A month of freezer meals.

It is a while since I started the quest to get a month worth of meals bought prepped etc and ready for use in the freezer.   I have to be honest and say that I thought it would be a whole lots easier than it actually is.

As I have said in an earlier post in America they seem to eat a lot of pasta meals, we have maybe 4 a month, secondly they use tonnes of their version of sausages (they look quite unappetizing to me – shouldn't really comment as I have never eaten them but I’m not sure they are for us), then there is the space issue, I have a large upright freezer and a small chest freezer in my garage, but as I use them for fruit and vegetable storage and a few other bits I struggle to get a whole months’ worth of meals in, next comes money it is quite a struggle to go and buy all the meat required for a month, on top of regular spending, finally most of these super organised women seem to be stay at home mums, or they make money from their blogs therefore they are earning at home, so for some of us girls in the UK time could be a problem, myself I am lucky and work 3 days a week so if needs be I could manage the time element.

After trying to keep up with the month's worth for a while I have made more adjustments and have found a system which for me works better at the moment, I have compromised and have gone for the two week attack, I can see this stretching out as I get more practiced and I am sure I will discover new things that work really well for us as a family, for now though it works well and I have got a set list of meals to draw upon.   I have previously posted about this and in my earlier post I mention the notebook system that I devised, well I still use this as it works well and is a useful reminder of where we are and what needs replacing.

I wish to clarify now that it really is worth checking out everything on the internet after all we are all different and have different tastes, needs, and time and money constraints.   It really is worth having a go at this planning ahead and freezing meals though, as heading home every night, knowing that your meal is already sorted is really a blessing at the end of a busy day, baby steps first, in my next blog I will share a week’s plan with you, hopefully you will find some things that are useful or that will spark ideas of your own.

Me and the 5:2 (Fast) diet

Now that most of the Christmas nibbles have disappeared from the house, the "healthy me" plan can be kick started again.

I have followed the 5:2 diet plan for 2 years now, admittedly not always to the letter but actually not a bad effort for me (if I say so myself).   I started the whole thing after gradually putting on weight year after year, I was going to my wardrobe and looking to see what would fit, as opposed to what I wanted to wear……..it had to stop, then hey presto the 5:2 diet appeared in the press etc and I thought “I could do that” and I did, I have lost a stone and a half. Most importantly to me..I have kept it off!!

You may not think a stone and a half is much, well to some people it isn't but to me it is, I have struggled with my weight for nearly 30 years and I have never managed to shift this much.   To put it all into context for you I am 5’ 4” and though I have never had to buy clothes larger than a 16 (and that is mainly tops because I have big boobs!!!) I knew they were becoming the norm and I didn’t want that.

So here we are, a new year, a fresh start, back on the 5:2 and hopefully heading down to size 12’s, I have some already (can’t believe it!!!).

I try to behave as much as I can during the week, I diet (500 calorie allowance) for two of the days and then for the other 3 I try to make food intake count.   Porridge for breakfast, soup and a low fat muffin (both homemade) for lunch, healthy choice snacks and fruits in between (I believe it is important to eat enough on non-diet days or your body won’t react to the diet days as it should)  and a normal tea (portion control in operation here though), then come the weekend, I don’t even think about dieting, of course it’s not always as easy but I intend to continue and see how far (down) I can get this year.

If you are thinking about the 5:2 diet my advice would be give it a go, it might not be for you, but then again it might be the answer to your prayers!! – Good luck

Filofax colouring book..........Why Haven't I thought to do this before?

I haven't written anything about my Filofax before............to be honest I thought I was the only person as obsessive and geeky about them, but thanks to Pintrest I have unearthed a whole load of exciting stuff, and am now secure in the knowledge that loads of people are as batty as me!!   Anyway I am here now because I have just had a eureka moment whilst printing this years pages!   Because my Filofax is an A5 massive hunk of a thing, years ago I designed page templates for lots of things, including the actual diary bit I love the freedom of printing my own, I used to trawl through each year studiously filling in Birthdays, anniversaries etc, but now I have three pages of stickers (self designed of course) that I print off then apply, this has cut time greatly. Anyway the pages progressed from being plain to having tiny pretty pictures at the top of each page, whilst I was setting up this years pages I chose a couple of  simple outline pictures and was about to shrink them and put them at the top when I thought "Colouring book" how could I not share that? Not sure how practical it will prove to be yet but I like living on the edge!!! 

