Did You Enjoy Your Christmas Dinner?

Well Happy Christmas one and all.

For most of us, the dinner is the main event, particularly after the Childhood present frenzy has left us.

In the last few days, in most of the National Newspapers, there has been an article about a grandmother of 4 who charges her family £35 per head for Christmas dinner (booze included).  

I was a little taken aback,  I know as a frugal person that to share the cost of Christmas is a very sound thing to do and I do applaud that, however personally I prefer a Jacobs Join kind of affair where everyone brings a dish but if people prefer not to, to just share the actual cost of ingredients is grand and not to make a profit.  Article from one of the papers below

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7824191/Grandmother-charges-family-35-head-Christmas-dinner-says-120-profit-preshtml 

What concerned me was, and if you are to believe reports, she makes a £150 profit from this from 12 of her nearest and dearest.  I have a problem with this, but I also do question her actual costs and if that figure is in itself accurate?   Based upon the Maths and again if its how its reported, which may not be the truth, it works out at (after deducting her profit) her actual cost being £22.50 per head. 

I looked at the picture of her Christmas dinner below and I was quite frankly aghast.  Unless each person drinks at least 4 bottles of wine each I can’t see where the money is spent? 

Her dinner and I don’t mean to disrespest anyone but if I was served that, which looks like frozen Yorkshire puds with Paxo stuffing and frozen peas and hardly any meat and with a dribble of gravy I would send it back.

So I just want to show you an actual homemade and frugal Christmas Dinner (apologies I forgot to take photos of the puds but they were drowned in Brandy Sauce so all you would see was white) which came in at £5.54 per head using quality products and frugal tips. 

So our starters

Homemade Smoked Salmon Mousse Parcels with a little side salad of cherry tomatoes, spring onion and balsamic glaze with 3 pieces of Tesco’s French Toast came in for 44p per portion.  Admittedly due to sister making the salmon starter in return for 12 of my mince pies which cost me £5.90 to make so cost me in actuality 94p per portion.

Homemade Chicken and Ham Terrine (recipe courtesy of Slimming World and so flavoursome and meaty) with a little side salad of cherry tomatoes, spring onion, a few pickles and balsamic glaze came in for £1.74 per portion with two thick whopping slices of terrine plentiful for any starter. 

Main Meal

We don’t like Turkey so I bought a medium chicken from Tesco’s for £2.95 cooked to perfection it turned out uber Moist.  A gammon joint (which I glazed in Honey) was £2.99 ( noting I still have lots of meat for sandwiches even after the main event.  I bought I bag of Tesco’s Redfearn Carrots and Parsnips for 19p each (Made carrot and swede mash), Potatoes, for £1.59 which provided loads for both Mash and roast potatoes and still left over.  A cauliflower for 29p (Made cauli cheese).  

Sausages (quality Irish sausages 12 for £2). Finest Tesco’s Streaky Bacon 12 Slices again for £2, ends up with whopping pigs in blanket for 34p each (don’t do the little chipolatas).  Stuffing (no paxo involved ! purely pork meat, herbs, onions, breadcrumbs, seasoning) free from Sister.  Gravy granules (bisto finest well it is Christmas, 25 per head) .  The actual cost of the main meal – photo below turned out to be £2.98 per head.

Dessert

Christmas Pudding courtesy of Iceland it was a great pudding soaked in Cider, brandy and Sherry and was really lush, boozy, fruity and moist for just £1.19 and will feed 4 people,  Topped off with 500ml, (again for 4 people more than enough) of Brandy Sauce at £1.25 per pot.  Dessert ends up being 61p per head.

So for a fabulous 3 course meal and a couple of things I bartered and exchanged my homemade goodies for (which I've included my costs for ) actual cost a total of £5.54 per head, and I don’t mean to be bitchy but I think my Christmas dinner looks better than the photo the papers provided and everyone thought tasted fabulous with very full bellies. 

