Wednesday 28 January 2015

Of Dentists .. And Thrifty Cheese ...

Hello there ... 
I hope you have had a pleasant day ...


We have done very little today .. its too cold to move much out of the house.
But what we did have to do today .. was visit the dentist for a check up.

I cannot praise our dentist enough .. I have rubbish teeth .. 
they are weak .. crumbly and altogether quite .. 
well .. rubbish.
I have always tried to do my best by my teeth and visited the dentist regularly .. 
Thankfully .. Oh Thankfully !
 I have a NHS dentist .. he is excellent and he does his best by my rubbish teeth.

As you may know NHS dentists are like gold dust .. and I cling on to mine for dear life .. 
I never miss appointments and attend regularly .. 
I do not want to be struck off his list .. I have a horror of having toothache and no where to go with it.

And the icing on the cake .. it is so inexpensive!

Today we both went for a check up which entailed xrays ..
one each side of the mouth .. lots of poking about with his mirror and poke-y stick thing-y .. a polish up with his whizzy/ scrubby brush and a dab of something around my gums for good measure.
It was £13.

Hubby P had the same .. plus a couple of fillings which came under last times 'treatment' so it wasn't charged for.
Its so nice to be pleasantly surprised by the cost of something.

Just a case of doing all we can to look after the old gnashes now.

~~~~~ # ~~~~~

A bit of a Thrifty Snippet .. well sort of ... I know you like a good bit of thrifty

Nosing around the market on Sunday I noticed the butchers van had some huge blocks of cheese for sale.
He had half rounds of fancy stuff .. you know the kind of thing cranberry whatsit and herby and garlic something or other ..
 well I didn't really want that ... 
I just wanted bog standard cheddar or similar ..
 something I could either have ... on crackers .. or to cook with.

At the back of the stall I noticed these huge blocks of double Gloucester cheese a kg in weight .. made at our local creamery.
I asked the price and of course he said  .. 'to you .. £12'
Well ... I kind of pulled a face and shook my head .. too expensive ... and I said to him that really I had wanted cheddar. 
Well he said .. in a whisper ..'how about £10' .. so I brought hope a huge lump of cheese.

As you know cheese is not cheap and so I treat it like I would meat or eggs for that matter .. a major part of the meal .. a good rich source of protein.
 The trick is .. because you have huge lumps of it in your fridge .. 
not to get carried away and use it willy nilly!
(unlike some ... umm Husbands .. who get carried away with a butter knife .. trying to hack off great lumps of cheese to nibble away at like a demented mouse)

I forgot to take a pic of the whole thing .. but here it is roughly chopped into four...
I shall pop two in the freezer and keep two in the cheese box in the fridge.
  Do you like my cheese box ... well .. its an enamel tin really .. a lovely green colour...



 I have two of them .. they fit just nicely in the fridge.
One holds the cheese .. the other cold meats and the like.



So for tea ?

A portion of the cheese used in some thrifty cheese scones  (with lashings of butter) and a nice warming celery soup.
 So that's been my sort  of Thrifty buy ... I think maybe if I had shopped about I could have found it a bit cheaper .. but it is buying local .. locally made produce etc .. and all I did really was invest in cheese rather than meat .. and it will go a lot further than a few lamb chops.

How about you .. any Thrifty Snippets to share ?

Bye for now x


20 comments:

  1. Great bargain with the cheese, and I ADORE your enamel cheese and meat boxes (I have a thing about vintage enamel . . .) Cheese scones are something I have made regularly down the years although I now have to make them with my lacto-free cheese. They really fill the corners and are perfect with soup (though I HATE HATE HATE celery!!!)

    I agree with you about NHS dentistry - I have awful teefs and am greatful for small mercies . . .

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  2. Ooh I haven't seen enamel pans like that since I was a little girl my Nan had some that she used on the Rayburn. Nice to see you can still pick them up and they were the same colour as yours. You have done really well with the cheese. That Is how we tend to buy it if we can as I use cheese a lot in cooking as well as for packups. We go to our local cash and carry for things like soap powder and fabric conditioner as we have found even with having to pay VAT separately it works out cheaper from there than the supermarket. We are choosy about what we pick though because not everything works out cheap so you have to be a bit savvy. (Everytime I go to the dentists these days it gets pretty pricey - I think my long term meds have not helped with my teeth last time I went it was £250 - I have broken my plate so the next time I go I will need a replacement and there are a couple of more dodgy teeth. Although saying that the chap I have just found is fantastic and has put me so much at ease compared to others. Take care hope the weather is not too bad your way.

    Pattypan

    x

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  3. Going to the dentist here (Canada) for an examination, xrays and cleaning would cost close to $400.00. No NHS here. I love your enamel containers and dishes in the fridge.

