Just a Girl ...

Just a girl, standing in the kitchen taking a photo ... that's NOT of food!!  😁

If you know the film, you know the film.

It's only when you change your diet, or limit your intake of food in any way that you realise just how much we are bombarded with food images, adverts on television, on social media ... and how much we talk about food.  

I've also discovered that the vast majority of the YouTubers and Instagrammers that I follow are foodies or food related. I sat eating my breakfast watching someone on a YouTube channel about food budgets make a pie and I just kept thinking ... PIE, PIE!!

I could of course go and sit and read a book, but the two books that I have on the go at the moment are Jack Monroe's latest Thrifty Kitchen and Home Economics by Jane Ashley.  So I'll go blog hopping and read some of my favourites that I missed while I was away yesterday  ... oh Sue.   I am loving your challenge though.  😀

 

Just one food pic from me ... proof that I have mastered flipping an omelette.  Yay ... it's only taken me about forty odd years!!

Sue xx

Shopping ... and a Few of My Recent Meals

 

Alan asked me if I wanted to go shopping with him this morning, at first I said no as there were only two items on my list, so he said that he would pick them up for me.  Then I was showered and dressed before he got back with the dogs from their walk, and with the sun shining brightly outside I thought sod it, why not go.  By then there were four items on my list .....

I ended up spending a total of £30.29 on the above food, and a bit more on the Foodbank shopping.

I blame the sunshine and the lovely fresh produce for tempting me out and then tempting me to spend when it wasn't strictly necessary.  But it is nice to be stocked up on everything and I doubt I will have to go shopping again for a while.  

Oh, and our Aldi still has the '3 items per customer notices' on all the salad stuff.

There's been quite a lot of interest in the Fast 800 diet that I'm doing, so I thought I would show you a few of my recent meals to give you an idea of what I'm eating at the moment.  This is what I call my 'lazy breakfast' just a couple of eggs scrambled with some fresh spinach.

This was my breakfast on Friday, a Mediterranean Vegetable omelette.  It takes a bit longer but oh boy was it worth it.  I took a photo before I folded it over and lifted it from the pan because I usually make an almighty mess when I do that. 😄

But not this time!!

I used Violife Extra Mature Cheddar on mine and it was delicious. In fact it was so nice that I am having it again for my lunch today.

These are the contents of a wrap I made for myself one day for lunch.  There were so many contents that the wrap didn't stand a chance ... messy, but again delicious.

A nice simple tea from one night last week.

Those steam in the bag vegetables that I treated myself to from Aldi last week have been great.  A bit of an over-packaged luxury I know, but when you are hungry and temptation is biting at your heels sometimes it's just nice to get everything done nice and simply, already calorie counted and with minimal washing up afterwards.

I won't be using them for ever but while I'm doing this diet I may have to buy another pack when all mine have been used up.

This was an evening meal when I wasn't overly hungry, so it's simply a cheese salad and I decided to have the treat of a drizzle of mayonnaise.  It really hit the spot.

This was a lovely tea, just a simple fish, rice and peas with some salad to fill up the plate.

And on a day when I was almost thinking of throwing in the towel, luckily on my menu I had decided to make myself something simple, tasty and a bit more like my usual sort of diet when I'm watching a film on a Sunday afternoon.  A pizza!!

Using one of my wraps from the freezer as the base, simply topped with all the odds and sods from the fridge and using the last of my grated cheese.  As it was so thin I folded it over to eat it, so it was actually much more like a baked quesadilla.

So there you go, a little snippet of the foods that I have been eating on this diet up to now, and here is my new menu plan for this week.  It does make it easier to sit and menu plan all in one go and know exactly what I am eating each day.  The urge to cheat is lessoning slightly and up to now my only 'cheat' has been a couple of extra nuts one day.

During the first week I lost 5lbs in weight, three of which were in body fat, an inch off my waist and a couple of points off my BMI, but most importantly my blood pressure dropped by a decent amount.  So I am happy enough with this to keep going.

 I would be daft to stop now!!

Sue xx

Daffodils, Muffins and Weekend Watching

 

It's lovely to have some colour in the house and the garden at the moment.  

Inside it's daffodils smiling cheerfully at me from the shelf, and out in the garden along with the daffodils and snowdrops it's lots of little primulas that have reappeared after sleeping the Winter away.

Usually I don't like the smell of daffs in the house ... to me they are fusty and musty smelling ... but for once my complete lack of any form of a sense of smell is working in my favour.  😁

The Fast 800 diet is going well, I'm feeling better in myself and the scales were showing a lower number the other day, so that is hopeful.  I'm sleeping really deeply and really well, but I do find that I'm hungry a lot and I find that hard.  Oh, I so nearly had a chocolate bar last night,  but I went and cleaned my teeth instead ... it seemed to work.