So where did her other £30 per head go? It is reported that this includes booze and other things but crikey unless you have 12 alcoholics around your dinner table,  I can’t fathom how its spent and I personally would be a little disgruntled if any family member of mine tried to charge me £35 for a dinner?   

So what I would say is you can have a fabulous, lush, indulgent and quality Christmas meal for little cost;  you just have to be a savvy shopper and also share your skills with friends/family.

 

Perhaps if she did a Jacobs Join as I mentioned above and other members of her family brought a dish, even if they can’t cook, bring some wine or cheese etc,  you can have a lovely family meal and with booze without it costing an earth and certainly not everyone having to find £35 each. 

Left Over Roast Lamb

Last week Tesco’s had legs of lamb for half price so I bought a whopper for £11.  Now I slow roast this in the oven on low heat with onion, carrot and stock for about 5 hours. 

We have relatives coming tomorrow and I’m making lunch of shepherds pie, I prefer to make shepherds pie with shredded leg of lamb rather than mince.  So for this one meat joint I have managed to make enough shepherd’s pie mix for 2 pies each feeding 6 people.  Dad had a hot lamb and onion sandwich for his lunch. 

I’ve used the rest, in a lamb and veg soup which has made 6 portions.  Taking into account the cost of the veg and stock used (£3.18).  I have made 13 hearty meals for 75p each. 

So this is my Lamb and Veg soup its one of those left over chuck it all in meals and it really does taste delish. 

I start off by boiling the lamb bone in water with an onion, carrot, herbs and black pepper with a lamb stock cube which is the basis of the soup stock for about 40 minutes creating a really rich stock.

Gently fry a chopped onion, 2 sticks of celery, 2 carrots, one diced pototo, add in a litre of the stock you've made and simmer for 30 minutes.  But you can add in any left over veg you have.   

I take out half the mixture and blend to provide a bit of thickness to the soup.  Add in left over chopped lamb meat and simmer again for 10 minutes.  Add seasoning to taste.  Uber flavoursome.  

Fair Exchange Is No Robbery

My sister and I have our own skills, I like to think we are both great cooks, we are each other's harshest critic and wouldn’t think twice of ripping our culinary attempts to shreds (ha, ha) the fact that we both survive unscathed is real testament.

We have however our strengths, mine is primarily baking not just sweet but savoury (my sausage rolls are legendary)  hers is wholly savoury.

So in exchange of my homemade mince pies (pastry recipe courtesy of Paul Hollywood, really rich butter pastry and the lightest and most delicious I’ve ever tasted, its really hard to handle due to the amount of butter but its worth it).   Mince meat courtesy of me, lots of fresh orange zest and brandy and mixed spice hic.  

In return I get several smoked salmon starters which is her homemade salmon mouse wrapped in smoked salmon like a little parcel, as well as the meatiest pork, sage and onion stuffing.   

To buy the quality of Salmon starter and stuffing that she provides me would easily cost £18 in the shop.  The mince pies I make her from a bakers (obviously you can get cheaper pre packaged pies from the supermarket for a snip at the price, but not the size and quality) could easily cost you £12.  However costs me £5.90 to make.  I really feel I’m up on the deal ;) , so share your skills and save some cash 

It's Minestrone Today

Gosh we are having a storm and a half, the rain is lashing down and the wind is well very windy.  So another day to make some nourishing soup.  This is my recipe for a very rustic, chunky Minestrone, it's really filling, makes 4 very hearty portions but can be stretched if you have a smaller appetite.  It's practically a stew hence why it's so filling.  Total cost of all ingredients was £2.86, so 71p a portion but as I say can be stretched to 6 portions particularly if you have a sandwich with it. 

So chop 1 large onion, 2 celery sticks, 2 carrots and a pack of smoked bacon and sweat this on a hob for about 3 minutes. 

Add some garlic, 3 tablespoons of tomato puree, herbs (whatever you have in the cupboard, I added Oregano) and mix and fry this for another minute. 

Add a can of chopped tomatoes and a litre of chicken stock (made with 2 chicken stock cubes.  Add some seasoning and pop a lid on and simmer on low for about 50 minutes.  

