Essential Ingredients For Your Credit Crunch Cupboard!

Every health magazine I look in and website I look at these days dseems to stress that it is important to eat healthily, which is an obvious fact given that over 50% of people in both the UK and US are considered obese. This is obviously in line with height and weight and so is clinically defined rather than by common sense! As you can tell, I do not agree with the way that someone is defined as obese but at the same time we need to maintain our health, especially in these testing times, and there are some essential ingredients that can help you to do that.

There is a danger that more and more people will start choosing convenience foods in the near future because they are cheaper and undoubtedly easier to prepare given that many people will be working as many hours as possible to make ends meet. However, with just a few essential ingredients, you can transform quick and easy foods into tasty meals without resorting to convenience foods and avoid breaking the bank as well.

Black Pepper - Black pepper is an excellent ingredient because it is a thermogenic and will speed up your metabolism, thus burning more fat, but add a lot of flavour to any dish. I love the coarse ground black pepper... delicious in everything from pasta to meat dishes!

Garlic - Garlic has so many benefits that I could not name them all here... the post would be too long! It is extremely healthy and again can add a lot of flavour. Whole cloves are inexpensive so it is a cheap ingreidient but you do not need to use a lot to flavour dishes so it will last a while.

Fresh Fruit And Vegetables - In some shops, fruit and vegetables are expensive but if you try the supermarkets or even grow your own then you will find them incredibly cheap. We grow our own potatoes and onions, and carrots and cabbage are being added to that this year. Dirt cheap, literally! And extremely heathy as well. You will certain get the vitamins and minerals you need. Try Dobies and Suttons for affordable seed and starter kits if you want to save money into the future by growing yor own.

Pasta & Rice - Absolute essentials. You can use both to make standalone meals such as risotto and pasta bakes as well as adding them to full meals. If you have nothing else just make sure that you have these two because they will sustain you and are incredibly cheap. In tough times, it matters not that they are carbs but that they will feed you and your family for next to nothing.

Go Organic: Growing Your Own Fruit And Vegetables

A quick trip around the vegetable section of your local supermarket will today provide you with more choice than ever before, and not only in terms of the types of vegetables and fruits available but also in terms of the different origins and methods of growing. Organic fruit and vegetables are big business today and actually sell far better than they used to because people are becoming more environmentally friendly and more conscious of what they are eating in terms of chemicals.

However, organic fruit and vegetables do tend to be more expensive than regular fruit and vegetables that we havebought for years. As such, the organic version may be out of the price range of many individuals with the credit crunch hitting hard. This is why you should look at growing your own! If you have a back garden or yard and the ability to put a little time into growing your own fruit and vegetables from seeds then you could ultimately save a lot of money.

We started growing our own potatoes this year and with only a few seeds we got quite a good yield. One packet of potato seed gave us enough potatoes for six dinners... and that was from an area in our garden of just one metre squared. My husband used the top soil and supplemented it by using a layer of compost. They were watered regularly and we dug them up when the stems died. The result was a load of gorgeous potatoes that cost us about £1.50 in total when the seeds and compost is taken into account.

If you want to save some money and eat organic fruit and vegetabes then growing them at home is the perfect answer. We're now growing onions, potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuces and apples in a larger area of our garden next year... I can't wait!

There are some great seed shops online that can deliver fruit and vegetable seeds to your door for very reasonable price. We used Dobies because they're close to us, but Sutton Seeds is also good. Both stock seeds for all sorts of fruit and vegetables! The links are below if you want to take a look, although I think they only deliver to the UK. Both come highly recommended:

Dobie's link for vegetable seeds
Sutton Seed's link for vegetable seeds

If you want to purchase other stuff for your garden then I think both do that too. I know for a fact that Dobies does but Sutton's is worth a look too. The links are also to the side under "Useful Links" for ease of access.

Stress Management Tip: Laugh Yourself Happy With A Few Good Jokes!

I am sure that you are well aware that stress seems to rule the world at the moment. In fact, it seems to control millions of lives, which is obviously no good for your health. In recent months, I have had several health problems that have all been related to stress. Although they are under control right now, I have certainly learned the importance of taking the time to chill out. I take a long walk if I feel myself getting stressed or choose a very good alternative - laughter via jokes.

As the old saying goes, laughter is the best medicine. No matter how down you feel or how ill you are a good joke will always perk you right up. The same goes for stress. Laughing will actually relieve that if only temporarily. With the credit crunch in full swing, we may all need some good jokes to relieve our stress soon so here are my pick of the websites you can access for a good laugh.

Lots Of Jokes - This website is an older one that has been well established and contains hundreds of jokes for you to laugh at on a massive range of topics. You can find those jokes here.

