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

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

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.

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.

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?

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Good cheap eats pantry challenge

A few months ago I came across Good cheap eats pantry challenge. I forgot about this until last week when I saw that she has started this again this January. On her website you will find the full details but the main part of the challenge is to use up what's in your freezer and food cupboards while saving money.

Our budget moves around a fair bit but on average it is about £250-£300 a month for the two of us. This works out at £62.50 a week if we are using a four week month. The last few months we have hosted a christmas party as well as a few get together a with friends. For the next four weeks we don't have anything big planned so I am hoping to reduce our budget to £150. After my Food shop at waitrose today I realised I can't fit anything else in my freezer and my main food cupboard is overflowing. I know that it may seems like a weird place in the month to start but I often do our food shopping on a Wednesday as I don't work.

I will start by doing an inventory and then a meal plan for the majority of the month. Off the top of my head I know we have three whole chickens, a couple packs or mince, a pork joint, some meatballs and burgers, fish and some diced chicken in our freezer. I'm hoping that as I don't have to buy meat for the rest of the month this will keep our budget down.

Today I spent £71 so I have £79 left. This budget is from 21/01/15 to 18/02/15.

If like me you feel that your cupboards and freezer are jam packed then head on over to good cheap eats as she is very inspiring and posts daily with what her family are eating.

Let me know if you plan on giving this a try.

Claire

Food shop at waitrose

Waitrose is my favourite supermarket. I love their range of organic/free range food and also that you can find things that are just a bit different. I shop here whenever our budget allows and right now they have some great offers on.

Starting with frozen and chilled.

I got my husband some frozen fish mainly for his lunches. I love how convenient frozen vegetables are. We used to have a small fridge so I think I am still in the habit of getting these but they do tend to avoid waste. We try to live by the 80/20 rule with eating healthily so the frozen yogurt is a treat.   Again for my husband are the Rachel's yogurts and the liberte yogurts are for myself. The soup will be for lunch one day and the ham and cheese for things such as sandwiches and omelettes. We didn't really need meat this week but the chickens and mince were half price so I thought I would get them for the freezer. The bacon lardons are for egg muffins and also to go with our brussel sprouts. The burgers and meatballs are things we haven't tried before but with being organic and gluten free I wanted to try them. I also thought the price wasn't bad as they were two for £5. We didn't need a huge amount of fruit and veg this week. Between us we eat 3-4 apples a day so I got two bags as these were half price. I ribboned veg are for a stir fry one night. We don't have children but we do like to have some of the Ella's pouches on hand. I often have one in my handbag with a cereal bar for a snack or we may have one after dinner occasionally. For the cupboard we got some organic sweet corn and rice pudding. I do like to try and make my own rice pudding but this is handy for a quick dessert. The dragonfly tea is also a new thing to try. The crisps are a rare treat but were on offer. When we open a large bag like this I like to portion them out into zip lock bags to avoid over eating. Hiding in the back are some tiger bread rolls for my husband. The plastic containers were reduced to clear so I purchased these. I do keep looking at glass containers but these are practical for my husband to take to work. My shop today came to £71 and some change. A while ago I came across a pantry challenge on good clean eats blog. I will be doing a post about this which includes tracking our spending on this blog too. Did you find any good deals this week? Do you have a budget for your family? Claire

Planning a healthy girls night in

Last night I had a group of friends over for a girls movie night. With me wanting to stick to plan and having a few people there watching their weight. I often find that when you are trying to eat healthier that meals with friends can leave you off track. With going though our challenge right now I prefer to eat at home as I can control what I am eating.

Here was my food shop

Most of this was for tonight. My meal plan was

• Home made cheese and bacon quiche 
• Salad with leftover chicken, pecans, pink lady apple and feta cheese. 
• Carrot and cucumber sticks withhummus 
• Tomatoes and oranges on the side
• Cheese sticks
• Homemade popcorn (ingredients already in cupboards) 

With it being a movie night there were also a few treats. I have some friends that don't embrace eating whole foods so I like to offer them the choice of having a treat. I try to buy things individually wrapped rather than a whole dessert as you don't end up with leftovers you need to eat up.

Not all of these were eaten and I've put them in our cupboard for next time we have visitors. Here are a few more pictures from the night.

Do you manage a healthy balance when you have guests round? Claire