Cooking with Debs - Focus on lunch boxes

 Loads of our Cooking With Debs recipes are perfect for packed lunches for school or work. Here are some suggestions, separated by Savoury and Sweet. The majority of these can be made ahead and frozen.

 

Savoury Options

Baked Frittata

Cheese and Sweetcorn Muffins

Cheese Scones 

Cheese straws 

Microwave Pizza

Parsley and Lemon Pesto

Pizza Muffins 

Puff Pastry Swirls

Rainbow Popcorn (if you use salt/garlic powder for seasoning)

Sweetcorn (or other cooked veg) Fritters

Sweet Options

Any Fruit Little Cakes

Berry Muffins

Carrot and Courgette Muffins 

Carrot Cookies (VE day recipe)

Chocolate Chickpea Slices

Chocolate Orange Muffins

Cinnamon Swirls

Melting Moments 

Mincemeat muffins

Oaty Apple Muffins

Pear Muffins 

Rainbow Popcorn 

Scotch Pancakes (also known as drop scones)

Use it up Cookies 

Yoghurt Cake Muffins

Yummy Biscuits

 

 

Cooking with Debs - Peach Dump Cake

This is where it began, little did we know it would be the start of a project that would go beyond lockdown, and continue for weeks, months and hopefully years!

If you've not seen it already, why not check out our very first Cooking with Debs video!

Uncertain times

We are living in uncertain times,  and it's very hard not to be swayed by all the different information and advice that's being thrown around.

I certainly don't have all the answers, if any. But things I will say...

1. Wash your hands! Time and time again evidence shows that washing hands with soap is far more effective at killing germs and viruses than any other options available (I'm looking at you, hand sanitizer hoarders)

2. Check on your neighbours, friends, family, and everyone! Whether it's waving or sending a smile someone's way, picking up the phone to text or chat.... Be kind. Be the best person that you can be.

3. Get inventive. Challenge each other to a ready steady cook dinner. Use up that tin that's been at the back of the cupboard, see what's in the back of the fridge or freezer. If you need help I am totally up for helping you invent something out of nothing much!

In conversation with Steph

Today's conversation is with a lovely lady named Steph. I am often in awe of her creative talents and I love the example she sets for her daughter.

1. Please tell us about yourself
 
So I’m Steph, I’m 31, a single mum from Essex and I have Lupus Nephritis and SLE. I have a 7 year old daughter and work as an Office Manager for a Credit Union. In my spare (hah) time I enjoy making all sorts of items to sell to help top up the bills!


2. What inspires you to live more sustainably?

 I try to live as sustainably and mindfully as possible - if I have to buy new I try to ensure it’s ethically sourced, recyclable or organic where applicable. I grow a lot of my own produce, shop for clothes in charity shops and make a lot of reusable/washable items instead of using disposables.

(I have to add here, that Steph is the wonderful lady who made my first reuseable cloth pads, and her beautiful work totally got me hooked, and I've since bought more from her and made lots for myself too!)

 3. What's made the biggest difference? 

 Having my garden has changed my life massively. I spend a lot of time out there now and I get a real sense of achievement eating what we grow. I thought I would’ve got bored with it by now, but each year we add new varieties to what we grow and each year I’m surprised by what we can produce in our little garden!
 
 4. What would you advise people to start with? - like if someone is starting to change things from scratch, where to start? 

 I would encourage any and everyone to start small and make little changes where and when you can. Live within your means and don’t feel guilty about the changes you can’t afford to make just yet! Organic is expensive, so grow what you can. Clothes are expensive, so grab a bargain at a charity shop! Reusable is surprisingly not that gross and can make a huge change to your life and pocket (once the initial investment is made).
 
 5. How do you balance saving the world and being a busy mum?



I sometimes worry about how this affects my daughter but luckily she’s in a phase where she seems to love it.
She loves shopping for a bargain and getting mucky in the garden. She helps me batch cook, works flipping hard in the garden and helps me literally bake our bread.
So I guess whilst doing what I do essentially creates more work and takes more time, it actually gives me way more quality time with my girl whilst doing our bit for the planet too

AWOL

Sorry, not been around the past week. Work got busy, my health got not so healthy, and I attempted to give up facebook for lent*. Which is sort of related to the blog, as lots of my readers come from there, so I didn't think anyone would mind if I went quiet for a bit!

I'm at the stage of poorly where I think I'm getting better (back to eating after horrid stomach issues) but still feeling miserable (also have a chest infection and a horrid cough, I'm hoping the antibiotics kick in soon).

My muscles ache like crazy. Hopefully I will be feeling better tomorrow. And blog posts should be following, if slightly sporadically.


* I have deleted the app from my phone, and I was genuinely going on there A LOT LESS, only going on for genuine reasons, like posting in my school facebook group, or sharing Menard's video. But I admit there has been a fair amount of aimless scrolling the past couple of days where I could barely get out of bed, let along do anything else.  I'm not beating myself up, just continuing to try to use social media as a tool, rather than something that uses me as its tool!

Menard and Sophia had fun with green screen

Signs of Spring

We went for a walk to blow the cobwebs away, and I noticed a tree here, a bush there, where Spring is starting to leave its mark. I reckon it won't be long until the signs of Spring are everywhere.
(This was actually a week ago, there is loads of blossom about now)

In conversation with Kathi part two

 Continuing my conversation with Kathi about food storage.

Can you show us some of your stored foods?

