Family of 5 'shop from home'food storage challenge...

i went off to tesco early this morning with kids. had a really nice time. i said to kids if they come with me and help me get a few bit we can then go off and feed duck's. they loved it in tesco.helping me.

anyway i managed to get a huge bucket type tub of mincemeat reduced to £1 something. doesn't run out until feb 09. so thought be a great saving for xmas next year. they also had huge xmas pud's which were £7.99 reduced to £1.97. but even reduced i didn't get it , as figured it only fil and i that eat it. and we only have a tiny bit anyway. so it would get wasted. but shame tho as date on it was april 09.

i got the double 00 flour i need to make the pasta. so going to try that for tea new years day or the day after , depending on when family leave's.

i got a nice little plastic jug in tesco. think it was about 60p. ideal for measurign smaller amounts. i have one of the nearly 2 pint value ones ( cost about 25p). but this smaller one i thought would be an excellent addition to my kitchen.

i have two gammon joints in the oven as we speak.

we are having ham , egg and chips for dinner tonight. yummy. becoming a bit of a tradition to have this meal either xmas eve or new years eve. but it one of my fav's so i don't mind.

Hi All

Am just in the process of going to make some rainbow cakes as benji decided they will be a good pudding for dinner tonight - have started one fo my new years resolutions slightly early - one fo them is to be more romantic with bf as i dont really do that much to treat him (not that he treats me at all) but its been 5 years and i dont want us to lose our spark so i figured id treat him to his fave gammon, pineapple, peas and chips for tea.

Really need to do an invetory list of stuff int he cupboards cos can never remember what ive got in there and i am starting my diet as of tomorrow so all the rubbish in the hosue needs to be used up and gone (theres not loads but enough to be tempting) so i need to get a move on them and get more vegetables and fruit into the house so im going to go shopping next week somewhen - have enough veg, fruit etc to last us till then.

i've just made the rainbow cakes.

they have goen downa real treat.

while they were cool i got out all the play dough stuff. so kids sat at table making their own concocktions. and i said who would like a magic cake.

mys on will just eat anythign really without thinking. but my daughter was impressed. she said a magic cake wow. she tooka bite and had the biggest grin ever, she siad there a rainbow inside it.

it has been such a long time since i made them.

I wonder if hubby will be as excited when he opens his lunch box on the building site , lol.although he is used to having kiddies stuff in his lunch box now. and the other site workers are generally more envious of home amde goodies than the fact it child orentated.

i think my little bean is wanting some of the action, cause as i type this i have a foot or elbow sticking out of my belly. this is the smallest bump i've had in pregancy. the size i am now is about the size i was at 12 weeks with my son. i am loving this pregancy so much . it been so easy so far. ( sorry drifted a bit off topic)

jcr16 do you by any chance have a recipe for that shepherds pie you made? One thing I have piles of is beans.

Well we're still running on 'overful' freezer etc, there is quite a bit of bread in there but lots more aswell. I did need a few fresh bits which I went and got today, first venture to a shop since Christmas eve. I need to do more using up this month, more to save money than anything else. I did pretty well last month but then we didn't use what we had for 'over Christmas' so should be able to do well this month. 2 boys birthdays this month and next month is DPs and my car tax is due, **sobs in a corner**, so I need to save what I can when I can. Still not much point in cooking or baking a lot here, appetites still not back to normal, sandwiches for lunch and even half of those have ended up back in the fridge.

natzini hope you survived Tesco, I didn't get that brave and went to the Coop & a small bakers instead.

Right, anyway, I came in here mainly to wish you all Happy New Year.