Cheap and Cheerful Food

Save money with Every Day Value

I’m a huge fan of these money saving programmes that often frequent the TV listings in the Autumn. Whether or not they are trying to get us to save money in the big run up to Christmas or not I don’t know, but I’m fascinated by the way that brands are always put upon a pedestal by consumers that deem them a higher quality just because the price tag is perceived to be the benchmark for quality.

Let’s take one item on my shopping list.  Digestive Biscuits.

McVities are 89p for 250g and they’re tasty but Tesco’s Everday Value Digestive Biscuits are just 31p for 400g.  Ordinarily you would think that because they are branded, McVities are the best.  Not so.  If you want a biscuit, and only a digestive will do the Everyday Value is perfect. To me, there is  no difference whatsoever.  More biscuit for your pennies – no brainer!

But it didn’t stop there.  We decided to try and save on our own weekly shopping. Generally our shopping is around £65 a week, that includes steak, chops, lots of fish, potatoes, vegetables, salad, chocolate mousses and crisps.   Andy did this week’s shopping and swapped 80% of the branded shop for Everyday Value and we saved £20.

 

Cheap Food and Filling Food

We want to have a sausage casserole in the week, so instead of using Butchers Choice, Low Fat sausages we’ve swapped them for Woodside Farm 8 sausages for just 66p. I know it sounds super cheap and I’m a bit worried that they might be full of rusk and sawdust but we need to save some money and quite frankly if it tastes ok and fills us up, I’m not too concerned. We do try to eat healthily without too many sweet things and carbohydrate laden, but right now we need cheap and filling so they will have to make do.  Grabbed a bag of casserole veg for £1, some potatoes for 89p and a packet of sausage casserole mix we already have from Approved Food which I got for 10p and we have a meal for 2 of us for 2 days done in the slow cooker.  £2.80 (including electricity) for 2 of us, over 2 days so that’s 66p a portion.  Can’t grumble at that, we’re money saving after all.

Money Saving Ideas

Are you interested in ways to save money? What kind would you be interested in?  Cheap healthy food?  Let me know in the comments below and although I’m no Martin Lewis Money Saving Expert, I’ll write a series of articles to see if I can’t help you save some money over the next year to make life easier and more comfortable for you.

Cheap and Cheerful Food

Chocolate Collection Hamper Competition!

It’s about that time when we start getting catalogues through the post full of amazing hampers for Christmas, so what’s better to celebrate the coming season than giving away one of those said hampers.

Fancy winning this Virginia Hayward Chocolate Collection Hamper? Do the usual then…

Win a Chocolate Collection Hamper

Good Luck!

Jacqui

Chocolate Collection Hamper Competition!

Hansells Yoghurt Maker Review

Yoghurt is one of my favourite things. It helps you with weight loss, it’s versatile, it fills you up and you can eat it any time of the day. The best yoghurt is one that you make yourself. My mum used to make our yoghurt in the 80s/90s with a bit of live yoghurt and milk, leaving it on the windowsill in some kind of warm water filled machine that by the morning would give you 6 small pots of natural yoghurt. You would then have to keep a little of that yoghurt to continue making it the next day. Thing is if you ate it all, then you’d have to go out and buy a small pot of live yoghurt to make it all over again. You ended up with pots of yoghurt every single day which if you liked natural yoghurt was a blessing. If you preferred flavoured then it wasn’t so great. If you wanted it sweeter and filled it with sugar it would go from a thick yoghurt to a thin watery one which wasn’t that great after all. That went by the wayside after a few years.

After I got together with Andy, he got the buzz to start cooking and baking. He popped into one of our local health food shops one day when they were doing a demonstration of the Easy Yo. He came out with one kit and 2 packets of their yoghurt mix. Again this lasted quite a few years until the container busted and we had a clear out so it went to the local recycling centre.

So, looking into doing stuff from scratch again (we’re making cheese these days too) I went on the hunt. I was alerted to Hansells.com who are a food group. They have been synonymous in New Zealand for 80 years. Their brands over here in the UK include the Coconut Collaborative, Gu, Tyrrells, the Snack Organisation to name a few so you already know that their products are going to be scrumptious! Ordered their starter kit, anticipating all the lovely yoghurt that I’d be filling my face with over the next month.

I then awaited delivery of the starter kit which thankfully only took a couple of days, and handed it straight to Andy as he’s the chef in our house. I didn’t even know he made the first lot until I was handed a 500g tub with a spoon and was told to try it. He had made me the coconut (they have several from Classic Natural, Thick and Creamy Greek Style & Honey, Unsweetened Greek Style and others) so the one Andy made was the Thick & Creamy Greek Style and Coconut with bits. The coconut bits were on the top, so i mixed those in and then tried it. It was fairly thick and very, very tasty. Andy says that it’s very similar to the Easy Yo kit, but the actual sachets are thicker and tastier (and who doesn’t like thick yoghurt – I know our dog does). So I polished that off within a few days and then we went onto the Thick & Creamy Unsweetened Greek Style.

