Start of June's meal plan

First of all I can't believe that we are in June! This year has flown by. For those of you who read my last post you would know that my husband has deployed but I have a friend staying with me so my meal plans are still for two people.

5th spaghetti bolognase and salad
6th pasta bake
7th beef and broccoli
8th our for lunch so most likely something simply like leftovers or omelettes
9th I'm at a wedding and my friend is eating at her parents
10th chicken curry
11th sweet and sour chicken
12th beef stir fry
13th and 14th my friend is away so I haven't planned any meals yet this weekend
15th sweet and sour chicken
16th tacos
17th Mac and cheese
18th omelettes
19th stir fry
20th pasta bake

After this I am off work for a week so I haven't meal planned as I am unsure of what my plans will be. Since being pregnant I'm more content with simply food such as scrambled eggs on toast or soup so even though I plan evening meals I don't always eat a huge amount of it.

Have you done any weekly or monthly meal plans yet? Let me know what your eating this month.

Claire

A life update!

Life has been a little crazy here recently. For those of you that know my husband is in the Air Force he recently deployed for six months. My best friend has moved into the house with me so my food budget is slightly lower cooking for two females.

Cooper our puppy is now six months old. He had the snip yesterday so unfortunatly he is feeling a little groggy and struggling to get around with his cone but I'm hoping he will start feeling better soon. I plan to write his 6 month update soon.

Our biggest upcoming life change is that we are expecting our first baby in November. I am currently 16 weeks pregnant. We are very excited for this change and now that the morning sickness phrase has stopped I'm hoping to get back to blogging. I will most likely be including updates on what we are buying and taking pictures of our nursery. However I still plan on doing recipes, food hauls, food plans and some natural alternatives.

I hope you will enjoy reading about these big changes we have coming up. Have any of you got anything life changing happening this year?

Claire

Paleo meal ideas

After we are back from our trip we are considering going paleo-ish. I've been looking online and through my collection of cookbooks. I thought I would share with you the list I have come up with.

• Egg muffins
• Chicken curry and cauliflower rice
• Cauliflower based pizza
• Roast and veggies
• Meatballs and  courgette spaghetti
• Kebabs
• Lettuce wraps
• Stuffed mushrooms
• Stuffed peppers
• Baked sweet potatoes chips and mash 
• Chilli
• Taco salad
• Chicken soup
• Stir fry veggies and cauliflower rice
• Burgers in mushroom buns 
• Fruit salad

Do you have any favourite paleo meals?

Claire 

My apologies

First off all I offer my apologies for the lack of posts. I'm hoping to be much more organised over the next couple of weeks but here is a round up of what we've been up to.

Cooper went for the last of his vaccines and had doubled in weight since his last appointment. We have also started puppy training classes with him and today will be week 2 of 6. He did really well last week and seemed to enjoy himself. He knew how to do the tricks they started on but with being a typical lab I don't think he minded taking part as it meant he got treats! The rest of the puppies are small breeds and he is already the biggest by a fair bit so we imagine by week 6 he will seem like a giant to the rest!!

 We have got two anniversaries coming up within the next week. Ours on Sunday where my parents are going to puppy sit and we will go out for the day, we are unsure of where yet so anyone who's in the Norfolk/suffolk area with some ideas please share!  Then on Tuesday we have my parents 25th anniversary! A group of use are going away Monday to Friday to celebrate this.

The last few weeks have seemed very busy with doing a bit of early spring cleaning, enjoying some walks with the lovely weather we've been having and generally just getting ready to go away. My car also failed it's mot so is having to have some work done. This was budgeted for but I still begrudge handing the money over! If we didn't both work early mornings we could just have the one car as I rarely use mine other than to and from work and the occasional visit to friends.
We stuck to our food budget this month with a little left to spare. Once we are back from our trip we are thinking about going paleo-ish. My sinuses have been playing up which I think is dairy related and I have been falling on cereal and toast for quick breakfasts that I would like to be more motivated to change. When away I will make a meal plan out of the list of meal ideas I've gathered and we will see how it goes.
How was the end of February for you? Have you got anything planned this month?

Claire

Five frugal things we've done this week.