I'm doing a mixture of recipes from the book and things that I already have in that I want to use up, but making sure that I stay around the 800 calories a day mark.  For instance this morning for my breakfast I made the Cheese and Spinach Mini Muffins from the Fast 800 Easy cookbook, but one day in the week I did have two Weetabix with almond milk.  It's all about balance.

These muffins were quick and easy to make, and very tasty.

Although as they stuck to my muffin tin liners quite a bit, I had these three with my cup of coffee and then shared a fourth with Mavis, who managed admirably. 

 If you would like to read more about the diet you can click on this link:   

The Fast 800 Diet

I am currently doing the Fast 800 and combining it with TRE (time restricted eating) which really suits me.  I am easily doing 14/10 without even having to think about it too much.

Now on a completely different topic, how about a bit of Weekend Watching.  I watched the following two videos while having my breakfast this morning ... and yes they are all about food!!

https://youtu.be/rd2Fb4lEEts

Atomic Shrimp's channel seems to have grown massively over the last few months, with over 910k subscribers he has a brilliant following.  My favourites out of all of his challenges are unsurprisingly the limited spending ones, and this latest one and his last one saw him trying to recreate the £1 per day meals challenge, but this time allowing for inflation with £1.37 to spend.

https://youtu.be/p9zm1uYlE_c

This second video is Chelsea from Little Mountain Ranch who is currently cooking recipes both from her own family archives ready to launch a cookbook of her own, and also from some very old books that her husband has just bought her.  She has such a lovely sunny disposition and a brilliant way of life that it's a joy to sit and watch her videos.

Hope you all have a lovely weekend.

Sue xx

Shopping, Birthday Cards ... and Poor Little Mavis

 

First let's get up to date on the shopping.

My 1st March shopping, including chicken and bread to take for Mum and Alan's lunch yesterday and two double packs of tissues as I had none in the house, some more lovely fresh bits to go in the fridge ... and when I saw the cucumbers I just had to get one!!  

Oh, and a bunch of Daffodils each for me and Alan, they are already open and looking lovely.  I HATE the smell of daffodils indoors, but while I still have absolutely no sense of smell it doesn't really matter.  😁

Sainsbury's £20.96

These have just arrived, but as I paid for them yesterday I am classing them as a 1st March purchase as well.  

They are just high protein shakes that I can use on the go, or it seems to also make pancakes or microwave mug cakes out of when I have a day when I am much too low on my protein requirements.

The Fast 800 Shop - £76.96

Sainsbury's £30.20

And unbelievably I was back in Sainsbury's again this morning as Mavis needed chicken and eggs for her soft food diet for the rest of this week.  She had 7 teeth out at the vets yesterday and has a very sore mouth ... poor little girl.  But she is happy and cheerful this morning after a breakfast of scrambled egg.

I also needed my March birthday cards so this added to my bill.  I have started buying the cards for the coming month right at the start of each month so that they are already for posting just before birthdays etc.  I still have to find a nice 18th card for my grandson, there were lots of lovely ones for girls but none for boys ... it's always the way isn't it.

I'm looking forward to next month when there is only my birthday ... and I don't have to buy myself one.  😀

Thanks for all the interest in me doing the Fast 800 diet, I will try and do some blog posts about it, but it's pretty new to me, even though Alan did it a few years ago and I read his books.  I remember trying the Intermittent Fasting part of it and the 5:2 diet and getting on really well, so hopefully it will go okay this time too.

I'll be back next time with more information on what I'm doing, the foods I've been eating up to now, and if I'm feeling brave enough my starting figures ... which are already on a downward curve.

Sue xx

The First BIG Shop ... and Shopping Totals for February

 

Well for the first time this year I had to go shopping for things that I had actually completely run out of, and things that I didn't want to do without.  So I just bit the bullet and when Alan said he was going to Aldi I went with him.

I bought a lot of non-food items, but I did buy some foods specifically to start me off with my new diet plan.  I have decided to do the Fast 800 which I started yesterday, right through to my birthday week to see if I can shift the weight that has crept up on me.  There was quite a bit of interest in the comments on the last post, which surprised me, I wasn't really planning to blog about it, but I am more than happy to if it would help anyone else.   Maybe not everyday, but once or twice a week if that suits.

Anyway this Aldi shopping cost me the grand total of £41.76.

Meaning that in February I spent a total of £233.14 ... wow that soon added up!!

January =  £547.55

February = £233.14

TOTAL  £280.79

Leaving me with just £314.41 from my starting figure for the year.

