What do you fancy eating today.

 Over the years I have been going on about being flexible with my eating, buying cheap, buying whatever there is with a yellow sticker. I never make a shopping list, I decide when I get there what I need or want to buy. I don't look for yellow stickers now because I want my shopping trips to be simple. Go to one supermarket, quickly in and quickly out. No browsing, grab and go. 

I am happy to be able to buy decent food. I am still flexible with what I eat, only two rules, no meat, no fish, and limited pre prepared food. I will try different things to add variety to my diet. 

In the coming months and into next year, there is a chance that our choices will be limited. With the uncertainty of what Brexit brings, and the food shortages across the world due to extreme weather conditions, we have to be prepared more than ever to modify our eating habits. 

Already containers are stacking up at the borders, lorries are in massive queues on both sides, because new permits and paperwork will have to be issued. 

Source :- containerman2, still from his video. 

Link to yoootooob, as it leaves Felixstowe Docks in 2015 

On top of this there is the threat of food shortages through cyber attacks. Ice Age Farmer has predicted that there will be empty shelves because the supply of food will be severely disrupted. The drought in Brazil has pushed up the price of soya bean, steering China to buy up all available stocks. Soya is in almost everything. You can read about this on Ice Age Farmer's web site. Check out his Crop Loss map of the world.

We will all need to re evaluate what we eat, maybe make changes to our eating habits according to what is available. Buy substitutes when our usual products have disappeared from the shelves. 

Now would be a good time to consider growing our own. I did it a few years ago when money was really tight, maybe I should start again, and wage war with those pesky slugs which invade my garden in the spring and summer. 

I don't think there is any need to panic buy, I won't, because I don't panic about anything. What will be will be. As long as I have something to eat, I'll be ok. 

Got to take Billy for a walk. Thanks for popping in. Catch up soon. Toodle pip.   ilona

Saving money on food shopping

What a beautiful sky to wake up to this morning. View from my back garden. Soon went though, replaced by greyness and rain. It's very windy now. 

Yellow sticker fans will be pleased to know I did quite well last night. I arrived just before 7pm. Items had been marked down twice, not cheap enough for me, so I hung around for the third and last markdown which happened just after 8pm. Worth the wait. There wasn't many people in the store so no scramble, plenty for all. When the shoppers had had their pick the assistant came out and started listing what was left, a charity comes and picks it up at 9pm. 

My total shop came to £24, I had other things as well, which are never or very rarely marked down. Baked beans, spaghetti hoops, soya drink, cartons of fruit juice, eggs, milk, yogurt, cheese, quiche, 

A run down of the reductions, mostly 75% off. Rice noodles 31p. Butter scones, 25p. Blueberries 27p. Mushrooms 24p. seeded rolls 16p. Baby sprouts 25p. Broccoli florets 33p. Spring onions 14p. Little Gem lettuce 21p. Tzatziki 30p. Cherries £1. Radishes 16p. Salad leaves 33p. Doughnuts 40p. Potatoes 45p. Chopped veg soup mix 40p. Spinach 18p. Veg selection 38p. That's the fridge full. I gave away two shopping bags to surprised people who accepted them with a smile. 

I see we are getting another Aldi, right next door to Tesco. That will hot the competition up and may see prices dropping . It's going to be massive as they have taken over the old Toys R Us store which went bust. I hope they are not closing the smaller store, as it's in a convenient place when I have to go to town. 

Looking like the wet and windy weather is set for the day. I'll pop to the mobile library after lunch and say hello to Stan. Good news this morning, my car passed the MOT test. I had found another car which I was considering, in case it failed, but it didn't so I will keep it. The garage man said the same as the RAC man. it's a good car, keep it. Mind you I did rather like the look of the other car, a later model of the Focus, just the spec I want, petrol, manual gear change, low mileage. Oh well, I'll have to let that one go and hope I find a similar one in a years time. I am a Ford girl through and through.

Cheerio for now. ilona

Gut instincts.

Hello, I am bizzzeeeeee, so a short and sweet one. This was included in my last yellow sticker shop. I quite like it, I've had it before, but only on a YS. It is normally priced at £1.50, with 50% off it's worth having at 75p. Ingredients, mung bean sprouts, lentil crimson sprouts, aduki bean sprouts, and chickpea sprouts. It took me five days to eat it, a portion added to every meal.

