Getting shot of the mortgage sooner than 2049!

joedenise

@Bluegreen143 I often do my own version of KFC at home and don't use any flour just dip in egg and seasoned wholemeal breadcrumbs and then bake for about 30 minutes at 200 degrees turning the tray halfway through.  Much healthier than flouring and frying!  I season the breadcrumbs with S&P, mustard powder, smoked paprika, onion powder and garlic powder.

I know you said you were trying to eat more healthily so thought I'd let you know how I make mine a bit healthier than the real thing!

Savingtomove

@Bluegreen143 just caught up on your diary and will be following along! We have children about the same age and you have motivated me to get back the the 1000 hours outside pledge! Well after I have got over covid…..

Porridgecat

Good to see you back and posting again Bluegreen.

tryingtodobetter

I always enjoying reading your diary Bluegreen, it always motivates me to do more. I love the idea of 1000 hours outside, I'm definitely going to aim for this with DS3.

Bluegreen143

Good tip on defrosting the chicken in a bowl of water. We ended up leaving it in the freezer for next weekend - Red went to buy some chicken breasts (he hasn’t said how much and I’m keeping quiet hoping he forgets to reclaim the money from the joint account 🤣) and made a huge vat of chicken tomato pasta, so we had some tonight and put some in the freezer.

Lovely day today - met two friends and their littles at a nearby country park. Two hours of outdoor time added to my total (22.5 hours for the year so far so quite a way to go to get anywhere near 1,000!!! But I’m aiming to ramp up over the year…). We did go to the cafe for lunch though which was lovely - came to £23.10. Slightly unnecessary spend but extended the time we could stay out for as the smallest ones would have gotten too cold for a picnic. 

Also baked some oaty bars with jam in the middle for Monkey’s school snacks. They are somewhat sugary but tasty! Half with the end of a jar of strawberry jam and half with fig jam my sister made 🙂

Thanks to all of you for dropping by my diary and leaving your kind comments! Glad to hear some of you are interested in 1,000 hours outdoors. Makes me feel less mad 😆

Bluegreen143

It’s Money Monday today and I’m trying to get in the habit of doing this every week (along with Tuesday Tasks tomorrow) so I’ve popped it in my phone calendar as a recurring event 😆

YNAB is all up to date, it’s looking very tight but there is only a week to Red’s payday (I can’t remember if it’s Friday or Monday). No significant plans this week so it really just means being fairly sensible with the food shopping. 

Mealplan for today:

B - kids had cereal, I had Greek yoghurt & chocolate chips

L - unsure what I’ll have yet - there may be enough leftovers from last night or else I’ll make a toastie or sandwich

D - lentil & ham soup - I simmered up the ham haugh last night already so the stock is done. May see if there is any nice bread in the little Tesco next to the nursery though.

Bluegreen143

Just got my veg box - a new company I’m trying out. Bit disappointed tbh. The stuff was fine but really basic fruit & veg and it seemed much less than I used to get from local greengrocer’s veg box but cost more. Plus it’s a National scheme I think so not even supporting a smaller business as I was before. Have cancelled DD and sent an email. 

Considering signing back up to the greengrocer’s box tbh though I think they have a waiting list. It was sometimes hard to use it all up but they offer the option to get one box a fortnight so I could do that, and just top up in between with salad and fruit. I liked how I got into the habit of using different seasonal things like beetroot, fresh peas etc instead of buying all the same veg.

EDIT for reference I got:

- bag of spinach 
- celery
- 3x carrots
- giant onion
- red onion
- mushrooms
- 3x satsumas
- 5x mixed apples
- 2x kiwi
- 2x plums
- potatoes 
- grapefruit 
- 3x big tomatoes 
- cucumber
- butternut squash

Pricing it up at the supermarket it’d have cost about £12 according to the Tesco app whereas the box was £19. I don’t necessarily mind veg boxes costing more as they stuff tends to be better quality, but when I tried out pricing the greengrocer’s box last summer it came to cheaper than the equivalent SM cost, having lots of fresh peaches and berries and corn on the cob in (though maybe not fair to compare because summer fruit is more expensive). 

joedenise

I agree with you @Bluegreen143 that doesn't seem much for £19.  Your local greengrocer sounds much better value.  Might be worth getting onto his waiting list and hope you don't have to wait too long to start getting a fortnightly box.  Unfortunately we don't have anywhere local that does veg boxes it's just national companies and when I tried them I wasn't very impressed with what I got.  Much better to just try to buy seasonal veg at the SM until you can get back onto your old veg box scheme.

Baileys_Babe

I would like to get a regular vegetable box from a local supplier but I can not find one.

We are currently trialling a national scheme and I am disappointed with the quality.

Many years ago we used to get a regular vegetable box, we found it was good at keeping us out of a rut as we needed to be inventive to make the most of it. We had to stop getting them from this supplier as we moved out of their catchment area and we have never found a replacement.

themadvix

Not sure whether you're talking about organic ones or not, but I know a few of us have R1erford on here and I couldn't be happier with their ethos, ethics and products. Happy to refer you if you'd like to try (£15 for me and £15 for you), but appreciate that this may be overbudget when feeding a growing family!