These photos are a part of our bulk food storage and canned goods.  I keep a pantry upstairs that is smaller with food so I don’t have to run up and down stairs while I’m cooking.  We also have a couple of freezers full down there and more shelves filled.  We eat what we store, so it’s a continuous process, hence the mess. This is in the basement, to keep the food in optimum conditions, it’s the coolest and darkest place in our house to store it.

 










To have my pantry filled, I also needed to tackle the issue of dried goods.  I could purchase in bulk, but how to preserve the food so it didn’t go bad?   More research needed.  I discovered that oxygen is the major culprit in food degradation.  A solution I found was to buy Mylar bags with oxygen absorbers to repackage the food for longer storage.  We only purchase what we use and my list isn’t for everyone because it’s what we use and others may not.  I keep flour, sugar, oats, jasmine rice, and dried beans in Mylar packaging and have found it all keeps well for when we use it.  We purchase those items in bulk about twice a year.  The beans are used for canning as we run low.  Buying in bulk costs far less than smaller packaging and I rarely need to run to the store when baking because we’re out of an ingredient as I make sure to have all the necessities on hand.
  

 How does doing all this help your family?
I think what I’ve found through out this are the benefits that I didn’t anticipate.  First would be the amazing amount of money we save.  We are purchasing the bulk of our food in season when the costs are lowest for the year and don’t get hit as much with inflation.  If an unexpected bill hits us, not a problem because we don’t have to purchase food  if we need the money for something else.  Having a full pantry also means we only shop at grocery stores for sales so it’s rare to need to pay full price for much.  Another big benefit for me is peace of mind.  One time my little grandson was watching a news clip of grocery stores with empty shelves as a hurricane approached near where one of my sons and family live.  His eyes got huge watching, it had never occurred to him until that moment that stores could be empty.  He said, Grandma, if anything bad happens here I’m coming to your house.  It was wonderful to reassure him that he didn’t have to worry.  

In my granddaughters first year of college she was required to purchase a meal plan, huge numbers of dollars for food she didn’t even like!  She asked me to teach her to can her own food to take for the following year as she would have her own apartment.  She did a wonderful job of it and we told her to take whatever she needed from our pantry to be able to cook her own meals.  We visited her over the weekend and took her grocery shopping in case she needed anything.  I asked her if she wanted a loaf of bread and she told me no, she preferred to make her own.  This journey has provided a means for me to teach self sufficiency to my grandchildren with skills they can carry throughout their lives.

Oh, I thought of some other benefits that I should have added.  With canning, I’m able to put a full meal with main and side dishes on the table in five minutes.  Just dump and heat, real fast food.  Far less waste  of food to throw away because I use the size of jars to can for what we will actually eat.  Far less trash to put in a landfill because the jars are reusable and not thrown away.  I also know what is in our food as it’s real food, chemical free from farmers that care about food safety since that is what they feed their families too.  Another benefit that is very important to me is I don’t have to worry about checking my cabinets for food that has been recalled.  I know who grew my food and how I processed it.

Have you got a song that's an anthem for your life, or this season?A song for my life?  That is a tough one!  I’ll have to go with My God is an awesome God.  He is, has always been and will always be.  Our life on planet earth is getting so much more difficult in today’s world and I can’t imagine not having God’s love and guidance to navigate through it.

Thank you so much Kathi for sharing all of this information about food storage and canning with us

In conversation with Kathi part one

So I chatted with my friend Kathi about food storage and canning. I've never had the pleasure to actually meet Kathi in real life, but I know that I'll get to see her one day in heaven!
We had a long conversation, so I will share in two parts


Please tell us about yourself..
Hello all! Kathi here, from Colorado in the USA. I'm a wife, mother and grandmother to a precious lot. We were a military family and frugality was our way of life as military pay was pretty low. I only wish I would have known then what I do now because our money would have stretched so much further than it did!

I know you’re a bit of a whizz in the kitchen, with regards to saving money and storage. How did you first learn all your skills?
Learning skills is a process. I've always been a person to want to try new things and had many years to dabble with different methods of food preservation, they were hobbies that I had fun with. At some point in the last ten years I read an article online that was an eye opener to me. I realized that if we had an emergency situation we were woefully not prepared. I actually wasn't able to sleep that night because the thoughts of what to do were tumbling through my head. The next morning I told my husband about it and what I was thinking. To my surprise, he told me he had been thinking along the same lines recently and that we should work on it. Hearing that from my retired green beret husband was enough for me to start the journey with purpose.

 I started researching to find out how people set up their food pantries for emergencies. I was overwhelmed with info and almost wanted to just give up on the idea because we don’t like commercially processed foods and definitely didn’t want a pantry full of food we wouldn’t eat. I talked with my mother and father in law to find out what their families did in the depression to preserve food. Their primary means of food storage was dehydration and canning. I had the equipment for both from my hobbies and decided to go with it.Prior to that, I had made pickles and applesauce with canning

 I’ve made jam before, but I’ve never done any canning because it scares me a little! Can you tell me a bit more about that?
 Debs, you mentioned in your question that canning is a bit scary to you, honey I can relate! It was for me so I made sure to continue learning with the safest methods possible. It is more difficult to can in other parts of the world mainly because the expense of the jars and lack of pressure canners makes it a bit harder. But, I’ve been in touch with people worldwide that safely and successfully can their food using what is available. Here we are blessed with many local farms that sell their produce at a cost much lower than grocery stores. We also grow a small garden and primarily plant what we have found is the most expensive to purchase in our area like tomatoes and green beans. My family helps out whether it means helping me lift the enormous bags and boxes of food from the farms or with food prep prior to canning it. What do I can? Every thing we like prepared that way, it really is a personal preference. We have meats, veggies, soups, stews, fruits, jams, different cuts of potatoes for the different ways we eat them. If there are foods we don’t care for canned we freeze or dehydrate. Corn or zucchini goes in the freezer, onion dehydrated. 