I don't normally like anything that is going to take ages to break down in my mouth, but my teeth coped with this. I eat very slowly anyway. Slightly crunchy, and tasty.

I am making more dangly decs which are now called mini lanterns. Every one is different, will stop when I get fed up and move on to something else. Also waiting to be done are more shopping bags, small fabric gift bags, and some dog duvets. I'd better get on then.
Toodle pip.  ilona

A pan of stew goes a long way.

I was planning on doing a yellow sticker shop last night, not much left in the fridge. Then I made a delicious curry-ish stew out of bits of this and bits of that, whatever I had left. 

I found a large courgette on my doorstep, don't know who left that for me but it came in very useful. Also I was given some apples, they went in this hotpot as well. I had one carrot left, five mushrooms, and a few spinach leaves. Some sliced potatoes, a bit of broccoli, and a handful of frozen broad beans, and some Quorn mince. It was bloomin lovely.

So I didn't bother to go to Tesco last night, this will keep me going another couple of days.

I wondered if I should maybe go tonight. I've eaten two portions of this today, and there's still some left for lunch tomorrow.

I took Heidi to the vet this afternoon for her medication review. She is fine and I came away with another 60 tablets, some flea treatment, (she hasn't got fleas), and £44 lighter.

As I was passing Aldi I thought she wouldn't mind if I popped in on the way home. She is very good in her cat carrier, doesn't mind at all. I spent £9.63 on a few essentials because I had run out of bananas, eggs, cheese, Mayze's chicken, and yogurt. They have an offer on at the moment, a bag of five bananas for 45p. I rooted through them and picked the bag with the biggest bananas in it. I normally buy them singly for 13p each as this is cheaper than the normal price of a bag.

So I didn't go to Tesco tonight either, because my few essentials will keep me going over the weekend. I'm running low on cat food though so I'll have to go to town tomorrow and trawl the discount stores.
Toodle pip.  ilona

Nothing wasted.

 I knew I was going to have difficulty extracting all the sauce from this plastic bottle, but I bought it anyway because it was cheap from the Cash and Carry, and I like garlic sauce. The idea is to stand the bottle on it's head in the fridge so the contents run to the top, which is now the bottom.

When it is time to use it, hover the bottle over the food, and squeeze until the desired amount has landed. All well and good with the first few squirts, but as the contents shrink and a mere squiggle the size of a little finger drops onto the food, followed by a puff of fresh air, a hefty bash on the worktop is needed to get things moving in the right direction.

The next stage is to give up after six bashes on the worktop only produce a lot of air and no sauce. But there's still some left in there. I got a big pair of scissors which are generally used to open awkward packaging, and cut the bottle in half.

See, lots left, plenty to scoop out with a knife or spoon if you want to. I prefer to get a piece of food on my fork and wipe that around the inside then pop it straight in my mouth. 

Isn't it all too much hassle. Why can't they put all sauces in a glass jar with a wide neck so you can  use a spoon to get the last bit out. Now I've had to wash this out and put it in the plastic re cycling bin.

There are so many products like this where the container is a funny shape making it difficult to scoop out the last dregs. Loads of food must get thrown away because people can't be bothered to faff around. I only get this type of product maybe two or three times a year, as a treat, because I prefer not to smother my food with sauce.

What other daft containers have you found where it's difficult to get the contents out?
Toodle pip.  ilona

Scrummy breakfast

Today must eat strawberries. Nuts and seeds and cereals, topped with big luscious British strawberries from Staffordshire. So so sweet. Second portion later.

ilona.

Looking for bargains in Hull.

I've had a very nice day out today. After breakfast, and a bit of weaving, I loaded the car up with a pile of stuff for the Scrapstore. They were very pleased with it. Tracey was getting another room ready for a big sale they are having on Saturday. I managed to stop myself from buying anything there. The Scrapstore was busy with customers and it was too much hassle to squeeze past them. 

Afterwards I went to have a look round Hobbycraft. It's on a retail park in Hull with several other shops. No need to rush back so I had a browse. I bought some balls of green wool. For some reason I seem to use green more than any other colour.  

