New Leaf, New Day, New Ways

Triggles

The question for me today is do I buy a whole turkey or turkey crown? It will be frozen, as I will most likely get it from Iceland, Farm Foods, or Aldi, as they have similar and reasonable prices.

But the dilemma is whole or crown... never let it be said I can't ask silly questions.

So.. the comparison here is a large crown that costs £14 and is 2.4 kg (says £5.83 per kg) and a large whole turkey that costs £19 and shows no weight, however states £3.51 per kg (so into 19 that's 5.41 kg?). Hopefully my maths are correct on this one.


This looks to show that the whole turkey is less expensive per kg, but as it's by weight, obviously that includes bones and whatever knobbly bits can't be eaten. With the crown, it's boneless (and from what I can tell it's basically white meat, although I could be wrong about that).


Now I know that I will have loads of leftovers (that's the plan regardless of which I get), so I can put some in containers in the freezer to use at a later date. Plus I have a distinct weakness for turkey and cranberry sandwiches, so I suspect a fair bit will disappear in that manner! But which is the better buy? Or are they pretty much equal?


This, to my thinking, is the whole "two trains are leaving two different stations and different times and different speeds - given this this and this, what time will they pass each other?" Hey, I love maths and yet hate these type of problems!


I'm almost ready to put a picture of a whole turkey on the wall, with a picture of a turkey crown next to it, put a blindfold on, spin around 3 times and throw a dart at the wall to make my decision.


Except then I'll have to fill the dart hole in the wall....

Triggles

No dart hole to fix. I chose the whole turkey. On reading the turkey crown, it said "bone in"...that means there is a bone, right? So all things being relatively equal, I ended up with the whole turkey. Is it better economy? At this point, who knows?


Completely full trolley at Aldi, including a fresh chicken and a frozen turkey for £39. I'm happy with that. Tuna fish is cheaper there, another to add to my "cheaper at Aldi" list. I noticed a few of the items I buy as basics at Sainsburys are the same price as "essentials" at Aldi, so again, a positive.


Their super six starting today are clementines, brussel sprouts, maris piper potatoes, parsnips, carrots, and lemons. Now I won't buy parsnips (not fond of them, sorry) and as much as I love brussel sprouts, nobody else in the family will eat them. But I will buy some of the rest at 69p each. The lemons are a pack of 5, and I may make some lemon cake this week. Yum.


Costumes for each nativity sorted, with only slight purchase of 99p for silver tinsel (all ours is gold in the house and school requested silver).


Petrol in car, gas and electric on meter, money for childminder, groceries done. Couple Christmas presents ordered, and a little money in savings for another.


Whew. How long until Christmas? I'm going to be worn out long before then!!

Triggles

Almost Christmas and still maintaining a good grip on my sanity. I figure that's cause for celebration at any rate. The DCs are out of school and causing havoc. We've had 2 IT issues today that have spun DS1 into meltdown, although I've managed to sort both problems and calm him down again successfully.


DS2 has spent all day making up songs - I love listening to the silly little songs he makes up as they are quite funny and he just loves singing them, but his timing leaves much to be desired (as is true with most 4yos!). He tends to want to sing to my full attention when I'm on the phone (which isn't often, so he chooses his moments well!), when I am enroute to the toilet, when I'm brushing my teeth, when I'm trying to cook dinner. But then I say "okay, sing me a song, I'm right here and can give you full attention"... what does he say? "I don't feel like singing right now Mummy." Okay. Just gotta laugh.


These two weeks that the DCs are off school will be a balance in juggling the budget. My food bill and electric/gas meter bill will go up. Obviously they eat more food at home when they're ... well, home (as opposed to school all day). And I tend to have the heater off most of the day, but I will run it slightly more frequently when they're home all day. And they tend to leave lights on as well - especially DS2 who can't quite reach them, so if they're on, he leaves them on. We're still working on this issue - he has a little stepstool for the downstairs toilet light, but not one for his bedroom light. I keep saying I'll buy another stepstool (they are less than a fiver), but by the time I actually get around to it, he'll probably actually BE tall enough to reach it. We'll see how that goes.


Christmas presents all purchased and secured somewhere safe (but not in the sense of "somewhere safe" which usually in my house means put somewhere obscure and then forgotten where so one can't find it again!). Christmas eve is generally "wrapping central" after the DCs are in bed (accompanied by a glass of wine - which is usually needed after all that wrapping!!).


H and I agreed not to buy each other anything. Including from the DCs. We can worry about it next year, but this year agreed we not only didn't have the extra money, but neither of us really NEEDS anything in particular, and it would just be awkward, due to the separation. To be fair, with all the illness going through the family repeatedly, I can't think when I would have gotten the DCs into town to shop for anything anyway - and DS1 doesn't cope with the shops well right before Christmas - too noisy and crowded and it upsets him.


Maybe next year I'll have the DCs pick something out for H from them by using a gift catalogue and letting them choose a few things and then I'll pick something from what they've chosen that I can afford.


There is far too much food in this house. Lest you think I've fallen into the "buy food for an army for Christmas meal" category, I will point out that I bought a lot of extra food so that there was a good amount to choose from for the DCs while they're off school. The last thing I want is to drag both DCs to the supermarket, so I made sure I bought extra so I can delay shopping as long as possible. I even bought the long life milk (UHT?) and popped a couple of those cartons in the cupboard. The DCs have been helpfully telling me (every time we drive past) the local Spar is open Christmas day for any last minute purchases. Not sure why the sign grabs their attention so much, but they announce it every time we drive by. Duly noted.


So now it's cleaning up and doing a few Christmas crafts and a bit of baking between now and Christmas day. I didn't get everything I wanted done prior to Christmas, but a few bouts with illness really took a toll on both my energy level and the time I had available to me. Hopefully I can get back to work on doing some of the redecorating in the new year.