Christmas is for Everyone

I have heard it often, ''Oh, we don't bother with that now, Christmas is just for children.''
Ever heard that? I am sure you have. I was reminded again as I read aloud our book for the Advent.
If we believe Christmas is just for children, then we have lost the whole idea of Christmas. Yes, we can argue Christmas has been commercialised, but I refute that. I claim Christmas back, back to what it is meant to be. What does Christmas mean to us?

THANKFULNESS
Being thankful for God's precious gift, the gift of his son Jesus. John 3:16 ''For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish, but hath everlasting life.''

JOY
Being joyful that he has redeemed us, in such a dark season, we are reminded that He is light, and there is no darkness in him. I have some scented candles, they make me think of the light in Christ, and the fact that he is everything good, and holy. A sweet aroma.

REPENTANCE
Salvation cannot come without repentance. The end of the year brings reflection, and time to evaluate things, maybe asking ourselves have we been walking in the Spirit. What areas of weakness do we have, what about our children?

GIVING
Christmas is about giving, not receiving, the joy is in giving. It isn't about expensive presents, consumerism, worldly expectation.
We like to keep it simple, just a few gifts, a main gift each. We keep the meal simple, just a turkey roast dinner. A relaxed, but happy day. A family day. A day for strengthening bonds. There are so many who are poor in this life, but with salvation in Christ you are never poor.

Saving Money on Groceries-Continued

When I wrote the last post, I included the basic framework for money saving. If, however, you wish to take it a step further, you may want to consider these options:
1) Check out your local markets.
If you live in a place where there is a lot of farming, then this is usually a good option. Look out for in season fruit and veg, and check out local box schemes. If you end up with excess veg, you can just put it into a pizza, bolognaise, or soup.


2) Check out farmers' places for your eggs, and potatoes.
We can get a 25kg sack for £7, and if we buy 5 we save more. Potatoes will keep for a few months in cold conditions. In summer, I buy less in bulk.


3) Check out places like Approvedfood. They deliver, and you can also pick up, if you are near Sheffield. They offer food past its best before date, but which is still safe to eat. (I have also found discounted stuff past its sell by date in out of the way cheap stores. Keep your eyes open!)


4) Grow your own.
Even if you don't have loads of space, you can still grow herbs, and salads in pots. Even through winter on south facing window sill.


5) Check out the supermarkets' reduced aisle.
Often this is good an hour, or two before the shop closes. So, generally at the end of the day.

6) Do a menu plan. Make sure you have a variety, I have 3 red meat meals, and at least one veggy meal a week. I can change this to fit offers, and such, but it means I know how much I need to buy!

How I save over £3000 on Food each Year

If you have a large family, you will especially notice how the food bill can so easily tot up, and get out of control. Here, is how I manage to save each week....
1) I tend to do a bulk of my grocery shopping online, as we live a long way from any supermarkets. I save on delivery slots by opting for the cheapest slots, and working around that. Waitrose offers free delivery, a free newspaper, and magazine. Asda, Morrisons, and Tesco offer £1 slots.


So, firstly, I always log onto mysupermarket.co.uk. Reason being, as it compares prices across all the shops, including Aldi. Also, there is often good cash back on items, and sometimes they can be free. They pay the money within a couple of weeks straight into paypal. Very handy if they are things you buy.

2) I register with every possible online grocery store there is. I find then, that they often send money off offers, especially if I haven't shopped for a while. Two current offers are with Waitrose, and Morrisons. Spend 2 £100 shops with Waitrose online before 10th Nov with my Waitrose card, and they will send a £20 voucher in end of November. Morrisons spend £40 a week for the next 6 weeks to get £25 off your Christmas shop. Not to be sniffed at, they now price match Lidl, and I already have earned my first voucher to use online.

3) Bulk buy stuff you use when it is on offer. A current example of this, is the porridge half price offers, which some of us like to have for breakfast. There are a lot of things we like to eat, but I wait to buy on an offer, and then fill the freezer accordingly.

4) When I do get time to shop at a store I go to Lidl, or Aldi. Watch out for £5 coupons in the Saturday Daily Telegraph. I have found a couple of late, which have been very useful. I top up at Lidl and Aldi with free range chicken, ground coffee, croissants, nuts, and chocolate. Great quality, at not to be missed prices.