There is a new store opened, The Food Warehouse, worth a look I thought, just in case there were any food reductions. Lucky me, I found yellow stickers. They were hand written, 50% off. I added it up to £4.50 but when I went through the till they said £4.65. I paid, then checked the receipt before I left the store. Sure enough, he had misread two prices, so I asked for a 15p refund. Well it's the principle. The Food Warehouse is part of the Iceland group. 

I wanted a few things from Home Bargains, cat food of course, they had some Sheba offers. I now have to get Sheba for Oscar, he has gone off Felix and Whiskas. I got some wash-up brushes and scourers, and a few other bits and bobs.

I had a look round Sue Ryder charity shop, they had a sale, all skirts and trousers now £1. Couldn't find anything I fancied though. It was quite a big shop and a good place to look for anyone wanting to set up home. Some nice second hand furniture at reasonable prices.

Time to do my walk. I'll go now while it's still sunny. Toodle pip.  ilona

In a pickle

I bought a jar of pickled onions last year from the Cash and Carry, a big jar for only 60p. It was out of date when I bought it. I like pickled onions but probably didn't need to buy a jar that big, the price made it very tempting.

You can just about make out the date on the lid, Feb 2018. I had to stab it with a pointy knife to release the pressure before I could open it.

I don't have any fresh onions in so tonight I used half of the jar in this veg curry. I cut each one in half, added some frozen veg, Quorn mince, and a fresh courgette and half a fresh carrot. The pasta was bought on a yellow sticker. I have three portions of this left, won't freeze it but keep it in the fridge and that's my dinner for the next three nights. Or I might have it for lunch.

So if you are cooking and need onions, and haven't any, use the pickled variety instead.

The disappearing blog post. Yes I will delete them, as and when I see fit to do so.
ilona

For sale....all kinds of stuff.

I've spent the day mostly indoors because it's raining, with a brief spell outside when it stopped raining to fill up the garden wheelie bin which will be emptied tomorrow. I have that much debris from clipping the hedges and mowing the lawn that I filled my neighbours bin up as well. 

This is a lunch that I made the other day from some of the Marks yellow stickers. There's cheese, beetroot, mushrooms, egg, and cucumber on a wrap spread with houmous. It was bloomin lovely and so filling. 

I'm slowly getting through sorting the stuff out for the Summer Fair at the weekend. We have some nice things to sell for the cat rescue, and all will be cheap. I need to get rid of this clutter and get my house back.  Tee light holders and glass paperweights.

 Nice selection of glass animals and birds.

Pet beds for cats and small dogs. Would also make seat covers to keep sofa and chairs clean.

Shopping bags, of course, ha ha. I haven't made as many this time because we have lots of other things to sell. 

Two table lamps. Very pretty.

Bunches of flowers. I hope all these sell at 50p each. If I have any left I shall be putting them on the old gravestones in the churchyard.

There's toys, kitchen stuff, soft cuddly toys, bags, planters, flower baskets, and a zillion DVD's. We have four tables placed end to end, maybe five if Sue and Janet bring another one. They are doing a tombola as well which the kids like. I think the weather will be fine, the forecast is dry and warm.

I've been getting on with sewing this afternoon, while watching yooootoooob videos. It's amazing what you find. Programmes about internet crime and scams. It certainly is an eye opener when you see how determined they are to rob people, and how gullible vulnerable people are.

Did you know that there is a thriving market in fake reviews. People make a lot of money by lying through their teeth about how good a product or service is. Large companies pay a lot of money for them and give them scripts to work from. Basically it's a freelance acting job. One woman had a dozen or more different personas. She claimed she was an expert in this and that, even wearing a doctors coat to endorse some slimming pills. I never trust reviews of any kind, in fact I don't even read them. And I like to think I will never get scammed, I don't believe anyone.

That's all, it's time for dinner. Toodle pip. ilona

Meet Erika, another yellow sticker shopper.

I'm so excited, I just found this video on yooootoooob. Erika has given me a mention in her Yellow Sticker video. Wow, how good is that. All my talk of saving money by shopping late has worked, Erika has saved a lot of money. Now, could everyone do me a favour, click on the 'watch on youtube' symbol and when it has finished please leave Erika a comment on her channel. Let's surprise her with lots of comments.



