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