Gloves, price rises, lupins, weight

Found my mother's gloves (see blog a few days ago) and wore them when I cycled to get some milk locally to last till the supermarket delivery comes in a couple of days. Very comfortable and a lot better than sticky sweaty pvc things. Washed with mask on getting home.

While I was waiting in one aisle for someone to choose from the limited range of cereals I noticed a big bank of tinned tomatoes. Wow. There were many gaps on the shelves but plenty of these. Then saw the price 75p a tin!!  I have never paid more than 38p for tinned tomatoes and usually around 28p for own or cheap brand (these were definitely cheap brand judging from label). No wonder they had lots and I checked on getting home Sainsbury's still charging 28p.

I then got to the eggs. 6 packs at 95p, 12 packs at £2.00.  Of course I wanted to buy two 6 packs.  Not allowed. To have 12 eggs you had to pay the full £2.00 as a customer could only have one pack of eggs of any size. Grumbled but their eggs taste better than supermarket so got some till I go meat shopping at the local butcher where there are some nice fresh local ones worth paying for.

It has been horrendously windy and this lovely lupin had 50 flower stalks/buds to come 2 days ago.

Now I have a fireplace full of large jugs and a big display of lupin flowers.

At the supermarket I also had to avoid the bread, cakes, biscuits aisles. I know it is depressing what with the Daily Dose of Doom at 5 pm every night (4pm at weekends)  but getting through it with an extra snack is not the answer. Put on 7lbs since lockdown. Must be firm with ourselves. No comfort eating. After all obesity and stage 2 diabetes and our age are against us already.  Luckily the strawberries growing under cover with the lettuce are all doing well so its salad and fresh fruit for dinner all week!



 

Left hand not knowing the right at the supermarket!

Just logged into our supermarket on line shopping. No slots for the next 7 days. Oh well, did not need anything for 2 weeks anyway so filled the basket, saved and logged out. Will try another day.

Then I looked at my email account.  Oh loo,k a message about "my offers", available to me, as a favoured shopper, Joy unbound.  Hang on if no click and collect for next 7 days, am I likely to get a spot on day 8 to take advantage?  I really doubt that.

Does the offer department know what the ordering department are doing do you think??  Or just doing this to thumb their nose at me?  Paranoid in Lockdown.

Your offers this week

Here are some of your offers this week. Hit the button to see all of them.

20 points Sainsbury's 50% Fruit Muesli 750g Expires in 8 days		10 points by Sainsbury's' smoked back bacon rashers x8 Expires in 8 days

40 points 'by Sainsbury's' loose carrots Expires in 8 days 60 points 'by Sainsbury's' medium tie handle food & freezer bags x40 Expires in 8 days

Shopping in lockdown or not

Have not entered any large shops since the 2nd March so I listen and watch the "The Tales of Shopping Hell" and get more concerned about what I may face. My supermarket shopping usually done on line (for 6 years) has been blocked at present and I await improvements in service patiently enough. Though we are in the age range we have not been identified as "at risk" cause we are healthy.

I just logged into Sainsbury's as there was a local facebook page of delivery slots being available. Nothing there. But here is the strange thing; the basket I had left "full" on my account ready had mysteriously gone up nearly £5 in the last few days without any new items being added. Mmm - price rises?

 Local Farm shop doing a delivery tonight so no fresh worries.

I may have hunt down 1. Shampoo and 2. tinned tomatoes fairly soon. Otherwise we are fine!

Here is my panic "sometime soon" lists before the farm shop delivery. Mostly could wait 7 days and a lot 10 days.  next door old chap asked us to get some sausages if we could.

I can make a good list as for the last 4 years I have had a store cupboard master list to work off and every now and then I empty the cupboard and freezer and check we have most or spares.  Yesterday i did an empty and found a kilo of basmati rice I did not know I had in a storage box I do not usually use (must have been too tidy last time round)!! Been on lists all month and definitely none in shops I hear.  Hurrah a win!

Stay safe.

Spring visitors

if I could catch these blighters I would ......   (tell them about social distancing??)

ANTS

Two or three at a time appearing in kitchen. Been wiping down surface with smelly stuff, put sugar away (in fridge), checked outside wall for nest, still can't get rid.  

Mind you in checking outside I noticed kitchen drain blocked. There followed a smelly half day of digging out a blockage. So I should thank them for making me go round the corner of the house!!

There are worse things to worry about today.

Our Children on Whats App group this morning. All city dwellers and finding supermarkets empty and somehow they have all decided to become bread makers again as they are stuck at home so are swapping tips. Apparently no yeast around - we discussed sour dough!  They are channelling their great grandfather who was a Master Baker and ran a bakery all through WWII. 

Our other spring visitor was a surprise bird. A very young thrush appeared complete with some fluffy baby feathers. He stayed for some mealworms. Don't see many of them.

