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