Then add in 50g of any pasta you have in the cupboard and a can of cannellini beans and again simmer for about 20 minutes.  Check the seasoning and e voila 

It really is scrummy and whilst not the cheapest soup recipe due to the smoked bacon but as I say its more like a stew and is really filling so for 71p it's not too bad.  Enjoy

Organisation is the Key

I firmly believe this, if you are organised, know what you have and plan what you will do / need then you wont needlessly overspend.  I have been and continue to be guilty of this as in my bid to conquer the world one cupboard at a time I have unearthed things that due to my disorganization I would have been oblivious to owning and bought more that I didn’t need i.e. the small pharmacy of plasters and cold remedies, as well as enough pens and stationary to rival a local WH Smiths J 

I am on a weeks leave (yeah) I’ve taken this leave as the Golf Open is coming to town and I can’t face the huge traffic jams the 40,000 plus anticipated daily visitors will create on top of a long commute, so I’m avoiding it all and having a week pottering around the house. 

So my agenda for this week is tackling all those jobs that I don’t normally have time to do

Monday

2^nd reception room, this is hubbies den, also clothes drying room on rainy days when I cant get the washing on the line.  I am going to sort out cupboards and drawers and deep clean. 

On the menu – from the freezer homemade cottage pie and veggies

Tuesday

Kitchen – spring (well summer) clean, emptying all the cupboards/drawers and deep cleaning from top to bottom.  My ebay auctions will end so will spend the evening, parceling up. 

On the menu – left over cottage pie and veggies

Wednesday

Upstairs or the guest suite, we live in a dorma bungalow and don’t actually use upstairs with the exception of the small bedroom which I have turned into my hobby / craft room.  The other larger bedroom and bathroom are saved for guests, so I will be giving it a good clean and make up the bed etc and also sort out my card craft stuff J.  Plus trip to the post office to post ebay items. 

On the Menu – Pasta Amatriciana

Thursday

House clean – just the normal weekly cleaning of the house from top to bottom, laundry and ironing, all ready for the weekend

On the Menu – From the freezer homemade chilli and rice

Friday

Back to Baking – its my parents 50^th wedding anniversary on Saturday and we are going out for dinner as a family at my friends Italian restaurant.  I am making the cake (yikes) well lets hope it goes better than my nephew’s birthday lol – so I have set aside this day just to devote to creating the masterpiece and I will also do some card making and make them their anniversary card.

On the Menu - From the freezer homemade veggie curry and naan bread

Saturday

My whole week will be a no spend week as I am safely ensconced at home and whilst I normally cut my own hair, hubby has convinced me to have a little pamper and get my hair professionally cut and coloured for the evenings celebrations.  This is money from a little win fall.  Hubby gives a £1 a week to the church by his school 49 club, half this money goes to St Vincents De Paul who run a daily soup kitchen for the homeless and those on low income and the other half goes to the winner of the Saturday lottery bonus ball – there are several hundred people in this club and hubby won this week £170 – we gave half of that winnings £85 to St Vincents De Paul as an additional donation and hubby has insisted that I spend the rest on me – incrediably indulgent and took some convincing on his part, but it will be lovely. 

On the menu – ummm mouth is watering at a meal out J 

On the menu this week

A little late this week J

Well it’s the usual for breakfasts and lunches, however on the teas menu this week

Monday               Mushroom Risotto

Tuesday               Cottage Pie, cabbage

Wednesday          Homemade Veggie Pizza

Thursday              Sausage and Bean Hotpot (hubby won’t be home until 9pm so it’s an easy click   

                            ping for him at work and me at home)

Friday                  Veggie Curry and Naan bread

Saturday              Fish fingers, oven chips and beans (niece is coming for tea, it’s her choice and I

                            can’t be bothered cooking another meal for us)

Sunday                 Roast chicken dinner with all the trimmings

Going back to Sunday's blog I don’t ever judge, we all walk our own path but I am lucky that I am still in a financial position to be able to buy the best meat I can, however I manage to do it financially and still remain within my frugal constraints due to a change in how much we eat.  We did use to eat meat 7 nights a week, I can’t believe it actually however as part of my journey to consume less as well as save money I now pepper my week with vegetarian meals.  This week sees 3 nights wholly vegetarian and one night fish (can you call fish fingers fish lol J) thus reducing my 7 nights of meat down to 3 and I can honestly say we don’t feel as though we are missing out or even consciously realise the meal is vegetarian.    

