Friday 23 October 2015

Positives and Negatives... BST ends shortly

Welcome to Yart via here.

Nothing too drastic here, so no need to panic.

Positives are getting the whole weeks shopping done (2 stores) and being home by 9:15am. Trying to reduce sugar where possible - not always easy - see here

Not that I am an advocate of some of the things some authors eat instead of sugar such as using huge amounts of Dextrose!

I usually cut sugar when baking by 1/3rd to 1/2 with no noticable effect on the product with regards to taste or texture. As we cook almost everything from scratch very little sugar (or salt) gets added but we always need to read labels on canned or packet products to be sure.

We are now tackling our morning bowl of porridge which has more sugar on it than we want. Recently we have substituted the sugar for desiccated coconut plus 1 teaspoon of jam which is quite a bit less sweet so is taking some time to get used to! Although very slightly more calorific coconut does also have some benefits.

Negatives are hitting and killing a blackbird in the car:(

Also we were £17.50 over for our food and toiletries shopping for the month. Like I said, certainly as far as the shopping goes, nothing too drastic as we have been stocking up on things that need doing every now and then such as toilet rolls, kitchen rolls and the odd thing for Christmas.

Ah well, must do better next month. Don't forget if you are a UK resident, that British Summer Time ends at 2am on Sunday 25th October when clocks go back 1 hour!

Have a lovely weekend everyone.

13 comments:

  1. Well done you...I've been meaning to do some pickled onions but just haven't got around to it. Guess I'll need my skates on if we're to be crunching on them over Christmas. As we're hoping to move I've done a good toilet roll shop hopefully to last us until the end of January...barring some very unpleasant tummy upsets! Ages ago I had the opportunity of buying a very cheap gallon of shampoo (black market obviously!) and sadly it isn't the best for our girlie hair but I've saved some empty shower gel bottles and male members of the household need never know that the lush white shower gel used to be cheap shampoo! You see I am happy to shower with a bar of my home made soap...but the men well one in particular seem rather scared by this notion. I shall be trying out your cut back on baking sugar idea as I've been using our stocks quite rapidly making preserves. I never did hear from the IWM about the finer details of rationing so in some aspects guess. I don't follow the can't use your quota next week if you haven't had it this week as it's just not practible now to buy an ounce of butter or such but hope that over time we shouldn't be far out. It's been good to stretch out the meat, though I'm sure during wartime we wouldn't have been able to buy so many sausages as we have done. And poultry? Now there's a minefield for sure! Jackie.x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, there are limitations with regards to using rations nowadays but it can be done and saves a huge amount. We used to buy the butter and cut it into 1/4's then freeze what itsn't allowed, same with cheese for the most part. Sausages could be plentiful but were awful apparently. Rationing ourselves to 1 each every week was about right. Chicken again is difficult but if you use a whole one and try to get it for the correct amount of money (see the calculator on the rations page) and use that only for the week unless you can get a cheaper one leaving you some extra money for other meat. It took IWM an age to get back to me as well.

      Delete
  2. I try to be careful with the amount of sugar I eat but unfortunately have a sweet tooth. (Damn you Smarties!) I usually have some sultanas on my morning porridge to sweeten it. X

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We used to both have a very sweet tooth regarding sweets but over time have weaned ourselves off them. If we buy anything now it is usually good quality chocolate and have one bar between us, sometimes once a week, usually once or twice a month! We also have a few sultana's on our porridge:)

      Delete
  3. We're a no sugar family too (OH has type 2 diabetes) but oh how I wish I could get my daughter to cut back. She is away boarding all week, and of course, she and her friends toddle off each day to the local shop and buy cakes, sweets and those awful 'energy' drinks - and share them out. At home, she has fruit and healthier options. Hey ho, I remember I was the same at that age ;(

    ReplyDelete
  4. In general I would class us as a low sugar family but wish to get lower. I bake and use sugar rather than alternatives. We just try to cut it down as much as possible.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I gave up all sugar in March of this year. As I cook everything from scratch and don t use any artificial sweeteners, all cakes and biscuits are out. Can t say I have missed sugar or the baked goods although I still make a cake each week for hubby...I have lost two stone though and have been reading how toxic sugar can be.. I have porridge every day and find a teaspoon of dried currants and a tablespoon of flax seeds or chia seeds is great. NEVER thought I could eat porridge without sugar but it have been easy - just eat it very slowly and acquire the new taste ! ( Fruit should nt be counted as sugar, by the way)
    When you are on a low income it is tempting to fill up on baked goods....something I had to watch constantly...

    ReplyDelete
  6. We bake sometimes weekly, other times less often. Depends how we feel, whether we want sweet or savoury. Usually have some form of pudding at the weekend but not always. We weigh ourselves every Sunday, generally keeping reasonably level.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I don't have sugar on my porridge, just fruit and sometimes cinnamon which does have a sweetish flavour.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The trouble we find in adding other things is in the end, it doesn't taste like porridge.

      Delete
  8. I have an extra hour on my night shift to do :0(
    The problem with sugar is that it is addictive. You can end up wanting more. You're quite right when you say you have to get used to using less. I have up sugar at 19 after having it all my childhood life and we were a big tea drinking family. It took a month before I enjoyed the first cup with no sugar.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I constantly try to give up a sugar substitute in my tea but hate drinking it without any.

      Delete
  9. People adding dextrose instead of sugar when cutting out 'the white stuff' should realise that anything ending in an 'ose' is in fact a sugar !!

    It sounds like you are doing really well cutting back on it, it's one of the hardest things to stop eating as it's really addictive, luckily I have lost my sweet tooth and I don't intend looking for it ever again!!

    All the jams I have made recently are really going to last us a long time, I smear them on so thinly and just use a teaspoon full in yoghurts to sweeten them slightly.

    ReplyDelete

I love hearing from you, will read all your comments and try and answer any questions you leave. Please leave comments in English. Don't forget to come back and read my reply! All comments are moderated so if you try to link it to a commercial web site, it will not be published.