 Oh, I thought of some other benefits that I should have added.  With canning, I’m able to put a full meal with main and side dishes on the table in five minutes.  Just dump and heat, real fast food.  Far less waste  of food to throw away because I use the size of jars to can for what we will actually eat.  Far less trash to put in a landfill because the jars are reusable and not thrown away.  I also know what is in our food as it’s real food, chemical free from farmers that care about food safety since that is what they feed their families too.  Another benefit that is very important to me is I don’t have to worry about checking my cabinets for food that has been recalled.  I know who grew my food and how I processed it.


This is really interesting. Can you give me examples of what you've got canned that you can use to make a quick meal? And how you go about heating it up and putting it together?
If we want a nice roast beef dinner, we put a jar each of roast, potatoes, carrots in the microwave in a bowl, microwave for five minutes and have some of the most tender roast available from any cut of beef I've used.  If I want to make gravy to go with it, I can use the broth from the roast to make that up on the stove while the rest is in the microwave.

A five minute meal with pork is breakfast burritos adding a jar of pork, a jar of potatoes, fried in a skillet with eggs added.  The tortillas are heated in the microwave while the mixture is heated, add a jar of green chile that I have canned up to a pot to heat on the stove and thicken and we have delicious smothered burritos. Another variation on that is to use a jar beans to make refried and use those instead of potatoes and eggs in the burritos, add some shredded cheddar and we're set. 

We also love to use canned chicken in a variety of Mexican foods like tacos, tacquitos, enchilada casserole.  It's a huge time saver because I don't have to cook and bone the chicken, it's ready.  A couple of other favorites are beef stroganoff which I have canned ready in a jar to put in a pot, thicken and add sour cream which I keep in powdered form in our bulk supplies while some noodles are boiling or the same with chicken alfredo.

We love breakfast foods for dinner and enjoy a jar of corned beef hash that has been canned to fry in ghee that I also have canned with eggs and toast.  On a cool day we love a homemade pot pie and have a mix canned up for chicken or beef pot pies.  I make a pie crust, thicken the mix dump it in, top it with another crust and bake for a hearty meal. We have a variety of soups and stews canned that we empty in a pot and heat on the stove adding anything at that time that wasn't canned. These are just a few of the ways we use our home canned foods.

The fun part of canning is going through your normal meal plan, decide what can be adapted for canning and make it up to use.  In canning, I make multiple meals at one time and have the luxury of time saved later.   It's completely personal preference as to what to can and how to use it. Also, many spices intensify in flavor when canning.  Unless it's for a specific dish like roast, stroganoff, I tend to add the spices when we are heating the food instead of when canning.  It makes the ingredients more versatile to use later.  I don't waste bones and save them to make broth which is canned for when I need it to make a lot of soups, etc.

Oh and spaghetti meat sauce !  I have two versions canned from scratch. Two types because our grandkids like a tamed down sauce compared to our tastes.  Can be heated and served in the the time it takes to make the pasta and garlic bread.

What to say?

Writing for writing sake. What do I want to write? All the things. What can I think of to write? Nothing.

I really want to blog, but I don't know what to say.

What are we up to?
Friday -
Hanging out during half term. This morning my children decorated rocks, which was part of their holiday homework. We've also had a lot of screen time today too! But some days are like that. We went for a walk to blow away the cobwebs, and I've got my third load of washing hanging on the line. It's blowing beautifully so it ought to dry nicely. I love hanging washing outside :)

Currently the kids are watching the end of High School Musical 3. One of 7 we got from the charity shop the other day (It was supposed to be 10 for a pound, but I asked the guy if we could do 7 as it took about twenty minutes to find that many that we wanted!) Some of them will probably go back to the charity shop once we are done, but we might keep this one for a bit. We have the first one too, but are keeping an eye out for the second one.

I've got a bunch of white uniform tops and other bits in the bath soaking. It's a strip wash method that  I found from a page I follow on facebook. I'll share more details once I know the results!

I need to get my head around half term ending and going back to normal again. It's been a lovely week, but we all have to go back to normal again I guess! I should try to make a menu plan ahead of time to help us ease back in. I'm not back at work until Tuesday, so Monday will be a bit of a buffer hopefully!

Visiting Sarah

On Wednesday we went to visit my friend Sarah (Who entirely fails to feature in these photos!) and her lovely family. We've not seen them since last summer and those six months have been the world of difference in the amount of language her lovely daughter has. I love seeing my children with little people, because they are so kind and gentle. Jaiden especially enjoyed using their bricks to make an assortment of different buildings and factories, and little miss enjoyed knocking them all over, when she got the chance! We had a quick run in the drizzle to the park nearby, and all got covered in mud, but it was good to have an outing before we got back in the car. Little miss enjoyed trying on Sophia's boots, and generally bossing us all around! It was a long drive, but totally worth it to see my lovely friend. We first met at university, so it's lovely to be introducing the next generation to each other!

Valentines cupcakes

On Tuesday, Sophia and I went to see our friends Coral, Adele and Olivia to make Valentines cupcakes together. We had a lovely time and they turned out super yummy! I've been fighting with the photos to try to get them in the right order, but they don't want to. So here's a slightly jumbled series of events!

Jaiden loves this song (and so do I!)

