Back in June I was asked to become one of the bloggers working with TASSIMO to help promote their brand. Now, whilst I love my tea (being a Yorkshire lass) I am also rather partial to a nice cup of coffee. I hardly ever drink instant coffee at home, but when out I do treat myself to a "fancy" coffee, especially when at my weekly knitting group meet-ups. The idea of being able to make good coffee at home really did appeal, especially as it was supposed to be so easy. For the first month I really enjoyed being able to make myself a latte, cappuccino, or even a caramel macchiato ... read more
The Charcoal Challenge – A Birthday Bloggers BBQ
I'm pretty sure there must have been more BBQs in the UK in the last three weeks than there were in the whole of last "summer". The weather has been stunning and for once it was so nice to arrange a BBQ in advance without having to worry about the weather. When Money Supermarket launched the Charcoal Challenge and offered bloggers £50 to host a BBQ it seemed appropriate to invite another blogger to join us, so that's exactly what I did. Kirsty from Damson Lane lives just down the road from me and it was a delight to have her, her husband and son come to visit us. ... read more
An evening of berries at Tesco
When my friend Jenny from Cheetahs in my Shoes asked me if I was free one evening I thought she might be thinking about a few drinks at a pub in town, or maybe even trying to catch a film or something mad like that. When she then followed it up with "would you like to come to Tesco with me?" I honestly thought she'd lost the plot! What sort of mum goes to wander up and down the aisles of their local supermarket in an evening through choice? But it seems Jenny had something else in mind... Our local Tesco store, which happens to be one of the super big ones and is also ... read more
Thrifty Friday Five: Grocery Shopping
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