - P; S

D - shepherds pie, purple sprouting broccoli, green beans, peas - P; S; F (PSB picked up YS this morning too)

HEA1 - milk

HEA2 - cheese

HEB - bread

Swips: none planned but may have something later with a cuppa

Have a good day everyone.

Jellybaby

Morning all, I had very little sleep due to the wind blowing a hoolie all night. It’s heavy rain now so forecast was spot on and I’m glad I decided to stay put.

I’ve redone the freezer inventory but still to do the freezer in the garage. There’s loads of homemade meals, salmon and prawns (courtesy of my friend who doesn’t like fish!) which will keep me going for the next few months.

On Sunday my aunt gave me a dozen apples that need using up. She said she kept buying forgetting she already had some 😳 I’ll make an apple crumble for DS which will keep him very happy!

Today’s food:

Breakfast - sweet omelette with banana, raspberries and yoghurt. 1 swip for toffee syrup

Lunch - tomato and red pepper soup from freezer

Dinner - chilli salmon, new potatoes, roasted veg