5) Quality, that is one thing I don't like to compromise on, especially when it comes to meat. Check out beef offers, for joints at Christmas, and Easter each year. It goes for half price in most stores, meaning I can stock the freezer. Very expensive otherwise, especially for a family of 12.

6) If you are registering for the first time with a grocery shop, check out topcashback, or quidco first, as there is always cashback for new customers. I got £11 back off my first Morrisons shop.

If you have another idea, or something you have found helpful, leave it in the comments.

Healthy eating

I am always learning new things about health and nutrition. It has been a bit of a passion of mine for many years now. I believe that God created different foods, and plants for our healing, and nutrition. If we make good choices, then we can help ourselves by having less health problems, and illnesses etc.

After having being disappointed by The Trim Healthy Mama diet, I decided to do more research on losing weight (I have actually lost 2 stone since then).

I have also since discovered I can tolerate small amounts of xylitol. You can purchase this as ''total sweet'' at Holland and Barrat, and Waitrose. This isn't zero calories, but is half the amount of normal sugar. Beware though, as this is highly toxic to dogs.

I have also decided to try to concentrate on eating more lower GI foods. Gi, is the glycaemic index which has been given to foods, based on how the blood glucose level rises after eating certain foods. Porridge, for example gives a steady response, and is low GI, and Cheerios gives a quick burst, which then slumps,giving it a high GI. Protein lowers the GI content, so it is important to choose protein at every meal, and probably why I lose more weight when I snack on nuts!

Now, it is impossible to cut out all sugar from the diet, because even vegetables. However, I have tried to cut it right down, by not choosing grapes, eating only just ripe bananas, etc. I gave up sugar in tea and coffee a couple of years ago, and that has cut a dramatic amount of sugar from the diet. Think 4g is 1 teaspoon, and I was having 3 coffees, with 2 sugars in each, and 3 teas with 1 sugar. That is 36g of sugar, less, and in ten days is equal to more than a third of a small packet of sugar!

I have a grave concern with how diets such as THM use an awful lot of high fat foods, such as double cream, cheese, etc, and also fatty meats like pork, etc, which also contains nitrates. I believe moderation is the key with everything, even vegetables! We all know the effects of eating too much fruit, and veg.

So, what am I eating, and what am I doing?
Well, I bake a lot of my own, which means I control the amount of sugar, etc, and use good ingredients.
Here is a typical list of what I eat during a typical day:
Breakfast: a small bowl of porridge with wholemilk, and a sprinkling of xylitol.
Lunch: 2 slices of wholemeal toast, with butter, and baked beans.
Dinner: Roast free range chicken, roast sweet potato, and half a small roast normal potato with 3 different veg, and gravy.
Pudding might be some yoghurt, or some home made cake.
snacks include nuts, a piece of fruit, veg, and a hot chocolate made with almond milk, and a teaspoon xylitol.
Occasionally I allow myself a 15g pack of crisps, but usually only once a week.

So major keys to weight loss?
1) Cut down the refined sugars
2) Eat less carbs (you don't need as much bread and potatoes, as you think you do)
3) Exercise. (Very important, as you can be slim, but unfit)
4) Eat saturated fats in moderation, and ditch meats like pork. Free range chicken is much healthier.
I find by not denying myself a pudding, I am less likely to feel deprived. My pudding usually contains no more than 30g sugar, and that is less than what I was having in hot drinks!
This week I shall be experimenting with a healthier muffin in a mug recipe. Watch this space! When I have tweaked it, I will post it.