I've read a few 'five frugal things this week' posts by cass at http://www.frugalfamily.co.uk. I always think these are inspiring and as I've seen a few bloggers join in I thought I would too.

1. On Monday we brought cooper first car harness. We waiting until he was in a size medium so we didn't have to buy three different sizes. We are hoping this will fit him for a while and we saved about £20.
2. We kept to our meal plan. Last night we didn't really fancy veggie pasta but it was on the menu so we had it. This has meant that we didn't go out of our way to buy more food.
3. Most of coopers walks have been near our house this week so we haven't used petrol to drive anywhere extra. We have also done our chores at the same time to save journeys. 
4. We recently had some loft insulation installed so we have turned our heating down. We have also booked for someone to come fit an energy reader so we can keep track of how much we are spending daily. 
5.  I've sorted out a small pile of clothes that I haven't worn in a while. This will be the start of our car boot pile. We did one last year just before they ended in September but I'm sure we have more than enough to do one when they start again. 

What frugal things have you done this week?

Claire 

Part time vegetarian?

To keep within our food budget and to buy good quality meat we often have a couple of meat free nights a week. We also try and stretch meat out in meals by bulking it with beans and veg. A whole chicken can now last use three/four meals, it used to last us two.

I went to a friends house for dinner on Wednesday and tried quorn mince for the first time. Her family have been using it as part of their slimming world meal plan. I must admit I wasn't looking forward to trying it as I've always have the mindset that I would rather go meatfree than to use a meat alternative. She cooked it in a spaghetti bolognese and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I don't think it had as much flavour as used beef mince but it got me thinking I could possibly use it again.

The price of quorn mince also makes it appealing. I noticed it in aldi yesterday and it was priced at £1.48 for 300grams. Have you tried meat alternatives before? Do you have a recipe it works well in?

Here are some meatless meal ideas if you need to stretch your budget this month:

• Omelettes
• Stuffed peppers
• Quinoa burgers
• Fried rice
• Veggie pasta
• Black beans and rice
• Sandwiches for dinner
• Muffins or bread with veggies/fruit such as courgette muffins 
• Veggie curry
• Dinner picnic style with chopped veggies, fruit, crackers and cheese
• Smoothie
• Cheese/beans/eggs on toast

Sainsburys top up shop.

After my meal plan I said that we had £135.79 left in our budget but that we needed a couple things for this week. Today I brought eggs, gluten free flour, chocolate, maple syrup and some crusty rolls for my husband.

This shop came to £7.01 so we have £128.78 left. How's your food budget going this month?
Claire

Coopers new car harness and a walk!

As my husband is american he had Monday off for Presidents' Day. Once I had come home from work and we had breakfast we decided to go out. Our first stop of the day was pets at home. We have been holding cooper on our laps in the car but now that's he's going for slightly longer walks we decided it was time to get him a car harness so I can travel to nice walking spots with him. As you can see from the pictures below he didn't mind it but needed bribing at first!!

Not far from out house is elveden estate. This is a courtyard with some nice shops and a cafe but our main reason for going was for their nature trail. It was a nice day and we all really enjoyed being out in the fresh air. The fresh air defiantly made us hungry so we treated ourselves to a warm drink and a sandwich in their cafe. It's more expensive than we like to pay for a casual meal but we haven't eaten out much lately so we thought it would be a nice treat.

Once we were home cooper slept for most of the afternoon and we got to enjoy our beef stew which had been cooking away in the slow cooker all day.

Meal plan 16th February - 8th March

So after meaning to do a new meal plan for about a week I finally ticked it off my list tonight. This time I've done a three week meal plan which takes us up until we go away. Our cupboards are still pretty full after our tesco shop and I'm hoping we have enough meat to last us the next three weeks. There is currently only one night I'm out so I have planned a meal for most nights.

16 beef stew with salad on the side
17 salad and stuffed peppers
18 I'm out. My husband will have fish
19 chicken quarters and veg
20 chicken or veggie pasta
21 gammon steaks with pineapple and homemade chips
22 I have some mince. I'm thinking of doing either lasagne or spaghetti bolognese.

