The giving up/cutting down alcohol support thread!

Bismarck

Anything that makes it harder to get and justify will help...for example if I was teetering when shopping and had a momentary blip I could easily get into the mindset of apples..check....bread...check...milk...check.....oh look...special hobgoblins wotsits beer is reduced at buy 5 for price of 4...must get some of those and ooh look there's a new goats head extras strength lager...must try that...why not I deserve it....

It will help those who have the moments of weakness or who don't "do" shopping lists...

The effect will not be that people buy more so they will overall end up buying less and that has to be a good thing.

beachbeth

Bismarck wrote: »

It will do nothing to stop the hardcore who will go to any lengths to get what they need...net result is that sales will go down but not in the way they hope!

Thats what I think. People who aren't alcoholics just won't bother and people who are will just go elsewhere.

eselt

Hi all- hope everyone is OK

Siannie72 well done for fronting this problem- you do sound to me that you are ready for change, and strong enough to do it

Barshamhillbilly- OMG did you really eat your pet? Did it have a name? Was it as tasty as you say? My vegetables have been lovely this year, but I've never thought about eating the livestock (chickens lay 5 a day so they are good value). Got me thinking though...how much land do you need for a pig? can you have a single one or should they be brought up with others? How much are the abatoir costs? Whats the best breed to start with?

With regard to the shopping dilemma- I suppose the answer is don't go- I actually got my local costcutter store to ban me so the decision to go and buy alcohol was out of my hands. Drastic but it worked.

Its good to see some new posts on here making a conscious effort to tackle the demon drink, if I'd have been so aware of the problem early on I might not nearly have died, I was drinking over 150 units (yep 3 full size bottles) of vodka a day before I went into hospital after having a seizure 2 years ago, I lost my children, my house, my job,my car, went bankrupt- please, please, please nip this nasty addictive stuff in the bud while you still have the ability, because once you get physically addicted and you rattle and shake and can't eat or sleep you are fighting a totally different monster. Its taken me 2 years to get my kids back, and for them to trust me again, but I know I will never forgive myself for what I put them through.

Lifes better when your sober-honest.

barshamhillbilly

Hi Eselt

Of course we ate him - thats why we got them

We have had alsorts - Gloucester Old Spots are the norm round here for smallholders. These ones were Kune Kunes - small and hairy with tusks - very tasty

Goats are our main thing - we eat those too - and the chickens, geese , ducks, and anything else that tries to steal my vegetables

You can have a single one but they are happier and hence tastier in pairs. You only need a small plot for a couple of weaners just to grow on for 6 months - say 20m x 20m with a house (can be made of bales of straw and a tin roof) and some electric fence round. .... Very good for clearing a patch for the next season of veggie growing.

Abattoir costs are around £20 each including the wash out of the trailer. Well worth it when you can sell the meat for £400 or more for a piggie you bought for £40 :T.
Its the butchering and suasage and bacon making that costs the mony if you have a butcher do it.

We don't sell any on any more we just do it for ourselves and make our own bacon and do the butchering ourselves.

Go for it Eselt - its fantastic fun.
Go on - knobble a chicken as well for a starter :D

BHB

jo1972

Mmmmmm, goat curry is the best!

Bismarck

eselt wrote: »

Its taken me 2 years to get my kids back, and for them to trust me again, but I know I will never forgive myself for what I put them through.

Lifes better when your sober-honest.

You may get to forgive yourself...as long as you don't forget or become complacent....every so often I think of it as some kind of resurrection moment. I'm still learning and moving forward and dealing with stuff as it happens - I can't undo what's happened but I can make the future better....dragging along a load of angst isn't helpful - it's bloomin' hard work!

beachbeth

barshamhillbilly wrote: »

We have had alsorts - Gloucester Old Spots are the norm round here for smallholders. These ones were Kune Kunes - small and hairy with tusks - very tasty

They sound so cute! I just couldn't eat a pig that I kept myself. I saw the programme (think it was Gordon Ramsey) where he slaughtered his own pigs and it was quite upsetting! I am a hypocrite, however, because I eat meat, including pork! I just don't like to think of the animal it came from. If I had to rear and kill animals myself I wouldn't be able to eat it!!!

Well done for being able to rear and produce your own meat, though! Must be so much more tasty than some of the cardboard tasting stuff you can buy.

barshamhillbilly

We like the Chinese Schezuan saying:

"We eat everything that has legs - except a table, and everything that flies except a plane"

:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

eselt

Bismark thank you so much for the words-I just know you've been there and that gives what you say so much more currency- its so hard to explain to people that you recognise the beginnings of a nightmare in there drinking because there is a fine line between having fun and being in control and absolute despair and alcoholism- I think its partly a personality thing, my grandad was a terrible alcoholic (didnt go to bed for 30 years- just sat in his fireside chair and drank himself unconscious every night- woke up covered in sick and urine every morning...), his dad was an alcoholic too, I remember at school in history lessons being really embarrased as we studied local history- my greatgrandad was an infamous poacher who threw a policeman off the iron bridge in shropshire and broke his neck- there was 14 yrs between my gran and her siblings (14 of them) because of the time he spent in prison because of it!! But when I talked to her she used to tell me stories of my tiny pretty greatgrandmother being swung around by her hair and beaten up by her drunk husband, even when she was pregnant and they didnt have any food.

Anyway, I'm getting seriously interested in the idea of breeding some pigs- I think I've got enough land and I think it would be a great idea. I usually buy 1/2 a pig from my butcher every 6 months but end up with trotters and head in the freezer for years. Erm..not so sure about a goat, dont think I could brace myself to eat it, curry eh? OK I think I'll give it a try...........

Best of luck everyone, this is such an important thread...I think drink, mental health and debt are so seriously underestimated as a problem..its a national disgrace!!!

barshamhillbilly

Sorry Jo - Hate to disagree -

Young goat - (6months) - treat it just like lamb - chops and legs ! (And goat ham and bacon!) Not this curry malarkey - nice but a waste of lubberly jubberly good meat.
Save the 'skanky' bits for the curry, the shepherds pie and the burgers:eek:

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Andy