Renovations and Repayments.

maman

I'm glad the visit went well yesterday and great news about selling the car.

AlexLK wrote: »

Yes, I buy food daily. This year I've got more work at school so my mother is going to be buying food two days per week. If I get the PGCE course, next year is going to descend into my mother buying food five days per week, :rotfl:.

I'm not really sure where food becomes expensive? What would you say an expensive meal costs?

:eek:


I think letting your mother buy food for your family (but hopefully not paying for it) is so wrong on two levels. First you and your immediate family should be independent of your parents and not look to her for something as basic as your day to day domestic arrangements. Secondly, having worked so hard to become more independent of your parents, it's letting them back in when you should be doing all you can to establish the fact that you have an independent life to lead and future contact will be on your terms. Before you know it you'll be back to daily visits and they'll be ruling your life again.


On a very practical level, how does your mother doing the shopping fit into your assertion that you can't stick to a meal plan and like to decide what to eat day to day? Will she be deciding for you or will you be talking on the phone while in she's in the shop?:rotfl:


We could discuss your food shopping/cooking/eating habits at great length on here but there are loads of threads on the Old Style boards about eating well for less so probably not necessary. Just to pick up on a few of your comments recently:


I'd be very surprised if living in Derbyshire you really are getting fresh fish in your daily shop. It's probably defrosted from frozen which you could very easily do from a home freezer. It may even be true of the meat.


Is it you who likes to decide daily what to eat because I'd have thought that MrsK is happy to come home to a meal cooked for her each evening. If it is you then cutting down on costs is in your control.


As for what's the price of a cheap meal, it's hard to put a figure on it because it depends where you shop. If your mother (:eek:) goes to Waitrose or a local independent then it's going to be far more expensive than Aldi or Lidl. I agree with others that things like smoked salmon should be for special days like weekends or even holidays. If you can't make that leap (no pun intended;)) then at least have salmon trimmings.


Personally I think a bowl of muesli or plain cereal (like Bran Flakes, Weetabix or Shredded Wheat) with fruit and yogurt is fine for a weekday breakfast and the ingredients can be own brand. If you want something more substantial then have porage or eggs on toast. Your lunches sound cheap enough, again you could use own brand ingredients. In the evening I'd say that a cheap meal would be something like pasta with a basic tomato sauce (made yourself from tomatoes, herbs, onion and garlic) and perhaps something stirred through like tuna or a few prawns or some chorizo. An expensive meal would be something closer to the cost of steaks or fish at closer to £15 per kg.


Personally I see eating healthily for a reasonable price as an interesting challenge. It saves me money that I can use for treating myself to other things.:)

littlegreenparrot

I'm glad I'm not the only one a bit taken aback by the idea of your mum doing the shopping.
You do seem to have been doing so much better the last few weeks since having more distance, how can you maintain that distance when she is so involved day to day? And how happy is she about that arrangement? I probably wouldn't be happy at having to traipse out down the shops every day.

Anyway - you regularly mention a preference for food to be as fresh as possible, and dismiss frozen/tins on that basis. Don't forget that veg that is frozen is much fresher and retains more nutrients than the stuff that isn't. Carrots for example might take several days to get from field to shop, whereas they might be frozen the same day, so it preserves more nutrients.

Things like chilli and currys can be better the day or two after they are made because the flavours can develop, and you can always freeze portions so you don't have to eat the same thing two days on the trot. Things like that are also good because you can bulk them out with lentils/veg/beans so it goes further and is still delicious.

You could also go for vegetarian options a couple of days a week. Cheaper and better for you, everyone's a winner.

I think if you start working on this now you will feel the benefit if you do the PGCE. Do not underestimate how exhausting it is (I don't want to scare you, but I was on my knees). Even if someone else has done the shopping someone has to cook it. This is much easier if you have nice home-cooked stuff in the freezer that just needs re-heating. I had strict rule during early teaching years - dinner had to be something proper my mum would agree with, toast didn't count!