Nutty supermarket pricing

All the media especially TV have these supersavy spending advice things but how are mere mortals suppose to cope?
I was doing my on line shop the other day and came across these anomalies.  These were not even offers - just the supermarket "normal" pricing strategies.

Cornflakes
Buy 1 kg and pay 30p a gram
Buy 790g and pay 26p a gram - putting up with Santa on the packet?

Stock gel packs
Buy in packs of 8 for £5
Buy in packs of 4 at £1 each and you pay £2 for 8!

Lasagna ready sauces
Buy 2 individual sauces at £1 each
Buy the same 2 sauces wrapped together and you pay £3.

How on earth do you cope when standing in the supermarket with a muttering husband, screaming kids and people shoving you if you pause to think?  I shop on line to avoid a 12 mile round trip so have time to check and avoid.

I do think consumer protection people should be working harder to resolve some of these weird pricing practices - it really feels like the supermarkets are deliberating trying to cheat the shopper.

Three in, Three out

We have been invited to a Country House weekend next month by friends celebrating a 70th birthday. Very posh.  So I went to the most upmarket charity shop in town last week to see if I could find something  to wear.  I purchased  3 new jumpers - two are lambs wool so need hand washing.

So 3 worn out jumpers had to go.  I am very strict as I am trying to reduce storage areas - what is the point of filling up valuable space with clothes you don't wear (out of date, no occasion to use, wrong size, worn out)?

So 3 worn out jumpers joined the worn out fleeces in being prepared to be made into a rag rug! 

Now the evenings are dark it is a comfortable activity stitching the plaited "worms" together sitting in front of the log fire.  I need about 20 of these - they are about 6 ft long! There is nothing much on TV needing full attention so I will be pleasantly occupied till Christmas.

Shoe tidy tray

Our conservatory/back porch suffers from our constant in and out from the garden. Shoes and boots are slid off and abandoned, with mud or dust tracking everywhere. I have tried cardboard, newspaper, plastic bags but they get kick or blown away. So when we arrived in Scotland and saw this at our holiday cottage - WOW!

A simple very large plant watering tray! ~Why did I not think of that before?

Less than £10 in garden centres - or worth scrubbing the one currently hosting 3 dead cucumbers in the greenhouse!

Super holiday cottage by the way - a wood chalet that is highly insulated and is very warm and cosy even in poor weather in mountains of Skye!  Great for our anniversary trip (thanks for the good wishes from other bloggers)

Shopping just in time

I was amused by Life After Money's blog and U tube video the other day about not shopping until unless you really you need to.  Look at our fridge 6 hours before the on-line supermarket delivers the fortnightly regular shopping.  I really need our shopping!

Half the jars in the door are jam stored there for the winter. What did we have for lunch? No eggs, no meat, no ...anything really.  Last two slices of bread, with a mix of last bits of cheeses grated and toasted with sliced tomatoes from the garden. Last two pears from the garden (finally ripened) and last two squares of home made carrot cake with a cup of tea using the last inch of milk.   Least it was easy to clean the fridge!

The fortnightly £42 shop (including £1 delivery charge and  £7 spent of stocking up loo rolls while they were on offer) but with plenty of basics - milk, marg, butter, eggs, cheese, for the fridge plus flour etc for the store cupboard means cooking fresh from scratch can continue.  We spent £26 in the butchers and £13 in the fish market in the next village, which will last over the next fortnight.   So about £40 per week for the two of us at the moment.  I keep about £10 in the house for the odd purchase in our limited village shops if needed.

Before I book the next basics order I will look carefully at the seasonal changes - its time to think about stews with dumplings and milk puddings. 

Food costs

Time for a quick review of our food costs.  Bloggers have raised concerns lately.

We keep our accounts package up to date and use the title "groceries" to cover all food and household/cleaning products and toiletries for a household of two retirees and visitors. We grow a lot of our own fruit and veg, cook from scratch and don't have processed foods. My main shop is done on t'internet and delivered for £1. We use local butchers and fish market (but not exclusively as both involve a drive of 10 miles so it is just when passing on other business we stock up).
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Firstly, I looked at the long term spending and found the average over 3 years is £58 per week

Had a look at last 12 months and it averages £52 per week, which was probably due to the good harvests of last summer.

The last 3 months have been more expensive - costs rising to £57 pw.   Why?  Lack of our own potatoes and we have had to buy in our supplies since Christmas Plus, we have been treating ourselves twice a week to locally baked fresh loaves. A mistake. The price has crept up to £1.90 a loaf.  Just those things have cost £7 a week. I am sure we could reign back on the bread and crops are coming on!

I could save more by going into town and shopping around  but I am not willing to waste a day a week. Besides growing your own means you need to be around and working at it every day.

