A new royal start

QueenJess

The cheapest weekly shop ever today - £31 supermarket and £25 Riverford (fresh fruit and veg). Freezer is still groaning!  Long may it continue…. I did spy the Easter eggs going on sale before New Year - what are they thinking?!

Relaxing day today - DS is going to a birthday party so will stay in and play games and do colouring with DD. Lunch was leek and potato soup with the last of the part cooked rolls in the freezer. Dinner is going to be fish cakes with a winter salad (lambs lettuce, onion, red and white cabbage and carrot, possibly with some sort of mustard sauce). Dessert is apple and blackberry crumble with cream or the last slice of Xmas cake.

My spare candle wicks arrived in the post today, so I am going to use those with the tea light casings I’ve saved and the leftover candle wax that never quite disappears. Cheap candles from waste!

QueenJess

Enjoying my last weekend before the work chaos hits.  Too cold outside, so we are hibernating inside today and having a generally lazy day.  At least it'll be cheap!  Off to make an orange and apricot cake in a minute as there is nothing as cheering as a slice of hm cake to eat at work.

Lunch today will be a big winter mackerel salad (grated beetroot, grated carrot, lambs lettuce, mackerel, orange segments, hm mustard dressing leftover from last night and whatever other random veg I throw into it) for the adults.  DS will have more of the hm leek and potato soup (saving 1 portion for my work lunch tomorrow) and DD is having leftover beans from the fridge on toast.  That'll clear the fridge out a bit!  I also have a few too many oranges, so it'll clear those down too.  Dinner will be spaghetti and meatballs and dessert is apple and blackberry crumble with cream.

Still got an overflowing freezer, full cupboards (and a full baking cupboard) and loads of veg.  Still got xmas treats unopened and hm mince pies in the freezer.  I'm trying to break the habit of drinking daily which is weird for me - I suspect going back to a busy work schedule will sort that out though.  Fingers crossed for a cheap month of food!

TallGirl

Your lunch sounds heaven I love a good hearty salad. Funnily enough over here they sell a lot of "salat" in the shops they are basically always mayo based so you have a Russian one which is beetroot and mayo, Italian which is carrots and peas in mayo and chicken salat which is chicken in you guessed it mayo. It is mainly for open sandwiches and nothing to do with Salad. 

Agree with staying indoor and cooking it is just too cold.  

QueenJess

Well I survived the horrible week at work I was dreading the most, but am absolutely knackered now.  I did scupper my own progress with the grocery budget this week by shopping in a semi-zombie state and getting too excited about all the offers/ys in the meat section...  somehow I managed to spend £148 in the sm    I then spent 30 mins rearranging the freezer to get it all in.  Maybe I need to allow myself ys purchases, but restrict them to 2-3 items per week to make sure we actually get through it all!  I did better outside of sm purchases as I only spent £10 in the zero waste shop and didn't even get a Riverford delivery this week as we only needed the odd thing that I got from the sm.

I did an excellent job on the fridge this week and before I went shopping it was basically bare apart from some veg.  I was impressed with myself on Weds when I was the only person in for lunch and I used loads of leftovers from the fridge - leftover salmon, leftover stir fry veg and leftover boiled potatoes.  Made a really nice lunch.  As we had fish with a cheese sauce on Tues (basically a deconstructed fish pie) and I misjudged the sauce and had too much, I turned the leftover cheese sauce into a lovely pasta dish with leeks, kale and smoked salmon that me and DH had for lunch yesterday.

Thursday night I worked horrible hours and so took a very long lunch break yesterday.  Made loads of stuff - 2 batches of banana drop scones with the blackened bananas, 3 jars of redcurrant jelly (from frozen redcurrants from our crazily sized bush in the back garden) as we have just finished the last jar (the kids love it in sandwiches) and an apple and blackberry eve's pudding.  I'm not less tired, but it did make me feel better!

Lunch today was leek, pea and cheese orzotto as everyone loves it.  A bit leftover, but DD is eating enough for two children at the moment (growth spurt), so I am sure she will polish that one off later.  The kids have gone to the park with DH (too cold for me) and I've made them some flapjacks with cranberries and sultanas to munch on when they get back.  Dinner will be spicy (for the adults) chicken with chips and mixed veg - easy meal that DH makes so I get a break from cooking!  Eve's pudding with custard for dessert for the adults - DS doesn't like it but will probably have bananas and custard instead with DD.

I found loads of frozen bananas in the freezer so am considering making some chocolate banana bread tomorrow.  DS and DD both like it and then DS can put it in his lunch box in the week.  I might also make some random veg soup as I have loads of veg scraps in the freezer to use up and then it will do me for lunches at work next week.

I love food.  Can anyone tell? 

edinburgher

QueenJess said:

I love food.  Can anyone tell? 

TBH I think it's a bloody miracle you fit in any living you do so much cooking, never mind a job! 😂

CCW007

QueenJess said:

Lunch today was leek, pea and cheese orzotto as everyone loves it.  