What you need to do to make it is: Fill the largest container to the line required with enough hot water suitable for whatever kitchen temperature you are at (ambient, cold etc). Then put lukewarm water into the 1kg container about half way. Pour in sachet. Click the lid on. Then shake vigorously for a few seconds until dissolved, then top up with lukewarm water to the 1kg mark (in red). Reseal lid. Then put this into the largest container (now your water bath) and put the lid on. Leave this for 8 hours (preferably overnight). Open up in the morning and you have fresh yoghurt. You should then pop it in the fridge and use at your leisure for up to 2 weeks.

There you go. It’s so easy even I could do it. It’s a brilliant little kit, and is only £14 right now for the containers and 6 sachets (you get loads more than you do with the EasyYo starter kit). Total bargain, and so very simple to make fresh tasty yoghurt. It’s going to be a firm favourite in this house now as I’ve just gone and bought another 6 sachets to use over the next few weeks as I’m going back on my quest to lose 20 stone without having to resort to gastric surgery. Yoghurt is my saviour and now we have this kit we’ll be making it a lot more often to replace puddings and desserts. Blessing in disguise.

Hansells Yoghurt Maker Review

Best Buys In August from Amazon UK

I did an awful lot of Amazon reviewing in August this year and apart from a few things that were utter rubbish, I found a few little gems that I thought you might like to take a look at too incase you were on the look out for a few bits.

First on the list is an amazing PowerBank Charger called the Doxa 3in1. I got approached by the manufacturers about this one. It’s really well made, the sound from it is sensational and it’s an excellent power bank. It’s rare that you’ll find an item that does all three and does them well. They’re £20 (bargain) and really look the part. They’re not black and flat like the majority of power banks that I’ve seen, this one is cylindrical and is super smart, oozing funky!

Read my review here

Here’s the link to buy it for yourself

Second is the Solememo Children’s Headphone. I thought these were fabulous, from the packaging all the way down to the sound quality. Little ears need protecting (especially if you love turning the volume up) and these look after that perfectly. I was just taken aback at just how well made and super cute they were for kids. Blew me away.

My review for it: click here

Link to buy them here

Third was the Suaoki Camping Lantern. This got top marks purely because of the way it goes from a little powerful light, to a really lovely lantern by just pulling up the top part. Super impressed (I know it’s only a light) but it oozed quality even the box looked smart. Very impressed and gives out tonnes of light.

My Review – click here

To buy one, click here

Fourth was the 8K Xtreme Neoprene Chest Harness for the GoPro Action Camera range.

This was superb. Andy normally uses a nylon harness but it’s so damned uncomfortable, when they offered this to me I couldn’t say no. It would help tremendously with Pea’s site and videos that we produce on there. This was really comfortable for him. Didn’t cut him under the arms or over the shoulder. Was fiddly to get on but we’re a pair of dippy doodahs so it was probably us. For the money it was awesome.

My Review

Buy it here

Last thing which I got but thought would be an absolute pile of pants was a fan. Yep, plain old small fan. This was the XY 4” mini fan.

I agreed to review it but had second thoughts as I had another one sent which was a pile of manure. This one though is simply amazing. I never actually thought a little fan could be as powerful as this one. I was so impressed with it that I hunted for another on Aliexpress (it’s normally where they come from) and found one similar for half the price. That came today too and apart from the front, that fan is identical. So now I have 2 AMAZING fans with speeds up to 3 (they’re chargeable too) and I have not yet had to use the 3rd speed as the first 2 are so powerful it’s ridiculous. All that from a tiny 4” fan. It’s stupid!

I don’t have a link to my review as Amazon haven’t published it… but click here for the product link

and here’s the link to the one on AliExpress which is near enough identical (and is much cheaper).

Well that’s what I’ve been up to this last month. Oooh one last thing. If you love cherries but hate having to spit out the pips – try the gadget in Barry Lewis’ My Virgin Kitchen video below (it’s the first gadget). I have one and it works perfectly. Simply perfect.

Need one of those: click here

Jacqui

PS: Article does have affiliate links, but it allows me to buy you amazing prizes for Twitter comps!

Best Buys In August from Amazon UK

VQ Retro Mk II DAB Review

Been doing my favourite thing of all time this last few weeks – sitting out in the sunshine writing and reviewing.  I absolutely adore sitting out in the sun as it tops up my tan as well as gives me that much needed Vitamin D that my body craves.

I always like to play some music when I’m writing too as it helps with the thought process, and normally I’ll fire up Spotify but other times I just want to listen to the radio.  We have a Christie (which I reviewed a while back) which has pride of place in our kitchen but I don’t want to take that one outside because I’ll be moaned at about taking it out of the kitchen.

So by chance, the lovely folks at VQ recently contacted me again, and asked if I’d like to review their Retro Mk II.  I loved their Christie with it’s clean lines, ability to swap the orientation and the quality of sound, that another VQ radio was very welcome!

