Shopping less at the Supermarket

I have been looking at the meat pack which my butcher does £30 delivered

Fresh Yorkshire Chicken
Joint of Scotch Silverside
Corner Gammon Joint
1lb Lincolnshire Sausage
1lb Minced Steak
2 Scotch Rump Steaks
2 Lincolnshire Pork Lojn Steaks
2 Yorkshire Chicken Breast Fillets
2 Ind Scotch Steak Pies

Now I have worked out that if I buy 2 of these plus some extra sausage, pork cheeks and shin beef (for casseroles and curries), then some fish from the docks I can easily have the meat/fish for a month for approx £100 (we are big meat eaters); the meat/fish will average £3 per meal for the 4 of us.

Add in the organic veg box or homegrown veggies, fruit and potatoes from the farm shop if not the veg box, milk and dairy from the milkman, eggs from the farm gate and homemade bread, cakes and pastries.
We have the makings of good wholesome food without much supermarket shopping, maybe once a month or couple of months for tins, dry goods, household and toiletries.

Menu Plan w/c 10 Jan

Mon - chicken curry & jacket potato ( there is enough curry leftover from yesterday)

Tues - fish pie served with carrots and green beans

Wed - bolognese

Thurs - sausage casserole

Fri - beef stir fry

Sat - quiche

Sun - steak

any veggies used are either from the organic veg box or our garden which have been frozen

Getting Back To Normal

Well yesterday saw Dave go back to work and today has seen the boys go back to school; I return to work tomorrow.

Today will be a general catch up day, which will include the following jobs:
putting clean laundry away
baking for the freezer
putting the Christmas tree and decorations away
making a birthday card for a friend

I also hope to if I have time to make a start on some decluttering, even if only one box and will take baby steps to achieve this.

Menu Plan w/c 3 Jan

I am trying to use as much as possible from the freezer and cupboards this month, although I do need some meat and fish before the end of the month. I also receive a weekly organic veg box.

I have planned meals for basically the whole month but will only post them here weekly.

Mon - takeaway ( I save my coppers throughout the year and this pays for a New Year treat before we all go back to work/school)

Tues - pork steaks, roast potatoes, carrots,broccoli,sprouts and swede

Weds - savoury mince and mashed potatoes, green beans

Thurs - gammon and chips

Fri - tacos, salad

Sat - HM pizza

Sun - chicken curry and pilau rice

any veggies used are either from the organic veg box or our garden which have been frozen

NEW YEAR, NEW US!!

Happy New Year to everyone.

I am going to do a few things a little differently this year.

I will not be logging all our rubbish as we pretty much have it down to where we are putting the minimum we can for us into our landfill bin. We ended the year by having put out 12.67kg, so just over 1.0kg per month or for those who like to visualise the equivalent to a bag of sugar.

The garden is going to be more productive for us this year than last year as we have more time to get things planned, and we will concentrate on maximising our growing room.

Another thing I'm looking to do is to try and make more of the snacky things which the boys like to eat, not always easy I know but even though it hasn't produced much more packaging this last year, I feel I should be at least trying.

I am also going to be more stricter with my grocery budget and menu planning, especially as certain grocery items are subject to the VAT increase on 4 Jan.

Add into the above that I want to do some serious de-cluttering and get back into my card making then I think I will have a full year ahead.

Veg Garden

I have been totting up the tally charts I kept during the summer of the veggies we grew this is what we picked:

tomatoes - 9.852kg
green beans - 4.023kg
carrots - 1.178kg
cucumbers - 67
courgettes - 18
butternut squash 3

Catching up - Life gets in the way

It seems that every time I get chance to post on here lately I'm apologising for not posting iyswim.

Anyhow we are coming to the end of the halfterm week and we all go back to school or work on Monday.

This week Dave has had the week off as well and we have just spent time relaxing and not doing much.

It has been nice not to get up to an alarm clock.

Cooking has been casual using things up or what we fancy from our stores.

We have spent some time in the garden clearing a few things away and doing some general tidying so there is less to do another day. Also doing a bit of planning ready for next year so hopefully we can grow more veggies ourselves.

Our waste management seems to have evened out and although some weeks is a little more than my target others it is under; I'm not going to be fastidious in trying to achieve the target every week we are averaging 185g per week for the last 42 weeks so not a major amount in real terms for a family of 4.

Dave is hopefully starting a new phase in his work when he goes back on Monday, he will be doing some courses but also will possibly be working different hours and days which should mean an increase in income for us; this is obviously not to be sniffed at in the current economic climate.
So I will be holding the fort more, but also will be looking at what we can still do to maximise our income and growing potential.
I know I want an apple tree and that will be sorted for next year, we have made a note of the types of veggies which grew well and which we all also liked, and will grow more of these utilising the most space available.