I’m sitting here trying to get through a stack of paperwork and panicking like crazy that I’ll not get everything done. I’m striving to get all the big things done to leave a relatively week at the end of June to do lunch with a few friends, say my good-byes and maybe have time to drive to some favourite places with the kids that have meant something to us during the last 9 years here in beautiful Nova Scotia.

I checked my bank account this morning and gulped. I need to

find a job smartish when we return to the UK and I’ll be implementing strict frugality to stretch those pennies further.

My question to you is..

“What is your average weekly grocery bill (UK residents).. and for how many people (not including alcohol, beauty or household cleaning products)

I need to try and work out in my head what living expenses I can expect when we finally touch down in blighty…

Thank you so much and it’s been BRILLIANT reading all the topics being discussed to do with food, WWII rationing and just life in general!!!

C xxx

The weighing scales have broken…

I went to go and get them to have a sneaky weigh-in and the dial just didn’t move. I’ve either wasted away to nothing (yeah right!!!) or the poor, poor scales, after several years of good service, just couldn’t take anymore. I kinda feel guilty that I caused it’s death…

Now I’m undecided what to do. I’m literally weeks away from moving to the UK and frantically trying to keep hold of every penny as my moving and resettlement costs are sky rocketing. I’m reluctant to go buy more scales.

I’m erring on the side of buying the same style of accurate medical scale again once we touch down in blighty and weighing in then… it will be about a month without weigh-ins.

What would you do??

C xxxxx

Despite the stress of everything I still lost 2 lbs this week which brings me down to 243 lbs (7 lbs in 2 weeks). Stress for me manifests itself in over eating (which I have done) but I guess I over ate mostly on stodgier vegetables and extra slices of bread..

I have so much fresh salad in my fridge at the moment that most meals at the moment contain mountains of the green stuff. For lunch today I chopped up a left over baked potato from yesterdays dinner and fried it in a little margarine and added some salt and thyme and served it on a bed of field greens, cucumber and kidney beans..

Tonight’s meal will probably be very similar as I still have a left over baked potato and still lots of salad greens..

I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying their food!

Much love and hugs- C xxxxx

I’ll never quite understand why people take advantage of other people during times of change, stress, sadness etc.. but they do.

Yesterday I returned to my old house to start clearing and cleaning up before handing it over to the new owner to find that someone had entered the house (probably just a few days before) and had rummaged through all our remaining belongings (thankfully it was just mostly boxes of stuff for the skip that we had left behind) and stolen some items including some extending ladders and power tools. Luckily there was no vandalism involved and our family photos were not damaged.

The police were great. They took a report and I made an audio statement and they’ll be visiting the area and making enquiries.

It was obviously people who knew we had just moved which makes me feel sad. There had never been anything like this on our road before so it all seems rather strange.

I have a busy week ahead, we’ll be at our old house most days (a few of us anyway) doing a big clear up and clean. Only 32 days to go until we leave.

I’m feeling overwhelmed, could have done without this horrid invasion of privacy and it makes me even sadder it could possibly be someone we know.

Night night xxxxxx

3 more days until week 2 weigh in and I hope things are progressing as I want- we’ll soon see!

Today I am out to lunch at the Atlantica Hotel & Marina Oak Island so I will be looking for something that is made from ingredients available during wartime rationing to try and stay authentic. LOL!

For supper this evening I hope to make “Bubble and Squeak” but as I will have a very busy afternoon/early evening clearing my old house, it maybe just a case of grabbing a large salad when I return home!

What are you cooking today? Any new recipes?

Are you finding that you are saving money not buying convenience foods?

Have an awesome day!!

C xxxx

Am busy, busy, busy and am stressed..

My list of “to-do’s” is huge and I’m panicking… not least I need to get my old place cleaned up and ready to hand over end of May.

Today my 1940’s rationing menu is basically going to consist of cold salads and kidney beans just for quickness.. maybe I’ll throw on some baked potatoes later too.

Sending warm thoughts to all

C xxxxx

Yesterday, my meal planning was all over the place and in the end I spent most of the day consuming a big bowl of salad I made with bread and never got around to making the “Vegetable and Oatmeal Goulash” as I had hoped. Today is a little cold and rainy so I’ll be making that later this morning for lunch instead..

At the moment I am sitting here sorting out the services to the rental house in the UK. A British friend of mine, “R”, sent me a very long e-mail this morning which was extremely helpful to me and he had done some research on the best deals for electric and broadband etc as well as updating me on things I had forgotten about like the British TV License (I have to admit I wasn’t expecting that to still be around!).

Now I have until June 1st to pay my 6 months rent up front for the property (because I have no job) and I am hoping that my Canadian Visa Debit card from CIBC will work in the UK over the phone!

Plane tickets have been booked and with military precision (but also allowing for some degree of chaos) I have to work out train timings from Gatwick Airport to St Pancreas Station in London to travel to Nottingham so we can arrive at our destination on the afternoon of June 27, sign the rental paperwork for the house and get the keys so we have somewhere to sleep for the night…

In addition, tomorrow I return to Shingle Lake to finish clearing and cleaning the house for handover of the keys at the end of May.. several days work ahead..

Being so busy I really do hope for a decent weight-loss this week.

Looking forward to your food and weight loss updates… C xxx

Breakfast
Porridge

Lunch
Vegetable and Oatmeal Goulash

Dinner
Vegetable pasties served with kale and kidney beans

A decent 5 lbs off this week taking my weight back down again to 245 lbs. I’m more than happy with that seeing as earlier on in the week I did go back for seconds and thirds (which BTW stopped me from raiding the cupboard). The first week or two is always difficult for me in that respect because I stop eating between meals..As the weeks progress, I will adjust my portion size and fill up my plate with more vegetables to ensure a steady, healthy weight loss.

Today I am popping out for the afternoon so I’d like to have something cooked and ready in the pot to be re-heated for when I return. Being prepared, I’ve learned, really helps …

Oh and here is an interesting article about rationing in the Daily Mail a friend sent me.. I’m sharing it also http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2326864/Bread-omelette-fish-rice-The-ingenious-unappetising-recipes-kept-Home-Front-fed-World-War-Two.html

Breakfast
Marmite on toast
Apple

Lunch
Oslo meal

Dinner
Vegetable and oatmeal goulash served with Kale

Today I’ve just nibbled on leftovers… salad, baked potato, veggies, bread and butter..I even had a little dark chocolate too which took up a portion of my monthly sweets allowance.

Tomorrow is weigh-in day and although I’ve eaten a LOT and haven’t exercised/walked as I had intended, am confident the scales will show some loss. We’ll see! Am looking forward to hearing how everyone else has done… it’s been so wonderful reading what everyone has been doing!!

Good luck for tomorrow!!!

C xxx

I have a confession to make.. I caved in and jumped on the scales this morning as I was TRULY & ABSOLUTELY convinced that I may have actually gained weight this week as I’ve eaten a LOT…not the case I’m pleased to report!

Yesterday I had a friend over for lunch and he was the first of many friends I’ll have to say goodbye too with moving to a new continent. It was lovely to catch up but at the same time tough to say goodbye. By far the goodbye’s will be the most painful in the coming weeks…

Today I am doing my final volunteer day down at the “Mahone Bay Civic Marina” as it’s boat crane in day… a job I’ve done twice a year for many, many years as part of being a director of the Mahone Bay Wooden Boat Society. It’s given me an enormous amount of pleasure..

Today’s menu

Breakfast
Porridge

Lunch
Large mixed salad with kidney beans and some bread and butter

Dinner
Lord Woolton Pie (version 2)

Hope EVERYONE has a fantastic day!!!

C xxxx