Days without agenda

I love days like these, free days, days when I am committed to no-one but me, a day to do exactly as I please (well kind of).  I started the day early, cut hubbies hair, now I am no hairdresser but he is, shall we say, folically challenged ha hum J and all it takes is a number 3 over his barnett once every 4 weeks, it looks grand after and saves an easy £70 - £80 per year. 

Whilst hubby was in the shower I whipped through the downstairs with the hoover, tidied the house, loaded the dishwasher, made the bed and generally put everything in order.  I then showered and got ready before we went to mass.

Returning home I decided to do some batch cooking, I made cottage pie and sausage and bean hot pot to stock up the freezer, along with making hubbies couscous salad for this week’s lunches (only 4 this week as he’s taking his kids on a field trip on Friday so I will be making him butties for ease), before tackling the ironing. 

Now all of this may not be everyone’s choice of a free day, but whilst I have been as busy as the busiest bee it has been completely my choice, I could have just curled up with a book – something I plan to do after posting this, it was the choice that is the liberating thing.

Cooking master class – well more amateur class

Cottage Pie

There are a million different tweaks to this recipe, this is just mine, I love cottage/shepherd’s pie, its filling, hearty and nourishing, real soul food and considering we seem to be still in winter, is a suitable recipe for this time of year.

So I start by gently sweating one large chopped onion

I then chop 10 carrots and half a swede, but just add whatever amount you want

Add a pack of mince; this one is 800g and brown

Add a dollop of tomato ketchup; this really gives the mix a kick and mix through

Sprinkle a large tablespoon of plain flour and mix and cook out

Slowly add 800ml of stock (2 beef stock cubes with boiling water) mixing all the time

Add seasoning and some mixed herbs, pop the lid on and simmer on a low heat for 30 mins before portioning out into dishes

Now you can make a batch of mash, but I really couldn’t be bothered and decided to top the pies with thinly sliced (half a cm) potatoes, bake in the oven for 25 mins, quick, low fat and easy.  This batch has made 7 hearty portions.

Sausage and Bean Hotpot

I really enjoy this recipe, again hearty winter food; it’s healthy, nourishing, and low cost and tastes so good.  This makes 2 meals (4 portions) on the ratio of hubby has 3 sausages to my 2.  All you need to add is a wedge of bread and you have a cracking supper,

Select 10 sausages, try and make them quality sausages, I would rather eat less meat i.e. reduce the quantity of meat and have several veggie meals a week than reduce the quality.  Mine are finest pork and herb

Gently colour in a pan with 2 large onions sliced

Add 2 cans of chopped tomatoes, chicken stock (400ml made with one chicken stock cube), herbs, a good pinch of chilli flakes and seasoning

Rinse two tins of Cannellini Beans and add, stir, cook without lid on for 20 mins

And portion up

Now time to just curl up with a book, you will note that I don't advertise, no ad ons, no advertisements, if I recommend anything its just a genuine post I am not nor will I ever be paid to recommend anything, I see this as just two friends chatting over coffee J I am currently reading Emma Kennedy's The tent, The bucket and me - if you were a working class child of the 1970's it will completely resonate, it is a cracking read, I picked up a copy from the library yesterday and have struggled to put it down, its funny, real and warm, so if you are popping to the library I would recommend picking up a copy - Have a great week Cxx

Where did it go?