Challenges

2015 the year of the challenges

I have set myself several challenges this year, the first is blogging more often!! But I have also decided that along with the usual “lose more weight and get fitter” thing I will try a couple of things I have read about. Firstly the “throw something out every day for a year” challenge, I should just quantify here that I will be either throwing out, giving away be it to a charity shop or anybody else or repurposing, anything that I come across that is just hanging around for the sake of it.  Secondly the “save a pound for every day of the year” challenge.   So far so good, but let’s be honest here, we are not that far in yet are we!!!! I have cheated a bit with the saving cause to give myself a good start and a little flexibility I have paid in until the middle of January.   The throwing out however I am doing day by day and have so far got rid of some old Tech, clothes, old makeup, unwanted Christmas decorations and some jars of ancient spices from my pantry……..blimey if I carry on at this rate there will be mothing left!!!! So I am looking forward to a super slim, rich (well richish) minimalist (not a cat in hells chance of that I am a crafter!!!!) me at the end of 2015!!!!

The Big Freeze (Eating from the freezer for a month)

Over the last couple of months I have been trailing freezer meal recipes, after finding many pins on Pintrest about freezing a months, worth of meals in a couple of cooking sessions, I thought “I like the sound of that” however when I started on the research I found that a lot of the recipes used just weren't suitable for our needs.   For one thing a lot of the American recipes involve pasta, we do eat pasta but not in the quantities that I found on the net, also a lot of American’s seem to have no problem with defrosting and refreezing raw chicken!!  I can’t bring myself to do that either so that was out, and lastly the Americans have the “coupons” advantage (anybody that has seen Extreme Couponing, knows what I mean), this means they can go out and buy masses of ingredients in one go without needing to re-mortgage the house.   Anyway, not to be put off by these few stumbling blocks I thought there must be a way for me to manage it, I have always used my freezer for fruit/veggies, soup mixes, shepherd’s pie, meat on it’s own, but having a whole meal prepped and ready to go just makes things so easy,  research done, shopping for twice the usual meat etc, stretched over a month, the family thinking I have lost the plot cause everything is going in the freezer, I am pleased to report success!!!! We have so far enjoyed 8 days’ worth of stress free eating, I just have to get a tray etc out of the freezer in the morning (or evening if it is something for the slow cooker) and bung it in the oven, I sometimes need to do a few potatoes, on the other hand sometimes I don’t because I have frozen some portions of mash, baked potatoes, and ready to roast potatoes, anything requiring rice is sorted as I froze portions as I went along, and I have trays of ready to roast veg and bags of prepped veg ready too.   The biggest advantage to all this, isn't really to do with money (at this stage anyway, though I am sure I will be taking advantage of offers and reductions in a much better way now) it is more about the carefree meal times.   I have devised a system so that we know what is available, and if it came to it anybody in our house could sort the tea out (Wow that would be good!!!!).

I have a small ring bound note book in the kitchen, each time I prepare a freezer meal (or pudding) I write it on one page, together with how many portions (some meals are split down into single servings as sometimes we aren’t all there to eat together, in that case, say I had 4 individual portions of something, I write along the bottom of the page – 4 3 2 1), I also put any cooking instructions on the page.   When we use something, I tear the page out of the book, or cross a used portion off, that way we know what we have in the freezer and what the options are for tea!!   On the back page of the notebook is a list of sandwiches that I have made up and frozen, I have been trialing what works well with those too and we now have no worries for packed lunches or impromptu picnics, a short hop to the freezer and we are sorted (excellent in the summer when bread goes off so quickly).  I am sure that I will find more and more useful things, and although I have always managed to get 2 weeks of meals frozen and sorted for Christmas, I am determined to make this a whole year and whole month way of feeding the gang, so I will continue this another time however I am sure a quick taster of what we have available at the moment would be useful.

Balsamic roast Sausage, Balsamic and Honey Pork, Hawaiian Pork, Turkey rollups, Spaghetti bolognaise (sauce only),Shepherd’s pie, Loaded Baked potatoes, Curries (stacked together with rice portions and naan breads), Cooked chicken for super fast fajita’s, Corned beef pasties, Lasagne, Pasta sauces, Fishcakes, Home cooked sliced Ham. Potato Muffins, Mash and rice, packets of prepped soup mix, muffins and pancakes, pies and crumbles for puddings.   More research to come and a bigger freezer me thinks!!

Saving money can be done!!!

“Creatures of habit” that’s what we are and shopping is a habit that is there to be broken!!!!.  Just to say I have been there and got the T shirt when it comes to saving and achieving, My husband and I set out to pay off our mortgage…………..and we did, we paid off our 25 year mortgage in 9 years!!! We now are doing the same with a second property and planning to pay off a £100,000 mortgage in 6 years!!!.............yes we are shoveling money into it, no we are not living on stale bread and beans on toast, we have all the clothes we need and we run 2 cars, have 2 holidays a year, and we eat out so all in all life is not miserable.

So what don’t we have??

