A new royal start

LadyWithAPlan

themadvix said:

The Kashmiri chili mix is available in WR as Deggi Mirch (another Dishoom recipe book fan here). It’s lovely 😊 Have yet to make the house daal, but have found an IP recipe online to speed things up. Am quite surprised the book doesn’t include pressure cooker times as my Indian friend swears by his (stove top) PC for cooking.

 Great find on the YS organic chicken!

I also love my pressure cooker, I made my 1st chicken stock of autumn 24 today in it.  Its an 6 in one though, the stove tops are scary!

themadvix

Absolutely LaPlan, I love my instant pot but would be terrified of a stove top one. His English wife (my school friend) would much prefer he got an electric one (especially with two small children), but I don’t think she’s had any success!

QueenJess

My mum always used a stove top pressure cooker.  I hated that thing though, although mainly because it cooked falling apart potatoes and just bland veg.

Somehow today I managed to get lots done despite having slept very badly (not helped by me keeping seeing DD on the monitor without her duvet on and I kept having to tuck her back in as she was freezing - silly girl!).  Work completed, a small portion of my August pay went into pension and savings, 2 loads of washing done and hung up, Riverford boxes away and beds all changed.  I also baked bread at lunch time (I started it first thing so it could prove), then also made some really nice butter biscuits and a pear and blackberry crumble.

Dinner today was tofu stir fry with as many different types of veg that I could put in and noodles.  DD wasn't hungry for a second dinner and DS used up the last half of the baked beans with a slice of toast.  Kids are munching the hm biscuits with warm milk for afters.  I will have some of the crumble with my hm blackberry ripple ice cream later.

We've also booked ourselves a holiday for half term.  Nothing ostentatious, just a trip in the UK and I will bake lots before hand so we have lunches and desserts pre-made.  It should all work in the budget if I continue to keep the food spending under control and is part of the reason for keepimng this under control so I can afford to do nice things with the kids.

themadvix

The trip in half term sounds lovely and a great incentive to keep on top of food spends.

 Funny what you say about pressure cooked potatoes! I love them cooked in the IP - Don’t mind them falling apart but more importantly it must do something to them molecularly, because they smell/taste different to normally cooked potatoes. They take me right back to early childhood when my Nan would cook us potatoes in the PC to go with beef casserole (before I became vegetarian and my mum stopped us eating beef (BSE) - rather a long time ago now!).

QueenJess

themadvix said:

The trip in half term sounds lovely and a great incentive to keep on top of food spends.

 Funny what you say about pressure cooked potatoes! I love them cooked in the IP - Don’t mind them falling apart but more importantly it must do something to them molecularly, because they smell/taste different to normally cooked potatoes. They take me right back to early childhood when my Nan would cook us potatoes in the PC to go with beef casserole (before I became vegetarian and my mum stopped us eating beef (BSE) - rather a long time ago now!).

It’s a texture thing I think. I like them mashed and also just boiled, but I dislike this halfway house. It was possibly just the way my mum made them as she hated cooking.

Ive worked a full 5 days at work (agreed to do this for the 4 weeks it’s most busy and then I get half term off for free). I haven’t done that for a year and I hate it! The stuff I do on my day off is what makes a quality of life for me and I definitely don’t want to give it up. I’m also completely knackered. Only another 3 weeks to go 😬.

A quiet weekend ahead. Am waiting for DS to finish at gymnastics and DD and DH have gone out to see DH’s friend and his daughter. So I am taking DS to a museum around the corner from gymnastics when he’s finished. It’s one of those ones that you pay once for the whole year and we must have been about 10 times since we first went in December, so we’ve had our money’s worth! Will grab lunch there, but it’s really cheap as you can get hm soup with a piece of bread for very little. I also need to make some more granola later as we are getting low.  Tomorrow DD has a party to pop out to in the middle of the day, but otherwise no other plans. Might take them back to one of the big parks that they love and has some amazing kids equipment there.

Dinner later is spiced chicken with hm chips (I have too many potatoes again, but leek season is starting so I’m sure they will both end up in soup very soon!) and tons of veg - carrots, broccoli and kale. Dessert is probably more warm milk and hm biscuits for the kids or yogurt and apple. We will have the pear and blackberry crumble with more hm blackberry ripple ice cream. Might see if DH fancies making everyone scrambled eggs for tomorrows breakfast as I have some smoked salmon in the freezer and some avocado that needs using up.

QueenJess

As I have a mild cold, I think I will plead illness and not do the drive to work this week. It takes 3 hours out of my day and with working more than full time already, my quality of life is taking a big hit. This way I can slowly catch up with myself. Otherwise I am ill every weekend as a result of working 5 days which isn’t sustainable.

Starting to go through my winter wardrobe and there’s a number of things that don’t really fit anymore (think I’ve lost weight a bit) and others that aren’t my style anymore. DS’s new school has a textile bank thing that they get money for, which sounded like a good thing. I looked up online what they accept and notice the firm sends everything to Africa, so it looks like it will just add to the big landfill clothes nightmare they have over there. They are all nice things, so I might offer them for free on Buy Nothing instead and if not, drop them off at a local charity shop. At least they’ll more likely be used then (I hope).