This is a usual question on a Sunday evening, where did it go?  It, of course, being the weekend, which seems to have disappeared in a haze of hospital visiting, cleaning, cooking, washing, ironing, shopping and entertaining.  Today being Father’s Day mum and dad came for the day, they have just left and I am finally settling down at 6.30pm zapped of energy, trying the muster up the enthusiasm to get organized for the week ahead.   I think I need a weekend to recover from my weekends J

So with a full and busy work week ahead I need to get busy this evening to ensure we are ready.  Just starting hubby’s Couscous to ensure he has his lunches for each day, it’s a pain on a Sunday evening but making batch lunches saves a headache through the week.  Then checking the freezer and cupboards to ensure I have all our teas sorted for the week:

Weekly Menu

Breakfasts

Hubby - Weetabix, skimmed milk and Cranberry juice

Me – Porridge and Coffee

Lunches

Hubby- Couscous Salad, 2 apples, 2 bananas

Me – Soup and granary bread

Dinners

Monday               Chilli Con Carne* and Rice

Tuesday               Pea and Ham soup* and bread

Wednesday        Pasta Amatriciana*

Thursday             Scrambled egg on Toast

Friday                    Curry* and Naan Bread

Saturday              Homemade Pizza

Sunday                 Steak pie*, veg

*All homemade but courtesy of batch cooking and the freezer, ensuring we have nourishing, homemade but quick to prepare evening meals J

Weekly Meal Plan and Couscous to go !

Breakfasts

Hubby – Weetabix, skimmed milk and Cranberry Juice

Me – Porridge and coffee

Lunches

Hubby – Couscous Salad, 2 bananas, 2 apples

Me – Soup and granary bread

Dinners

Monday – Left over Lasagne with salad and garlic bread

Tuesday – (from the freezer) Sausage and bean hot pot, veggies

Weds – (from the freezer) homemade soup and granary bread

Thurs – (from the freezer - sauce) Pasta Amatriciana

Fri –  (from the freezer) Veggie Curry, rice and naan bread

Sat – Homemade Pizza

Sun – Homemade plate meat pie and veggies

Couscous Salad

This is my own recipe, its vegetarian and has a distinct nod to India.  I don’t think it would suit everyones palette, it certainly doesn’t suit mine as I find it a bit too sweet, however hubby loves it.  Couscous is a really cheap, healthy lunch and a little different from the boring old butty J .  I make this each Sunday and make (usually) 5 portions – this week it was only 4 portions, as hubby has training on Thursday and lunch is provided.  So lets get on with the concoction

I pour in half a bag 250g of couscous in large bowl

Pour on boiling water, you can use measurements but I prefer Jamie Olivers top tip, pour on water quickly so there is about 1cm water on the top. 

It absorbs within minutes and I just fork through to fluff it all up and leave it until cold.

Add seasoning and slice one red onion and then add 2 teaspoons of garam masala spice, a good pinch of chilli flakes, two handfuls of sultanas and 3 tablespoons of mango chutney and again with your fork mix through

 and portion it out into individual plastic tuppaware (these are reused takeaway containers)

I then boil 5 eggs for exactly 6 minutes, I like my boiled eggs softly boiled. Once cool I quarter and position on top of the couscous. 

Put the lids on, pop in the fridge and e voila hubby just grabs and go each day with a healthy, tasty, homemade lunch which costs 48p per portion.

Down Shifting

One of the easiest ways to save money on your grocery shopping bill is downshifting.  I have been slowly doing this for a few years and in the main with huge success as I've moved from a top brand, to a lower priced brand, to the supermarkets own brand then finally to the value/basic range.  

Down shifting is in itself a journey of trying and tasting and see what you can / will change.  I love food, I wont eat rubbish and certain things I wont compromise on, nor will I support questionable farming and animal husbandry techniques so for example my eggs will only ever be free range.  

I am however lucky I can still financially afford to make those decisions, I don’t judge, my mum brought up 5 kids on barely nothing and she didn’t have the luxury to make or consider those issues, she simply had to feed 5 hungry kids, that was her only concern and she did an amazing job.  