Debs in conversation with Anna

In the start of a new series, I thought it would be great to hear from some other people about topics vaguely sustainable-ish. In this new social media age, I asked a few of my friends (read targeted and begged!) if they'd be willing to answer a few questions. First up (because she sent her answers back first!) is Anna, and I was really interested from what I've seen on facebook about her forays into having an allotment.

1)Tell me a bit about yourself

Hi, I’m Anna, mum of 2 cheeky children, 2 guinea pigs and 2 stick insects. I’m a full time parent and carer to my son who has autism.


2) How did you first get into growing things, and what made you take the leap into getting an allotment?

To be honest, I’ve never been able to grow anything! I remember having cactuses as a child and even they didn’t survive. I never considered myself green fingered!
I went through a few life changes a couple of years ago, and as a result, I realised the need to take better care of my mental health. I was given a book called ‘pips to plants’ and decided to try and grow an avocado from one of the ones I had bought from Tesco. To my total surprise, and after weeks of waiting and changing the water, it actually grew! It showed me that plants just need a little time, nurture and love; a bit like people!
I wanted to spend more time outdoors, so I looked into local allotments and found out there was one 3 minutes walk from my house. I signed up and decided I would do it for a year and see how it went. I also thought it would be a lovely thing to get the kids involved in. At the time, I had very little expectation as to how ‘successful’ it would be.

3) What successes and/or failures have you had?
 
Do you mean in life? Or at my allotment? In life I think my greatest success is making a little home for my family. I don’t always get it right, but I show up every day and give it my best shot.
My best success with my allotment has to be setting it all up. That was the hardest part. Once it was ready to grow, my success has definitely been runner beans. They’re pretty easy to look after, and need plenty of watering. There’s nothing quite like coming back every couple of days and having a whole new array of beans to pick. My 7 plants produced so many beans that I ended up giving loads away and I still have 2 bags sitting in the freezer.
I’ve been pretty lucky that I haven’t had too many failures beyond leaving the broccoli too long until it sprouted out everywhere and I couldn’t eat it. One funny fail that I had, was after attempting to grow the broccoli again, I noticed that it was growing balls on the stalk! I then realised that I was actually growing Brussels sprouts! I must label my seeds better. They tasted good at Christmas though.

4) How does growing your own food made you and your family thinks differently about other things?

Growing my own veg has given me an appreciation for the process, time, care and attention it takes to make something from scratch. It’s made me think about how mass production uses chemicals to speed up growth and keep the bugs away, so I make an effort to grow organically. I use things like sustainable washing up liquid mixed with water to spray the leaves and keep the aphids away. I also use egg shells as a deterrent for slugs and snails. I try to keep all chemicals out of my patch.
It’s also made me think about the distance that some food has to travel to get to the supermarkets from other countries.

5) What advice would you give to someone who wants to start growing stuff, but had no idea where to start?
 
Advice I would give to anyone starting out, is to start small and just have a go. Tomatoes and cucumbers are really easy and you can buy a grow bag and start in the garden. Potatoes are really easy too. I was overwhelmed at first with the idea of filling a plot, but I decided to just use half of it. Once I got started, I kept adding more and more, and by 6 months it was full!

6) How do you balance everything/make time to get out and grow stuff?  How do you manage 'mummy guilt' or the desire to get everything done perfectly?

I’m lucky that because I’m a full time parent and carer, I have hours in the day when the kids are at school. I can go up to my plot and do half an hour of weeding and water everything without it taking up the whole day. At the weekends, I take the kids with me. They love watering, there’s lots of space to run around and a nice tree close by that they like to climb. The most exciting time for them (and for me) is picking the produce.
I don’t worry too much about getting it perfect. I see it as an experiment. If it works it works, if it doesn’t, I’ll learn from it. That goes for parenting as well. We can only do our best.

7) What song is the anthem for your life, or the season you're in now?

I don’t have a song/anthem as such, but I do like the quote:

“Like a lotus flower, we too have the ability to rise from the mud, bloom out of the darkness, and radiate into the world.”


Thanks so much Anna for being a part of my blog experiment. I think we need to try growing some tomatoes or something in our patio pots again this year - I'm definitely feeling inspired to have ago.
Below are some photos from Anna's allotment - stolen from facebook with permission!

A multitude of bananas

Take a pile of rather sad bananas

And find ways to use them up. Add eggs and blend.

Add a little flour to thicken if you require, fry as pancakes. Enjoy plain or Soph likes them with a drizzle of honey. No finished pancake pics, cos I'm (un)professional like that!

Or mash and combine with other ingredients to make yummy banana muffins

Stir together quickly, then put into muffin cases. I use silicone ones over and over again

Tada!

Upcoming interviews (at an as yet non specified date) - A conversation with....

I had the idea of interviewing some of the people I know, with regards to things like living in a more sustainable way, making changes to their lives or habits, how they've set up their own busines, or how they do a particular aspect of life. Watch this space for some interesting conversations.

Half term plans

Storm Dennis is currently the UK hard, and I'm quite happy to be inside my warm cosy house, snuggled up on the sofa with my laptop. My back and hipsare complaining about mopping at work the last two days (that's all I can think of to attribute the pain to - using muscles in different ways than what I usualy do?).

There are a hundred things I could be doing today, but instead I'm listening to my body and resting. It's been a bit of a crazy six weeks of one thing after another (To quote my husband,"Is there ever something not wrong with you?")