It arrived very quickly as it does when you order it from the MyVQ website and I was excited to open it and see the colour that I was asked to choose and to test it in the garden the very next day.

It comes boxed and very securely packed. When you open it, first thing you see is the plug. Pull that out, pull the packing out and then together with its dust bag, out comes the radio.  And oh, what an absolute beauty it is.

The reason I like VQ is simple – all of their radios are incredibly stylish.  Roberts Radios are nice, but VQ always go that extra step, giving you a huge selection of colours to mix and match with your surroundings as well as other amazing features to utilise your other items via Bluetooth.

Now on to the radio.  I chose the beautiful Radiant Orchid which is like a creamy lilac colour. The band goes all around the radio and coordinates with the handle.  This hugs the unit which is an off white.  The handles have huge buttons with the VQ logo and are really secure, so there’s no way it would fall off or loosen itself.

To the left is the LCD which features the clock and the station ID.  Opposite that is the control panel.  Mode changes it from DAB to FM, then to iPod and Auxiliary, plus there is a bluetooth mode where you can pair your phone to.  But what I love about this radio is the Apple Lightning Dock at the front.  Just push the little panel with the VQ logo on and out pops a charger for your iPhone, you can then play directly from your phone right there.  Once charged, tilt the phone towards you and pull the phone upwards and off the charger. Ingenious idea that.

Tuning is pretty simple. Just press mode, go to DAB, then it should come up and say Full Scan. Press the middle button on the control panel and it will take you through the full DAB set up.  When I did mine it did find a couple of strange looking stations, but they both turned out to be Radio 5 Live just under a different name.  Depends what area of the country you are in of course, you might get a completely different line up to me.

But that’s not all it features.  It has a dual alarm feature which if you get up at different times than your partner is perfect for you. You can even set it to different times for work during the week or if you are having a lazy weekend in bed.

Sound is clear and crisp, plus the louder you turn it up (you can see how loud it is by the additional squares coloured in on the LCD when you press the buttons) it does not distort.  I played numerous things through it to start with, iPhone, MacBook and each time turned it right up, then down, and all the time it was clear, not tinny or bassy (obviously didn’t turn it right down because quite frankly that’s just stupid).

It’s one of those radios that you want to be seen with.  As soon as I popped a picture up on my FB page, giving a sneaky peak into what was coming, a comment followed shortly from a friend stating how she would “love to have one of those” and I only put up the side picture of the control panel. That’s how iconic VQ’s range have become when they are just noticed by their colours.

Well now you’ve read about it, how about you try to win one?  Our friends at VQ have given you, our readers the chance to win your very own Retro MK II.  Just pop over to the competition page for your chance to win.

Good Luck!

Jacqui

VQ Retro Mk II DAB Review

Bring on the Branston for Summer

I love experimenting with new flavours, so when Branston asked me to incorporate their amazing range of condiments into our cooking, I was thrilled to get back in the kitchen and start jazzing up our lunches and dinners.

Branston has always been a favourite in our household anyway but I was incredibly interested to see the new flavours that have been appearing on the shelves this year. My Dad was always a plain Ploughman’s lunch with Original Branston Pickle type of guy but I think even he would have been won over by the Sweet Chilli Pickle popped on a hot dog, or a slug of Rich and Smoky sauce on the side of his potato wedges.

Over the last couple of weeks we’ve had tacos with beef and lashes of Caramelised Onion Chutney and burgers slathered in tomato relish, but we also wanted to use them as not only additions to our goodies but as an actual ingredient in what we ate.

First up we decided to go for a Smoky BBQ Gammon Steak.

You need:

Gammon Steak

Rich and Smoky Sauce

Grated Cheese

Salt and Pepper

Put oven on 180c (Gas Mark 4) Take one thick cut gammon steak (cut all the fat off). Then spoon over a tablespoon on Branstons Rich and Smoky Sauce. Sprinkle the cheese all over, season with salt and pepper, then pop it in the oven for about 25 mins or until cooked.

That’s all there is to that one. Quick, easy and very tasty!

Sunday Roast is also given a bit of a facelift if you spoon a huge, luscious tablespoon of caramelised onion relish bland Yorkshire Pudding batter! We always use the Yorkshire Pudding Recipe from BBC Good Food which makes 12 huge puds but before you put the batter in to cook, add two heaped tablespoon of Branstons Caramelised Onion Chutney to the batter. You can even add a mini sausage to the batter too once it’s in the tin. If you want to take that further then turn it into a toad in the hole! It certainly peps up the plain and takes it to the next level.

But these are not all you can do with Branstons range. If you check out the website there is a whole host of recipes where you can experience the diversity of the range from Sticky Pork Chops to Cheese, Pickle and Potato Pie. Don’t they sound amazing?

It’s definitely time you Bring out the Branston for your family and ramp up your tastebuds this Summer – we are!

