A new royal start

QueenJess

Back to reality today after the long weekend.  Just as well really as the 2 week holiday for Easter was hitting my wallet quite hard!  Cooking in advance is definitely the way to save for me, with DS now needing bigger portions and DD eating the same amount or more than DS!

Decided I needed to use up some spices/herbs that have been sat in the drawer for too long, so almost everything will need to have some spice or herbs in it going forward.  On the plus side I want to use them more anyway, so hopefully it'll become a habit.  Today's lunch is in the oven - veg and sweet potato curry pasties along with banana oat bars to fill up the oven.  We will have the pasties with a side salad for lunch.  I am only having a quick dinner later (probably cheese, bread and fruit) as I have gym tonight; DH is making pesto pasta for the kids.  No desserts for me today, but the kids have leftover Easter egg and DH has the banana oat bars and some more chocolate buns I made a few days ago.

Need to pop out to get yogurt this lunchtime, but otherwise am trying hard to spend as little as I can on food as we are at risk of overspending again this month.  I think it's due to DH just "picking things up" on the way back from places as he's been out and about with DS over Easter.  I'm just doing top up shops for things I need until May to keep the budget under control for this month.

QueenJess

Up early this morning to get the baking done (DH took the kids to school/nursery).  We talked to a neighbour recently about their solar panels as I was interested in how they were working out and they said the one thing they really notice is when the oven is on.  I guess that's not really new information, but I keep thinking about that and so I am trying to fill up the oven whenever I put it on.  So this morning I made a batch of cheese and wild garlic scones (with a pinch of cayenne pepper) and a pear, ginger and redcurrant crumble (yep, still got redcurrants from my huge redcurrant bush from last year).

I also made a compote (with apple, blackberries picked for free last year, more redcurrants and a star anise) for use with yogurt later in the week.  This morning I had the last kiwi with a satsuma, yogurt, chia seeds and hm granola (which has cinnamon in) for breakfast.  Lunch will be poached eggs with leeks, sesame seeds, mushrooms and garlic.  Dinner will be hm pizzas to use up the mozerella - I shall top the adult one with purple broccoli, sundried tomatoes, red peppers and I always put garlic and oregano in the tomato sauce. I might even make a side salad if I have the energy by then.  Dessert will be the crumble of course with hm ice cream or evaporated milk that I found in the cupboard earlier.

Better get on with some work now!

QueenJess

Well it's 9:30am and I've already made a Madeira cake for later (I have some old eggs that need using pretty sharpish).  I couldn't think of anything else to go into the oven with it though and now feel a bit guilty about that....  Yesterday though I made 2 loaves of bread instead of doing one at a time to fill the oven up.  Actually it was better this way and should save me lots of time.  I cut them all up and freeze them as consumption of bread varies wildly in this household.

Need to pick up some baked beans at lunchtime as I plan on making hm chips, beans and eggs for dinner for me and the kids (DH is out with friends for dinner).  There is cake or crumble for dessert (I may have my cake this afternoon.... it's been a long week!).  Lunch is clearing up leftovers in the fridge, so the last of the vegetable curry pasties and a large salad.

Tiny money news as I cashed out £25 from Opinium.  It all helps.

Better get back to work.

LadyWithAPlan

As always I am delighted about your recipes 
and LOVING those hm eggs! 

I am also trying to reduce my spices cupboard but I am having a sudden love of cumin seeds especially as they go so well with beans so they are going on everything ! 

South_coast

Baked beans are very easy to make, if you wanted to give those a whirl? I tell myself I made the switch because they're less processed (which was a big factor), but the thing that really pushed me over the edge was how much they had gone up in price 😱!

TallGirl

Another one for making your own beans. I do not like tinned baked beans but Nigella does a Boston Bean that is just lush (takes ages to make but does freeze well). Cake for lunch is definitely allowed on a Friday.

QueenJess

@LadyWithAPlan Lol... you know what I mean    I really should be the type of person to make my own baked beans... I even gave a recipe for it to my mum, but there is a large consumption of it here (DD would have them for every meal if I let her) and it's the lazy and easy option.  Saying that, my organic ones (no weird ingredients in) are £1 a tin, so not cheap.  This is probably on my long list of things I'd like to do if I ever get enough time (sat there with the sourdough bread ).  I also love cumin seeds - those don't last long around here.

Right now I am working full time, so I just don't have any time whilst DH is doing 4 days a week on average, but cuts right down over the summer on his weird schedule.  Over the kids summer holidays he only does 2 days a week!  At least that is a win for keeping down kids childcare costs.

