A new royal start

Jessy103

I would happily pay you to make me three meals a day and snacks, jess! It always sounds so yummy! X

QueenJess

Thanks @Jessy103 . I keep telling my kids they are very lucky to get all this home cooked food, but I’m not sure they believe me when I say it’s not normal.

Starting work today after a bit of a fiasco yesterday. Nothing like last minute signing of contracts! Bit sad as I was enjoying being at home and baking, spending time with the kids and catching up with life admin, but I can’t do it forever as we need the money. It’s only 3 months and then considering taking December off

Just planning on surviving the week whilst I am at work and DH is in the US on business. Interestingly though, now I’m fully in charge, the kitchen is pristine (DH’s job is washing up, dishwasher and wiping down the sides), everything is organised and I’ve already trained the kids to get ready and put their used dishes in the dishwasher themselves…. He hasn’t even been gone 24 hours!

Had a last minute bake yesterday and tried out carrot and sunflower bread rolls. Started well, wasn’t sure about the amount of carrot in the middle, but then they ended up being really good! Now got 11 rolls (ate one with DS) in the freezer ready for lunches/snacks etc. Very pleased with myself as was a bit of a punt for me. Definitely will be scouring the net for my next recipe.

Dinner last night was pesto pasta with my hm carrot top pesto, broccoli, courgette and peas. Completely clean plates all round and then we all had ginger cake with hm vanilla ice cream. I’m so impressed the kids love the cake as it’s got quite a strong flavour. DD even liked the hm pesto, although DS didn’t and had his pasta plain. Just shows I should continue putting more flavour and spices into things as they aren’t as picky as they think!

Made DS a lunch box today, although I think I used the wrong containers for the wrong things. I’ll get it right next time! He has carrot and sunflower roll with cheese, carrot and cucumber sticks and yogurt. Then loads of snacks as holiday club is a long day - banana, seeded bread sticks, melon, grapes and a chia seed flapjack. He won’t starve

Right… better run and actually do some of this work…

TallGirl

Good luck with the new contract do go easy on yourself and do not overdo it doesn't sound like you have any enough time off but at least it is only 3 months and December will be great to have off. 

QueenJess

TallGirl said:

Good luck with the new contract do go easy on yourself and do not overdo it doesn't sound like you have any enough time off but at least it is only 3 months and December will be great to have off. 

It’ll be manic I’m sure - the life of a contractor though as if it was all fine they wouldn’t need me! But I do have holiday to take in these 3 months and plan to take off half term at least, so I think it’ll be fine. At least I can do the work in my sleep as I set up the whole process and all the documents in the first place!

QueenJess

Ugh.  I feel like I'm hemorrhaging money at the moment - if it isn't one thing it's another.  Today I discovered that DS has outgrown his shoes in the last couple of weeks and so he'll need 2 pairs of trainers and a pair of school shoes

I am definitely still spending too much money and have been tracking it all month, so I should start being able to work out where it is all slipping away too.  I want quality/value for my money and avoid wastage - so for example, I don't mind spending money on entrance for a really nice day out, but wouldn't want to waste money buying lunch for everyone when I could just bring it myself.  Eating lunch out with kids isn't usually good value for money for me.

As I'll be really busy at work in September, I should have less time for any spending.  I'm trying to be kind to myself and instead of cutting everything dramatically to fit to budget, I'm carefully considering my spending and aiming to cut things a bit at a time until I get down to something a bit more reasonable.  I've realised I do spend about £10 a week extra over the summer on nice fresh berries etc for everyone, but we all love them and the season will finish soon.  Then I'll use lots more frozen fruit and I've been stashing as many blackberries in my freezer as I have time to pick.  That should save me around £40 a month already.

Saying that, I think I'm going to exceed my food spending this month from that in July, so it isn't going the right way.  Although I did order myself a stash of frozen veg and fruit online (organic and in paper packaging) that was cheaper to order more.  That should last for more than just September, so I've brought forward that spending really.  Trying to at least keep a close eye on the Riverford spending each week and have been keeping it at a not unreasonable amount.  Every week I think we have too much in our fridge and everything disappears and gets eaten... we just need a lot of food for 4 of us when 3 of them seem to eat continually...

So overall I'm waiting until the end of August and need to reset for September with an aim to bring all spending down without reducing my quality of life and then will reassess again on how it's going.

