A not-so-frugal plague upon us

Wed, 17 Oct 2007 14:12:59 GMT

Typical. Just when I thought it was safe to put away the Lemsip I am plague-ridden once again. A very nice lady who took pity on my frugal circumstances last week and took me out for lunch I fear may have given me a chest infection which has circumnavigated the globe in a fashion that would make Christopher Columbus green with envy (if not phlegm). Her mother, who gave it to her, picked it up in Australia from someone who’d contracted it from someone else who caught it from somebody in Africa, so it’s a true globalised lurgy if ever there was one.

I should be proud really to have such a chic international malady, but my throat feels as though last night’s meal was mainly composed of razorblades and I’m drinking orange juice like it is going out of fashion. I’m ashamed to say that while I’m still quaffing the old herbal remedies I investigated the other week, like honey and lemon in hot water and the delightful hot milk, brandy slug and cinnamon (which certainly helped me sleep last night), I caved in and went to the doctors this morning with the intention of getting down on my knees and begging for good old fashioned penicillin. Doctors have become very stingy about handing it out over the last few years because, a) colds are a virus & therefore don’t usually respond to antibiotics (which treat bacterial infections) unless you’ve got some additional nasty bug and b) overuse of them encourages superbugs etc. as you know.

Luckily my doctor took pity on me as soon as she set eyes on my (more so than usual) ghastly features and listened to my chest, telling me I might need up to three weeks of antibiotics. Yikes. The latter wasn’t quite such good news, though. Especially given how the prescription for just the first week’s pills cost me £6.85 (she only gave me a week’s prescription to see if they’d work first). I was shocked as it had been a while since I’d needed a paid-for prescription and I’m sure it wasn’t as much as that last time around. But relieved I’d been allowed some drugs at all I went home and decided to treat myself to roast parsnip & garlic soup as garlic is supposed to be very good for colds etc. Not sure if DJ will be quite as keen when he gets home from work, however.

One positive thing is that since I’ve been laid up I’ve finally got around to reading Eating for Victory which is fascinating. It’s a collection of pamphlets distributed by the Ministry of Food during the war to get people eating healthily and to prevent them from wasting any part of their ration. There are all sorts of weird and wonderful recipes on using up stale bread and even using the water vegetables are boiled in as stock etc. Perhaps when I’m fit for purpose again an experiment in living on wartime rations might be in order. And there’s a huge focus in the pamphlets on vitamins and healthy eating to fight infection, which is something I could do with right now!

What do you make of herbal remedies? Do you have any favourites or is it all a load of hokum? Do you trust to antibiotics and conventional medicine? And do you think we pay too much for prescription medicines?

Keep taking the tablets

Wed, 03 Oct 2007 11:19:35 GMT

I’m feeling decidedly ropey today. I thought that working from home I’d finally be safe from all those office lurgies, but not so. I woke up this morning feeling grotty, with a runny nose, aching limbs and a voice like Marlon Brandon in The Godfather. All the typical symptoms of that most dangerous of ailments - latent hypochrondria. Well, no, it’s just a small cold but I think this miserable weather makes me feel more sorry for myself than I would normally. It’s dark, dreary and what annoys me most is that it can’t even be bothered to rain properly. Just the drip, drip, drip of rain that drives you insane…ahhh…I popped out in the garden earlier hoping to ‘liberate’ some of DJ’s tomatoes but unfortunately nearly all of them had split because of the rain, which is a bit of a pain. Ok, will stop the ‘ain’ rhymes now. Very childish! However, on the bright side, the girls (our chickens Lexi, Molly & Thelma) have come up with the goods today - producing two eggs no less. And they were rewarded with about five split tomatoes, which went down well.

But going back to my germ-induced sufferings…I’ve got thinking about frugal cold remedies. Now, normally I would head immediately to the nearest Boots and stock up on a heady cocktail of Nurofen, Strepsils, those disgusting cold sweets that dissolve the skin in your mouth, and something like Lemsip or Beecham’s Powders and a cough mixture. Plus expensive multi-vitamin pills to make me feel like I’m boosting my immune system. So altogether that would cost about £15 for the lot, plus mansized tissues. Sniff. However, this time I’ve been checking out some homemade herbal alternatives to see if they’re just as effective but easier on the pocket.

So far I have to say that honey & lemon in hot water is one of the best. All you do is just stick a bit of lemon juice (Jif lemon is fine) and a teaspoon of honey in a mug of hot water and mix it up. Very simple. It’s delicious and really soothing for a sore throat. Tastes a lot nicer than Lemsip. Plus it cost me nothing as all the ingredients were already in the kitchen cupboard.

This morning I’m trying out a cinnamon and ginger decoction which is supposed to ward off colds, according to a book Herbal Remedies, which I picked up from a charity shop. You get 1 & ½ cinnamon sticks and break them up into a pan, then add about 2 ½ inches of chopped ginger and a mug of water. Then you simmer the spices in the pan with a lid on top, strain and drink, adding honey if you like. When I strained it out I thought it looked a bit like wee, but it actually tasted nice. Just like a slightly cinnamony tea really.

Another cold remedy using cinnamon I’ve tried this week which is great if you’re having trouble sleeping too, is a glass of hot milk with two heaped teaspoons of cinnamon, a spoonful of honey and some brandy. A bit naughty so I’ve been trying it out at bedtime and it seems to knock me out!

I haven’t developed a cough just yet but DJ swears by this disgusting-looking cough mixture he makes up (his mum is into herbal medicine) by finely chopping up an onion and then putting it in a bowl with brown sugar and leaving it in the fridge, covered in cling film. The sugar then produces a liquid from the onion and he says it tastes just like cough medicine from the chemist. I’ll see how the lurgy progresses before trying this out! Cheaper than paying around £2.99 for a cough mixture that doesn’t really do much though. Do bear in mind though that just as with normal medicines you need to check whether you can take herbal concoctions if you're pregnant or have certain allergies etc.

Now I’m going to try out the one treatment that’s totally free - bed rest!

The Frugal Life: Herbal remedies

A not-so-frugal plague upon us

Keep taking the tablets