depressed and money savings

hello007007

How do you cope when your depressed (I have clinical depression) and trying to save money?
My personal downfall is food costs, we are a family of 5 and when I'm unwell I cant cook and therefore we spend a lot on takeaways and ready meals.

(No one is a big fan of huby's cooking, it puts him right off when no one eats his cooked meals, poor thing.) (batch cooking would help but not too much as my depression can lasts months.)

What are your downfalls and have do you overcome them?

ska_lover

Online shopping and frozen pizzas for those days.

I forgo festivals like xmas most years as it is exhausting. and I really don't care about it. Birthdays are different as its one present and more personal but spending weeks shopping for a festival I don't believe in riles me

Confuseddot

How about buying a slow cooker or something similar so that on days when you are not good then you can stuff some food in their and let it cook. Try planning a menu out when you are feeling well and batch cook so that when you aren't doing as well then you can defrost.

DomRavioli

Do you have a freezer? Maybe double up when you are well, one for that day and another portion for the freezer for when you're not well.

I batch cook so I always have something I can throw straight in the oven/microwave. Spag bol, shepherds pie, lasagne, casseroles, stews and even soups. I also do a mean chicken chasseur with a packet mix (takes 5 mins to prep then shove it in the oven for an hour or the slow cooker for a few hours). Also keep in some what we call BOVVERED food. That's for when I cannot be bothered, pain levels mean I can't stand or it all gets too much. Frozen pizza, micro meals, you can pick them up super cheap from farmfoods.

hello007007

New to freezing home cooked food

Where can you find out how long it is safe to keep homecooked food in the freezer for? for us, it will normally be curry and lasagne.

Also how do you know how long it will take to deforost in the mircowave for?

My thinking is if its cooked you only have to reheat which is a few mins, correct.

teddysmum

hello007007 wrote: »

New to freezing home cooked food

Where can you find out how long it is safe to keep homecooked food in the freezer for? for us, it will normally be curry and lasagne.

Also how do you know how long it will take to deforost in the mircowave for?

My thinking is if its cooked you only have to reheat which is a few mins, correct.

Google something like 'cooking for the freezer' and you'll find lots of sites with ideas, recipes and instructions on storage.


Microwaving from frozen will, obviously take longer than reheating fresh and probably longer than a shop bought product, as home cooked items tend to be denser (eg cottage pie deeper than 3cm.)

DomRavioli

hello007007 wrote: »

New to freezing home cooked food

Where can you find out how long it is safe to keep homecooked food in the freezer for? for us, it will normally be curry and lasagne.

Also how do you know how long it will take to deforost in the mircowave for?

My thinking is if its cooked you only have to reheat which is a few mins, correct.

I batch cook from home and my average guess is 1-2 months things can be kept in the freezer - you have to cool them to room temperature before freezing.

My cottage pies I put in a metal container (like the takeaway ones with the paper lids) in the freezer then it goes straight in the oven for an hour, no mess, no fuss - its a 4 portion one and I do it on 180 degrees (no idea what that is in gas mark).

If doing spag bol etc, only freeze the sauce! Pasta is a pan of water and 15 mins on a hob, doesn't need watching. the sauce is usually 5 minutes on half to defrost (my micro doesn't have a defrost thing, or if it does I'm yet to find it), and then usually another 2 mins on full for 2 portions frozen together.

I would avoid microwaving if possible - dries it out something chronic - apart from defrosting. I make most of my things to go straight from freezer to oven and take no prep apart from switching the oven and timer on. Micro can be hit and miss as well, always put it on for a minute at a time and check it.

There's websites dedicated to batch freezing, specifically UK ones. They might be of use.

OldMotherTucker

hello007007 wrote: »

How do you cope when your depressed (I have clinical depression) and trying to save money?
My personal downfall is food costs, we are a family of 5 and when I'm unwell I cant cook and therefore we spend a lot on takeaways and ready meals.

(No one is a big fan of huby's cooking, it puts him right off when no one eats his cooked meals, poor thing.) (batch cooking would help but not too much as my depression can lasts months.)

What are your downfalls and have do you overcome them?

My downfall was thinking I had to do it all as well;):rotfl:

What's wrong with with other 4 that they can't do the cooking or at least help?

Someone in that house other than you has to be able to put the oven on, bung in a tray of chicken nuggets, some oven chips and open a can of beans into a pan!! Everything you can order from the takeaway can be found in the frozen section at the supermarket. It only needs to be opened and heated - children under 10 should be able to do this!!

Bags of frozen fish fillets, chicken pieces, potatoes etc are still more economical than microwave meals and can be improved nutritionally by adding veg and salad ingredients. It's a way to start!

Gather all the eaters in your house and have them thrash out the week's menu! the foods they like and those they might want to try and make. Make it a bit competitive - and delegate certain jobs like veg peeling, laying the table, making the salad dressing. Get them to buddy up so you don't have to be sole supervisor/organiser all the time.

It's never too early or to late to train kids - hubbies can take a bit longer :rotfl: Poor him? Poorly you!!

What ages are the kids BTW?

nannytone_2

OldMotherTucker wrote: »

My downfall was thinking I had to do it all as well;):rotfl:

What's wrong with with other 4 that they can't do the cooking or at least help?

Someone in that house other than you has to be able to put the oven on, bung in a tray of chicken nuggets, some oven chips and open a can of beans into a pan!! Everything you can order from the takeaway can be found in the frozen section at the supermarket. It only needs to be opened and heated - children under 10 should be able to do this!!

Bags of frozen fish fillets, chicken pieces, potatoes etc are still more economical than microwave meals and can be improved nutritionally by adding veg and salad ingredients. It's a way to start!

Gather all the eaters in your house and have them thrash out the week's menu! the foods they like and those they might want to try and make. Make it a bit competitive - and delegate certain jobs like veg peeling, laying the table, making the salad dressing. Get them to buddy up so you don't have to be sole supervisor/organiser all the time.

It's never too early or to late to train kids - hubbies can take a bit longer :rotfl: Poor him? Poorly you!!

What ages are the kids BTW?

i agree.

OP. if your husband doesn't know how to cook thenn he needs to learn!

did you come out of the womb with cooking skills or did you learn them?

some people will continue to do things badly if you let them ... especially if they don't really want to do it