Bring on the Branston for Summer

Summer 2016 Giveaway

Right, when this weather finally breaks and we get a bit of sunshine, we all love a BBQ don’t we.  Don’t have one? Well have a go at our latest competition and see if you can’t win one!

Win a BBQ

Good Luck

Jacqui

Summer 2016 Giveaway

Pawsome Box Review June

Pea was lucky enough this month to be chosen to receive another fabulous Pawsome box. As usual as soon as Pea realises that the box delivered is for him, he jumps up to try and grab it out of our hands so he can gleefully rip the box open with his teeth to gain access to his goodies.

This month (as other months) the box was filled with wonderful items tailored for him so let’s take a quick look and see what’s inside:

A huge bag of Dr Alder Popcorn

GoodBoy Chicken Bites

A lovely lead

A squeaky Bone shaped toy

Some cleansing wipes

a Chew toy

Nom Biscuits

We’re massive fans of anything low fat for the dogs as we try to feed them a decent healthy diet to prevent any problems, so seeing the Dr Alder popcorn was fun. It doesn’t look anything like regular popcorn and looks more like parcel packaging, but as soon as the bag was opened I was rushed by 6 dogs all waiting and drooling to try some. It’s a liver flavour dog snack, and I must say was incredibly pungent, although wasn’t as smelly as when we’ve given them dried tripe (as that made me want to move house each time Andy opened the packet) this was more akin to a strong Bovril fragrance which like it or hate it, definitely overrules tripe scent.

The Chicken Bites always go down a treat, but being slightly higher fat, they will only get 1 a day, so the bag has lasted all week (although Pea picks up things from the floor and gives them to us if he thinks he’s going to get a treat, so you can imagine pretty much everything has been handed over for the hope of getting a little treat in this case).

When Pea or the others go out for a walk we tend to use harnesses but sometimes the harness lead connection is a little small. The lead supplied with Pawsome box this month is perfect! Branded Pet Brands, they’re pretty much available in all good pet stores such as Pets at Home if you want to buy one for your furry friend.

Squeaky toys are a huge thrill for Pea as he just has to destroy the toy to get the little squeaker out, so we have to be very aware when he has anything like this that he will take 20 minutes pulling all the stuffing out of it to get to his prize, then the next few days wandering around with the empty fabric. I think he has a fascination with fabric because when he was little to help his teething we would freeze a tea towel filled with water for him to bite. Hence anything fabric we hand him will be strewn all over the floor within the day.

Cleansing wipes! Anyone that has a Cocker Spaniel will know that they delight in rolling in anything that stinks. Literally anything! Wipes are always at hand in this house for that reason. If he finds a dead bug, he’ll inevitably roll in it so wipes are always used. These ones were Biogance Calendula wipes and smell divine. Pea isn’t to keen on me using them on him though because he’d rather smell rank that sweet, but tough if he’s going to sleep on my bed. Calendula it is.

Overall the box is superb. Pea simply adores receiving these boxes as he gets a chance to try new things (and seeing a puppy try new stuff is pretty funny as the majority of the time he’ll put it on the floor, walk around it, nudge it and then eat it if he’s 100% certain he likes it). If we only had the 1 pup then I’d buy this box on a regular basis, but having 6 little terrors would make it slightly too expensive.

Pawsome Boxes are around £19.90 a month and you can choose which box is appropriate for your sized dog. Great value!

Pawsome Box Review June

June Competition

Win a Tassimo TAS1252GB

June Competition

Deliveroo Fast Food Delivery

Well as we all know there is quite a few fast food delivery places out there now that delivery from your choice of restaurant on the delivery sites website straight to your door. I decided to try out Deliveroo as it says delivery straight to your door normally within 35 minutes for some places.

We decided to order from a burger restaurant at Camden so literally 15mins from my house. Ordering online on delivery was quite straightforward they show you a list of restaurants that deliver to your postcode when you click on the link to the restaurant you want to order from it shows you the menu and any extras etc you want to add you can. it was well set out and pretty easy payment again was simple you can pay using deliveroo vouchers credit/debit card or cash when the food is delivered.

What I liked about delivery is it shows you the progress your food is going through so shows when its processing being made picked up by driver and when the driver has arrived so you know exactly whats happening with your delivery. Unluckily my food was running late it told me 40mins but took an hour to arrive so my food was quite cold but I think it was waiting around for the driver to pick up from the restaurant as from when it was prepared to the driver to pick up it took nearly 20mins. The 1 thing I did like though is that I got a text message to say the driver would be a bit late what other fast food delivery sites don’t do. The driver could of had some manners though as didn’t even get a thank you enjoy your food have a nice evening nothing all I got out of him was Delivery and that’s it. Deliveroo do also charge £2.50 for deliveries though and they might want to think about taking that of as the other main delivery sites don’t charge a delivery fee.

If you do want to try Deliveroo out you can so here and of course do let me know what you think of their deliveries.

