Simple living in the country - back to basics

South_coast

Good luck with the new diary and the UFM Cheery 😀! I particularly like the simple living idea. With work lunches, I have to batch cook them, or I'd be in a flap every single day. I'll cook up something which does 6-8 portions, seperate it out into small tubs, then bung them in the freezer and have a reminder in my phone for Sun-Thurs evenings (or Sun-Weds for for you 😀) to take one out and put it in the fridge. In fact, the reason I'm on here right now is because I'm procrastinating about deciding what dishes I want to batch cook for work lunches while I'm off this week and am struggling to motivate myself to write a shopping list and go out 🤣!

greenbee

I'm impressed by all the planning. And the analysis (I don't want to think about where my money goes thank you very much!).

Re. work food - I find this works best for me if I sort it all out at the weekend. If I can do the meal plan and prep on Sunday (including all the veg being washed and ready and ideally having everything portioned up) then it works pretty well regardless of how busy work is. If there's no plan, and nothing prepped, it soon all goes wrong. So that's something I need to start again in the NY. 

I also don't eat breakfast. If I fast until midday and don't eat after about 7 (well, mostly more like 8, but I try) then I find I eat less, and spend less time and effort trying to come up with ideas about what to eat. 

starnac

Blimey Cheery, I had like just over a day off MSE and you have 3 pages of a new diary  

Love the idea of Frugal January. Wonder if I could get DH on board with that? Or if I just do it anyway and see if he notices  

Interesting to hear some of you have house insurance that ask for the chimney sweep certificate! We have an open fire in our new house and had it swept. I wondered what the certificate was needed for (apart from peace of mind) Thank you. I will look into the insurance to see if they need us to send it to them.

Cheery_Daff

Thanks both. It never occurred to me to do a whole weeks worth of lunches, but that makes perfect sense. What do you make? I know Mrs Frugalwoods does an entire batch of rice and beans but I'm not sure that would keep me interested enough to not follow it with jammy toast 😂

Greenbee, I've never been into the idea of fasting - but I've also never thought of it as a way of having to avoid food decisions 😂 Sounds like a good plan! Not going to sign up for missing meals though... 

Mr Cheery's quite into the idea of chopping all the veg after a shopping trip and keeping it chopped in the fridge. That way even if the individual meals weren't planned, it would be much easier to just throw something together.

We'll see.

I did batch cook some Joe Wicks granola yesterday, most jolly - that's 2 weeks of breakfasts sorted. 

starnac

Ooh I love granola. Will look that up thank you

themadvix

Cheery, I was most definitely not into fasting or missing meals, but having read that an overnight fast is really good for your gut, I’ve started eating breakfast later (I used to think I woke up starving, but have discovered that actually I’m thirsty - a cup of tea keeps me going for quite a while), about 9.30-10. If nothing else this stops me snacking mid morning/means I can push lunch back so I don’t snack in late afternoon. And I’ve found I can skip breakfast entirely too. I used to be someone who got really hangry, but not so much any more. It’s still an adjustment in terms of how much food we need, but it’s definitely good for health and finances!

Baileys_Babe

Many years ago when I worked outside the home my default lunch was homemade soup, homemade bread, a couple of pieces of fruit and either yoghurt or a piece of cheese.
I would make a batch of soup and portion it up and freeze. I would make 3 or 4 different batches so I had a variety of flavours to choose from. The bread would either be from the current loaf or again made in advance and frozen, HM sliced, rolls, naan, cheese scone (lovely with spicy bean soup). 
Generally, I would spend a couple of minutes putting portions in jars or other suitable screw top containers, often natural yoghurt and something which may be added to the jar at the same time or packed separately.

It took a little bit of time preparing but no effort on the day.

I would have liked the yoghurt to have been homemade but I have still never made despite intending to for over 25 years, 2022 might be the year 🤣

greenbee

Fasting can actually help stabilised blood sugars, which stops you being hangry. I’ve gradually moved my first ‘food’ out to midday, when I have milk in my coffee. Lunch is anytime from then until 3ish, and I try to be done by 8pm. That gives me 16 hours fasting! I hours eating. I used to do 18/6 but the new job doesn’t work with that. Having said that, weekends could. 

I also used to do  a couple of days a week where I’d have a light meal at lunchtime, and then a smoothie by 4 as I did evening yoga. So effectively a 500 calorie day twice a week. 

I try to prep all my veg when the veg box arrives, make soup with the previous week’s leftovers and plan the week’s meals. 

For lunches I prep stuff like coleslaw (undressed), hard boil eggs, portion up feta, tuna, cold chicken etc, wash lettuce, prep radishes, wash tomatoes, make dressings in jars and label them. Then I just check the meal plan and throw together the bits I need for that day (if I’m dieting I also weigh and measure carefully so I don’t exceed my 800/500 for the day but do meet my protein/fat targets and limit my carbs. I try to eat lots of salad as it’s filling and takes ages. Or soup made with mostly leafy greens. 

Olives, radishes, crispy kale and padron peppers are good snacks (and olives are a good addition to lunchtime salads with pumpkin, sunflower or sesame seeds).

the meal skipping thing came about after discussion with the fatigue clinic. There is no rule that you have to have 3 meals a day. And until I’m underweight, I don’t have to eat if I’m too tired. But I do need to invest time in prepping so I don’t eat rubbish because I’m too tired to cook but still have enough energy to eat!

and on that note, I’ve persuaded my mum we can have yogurt and fruit for lunch (she’s already had toast and a smoothie for breakfast, and cake with her coffee, so won’t starve).

MatyMoo

I usually make one big batch of food per week & freeze in portions for dinners so I only need to defrost & cook pasta, rice or potatoes in the week.

I do things like spaghetti bolognaise sauce, chilli’s, stews, minces, curry’s, fajitas and portion in to 6-8 so there is always a variety to pick from. I tend to do soups every couple of weeks too.

Cheery_Daff

Ooh, thank you all! So interesting reading what you all do. You have inspired me today - not to missing meals, but to getting 2 portions of aubergine parmigiana into the oven, and roasting a load of sweet potato so I can turn it into 3 portions of risotto. All destined for the freezer, so along with the two portions of pasta bake already in there, that's a week's worth of meals ready prepared. Hooray! 

Not sure what I'm going to have for lunch today mind you 😂😂 scrambled eggs on toast I think!

I do occasionally have two meals a day these days. I too used to be useless without breakfast, but on days we go to the cafe, I don't eat til about 10am, and then toast, peanut butter and honey (not the world's healthiest meal!) keeps me going - I often forget about lunch and just have an early tea (and a snack in the afternoon...). 

I do really like breakfast though 😂 Not remotely interested in eating in the evening, so bringing tea further forwards would probably work for me - sometimes I get distracted working and dodon'eat til 8.30 which I'm sure doesn't do me any good!