I think it must be your diary I discovered this on, it's become a firm favourite in our house.

Well done on surviving the week!

QueenJess

edinburgher said:

QueenJess said:

I love food.  Can anyone tell? 

TBH I think it's a bloody miracle you fit in any living you do so much cooking, never mind a job! 😂

Lol.  The full time job definitely eats into my home time too much     I do absolutely prioritise eating above everything though!  This morning I got up and cut up a load of butternut squash and red pepper whilst making the kids breakfast (porridge).  When I got back from dropping them off at school I chucked the veg in the oven whilst I worked and then turned it into soup at lunchtime.  I've also been organised and cut up veg for a chicken casserole this evening that I put into the slow cooker at lunchtime, so no need for any more cooking today!

@CCW007 I'm glad it's a favourite in your household as well.  We had a little bit left over and DD had it yesterday as a starter.

Trying to get the kids off screens so much, but I am the one that lays down the law in this house.  DH is so relaxed he's horizontal, so sadly it's mainly up to me to try and change things.  DD is incredibly high maintenance, so sometimes we do need some time.  Yesterday was quite successful - I got home from work, had dinner (cooked by DH!), then DD read to me and we played some games of snap before her bedtime.  DS played Uno with DH and then built some of his Lego.  No screens required and to be honest I've had enough of staring at screens by the time I get home.

Better get back to work!

QueenJess

Been a VERY expensive week so far.  Went into the office 3 times, TV licence came out, deposit for holiday booked in October 2025 (for October 2026), DH's bday present and I took him out for an expensive meal (it's a major birthday today).  Hoping it'll be cheaper next week, but I do have to get DS's birthday presents.  Too many birthdays in Jan and Feb.

Failed a bit in the sm today as I was ordered to purchase steak for dinner tonight for DH's birthday and then stumbled across some ys items.  My freezer is now completely full.  Nothing else is going to fit in there, so I cannot actually buy any more ys items.  Now going to be buying the absolute minimum for the rest of Jan!  I also did a massive stock up of everything in the zero waste shop as you get 5% for the 11th shop, so I save some more expensive items until that shop.  Again, no need to go there at all next week bar egg buying requirements.  sm spend £128 and zero waste shop £56.  Riverford was £28.

I have been tracking weekly spend this week and have allocated myself a weekly budget based on my part of the joint account spend and all of my own personal spend.  The budget is based on paying down the joint account and being able to overpay the mortgage in the year.  Just trying something new to keep me on track as it's a lot quicker to change things in a week than monthly and I want to discover the small bits and pieces where money leaks away.  Will see how it goes.  I am over this week a little bit because of DH's birthday and the other annual costs that unfortunately came out this week.  Next week should be much better.

The vague plan in my head is Jan - April to mend the joint account, May - August to build up pots and then Sep - Dec to overpay the mortgage by hopefully reducing the amount needed in the joint account.  However, it all really depends on whether I'm employed or not and how much the pay is.  My contract ends early Feb and no idea what's happening with it given all the changes at work.  I'm speaking to my new boss on Monday about it.  No idea what might happen and not even decided in my head what I will do!

DH has gone out with DS for lunch.  Dinner is steak, chips, tomatoes and mushrooms.  Dessert will be a massive chocolate marble cake that's currently in the oven for DH's birthday.  The kids are in charge of putting the candles on the cake, so should be interesting.  I hope they don't match the number of candles to DH's age 

Edit: This is will make you laugh. At work one of the people can be a bit grumpy and he wasn’t happy one morning after a rubbish commute and long hours the day before. I handed him one of my hm ginger biscuits dipped in dark chocolate and his whole face lit up. I think I made his day and he was as happy as Larry all day 😂

Jessy103

I would be very happy if you gave me ginger biscuits dipped in chocolate too! x

QueenJess

Well somehow this weekend I managed to spend £117 on the food shopping at the sm despite no meat and no ys hauls.  I did buy a few expensive ingredients to make DS's birthday cake, but otherwise I am still confused at the price.  No Riverford this week as I didn't need enough to make the minimum so grabbed bits in the sm instead and nothing needed at the zero waste shop.  Definitely need to do better, although next week will be the food for DS's party so unlikely to be a really cheap week and DS is also requesting steak and chips for Sunday's dinner.  DD is eating more than anyone else and has grown 2cm in two weeks   I might price it all up next week pre-purchasing to try and cut down the spend a bit more.

Other than food, spending was pretty minimal this week and hoping for another cheapish week next week.  Today I made biscuits as we had run out  and a Dundee cake to keep us going for a while.  Already packed my lunch for work tomorrow which is leftover stir fry from Friday.

Agreed with work to stay on for another 6 months (it's all they offered this time, although all the management changes are getting confusing tbh).  I'm mainly left to my own devices at the moment which suits me and I could do with the cash to sort out the joint account and build up some funds.