Friday 20 April 2018

The cost of shopping

Hello. I think summer is here to stay, another nice day. This morning I did a Bailey poodle walk, then I went to see Scruff, Barry's dog, as Barry is out for the day. Scruff had his dinner, then we went for a little walk. He is a very laid back dog, just mooches around, it's just a case of follow him. He didn't want to go far, so I sat out in the sun reading Barry's newspaper, while Scruff laid in the shade next to the hedge. 
After I had my lunch I couldn't decide whether to go to town or not. I have a bill to pay at the bank, and I need some food so Aldi would be convenient. On the other hand the bill could wait till next week and I could do the yellow sticker dash tonight. I thought, yes, that's what I'll do, so I'll get on with some gardening now. 
Then I changed my mind. The garden needs sorting out, these plants have taken over and some of them need digging up and replanting, but I haven't got any compost. Oh bother. Change of plan, I'll go to the bank, go to Aldi, and see if they have any compost. If they haven't got any I will have to go to Home Bargains on the retail park. 
I don't know what these are, or where they came from. I remember scattering a lot of seeds last year, but there was no sign of these then. Anyone any ideas what they are, should I dig them all out, they seems to be taking over and choking everything else up. They are quite pretty but I don't want so many of them. If the bees like them I would rather transplant them in other parts of the garden.


Aldi did have some compost. I thought this was a good buy so I bought four bags. When I checked the receipt they had gone through the till at 99p each. Not sure why, there was no sign to say they were cheaper than the marked price.

If anyone from overseas is interested in the prices we pay, here is a breakdown.
Pack of four cans of pear cider. £1.99
Australian Chardonnay £3.99
1 pint of milk 49p
Tinned spaghetti hoops 14p
Tortelloni 300 gr £1.15
Baked beans 23p
Apple and orange juice 1 ltr carton 55p
Banana milk shake 1 ltr carton 85p
Greek style yogurt 500 grm 68p
Wafer thin chicken 400 grm £1.49
Frozen raspberries, and blue berries, 300 grm £1.29
Six pack of mini pears 79p
Chopped iceberg lettuce 48p
Avocado four pack £1.58
2.5 kg white potatoes £1.15
Farmhouse seeded batch loaf 79p
Packet pasta sauce Macaroni 37p
Broccoli 46p
Salad leaves 47p
Porridge oats 1kg 75p
Cream crackers large pack 40p
6 Large free range eggs 90p
Carrots 500 grm 26p
Cheddar slices 250 grm £1.49
Flavoured cheese 5 slices £1.29
Cauliflower 72p
Bananas 13p each, cheaper than buying a bag

I often buy two or three or more of something if it doesn't have a short date on it. Most of these things I buy on a regular basis. So there you have it. This will last me a week or more.

I'm starting to yawn, so I'll sign off. Have a nice weekend. We'll catch up soon,
Toodle pip.

49 comments:

  1. The little blue flowers are forget-me-nots. They seed themselves in my garden so I suppose they're really weeds but I tend to leave them as they are pretty. They can get a bit out of hand though so can be thinned out so they don't smother everything.

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  2. The flowers are Forget Me Nots, an annual, so they flower, set seed and these will come up next year. They really want thinning out when smaller but you could try moving some but keep them well watered.

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  3. Forget me nots, look fab with tulips coming through.

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  4. I think your plants are forget-me-nots (Myosotis)

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  5. I think your flowers are Forget Me Nots. At least that's what we call them here in Australia.

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  6. I think the blue flower is Forgetmenots.

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  7. They are Forget me Nots Ilona xx

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  8. It's one of the varieties of wild Forget-me-not. The flowers may be very tiny compared to the other varieties and the cultivated type. It spreads like crazy in my garden. You may choose to out it or leave it depending on how you feel.

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  9. Hi iona, they are 'forget me nots' and they spread like mad. They are special to give to people you want to remember, well that's what I always think🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷happy gardening susan

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  10. I always buy the 13p Aldi bananas aswell and Im cheeky enough to always pick the biggest off the back of the bunch,lol.Ive also noticed that the packs of pasta filled with veggy stuff n cheese are quite a bit cheaper in Home Bargains...about 79p I think compared to Aldi,which is £1.19P.It might be worth having a look next time you are in Home Bargains.They are in the dry pasta area.You got a great bargain with your compost!All they have in ours is the 99p,20 litre..or £1.89 for 40 litres,but that is for just the normal compost.I about broke my back,struggling with the 40 litre one,picking it up then slideing it on the bottom rack of the trolley cause I was doing a big shop aswell!Well,I am late on here tonight because Ive been to watch Leicester Riders basketball team,because one of my Grandaughters is in the cheerleaders team there.Had a great night!.Although hot dogs and burgers were £3 50 each...glad Id had my tea before I went,lol.Hope the sun shines again for us all tomorrow and hope that you all have a great weekend!,xx

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  11. Hi Ilona.Just tried to send a long message but not sure if I did it right! If i did this will be duplicated!
    Allison here (I met you at open garden event)
    The flowers are forget me not. They do well around here but not sure if you should get rid if them or not.
    Can I ask, do you ever use Jack Fultons I town I have stocked up with their frozen raspberries. They are a pound at the moment.
    I might see you again this year at the usual events.