AlexLK

Roof work to start next week. :eek:

Currently looking at what XJSs are up for sale at the moment. Cannot help myself. :rotfl:

AlexLK

A_Frayed_Knot wrote: »

:rotfl:[FONT=&quot] How long have you been reading my diary, AFK? Surely you realise the spreadsheet is an achievement ... itemising seems a step too far at the moment. [/FONT]

AlexLK - I see nothing BUT achievements in your Diary :T :eek:What was that, You Sold the TR6 :T :TEven the Red Arrows gave you a fly-by for that one :rotfl:

Let me see, eb@ying, selling, saving, talk of the roof and bathroom being done, even agreeing with GG re the decluttering , mastering Spreadsheets (something I've not managed - yet:o) having great discussion with DW, I could go on, you accepted my challenge way back with gusto and managed fantastic. And you did admit there may be something in the Lavender, after all :rotfl:

There's so many I could mention, but after a 12 hour shift with about 3 hours sleep, you must know how I feel, so it's off to bed for me Right Now !!! Hopefully be re-freshed by tomorrow night.

Thanks AFK.

A_Frayed_Knot wrote: »

[FONT=&quot]*I really, really fancy smoked salmon and scrambled eggs for brekkie now. Would it be hypocritical of me to go and buy some [/FONT]:rotfl:

Whatever happened to Cornflakes, or Tea and Toast :eek: It's croissants halved, spread with strawberry jam, and covered in sliced strawberry's for me. Yummy, Yummy.

The croissants sound lovely.

My other lazy breakfast is warm croissants with butter.

newgirly wrote: »

Well done selling the tr6 Alex :T

As for shopping , can't you just do it online instead of getting your mum to do it?

Thanks, NG.

I do very little supermarket shopping, NG so cannot order online. To be honest, even if I did I don't like the thought of some supermarket employee just throwing whatever item in a basket without checking vegetables / meat etc.

AlexLK

EatingTheElephant wrote: »

Well done on selling the car and on using the spreadsheet.
I'm far too lazy to go shopping daily for food, plus I hate shopping!

Thank you. The spreadsheet isn't too difficult to update now it's becoming a habit.

Most of the miles I do in my daily car is shopping for food.

maman wrote: »

I'm glad the visit went well yesterday and great news about selling the car.

Thank you, maman.

maman wrote: »

:eek:


I think letting your mother buy food for your family (but hopefully not paying for it) is so wrong on two levels. First you and your immediate family should be independent of your parents and not look to her for something as basic as your day to day domestic arrangements. Secondly, having worked so hard to become more independent of your parents, it's letting them back in when you should be doing all you can to establish the fact that you have an independent life to lead and future contact will be on your terms. Before you know it you'll be back to daily visits and they'll be ruling your life again.

I wouldn't be going to theirs, she will leave the food at my house. Can't really see how it can be done otherwise?

maman wrote: »

On a very practical level, how does your mother doing the shopping fit into your assertion that you can't stick to a meal plan and like to decide what to eat day to day? Will she be deciding for you or will you be talking on the phone while in she's in the shop?:rotfl:

:rotfl: No, she won't call me in the shop but I have thought this through and am going to send an email to her in the morning.

maman wrote: »

We could discuss your food shopping/cooking/eating habits at great length on here but there are loads of threads on the Old Style boards about eating well for less so probably not necessary. Just to pick up on a few of your comments recently:

Will have a look on there, thank you.

maman wrote: »

I'd be very surprised if living in Derbyshire you really are getting fresh fish in your daily shop. It's probably defrosted from frozen which you could very easily do from a home freezer. It may even be true of the meat.

They've told me that it's fresh.

