Mortgage free in Forever Home :-)

KajiKita

Just explained where we are to Mr KK and we have agreed that he will hold off making his coq au vin batch for another week and I will try making a batch of HM soup (probably a veggie, spud, lentil mix) for work lunches next week. We also need to stock check our respective freezers. 

It’s not that we can’t afford it, it’s more that there is no point me doing this tracking if we don’t react to it and I want to try to minimise the spend on food where we can, as it’s one of our biggest monthly expenses anyway. I have been reading through the beginning of my diary a bit over the last week and I was a lot more proactive then. I think the hell-job wore that out of me and I want to regain that focus and drive in my life, on my personal goals again. 

KK

debtfreewannabe321

I've also been cooking bulk meals to try and minimise spends next week. Soups and dinners. We can do this 💪🏻. 
Well done on a productive day.

KajiKita

debtfreewannabe321 said:

I've also been cooking bulk meals to try and minimise spends next week. Soups and dinners. We can do this 💪🏻. 
Well done on a productive day.

Bulk meals are a little more challenging when you have an omni and a veggie in the house, neither of whom is willing to compromise and eat the other’s food … 😉 However we do both have our own batches in the freezer, he has various raw meat things and I have some qu0rn and C00k options skulling around that we can build meals around … 😊

We need to:
- List what we have
- Meal plan from what we have
- Shop to the gaps - mainly fresh foods like veg and fruit
- Try to minimise / rework the gaps by shopping from home - so Mr KK could eat the tin of sp@m in the cupboard instead of having fresh ham for one week and I could process carrots, red lentils, spuds and onions (all of which I have in now) for soup, for our work lunches. My one challenge will be to get my soup to work without it leaking everywhere - I find freezer containers are not capable of transporting soup to work. I might try a squat kilner jar. 🤔

- Use my £10 sainsbugs voucher! Might as well … 🤷‍♀️😉😂
- Maybe cash in my nect@r points? Think there is c. £18 worth there. 

KK 

debtfreewannabe321

I've got an old thermos flask that belongs to one of the kids that I use for work. It's a smaller one and perfect for soup sized portions. 

KajiKita

debtfreewannabe321 said:

I've got an old thermos flask that belongs to one of the kids that I use for work. It's a smaller one and perfect for soup sized portions. 

I have one of these but … I already use it every day for my overnight oats that I have for breakfast in work 🤷‍♀️😉😊

KK

SandyShores

Just a thought, could you freeze a portion of your soup and take it in frozen?  It might thaw out a bit on the way but not as dangerous as transporting it in liquid form.  I've got some of the square plastic containers from L@keland which seem to be leakproof but would hate to drop it, and I've also got a soup mug/bowl type thing with the clips on the side but I wouldn't trust it in the car.

I've also got small kilner's for oats, really handy.  I use the large ones for layered salads as I can bulk make them and  they last for about 4 days as long as any liquid/tomatoes etc. go in first.  Definitely soup weather now though.

Merlin's_Beard

I absolutely empathise on letting the food budget slip when everything else is going haywire - it's one of the easiest things to just accidentally go over on.

If the cat's stuff is really sporadic would it be worth giving her her own budget so that it doesn't distort your food shop?

dawnybabes

If you take it in frozen you can use works electric to reheat 🤣🤣

KajiKita

@SandyShores, I could take it in frozen but I’m used to tinned liquid soup and I’m not sure on the timings for defrosting as well as reheating - I have an American style soup mug in work which I use to reheat and serve my soup from. I foresee some experiments next week … 🤔

Thanks @Merlin's_Beard 😊 I’m not sure that giving Chloe her own budget is such a good idea … I can’t imagine what she’d spend it on … Tiara, personal masseuse, pilchards …? 😂 (Mr KK thinks she would choose something more practical, like a gun to shoot next door’s bully cat! 😳😂😂)
I have a separate line within my monthly grocery spend for her food, I think our spend, partly due to food price increases, has expanded to absorb that … 🤷‍♀️🙄

@dawnybabes, always do and to run the toaster! 😊

KK

KajiKita

I think I have reached the end of the road with the PC. It’s not fun or life enhancing for me, it’s pretty dull, and we are such a small PC we can’t achieve much. There is a member of the public turning up at meetings who seems to be horribly triggering for me (no fault of his, though he is very pedantic and dogmatic) and I have just had enough. 

Feel a bit of a failure but relieved to have made the decision. 

KK