Monday, 3 January 2011
The meal plan!
Alright, so it doesn't quite fit on the page and I have some more work to do on it, but by special request from Another Mummy here is the theoretical meal plan I did for Mum. The extra columns are all the portion cost calculations and to leave those in for this would just make it even messier!!
Fantastic Freecycle
If you've never heard of Freecycle, take a look for one closest to you. Rather than the local paper classifieds or swapshops, it's a great way of picking up things that are useful to someone but would otherwise end up in landfill. When we bought this house five years ago, it was the first time we'd lived "alone" (no flatmates or furniture) so we furnished most of the house with things that other people didn't want. We still needed some big things, like our bed and sofas, but Mac got himself a bed with a slide, we've had a couple of dining tables before we settled on the one we have now, and various chests of drawers, toy storage and a little cupboard that I intended to restore but has ended up as my tool shed at the bottom of the garden.
This week's Freecycle classic was a freezer. We already have a fridge freezer, but now we have an extra one, in the porch cupboard. I was desperate for one last year as I was on Christmas dinner duty and I wanted to be prepping veg in advance, but we've finally got one now for nowt (except about 10 miles of petrol). It also mean that the porch cupboard had to be cleared out (mice had taken up residence - heaven knows where they'd been getting nuts from, but there was an abandoned nest to tidy up) and the freezer itself had to have a good anti-bac spray out. I'm very pleased with it!
Once cleaned, rested and ready to go, we traipsed off to Asda to fill it up. £58 later (well, £51 and a Commander Cody figure) we were back ready with what we hope will be enough shopping to last us until payday on 15th.
The point of the freezer is that this month, I'm going to be cooking bigger batches of things, thus utilising the old economies of scale principle. It will also mean that I can meal plan more effectively as I will be able to see quickly what we have and not have to worry about what I can dish up quickly when B hasn't been home to have dinner on the table when I come in and, by the time I've picked up the boys, it's already 6pm when we get through the door.
I will ponder scanning the till receipt later on this evening and then working out how to post my meal plan for the next couple of weeks.
In the meantime, I am curled up under a duvet waiting for my Extra Special (??) potatoes to bake ready for tea. Should've bought some salad cream...
Breakfast
Tea & toast
Lunch
Sausage rolls, bits of salad and fruit
Dinner
Jacket potatoes, beans & cheese. Yoghurts for pud.
This week's Freecycle classic was a freezer. We already have a fridge freezer, but now we have an extra one, in the porch cupboard. I was desperate for one last year as I was on Christmas dinner duty and I wanted to be prepping veg in advance, but we've finally got one now for nowt (except about 10 miles of petrol). It also mean that the porch cupboard had to be cleared out (mice had taken up residence - heaven knows where they'd been getting nuts from, but there was an abandoned nest to tidy up) and the freezer itself had to have a good anti-bac spray out. I'm very pleased with it!
Once cleaned, rested and ready to go, we traipsed off to Asda to fill it up. £58 later (well, £51 and a Commander Cody figure) we were back ready with what we hope will be enough shopping to last us until payday on 15th.
The point of the freezer is that this month, I'm going to be cooking bigger batches of things, thus utilising the old economies of scale principle. It will also mean that I can meal plan more effectively as I will be able to see quickly what we have and not have to worry about what I can dish up quickly when B hasn't been home to have dinner on the table when I come in and, by the time I've picked up the boys, it's already 6pm when we get through the door.
I will ponder scanning the till receipt later on this evening and then working out how to post my meal plan for the next couple of weeks.
In the meantime, I am curled up under a duvet waiting for my Extra Special (??) potatoes to bake ready for tea. Should've bought some salad cream...
Breakfast
Tea & toast
Lunch
Sausage rolls, bits of salad and fruit
Dinner
Jacket potatoes, beans & cheese. Yoghurts for pud.
Sunday, 2 January 2011
The meal plan 02.01.11
When I was little, I was never hungry. Note, little, not teenager. I later went on to be bullied at school for the amount of food that I ate and now have weight issues.
I digress..
Mum and Dad, as parents should, always used to make sure we were well fed and only occasionally palmed us off with fruit instead of proper pudding. I don't understand why all these reflection programmes make it look like we lived on Smash and frozen foods in 70's/80's as that certainly wasn't my experience of it. In fact, I can't stand Smash. I hate smooth food full stop.
So, I've been quite surprised that my clever Mummy, who was always a fairly inspired cook (she could think things up, they just didn't always taste brilliant) has been asking me about planning meals for the week, supporting Dad to change his diet now that he's diabetic and saving money on their weekly shop. Completely bizarre and a little bit worrying to be honest.
Last night, I sat down to write the meal plan for the week as an example for her. I pulled all the stops out and costed it up per portion and the theoretical shop came to £48. I was cross with that, it was too much! Then I checked my freezer and reaslised that it would only be £48 if I bought it all from scratch and since portion control is the biggest problem with my weight, cooking meals that are the size they should be will be the first step in controlling cost and losing weight.