Natural Toilet Cleaning

I have been using vinegar to clean windows, and generally around the house, but never thought of using it to clean the toilet. That was until a local man said it was the ONLY thing to rid the toilet of the dreaded limescale rings.
Believe me, I had tried everything on the market, but none delivered. All I got was a nasty cocktail of chemicals, which will eventually damage the environment.
So, the first thing is to purchase lots of white, distilled vinegar. They sell it quite cheaply at Asda and Tesco, at around 50p for 500ml.
First put some in a spray bottle, this is to squirt around the rim. Squirt some on the toilet brush too, leave for 30 mins, then scrub. It will start to loosen off, but may take a few applications to come off completely. Do this weekly, at least.
Next, you need to empty the toilet bowl of as much water as possible, and this can be done by plunging the toilet brush up and down. If it is very bad, then you will need about 2 cups of vinegar. Pour it in, and then leave for at least an hour. If possible, overnight is best. Then scrub.
Vinegar is a natural anibacterial product, so it will kill germs dead. Forget the dettol, which costs 5 times as much, and is full of cancer causing chemicals. Here are some more uses for vinegar:
1) cleaning windows- put a little on a cloth, and wipe, or spray on.
2) The dishwasher rinse aid- just pour in, and it will also help kill germs!
3) The rinse drawer of the washing machine- great for softening, and fab for nappies, and towels etc, as it adds germ power.
4) general bathroom cleaning-tackle limescale effectively, and safely.
5) worktops, and highchair trays.
If you can think of any more, then let me know!

Foraging

Much as I love Summer, the end of it heralds some great foraging.
Last week we picked a couple bushels of apples. I am going to peel, and cook them this weekend, and use them to freeze for sponges. I will include the sponge topping recipe at the end.
We also found lots of juicy blackberries, which I also made into bramble jelly/jam. It is quite simple to do, just wash them, and weigh them, and add just under the same quantity of sugar to a saucepan, with a little lemon juice. Boil for around 7-10 minutes, and leave to cool. It should set nicely.
Yesterday, we found some sweet chestnuts. There were also some conkers thrown in though, but it is easy enough to tell the difference.
Here is the horse chestnut, which as you can see has less spikes, and different shaped leaves...

The sweet chestnut, which I think sometimes looks like a furry animal! Well, the outer casing does, anyway.....

(pictures courtesy of woodland trust)
Here are some of us picking them...(Good idea to use gloves)


Oh, and I almost forgot about picking Bilberries/wynberries in Wales. They are like a smaller and sweeter version of blueberry. Taste lovely with a sponge on top, and the best organic icecream you can buy!

Interesting, as we spotted just two bushes in Sherwood Forest, the last ones left.

Here is the sponge recipe, to go on top of fruit. This serves six, so double, or triple, as needed.
INGREDIENTS:
Marg/butter, selfraising flour (I use some wholegrain, too) sugar, eggs, milk.
METHOD:
Cream 4 ounces marg with a little sugar (maybe 2-3 TBS)
Add 2 beaten eggs
Fold in the 6 ounces of self raising flour.
Mix, and add a couple TBS of milk. Add some vanilla if you like.
Spread evenly over your fruit mix, so it is on top.
Bake at 200 c for around 30 minutes, or until a skewer comes clean.
Enjoy with ice cream, or custard!

My Joy Stone

Yesterday, we were looking at stones on the beach, and Angela picked up a stone. At first glance, it seemed a bit run of the mill, until I got a closer look......

Hard to make out anything from the picture, but it seemed to spell the letters, J...o......Y
A few of the children thought the same, too. Made me think a little. We can choose to be joyful, or we can be just plain grumpy. Of course, it is easier to be joyful when we FEEL like being joyful. My joy, apart from in the Lord, has been in serving my family. There is JOY in serving others. Joy in meeting others' needs, and joy in giving, and being unselfish.
I had left my bag on the beach, and hadn't realised that the little ones had filled my bag with quite a lot of stones! I ended up lugging that bag a couple of miles, up steps, over rocks, beaches, and down steps.......Phew, I was feeling the weight of it. When I got back, I found all the stones! Reminded me of Pilgrim's progress, and Pilgrim's burden. If only I had realised I didn't need to carry those stones! Of course spiritually, Jesus takes our burden of sin, and makes it his own. Through HIS death on the cross. If only we repent, and believe, we can be relieved of this burden. The burden of sin.
Of course, even as Christians we can make life burdensome. By choosing to be joyful, and thanking God in EVERYTHING, we can make life a lot easier. I am going to call the stone my 'Joy' stone, and have put it in a trinket box, so I can be reminded of it when I don't feel especially joyful!