Credit cards, mobile contracts, extortionate trips to the pictures, we don’t smoke, or for that matter drink much, I don’t buy magazines, or fake tans or fake nails, and as my hair is, and almost always has been long, I don’t have massive hairdresser bills, I do get it highlighted twice a year though!!.

If you are serious about saving money you have to really want it.   Do some maths and see for yourself what your habits cost……a Coffee “treat” on the way to work at say “£2.00” a day, times 5 days a week for say 40 weeks (to allow for hols, sick not feeling like coffee days etc) means a treat of £400 pounds a year!!!!   Do that maths and much more besides and you will soon see where your money is going!   There are tonnes of hints and tips on the internet about saving money, so I am not going to go listing them all here but do think about some of the following:-

Next time a renewal letter arrives (breakdown cover is a classic!! – we have saved tonnes of money by making just one phone call a year!!) ring said company up, ask why the price increase……….tell them you are considering moving company’s as the increase is unreasonable………wait for the renegotiation!!!   This even works for TV packages

I mentioned the pictures earlier………..well here’s the thing, I USED to love a family trip to the pictures, but now it’s nothing but a trauma, not only do you pay a ridiculous amount to watch a film in a big room, that’s not even guaranteed to be warm, but you have to put up with inconsiderate rude people, who let their kids run to the toilet or concessions stand every 2 minutes whilst they use their mobiles to catch up on their social lives.   Not anymore, it’s far cheaper and less stressful to buy the DVD, make some popcorn at home, or buy a big bag if making it isn’t your thing (don’t get me started on the price they get away with charging for popcorn!!!) and get drinks at a fraction of the cost, turn off the phone……….erm yes we DO turn off the phones – all of them!!!! Draw the curtains and crank up the volume a bit, even the dog joins in which he can’t when we go out – far more cosy, enjoyable and cheaper too.

Heating (ours is gas)……….now this is a biggie, we have a log burner in our living room so we use our central heating as little as possible, even in the winter……….we have 2 teenagers and all their lives we have encouraged family time, so actually, they are happy to spend time in a room with us.   The heating isn’t on during the day on week days (even though I am home 2 days a week………..I just get layered up if it’s cold).   We have a 3 oil radiators, and draft excluders for every door (Old house with chimneys), blankets   we warm the house up for going to bed, use hot water bottles and wheat bags in the beds and within reason do all we can to keep the costs down whilst keeping everybody happy

DRYING CLOTHES OUTSIDE IS FREE!!! – sorry to shout but I know so many people who now just shove everything in the dryer….I have solar panels and still dry outside!!!!

Plan your menus, make a list, and stick to it!! Fresh food is cheaper than ready meals……….Get a slow cooker and use it, cheap to run, meat falls apart and is delicious and juicy, and it’s ready when you get in from work – no brainer!!!

Don’t go shopping!!!...........unless you really need to!   money stays in your purse a lot longer if you aren’t near a till!!! – If you are really bad at adding extra things to the trolley that you really don’t need, shop online, yes you pay for delivery but you don’t end up spending money you didn’t intent to………and you don’t have all those extra calories hanging around the house that now need eating up!!!!!

Internet/ebay, look there first before you pay shop prices…….market stalls don’t have massive overheads – check out the fruit and veg, not only is it cheaper than the shops but often fresher too, as stall holders don’t have massive great warehouses to store stuff.

Lots have people say it but how many do it…………Ask yourself “Do I need it” before you buy……….be honest, if you are really serious about saving money, you will know what is needed and what is a waste.

OK lecture over……….relax!!

Salad Days (A quick tip for an easy summer)

As I was preparing tea last night I thought it would be good to share my super easy salad days tip……….a perpetual salad bar!

We are big salad eater’s in summer so I keep a constant salad bar going in my fridge over summer.

I have a set of stacking boxes that fit in my fridge and a couple of other plastic boxes, during the summer I keep a constant supply of salad options in these boxes. The secret to this system I have found is to do small quantities on a regular basis, so the boxes all have smaller boxes and dishes inside them with.   For me/us this system is a boost as all I need to do is get the boxes out and my crew can help themselves to most of their meal, it also means that there is a selection of sandwich additions ready to hand at any time. Some of our staples are chopped celery with mandarin oranges (from a tin, without the juice) and a scattering of sultanas, grated carrot, sliced peppers and sliced red onions another favourite is jellied beetroot……for this I buy ready cooked vacuum packed beetroot, then make up a raspberry jelly with a generous half of boiled water and a skinny half of cider vinegar, chop the beetroot and put it in a dish, pour over the jelly and leave to set (this is great for parties by the way), I also buy bags of grated cheese, or gate my own, put a small portion in a tub and either refrigerate the rest or often just stick it in the freezer in a tub!!

It’s as easy as that…………….come home from work, take the chicken etc out of the slow cooker, open the boxes and voila, tea in a jiffy!