Deliveroo Fast Food Delivery

The Perimenopause and Me

At 44 I thought I was doing pretty well. I suffered with depression at a very young age, but got over that in 3 months. I then got depression after my dad died. It didn’t seem to lift, until I went on Seroxat years later, but also around 1999/2000 I bled a lot. It was crippling pain and I was passing blood clots. This did not help the depression at the time but I thought it was all connected so basically battled through it.

For the last few years I’ve woken up in the middle of the night sweating. It’s wasn’t regular sweating either, it would drip off me, my heart racing, my skin clammy, and then I’d freeze. This went on every night for a week, usually a week before my periods started, to which then I could sleep soundly and comfortably. This was starting to irritate me a little, waking up freezing cold but clearly been sweating like the proverbial pig, drenched.

 

And I was coping up until last month. All of a sudden I felt scared, frightened, very, very nervous and jumpy. Black clouds descended around me and I would burst into tears about anything. I’d hide myself away in the bathroom and just cry, and cry, and cry until I felt sick. But the head rush that made me do it didn’t seem to go away.

I battled on with this for a week, then my period started and within 2 days I was happy again. 4 days later I started getting scared again. My legs kept turning to jelly at the thought of doing anything. Anything at all. So I took to google with my symptoms.

Perimenopause stared at me from the search results. OK, I’d heard of menopause because my mum said she started her menopause early at the age of 33, but I’d never heard of perimenopause before, so after doing research it seems it’s exactly what I have the symptoms for. Oh gawd and has it played with my head.

I don’t feel 44 years old. In my head I’m still 20 something. But I’ve got to that stage in life where it’s time for “the change”. It’s put pay to me wanting to have a baby. It has put pay to me feeling young and has bought on feelings and thoughts of death and illness. My stomach flips now even writing this. Why do I feel old at 44? If we wanted to adopt, we still could, or we could get a surrogate so my yearnings to become a mum could still be realised. It’s made me question so much, and I really didn’t want to have to question anything because I was doing quite well without all the worry.

The anxiety that I’ve had has been as bad as when I lost my dad and I can’t seem to shift it. So I’ve tried a few things to try and bring me back out again. Menopace Plus (I really hoped this was the miracle cure to all but it wasn’t). I’m not sure it’s done anything at all. I’ve also tried Fermarelle. This I thought might work too but I only tried it 2 weeks. I’ve had 1 day this week when I’ve felt ok and that I think was a fluke.

So I wrote to my doctor. He’s put me on Prempak C. I did mention to him that mum went through early menopause and was prescribed Premarin. She found it wonderful.. I’m day 4 on Prempak C and I’m not sure it’s working yet. They say to give it a few weeks at least but I feel like I’m drowning in mud and can’t shift my mood. I’m hating it more and more each day to because I want to feel normal again and I don’t.

Prempak C will probably be ok as I used to take Norgestrol as the mini pill back in 1990 and it took my moodiness away (I was getting quite violent without having something, so the Norgestrel took that anger away) I’m hoping that it starts to take the sadness and anxiety away soon because I’m struggling to cope.

What I have noticed about the perimenopause is the amount of time I’m having to spend in the bathroom. It’s like someone’s turned a tap on as I can’t stop weeing, and it’s also driving me nuts. Spots are also a problem. I have spots on my boobs. I never ever suffered teenage acne, so this is not going down well with me at all. I’ve also got what I think is some kind of infection in my finger which comes and goes. This worry though all started when I had a lump under my arm in my armpit. My doctor came out and said it was nothing but it was getting bigger. Freaked me out that I had cancer. Took my sister 2 days to convince me it wasn’t. But I worked myself up so much I’ve made myself ill with worry.

The lump has now gone. I changed my deodorant from Soft and Gentle to Bionsen and within the month – totally gone. I just have such a fear all the time and it’s niggling away at me. Going to try hypnosis next, see if they can trance it out of me.

But I am trying hard. I’m trying not to let it worry me any more than it does already. I’m trying to cope. It’s just no-one tells you it’s going to be this hard, and no one ever tells you that you go through this. Well I’m telling you now. You will. It’s ain’t funny. But I’m going to battle it with every medication going because I’ve had quite enough of it ruining my life.

The Perimenopause and Me

Firefly Halogen Table Top Heater from Primrose

So glad it’s finally getting warmer and I can ditch sitting inside for sitting out in the garden, pimms in hand, music playing doing a little writing, soaking up the rays and vitamin D with abundance, but as much as I love it during the day, I do hate it when the sun finally goes behind the clouds and it starts getting a bit too nippy. I can handle it the majority of the time by throwing a shawl over me and carrying on but it’s always nice to actually have something to keep you warm rather than having to layer up just to enjoy the garden.

We have for the last 7 years had a gas table top heater, or should I say, we had one 7 years ago which ultimately broke the first year and then the replacement which arrived the next year has lasted up until last Summer when the top bent so much that you had to sit in a certain place which was generally behind wherever you sat to get some heat from it. I also hated the fact that it was gas and inevitably I would always be the one nominated to sit by the side of the gas bottle (oh great fun when you’re scared something will happy).

