In May 2012 I had my baby son and started maternity leave for the second time, knocking my family income down by over £800 per month. Surviving on Statutory Maternity Pay taught me to budget, and how to feed a family of four on only £20 a week. Nowadays I'm back to working, but still juggling the demands of two school-aged children against the reality of self-employed income.
After two very meat-heavy months I have decided to go for a much more veg-oriented meal plan for this month. However, as I don’t know what veg I’m going to end up with til the week it’s due to arrive, this month’s meal plan will have to be released in batches. The rough aim is… read full entry »
A wee bit late typing this up but here’s this month’s meal plan… 1st: Chicken & chips 2nd: Lamb chops & mash 3rd: Chicken soup 4th: Toad in the hole 5th: Spaghetti bolognese 6th: Mince & tatties 7th: Homemade pizza 8th: Corned beef hash 9th: Roast chicken 10th: Baked spuds & homemade coleslaw 11th: Leek… read full entry »
A lot more meat than usual in this month’s. I got an offer on a meat box a while back and it’s all sat in the freezer waiting to be used. Figured I should get it cleared out in time for Christmas (uh oh, the C word) Thu 1st: Creamy chicken and leek pasta Fri… read full entry »
I realised yesterday that I’ve been comfort spending over the past few weeks. It’s somewhat ironic that a shopping hater would reach out to shopping to fill a gap where my sanity once was, but I guess it’s easy to click your mouse button a few times when you compare it packing a toddler and… read full entry »
Part of my ongoing mission to save money this year, these things have saved me money this month (unfortunately I could only come up with 3 things) 1. Moved hosting I moved away from Site5 in 2009 after they botched a routine server upgrade. Clook, my host of choice have been fantastic since then but… read full entry »
I was really struggling to fill the plan this month. I don’t know whether tiredness (Oliver is unwell) is killing my inspiration or just because it’s a long month, but I’ve had to repeat several meals from earlier months. Nothing necessarily wrong with that, just boring long term. Anyway, without further do… Mon 1st: Roast… read full entry »
[insert lateness excuse here] 8th: Sausage baps, wedges, salad 9th: Lasagne + 3 veg 10th: Tuna pasta bake 11th: Beef casserole 12th: Vegetable curry 13th: Poached pollock ‘n’ mash 14th: Homemade pizza 15th: Stir fry 16th: Roast chicken 17th: Chicken & leek pie 18th: Cauliflower cheese 19th: Toad in the hole 20th: Omelettes & salad… read full entry »
Part of my ongoing mission to save money this year, these things have saved me money this month… 1. Bought tinned beans Like most parents of small children, we buy baked beans. They’re good for emergency meals when Isabel is so wiped out from nursery or is feeling under the weather and we need to… read full entry »
I mentioned on twitter the other day that having to sit down and write a meal plan once a week was getting to be a bit of a pain the arse, and that I was considering making it monthly. Presented with no overriding cons, that is what I’ve done. Below is my meal plan for… read full entry »
Lots of repeats in this week’s meal plan as Isabel has been tiring me out and I’ve had lots to do around the house and with work-y type stuff… Monday: Spaghetti Bolognese Found an even cheaper mince today; Tesco’s Everyday Value one for £1.56! I imagine the cow it came from was probably reared in… read full entry »