I would say nearly 80% of my shopping basket now is the value/ basic range, below is just a flavour of what I used to buy and what I now buy

Just a selection of what I used to buy

Napolina Penne £2.09

Homepride Flour £1.49

Kerry Gold Butter £1.40

Flora spread £1.70

Napolina Chopped Tomatoes £1.35

Schwartz mixed herbs £1.05

Florette Salad £1.74                                            Total Cost £10.82

And now what I buy by downshifting

Basic Pasta  £0.39

Value Flour £0.52

Value Butter £1.19

Value sunflower spread £0.75

Value chopped tomatoes £0.31

Value mixed herbs £0.19

Value crunchy salad £0.99                                Total Cost:  £4.34

All of these staples are eaten daily/ weekly in this household and my annual grocery bill has reduced in the region of 40% over the past 2 years, this has been achieved by not consuming any less (my next challenge) but simply by downshifting.

Tried and tested but no compromise

There are certain brands however that I stick with, we’ve tried others, but either me or hubby refuse to downshift

Heinz Baked Beans

Weetabix

Nescafe Coffee

Dips – this is what has inspired todays blog.  We had friends over last night and I decided to opt for some frugal nibbles with drinks, I chose basic range multi-dips which were quite frankly vile, really vingegary and sour.  Thankfully I had lots of other good, yummy stuff to eat, its not a product we eat often but I wont be buying the basic/ value range again J

Its really just being a little brave, stepping outside your habits/ comfort zone and seeing what changes you can and will make.   In a lot of downshifting I defy anyone to actually notice the difference in taste, but you will see a huge difference in how much you can and will save. 

Fun Free Days

Before the start of my journey to consume and spend less,  we would think nothing of just hopping in the car on a day out, a long drive in the country, lunch and a potter in some galleries, shops and always buy something (s) easily spending anything from £100 – 200

So bank holiday weekend, and yesterday a free Sunday with no jobs to do around the house, oh what to do that won’t break the bank?  Well we started by going to mass and I found that there was a free art exhibition by the local art society about 100 yards from church.  So following mass, we stopped off at a local café and shared a small bottle of sparkling elderflower before spending about 40 minutes wandering around the exhibition.  Some of the works were of a high standard and some ….. well ha hum, at least they had a go and I always admire that J

Hubby really wanted to go out for lunch – you may have read before that whilst he is fully supportive of my journey he is not a fully committed passenger, firmly believing life is too short.  However as he loves me he is trying his best (god bless him).  I managed to persuade him to come to me to Booths (not sure in the South that you have Booths but it’s a fabulous supermarket , in my humble oppion far superior to M&S and on a par to Waitrose, similarly priced but you get such lovely local produce) and instead I would cook him a restaurant standard meal at home for a fraction of the price.  I now always feel ripped off paying to eat out which often is sadly disappointing. 

So I not only bought lunch for today but also tomorrow, as well as meat, bread and fruit to see us through the week.  Total cost of our home restaurant boozy lunch came to £19.57, a fabulous feast, with some great wine, hubby was impressed and satisfied both with the food and the price.

Starter

Hubby – Pate, chutney and toast

Me – Fishcake, raita and salad

Main

The best chicken ceasar salad ever – it was sooo deliscious if I don’t mind saying so myself, with fresh bread

Dessert

Coffee Renoir

Washed down by 2 bottles of a really clean, crisp white wine. 

We then snuggled up on the sofa and watched an old film

It was a fabulous day and even better didn’t break the bank.

Weekly Meal Plan

A day late (but I blame the bank holiday). Everything I have in so the only shopping will be bread, milk and a little bit of fresh salad, which will free up some money for out night out on Saturday.