However when Primrose got in touch and offered me a brand new table top heater I squealed. I chose one by Firefly Heaters after what seemed like an age looking at all the specifications (I would have liked the rotating one but with Pea being so nosey he’d end up burning himself since it sat on the floor) so I plumbed for a beautiful Firefly 2.1kw Halogen Bulb Electric Table Top Infrared Heater with Rattan Base. I chose this one because a) it looks very stylish with the rattan base b) It’s electric (so no more gas bottles) and c) the running cost is 12.6p per hour (not bad if you’re in the garden 4 hours a night using the 900w setting).

I knew I didn’t have to wait long for delivery either as generally it’s next day with Primrose so you can get your items delivered and set up over a weekend then enjoy the fruits of your labour. So delivery came Thursday afternoon and by Thursday evening we were sitting by it whilst enjoying the last of the sunshine.

I was actually quite surprised at the workmanship of the item. Our last table top heater was quite flimsy so we were always quite wary of leaving it on the table as one gust of wind and it would be on it’s side. This one though has a really heavy base that you attach to the stainless steel pole and then place the rattan decorative base over which keeps it super sturdy. A gust of wind won’t knock this one over so I feel a lot more secure with it on the table.

Why Should I Choose An Infrared Heater?

• Safe and simple – no concerns with pressurised gas, gas servicing or storing cylinders

• Silent – electric heater is unobtrusive and subtle

• Clean – no smells and aluminium frame is virtually maintenance-free

• Compact – sleek design is compact and easy to store

• Effective – infrared warms instantly, giving a glow of comfort from the moment it’s switched on

• Efficient – unaffected by draughts

• Economical & environmentally friendly – low running costs, calculated at just 12.6p per hour, which is less than one third the cost of gas heating, great when reducing your carbon footprint.

The other thing that sold it to me is the fact that it’s also a source of light. In the evenings we have been using camping lights but they can be a bit bulky on the table but the halogen in the heater is so bright that we can ditch the camping ones and leave them for when we have a power cut (it’s East Anglia we always seem to get them here – oh the joys of living in London when we stopped having them in the 70s).

The halogen bulb should last 5000 hours which is ample – 208 days and 8 hours which at the rate we use it will means it’ll last quite a long time (I can’t be doing with the calculations as I’m peri-menopausal at present and so calculations annoy me as much as American TV shows right now). And when it does run out the replacement bulbs are also available at Primrose so I’ll get them when I need them.

I can’t rave enough about heaters because on the long evenings when it does get a bit chilly but you don’t want to be cooped up inside when everyone else is enjoying themselves, you can at least bring the heater out and continue living the high life outside (plus I hate being indoors as it’s always so depressing when you have nothing to do apart from look at 4 walls).

Bring on the Summer!

Firefly Halogen Table Top Heater from Primrose

A Spring Sprucing for Summer

Spring is generally when I start to pull myself out of the doldrums, my SAD starts lightening up and I look forward to sitting out in the garden soaking up the sunshine, and creating in the fresh sea air. It’s that time of the year when we make our way out into the garden just to clear out the autumn and winter and get it ready for planting, and lounging around.

Out comes the pressure washer and patio cleaner to remove the green algae over the paving, the garden furniture makes a return after being wiped down, and cushions refreshed.

This year instead of small planters to grow herbs and suchlike in, we’ve decided to bite the bullet and buy some Veg Trugs. As I spend quite a lot of time in the back garden in my wheelchair, I like to pop my support gloves and potter around planting a few things, pruning and making things look nice. We have 3 trugs, a mini trug which is big enough to plant Andy’s herbs (coriander, mint, basil) which he’ll use in his cooking throughout the year, and 2 medium wall huggers. The medium ones are what we’re going to use to grow our peas and cucamelons in as growing the cucumbers last year in a regular grobag for me was a nightmare as I couldn’t bend over to prune them and to remove all the male flowers just to encourage the female ones to grow So moving them to a medium wall hugger should be better as I can at least do the groundwork and Andy can pinch out anything I need him to do further up.

We sorted the trugs out this week, we’ve also moved the wall planters which is where we plant a huge amount of strawberries from our local nursery the infamous Ken Muir Ltd. We’ve found that if we buy the ones from a local supermarket the strawberries are tiny and incredibly bitter, so we’re going back to buying our favourites Gariguette, Elsanta and Sonata spread around the baskets which will normally last a good few months, producing bucket loads of huge juicy sweet strawberries, so good that you can pick and eat them straight from the plant.

As a quirky addition to the garden this year we were given a beautiful outdoor clock with LED’s from Primrose. The actual clock we have has been discontinued however they do have a fabulous selection of similar clocks to add something unique to your garden. The one we have lights up at night which is perfect for us when we’re sitting in the garden late at night looking at the stars, relaxing on our loungers and looks equally as gorgeous in the daytime. If our clock was out of stock the one I would buy in a heartbeat would be the Slate Effect Outdoor Garden Clock since it’s stylish and would be a perfect fit with our patio. But there’s tonnes to choose from, just pop on over to Primrose and take a look. Primrose do an amazing range of items on their website and have quite speedy delivery, so are well worth the money. We bought our first gazebo from them so they’ve been a firm favourite since we moved here in 2007.