Today, we have had
Toast & coffee (juice for kids)
Spinach & bacon quiche
(using frozen spinach and "cooking bacon" which is cheaper)
Frankfurter pasta
(half a packet of frankfurters, garlic butter, beetroot, courgette & green pepper)
Then little snacky bits, like fruit and yoghurt and Xmas treats left over. I don't reckon we did too badly today?
I digress..
Mum and Dad, as parents should, always used to make sure we were well fed and only occasionally palmed us off with fruit instead of proper pudding. I don't understand why all these reflection programmes make it look like we lived on Smash and frozen foods in 70's/80's as that certainly wasn't my experience of it. In fact, I can't stand Smash. I hate smooth food full stop.
So, I've been quite surprised that my clever Mummy, who was always a fairly inspired cook (she could think things up, they just didn't always taste brilliant) has been asking me about planning meals for the week, supporting Dad to change his diet now that he's diabetic and saving money on their weekly shop. Completely bizarre and a little bit worrying to be honest.
Last night, I sat down to write the meal plan for the week as an example for her. I pulled all the stops out and costed it up per portion and the theoretical shop came to £48. I was cross with that, it was too much! Then I checked my freezer and reaslised that it would only be £48 if I bought it all from scratch and since portion control is the biggest problem with my weight, cooking meals that are the size they should be will be the first step in controlling cost and losing weight.
Today, we have had
Toast & coffee (juice for kids)
Spinach & bacon quiche
(using frozen spinach and "cooking bacon" which is cheaper)
Frankfurter pasta
(half a packet of frankfurters, garlic butter, beetroot, courgette & green pepper)
Then little snacky bits, like fruit and yoghurt and Xmas treats left over. I don't reckon we did too badly today?
Happy New Year?
Why do I always want to start something with a question? There, bugger, I've gone and done it again. I used to do that in all my essays at school because it saved me from having to make a statement. I reckon that's what I tend to do, avoid making a statement..
Then comes the question of why I decided to blog. Don't know really, I'm not an expert on anything, but I find that I get asked lots of opinions and advice, from people from all over. Maybe that just makes me a friend, but it might be interesting to someone.
Most commonly, a lot of people seem astounded at the cost of my weekly shop. It doesn't astound me, it's just not wasteful and to be honest, all we can manage a lot of the time. Background is probably helpful eh?
Well, in my little house is me, 32, an Office Manager in the Public Sector. I reckon I'll lose my job next year. If I thought I could get another, it wouldn't bother me as it's not a career choice and I spend most of my days utterly pissed off. I won't be blogging about work, for me or anyone else, only the mood it puts me in. Confidentiality and all that.
I'm married to, let's call him B, 37, a Police Officer. A poorly one, but one that is at work every day. We have two boys, "Mac" who is 7 and "Fru" who just turned 4.
We have a very decent combined salary, a mortgage, but most significantly, piles and piles of unsecured debt. We got ourselves here, mostly before we even met, but we both take it incredibly seriously so, rather than opt for IVAs, Bankruptcy and all the quick wins, we chose to negotiate what we could afford each month and pay it all off. We're about half way through after two years, but expect that the remainder will only take another 14 months to pay off. In order to do that, we have to cut back. Considering I could lose my job quite easily, we have to be ready to do so even more. Losing a couple of stone each wouldn't be a bad idea either!
That's us in a nutshell - somewhat skint, most of the time, despite our earnings. I think I'll probably be sharing meal plans, money saving ideas and shopping lists, but might throw a few extra bits in there too
Enjoy xxx
Then comes the question of why I decided to blog. Don't know really, I'm not an expert on anything, but I find that I get asked lots of opinions and advice, from people from all over. Maybe that just makes me a friend, but it might be interesting to someone.
Most commonly, a lot of people seem astounded at the cost of my weekly shop. It doesn't astound me, it's just not wasteful and to be honest, all we can manage a lot of the time. Background is probably helpful eh?
Well, in my little house is me, 32, an Office Manager in the Public Sector. I reckon I'll lose my job next year. If I thought I could get another, it wouldn't bother me as it's not a career choice and I spend most of my days utterly pissed off. I won't be blogging about work, for me or anyone else, only the mood it puts me in. Confidentiality and all that.
I'm married to, let's call him B, 37, a Police Officer. A poorly one, but one that is at work every day. We have two boys, "Mac" who is 7 and "Fru" who just turned 4.
We have a very decent combined salary, a mortgage, but most significantly, piles and piles of unsecured debt. We got ourselves here, mostly before we even met, but we both take it incredibly seriously so, rather than opt for IVAs, Bankruptcy and all the quick wins, we chose to negotiate what we could afford each month and pay it all off. We're about half way through after two years, but expect that the remainder will only take another 14 months to pay off. In order to do that, we have to cut back. Considering I could lose my job quite easily, we have to be ready to do so even more. Losing a couple of stone each wouldn't be a bad idea either!
That's us in a nutshell - somewhat skint, most of the time, despite our earnings. I think I'll probably be sharing meal plans, money saving ideas and shopping lists, but might throw a few extra bits in there too
Enjoy xxx
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