Frugal February

How about low calorie cheese spread with lots of spring onions,cucumber,tomatoes etc.?

Oh that sounds nice! Thank you! A bit of texture too, if I put it on crispbreads.

Have bought a jar of Miso paste from Holland and Barratt so I can make my own Miso soup. Ithad better be nice as I've bought 2 jars [had a £7 voucher and had to use up the whole amount]. Thought I could add lots of vegetables to it. Going to the gym/sauna tonight. Bit worried cause the treadmill said 'high heart rate' the other day. I've never noticed that on the screen before .

I’m still here. Was at work from crack of sparrow and then when I got home this afternoon I sat down and just fell asleep! So far today I’ve eaten one sausage at around 10am (so 15 hrs) then small prawn salad bought yesterday from M&S (240 cal) at lunch time. Am about to prepare a light meal of shredded up cabbage fried with some bacon lardons. Which I happen to find tasty, so ok for me. Not sure of calorific content but as it’s lots of cabbage and lesser amount of bacon am hoping it’ll not be too bad. No alcohol. Have drunk water and a few mugs of coffee (black).
Then that will be it for today. I got a Count on Us braised steak, 243cal, from M&S and also a Creamed Spinach 286cal. These should do for 2 main meals..(poached egg will go with spinach one.) Am not sure what to do about eating at other times of day, maybe poached salmon or prawns and avocado. Am trying to cut carbs so sandwiches etc are not an option. Resisting the urge to have a glass of?is the challenge!

Must advise everyone not to buy one of those chilled calorie controlled meals from Morrissons; I bought a chicken curry one the other week, and it was awful [and, believe me, I eat anything]. Assume the other meals in the range are awful, too.

Be careful buying ready meals. Check the salt content because it's often high.

Day 2 and I think I’ve made up for the excesses of Day 1. I didn’t eat till 1, when I had a couple of Weetabix, since then I’ve just had a handful of nuts with a few raisins, and DH is now making us corned beef hash, with lots of veg. I’m still drinking tea with milk and the occasional coffee, but I shall try to resist the Friday wine later.

Oh good, you are all back online ?????

Thanks for asking cavewoman - simply put the tooth is terrible. Can’t talk, can’t eat. Tongue catches on jagged remains of tooth.

Yoghurt breakfast, soup lunch and soup and yoghurt for dinner! Yummy. Can manage ? drunk through a straw.

So I’m easily a Frugaleer extraordinaire ?

Day one birthday - meal at sisters - diet busted
Day two- arrived at daughter’s to a surprise birthday tea, including gluten free birthday cake - diet busted

I soooooooo hope day 3 is ok!

Not sure how to keep in touch with this forum. I clicked on 'Watch this thread' thinking it would come up when I log on. Do I have to go to 'Active' or is there a short cut?

Try I'm On Grandmama (now you're on it)

Oh dear, dinner was fine, fish and veg but it was the wine wot did it.

jalima I’ve downloaded a nhs app “days off” and I promise how many wine free days a week I will do. It works for me as my conscience hits in!

Things were going swimmingly. A nice healthy stir fry for dinner, then grandson bought me home a doughnut. So I've eaten it. Didn't even have time to wait for the kettle to boil to sit and enjoy it with a coffee. Oh well..

Good evening *Frugeleer extraordinare*
And fellow Frugeleers
Evening meal
Yet another jacket potatoes with small amount of grated cheese and Salad

Pudding was a sort if yummy Eton Mess
Frozen mixed berries with a friends homemade small meringues (crushed)
Vanilla yogurt poured on top.

So sorry to read that your tooth Oldmeg
is still giving you gyp.
There is not a lot worse than toothache especially during the night.
I hope you manage to get some sleep

Are you going to the dentist oldmeg? It sounds to me as if you could get an emergency appointment.

Started well yesterday with oatmeal porridge, home made soup at lunchtime and ham salad - very pleased with myself. Attended Heart Failure Clinic this morning with DH who has serious mobility problems. He has never had weight problems but now has problems digesting his food. We were advised today that "grazing" would be the way forward for him- little and often. I can see this being an absolute disaster for me - having to think about food he will enjoy and cope with and what to have myself for most of the day. I am very active and am used to three meals a day. Cooking and baking has always been something I enjoy and definitely eating as do our family so I am really at a loss about this!

It was the dentist what did it....he removed a crown and has left the jagged tooth underneath uncapped. That is no temporary crown. He’s an excellent dentist BTW. To cut a long story short, there not sufficient good tooth underneath to fit a temporary crown onto. It wouldn’t stay in. The permanent one will fit the impression he made exactly and should (fingers crossed) do the job.