We also bought a brand new bird station as our last one rusted and fell apart, so a brand new one with 4 new feeders was in order (and surprisingly cheap) to keep our furry flying friends happy.

So what’s next? The only thing that is needed to finish off in the garden to make it Summer ready is varnishing – the tables and chairs we bought 3 years ago are still going strong, albeit a little tatty as they need a refresh, once that’s done, there’s only the barbecue to wash down (it’s a masonry one) so doesn’t need a lot doing and then we’re finished and ready to soak it all up.

What’s your plan of action for your garden? Are you ready for Summer yet?

A Spring Sprucing for Summer

Kitchen Gadget Giveaway for Spring

Some of you have such a love of gadgets that they have their own rooms so how about adding these 2 beauties to your household. A fab doughnut maker and cake pop maker so you can create bite size naughties for yourself or make a quick and easy dessert for your loved ones.

Pop on over to the competition page to enter.

Good Luck!

Kitchen Gadget Giveaway for Spring

Scrambled White Chocolate Easter Egg

With Easter around the corner, the hunt for a pressie for the special one in your life is taking place and as usual chocolate is the one present that can delight both male and female whether they are 9 or 90 and the choice is immense so we try to make it easier on your poor old feet (or fingers if you’re scouting about online) to bring you our favourite egg!

Once again Hotel Chocolat have an amazing array of goodies to tempt and tease this year with their Easter 2016 Collection. Prices range from £5.50 for their delightful Raspberry Chocolate Eggs and City Bunnies to £75 for the Classic Ostrich Egg fit for a King, Queen and several Prince and Princess with it’s enormous 1.1kg of beautiful chocolate! If you receive one of those this year you’ve obviously been a very, very good girl or boy and given the Easter Bunny a big pay rise from the Boss. Lucky you, I’m envious.

We’ve picked one of their lower priced eggs to chomp on priced at £15 and available in 4 delectable varieties: Dark, Milk, White and Caramel, the Scrambled Easter Egg is my chocolate of choice this year, so let’s have a closer look.

I decided to delve into the White Chocolate Scrambled Egg as it’s a little out of the mainstream choice of milk and dark and as much as I love caramel, I’m not keen on caramel chocolate, so white it was. The egg itself is about 5in tall and a good 3mm thick in some places so it’s not easy to just light tap and break, you have to give it a bit of forceful coaxing with a full on whack (although you are probably best doing that in the box to save shattered pieces of chocolate hitting your other half in the stomach… oops) or just take a big ol’ bite from the top.

I have a penchant for white chocolate simply because they’re creamier than regular milk and doesn’t give me a headache as much as dark chocolate tends to, so whenever the option is available, my money is on the white variety.

But what makes this egg extra special in my opinion is the spectacular Pralines that accompany it. Now regularly I’m not a fan of praline as I believe that there are far too many on the market. I love nothing nicer than a box of cremes over pralines and truffles but these have almost changed my mind totally. The sensual crack of the white chocolate as you bite through it to the super smooth praline that explodes on your tastebuds blew my reasoning out of the window. These pralines deserve an award on their own as they are quite simply the gold from the golden egg of the package. I admit it now, I did eat 5 of them and only a little bit of egg as once I tried one I couldn’t give them over to Andy to try another one. Naughty me, but they were oh so nice!

Well worth the money, just for the praline chocolates. I’ve been won over I think. Here’s to my next box…

Scrambled White Chocolate Easter Egg

Competition Time Again

We have 2 amazing Breakfast Sandwich Makers up for grabs this month. Ever wanted a Maccy D type breakfast but just don’t have the time or the money to pop along to your nearest one? Well now you can make your own breakfast sandwiches healthier and quicker than ever before… and we’ll also throw in a copy of “The Breakfast Sandwich Maker Cookbook” from James Heather to boot.

Visit the competition page for more details and good luck!

Jacqui

Competition Time Again

January/February Competition

Not one to disappoint, although it’s a bit late, but fancy winning a Breville Hot Cup?? Thought you would, then do what you usually do and pop on over to the Competition Page for the link to enter.

Good Luck

Jacqui

January/February Competition

Wellness® Dog Food Review

I’m pretty picky with what I feed my dogs as I think that if you give them food that’s not very nutritious then your animals won’t get the best out of it that they would if it was of a decent quality.

Our lot were really lucky this last week as they were asked to test a US dog food which has just started to grace the shelves here in the UK. Whenever they try different food it’s always best to do it slowly. Don’t ever put a dog straight on a different food as you will just be faced with runny bottoms or dodgy tummies. Best way to do this is (click image for larger size):

This is an easy way to transition between different foods so it’s taken us a few days a while to get through the food (rather than give it to all 6, we just chose 2, Pea and Daddy Bo) as we wanted to make sure they didn’t suffer any digestive problems.