23 whole chicken in the slow cooker with veg
24 egg fried rice with leftover chicken
25 pasta with leftover chicken
26 pork chops
27 omelettes
28 homemade quiche
1 leftovers


2 chicken quarters and veg
3 something with chicken breasts
4 quinoa burgers
5 chicken pasta with leftover chicken
6 omelettes and salad
7 veggie curry
8 leftovers


I've figured this week I will need to buy eggs and gluten free flour to make a batch of Yorkshire puddings with but hoping that I may be able to have a week spending very little. I'm planning on spending no more than £150 again this month and will take what we don't spend as spending money for our week away. Deducting £14.21 from our tesco shop we have £135.79. What's on your meal plan this week? Claire

Tesco food haul

After our  Last shop we had £27 left in our budget. Tesco send  an email with a £15 off a £60 voucher and I also had a voucher though the post for £5 off £25. I decided if these worked together and that we could save £20 we would use it before they expire and take the extra money out of next months budget. The total shop came too £41.81. Therefore we will take £14.21 out of next month. I didn't take any photos but I will list the items below and include some recent pictures of our puppy towards the end.

Fruit and vegetables:

• Organic potatoes
• Pears
• Bananas
• Organic lemons
• Grapes
• Organic pink lady apples
• Mixed peppers

Fridge

• Cheese
• Organic Greek yogurts
• Organic milk

Meat

• Chicken leg quarters
• Chicken breast packs x2
• Steak x2
• Streaky bacon
• Gammon steaks
• Diced beef
• Salmon fillets

Other

• Popadoms
• Curry sauce
• Passata x3
• Ice cream
• Granola
• Cleaning spray for pets

Meal prep Monday and a food haul.

At the beginning of the week I like to try and get as organised as possible. Yesterday morning I made some Slow cooker porridge with some frozen apples and raspberries. I also used a couple of blueberries that we had left in the fridge that were getting a little soft. I also went shopping today so I took some time to wash all my fruit and to clean out my fridge. The last thing I did was hard boil some eggs for snacks. Doing this now means we have 6 breakfasts and our snacks are ready to eat. I find the helpful to have something healthy to grab. I also peeled the garlic that I brought and put this in our garlic jar.

After our Pantry challenge update we had £64 left. At the weekend we used £9 on some potatoes, baking potatoes, chocolate, pears and apples. Today I spend £28 on what you see below. I also got some toilet rolls which didn't make it into the picture.

Doing this challenge I realise that we use a lot of fresh produce which is generally my main reason for going to the shops. We have mainly red meat in our freezer so I decided to buy the chicken breasts. We had some left over chicken in the fridge to use for tonight's meal but I wanted to add a little more. The majority of this pack went in the freezer. There were a few organic products on offer and I'm happy with the amount of organic in this shop. After these two shops we have £27 left. I'm hoping that by doing a produce shop at aldi next week we will come in on budget.

What's in my pantry.

After doing my What's in my fridge and freezer post I thought I would show you my pantry. We keep most of our food items in one tall cupboard this is an over view below.

One the top shelf we have a couple bags of pasta. I brought these as they were reduced to clear at 62p each. We have two boxes of quick cook white rice and one brown. A couple tomato passata  that we use instead of jarred red sauce. I won a competition not that long ago which is why we have so many naked products. Coconut water is used either in smoothies or mixed with orange juice as I don't like the taste of it by itself.

On the next shelf we have most of our tins. These contain fruit, vegetables, spare sauces that don't fit I. The fridge such as jam. Small pots of honey and jam are from varies gift sets. There is more rice, some lentils, beans, quinoa and seeds. The next couple of shelves normally look a lot more organised than they do right now. We have some cereal, rice cakes, noodles, flaxseed and some popadoms. The bottom shelf is generally our snack area which has fruit pouches, pineapple pots, some quick cook oats, cereal bars, nuts and some larger jars of honey. At the bottom of this cupboard we keep long life almond milk and juice. The container keeps my corn flour in to make tortillas with and there are some gluten free ice cream comes in the back. We keep our spices and cooking supplies in a separate cupboard which you can see below. We keep most of our herbs on a spice rack but store back ups in here. Once I've opened dry goods I like to store them in jars. On our work too we have rice, pasta, cereal, homemade granola, slow cooking oats and our garlic pot.