Can't say I really trust our fridge / freezer: it's got to be 30 years old and came from Mrs K's paternal grandparent's house. It was meant to be a temporary solution when ours stopped working but we've had it for about 6 years now. Anyway food seems to spoil quite quickly and there's always a pool of water under the salad tray. Don't really trust it to do much else than keep food cool for a day or two but as it works I'm reluctant to buy another.

There's so much ice in the freezer that the drawers have to be forced out. Only thing we keep in there are ice cubes for drinks.

maman wrote: »

Is it you who likes to decide daily what to eat because I'd have thought that MrsK is happy to come home to a meal cooked for her each evening. If it is you then cutting down on costs is in your control.

Yes, it's me. Mrs K would eat most things.

maman wrote: »

As for what's the price of a cheap meal, it's hard to put a figure on it because it depends where you shop. If your mother (:eek:) goes to Waitrose or a local independent then it's going to be far more expensive than Aldi or Lidl. I agree with others that things like smoked salmon should be for special days like weekends or even holidays. If you can't make that leap (no pun intended;)) then at least have salmon trimmings.


Personally I think a bowl of muesli or plain cereal (like Bran Flakes, Weetabix or Shredded Wheat) with fruit and yogurt is fine for a weekday breakfast and the ingredients can be own brand. If you want something more substantial then have porage or eggs on toast. Your lunches sound cheap enough, again you could use own brand ingredients. In the evening I'd say that a cheap meal would be something like pasta with a basic tomato sauce (made yourself from tomatoes, herbs, onion and garlic) and perhaps something stirred through like tuna or a few prawns or some chorizo. An expensive meal would be something closer to the cost of steaks or fish at closer to £15 per kg.


Personally I see eating healthily for a reasonable price as an interesting challenge. It saves me money that I can use for treating myself to other things.:)

I shop at independents where possible and will give my mother a list of the shops she is to go to. I know it's not the cheapest way to shop but I do get generic things from supermarkets and am not bothered about food brands.

Think I should have a look at cooking some cheaper meals, though. Could definitely do the spaghetti.

Do think it's something we need to cut back on and a lot of it is to do with my tastes / laziness (easier to serve a piece of fish, vegetables and only have to make a sauce).

littlegreenparrot wrote: »

I'm glad I'm not the only one a bit taken aback by the idea of your mum doing the shopping.
You do seem to have been doing so much better the last few weeks since having more distance, how can you maintain that distance when she is so involved day to day? And how happy is she about that arrangement? I probably wouldn't be happy at having to traipse out down the shops every day.

Anyway - you regularly mention a preference for food to be as fresh as possible, and dismiss frozen/tins on that basis. Don't forget that veg that is frozen is much fresher and retains more nutrients than the stuff that isn't. Carrots for example might take several days to get from field to shop, whereas they might be frozen the same day, so it preserves more nutrients.

Things like chilli and currys can be better the day or two after they are made because the flavours can develop, and you can always freeze portions so you don't have to eat the same thing two days on the trot. Things like that are also good because you can bulk them out with lentils/veg/beans so it goes further and is still delicious.

You could also go for vegetarian options a couple of days a week. Cheaper and better for you, everyone's a winner.

I think if you start working on this now you will feel the benefit if you do the PGCE. Do not underestimate how exhausting it is (I don't want to scare you, but I was on my knees). Even if someone else has done the shopping someone has to cook it. This is much easier if you have nice home-cooked stuff in the freezer that just needs re-heating. I had strict rule during early teaching years - dinner had to be something proper my mum would agree with, toast didn't count!

This probably sounds bad but I wouldn't even see her: send email, she gets food, takes back to my house and puts it away ready for when we get home. She seemed OK with two days per week but I haven't talked about the possibility of her getting food five days, yet.

I didn't realise that about frozen food, I thought nutrients were lost by the food being frozen.

Chilli and Curry type dishes are not something we have very often, I find they take a long time to make and often seem a bit bland when I make them. The main problem I have with freezing a ready made meal is dealing with the excess water the freezing process produces and the fact it doesn't taste the same as the first time around.