Wellness® are a Family Owned Natural Pet Food company. Based in the US, their philosophy is to provide proper nutrition to give a foundation of wellbeing, to give our pets a healthy, happy, long life through the power of natural ingredients. Being a pioneer in holistic nutrition they know the importance of a healthy lifestyle so are more than able to look after the health of our beloved furry friends.

I myself tried hard when our Biscuit (RIP) was initially diagnosed with liver nodules to feed him good quality fresh food that would support his poorly liver while he was recovering from his operation. This in turn lead us to keeping him alive and well for nearly 2 years after diagnosis. If only we had known earlier then we would have done that from the word go. It’s only now that we understand the utter importance of what you put in their bowls. These days we only feed our dogs low salt, no sugar, low fat dog food. So trying Wellness was definitely a yes when we were asked.

We slowly introduced the food to Daddy Bo and Pea. One day they both tried half a tray of Chunky Centers and from us peeling back the foil, their noses were in full sniff mode. Turning it out to cut it in half, it looked like a meat pie. Cutting into it was surprising as I thought it might be hard, but out oozed a delicious looking centre with lush looking gravy. It didn’t smell like dog food either. Sometimes you can open a tin of dog food and you get an overwhelming whiff of boiled beef. This smelt incredibly pleasant. Filled with chicken, chicken liver and spinach, I was over the moon when it was the first thing that Daddy Bo picked out of the bowl (as he’s super fussy) and continued to munch on before his regular Denes. Perhaps it was a fluke though, first day trying something a bit different so we’d wait until the next day when he’d get to try another of the Chunky Centers flavours.

Pea isn’t that fussy. He’s what, a year and a month old now and will basically eat anything and everything (even some of his rope toys too if we don’t keep an eye on him) but we’ve been gradually moving him from puppy food to adult food over the last month anyway, and being smaller portions in the foil trays made this a little easier as he could have half a tray and not even notice the difference. He didn’t hesitate at all. Straight in and gone within a few minutes.

Ideally I would have wanted to try our Shelby on it but she has been living with a bit of a dodgy tummy the last week so we’ve been told just to stick to bland food for now so sadly she had to sit this test out.

Next day Daddy Bo got a handful of the Core Grain Free Dry Formula (Ocean) but I wouldn’t give it to the puppy purely because it’s a high protein food. He already has very smelly urine, so the trainer advised us against high protein food just incase he has a kidney issue which as yet they have not diagnosed but if we’re not sure, we’re not going to chance it. Bo doesn’t have any issues with his kidney so we poured a little bit of water on the triangular kibble sized food so it was a little softer for him but again, he scoffed the lot. Pea was sniffing around the bag so he had 1 or 2 handed to him out of it, but no more.

As we received quite a few of the Chunky Centers and Petite Entrees, they’ve had quite a nice week trying the different flavours. Pea’s favourite though which he had a whole tray of to himself yesterday afternoon was the Chunky Centers Turkey, Duck and Sweet Potato. He couldn’t wait for Andy to get it out of the tray as he was pawing at him to just put it on the floor. It’s lovely when they’re excited to eat something new. Pea wasn’t a big fan of the Petite Entrees though because it was a little wetter and more like a casserole, but what he didn’t eat, Daddy Bo finished so it was team work.

We also have the bag of Simple Salmon and Potato. Again we did want to test this with Shelby as she suffers with her skin and as its ingredients list flaxseed this would have been ideal to keep her scale at bay. However, we are going to keep this and try her on it when her tummy has settled in a few days. Daddy Bo though had a big bowl of these today purely because Salmon is one of his treat foods. Whenever we have smoked salmon in the house Bo will camp out by the fridge until he gets some. Daddy Bo thinks he’s a cat you see. He will wave his tail about just like a cat and creeps around like one so salmon is always a big, big favourite. Result? He scoffed the lot. I don’t think I’ve seen Bo eat all his dinner as speedily as he has on Wellness. It certainly ticks all the boxes with what I think food should be like and what it should contain. So far, so good.

Looking at the complete range Wellness® produce, it’s clear that they’ve thought of everything from puppy food to dogs with allergies or who have limited diets. I’m incredibly impressed and thrilled to have been asked to trial it with our rabble.

But you might be thinking, well I don’t have a dog! No fear. Wellness® also produce a whole range for cats. Cats always seem to get the rough end of the stick as there’s clearly not enough range on the market for them but now cats can get in on the act too. Real meat, fruit and veggies with lots more tastes and textures will give kitty a superb assortment that won’t hurt, or hinder their health.

Things cannot get any better than Wellness®, no, they truly can’t. Welcome to the UK.

If you want to try Wellness® for your little furry friends, then check out the range at Pets at Home.

Jacqui

Wellness® Dog Food Review