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  4. I got some wonderfully meaty tail reduced to £2 and I had it in the slow cooker all day yesterday. The meat just falls off the bones and it will make the meat n potato pie for tea tonight taste bloody luxurious!

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  5. Ha ha ha!! OXTAIL ! My stupid ipad decides to change my words for me!!!

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    1. I read the first and thought Kangeroo?.

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  6. Good bargain, I love enamel kitchenware.

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  7. Top cheese bargain. You know my expensive dentistry trials, wish we had an NHS dentist. Keeping thinking Twiglet should be a dentist when he grows up, he'd make a fortune. However, he wants to be a train driver or an actor :)
    Twiggy

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  8. Wow, your NHSDentist is cheaper than mine, its £18 for an inspection and £50 if you need band 1 treatment!

    Cheese was a fab bargain! My hubby is just the same with cheese, he has to test it before putti g it on a sandwich....everytime :-). Love the enamel tins, so much nicer than a sweaty tupperware box and those cheese scones are to die for...yum xx

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  9. wow, thats a great price for the dentist! Even with exchange to our Canadian dollar you are getting such a good deal! That cheese sound like a wonderful meal maker and the enamel tins work perfect, your scones looks so good and its just breakfast time here!

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  10. You have to love a bargain, I stocked up with cheese a few weeks ago in Lidl, a very good half price weekend offer.

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  11. So happy to see you back! Have missed your posts! Cheese here is very expensive. A half pound is approx. $5.00. So not sure how that equates to yours but it seems like you got a real bargain, it is huge!

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  12. Your dentist is so cheap! Funnily enough I have not had an NHS dentist for so long but last week I managed to get an appointment (though not for several weeks) to sign up as a patient at a local dentist and it was like I had won the lottery. I have been checking regularly for about the past 6 years and this particular dentist (my preferred one has not had any vacancies at all) so you can be sure I will not be giving them any reason to chuck me off the list once I'm on it. The only trouble is as it's so many years since my last check up I probably need a ton of work done!

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  13. Do you have snow on Anglesey? We have so much here!

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    1. We had a short flurry of snow this morning .. but is gone .. it was the first we've seen. Not often we have it here on Anglesey .. where are you I cant remember ?
      Good luck with the dentist .. like you say its like winning the Lottery.

      Vicky x

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    2. Cheshire! It was so windy here yesterday and earlier today which makes the snow more difficult I think. The snow is still here but at least the wind has dropped but it will be dark soon so unless it rains soon (no sign of that) I can't see the snow clearing anytime soon. My sister lives by the sea and it hardly ever snows there either. Thanks, I have been checking regularly for so long now that I almost fainted when I called and they were able to give me an appointment. I told someone else in the same boat straight away and they phoned but no joy. Will probably be another six years before they have any more vacancies or maybe the receptionist thought I should be rewarded for my perseverance. Whatever I am extremely grateful and feeling fortunate.

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  14. How wonderful to be able to see a dentist and not spend a fortune!. No NHS dentists here and our dental insurance is pretty worthless! We do have a great dentist, though-we just have to "grit our teeth" and pay what we have to in order to keep them!



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  15. Absolute bitter cold here with snow in the NE US....
    So glad you have an NHS dentist! Now if they only had NHS veterinarians as well!
    My dentist all these years has been my best friend since high school. If there was an urgent need for a dentist, I could get him at home, in the barn or at his parent's! He would charge only what the insurance paid him, because we were friends. He has since semi retired and works part time in the practice he sold to a wonderful, much younger dentist...more expensive to go now , but the same great care. I go as often as I need too, also!
    The cheese looks lovely. Buy local is a good practice! Stay warm!

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  16. no low cost dentists here, thankful you have yours.
    the cheese what a great buy you got, just love those tins!

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  17. I love the tins, and what a brilliant colour

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