How is your budget going?

No spend and stretch January

Everyone seems to be in same boat trying to save money this month. I updated our accounts this week and got a shock to find buying the Fuel oil for the heating had cleared out the balance. Only £50 left till next week!  My grocery and household bits and pieces so far this month had totalled £123.75.

Quick look in the cupboards and freezer revealed just about enough food, except potatoes, till Monday if we have so inventive meals. The turkey carcass from Xmas came out and was stewed with veg and the left overs from that will make soup. A jar of mincemeat found to make pie for puddings with custard or there is plenty of jam for sponge pudding.  There is half a gammon joint in there from Xmas and two 4oz portions of mince for Spag Bol if needed.

Purse tipped up - just enough cash for a sack of potatoes at the local farm shop and a loaf of bread from the local bakers. So we could get through till Tuesday or Wednesday when it will clearly be the February budget before having a big shop.

Crises averted. Amazing what you can do when pressed.

Strawberry season has started

Picked the first bowl full of strawberries today (in the poly tunnel from the older and more established plants). Have had the odd one or two over the last week but this was a proper amount each for tea with ice cream.

There are lots more to come which lead me to start a search for SIMPLE strawberry puddings. I have done some research and decided too many recipes are complex and need lots of ingredients. I have found two things to try which seem quite simple.

Strawberry mini marshmallow mouse  http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/11799/strawberry-marshmallow-mousse

250g of strawberries
25 g caster sugar
100 ml water
200ml cream

Strawberry milk lollipops http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2256637/strawberry-milk-pops
400g ripe strawberries
200ml semi skim milk
400g light condensed milk

I am just going to alter my shopping list to make sure I have enough store cupboard supplies to deal with the harvest in the next few weeks - I think we may be over run if the weather warms up here! 

Price Comparisons on shopping

As my back is sore today I thought I would do some shopping research before compiling next week's fortnightly grocery shopping list. I don't know how we cope in this country with our retailers!

Cornflakes. (we are on  wheat avoidance at breakfast at the moment for dietary reasons)
It comes in packets.
If you are stickler for your Kellogg brand then the only question should be what size do I need.

Sainsbury's offer
250g packet at 56p per 100g
500g                39p
750g                27p
1kg                  26p

So at recommended 30g servings the 1000g packet will last 33 days - or say 2 weeks for 2 of us?  Or  a month if breakfast is varied with porridge and eggs sometimes.

Could I get a better price? By comparing all 4 sizes in 2 more supermarkets I could get
20p per 100g if buy 2 packets of 750g at Morrisons on offer  (1.5kg too much for a month)
23p per 100g if I buy 500g packets at Tesco  (not enough for a month, I would have to buy 2 packets or another packet next shop)  But both these options mean I have to deal with twice as much packaging too! But their offers don't reflect they had to pay for two lots of packaging either.

Who would be the most expensive supermarket for the single big packet?  ASDA
30p per 100g in the biggest size

Then there were the peas. 
They come in packets and you stuff them in the freezer and dip in over weeks and weeks.  I leave a container in the bag so I can measure out the servings otherwise the plate looks like there is a pea invasion.
If you are a stickler for your Birds Eye you could be tempted by Sainsbury's offer.
400g of £1
but the normal price on 800g is £2 (the same £2.50 per kg? Where is the offer?)
The only real reduction is if you buy 1.58kg and the price goes down to £2.09 per kilogram.
So I compared ASDA
for 400g bags you are paying £3.63 per kg and for 1.37kg you are paying £2.19kg

Do supermarkets think we are ALL compulsive brainless basket fillers? Or do they just price by random choice?

My head has now exploded and I think I will wander off for more tea and more pain killers.

Disclaimer
Other supermarkets and their weird pricing policies are available on other web sites. 

Fish lovin'

Brought this lovely piece of fresh salmon for  £5 this week

Two chunky bits, baked with a chilli jam topping for tea. Yum, Yum.  One big fillet in the freezer for another day, and the tail bit and a trimming off the side in a bag to go with some other fish tails/bits in the freezer for a pie.

This nice long bit of cod was also just over £5,  divided into 4 portions ready for meals next week. last time I got haddock so cod is a nice change.  Also brought some expensive but giant prawns (£14 a kilo) as I love prawn dishes for the lighter meals of warm days (could they hurry up and come?).  I got some smoked mackerel too as someone was saying it was good for arthritis sufferers like my husband. 

I usually spend £15 to £20 on each visit to the fish market as it is a round trip of 12 miles and we combine the drive with other tasks to make it worth while. It is less expensive that the supermarket and I can chop it up to our size portions rather than buy ready portioned.  Also the guy knows me now and that I will buy a big fillet and not mess around with "bits" so I think he is a bit generous too!

Are you a fish lover?