Monday 25 November 2013

I Will Be Back

Hiya

On my phone as lappy still having issues. I am trying to get it sorted and I will be back soon. x

Sunday 24 November 2013

Yay, Its Letting Me Post Again

Good evening

As the title says, I haven't been able to post anything for a while.  Don't know what's been going on, have done several virus checks and then it updated something and now works!    I just don't understand technology.

So briefly, I have walked, ran (I was late for work lol), eaten well and this weekend had far too much wine.

My food budget is now £96/£150 and we are coming to the end of week 3, was £91 but I bought bacon and eggs at the weekend for my sister which came as a shock as the eggs were £1.99 for 6 :o to say I was not impressed would be an understatement.  I do have to go shopping tomorrow as we literally have no salad, bread and running very low on milk.  Kids will have wraps in lunch boxes and then they can finish them off for tea as I will do chicken wraps for tea.

And I lost 2lbs.  Only 5lbs to go now. :D  Getting there slowly. :D

So, back tomorrow, technology permitting.

Sal x

Wednesday 13 November 2013

More Carbs than Carrots! :o

Hiya

I know its a bit late but better late than never.  I have just looked up the carbs in Kohlrabi vegetable.  I say its late as I had it mashed with butter with my tea.  It has more carbs than carrots.  Well, there's a shocker!  I wont be having that much of it again!!!

B - onion, pepper and tomato omelette
L - sausage stir fry
T - bolognaise (bulked out with veg) stuffed cabbage leaves with kohlrabi mashed with butter

I haven't stopped today.  Walked on both school runs and to work and back - go me!  Did some painting and loads of cleaning, was on a mission! Not spent any money either.  And don't plan to tomorrow instead, still got some salad stuff left for tea for tomorrow and a gammon joint in freezer that I MUST remember to take out tonight.

Sal x

Tuesday 12 November 2013

Frozen Breakfast :o

Hiya

Thought I would try berries and squirty cream for breakfast today.  I forgot (there's a surprise) to take the berries out of freezer last night so they were frozen!  Were nice but still frozen.  Must remember to defrost them next time.

B - frozen berries with squirty cream
L - didn't have time
T - spicy ribs with salad

Bought bread today for £1 and maltesers for hubby to cheer him up for another £1 so budget now at the start of week 2 £35/£150.  Not intending to go shopping until Friday and thanks to my lovely friend I now have eggs, cabbage, sprouts, kale and parsnips.  So maybe on Thursday instead of spag bol I might make stuffed cabbage but stuff it with bolognaise rather than taco mince.  Serve it with veg and pots for the kids and I still have some rabi stuff that I could make 'pretend' potatoes for me.  I could even make this tomorrow as I really want it now!!!! lol

Sal x

Monday 11 November 2013

OMG The Pain!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Evening all

I am in so much pain.  I painted 2 coats on the most of the walls in the living room today.  Still some to do but the majority is done.  But now I cant walk properly and get a shooting pain in my back when I try.  Walls look nice though ;-)

B - sausages (left over from yesterday) and some grapes
L - beef stir fry
T - piri piri chicken with salad

And on a completely separate note, I have been looking into making bath bombs, I have all the ingredients already so might give it a bash.  If, and I do mean if, it works I may make some for the kids teachers and ta's and put a scented tea light with it.  And if it works well I might make a few for family to go with all the other stuff I seem to have accumulated throughout the year.

Wonder if Jack Daniels is a good pain reliever.....

Sal x

Sunday 10 November 2013

Burnt Crackling :(

Evening all

Don't think I have stopped today.  Took the kids to rugby but got there late so missed the away game, need to find out why they are not texting me the fixtures.  So instead we had a huge breakfast and the kids played on the ps3.  I have spent the afternoon prepping/blanching veggies and freezing them. Am quite pleased with myself, I froze the onions on a tray and then put in a bag so not all frozen together, easy to grab a handful when needed rather than bash them on the side to get a huge chunk. 

And I have now got another freezer. My friend told me it was for sale so I went straight away and collected it, the lovely man put it in the car and hubby took it out of the car so I think I managed quite well ;-)  Its a small old and tatty chest freezer but it was cheap and does the job and it means I can go to the out of town butchers and buy a shed (freezer) load of meat.  I cant wait.  I want to go this week but I am working 3 mornings (hopefully 4) and tomorrow my only full day off I want to get he majority of the painting done in the living room.

