I made a terrible, terrible mistake in June. I ignored my budget, forgot to check my online banking statements regularly, and made a big ‘luxury’ purchase (last minute half week “glamping” break) in the same month as a big necessary purchase (car tax). What with… read full entry →

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I bought a bigger slow cooker to try and frugalise (is that a word?) some of the meals I’m used to making by reducing the fuel cost to cook them. Having made a few ‘easy’ meals with success… read full entry →

Bit uninspired this week :P Sun 4th: Roast chicken, mash, veg Mon 5th: Creamy salmon pasta inspired by Jack (adjusted to make it dairy free/suitable for my fusspots) Tue 6th: Chicken soup from carcass Wed 7th: Mince & tatties Thu 8th: Beany mince / salad… read full entry →

Bit more veg this week, except tonight’s “meal” (don’t ask) Sun 14th: Meatballs & mash Mon 15th: Spaghetti hoops on toast (‘oops’ disorganised night) Tue 16th: Slow ‘roast’ veg & crusty homemade bread Wed 17th: Macaroni Peas (adapted from River Cottage Veg Everyday) Thu 18th:… read full entry →

Making the most of leftovers and the freezer this week, with short-dated prawns and pork frozen from previous supermarket shops & Tuesday’s pie made from tonights pot roast. Sun 14th: BBQ leftovers & sandwiches/salad Mon 15th: Beef brisket pot roast Tue 16th: Beef & mushroom… read full entry →

I’ve been up and down with my meal plans lately, trying to find a system that works for me. The most productive way I have found seems to be to plan from Sunday through to the following Saturday. That allows me to buy a piece… read full entry →

There’s been a big gap between meal plan posts because discovering Oliver has issues with dairy left me feeling a bit lost and “what do I cook now?!”. I don’t know why, most of the foods I cook are either dairy-free or have ingredients that… read full entry →

Apologies for another boring meal plan entry. Drowning in work and house chores and kids and general ARGH at the moment. As expected, I’m finding that breaking my meal plans down in to stages and basing what I serve off the veg box instead of… read full entry →

We had some sunshine here in jemjabella-land today, so despite the chill in the air, everyone was wrapped up warm and shoved into the garden (and as such both kids were asleep for 6:30pm despite Oliver having late nap!) I’ve re-potted my strawberry babies from… read full entry →

Sorry about the cheaty back-dating of this one ;) I’ve got several posts in the works re: my new goal to pay off the mortgage etc but am poorly so not getting time / energy to finish them :( 01st: (Homemade) Pizza night 02nd: Frugal… read full entry →

Last meal plan post of January, huzzah (and only slightly late). Not as tight on the veg this week because I wanted to use up leftovers and bought a cheap chicken to get February meals in for as little as possible (more on that at… read full entry →

See other January meal plan post for reasons for splitting this months/why it’s mostly veggie… This week & a bit actually sees me making use of two of my cookbooks for once! 19th: Vegetable pie w/pastry top (had chicken dippers last night so swapped over)… read full entry →