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    1. Hi. No other messages from you apart from this one. I think we might have a Jack Fultons, but I can't picture where it is. We have a Heron and that has some good prices.

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    2. We have two Ilona. One near the bus station opposite Wilkos. I always pop in on my way back to the Car Park. I buy frozen raspberries to have with my breakfast, better still when they are a pound.

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  12. Your mystery plant looks like what we call ‘Forget Me Nots’ in Canada.
    I’m envious of your lush, green looking photos, I still have 3 inches of snow on my garden. Ugh.

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    1. But look at the rest of your country-Canada how beautiful-Vancouver Island wow x

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  13. The flowers are forget-me-nots!
    I think your food is cheaper than ours..maybe because you can buy it in smaller amounts....

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  14. The blue flowers are myosotis - aka Forget-me-Nots. Would be delighted if I could grow a patch like yours. Would be lovely as an undergrowth beneath trees and bushes, if you have such spots - or beside your "summer cottage" door?

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    1. Thanks, you've given me an idea as to where I could move some of them to.

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  15. Those are "Forget Me-Nots," the proper name is "Myosotis scorpiodes." Bees do love them. They don't like a lot of sun, at least, not here where I am in the U.S.

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  16. I'm always interested in what you pay for your food where you live. I spent a lot of time whinging that here is Australia we were paying too much, with little or no specials. But now I have learned a lot form my man and we are able to keep the food bill relatively minute, especially compared to how I shopped before I met him.

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  17. I always like to see the prices of goods elsewhere so thanks for sharing your list. Your day today sounds like my weekends quite often, lol. I do like to be organized but sometimes things just don't come together. Have a lovely time gardening.

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  18. Isn't the sweet blue flowering plant 'Forget-me-not'? Well, I think this darling is not easy to forget, as it takes over every space you put it in! It's easy to cut back ( and replant, if you wish, though little need to do so... ).
    Have a (sun)blessed weekend, Ilona.
    Cheers!

    Jeanneke.

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  19. I think your little blue flowers are forget-me-nots. Very english and pretty little flowers. I have to say how much I enjoy reading your blog and about your various hobbies. I live in N:W: Italy so it brings the UK a little nearer. Thanks.

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    1. The name is actually a loan word from the German Vergissmeinnicht.

      In a German legend, God named all the plants when a tiny unnamed one cried out,"Vergissmeinnicht - Forget-me-not, O Lord!" God replied, "That shall be your name."

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  20. Am no expert, but those wee flowers look like anemonies to me - self-seeding. Isn't it great to have the sunshine? Here, tescos have been selling their bedding plants at y/s prices, down to 66p for 6 marigolds, 48p for 6 violas. Worth checking out if you have a store.

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    1. Hi Gillian. I bought some bedding plants once, when I first built the flower beds. The slugs and snails ate them. I won't bother again.

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    2. The same happened to me Ilona,but with hanging baskets.The squirrels sat in them,swinging away and eating all the flowers.It was a few years ago and I had spent alot of money on them,so i said never again.All my plants this year are from cuttings I have taken and havent cost me anything.Plus,Ive still got my kitchen scraps growing,again free!Ive also used some 60s vintage curtains to put over my now a bit shabby garden tables.Theres no chance of them blowing away because the cats like to lay all over them,lol.xx

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    3. What do you mean by growling kitchen scraps? Our kitchen food off cuts, peelings etc go for garden compost. What scrap can you grow other than things like a carrot stump to provide leaves? Possibly chitting potatoes for new ones maybe.

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    4. Hi Jean,I regrow celery from the stump,onions,garlic.When a potato has those little green shoots coming from it,I slice that bit off and plant it in soil and they regrow.This year Ive also used a couple of slices of tomato and planted them.So Im hoping that will grow.I get all these ideas from youtube.Just google How to regrow your Kitchen Scraps.xx

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    5. Thanks for your reply Debi, I thought that was what you meant, it's the kind of thing that young children are taught to do at school sometimes. I remember growing a carrot and pineapple that way as a child. I was just curious what you grew. We have a large garden and already grow most of our own veg, stocking the big freezer to see us through the year. That saves us a lot of money. Have to admit though that that is how I grew my first garlic. Our scraps go back to compost to enrich the soil for the next year. I do hope your comments have inspired others to try it though.

