£29,303...Enough is enough!

WelshKitty85

savingholmes said:

... Am**** do a great job of sending things if needed.

They wouldn't let us order non-essentials for a few months during lockdown as they were prioritising delivery of what they considered essential items. I'm hoping we won't get to that stage again, but not taking any chances of somebody being with a Christmas present.

mark55man

That's true cash and Am**** will sort out most problems.

I always take 2 weeks off at XMAS, was compulsory at my work until 5 years ago, but I just got into the habit and enjoy some home time.  As you say, depending on rules and regulations on the day we can fit a few more in of allowed, if not we'll just chill with twice as much food and alcohol as usual (and usual is normally twice as much as we need)

savingholmes

There were some non-essentials - I ordered anyway and they all got delivered quicker than their original estimates. I think like a lot of orgs they were caught hopping initially but soon sorted themselves out.

WelshKitty85

All plans have gone out the window this week. DH & I were planning to celebrate our wedding anniversary but that didn't happen. First my dad was taken into hospital with a head injury. Whilst there, they found a problem with his kidneys so I had a sleepless night worrying about him. Then, DC3 was taken ill. Managed to speak to the GP who sent us straight to A&E. I knew it must be serious as they refused to triage him and sent him straight to a consultant within minutes of us arriving. The consultant stayed by his side until was admitted to the children's ward where he was kept in overnight. He had to have treatments all through the night, and the monitors he was strapped to kept sounding an alarm, so I think I managed about half an hours sleep. He's been pumped full of meds, steroids & antibiotics and, although still poorly, was able to come home yesterday. I'm exhausted! We spent £15 on an unplanned takeaway last night as I wasn't up to cooking and feel like I'm coming down with something myself now. Must get back on track now though. 

Drawingaline

Oh no! What a rollercoaster of a week. Hope everyone is feeling better now. I have had that scary admittance with a child, in our case it was suspected meningitis. I thought we would be triaged as we went through the ooh docs who were next to a&e, but one look at my daughter the doc was rushing her straight through. We went from phone call to ooh doc to IV antibiotics in 45mins 😱 luckily it wasn't meningitis, but when they have an inkling it's something serious they don't muck about. 

WelshKitty85

It's an awful feeling isn't it @Drawingaline to see them so helpless. I'm ever so thankful for the doctors and nurses who looked after him. 

It's the start of a new budgeting month for me tomorrow and I'll need to do a grocery shop. I need to keep a tight reign on the budget going forward but am really struggling to meal plan at the moment. We seem to have the same few meals on rotation. I've searched the forums for cheap meal ideas but haven't found many ideas that everyone can eat (DC3 is allergic to eggs and nuts, DC1 doesn't like cheese or beans, DH struggles with spicy food etc). I've made a rough plan and a shopping list for the next 6 days but need to really focus on finding some cheap & tasty meal ideas and keeping the grocery bill down.

savingholmes

Hope your son and dad are now on the mend

joedenise

WelshKitty85 said:

It's an awful feeling isn't it @Drawingaline to see them so helpless. I'm ever so thankful for the doctors and nurses who looked after him. 

It's the start of a new budgeting month for me tomorrow and I'll need to do a grocery shop. I need to keep a tight reign on the budget going forward but am really struggling to meal plan at the moment. We seem to have the same few meals on rotation. I've searched the forums for cheap meal ideas but haven't found many ideas that everyone can eat (DC3 is allergic to eggs and nuts, DC1 doesn't like cheese or beans, DH struggles with spicy food etc). I've made a rough plan and a shopping list for the next 6 days but need to really focus on finding some cheap & tasty meal ideas and keeping the grocery bill down.

Have you checked out the Grocery Challenge on the Old Style Board?  There are a couple of pages at the beginning of the thread with lists of cheap meal ideas.  There may be things there which you could use.

A couple of other websites worth checking out are Jack Monroe's site Cookingonabootstrap.com and Thrifty Lesley's website Thriftylesley.com.  She's also revamping the old Cheap Food menu plans which originally started on MSE, again worth checking out for cheap meal ideas - https://cheapfamilyrecipes.co.uk

Hope you can find something from these websites which are useful.

mark55man

our goto when people fancy different things are jacket potatoes with a range of filllings - I think (mild) coronation chicken, and/or or tuna mayo and/or cheesy beans would meet your requirements = + stir fry with little soy sauce and some of the sweeter less spicy sauces.  It is a challenge, we once had 3 of ours as vegans including the one who didn't really like vegetables

WelshKitty85

Thanks @savingholmes. 

Thank you for the suggestions @joedenise and @mark55man. I'm currently working through the meals for xxp threads on the OS board. I'll check out the grocery challenge. The DCs & I love jacket potatoes, but DH can't stand them - something to do with as a child every meal containing potato and corned beef   

Today's grocery shop came in at £43.37 and on the meal plan is:
Ramen
Slow cooked beef dinner
Sausage & pepper pasta
Curry
BBQ chicken flatbread wraps
Crispy noodles

I might tweak this as I picked up a Lidl fruit & veg box containing potatoes, onion, leek, tomatoes, lettuce, bananas, apples, oranges, plums so I'll need to make use of this before it's passed it's best. It's screaming leek and potato soup to me.