Breakfasts

Hubby – Weetabix, skimmed milk and cranberry juice

Me – Porridge, coffee

Lunches

Hubby – Couscous Salad, 2 bananas, 2 apples

Me – Soup and granary bread

Dinners

Monday – Burgers, salad and French bread

Tuesday – (from the freezer) Pea and Ham Soup, Granary Bread

Wednesday – Cheese Burger, Salad

Thursday – (from the freezer) Pasta Bolognese

Friday – Cooked Breakfast, sausage, bacon, egg and toast

Saturday - ? we are going out with friends and will be having a bite to eat so will probably be a curry

Sunday – (from the freezer) Lasagne and Salad

Weekly Meal Plan

I thought I would take a tip from Frugal Girl who always outlines her weekly meal plan.  For me it will help me keep organised and planned.  It will also demonstrate how to eat well on a budget, I’ve been busy on the old calculator and this entire menu (breakfasts, lunch & dinners and snacks) for this week comes to a total price of £31.14, which comes to a daily cost per person of £2.22. 

Breakfasts – hubby has Weetabix, skimmed milk and Cranberry juice and I have porridge and coffee

Lunch – Hubby has couscous salad (I will share this recipe on Sunday when I make the next batch), 2 bananas, 2 apples each day.  I have soup, wholemeal bread

Dinners

Monday – Lasagne*& Salad

Tuesday – Lasagne* & Salad

Wednesday – Chicken and Veg soup* and wholemeal bread

Thursday – scrambled egg on toast

Friday – Chilli Con Carne* and Rice

Saturday –  Pizza (Homemade naturally I will share my recipe on Saturday)

Sunday – Plate meat pie and veg (again homemade)

*All from the homemade ready meal collection from the freezer

In a bid to understand and manage the day to day spending I have set up a new page “spending diary” which I will be updating daily and can be found on the left hand side or via this link http://frugalupnorth.blogspot.co.uk/p/spending-diary.html

Cooking & Cards

I write this in an exhaustive state, my day started a little after 8am and I have just stopped at 7pm, its been a busy but highly productive one.  All household chores are done, I can finally see the bottom of the ironing basket, a rarity I must say and I have had a mammoth batch cooking session. 

The freezer was looking a little empty so I thought I would stock it up for May.  These are my mid week homemade ready meals, not only a life saver as they are low cost, healthy and scrummy; they just require warming through (and at most cooking some pasta/rice or fresh veggies), but they also stop the expensive picking up something quick on the way home from work which is often the ruination of my healthy eating plan and also my budget.

So in this session I made (for two people)

• 2 Lasagne's (enough for 4 meals)
• Bolognese (left over from making the lasagne's but enough for one meal)
• Sausage & Bean Hotpot (enough for 3 meals)
• Pea & Ham Soup (enough for 2 meals)
• Vegetarian Curry (enough for 4 meals)
• Chilli Con Carne (we had one for tea but I have enough for 2 more meals) 

So that’s 16 evening meals sorted, as we always have a toast night midweek, that’s pretty much all our workday teas done for May – hard work but phew it will be worth it.

A good friend of ours just got a new job, so I knocked up a card this afternoon to post tomorrow.  All made from recycled cards. 

Going to make a brew and have a bit of r&r in readiness for the morning commute Cxx

Homemade Takeaway

Well after what seemed like a week and a half, hubby fancied a takeaway and a bottle of wine, well his favourite is Indian and remembering back a night like this would cost in the region of £35 easy.  However I decided I could provide a takeaway night at home for a fraction.  I dug around the freezer this morning and pulled out a portion of veggie curry and a portion of keema curry, I boiled some plain rice and warmed through a couple of naan breads.  It was an absolute feast (the photo doesnt look too appetising but boy did it taste good), coupled with a half price bottle of Chardonnay, my homemade Friday night takeaway cost (including the wine) a reasonable £6.74, a fab way to start the weekend. 

I won’t give up the day job

Crickey what a day!  Whilst I love cooking, the pressure of creating nephew’s birthday cake to be judged by a rather pernickety sister and a cousin who is a professional cake maker (had I known she had been invited prior to my agreeing to make said cake I would have run a million miles) had me in near tears this morning as everything that could have gone wrong went wrong.  I bake week after week, always a pleasurable experience and always scrummy, but this was a saga and a half.  Well here it is in all its tragic glory, vanilla sponge, filled with chocolate cream and covered in chocolate butter icing with the very sad iced name on top … I’m going for a lie down in a dark room Cx