Will have a look at some vegetarian options, we always eat meat / fish as I'm not really sure what can be used as a substitute.

I can see where you're coming from re. PGCE.

newgirly

Riverford for fresh weekly organic fruit and veg, ditto meat fish and dairy, if trying to economise get the meat and fish in Costco every month or two and freeze, all other shopping online from ocado, they specify shelf life etc. when you order, it's not like the old days when you used to get given the oldest stuff

hiddenshadow

newgirly wrote: »

Riverford for fresh weekly organic fruit and veg, ditto meat fish and dairy, if trying to economise get the meat and fish in Costco every month or two and freeze, all other shopping online from ocado, they specify shelf life etc. when you order, it's not like the old days when you used to get given the oldest stuff

Plus you can reject anything you don't like the look of and not get charged for it. (And sometimes the delivery person will "help" with that...I had a carton of cream on order once and it cracked open in transit but 99% of the cream was still in the carton/unspoiled as it was in its own bag. Delivery man suggested I pour the cream into a cup and return the "unsuitable" carton back for a refund. Worked a charm. )

I haven't used Riverford but have heard good things. Have used Abel & Cole in the past and they're great. They do fruit/veg/meat/baked goods/milk/eggs, all sorts of things. We don't use them now that we're doing meal planning (can't be bothered to change the meal plan based on what they give us), but we'll probably put in a one-off order for Christmas veg.

AlexLK

newgirly wrote: »

Riverford for fresh weekly organic fruit and veg, ditto meat fish and dairy, if trying to economise get the meat and fish in Costco every month or two and freeze, all other shopping online from ocado, they specify shelf life etc. when you order, it's not like the old days when you used to get given the oldest stuff

hiddenshadow wrote: »

Plus you can reject anything you don't like the look of and not get charged for it. (And sometimes the delivery person will "help" with that...I had a carton of cream on order once and it cracked open in transit but 99% of the cream was still in the carton/unspoiled as it was in its own bag. Delivery man suggested I pour the cream into a cup and return the "unsuitable" carton back for a refund. Worked a charm. )

I haven't used Riverford but have heard good things. Have used Abel & Cole in the past and they're great. They do fruit/veg/meat/baked goods/milk/eggs, all sorts of things. We don't use them now that we're doing meal planning (can't be bothered to change the meal plan based on what they give us), but we'll probably put in a one-off order for Christmas veg.

I'll have a look into both of those.

AlexLK

Ten to eleven and I'm not in any way ready for tomorrow. :eek:

Had a very lazy day today whilst my wife went back to work. She's had a good day and was ready to go back, seems the break has done her the world of good as she told me she's happy to get on with the extra workload but is going to have a meeting about some extra ££££s for doing so. Her thinking is that now he's gone the company have saved a lot of money so they ought to give a little back to her for doing some extra work. I really didn't think she'd do this as she is usually one to just get on with work without asking for anything but I can't say I blame her for asking, it's only what I'd personally do.

Savings (which is really additional income) are now looking very healthy indeed for this year after TR6 profit. Have a few little items lined up to sell which should generate some profit too. Actually feeling I could beat last year's result now. Unfortunately, we won't see the money though as it's going on the house.

A_Frayed_Knot

AlexLK wrote: »

Roof work to start next week. :eek:

Currently looking at what XJSs are up for sale at the moment. Cannot help myself. :rotfl:

How on earth did I miss this post :doh: Well knock me down with a feather :eek: You don't waste any time, do you? Great work, hope you don't have the company doing my work or rather not doing my work :mad:


On another note, feel slightly guilty reading the comments about your mother getting your shopping for you. My mother asks me, if I need any shopping, quite often, as she knows I work long hours, so I do take her up on the offer. But I feel that it is getting my mum out and about, where she bumps into old friends, neighbours or just people she knows, so feel that it is good for her to get out and about. Better than just sitting in the house, bored with no company