Meanwhile every time I move my tongue (to talk or eat or swallow) it rubs against the jagged tooth and cuts into it and blisters. I just have to stick this out until Feb 15th.

This is the ultimate in diet motivation!

PS if I don’t eat and don’t talk everything is wonderful!

That sounds awful OldMeg! Good to know that you have an excellent dentist though, and think how wonderful you'll feel on Feb 16th! ( Plus a few pounds lighter of course....)

Cherrytree59 - I'm with you on the Eton Mess - I've had that 2 days running ( with low fat creme fraiche, raspberries, and the baby meringues from Waitrose) as my 'treat'. It's delicious, just 200 calories, and keeps me on track with my 1200 calorie regime.

Good job that's only a short term strategy Meg

You poor thing, how miserable. I imagine the minute you forget to remember about it, it catches and hurts. A couple of years ago I used one of those emergency kits you get from the chemist when a crown came off when I was away for a long weekend. It's really easy to use and you only need to use enough to smooth over the rough bit, so it might do the trick until you see the dentist. It's the same stuff the dentist uses for temporary filling, so it's all above board. It cost me about £9 from Boots, but any chemist sells them, even the chemist in Superdrug. If you need to, you can keep using it until you see the dentist. Hope this helps.

I don't want to be a doom monkey, but last September I found out that I needed a root canal on a crowned tooth. It turned out not to be straight forward and I ended up having the crown removed to complete the job. To my shock my dentist told me that there wasn't really enough tooth now left for a new crown. It did sort of feel like the crowns on either side of the one that was removed were holding it in place (these were made after the one that fell out). I am a paying NHS patient, so my dentist said the only real option was a single denture or leaving a gap (it's not in a really obvious place). We chatted about it (she's lovely) and then she said she was willing to try another crown, but wasn't hopeful it would last. So I chose the crown and was thrilled to bits. Then just after Christmas I was attacked by the dreaded winter lurgy and unfortunately I coughed and sneezed at the same time when I was cleaning my teeth - and the crown shot out of my mouth and went down the plug hole!

I know I'm looking at single denture now, so I didn't rush to see the dentist (been very poorly anyway). My next appointment is actually on the 13th, but I need to rearrange it because I'm away. This is all a really longwinded way of saying I hope there's enough tooth left so your new crown does stay on and I'll be crossing everything for you.

I went to Boots to buy one of those temporary filling thingys and the shop assistant asked me if it was for a denture ; as if I didn't feel bad enough. Broken tooth and I just happened to be hundreds of miles from home and it was a bank holiday. Was caused be using dental floss; found out afterwards it's not a good idea to floss if you have fillings; better to use those little brushes. I think it said you were only to use it for a couple of days and then had to see a dentist, so I didn't bother. I'm sure the next time it happens [which it will as I'm full of fillings] I won't have it with me...I do have a ragged tooth where part of the filling or tooth has broken away and, for some reason, I keep having to run my tongue over it as if there's some kind of fatal attraction going on [like; I'd better check that it's still ragged; oh yes, it is ouch]....

Tegan I bought the kit when we were away for a long weekend in our caravan, so I left it there in case I ever needed it again. I stopped using floss when I ended up with two crowns next to each other. I was sure it could 'slide' under the edge of the crown, so I started using the brushes. I was never very good at flossing anyway because I could never get it out of the space between my big teeth. I was fine with the front teeth, but never cracked it () with the back ones. I think the kit companies are just covering themselves by saying only use it for a couple of days before seeing a dentist because I spent hours online researching what my options when my dentist said there wasn't enough tooth for a crown. In the US loads of people can't afford dental treatment or don't go to the dentist for some other reason. There's so many videos on YouTube of people showing you how to use these kits for 'permanent' teeth! I'm really glad we've got the NHS!

Well on the bright side, I’ve lost 1 kg already! ?

PS I can’t avoid my tongue and the jagged edge coming into contact as the jagged tooth is a back molar.

I coughed and sneezed at the same time when I was cleaning my teeth - and the crown shot out of my mouth and went down the plug hole!

Blimey, Wilma, I bet the air was blue (or is that just me?)!

Reading this he above makes me think I should give up the floss (I've loads of fillings). But I went off the little brushes when I used a new one for the first time and it emerged practically bald, with only a tuft of the nylon filaments left. . I hadn't used that make before, so sent the pack back for checking and got a lab report from them assuring me that there was nothing wrong with them. I don't know to this day where all those filaments went - I just hope they passed through and aren't embedded in my gums!