I was also looking earlier online at my absolute favourite ethical clothes place for a new jumper as I seem to be a bit lacking in them for this winter (and I feel the cold badly). They were on sale, but then I saw the exact size and colour I wanted was put on Vinted earlier, so I grabbed it for £5 including postage. Absolute bargain. Just hope they actually send it as I’ve had a lot of people not send anything recently.

Trying to not feel bad about buying another couple of things I needed for winter on Vinted. I know they say use things for longer and get them repaired/refitted etc, but the reality is that life changes and your style changes over time. I mean, how many 80 year olds do you see wearing the same clothes as when they were 15?! I do repair clothes and look after them as much as I can and I never buy ultra fast fashion (even second hand), I mostly only buy second hand and try to get decent quality as much as possible. Just feeling randomly guilty about it, although it’s more an industry issue than mine really. It does feel like I buy a lot, but it’s mainly due to two growing kids and I don’t know anyone round here, so no hand me downs.

Been browsing recipes again for inspiration, although no firm plans yet on what I will make in the week (assuming I get some time). I might make a batch of leek and potato soup tomorrow as DS would happily have that in his thermos flask for school and there are two leeks sat in the veg drawer waiting. It also saves me making my lunch for a couple of days. Can’t wait until I’m less busy and can make more food again! I have my eye on a cinnamon roll recipe for that..

Edit: I did also find some cheap second hand good condition socks that DS loves, so at least spending was minimal on those!  Otherwise it always seems to be something with the kids... school clubs, gymnastics badge, swimming certificates, grown out of clothes, car seats etc.  They are expensive!

QueenJess

Work is completely mental.. I was working until midnight last night and looks like it’ll be the same tonight 😬. Struggling to keep everything under control and I’m mainly ignoring everything else as it should all be over by the end of next week and be “normal” work. Got up early this morning to do the food shop before work. I’m so busy that anything that I thought we could live without for the next week was ruthlessly ejected from the list. So I ended up spending £49 in the supermarket (after vouchers/discounts), Riverford will be £40 this week and I spent £7 in the zero waste shop. So only £96! However…. I was knackered and hungry (no time for breakfast), so I got everyone pasties in the bakery for a total cost of £10. Still way under the £150 budget though and I might even treat us to a farm shop beef pie (which are amazing, but very expensive so are a treat) for the weekend for an easy dinner. Even after that I’m going to be under budget 😎. Just need to keep this up!

Lunch today was leftover hm leek and potato soup that I made on Monday with a hm spinach roll. Dinner is hm pizza (already made them earlier so I can just reheat), with my favourite goats cheese on mine (lovely with red onion and sun dried toms). Dessert is a lovely hm beetroot chocolate cake with raspberries and a dollar of yogurt. No one will say they starve in our house!

The next couple of days will be fun with work manic and DH away for two days so I am on my own. He works an average 4 days a week over the year, but I never seem to benefit from that and it’s me running around doing all the washing, changing the beds, baking, cooking, food shopping… I really hope DH will be able to do more next week. Tomorrow I will start the bread off early whilst the kids are having breakfast so it can prove whilst I’m working. May squeeze in making some flapjacks quickly at lunchtime as well. Lots of easy food in the fridge for lunches/dinners tomorrow - leftover pizza, pasta bake and leek and potato soup. We shall not starve!

Bluegreen143

What’s helped us is we made a list (together) of all the things which need done on a daily and weekly basis and stuck it up in the dining room. Red will check the list if he has some time versus waiting for me to ask for him to do something as he’s now got better sight of what actually needs done. 

Jessy103

Gosh Jess, I'm exhausted just reading that! I hope work quietens down soon for you, so you can catch a break and get some rest x

QueenJess

It’s been an incredibly long week, but the madness is nearly over as the finishing line is Tuesday pm. Just a bit more to get through and then the work will be a more normal again. I did suggest to work that they could get me in to run this every year, so fingers crossed I will be securing myself 3 months of work a year. Just got another 9 months to find!

Money just feels like it’s in a pending state at the moment whilst I need more cash funds since i don’t have secure work and DD is in her final year of nursery. However, I couldn’t bear the untidy mortgage account any longer and so using £65ish of savings to round it down to £125,200. I’ve also started rounding my personal account and making sure extra funds from surveys etc get swept into a savings account as another route to boost my savings.

Next month will be the first month of extra joint contributions and a slightly higher budget. I’m hoping I don’t need the higher grocery budget anymore and can use it to add to the holiday fund (or actually pay down the October one that’s on the CC but not payable until November). I’ve upped the general child fund as I am always over on that. I think I just under estimated how much I spend on them, but stuff really adds up. I am having a little look to see if it’s reasonable spend or if I can cut it down. It’s basically specific child spending - so eg clothes, gifts, birthday parties, school trips etc. It may be a mix of under estimation and over spending, but I need to check as I didn’t think I did buy them much outside of stuff they need.

Bring on October I say… back to 4 days a week working, a week of holiday and a shiny new budget. DH’s parents are coming to visit today (been absolutely ages), so we are going to the local farm shop for lunch. Dinner will be the pies from the same shop with a load of veg from the fridge. There is only one slice of chocolate cake left, so I will make some baked apples to have with yogurt. The apples were free ones that someone locally was getting rid of