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Jennie's recipes

Wednesday, 8 October 2025

Food - both good and disgusting . . .

 


After I had been to see my friend N yesterday, I drove into Carmarthen and went to Chris Thomas's brilliant greengrocery.  Nothing for me in the £1 boxes yesterday, but this lot came to £14.80.  Pumpkin (for Tam and Rosie - carving and soup) was £2.  Raspberries (I've eaten some of them) quite dear at £2 but they are huge and tasty; Two bags of small Russet apples - £1.50 each.  4 big juicy plums £1.  A Kilo bag of 9 lemons £1 (! I am turning them into Lemon Marmalade).  Strawberries £1.50.  3 cucumbers - use 'em up fast - for £1 the 3.  5 lbs Maris Piper spuds £2.50, and then bananas 80p.  As I have another 3 visits to town (as I still call it, that having been our nearest town when we lived in the Cothi Valley) I shall shop there each week for bargains like these.

New shoes to go with skirts/dresses on holiday.

As I was striding past M&S yesterday (clocked up nearly 9000 steps just around town), I thought I would go in on the way back (having bought shoes) and get a good stir fry mix for our tea tonight.  I've just got chicken breasts out of the freezer to go in it.  The sauce is Soy, Ginger and Garlic.

Now, the confession.  I hadn't really had breakfast before scooting out of the house, so stopped at a garage on the way and hastily grabbed a sausage roll without being AT ALL MINDFUL.  I got to the car and looked at the ingredients sticking it shut and was truly horrified at the number of them.  I know many of the bits are preservatives and natural flour ingredients, but even so I do not think I have ever seen anything quite so disgustingly UPF in my life and believe me never will again.  I am ashamed.  


Right, this won't do.  I need to go out for my walk now, change my library books, and make a healthy Minestrone soup for lunch.


21 comments:

  1. Scary list of ingredients. Have you seen Joe Wicks and Dr Chris van Tulleken’s programme, Licensed to Kill, on UPF?

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  2. No I haven't but am very aware of the crap in "boughten" food. I nearly always cook from scratch, and just have the occasional Tesco made curry or Chinese meal. Crisps - guilty. If I have bacon, if-t's from the butchers, ditto sausages. I do try and avoid the nasties.

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  3. You wouldn't want to live on a diet of those sausage rolls!

    This morning I got scrag of lamb - cheap from the butchers, and suet - stew and dumplings on the menu very soon for the first time in a year.

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  4. And you wouldn't live long if you did!

    I will see if I can get scrag of lamb from my butchers.

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  5. Your box from the greengrocer looks great. I'm loving my homemade lemon marmalade, probably eating far to much of it!
    The shoes are pretty and look so comfy.
    Alison in Devon x

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    Replies
    1. I'm not a marmalade person, so these will be gifted. Pleased with the shoes, as well as them having 20% off.

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  6. I watched Joe Wick's 'Licenced to Kill' on Monday it was fascinating stuff, and people were rushing to purchase his Killer bar.

    Your sausage roll, for a meat product has a surprisingly low proportion of meat in the filling. I should imagine the Greggs vegan sausage roll that I have been eating twice a week has a similarly long list of ingredients. I think I will go and look it up right now.

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    1. Nearly vegetarian in fact - just 6 1/2% meat! I guess we don't think too hard if we just grab something on the run - the humble doughnut (which we used to buy from the bakery in Hay) is probably nearly as bad.

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  7. Oh, I meant to add I LOVE your new shoes. :-)

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    1. They were the style I wanted and seem comfy - will have to wear them around the house a bit before I go though. Don't want to suddenly find they rub somewhere when I'm on the other side of the world.

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  8. I love a sausage roll. Homemade or butcher/bakery are best - the cheap crap taste awful.

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    1. The butchers in Hay make one that is SO full of good meat it does for two lunches! It's £3.50 but worth it.

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  9. That's why I don't buy sausage rolls. I love your shoes, they will look lovely with either skirts or trousers. I made stew and dumplings last week, first time Iris has ever had dumplings, she wasn't impressed but her Mum said it was like being little again and ate hers and Iris's. I've done a load of washing and mowed the lawn. Off to Alnwick next week for a few days and booked Alnwick Gardens, managed to get Gardener's World 2 for 1 offer. Xx

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    1. I cannot remember the last time I made dumplings - time out of mind ago! Glad your dumplings got scoffed, even if Iris wasn't impressed. Enjoy Alnwick and well done with your two for one offer on the Gardens. Yes, the shoes will go well with anything.

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  10. That is a very scary list of ingredients. Love the shoes. So gorgeous.

    God bless.

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    1. Well, it was a first and last time of eating it and I am put off sausage rolls for good now. Sarnies in future - the Greggs baguette with tuna and onion is quite nice and ingredients fairly innocuous.

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  11. At least some of those are vitamins, so maybe not quite as bad as it looked? Then again, they add vitamins back in when they’ve taken all the naturally occurring ones out!

    But take heart, eating junk once in a while surely won’t kill you!

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    1. It IS once in a while too as I am normally at home for meals.

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  12. The filling was only 6.9% pork. So 93.1% was other cr**p. Yuck. If you're ever in Mach try the food from the Royal House deli (by the clock tower). It's really good.

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