50p a day til Christmas - healthily?! Weezl's next challenge...

Money_saving_Diva_2

munchki wrote: »

*peeking in*

Has been a very hectic few days!!

BBQ for DH bday went wonderfully, although drank far to much for a Sunday night! I made him a huge carrot cake with mounds of cream cheese icing and decorated it in silver and gold and edible glitter, all of which I had in the house already. The cake simply vanished!

Just wondering, could one of you very nice people try and send me a pm please? It seems all of a sudden i can send things least I think i can but it does not always show up in my box and I am not sure if I am even getting replies properly. Was on a craft board and asked lovely Shaz for a pdf and not even sure if she got it *huge sigh*
Kath xx

PM sent honey, hope it gets there!

eselt

Thank you so much for the replies!!!! I think you are right Cw18, its time for a reality check with my two lads (14 and 15), and a daily 'ration' is fair at their age, my little ones (youngest 5yrs) aren't a problem as they tend to have whateever they would have had for packed lunch at school and are happy with that till teatime. Marrow chutney sounds yum, will have to get the feelers out for any unwanted spares!!!

ISOM- I think I will stock up big time on batches of HM small cakes and biscuits, and freeze them and just take out a batch at a time, it will stop them just grazing until the whole lots gone everytime I bake- thanks for the kind words

mama67- I totally agree about 'feeding the neighbourhood' syndrome- but I have to blame this thread!!!! Ever since I started making everything from scratch, and having the slow cooker, breadmaker etc on the house smells so wonderful its driving everyone mad with hunger!!!! BUT YOU ARE RIGHT-I need to set a few boundaries if I'm budgeting.

Right off to plan tomorrow recipes and a little tough love- thanks all

System

eselt wrote: »

its the lunch/snack/drinks/biscuits/cakes stuff that really frightens me- any ideas for hourdes of hungry teenagers would be gratefully received

First of all, do your children understand that things are a bit tight financially? Without worrying them unnecessarily, of course, teenagers are old enough to learn about household budgets. You don't have to feed their friends random meals, especially lunch (which is quite a big meal if your teenagers are anything like mine). It might even be an idea to allocate your children a weekly "entertainment" budget for them to use as they wish in entertaining their friends; when it's gone, it's gone.

If you do feel that you have to offer snacks to other people's children, then plonk a loaf of fresh home-made bread on the table with a pot of budget-brand or homemade jam, and emphasise the lovely freshness of it all and how you made it especially for them. Or perhaps some home-popped salted popcorn. Or a baked potato each, with just butter for a filling. Or a home-made ice lolly made from budget-brand long-life fruit juice. No choice, no flashy drinks, no extras, and no more than one snack offered per day. Water to drink (chilled, from the fridge). If they look disappointed, just shrug and say you haven't had time to go shopping. If this excuse starts to wear a bit thin after a few days, say you're worried about what all the sugar and junk food has been doing to their teeth and their general health, and you're trying to make sure that their snacks are wholesome and nutritious. Your children may groan with embarrassment - but, realistically, what is there to be embarrassed about in having a parent who cares about your health? Train them to roll their eyes and say "mothers!" in tones of exasperated affection, thus avoiding all accusations of lacking street cred themselves.

I must admit to bias here - I don't believe in eating between meals as an adult (generally speaking), and although children/teenagers very often need to eat between meals, I see this as a stop-gap to keep them fuelled until the next proper meal. Growing teenagers need a lot of food, but this doesn't mean that they need sugary/fatty things, which are not necessarily good for them (although I'm not saying that they are necessarily bad either - I just think that the "bad" things should be incorporated into proper meals and not treated as a recreational pastime). I will bake specially if I know that someone is coming for an arranged visit, but ad hoc visitors have to take pot luck. If my children are hungry between meals (and they all are, when they're growing!), they can have wholesome staples such as bread or fruit or yoghurt, unless I happen to have leftover cake/biscuits/whatever on hand and spare, in which case they're welcome to finish it off. If they're thirsty, chilled water will be welcomed (or a cup of tea if they are into that sort of thing - mine aren't). If they don't want unexciting food/drink, then they're not really hungry/thirsty and it's not my problem.

