A friend sent me these tips for dieting under stress. I thought they were so useful, I would pass them on.

10 Rules On How To Combine A Successful Diet, With Life As A Normal Human Being

1.  If you eat something, and no one sees you, then the food has no calories

2. When you eat with someone else, the calories do not count if they eat more than you

3. If you drink a diet cola with a chocolate bar. the diet cola cancels the calories in the chocolate.

4. Broken biscuits contain no calories – the process of breaking causes calorie leakage

5. Food used for medicinal purposes never counts; e.g. hot chocolate for relaxation; brandy for fortification; toast and cheesecake as antidepressants

6. It is recommended that you fatten everyone around you so that you appear slimmer

7. Food licked off cutlery or out of a bowl has no calories if you are following a recipe, e.g. butter icing on a cake; the remains of cake mixture; cream for the top of a trifle

8. TV and cinema food contain no calories as they are part of the whole entertainment package

9. Foods of the same colour have the same calories e.g. spinach and mint ice cream; mushrooms and white chocolate; water and a large gin and tonic

10. Athletes eat huge amounts of pasta before races like the marathon. It’s a myth that you have to run 26 miles to work it off. One brisk trot around the sofa is quite sufficient to wipe out one bowl of spaghetti. Twice round the sitting room will use upso much energy that a chocolate bar is required to supplement your sugar level and rebuild your strength

Aah, if only life was this accommodating, it would make losing weight so much easier

I read the I newspaper, I got a subscription, so it’s 18p a day, not bad for a paper that I like. It has little Royalty or celebrities and many in depth articles. In the paper today there is a list of meals that we Brits like when we don’t have traditional recipes. We have lots of them here on the site, must be doing something right then!

1. Spaghetti Bolognese, we have a version in Meal Plan 7 costing 55p and an authentic version from the Italian Silver Spoon for 41p

2. Meat Lasagna, we have several lasagna, a haggis lasagne, sent in by a reader,  a version made using porky Christmas leftovers, or pork mince at just 26p a portion, and a version in Meal Plan 7 using the same meat ragu as the Bolognese in 1 above,

3. Chilli con Carne, haven’t done a chilli yet on here, so I’ll have to add it to the enormous list of recipes to blog about

4. Pasta and a home made sauce. We have many pasta and home made sauce recipes, it’s quite the staple. These include Broccoli Pesto and Pasta, Courgette Pasta which can be eaten hot or cold,  Mackerel Pate and Pasta,  Mango, Coconut & Feta Pasta and the super gorgeous Taste Bomb Tomato Pasta.

5. Fajitas. Not done fajitas, can it be done for 50p?  Costing time

6. Chicken/lamb tikka masala. Haven’t done any of these either

7. Vegetable stir fry.  One of my absolute favourites comes under this category. We have a simple chicken stir fry, from Meal Plan 8, coming in at 81p. A vegetable stir fry at 51p. And the favourite? Peanutty noodles, which is a stir fry in all but name., super tasty and at just 23p, win win all round really.

8. Sweet & sour chicken. I have a recipe I use that is lovely, I don’t think it costs up for here. It’s along time since I’ve done it, maybe I’ll have another look

9. Spaghetti carbonara, we have the authentic Italian cabonara, using the wonderful Silver Spoon. A delicious dinner for 41p

10. Chicken chow mein. Another one we haven’t done yet

Does your favourite appear on this list? It certainly has lots of mine, but then I am always trying new things, as you know. I could never get in a rut, it just won’t happen.

Finally today, a little thing I discovered.  I read somewhere that wilting lettuce leaves can be revived by soaking them in water, allowing them to rehydrate. So I wondered if the same thing would apply to carrots that have gone soft and wibbly in the fridge, making them all but impossible to peel. I put a handful in a bowl and just covered them with water. A couple of hours later they were as perky as fresh ones – result, peelable carrots!