Stopping the backsliding… a family of four no longer living beyond their means

themadvix

I see your point about fajitas! I was thinking it was for lunches. They do freeze well and don’t need interleaving with paper. But I hear you - doing everything from scratch does feel like drudgery sometimes. There’s always something to be done, made, prepped, baked on top of all the cleaning (and that’s without considering the growing of the food).

We’ve considered a robot vacuum cleaner (no kids, but furry indoor cats) - would one of these help you? 

Bluegreen143

I think you’re right about integrating more batch cooking @joedenise and that’s probably the missing piece just now as I really am not batch cooking/making ahead much at all. 

I thought I didn’t need to because I finish work at 2.30/3 each day but clearly it would help. 

I think I probably do need to restrict at least bread/flatbread making to weekends and freeze where necessary. I can get the kids to help too which they love doing. I’d like to start making Thursdays meal in advance too as that’s our slightly rushed night (because of getting Monkey to karate). 

joedenise

Perhaps you could pinch one of @missymoo81's ideas and use the SC on Wednesday to make Thursday's dinner and then it would just need reheating or you could just make a SC meal on Thursday but prep the food Wednesday evening.

Floss

Bluegreen143 said:

I think you’re right about integrating more batch cooking @joedenise and that’s probably the missing piece just now as I really am not batch cooking/making ahead much at all. 

I thought I didn’t need to because I finish work at 2.30/3 each day but clearly it would help.  

But then you're doing school / nursery pick-ups, so you're not really at home until 4pm-ish... Weekend batch cooking of things like sauerkraut, fajitas, pesto, hummus etc for the week ahead according to your meal plan would be a good use of time for you or Red.

lookbook

Great diary. I've subscribed. 

Good luck 👍 💓 ✨️ 

zcrat41

I like The Batch Lady for some good ideas. I do a batch meal once a week and do 3/4 family portions of something. Give it two or three months and you end up with a lot of great meals in the freezer to make life easier. 

satchmo1

I have a two week meal-plan, which helps with my shopping list.

My darling husband (DH) batch cooks lentil/tomato/veg soup (which we have for lunch 5 days), plus chicken, chick pea and spinach curry, and the most versatile thing is basic mince, which I turn into chili, bolognese, fajita filling, cottage pie and lasagna. DH doesn't like my slap dash approach to recipes!

I batch cook dahl and freeze in small pots which we have as a side dish for the above curry. 

Dahl is soooo simple (in my slapdash approach, I don't measure anything, so the following quantities are guestimates:

Fry a chopped onion in oil, then add two cupfuls of red lentils, at least four cups of boiling water, a stock cube, a tablespoon of turmeric. Bring to the boil, then simmer for about an hour. Stirring occasionally so it doesn't stick. Add a little more water if it gets too thick. It should be the consistency of very thick soup. 

Bluegreen143

I have a slapdash approach to recipes too @satchmo1! And my DH didn't use to quite get it either - when we met he’d go shopping for missing ingredients for meals, but after 15 years together I’ve trained him in slapdash cooking and he puts together even more inventive storecupboard recipes than me now 😂

Thanks for the Batch Lady recommendation @zcrat! Will look her up. 

@Floss that’s very true. The earliest I can get home is 3.30pm (if I pick up at school and drive straight home) but if they get the school bus it’s closer to 3.45/4, particularly if we go to the park for a bit after school. 

@lookbook nice to have you along for the journey! 

VERY tiring day today, but worthwhile. Did school run, worked from home, finished at 2.30 and drove to school, picked up kids and swung by Lidl for some car snacks. Eventually got to our destination at 7.20pm after two stops!

We’re staying with my 88 year old grandfather and it’s been lovely to get a good chance for a natter this evening. Talking on the phone isn’t the same, and since he gave up driving last year it’s more difficult for him to visit us. He has been known to get the bus to us but it’s a long day for him (3 hours bus travel each way) and my dad sometimes takes him, but my dad is a bit selfish and refuses to take him every time he comes (because they bicker and then my dad doesn’t enjoy the journey 🙈). 

Not only did he treat us to dinner out (I think it was the latest my kids have ever been in a restaurant, but happily it had a little playground in the beer garden so they were content to play out on it for ages and so didn’t get grumpy!) but he has also, relevant to this diary, given me £100 for my birthday and £100 contribution to Bambi’s first school uniform. He did this for Monkey too and it’s so appreciated! 

Obviously I’ve already bought the uniform so I get to put this £100 into the budget, most likely the car maintenance pot as this seems sensible. I haven’t decided on the birthday money though. It’s intended for me as a personal gift so I think I may add it into the much-depleted wedding ring savings pot. Though it’s maybe more sensible to also bung this in car maintenance!

Tomorrow we’re spending the morning with my papa and then moving on to my friend’s - we’re attending her daughter’s first birthday party, and excitingly for the kids, camping in her garden 😅

zcrat41

What a lovely gentleman your Papa is! I’d definitely add your personal money to something you want. And if it’s the wedding ring fund you will always think of him (and your husband😂) when wearing it. 

I’ve got a Scottish grandfather in his 90’s too - we also call him Papa, I’ve never come across another one!! 

Bluegreen143

I don’t know a lot of papas either, but both sets of biological grandparents were always “nana and papa” to me 🙂 (differentiated by their surname, though my mum’s mum died before I was born so I really only had one Nana in my life) - my stepdad’s lovely parents I called by their first names generally.

My MIL is Grandma to my kids as she already was to my husband’s nephew, and my dad refused to be Papa because of associating it with his dad 🙄 so he’s Granddad. My husband’s dad died many years ago (when MIL was pregnant with him, so he didn’t know him himself sadly) so they don’t really refer to him as anything except “daddy’s dad”. 

But my mum and stepdad are Nana & Papa to my kids and I shall certainly push for being Nana myself if I’m a grandmother one day! Isn’t it funny how attached you feel to family traditions?