We have some fun things planned for the half term. I have a whole day mapped out to spend with my lovely friend Evey, while Menard steps up to the plate and wrestles the kids (It's possible I don't actually understand the rules of baseball or wrestling there ;) )
We also plan to travel to see my best friend from university and her delighful daughter. I love spending time with them, and hope she's up on her Dr Who knowledge as both the kids have been watching past series on netflix. (To be fair, it's her hubby who has all the knowledge, and I'll do my best to help her answer any questions the kids throw at her!).

There will also be homework completing, rocks to decorate, an Egyptian costume to finish and two rock star costumes to work out (thanks school with all your dressing up ideas). Oh and two poems to memorise, Jaiden also has lines to learn for his school show.  And I have some bits to do for my work too.

I want to plan meals around what we have in the freezer and cupboards, to run them down a bit and perhaps save some money. I need to survey the school uniform siuation and probably all the clothes belonging to me and my two children. And I hope there might be some sewing for fun, as well as some mending that needs doing.

Busy busy. But hopefully some blog posts will be produced too..

Ooh, and I have an idea for some informal interviews with a few of my friends, to share with me how they do things to live more sustainably, or how they balance doing all the stuff! More to follow soon...

Throw back Thursday

I've been looking through my blog archives, as you do. And found this marvelous photo of a pylon (If  I do say so myself!).
I was talking to someone recently about how I love the way pylons look against a dramatic sky, so I thought it was worth linking to.

Some links to old posts that make me laugh, or perhaps cry

This really was a lifetime ago
A letter to Sophia at age one month

I vividly remember this day, at a dark time when I was feeling very low and mentally broken, and there was a wonderful BUT GOD moment.

My first ever post

My baby's new bed

Always think about candle placement

A letter to Jaiden at 11 months

Just read this to the kids and it made them laugh

*Insert interesting title here*

I've been re reading my own blog from 2009. Some of the events and feelings I remember as if they were yesterday, some of the things it's really interesting to read because I had totally forgotten about them! I'm glad I wrote the posts. Ten plus years on, I'm enjoying going back to read them. Things like how it felt when I had swine flu while pregnant, what my craving were when I was pregnant. If you're a new reader, you can go back and see what my life was like in the past!

It's also weird to see how different things are now, and how in many ways I'm a totally different person to who I was then. I hope that some of the things I capture now will be similar if I look back in another ten years. Wow, who knows those ten years will bring. I'll be a mum to two adult children by then!

Time moves on.

I don't know if it's cheating or not, but I think I will share some links back to some of my favourite posts over the next however long... Anyway, it's my blog, and I make the rules!

Why do I do what I do?

During the market research chat I did recently with a lovely lady called Charlotte, it really made me think about why do I do what I do?
Sustainability and eco-lifestyles are making the news more and more, and I'm so pleased that that's happening. (As a quick aside, I have to mention a fantastic book called The Sustainable(ish) Living Guide by the wonderful Jen Gale. I can't remember how I first found her facebook page and then group, but I quickly devoured all her blog archive and soaked in all the info about how she and her family went for a year buying nothing new. That was several years ago, her year, I mean, and she's continued to live in an eco friendly sustainable-ish way. She recently had her first book published - the aforementioned tome, and it is written in such an inviting way. One night the kids and I read bits of it rather than reading their school reading books, and even were quick to jump on board with the things she said, and how we can implement them in our lives). (Sorry, that wasn't a quick aside, but I think it was a good one!) (Jen's facebook group and her book)

But I think that my reasons for living the way we do - for example, reduced shopping, charity shop bargains,  not buying plastic tat..... probably started out for frugal reasons. I have loved charity shop shopping since as long as I can remember. There was a holiday we went on with my parents somewhere in Devon, when Sophia was little, that the number of charity shops and/or second hand shops visited within a fortnight totalled into the thirties. I've forgotten the exact number, it being nearly ten years ago (wow, that's a lifetime ago? Well, Soph's lifetime anyway!)
But I've been going in charity shops long before that holiday. My parents live very close to a charity shop, so close in fact, that when we went in during the Christmas break, one of the ladies who volunteers there was marvelling at how tall Sophia is now, and remembering her as a tiny baby!)
I love the hunt, finding the exact thing that was on my mental 'look for' list.

  (Another aside, have a mental list looking ahead for what you will be needing. Think of things like the next couple of sizes ahead for your baby or child, look for possible Christmas or birthday presents all year round, know what needs and wants are coming up, and you'll be so much more likely to find what you need, before or when you need it. I love looking out for things for my nieces and friend's children too, so if you're looking for something, I'm happy to keep an eye out for you too!)

As some of you who've been following my blog for a while will know, I love shopping for reduced food. Again, this probably comes from my love of a bargain, but also my love of maths and numbers! But actually, buying 'yellow sticker' items is good for the environment too. It's one that hurts my head a bit, as with reduced items I may end up with more plastic packaging than if I'd chosen a loose fresher item. But, I still think that saving food from the bin is a good option. And I do my best to recycle all the plastic and other packaging that can be recycled. This is also a good option for the person who wishes to eat in a way that's better for the environment, but can't necessarily afford the luxury of more expensive options. Because let's face it, options like free range, organic, loose or free flow (like from a measure out what you want store) do tend to be more expensive options. And sometimes it is definitely worth investing in those, but for those on the knife edge when it comes to finances, there isn't always wiggle room for more ethical eating.