I probably sound like a killjoy, but my children and their friends have never given the slightest intimation of thinking as much (at least, not regarding this topic ). Grazing on junk food isn't good for them, and I have never met a child/teenager who wasn't delighted to be offered fresh, hot bread or something cheap and simple like homemade popcorn. Make it an event at a set time, rather than a "help yourself", and they should be happy as long as you are determined and stick to your plan.

Good luck! And enjoy the summer. The older my two get, the faster time flies and it's scary to think how little time is left before they fly the nest. Then we can all get our own back by going round to their houses and demanding unfeasible quantities of food at unnatural times of day!

cw18

will try and look out the marrow chutney recipe tomorrow afternoon...... if I can't find it I'll give my dad a call and ask him to bring a copy when he comes over on Friday. I do know you need marrow, shallots, mustard powder and pickling vinegar -- but not sure what else was in there.

foreign_correspondent

hello, I haven't posted in here before, but I would love the recipe for marrow chutney - one of my courgettes has become a 2 foot marrow!

boredofbeingathome

eselt wrote: »

Thank you so much for the replies!!!! I think you are right Cw18, its time for a reality check with my two lads (14 and 15), and a daily 'ration' is fair at their age, my little ones (youngest 5yrs) aren't a problem as they tend to have whateever they would have had for packed lunch at school and are happy with that till teatime. Marrow chutney sounds yum, will have to get the feelers out for any unwanted spares!!!

ISOM- I think I will stock up big time on batches of HM small cakes and biscuits, and freeze them and just take out a batch at a time, it will stop them just grazing until the whole lots gone everytime I bake- thanks for the kind words

mama67- I totally agree about 'feeding the neighbourhood' syndrome- but I have to blame this thread!!!! Ever since I started making everything from scratch, and having the slow cooker, breadmaker etc on the house smells so wonderful its driving everyone mad with hunger!!!! BUT YOU ARE RIGHT-I need to set a few boundaries if I'm budgeting.

Right off to plan tomorrow recipes and a little tough love- thanks all

My dd2 had friends stopping over and they made the no knead bread..and spread value jam on it..then they had a HM pizza, and really loved it..kept them busy all afternoon and they are 17 and 18..didn't think they would go for it..but at 3 am in the morning after watching DVDS etc..i heard " your mum is really cool, mine never lets me make anything!"

My DD also has her own tin..she is diabetic and needs the odd starchy snack in it, i reduce sugar by using spices..and she was nice enough to offer a few scones around..and they never knew the difference.

I know you have to be tough at times, and i very rarely buy anything special in they will always have whatever is in. When they were little we used to make HM rocket iced lollies, they were massive and the envy of the kids in the neighbourhood...they never felt deprived.

eselt

Avocet- some brilliant ideas (they will have a great time making pop corn) thank you so much- most of all youv'e given me the confidence to follow my gut instinct, which is they shouldn't be eating so much of the sugary junky stuff anyway-and even if they come out with the usual, "well so and so's mum lets us have that", I shall stand my ground, and give the withering stare!!! I'm determined to stick to being more frugal and healthy (and hopefully give my lot more of an idea about budgets and valuing things) so I'm going to stop buying fizzy pop, crisps, sweets etc as a matter of course, and stick to three nutritious frugal meals a day- in fact I'm really going to enjoy it!!! Thanks once again.

Herewegoagain

oh weezl, I'm just too busy at the mo, I need some way of sraping he comp on while I work so I can keep up with all your wonderful ideas. I'm on hols next week, but my mum's coming down, so will have to sneak on here to see my lovely friends on the threads, see ya later keep well and lookafter yourselves and each other :A

got-it-spend-it

Please can I third the request for marrow chutney? It sounds lush and my courgette plant is doing very well!

Thank you so much :-)

ceridwen

Are you well our weezl? You be proper quiet maid at t'moment! We'm missing 'ee:D