Brunch - sausages, bacon, tinned toms and a onion, pepper and cheese omelette
T - pork roast with carrots, small bit of parsnip, sprouts and cabbage

Tea was lovely except for the crackling.  I do like pork but I only actually cook it for the crackling so was devastated that I burnt it.  It was my own fault, it was not crispy from cooking in the oven so I put it under the grill and forgot about it.  I should have left it in the oven for a bit longer! Lesson learnt!

I popped to Lidl today to get the pork chops as no rugby.  I got there 10 minutes after opening and it was all gone!  Shocking!  Never mind! Got fruit, salad, sausages (for breakfast), milk and marg and spent £8.  My budget near the end of week 1 is £33/£150.  A huge portion of my budget will be going on meat when I go shopping so I am going to try to only buy bread this week.  I should have enough salad for 3 days and then do something with veg on Thursday and shopping Friday.  will see what happens, you may have noticed, my life doesn't go according to plan very often ;-)

Have a good evening.

Sal x

Saturday 9 November 2013

Good Effort but Gave Up on the Lettuce

Evening all

I think I am buying the wrong lettuce. I have an iceberg at the moment and could I use it for my fajitas, could I 'eck!  I tried and tried, and ended up shredding the lettuce and putting the fajita filling on top :D  Tasted lovely! :D

Brunch - 3 rashers of bacon with a cheese, onion and pepper omelette
T - fajita filling with salad

Some good news, I lost 2lb this week, think its was the scary film lol  Only 7lbs to go to what I want to get to.  I know its taking a while to get here but I also know if I cut out the higher carb food ie peas, onion etc I know I could lose it quicker.  But as I am enjoying my food I don't want to cut back.  Maybe watch more scary films........

Have a great Saturday.

Sal x

Friday 8 November 2013

YES!

Evening all

So, in answer to yesterday's ponderings, YES you do burn more calories when scared/nervous.  But not significantly more, you would have to be scared all day to make a difference.  Ok, so every time I think I see something move I think its a giant spider ready to eat me, wonder if that has made a difference to my calorie burning today :P 

B - ham, tomato and cheese omelette
L - pork stir fry
T - pizza omelette

Another shop today, bought bacon, veg, crisps, bread and beans.  Spent around £15.  Budget £25/£150.  Might pop to lidl tomorrow for the half price pork and may pop to co-op for a few shopitize cashback items.  Or I might just paint all day and not spend any money lol

Sal x

Thursday 7 November 2013

Does Being Scared Burn Calories?

Evening

I am currently sat here watching Spiders (2013) and as I am quite terrified of spiders I think maybe not the best choice!  So will that mean I am burning more calories watching a scary film than a nice film?  Maybe something to google........

B - tinned toms & sausage
L - pork stir fry
T - lettuce filled with mince taco filling with salad

I actually went shopping today.  I bought bread, milk, whipped cream, eggs, ham, pasta, apples, oranges and lettuce, I think,  I cant think straight with the spiders on the tv.  I spent £10.  My budget is £10/£150.

I am off to hide behind the sofa, or I would if I didn't think there may be spiders behind it! :o

Sal x

Wednesday 6 November 2013

Mmmmmm Burnt Gammon

Evening all

With kids rugby and clubs I have had little time today to actually cook this evening.  So, thought I would be clever, hubbys jacket potato in oven just before dropping my eldest to rugby and the gammon put in just before picking him up then drop kids (who ate earlier) to club then home for tea.  Sounds so simple.  Except rugby over ran by 20 minutes! :o  Therefore making the gammon very crispy!  Still edible though, just ;-)

B - sausage, tinned toms and cheese (all I had in)
L - sausage stir fry
Snack - pork scratching's, need more meat in my lunch
T - burnt gammon with salad

Running out of salad now, I do have a bit left so debating leaving shopping until Friday.  Although I do need milk, maybe a cheap Iceland shop tomorrow.  We will see.

So my budget is still week 1, day 2 £0/£150.

I might make chicken fajitas tomorrow but I have no peppers so could leave that until Saturday.  In which case, what do we have tomorrow!  I think this weekend I will sit down and do a proper meal plan so when I am working I can still make real food rather than just rummage around the freezer hoping for the best.