Thank you. Toodle pip.  ilona

Five a day, nah, more like ten a day.

I've eaten well today. Started with porridge and soft fruit, frozen cherries, blueberries, and raspberries, and a banana. 

Lunch was two slices of seeded bread, toasted and spread with butter, and cream cheese with garlic. On top an avocado and cucumber, underneath iceberg lettuce. It was fabulous.

Dinner tonight was, steamed vegetables, potatoes, cauliflower, broccoli, onions, Brussels sprouts, and spinach. Served with a cheese and onion crispy bake, from Aldi. With a dollop of mayo. It was chuffin great.

Ooops, I made too much veg, there's some left for tomorrows lunch. This is why I don't eat out, can't get meals like this at a reasonable price. You can't beat food from your own kitchen. Toodle pip.  ilona

Life is good

I did my walk as the sun was going down last night. Luckily I put my camera in my pocket. Caught some stunning views.  

I zoomed in on this one so it's a bit grainy.

Just as I thought the sun had disappeared over the horizon, I turned round and saw this. I always walk away too soon, thinking it's gone.

Breakfast this morning. The last portion of macaroni cheese, with butter beans, green beans, peas, and an egg on top. On a slice of seeded bread. I get the macaroni cheese from Aldi, about 39p a packet, then bulk it out with frozen veg and a tin of butter beans, all cooked in the same pan. There is enough for four portions.

I've been mulling over the idea of doing a series of videos looking back at my lorry driving career. As I am approaching my 70th birthday it seems an appropriate time to do it. Get it all down on record. I don't want to write a book, so videos will be the easier option I think. It will take me a few weeks to prepare this. I want to release the videos consecutively, so the story will unfold over a period of a week or more, possibly around the middle of next month.

They will take the form of a chatty style video, with some pictures, and maybe a slide show. Don't expect them to be polished and perfect, as I am not familiar with editing packages. I project for me to work on, alongside all the other projects I have got floating around in my head, ha ha.

The sun is back, thankfully it rained yesterday so the garden got a good drenching. I am going to an embroidery class tonight, need to do my walk, and some arty stuff this afternoon. Toodle pip.  ilona

A big breakfast.

I shall be eating mushrooms for breakfast, lunch, and dinner today. Must use them all up. Good job I like them. Breakfast this morning was one large flat stuffed mushroom, cut up and put in a pan with three of the smaller mushrooms. Splash of oil. A spoon of that green stuff , some of the pasta and tomato salad, and a slosh of pineapple juice. All cooked up and served on four small pieces of the baton bread. Looks horrible but tastes lovely.

I have two boxes in my kitchen cupboard where I store all my re usable plastic bags. All kinds in there, most sizes. Very useful to be able to rummage and find one which suits the purpose of what I want to wrap.

It's Easter Sunday, sunny again, so I will be outside. Enjoy your holidays. Toodle pip.  ilona

The Queen speaks.

No time to write some words, talk to the camera and let yooootoooob do the rest. Beautiful day to be outside.



ilona

Using my freezer wisely.

How to get seven portions of chopped onions for 20p. First, buy two bags of yellow sticker onions, 10p each. Then divide them between plastic pots, any pots that you have, and put them in the freezer. This is how I save money. By buying going out of date food, and freezing it.

Head for your reduced cabinets in your supermarket, see what you can find, buy it even though you are not going to eat it immediately, and freeze it for the future. ilona

Summer is here

It's been a lovely warm and sunny day today, and I have been out in the garden. My tool boxes are now tidy, and I've made a start on the garden. 

This is my lunch which I ate outside. 

And here is a little video.



Summer has begun.  ilona

My early birthday present.

Mission accomplished. I've been to Lincoln and bought a sewing machine from Couling Sewing Machines, situated in the High Street, there is parking outside the door. A nice young lady served me, she was very helpful, and demonstrated my chosen model. It's a smallish shop but they have a large selection of most makes of machines in stock. They also have a Facebook page. 

And this is the young lady who served me today.



I got a bit lost coming out of Lincoln. I was going to go back on the same road that I came in on, because there's a Tesco and I thought I might as well get some food shopping done. Never mind, I hit the ring road at a different junction and missed Tesco, so I carried on back to Scunthorpe. I pass my usual store anyway so I might as well pop in there.

