Tonights tea

This evening DD and i had homemade kedgeree for our dinner,this is the recipe i followed
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/10421/kedgeree

I had the fish in the freezer,i used a reduced price piece of smoked cobbler and everything else came from the the cupboards .A very frugal and tasty dinner.OH is having a small piece of steak as he doesn't like kedgeree.
It is actually a nice feeling using things up and knowing what meals are coming up.

More shocking news announced today ,Blockbuster going into administration.In the last 5 weeks 16400 people have lost their jobs.What is our country coming to and how will it get better that's what worries me.It is one vicious circle,we all cut back don't hire dvds,buy music and this in turns makes business's fold.
Another one that i only found the week before Christmas is Rosspa, similar to approved foods but sold fresh food as well.Delivery was super quick but a little bit more expensive.

I know i have said this before but we( personally) have been affected by this recession since 2008 four years of hard struggle.Nobody is safe anymore.What job/career could you now class as secure i cant think of any.

well rant over

stay warm
nto
x

Waste and decluttering

My war on waste is going well.Last night OH and DD did eat the left overs from Sunday plus a neighbour had a plateful which i had hopped to eat when i got back from the cinema.The meat couldn't be reheated as it had been cooked then frozen and reheated once already but nobody complained to me.

Lack of money is certainly helping cut back on the grocery shopping but if I'm honest its not a problem.we are eating well and we really do need to empty some of the cupboards and freezers.

I'm also trying to declutter a few things every week from my house.This isn't going as well.I gave a couple of books to one of my customers who was extremely grateful.I put a few things on freecycle got great response but nobody is actually coming to collect.

nto
x

Tonight i went to the cinema with my eldest daughter,some good old quality mother and daughter time.
This was another freebie and its a very funny British film with lots of laugh out loud moments.
Another one to add to my list of recommendations .

nto
x

January Blues

I'm suffering from the January Blues,everything and i mean everything that normally would float over the top of my head is annoying me. Mountain and mole hill  spring to mind.

Today my son and his partner and of course Isabelle came over for dinner.I cooked for 6 and my daughter text me 1/2 hour after we started eating to say that she wasn't coming home for dinner.I now have a huge amount of food left over which will have to be reheated to eat again tomorrow.Normally this wouldn't have bothered me but today it did.I have also snapped at her because she has done no revision today .So I'm putting it down to the January Blues....Or I'm becoming a grumpy middle aged woman.

Brrr

Today i saw a bit of the white stuff falling from the sky,didn't come to much which in my opinion is a relief.
I'm hoping that it misses us completely as i hate driving in the stuff and DD HAS to attend school next week for her exams,even if the rest of the school is closed.
My lounge at least is nice and warm ,heating is off and we are just relying on this for our heat.We still do have our heating on but just briefly in the morning.

Dinner is in the slow cooker,today is pulled pork,never done this before so hoping its nice.

Hope you are all staying worm,

nto
x

Meal planning and healthy eating

I'm now into day 5 of my healthy eating plan its not going too badly and hope to see results sometime in the near future.
January is always a really tough month in the nto household added to a difficult December it can be downright miserable.
Self employment means you have no control over when money comes in and we are struggling with an extreme lack of it.This recession is really starting to drag me down.We have struggled for 4 years now.Don't get me wrong its not all been bad.If the recession hadn't hit us we would still be living way above our means.
Debts wouldn't have been paid off but if any of you have ever added your yearly expenditure up ,you need a lot of money coming in just to cover basics.For example £1460 just for council tax a year.£1140 just for insurance for 2 vehicles .£ 3640 groceries (£70 a week) I know this is what i am aiming to reduce this year but your getting my drift we are up to £6240 just on these 3 items.So OH bringing in £20 in the last 2 weeks doesn't go along way in covering expenditure.

I have now used some of my whiteboard paper to draw up a meal planner.

Don't think my husband is too chuffed at seeing what he is eating for the next week and a  few faces were pulled.Wait until he sees the following weeks when more egg and vegetarian dishes are included.One thing about my OH is he doesn't get why i do this and how difficult it is to be frugal and reduce outgoings after 4 years of recession and 2 years of trying to sort things out hes still not on board and wont discuss money.

Visited baby yesterday she is Devinne ,she has put on over a lb in 3 weeks.
DD is struggling with her revision and has her 1st exam today.I'm still struggling internally with her being back with ex but im now trying to keep quite.She booked a girly holiday earlier in the week.Her boyfriend wasn't happy and reacted exactly as i expected him too.But at least she has done it.

nto
x

Frugal Goals

I am trying very hard to eliminate food waste and be more organised.
One of my customers has given me a sheet of magic white board,This sheet sticks to any service and is easily removed.
I cut an A4 size sheet and put it on the door above my chest freezer.I then went through my freezer and wrote down everything in the freezer and quantities.As i use or add i mark the sheet with my whiteboard pen.
This hopefully should help me with my next stage,meal planning.I can see what is in the freezer and meal plan accordingly.
Hopefully this in turn will reduce my grocery budget and then i can get push that money in other directions.

We must start eating eggs for a meal more often as well.We are still getting 3 eggs a day from my girls and as I'm off cakes etc at the moment a nice omelette for tea one night wouldn't be a bad idea.

DD is all excited tonight she has just been out and booked her summer holiday with her girlfriends,so glad she has done this,10 girls and 1 boy all going to Crete after A levels.