Where did the evening go.

Sal x

Tuesday 5 November 2013

Epic Fail!

Evening all

Todays tea was meant to be pork, the pork I was given yesterday in my homemade bbq sauce, usually really nice.  Was in the slow cooker all day and when I checked at 4.30pm it was the most disgusting thing I have ever tasted.  The kids were asking if they had to eat it! :o  No, no one will be eating it! So we had fish instead.

Day 1 of my new 4 week plan and the budget is £0/£150. 

I hope you all enjoyed the fireworks and your pets weren't too disturbed by them.  I think my little Rex was more disturbed by the hat I crocheted for him then by the fireworks!  He really does not look amused!!!


Sal x

Monday 4 November 2013

I Actually Did It! :D

Evening all

So, its the end of my 4 week challenge and I didn't buy food today.  I managed it £145/£150.  I am so happy, I cant believe I have done it.  :D

On a more low carb/healthy note, I have walked on both school runs as well as painted 2 coats on my living room ceiling and my food for today:

B - ham, cheese and tomato omelette
L - pork stir fry (I was given the pork today and the stir fry was one of the 1p ones)
T - stuffed cabbage with salad.  I only had a bit of salad as I really didn't fancy it. 

Stuffed Cabbage Recipe (taken but amended from Slow Cooker Saddo's fb page)

Fry off 250g beef mince, 3 onions, 3 carrots grated, a chunk of kohlrabi grated,  taco seasoning and some tomato puree.  Whilst doing that boil some cabbage leaves for a few mins.

spoon mixture into cabbage leaves. and fold over.

Put half tin chopped toms in bottom of slow cooker, add cabbage parcels then pour rest of toms over parcels and then grated cheese.

I cooked on high for 6 hours.

And here it is (I did use 1 red pepper as ran out of big cabbage leaves)


It was lovely, even the kids liked it (they had jacket potatoes with theirs as well).  I am defiantly making this again.  And the best bit is I have leftovers so that will probably be my breakfast! :o

As I said earlier I was given a few things today.  I got cabbage, sprouts, kohlrabi and pork chops, they are the farm foods ones which my friend doesn't like and I understand why.  So am thinking of slow cooking the lot tomorrow with homemade bbq sauce and making pulled pork, should be ok done like that :D

Did I mention I beat my budget by £5?  And yes, of course, tomorrow is day 1 of week one of another £150.  Wish me luck x

Sunday 3 November 2013

Something Is Not Right......................

Evening all

So, nearly 4 weeks ago I started my £150 to feed my family of 5 healthy for 4 weeks.  I expected to live the last week struggling to find stuff with my cupboards almost bare!  The reality is my freezer is full, my cupboards are full and my fridge is full :o  It feels wrong somehow that I have this much food with so little spent.  But it just goes to show what careful planning can do (and getting lucky with whoopsies and friends giving me stuff)

Anyway, popped to Asda today, no whoopsies, they were all gone, got salad, milk, bread, cheese, ham and marg so spent £10.  Bringing my budget to £145/£150.  I have tomorrow left to spend £5 or not as the case may be, I really don't think I need anything.

So I will, of course, be doing it again starting Tuesday but this time visiting a butchers (I hope) rather than Farm Foods and see how that goes.

Sal x

Friday 1 November 2013

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeekkkkkkkkkkkkk Its a Witch

Evening all

So yesterday was sort of a low carb day.  I had bacon with cheese, tomato and pepper omelette, very nice.  But then I ended up having a few sweets at the 2 Halloween parties I went to.  And then my sister got Chinese :o  But I did just have the chicken in a veg sauce, was a bit spicy.  Very nice though.  Could have been a lot worse, I could have had chips and more sweets ;-)

Back on it today properly.  Bacon with omelette again today late morning and not decided what to have for tea.  Probably mince.

Hubby is away and my eldest son also went away today with youth club so let the other 2 kids choose what they wanted for tea (chicken nuggets, chips and peas) so I will do mine later.  With those 2 away it also means there is bacon left.  Oh no, more for me ;-)

In case anyone wants a peek, this is me dressed up for Halloween. (Please ignore state of carpet and walls - that is next weeks job)



 
 
Have a great Friday night.
 
Sal x