This post was supposed to be about why I do what I do. And I'm not really sure I do know why exactly.  I guess I just feel things in my gut. Sometimes it's to do with no, I'm not going to buy that plastic tat item for £20, but if we see if for £1.50 in the charity shop we might (Specific example here - nerf and similar style guns. I refused to buy them in a 'real' shop, but when we saw one which Jaiden was extremely enamoured with, in the charity shop, I allowed him to spend his money on it!)
The kids and I regularly look at the RRP message that comes up on adverts for children's toy, and discuss how much that £19.99, or £49.99 might mean in terms of how many meals it would feed the family for! But also, how that much money is required for a toy which is single use or single purpose. That's why I love toys like brio or lego which are ageless classics! (Not necessarily the lego sets that are more single purpose, I'm talking about boxes of bricks and accessories, which you can rummage through to your hearts content, and build something that comes out of your imagination!)
And don't get me started on LOL and other mystery eggs. I hate them with a passion, and have done even before I was thinking more about what things are specifically made of.

I like saving money, I like providing my family with what we need, within the funds that we have. I don't agree with getting into debt for things like Christmas presents, or buying stuff for the sake of buying it. And recently, my mind has been made even more aware of what we can do to help save the world. It sounds a bit corny writing it like that, but that's basically what it comes down to. If we want our children to experience all the animals and bits of the world as we experienced them, then we need to act. Things are changing at a too rapid speed, and we need to work together, small changes making big differences.

Anyway, this post got very long and rambling. But maybe I've given you some food for thought, I've certainly given myself things to think about!

Brio - Everyone can get in on the act!

Our collection of brio must be one of the longest lasting toys in this house (although that's quickly followed by Jaiden's clicky things aka zoob)

I have happy memories of playing with brio when I was a child, and it's one of the toys that has stood the test of time at my parent's house too - now being played with my grandkids. I remember the little boy my mum used to childmind, playing and making loops, and then after he went home, my dad would work on the track, developing and extending it to be even bigger and better! I also remember we used to buy Daddy bits of brio from the Early Learning shop for his birthday.

Our collection mostly came from hand-me-downs, charity shops, and from a lady I connected with through a wonderful facebook group called Enfield free for families - which is based in Enfield, Middlesex and the surrounding area, which my lovely friend established, and I've been a part of since the very beginning.

I know I go on and on about charity shops, but I LOVE them.  They are so good for so many reasons.
Money! The environment! One of a kind items! And much more.
If I could only shop in charity shops from now on, I would probably take that challenge on. I can probably count on my fingers how many times I've bought brand new clothes/toys/etc in the last few months.

These memories surfaced in my brain thanks to watching children at my work playing and loving brio, and reminded me how great it is for some many age groups and people. Plus I was looking at old pics on my computer and just couldn't resist this one of my favourite people.

A few more notable charity shop sourced outfits

 Angel costume! Soph grew out of the 'angel' costumes that most people wear for nativity shows, but we didn't let that stop us letting her be an angel in the church nativity. A top and skirt from the charity shop, along with tinsel pinned into her hair. Job done!

 This dress came from a charity shop, and all I had to do was shorten the shoulder straps a bit. Smart enough for a wedding, but without spending a million dollars. I believe it cost about £1.50 and she already owned the cardigan.
Likewise the jacket Jaiden is wearing. I found that in a charity shop for £5. And he loved it (It's always a bit hit and miss buying Jaiden clothes if he's not there, but at charity shop prices, it's worth the risk!)

 This was the Room on the Broom witch costume we made for World Book Day. The top was a red school cardigan she already owned, the skirt was made from a piece of purple cord material. I can't remember if I got this from a friend who was having a clear out, or from the charity shop. Either way, it was using what we had!
The hat and broom were borrowed from a friend, and the cat was cousin Phoebe's special Kitty, which was borrowed and carefully returned before she missed it too much! And the wand was Sophia's already too.

Finally, I have to mention some of our Christmas jumper finds. These were both acquired in charity shops, as have almost every Christmas jumper we've ever owned as a family. They cost between one and perhaps three pounds, and they've been passed on responsibly after we were done. This photo was from a few years ago, and Jaiden actually wore the penguin one this Christmas just gone. And I think the reindeer was passed on to a cousin. 

Throw back Thursday - August 2012

 

Because who doesn't want to see these cuties?!

Homemade Chicken Nuggets

I have no idea why this photo is upside down, but I'm just going to run with it!

Have you ever made homemade chicken nuggets? They are super easy (and I guess this coating could be used on pieces of chicken like thighs or drumsticks too, although I've never done it).

Take your chicken and cut into nugget sizes pieces. These can be as big or small as you want. You just need to make sure they get cooked through, and I check that by cutting one in half. But anyway, first the method. Cut the chicken into pieces. I usually use chicken breast or boneless chicken thighs. Whatever I've bought reduced on last day of sale, and then popped in the freezer until we want them.
Set up your bowls - first bowl I put cornflour. A throw back to when I lived with my parents and we made everything gluten free, but you could use ordinary plain flour as an alternative.
Second bowl - a beaten egg, You can add more later if you need it.
Third bowl - breadcrumbs, or a trick I learnt from slimming world was to use potato flakes. Aka smash, but I bought the cheapo value ones. For the kids I generally go with plain breadcrumbs, or seasoned with salt and pepper. However, for myself and Menard I add some extra kick. Lately I've used some Jamaican all purpose seasoning his mum brought back from Jamaica for us. Or a chicken seasoning Menard got somewhere. So neither of those are helpful options for you, and that's probably why I don't do cookery blogging very often. But basically, use some seasoning that you like the taste of! Go for something with a bit of kick, or keep it chilled out.