What's in my fridge and freezer!

This month we are doing both the 100 days of real food mini pledges and Good cheap eats pantry challenge. These go very much hand in hand as each week we get a different challenge with 100 days so this enables us to eat the food in our pantry that may not meet each weeks challenge. With our pantry challenge this month we are hoping to keep to a budget so by using our pantry and freezer to the max we are hoping for a low spend. Once we have a pantry that isn't quite so full we we hoping to be able to restock on more clean foods.

Starting with our fridge. On the top shelf we have butter, mustard and  some chopped garlic. The next shelf down we have some cheese sticks, some jam that has now been used up and a couple of innocent drinks. We then have regular full fat cows milk and almond milk. At the bottom is a bottle of seasoning that my husband likes to use on meat occasionaly.

In the main bulk of our fridge on the top shelf  we have some BBQ sauce, some nandos sauce, tomato pasarta, not from concentrate orange juice and some maple syrup. There is also a couple of small Greek yogurt pots. In the plastic tub we keep things like cheese and lunch meat. We currently have some chorizo and German ham.

Next there is some wine from when we had guests the other day. I don't drink alcohol and my husband does very rarely but it seems a waste to throw it away. There are two tubs of yogurts, some left over sweet potatoes in the bowl and a bagged one in the back. Behind the bowl is a box with some Healthy truffles. Also there is a pot of soup.

On the bottom shelf there is some leftover chicken in a Tupperware box and also some cut up pineapple in the red one. There are some wrapped bacon lardons in the back. There are strawberries, hard boiled eggs and some salsa.

In the drawer there are apples, carrots, brussle sprouts, onions and peppers.

Our freezer is a jumble sale right now! We have a selection of meats, a couple whole chickens, beef mince, meatballs, pork joint, some fish, pork chops and some diced chicken.

In our other three drawers we have a selection of frozen fruit and vegetables. Homemade chicken stock, a couple different bits of leftovers and a couple of ice lollies.

Do you know what's in your fridge and freezer. Later I will be posting about what's in my pantry.

Egg muffins

Here is a great on the go breakfast idea. We make these most weeks and vary what we include.

You will need:

• Eggs I used 3 which made 12 muffins
• Bacon
• Peppers
• Mushrooms
• Salt,pepper and garlic

You can use any ingredients you like for this. Start by cooking you filling on the stove top. 

Once these are cooked add them into a bowl with you beaten eggs. Oil your muffin pan or use cupcake cases if you like and spoon the mixture evenly into them. I have a fan assisted oven and I cooked these for 15minutes at 180 degrees. Cook these until a knife comes out clean. Once cooked place on a wire rack to cool if you are not eating straight away. These can be stored in the fridge for a few days or frozen and taken out the night before you want them. Let me know if you try these. Claire

Pantry challenge update

So it's been almost a week since we started Good cheap eats pantry challenge. Since them I've done two small shops both at aldi.

I can't seem to download the photo of my first shop but if I'm able to I'll insert it below. This shop came to £7.80 and I brought two boxes of eggs, cream eggs, dried apricots and some garlic granules.

My second shop is below and came to £7.20. We only had apples left and no salad which were my main reasons for going. We use almond milk for our porridge but I personally enjoy drinking cows milk which is why I purchased this too.

After my Shop at waitrose last week I was left with £79 in our budget for the month. We have £64 left. Later on I will be uploading a post showing you what I have in my pantry.

Puppy update

So cooper has been with us for 12 days!  He's settled in well and is feeling very much at home!

The picture above is him after he had his first bath! He's a real water baby he even licks water off the ground  when it's been raining! Since being here he has learn to sit, he goes in his crate by himself and is happy most of the time to west his collar. He is also mostly toilet trained with just a couple of accidents indoors.

On Tuesday he went to the vets for his second round of vaccines and was really well behaved. We had him weighed and we guessed correctly with him being 5.8kg. He is a typical Labrador who loves food and will do anything for it so we are hoping this will help with trick training.

Today he is meeting my cousins dog who is an 8 year old Labrador so we are excited to see how he reacts.

Last weeks food

Here are a few pictures of some of our meals from last week.

What did you eat this week? Have you done a meal plan?