Lunch today was cheese omelettes, carrot sticks, cucumber sticks and salad leaves for the kids, the adults had a fuller salad and added red pepper and spinach to the omelettes.  The kids then had apple and greek yogurt for desert, then for snacks had a hm jam biscuit and a piece of toast.  Dinner was spag bol with two more portions into the freezer and the kids had hm vanilla ice cream for dessert.  Adults will have some more of the hm ginger cake and a bit of yogurt later (the kids like it too, but it's almost gone and I think they got sick of eating it after a week!).

themadvix

Sounds like a good plan Jess! And it’s hard to resist Riverford quality, I’m with you on that.

QueenJess

themadvix said:

Sounds like a good plan Jess! And it’s hard to resist Riverford quality, I’m with you on that.

I'm a nightmare with fresh fruit and veg.  I love it so much, I'm like a child in a sweet shop with all the options and I have to be sensible and figure out how much we will realistically eat.  Saying that, DH is already looking forward to sprout season for the spicy sprout and egg lunch I make   So maybe I've rubbed off on him!

I have at least managed to reduce a portion of my weekly bills by slowly cutting down the amount of expensive cereal the kids have been eating.  Whilst DH was away in the week, they didn't have cereal at all.  They've been having eggs, banana drop scones, hm apple pancakes, croissants, yogurt and fruit instead (although obviously requires much more work from me!).  Just need to work on more bits of the food budget..

Actually will add making pancakes on my list for my day off as I am trying to only buy croissants as a treat as they are so expensive from the lovely bakery.  The kids can have pancakes instead this week as long as I have time to make them.  It's annoying that neither of them like porridge any more.

Bluegreen143

Could you sell them on overnight oats instead of porridge? It’s such a different texture and obviously cold instead of hot, that it might work? I make a version with cocoa powder, mashed banana & peanut butter in sometimes so they think they are getting a chocolatey treat for breakfast 😂

Maybe also making porridge but allowing them to be liberal with any sweet toppings they like (syrup, jam, honey, sugar, even letting them drop a few chocolate chips in) - you can wean off these later. It’s how I got my kids to accept Greek yoghurt instead of flavoured, I used to put 5 little dark chocolate chips in and they loved digging about to find them. 

QueenJess

Bluegreen143 said:

Could you sell them on overnight oats instead of porridge? It’s such a different texture and obviously cold instead of hot, that it might work? I make a version with cocoa powder, mashed banana & peanut butter in sometimes so they think they are getting a chocolatey treat for breakfast 😂

Maybe also making porridge but allowing them to be liberal with any sweet toppings they like (syrup, jam, honey, sugar, even letting them drop a few chocolate chips in) - you can wean off these later. It’s how I got my kids to accept Greek yoghurt instead of flavoured, I used to put 5 little dark chocolate chips in and they loved digging about to find them. 

Hmm.. lots to think about there.  I think I'll give it a go when it's a bit colder along with another recipe I've been saving.  Chocolate won't work with my two (DD isn't a big fan and DS doesn't like it for breakfast), but jam could work.  They love greek yogurt with "pink" (it's compote) and also love jam.  Maybe I could make it with almond milk as DS is still supposed to be eating as many almonds as possible for the next 8 months.  I've tried baked oats before and they didn't like it, so won't be getting my hopes up.

Day "off" today, so one huge load of washing done, food shopping done (think I will have spent £180 this week and my budget is £150... definitely room for improvement there, but I did add it up as I went round the shop and made some good choices, so it could have been worse).  Made a total mess in the kitchen today, but did make apple and oat pancakes ready to reheat for breakfast tomorrow (with berries and yogurt), pizza so I can reheat it later for dinner so I can actually have time to get DD to bed after getting DS back from swimming, a huge spiced pear bundt cake that smells amazing (cinnamon, cardamom and ginger) for dessert later and a loaf of bread for the freezer as we were getting low.  I then cleaned the entire kitchen and as usual DH walks in about 30s after I had put the hoover away and finished clearing up.

I keep revisiting the budget and to be honest, we just don't have quite enough in certain categories and I refuse to increase the overall budget as it seems such a huge amount of money and I am being left with less and less for a rainy day.  The issue is really the mortgage and nursery which is most of the budget, so I'm going to have to accept things will be tighter than I would like for another year.  However, it is temporary.  I might have to increase the budget given everything keeps going up, but will have a think about it in another couple of months when I see how things are going.

Back to work tomorrow for the rest   Better run to get DS to swimming.

QueenJess

Ooh - I just remembered, but I treated myself to a thyme plant from the supermarket. I seem to remember they pack them in too tight, which is I assume why they never survive? I split it into two plants, but am wondering if I should have done 3. I have a very sunny kitchen windowsill that is perfect for them, so in theory I should be able to keep them alive. Any tips?