Lastly, you need a greased baking tray. Then get dipping. You will get a bit messy, so you could wear gloves if you want to. I just wash my hands well afterwards! I also tend to only use one hand. Which is a trick I learnt once from a book. They were talking about rubbing butter into flour, but they said either only use one hand, or keep a plastic bag handy, in case you need to answer the phone or go to the door.

So, take a piece of chicken, dip into the flour until covered all over. I tend to do a few pieces at a time. Then into the egg all over, then into the breadcrumbs. Finally onto the greased tray. Once the tray is full (leave a little bit of space between them), pop them into the oven. I usually cook them at about 190C/gas mark 4/something a bit hotter than 350F (I know 180c is 350F, and I can't be bothered to look up the conversion for 190C)
And cook them until they're done. As I said before, this depends on the size of your nuggets and how many you put in the oven. But use common sense, and cut the biggest one open, to see if it looks cooked inside.

There's definitely a reason why I don't write recipes very often. But I hope this inspires you to try it at least once?!

An honourable mention...

.... must be given to Menard, who has fun creating short videos or movies and publishing them on youtube.
Lately he's been experimenting with green screen and adding special effects. If you fancy a gander, you can check it out here, and you might get a few more glimpses of me and the kids too.

Charity shop sourced dressing up

One of the things I love/hate about the school my children attend, is the opportunites they give the children to be submerced in a particular era or event. They ask the children to dress up according to the topic they have been, or about to study. And then spend the day doing activities connected to that topic. I believe they also often work with portals to the past, who are a company? group? who come in to the school in character and lead the children through activities.

Most of the photos I have here are of Sophia, as she's older, and done more of them! But I thought it might be helpful to share how we have put these outfits together fairly cheaply, and mostly souced from charity shop finds.

Here is the latest outfit we need. It's not totally finished, so here are a couple of work in progress photos.
We started off looking for white dresses or tunics, however the charity shop didn't have anything suitable, but I was not deterred by this. Sophia took a little persuading, but with some more googling, we found some images of 'Egyptian people' wearing colours other than white, and decided that blue might work, with gold. We found this long dress, and I will need to take the shoulder straps up a bit. But it won't need anything fancy, I'll literally fold the strap over and hand sew some stitches. If you really don't want to sew, you could use tape or safety pins.

Next we needed to find something metalic to make the outfit more impressive. We though gold might look better.And with some more rummaging, we found this gold top. I scrunched it up here, for Soph to be able to see what it might look like once cut.

When we got home I cut the bottom half of the top off, then used a giant bowl to get the shape of a curve, and trimmed to make the piece that will go over her shoulders. I don't know what the technical term is! Then the bottom half of the top we put around her waist for a belt, just to see how it will look. There's about twice as much length of top than we need, so I plan to cut it in half and sew, so that she has a belt, and then the other piece we will use to hang down off the belt.

For the sandals, Sophia remembered that she has a pair that she can wear, but we did find a couple of posibilities in the charity shop, that we could have bought if she didn't have any.
Total spend was I think £2 for the dress and £1.50 for the top. And I will add to that maybe an hour of hands on sewing/cutting/thinking.

This white outfit we actually found in the charity shop on the same day, after we had already chosen the blue dress. I bought it for £1, and we passed it on to a friend for her daughter to use for the same event.

This outfit took a lot of time, well, actually it took less time than the one we made for me, which I started off hand sewing, until my lovely sister came to the rescue. Hopefully you can see it's the rainbow fish! Not for a day at work, although my costume was for the end of year party which was under the sea themed! I had lots of fun wearing it. The top Sophia is wearing was bought for 50p from the charity shop. Much of the material for the scales was from clothes that we'd grown out of, or from the charity shop too (I say 'the charity shop', we have a few around here, and we like them all, for different things!)

This outfit was for Roman day at school. The sheet was an amazing find by my mum - that's another handy tip for you - if you know what you're looking for, get your friends and family to keep an eye out for you. I told me mum we needed a white sheet, and she'd found it within days! It's now gone on to be repurposed again, but that's for another post.
The cord was from my mum's string bag, and the sandals and white tshirt we already owned. Total cost for the outfit was I think £2 for the sheet!

Here's the rainbow fish again, along side a dinosaur. This gets a mention because it was a Kermit the frog costume that a friend passed on to me for Jaiden. He asked to be a dinosaur for World Book Day, and thus an idea was born. We cut off the feet and sewed them onto the wrists, to serve as claws. We added eyes and teeth to the hood. And opened the back seam, and added in spikes (I'll have to see if I can find a photo of those). I say we, because my lovely mummy helped me with much of the sewing on this one.




Viking day at school. This one was included some fantastic charity shop finds. The main piece was a brown sheet, which I believe I paid £1 for. The belt we also got in a charity shop, probably for 50p or £1. The hat, I was in a charity shop and mentioned I was looking for one or other element of the outfit, and the lady told me she had a Viking hat out back, and sold it to me for 50p. The boots were quite worn, but for £1 I didn't mind too much. I think we actually bought them for her stone age outfit, but I couldn't find a photo of that. For the stone age costume she wore black leggings, a lady's top which was worn inside out to show off the animal print lining, and these boots. All we bought for that outfit was the boots and the ladies top, which was around £1.50

I love this outfit because it came together so well. We had bought the coat for Sophia earlier in the year for £5 and I realised it would be perfect for the outfit. Usually she wears trousers for school uniform, which I knew wouldn't look right for this era. But I found this dress in a charity shop I had popped in feeling somewhat poorly, after a trip to the doctors and pharmacy -  I think it was when I was off last year with a sinous infection and was off work for a couple of days. Anyway, I found this dress and was delighted. I believe it cost about £2 or £2.50.
The suitcase we already owned, and it made a perfect addition to the outfit. Otherwise I was going to sugest she take a sactchel style bag I own. The gas mask box was made from a box covered in some brown paper (I cut up a large envelope we had). And we added some prints out I found from a quick internet search for something like gas mask printables. Socks and shoes she already owned!


