The Garden Fence - proper Old Style support and chat!

fuddle wrote: »

My shopping budget is just not covering our needs now. I either have to apportion more to it or try to claw it back someway. I have decided to have a good look at our needs and try to make more in the way of changes. I am concerned I have to say but we are quite well off compared to a few years ago and we do have choice that isn't basic. I can make changes I just have some health limitations now that need different eating. I mean shoving a load of lentils in to eak out mince is nee good for a windy colon :rotfl:

We're the same Fuddle, the budget is quite a bit up on previous years . I am thinking as I get more familiar with this way of eating that I'll be able to make more savings and reduce our expenditure, but frankly as we are presently affording it and it's working for health, I'm not freaking out over it. I think when you make significant changes and effort in one area (health), sometimes other areas like budget have to slide a little.

As for the lentils, that's why in Indian cooking you often see asofetida (hing) as a dhal ingredient, cuts the backdraft

Morning all,

Fuddle our budget has increased as well. We're eating more fish and relying far less on cheese and eggs for protein. I'm also trying to keep our carbs high quality, sometimes that is cheap, sometimes it isn't. We can presently afford it and although it is currently costing us the equivalent of 2 weeks house savings per year to increase the budget, we both think that is worth it. I'll be doing a few things this summer to help with that though--making homemade lentil burgers (probably not the best option for you ) grating big blocks of the low fat cheese, portioning it into two servings and freezing it (it doesn't last as long as normal cheese and this makes it easier to stick to portion control on a busy weeknight, buying chicken in bulk at the butchers and portioning and freezing it etc. It will still cost us more though. I'll also make a couple of recipes that take ages and make loads and freeze those in portions, OH will make and freeze pizza dough etc. It means we don't eat takeaways and are less likely to pick up something quick--good for health and budget. I've always thought a meal can be two of the following: cheap, healthy, tasty, easy/quick. Sometimes you find the rare recipe that is three but I don't think I've ever found all 4 :rotfl:

I've just come back from a jog and need to get cleaned up for town. Tuna on rye for lunch with chopped veggies and salmon on a buckwheat noodle Asian-style salad for tea tonight. I don't really know what I mean by Asian-style. I shred cabbage, cook some edamame, slice spring onions, carrots and herbs and add in vinegar, soya sauce, ginger and garlic to cold buckwheat noodles. It tastes good. Lemon grass would also probably be nice but I don't have any in.

Monna :rotfl: That is exactly the sort of thing I'd do, although I've become much more serious about my gardening. I even check spacing guidelines now. Marvelously I have discovered that following the directions yields superior results to the whimsical method. I have not yet bothered to note this down in my gardening journal and will therefore probably need to learn this again four or five times.

Oops. I'd forgotten that it is the 100th celebration of the RAF.
My darling FIL was a Group Captain during the war and being a fluent French speaker was drafted into SOE. He flew Lysanders and dropped agents behind enemy lines. My stepMIL was one of those agents.
I was incredibly close to them both and am so proud of them.

That's my morning then.

It's not Floss. I only have a certain amount I can spend on shopping. If that goes up then other areas suffer. It's spiralling and I have to claw something back.

Supermarket shopping is a problem. I need to buy in bulk I think, starting with the flour. Right head down again.

Have a look at Shipton Mill & [URL="FWP Matthews White Spelt Flour 1.5 kg (Pack of 5) https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01GPZ0PM6/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_0ZirBb36JZJ5J"]Am@zon[/URL]...