Nothing Much Happened.

Sharon - I've been watching the cost of living creeping up on the little things for a while. Good for Jack Monroe, they've taken the issue to the front pages here. I haven't seen the attack robin today, but I haven't really been looking. Making stories about the birds you see is half of the fun, in my opinion.

Bless - I'm not sure if it's a guard robin or an attack robin. It's not a pacifist, whichever way it goes! It has such character for something that is smaller than my phone. It was the zips that went on the old backpack. I don't have your skills, but I may have a go and use it for practice, if I get time.

Cherie - stropwaffles are not eaten in quantity. To be honest, I quite liked them, but of course they have gluten in so all I can do is watch sorrowfully as the men enjoy them, then run off with the tin as a consolation prize.

Eileen - I have no idea what I'm doing with that tin, but it's mine! I'm certainly going to have to be more careful with food shopping. What is hard is that so many people can' t remember what it was like living with inflation. There are different strategies for shopping than if there is stable prices. 

Heather - it is so silly what some teenagers expect these days. They are all about brands and styles. Paying £24.99 was bad enough. It doesn't seem that long ago that I was paying £5 for his book bag for primary school!

I forgot to post yesterday. Not much happened except that I am up to my armpits in writing stuff. I'm going to be cheeky and post a stock photo for things that made me happy.

Image from Unsplash, taken by Glenn Carstens-Peters

It's been sort of nice. We've been hanging out together again, with bear playing on the Xbox, DH reading or practicing his chess on his phone and me grumbling and editing. We've had nice candles on, we've had the fire on if we needed it, and it's been good. 

I've put the heating back onto timer. It should hopefully be better now that DH and bear have reliable room heaters. I also picked up an inexpensive hoodie for DH from Morrisons. I've been known to sit in my dressing gown from there, and lovely and snug it is too. Morrisons clothes don't look good for long, but they aren't a bad price and they last, bobbly bits and all, for a long time. 

Tonight's dinner was veggie sausage, mash, cabbage and gravy. I'm cheating again with the pic, as I forgot to take one earlier.

Image from Tesco

Today we had the herby bangers, as above. At the time of typing they are £1.15 (and it seems like only a month or two ago that they were £1) and we really enjoyed them. DH asked whether they were meat and said that he preferred these.They are vegan, gluten free and quick to cook, although a little high in salt. I had some potatoes from a sack of potatoes from Morrisons that was £2.75 for 7.5kg. The potatoes were fine, and were perfect for mash. As I boiled them, I steamed some frozen cabbage over the pan. The frozen cabbage was good for freshness and lack of waste, but it's an expensive way of buying it. A 750g bag costs £1.50 at Tesco, though a kilo would cost £1.35 at Morrisons at time of typing. A decent sized cabbage would cost under £1 and I would get at least two meals, except it rarely works out that way here. I've never managed a meal plan that didn't get derailed. There always seems to be waste in some way or another. Frozen veggies at least helps with that. It was served with plenty of gravy. We all really, really enjoyed our dinner. It was perfect for us and the men would be happy if I could serve that again soon. I don't suppose it was more than £1 per head. Tomorrow will be a different kettle of fish as I juggle the preferences of bear and DH, the food bear has at school, the need for food after climbing and what is quick to make for DH. 

I need to be better organised. I can't guess how many years I've been saying that, but it's becoming urgent. 

Hugs and good health to all.