101 Fun Jokes - The jokes on here are just as funny, and this is actually my favourite site. I can always rely upon it for a good laugh. Check the jokes here.

Jackass Jokes - This jokes site is newer but contains just as many funnies as the other two. However, the reason I put this one on here is the dirty jokes and crude jokes sections. If that's your sense of humour then you will absolutely love this jokes site.

Trust me, laughter is always a good tonic so try a little today. I should warn you though, you may just like it!

5 Things That Make Me Smile When I'm Down

Lately I've been feeling extemely down. Everyone gets like that once in a while and it can seem like a lifetime before you finally manage to drag yourself out of it. The credit crunch is taking it toll on our household and I, like many others, am absolutely fed up of struggling all the time. I wouldn't go as far as to say my mental health is suffering but I haven't been doing all I can to feel better. As such, I decided to make a list of the 5 things that tend to make me feel better when life isn't going as I planned:

1 - Chocolate - Every woman's favourite. Lazing on the sofa in my pyjamas with a bar of chocolate and a cup of coffee tends to work a treat, at least temporarily!

2 - A Hot Bath - Now I know it's not good for you but I love my baths hotter than the sun when you get into them, the type that you have to ease into inch by inch. Some lavender bubble bath and a good book = an hour or two well spent.

3 - Playing With My Dogs - I have 2 dogs and the pup is a clown. I love playing with them and spending time with them and they both have the ability to cheer me up no end.

4 - A Cuddle - My husband gives the best cuddles! A cuddle makes me feel loved and helps to block out the world for a little while.

5 - A Good Movie - I love relaxing in front of a good DVD. I like romantic comedies because they provide great escapism but then any film will do at times!

Of course, not all of the above will apply to everyone but my best tip at the moment is just to take a little time out and do something you enjoy. At the end of the day, nothing is ever as bad as it seems so enjoying yourself for a while will give you a different perspective. Cliched maybe, but very true!

A Quick Fix For Spots

In my last post, I wrote about acne and how many effective natural remedies there were for it out there. They were all cheap and easy to make at home and worked in harmony with your body. Well this tip I intend to give you a quick tip that has worked for me for years - toothpaste!

Toothpaste is extremely useful when it comes to clearing up that one annoying and often painful spot that appears on your cheek or nose from time to time, typically before a major party or event that you want to look your best at! Obviously it is not good for acne necessarily but it is fantastic for isolated breakouts from time to time.

All you have to do is dab a litle toothpaste on the spot and the nature of the toothpaste will draw the impurities to the surface, thus enabling your skin to clear up quickly and easily without leaving scarring. You will obviousy already have it in your home so it is a quick and easy fix. However, avoid using whitening toothpaste for bringing out the spot because it can be extremely harsh on skin. Regular toothpaste is best.

You could also use a little drawing ointment on it along with a band aid or a used teabag. They do exactly the same thing and work wonders, especially if you need the spot to be gone quicly and effectively!

Eggs Is Eggs, But Is It Fresh?

Here's a little tip for you for today...

At the moment, I'm boiling a couple of eggs for lunch and a welcome break from my writing projects of the day (I have so much to do it's unreal!). I took two out of a new packet and put them into water. One floated and one did not. Many people would have not know which one to throw out, so I thought I'd write a post about it!

If an egg FLOATS then you should throw it out immediately because it is off and will likely give you food poisoning if you eat it. This is becuse the egg has began to produce gases that enable it to float. The gases are produced by bacteria within the egg itself and it is this bacteria that contaminates it and makes it unsafe to eat.

If an egg SINKS then it is completely fresh and wholly safe to eat.

However, some eggs do tend to sink for the most part but point upwards, meaning that the majority of the egg is submerged but a little of the top of the egg is visible above the water. These eggs are also safe to eat because it just means that a little air is within the shell. That is normal and is common of eggs that ar not produced organically or by free range methods. As long as the whole eggs does not float, it is safe.

The best way to check is by placing the egg in cool water because that will not counteract the effect of the gases. However, before you do so, you may check the bst before date on the packaging of the egg. I don't do that. I believe that a best before date for eggs is there to cover the manufacturer and is not really applicable to me purely and simply because it does not guarantee that the egg is off afterwards. As long as the eggs have been refrigerated and do not float then I will eat them. I think it's a waste to throw them out if they are still good.

Of course, that's personal choice. My husband won't touch them if they're out of date, but I will as long as it is within a reasonable timeframe. I wouldn't eat them after a year obviously, but I do believe that this is one of the areas to which common sense can be applied. You can save money and prevent food wastage at the same time.