But I'm quite happy with that, after all it includes two haircuts, a car MOT, all the food shopping that I needed and some sundry items like books, birthday cards etc.  and it averages out at less than £35 a week spent.  This is proving to be very good at focusing me more on my day to day spending so it's been really worth doing.

Now I'm going to spend a little bit more time menu planning for the rest of this week.  I have never been a calorie counter so it seems very laborious, but soon I will have a list of all my favourite foods that I can refer to when I menu plan for future weeks, and that should hopefully speed things up no end.

Sue xx

Early Morning Canal Side Walk, Breakfast Out and More Spending

 

The dogs and Alan were having a long lie in this morning. 

 Ginger had been over to me for his daily early morning treat of Aldi knock off  'Dreamies' and a cat stick, and then he decided to go back to bed at his Dad's.  It was looking to be a good start to the day with the sun peeking out every so often between the puffy greyish clouds, so I decided to go for a walk on my own.

I did what we call the 'reverse loop', along the road up to the canal bridge and then down the ancient stone steps to the tow path.  Without dogs stopping at every bush, post or unusual thing on the verge to either sniff at or wee on, the walk seemed more peaceful and somehow stiller.

This is the first time I have done this walk without at least one of the dogs by my side, and it's strange but I noticed different things for the first time.

The tree stump with the painted pebbles commemorating someone who had died recently, the fact that the tow path seemed clearer and neater than usual.  The sparrows flitting in and out of the hedge, chunnering at me as I passed.  The stillness of the water and the lovely reflections of the trees and bridges.

As I neared home I noticed the tiny narrowboat called My Newt had sold. 

20ft Narrowboat for Sale - Springer Waterbug | in Morecambe, Lancashire | Gumtree

Well I'm assuming that it has sold, there was a notice in its window the other day saying 'For Sale £14k' and a phone number.  I was briefly tempted but fought the temptation admirably.  😉

Just after I got back home Mavis' face appeared at the window and Alan called round to ask if I wanted to go out for breakfast.  Never one to not to look a free Sunday morning breakfast in the mouth, I of course said yes.  And once Alan had taken the dogs for a brisk walk to use up a little of their excess energy we all set off in his car for Daisy Clough garden centre and tearooms, and breakfast.

It was lovely, and very busy as it always is.  People round here can still afford to eat out it would seem.  I left an hour later clutching the sugar I hadn't used, the napkin Alan hadn't used (waste not want not) and a packet of Courgette seeds that I really needed.  

Another £1.90 spent.

Along with the £27.70 I spent yesterday, in readiness for something that I am starting tomorrow.

My spending challenge has really taken a battering this month, and it's time to add up everything that I have spent now that the end of February is looming.

Oh and I did my first BIG shop yesterday, I need to find my camera and download the photo and add that to my running total.  I'll show you what I bought on the next post.

Sue xx

Did Someone Mention Two Tins of Salmon ...

 

As I ended my last post with 'Now what did I do with two tins of salmon mixed with red onion and mayonnaise ...?'  It seems only fair that I quickly show you.

As you saw last time I added a spoonful to the pasta dish that I made whilst I was prepping the salmon, then I made sandwiches to take to Mum's for our lunch.  Two rounds of bread each with just the salmon on it, spread very thinly for Mum as that is the way she likes it and a bit thicker for me and Alan, Mum supplied some lentil crisps to go with the butties.

The next day I made the buns you see in the top photo for our lunch.  

For my tea I decided to use a bit more of the salmon, yes it was getting very fishy!!

A third of my tub of mash, a good helping of the salmon mix and lots of pepper and I had four little fishcakes.  I decided against making any breadcrumbs and instead just dredged them in flour.

A nice simple tea on a bed of iceberg lettuce and drizzled with mayo.

The next night it was a bowl of pasta, this time without any tomato based sauce but with lots of peas.

And then the next day it was a simple lunch of the rest of the mashed potatoes and the last of the salmon mix.  Oh I do love a plate of mashed potatoes with lots of butter.

So, two tins of salmon, a huge dollop of mayonnaise and half a finely diced red onion and I got five different meals.  One of them serving three people, one serving two people and the rest just for me.

What would you have done with two tins of salmon?

Now for a little bit of Weekend Watching.

First Frugal Daddy diving in the dumpster and rescuing food just before the refuse collectors come and take it all to landfill.

https://youtu.be/fL5Ad-IMLaE

How sad would it have been for all those chickens to have lost their lives only for their breast meat to go to landfill.  It's shocking and horrifying in equal measures.  Well rescued Frugal Daddy.

Now step away if you have any sort of cat phobia!!

https://youtu.be/pXezLv_5RaY

This is just hilarious. 😄

Have a great weekend everyone.

Sue xx