(This is my 1212th post, I like that number, so thought it deserved a mention!)

Words

I found this in my drafts. Unfortunately I'd clicked on edit, which overwrote the original date. But I'm guessing he can't have been all that old. Maybe 1 or 2?
He was too cute!
 -------------------

Words Jaiden pronounces incorrectly

Boh-bot (robot)
Mine instead of my ( that's mine car, foe-fee)
Foe-fee ( Sophie)

The year of January is nearly over*

This has been a very long month. Personally I've had shingles, a sickness bug, and ended the month with an eye infection (I don't know what qualifies it to be called conjunctivitis, the pharmacist I spoke to and got eye drops from seemed to distinguish between an infection and conjunctivitis, so who knows!)
I've also been to work less days than I ought to have (if I hadn't been ill), but more than I felt like I might manage when I was in the midst of all the illness in the first half of the month.

So it's been an interesting month, and obviously I've earned less than I would have done without all the illness, however I'm not too stressed about it all because a) I know I have a loving God who is in control, and I'm continuing to live in faith that we will get through all the ups and down of life. And b) we all know I love a frugal challenge!

So some of the things I'm doing, or planning to do -

Take a freezer and cupboard survey - that way I know exactly what I've got, and what goes with what.

Make a menu plan - Using the surveys, we can plan ahead, and that helps me with work lunches as well as dinners.

Use what we've got - whether that's what's in the freezer and cupboards, or anything that's in the house (including non food items), I'm trying to find solutions with what we already have, rather than buying new. Or being canny with what I do have.
- I discovered that I've really enjoyed eating stir fried veg along with leftover protein, for my work lunches. On a Sunday afternoon I survey the fridge, and any veg that needs using up gets thrown into a big frying pan and sauteed together. Add a bit of garlic, soy sauce, or herbs to mix up the flavours. I might try tomato puree next time, as I appear to have stock piled that!
- I had loads of kidney beans, coconut milk, and onions, plus random veg. I bought some rice and made up a big batch of rice and peas. (And it turned out to be my best batch yet!)
Which we ate for a few days running, plus I froze some for a quick meal another day. So long as you reheat thoroughly, I've never had a problem with reheating rice, but I know some people prefer not to make it.
- I used chicken bones leftover from a meal, to make chicken stock. The kids aren't that great at getting all the meat off the bones, and I can be a little wary about chicken since i had food poisoning last year, so the bones weren't picked bare. However, throwing them in hot water with an onion (I was out of carrots) I made a gorgeous rich stock which is saved in the freezer for next time I want to make soup, or perhaps risotto or even rice and peas again.
- Today we cooked a loaf of chocolate and banana bread. I saved a banana from the other day, which Jaiden had taken one bite from, and decided it was too squishy for his liking. And there was another that had been accidentally opened but not eaten. I also used up some pieces of apple that had been abandoned and I'd stashed in the fridge - I used them to make a quick batch of applesauce, and used that to replace the oil in the recipe, to make it lower in calories. (My adaptations for that recipe - using applesauce instead of oil, wholemeal flour, and putting 100g of chocolate rather than a whole cup full).
- using leftovers for work lunches or dinner. I'll admit this week there was a bit of veg that got abandoned at the back of the fridge, and I had to throw in the food waste because it didn't smell right this morning. But I try to do my best to use it all up in general.
- Making pizzas out of English muffins and bagels. I brought home from work some out of date bread items, and we used them to make pizzas. These just had tomato puree and cheese on top, but sometimes we add other toppings, depending on what we have. I made extra and took some for lunch at work the next day - just zapped them in the microwave for 30 seconds, and ate them along with some salad leaves.
- we've almost run out of cereal, but we still have lots of oats. I plan to persuade my children that they'd like to have porridge or 'cold porridge' aka a bit like muesli, for breakfasts this week. Already they've been eating some cereal we did have that they weren't so keen on - I have a big plastic container, where I pour in different cereals and mix them up, to make the favourites, and perhaps less healthy ones, go further!

Those were all very much food related. What else?
Well, planning activities for work that didn't involve me buying anything special - that saved me and them money. I got my family to collect up all their silver foil from mince pies and chocolate coins over Christmas, and then used them in the messy tray for our space theme week.

Sophia needs an outfit to dress up like an Egyptian at the end of February. As soon as we heard this - last weekend, we went looking in the charity shops to see if we could find anything suitable. This meant we had a few weeks to get it sorted, if we didn't find anything right away. In fact we found a dress and a top, which with a few easy touches, will make a great costume, and we realised today she already owns some sandals which will complete the outfit. I'm hoping to write another post soon about homemade costumes...

Not going shopping or even 'window shopping', aside from that charity shop trip. The less I go in shops, the less money I will spend!

I was able to take part in some market research for a company which is in development stage. It interested me, and I was happy to be involved. I'd have done it for free, to be honest, but I was paid an amount which will come in handy for sure! I'm hoping to share more about them in the future.

I think I'd better end this post here, but hopefully it won't be too long before I post again!
(I'll try!)




*Hat tip to @veryBritishproblemsofficial for the title of this post