It was 4.30pm, too early for the final markdown of the yellow stickers so I didn't expect much, I had a look in the veg department to see what there was. I was amazed, there were tons of food, they must have over stocked by such a lot, and although it only had two stickers on, not three, they had knocked 90% off.
I was in heaven. Plenty for everyone. This pile cost £5.04p, and even then, I got a further reduction of 38p, because there was a, buy 3 and pay for 2, offer. 

Prepared fruit, mushrooms, salad leaves, mixed veg, vegetable bake, baby potatoes, baby sweetcorn, broccoli, diced onion, spinach, Italian pasta salad, fine green beans, salad bowl. This will keep me going, some will be frozen, some will be given away. I hit the jackpot.  ilona

Super Scrimping is my game.

And the money saving continues. The Cash and Carry is conveniently placed in a little industrial unit, on the way to town. When I am passing and have ten minutes to spare, it's worth stopping for a look to see what they have in. Sometimes I am lucky, other times I am not. They buy up stock from the large supermarkets, usually when it is about to go out of date, or if they have over stocked and want to move it on. 

I like these Cheerios, not as a breakfast cereal, but as an evening snack when I feel a bit peckish. The normal price for these in Tesco is £3.30. They are on offer until the 27th of January for £1.65. I paid just 60p each. 

Cheddars are normally £1.29 at Tesco, on offer at 90p until the 27th of January. I paid just 25p per packet, 4 for £1.

 Amoy medium noodles. At Tesco, £1.80 for a bag of two packets. Not on offer at the moment. I paid £1 for three bags. So, 33p a bag, two packets in each, which I will get four portions out of. Add some veg and a super cheap meal.

I buy my food from lots of different places. Haven't been to Tesco for a while, I will pick up in Aldi if I am in town, as it's in a convenient location. Always on the look out for reductions, in virtually every shop I go into. Even the £1 shops sell things at 50p. Meanqueen is the name, Super Scrimping is my game  :o)   ilona

100% Success.

Good morning. Hoooooray, success. Six real comments came in from six real readers, and NO SPAM. Much better than yesterday morning when I had nearly 200 to contend with. I'm sorry to put the extra burden on you to click on the verification thingy, but it will have to stay because it has taken away a whole load of hassle for me. Thanks for sticking with it. 

I wish I could send you the perfume from these gorgeous flowers. They were given to me for Christmas and they are filling the house with a divine smell. Help yourself to a sniff, have you got any hyacinths?  

I picked up a bottle of this last week, at Morrisons. A good reduction I thought, was £2.50, now 63p. I have tried the Alpro range before, yogurts and milk, and have not been overly impressed by them. Very bland, no taste. This is no different. Compared to another brand of Almond milk I bought once from the Cash and Carry at a knock down price, which was very palatable. This Alpro is like water. I could have just put my bowl of cereal, nuts and seeds, under the tap. Won't bother again, even with a yellow sticker on it.

Someone was asking about how much I pay for broadband, sorry, can't remember who. Sometimes I put things to one side then remember them much later. So, I pay about £36 - £39 a month to EE Broadband. That covers unlimited, I am often connected all day, and includes my landline. Calls included are after 7pm and all day Sat/Sun.

There are probably other companies with a cheaper tariff, but I prefer to stick with what I have, with no disruptions. For comparison, and to help the reader make a better choice, what does everyone else pay, what does it include, and who are you with. 

Thanks for your help.   ilona

No yellow stickers in sight

It's cheap veg time again, even without the yellow stickers. It's the time of year when the supermarkets are trying to get you through their doors in the hope that you go potty and spend spend spend. Tesco have these veggies for 29p each. There's carrots and potatoes as well, but I didn't need those. Loss leaders are what they are called. Other supermarkets are doing something similar so have a look where you shop. 

I reckoned it was about time I treated myself to a new mug. After all, I have been using the one on the right for twenty nine and a half years, it's time for a new one.

Trust Heidi to get in on the act.

I like a big mug of coffee in the mornings.

I spent £40 in Tesco today and used an £8 off voucher.   ilona