When life sends you lemons..... Well I guess you just knuckle down

Lemon_Tree

You sounds so much more organised than I've ever been with meal planning, we always seem to fall back on the same things. I'll have to give that, method a go

Naomim

Lemon_Tree wrote: »

You sounds so much more organised than I've ever been with meal planning, we always seem to fall back on the same things. I'll have to give that, method a go

It took a while to do it, but I'm also a spreadsheet lover so shoved it all on there and split into weeks to play about with. I don't think I can post attachments on here but happy to sen it over if you DM me.

Naomim

EssexHebridean

Another idea with meal planning is to divide the nights of the week into categories. So you might have an egg night (omelettes, frittata, poached or scrambled eggs on toast...) a pasta night (bolognese, mac cheese, lasagne...) a rice night (paella, risotto, special fried...) and an "easy" night (tinned soup and bread, things "on toast", jacket tatties...) - then Fridays can be "& chips" - fishfingers & peas, burgers - that sort of thing, so a bit more of a treat at the end of the week. Sunday roast is a lot of people's family standard of course, and Saturdays can be a great chance for the kids to get involved maybe making pizzas or something like that? Absolutely don't be afraid to put some dead easy quick options in there though - we all have those nights where we just CBA after a day at work, after all, and it's easier to have some standards ready for that.

I agree with Naomi that the best place to start is with a list of meals that everyone likes though - if you're cooking stuff that the whole family will eat that's a lot easier than this thing that so many people seem to do now of having separate meals for half the household - blow that for a lark, life's too short! (And that can also teach the art of compromise - if on Monday night you have a favourite of child 1 - then child 2 gets told that one of their favourites will feature another night!)

I think I'm going to fully launch into Freezcember next week - I really want to a) get through some of the contents and b) not spend much on food for the rest of the month!

Naomim

I tend to say Saturday is no/low cook night, so its pizza or something I can shove in the oven easily. I need to embrace freezcember. ��

EssexHebridean

Freezcember is definitely working for me - ours is looking all wide open empty spaces now! :T

Also a fan of no/low cook weekend evening meals. Cheese and crackers features heavily on our meal plans for just that reason!

Lemon_Tree

Darn it just lost my previous post.
Well done Eh on Frozember, we're still continuing, so much so that I'm considering moving stuff indoor from the outside freezer.
I've been quiet but I'm still chipping away, I've been ill, and have spent money on DS's bedroom that may be I should have waited to spend but it was a quality of life issue.
I've received the bank switching bonus so that's been used to set up the pots of funds for petrol and towards the housekeeping fund so at least that's not money being spents from next months pay each month.

jwil

Hope you are feeling better now x

Lemon_Tree

jwil wrote: »

Hope you are feeling better now x

Thanks I'm feeling a bit better now, just 3 weeks into the cold now. It can do one though to be honest.

I'm currently working on the Christmas gift for people from the kids, they're Christmas chocolates, very mse and actually look quite good, certainly better than just a bar of chocolate each.

I'm keeping upto date with the finances and next year's budget, next month hinges round whether we have to make a mortgage payment as we're remortgaging. If we don't not only will we not have to raid savings to pay the credit card but we'll get the full housekeeping pot saved up and a few other bits sorted. Fingers crossed but I won't really know until it all goes through

Lemon_Tree

Today I was given my winnings from an office sweep stake, I've still to be paid for my share of the other sweepstake but it has meant I definitely don't need to withdraw December's pocket money. I've also been selling some odds and ends so that has helped me not need to take out the pocket money, I may even put some away in my hidden purse towards a takeaway to be had on a camping holiday next year.

I'm so tired at the moment, I think knowing I'm not allowed to take more than the odd day in addition to weekends and bank Holidays until the end of July has hit along with the general tiredness from a year in which I feel I haven't really stopped all that much. I'm considering trying to get an additional day off over the holidays from my 2 remaining days left until March, but then I'm worried about getting snowed in etc.

Lemon_Tree

Have people seen the thread on the 20 20's in 2020? I think I'm going to join in, so far I've only thought of 13 items but I think it may be a good way of addressing a few issue that need tackling.