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.
[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…
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…
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…
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…
I went against last week’s meal plan and bought a chicken for yesterday so that I could incorporate chicken into several meals this week (penance for splurging on Domino’s). In case you missed the last entry, the chicken turned out to be a weird, mutant…
Part of my ongoing meal-plan series… Monday: Meat pie Made from the mince that I was supposed to use for last week’s cottage pie, but we had a last minute splurge on pizza (delivered) instead. I guess that puts the cost at some £20+ ……
Part of my ongoing mission to save money this year, these things have saved me money this month… 1. Cancelled our lovefilm membership I’ve fallen in and out of love with lovefilm over the years because of billing issues, scratched DVDs etc but having been…
Thank you for the support (comments, retweets etc) on last week’s meal plan: it was cool to see how many of you also meal plan. Definitely reinforces that I’m doing the right thing to help with this budgeting malarkey. Anyway, on with things… Monday: Chicken…
As promised on twitter, I’ll now be sharing my weekly meal plans with you lovely folks. I’ll include costs where possible (and you’re welcome to tell me if I’m over-spending) and recipes when I remember to type them up. Monday: Quiche with salad The eggs…