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  21. Hello. These flowers are myosotis (forget-me-not). It is a pretty annual plant and it grows and spreads easily.

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  22. Hi hope youre well.
    So, the flowers are "forget-me-nots". Its a sign!! Those flowers will from now always be a reminder of you. So whenever me and your other readers see them we will think 'Ah! Ilona!!:)

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  23. Looks like they are Forget me Nots then. Thank you all.

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  24. A timely memory jogger! Last year when my mother died, the funeral directors' package included a few packets of forget-me-not seeds and I need to get those sown soon....now can I remember where I put them?? Vicki

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  25. I think the flowers are forget-me-nots Ilona, they spread like wild fire but good for ground cover.
    Briony
    x

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  26. They are definetley Forget me Nots but as I have found out to my cost is that if you let them set seed they will be with you for life.I took my spent flowers over to our allotment and composted them,then spread the compost over the ground on the plots and this year I am having a battle getting rid of them and they have grown into large sized plants,so be careful or else you will be trying to get rid of them for ever more from your garden...Wendy

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  27. Patricia in Canada21 April 2018 at 16:21

    They are Forget-me-not's, and are named that because they keep coming back year after year after year, so you can't "Forget-Me" not.
    Patricia

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  28. Hi Ilona, The flowers are "forget-me-nots". They are a biennial which means they bloom the second year after planting and then die, If you want more, just leave the seed heads on and they will seed in so that you will have some for next year. Otherwise after they bloom you can pull them out and that will be the end of them. I consider them one of my favorite spring flowers along with Lily of the Valley and if you like vintage English china, like I do, you have probably seen them on many patterns.
    Just a side note-- If you ever watched "Keeping up with Appearances" on BBC (we got it in the states too) you might remember "Hyacinth" the main character always bragging about her Royal Doulton china with the hand-painted forget-me-nots. LOL.

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    1. I think you might find that they were "hand painted periwinkles ", unless it's altered for the States.:-)

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    2. Come to think of it, I believe you're right about the "periwinkles", Ilona. I do think they are the same flower though.

      Gail :)

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  29. No Aldi where I live unfortunately.

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  30. It's interesting that they have the same name all over the world, a very old plant perhaps whose name traveled with people emigrating.

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  31. Forget-me-nots, sigh... I really love them but they do not like me. I fail to grow them in my garden. It is a shady/half-sun garden. They should like it in my garden, but no. One of my little frustrations in the garden.
    In most gardens if you have them they are there to stay en spread easily.

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    1. Misty, I am glad you posted, because I haven't had any luck with forget-me-nots, either. I sowed a couple of packets of seed around 100 rose-red tulips. Should have been beautiful. Well, the tulips were gorgeous, but not one forget-me-not came up. So I have forgotten them, LOL.

      When my cousin-by-marriage died after a long battle with cancer, all of the people at the funeral were given a packet of forget-me-not seed. It was Sandee's wish. I haven't forgotten Sandee, but those forget-me-nots were duds, too.

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    2. I tried year after year and in two different gardens. A few years back I gave up. Now my partner told me the neighbours have them in their garden, grrrrr...

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  32. I made my Dad,quite a few years before he died 3 years ago,a pot plant with Forget me Nots in it.My Mam has used the compost from when plants have died in her garden.Today,at my Mams house,we were in the garden and i spotted these plants coming through again,after about 8 years!.Im sure these are the ones I done for my Dad all those years ago,because none have been planted there!Can plants resurface after all that time?,I really hope so,xx

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  33. Oh,I forgot to mention...for the last 15 mins,,after a lovely day...we have thunder storms here in Leic!xx

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  34. I have those growing wild in our little lawn. They get mowed over and keep coming up. I don’t mind, though. They add a splash of color.
    Your prices are cheaper then ours, here in the U.P. Like someone else mentioned, it may be because the size is smaller. It seems that every time I read the package labels, it says it could be manufactured using genetically modified ingredients! This just about pushes me over the edge! I don’t think that is allowed in Europe, is it? I’m ready to pack up and move next door to you where people are sane!

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  35. The prices you paid for your groceries are interesting. I live In Australia and the British pound is worth around $2 Australian, so if I double your costs I get a rough comparison of your prices compared to what I pay. Your prices are a bit cheaper than what I pay. I shop at Aldi or more mainstream supermarkets, depending on prices and specials.

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