Following on from my little turn on BBC3CR earlier in the week I'm today going to be looking at five tips for saving money whilst doing your grocery shopping. 1. Never shop on an empty stomach It may sound obvious, but how many times have you gone round the supermarket whilst a bit peckish and ended up picking up a few extra things as a result? We've all done it, but if you can just try to shop after you've eaten it really will help you cut down on extra things finding their way into your trolley. 2. Write a shopping list and stick to it Don't go to the shops unless you've ... read more
Thrifty Friday Five – In the Kitchen
I'm kicking off this first week of Thrifty Friday Five with five top tips for saving money in the kitchen. 1. Meal planning One of the most effective ways to save money in the kitchen is to plan what you're going to eat in advance. It may sound obvious, but many don't do this, and even those who do don't always stick to their plan. If you ensure that you plan sensibly and only buy the food that you need, then it should help you to ensure that you don't waste money or food. I've written a separate guide to meal planning which sets out how to plan ... read more
Thrifty Mrs C – Meal Planning
There's no doubt that one of the biggest regular expenses in the kitchen is food. It's also the case that we throw away a criminal amount of food between us. In the UK it is estimated that 7.2 million tonnes of food and drink is thrown away every year and the majority of this could have been eaten. Often people either don't use everything that they've bought, or they cook more than they need and the leftovers end up in the bin. The best way to minimise food waste is to reduce the amount you buy in the first place and planning what you are going to eat can help with this hugely. ... read more
Review: Ella’s Kitchen
It's hard to believe that it's over three months since I first wrote about weaning Master C. He's still a little boy who loves his food putting on weight exactly as he should be. Since the early days Master C seems to have shown a particular love for Ella's Kitchen pouches and even now his face lights up when he sees them come out of the cupboard. I was therefore really pleased when we were sent some of the savory ones to review. Whilst we started off with some of the first tastes pouches (apple, pear and banana on their own) he quickly moved on to their Stage 1 Baby Food range and he ... read more
Boosting our children’s Vitamin D with Growing Up Milk Info
It seemed appropriate that this was the scene that I found outside when I woke up on Saturday ready to travel to Bristol to attend a Growing Up Milk Info Event all about how children are lacking in Vitamin D. The first snow of the winter was at the end of October and here we are at the end of March and there's still some snow on the ground. Most of Master C's life has been winter with snow nearly every month. It's often far too cold to be outside with the children, especially with a small baby who can't yet run around to keep himself warm. In fact though the start of ... read more
Food, glorious food!
I've had my suspicions for a while that Master C has been rather hungry. Firstly he went from sleeping 6 or 7 hours at night through to at worst waking every 90 minutes for a feed. And it was only a feed he needed in the night as he would go back to sleep as soon as he'd had some and general comforting wouldn't have any effect at all. His feeds were also starting to last longer and longer and this was accompanied by chewing on his own hands and anything else that he managed to get into his mouth. When I took him along to my weekly knitting group he'd sit there completely ... read more
Toddler friendly hidden vegetable bolognese
I'd put money on Little Miss C not being the only toddler out there who isn't particularly keen on fruit and veg. After a Christmas season in which she went to several parties that presented her with the opportunity to eat her own body weight in crisps we thought it about time to try to reverse this unhelthy eating trend. LMC has always been a fan of meat dishes and would quite happily snack on sausages or similar in the same way that other (healthier) children might eat a banana or an apple. Over the last couple of years I've therefore become quite good at trying to squeeze as ... read more
The Raymond Blanc Lunch at Brasserie Blanc
One thing I really miss since having children is being able to go out for dinner or a weekend lunch on a whim with Mr C. We were very lucky in that we could just phone each other in the afternoon and decide where to meet for dinner that night - a big luxury indeed. I was thrilled therefore when a weekday lunch for local bloggers was organised on a date that I could actually do and on a day of the week when Little Miss C was in nursery. The venue was the newly opened St Albans branch of Brasserie Blanc and we were all invited to try the November version of their seasonal fixed price menu - The ... read more
Three hours
I'm sure I can't be the only person who gets to the end of the day and wonders what I've actually acheived that day. When you're at home with little ones it can be quite easy to just concentrate on "surviving" and it can be easy to lose track of what has kept you busy all day. Realistically though, stay at home parents usually acheive loads, but they simply don't have the time to step back and take stock of just what they have done. This morning Mr C went out to a first aid course so I thought I'd keep track of just what I got up to in that time - admitedly, ... read more
Baked couscous with chicken and spices
As I'm now into "due date territory" this week's menu planning revolved around things that were pretty easy to make, specifically so that they could be done either whilst heavily pregnant or with a newborn in the house. I picked up my copy of Nigel Slater's Real Cooking to look up a particular pasta recipe that we've done a few times now and whilst I had it out I managed to find a few others that looked simple enough - one being baked couscous with chicken and spices. What appealed about this recipe is that while there is a little bit of preparation ... read more