So yeah….
So hell…
So how easy it goes on again.
Oh and Happy New Year!
Jumping on the scales at Christmas and having not lived 100% rationing for sometime, it wasn’t really any surprise to find that my scales have jumped WAY UP to 310 lbs or in English (which I’m still trying to adjust to) 22 st 1.5 lbs.
I feel quite the failure…
Why do some of us let it all go to pot? I’m angry with myself…really angry.
On the plus side I guess I’ve been busy, been happy, been going places, been doing things and enjoying a very busy life. I hardly know if I’m coming or going.
Although I now have a full time job, am still financially challenged…rent and commuting costs take up 3/5 ths of my wage and I’m still trying to catch up with rent and bills from trying to live on a small part-time income and then more unemployment before finally the elusive full time job crossed my path late September.
So getting back to a rationing way of eating is once again vitally important to ensure weight loss and spending less.
I’ve started making cheap, nutritious stews again as my main staple on a daily basis and the ingredients for a large plateful with a baked potato costs me about 35 p…
Yes honestly…
I’m not going to include this as a numbered recipe as I already have so many wartime stews in my blog. This one is a mixture of many but in this one I’m using frozen veg from Sainsbury’s just for quickness.
Now I’m working and commuting, sometimes frozen veg comes in handy.
So here’s my quick recipe that makes 3 plates full of stew and currently being a godsend to me, left on the side in a pot to dip into when I’m really hungry.
Ingredients
1/2 bag of Sainsbury’s Frozen Vegetable Stew Pack (62.5p)
1 onion Sainsbury’s basic (10p)
Few teaspoons of Bisto powder (10p)
1 large Sainsbury’s Basics potato (10p)
Tablespoon of dried lentils or pre soaked kidney beans (5p)
Pinch of mixed herbs, salt and pepper (2.5p)
Method
Chop up onion (or leek) and fry in pan (I use a little water instead of fat)
Add 1/2 bag frozen veg and pour over 1 to 1.5 pints or more of boiling water and mix
Bring to boil and add lentils and seasoning and herbs
Make up a Bisto powder thin paste and add to stew and stir.
Simmer for 20 minutes and thicken, adjusting water, thickening and seasoning.
Just add anything to make the flavour more interesting! (I used some spinach past it’s sell by date)
It takes a photo…
Yes. Richard took me to Barcelona for the New Year.
It’s an amazing place let me tell you, beautiful architecture, vibrant and so many things to see. Alas my extra weight gain was noticeable to me. Slow walking, back pain, having to sit down frequently, all self inflicted….it creeps back up on you when you don’t keep an eye on it this weight gain.
I really noticed it on the holiday snaps too. I’ve enclosed one, not happy.
Time to get busy…
C xxx
Ahhhh. That’s the stuff! I got a nice pack of casserole veg from the coop, four helpings, added couple parsnips left over Christmas day (had murky) mad lentils and barley as I am off baked potatoes at present.
Appreciate your wanting to lose weight due to back pain, tiredness etc., but just remember you’re lovely at any size, Carolyn, as I hope you already know. Hugely pleased that things are going so well for you lately after all you’ve been through – you deserve it.
Aw Bless you Carolyn…you’ve been having so much fun of late and it is so lovely to see that cheeky smile of yours from so many different places….you always look lovely but health and pain are good enough reasons to take notice…don’t forget the booze can pile it on too (just saying!!!!)……have a wonderful 2015 with that man of yours xx…
You’re still a sexy mamma!
Thank you for updating the main page! veg and gravy soup is a favourite of mine – I tend to use the crockpot remains after I have removed the slowcooked roast 🙂
PS Weight regain can be truly depressing – have faith and keep on powering through it!
Happy New Year to you: hope this year is kind to you. Forward and Onward, etc.
We’ve all gained weight over the festivities, well most of us! Great to hear from you again with more inspiring and frugal recipes. Back pain can be debilitating, I’m suffering with sciatica at present, so can be a very good reason to keep our weight in check. Good luck with everything you hope to achieve!
All holiday I’ve been telling my partner that we’ll be going back to 1944 this week! It feels quite refreshing, mainly because we ate hardly any fruit or veg over Christmas. I shall definitely be looking to your archives for some new recipes. Good luck with your own diet. If you catch it quickly, the fat can come off just as fast as it went on. I call this kind of weight loss “bounce off”.
Love your blog and as its a new year im trying to start eating healthier i will be digging out some of your fabtastic recipes.
Lovely stew, Carolyn. Haven’t dared the scales yet, I’ve still one more family birthday this week, but I know I need to get back to healthy eating too. Been inspired again, know you can do it too. Happy new year x
Ah, those nasty scales. They’re so truthful and mean just after the Hols. I’ve spent the last little while watching an old children’s favorite, The Famous Five, on you tube.( including a rather irreverent parody, Five go to Rehab, wherein Hagrid wears a dress) Enid Blyton, the books author that the series is based upon, often described foods that the children ate, but made certain that it didn’t leave her readers with too many un-obtainable cravings. I can’t be the only one who reads about something the protagonist is eating and start craving it too! Since the books take place in roughly the same time periods as the war years, the foods are quite recognizable (except for the ice cream).
I’m off to make National loaf to make sandwiches with. Now, where does one obtain “Lashings of Ginger Beer”.
Carolyn, your posts always make my heart happy. We have the same challenges although we are many miles apart
You are not a failure…..just human! Looking forward to your recipes and progress reports in the new year!
PS Are we ever going to see your “alter ego” on youtube again? I quite enjoyed her wonderful sense of humour!