As it's nearly the end of the month already, I am looking carefully at spending.  I have £45 left to spend on food tomorrow to be £2 under the grocery budget for the month BUT I went so over in March that I am back to the level of negative budget I had at the start of the year.  So £2 isn't really going to cut it.  On the plus side, DH gave me £100 voucher for food shopping that he had stored up on his credit card points, but I need to make sure I am spending less than the budget to get the deficit down.  I am looking carefully at what I have in the cupboards and making sure I will only get the minimum I need to get through the week as I plan to shop again next weekend anyway.  There will be a lot of using up in May and I shall be getting my thinking cap on to make lots of nice things to keep DH away from buying stuff.

The kids loved the dinner last night and there were clean plates all round - even for DS who had the same amount as me!  The cake also went down very well.  Felt like a cheap dinner.  Dinner tonight is spag bol which we already had a frozen portion of in the freezer.  I was thinking of buying chicken for tomorrow, but now I'm thinking of making something else instead as chicken is expensive.  I have fish in the freezer and also those cooked chicken portions I got for DS's lunch but for some reason he has stopped eating.  Both of these could be made into a decent meal.  Will give it some thought today.  I do have a fair amount of veg and so I could make a stir fry although not sure if DD would eat that.  I will make some gingerbread tomorrow for the kids and they also have hm popcorn and fruit for snacks.

Budget for next month to reduce my deficit by around £50 (which I think is achievable) is as follows:

• Riverford £40 a week
• Zero waste shop 3x£35
• SM £70 a week
• Other £50 total (top up milk shops, odd stock up shop from other places etc)

I usually come under the Riverford target and the zero waste target, so it's the latter two places that I need to watch more carefully.  Maybe I should price up my list for the sm before I go as I find that usually concentrates the mind on what I could eject from the list.

On some positive news, I've cancelled two after school clubs next week - one because DH isn't working that day and another because he has a paid for after school sports thing which takes him to 4:30 and DH has agreed to pick him up early.  I just get credit back as less than 2 weeks notice, but I will use these from any holiday club days we need to use in the summer.  I've also got an interview in a couple of weeks (my current contract ends June) for a job I didn't apply for, but a previous place has asked if I can come potentially come back to do a different role.

QueenJess

Talking of using up spices in the drawer - I am getting low on mixed spice.  I was randomly browsing mse and found someone who said they make their own.  I can't believe I've never thought about doing that given it is obviously a mix of spices from the name, but it's never occurred to me that it literally is a few common spices mixed up together    I guess you learn something everyday...!

QueenJess

Well somehow I managed to spend £100 yesterday on food (although actual cost to me was £0 as I used the gift voucher DH gave me).  I've studied the receipt, considered what costs the most and realised I did overbuy a little.  I did slip some ys organic chicken in there though.  I think I've worked out that £150 is probably ok per week for food, but the problem is I include all personal care, medicines and cleaning stuff in there which is where it gets a bit tight.  To say nothing of xmas and having people over.  However, given the May - August period are the months I know we are being squeezed from all sides with horrible nursery bill and other increases and I really don't want to add more to the joint account and take from any savings I am making.  So just looking for damage limitation from now until DD goes to school in September and then I will slowly wind down the joint account payments we put in (and increase the food budget) until we are back on an even keel.

It wouldn't be my diary without food in it and I am still working through using up what I can from the cupboards/fridge/freezer to hopefully help with the food bills.  Today we used up the last of the veggie sausages that I discovered at the bottom of the chest freezer when we defrosted it with mashed potato, carrots, greens, purple broccoli and hm onion gravy.  Clean plates all round.  DD had yogurt and a hm gingerbread unicorn for dessert (and a tiny bit of Easter egg as she has loads left!).  DS will have the last slice of Madeira cake that's out (rest is in freezer) and DH and I are having the last of the pear, redcurrant and ginger crumble with custard.  Lunch today was all leftover based for DH and I (he had pesto pasta and I had pizza and salad).

Tomorrow I will make a big macaroni and cheese with cauliflower and another vegetable tbd and will get the remaining half of the buns out of the fridge to ice for dessert.  Lunch for DH and I will be salad with tinned mackerel (which also uses up a few extra cooked potatoes I threw in the fridge and start making inroads into the green lentils pack that is past BBE).

ladysummerisle

Hello @QueenJess - I’ve been reading your diary over the past week or so (maybe more!) so thought I’d say hi. Similar demographic here with a soon to be 4 DD and DS 8. It kept me reading I had to keep reading to find out how things turned out!

I managed to take time off over Easter and managed to bake and cook more but nowhere near your level. My burning question is:

do you have this book? https://www.worldofbooks.com/en-gb/products/green-roasting-tin-book-rukmini-iyer-9781910931899