Freezer meals

In an attempt to budget our food money a little better I have been making "freezer meals".  Basically these are meals that can go straight into the slow cooker from frozen in the morning, and be served for dinner with rice, pasta or potatoes, with little to no fuss.  I trialled it last month, and it worked well. If I forgot to put it in the slow cooker, it went into the pressure cooker.  We ate less takeaways and, all in all, it was a success.  So the decision has been taken to do it again this month.

The downside to "freezer meals" is the amount of planning that needs to take place.  Followed by the amount of shopping.  Followed by the amount of chopping.

So this month
Breakfast
Bread (15 bread mixes)
Jam (homemade, shed)
Cheerios (3 boxes)
Eggs (to be bought week on week)

Lunch
Hummous (1 pot, 12 portions in freezer)
2 x Mushroom soup
2 x curried parsnip soup
Chicken salad (chicken bought)
Baked potato

Dinner
2 x chicken chilli
2x honey mustard chicken
2 x chicken and vegetable curry
2x spanish pork
2 x honey mustard pork
2 x BBQ pork
4 x beef stew
2 x lentil dahl
2 x vegetable chilli
2 x pork loin (Sunday Lunches)
2 x Roast chicken (Sunday Lunches)

Plus fish fingers and chips, pizzas etc.  All of the main meals are 1/4 meat to 3/4 vegetables and are prepared and in the freezer.

We spent £117 in Costco (although £17 of that was Christmas presents) and £70 in Aldi.  If I spend £25 a week on extras like milk and fruit (plus whatever I have forgotten)  I should come in under my £300 budget for food and home.  Not bad for a family of 4, and we will be eating very well.

I am exhausted now though.  All afternoon shopping and all evening chopping.  The bonus to this is that Costco do  the nicest mince pies in the world.  As soon as husband has finished cleaning the kitchen (it looked like the food processor had exploded in there by the time I was done) we shall sit down and with our treat and watch something nonsensical on the telly.  I am so getting a lie in tomorrow!!!!

A grown family

I wanted another baby.  No, I want another baby, but we have come to the devastating conclusion that it is not going to happen.  The life and education we want to the two we have means that another baby would cost too much.  We couldn't afford music lessons, or scouts, or zoo membership.  We couldn't afford so many things.  And, as we finally out of babyhood, the idea of going back to sleepless nights, zombie days, 9 months of extreme morning sickness, not showering for days because I can't put a baby down, waking up in a puddle of milk because my boobs have leaked in the night, it is all too much.

From a practical perspective, the allotment is going really well, and I am loving it.  Would I have to give it up for another baby?  Maybe, I would certainly be limited for a good 18 months.  Sewing class - I certainly couldn't go if I were breastfeeding for a solid year again.  Camping - dragging a baby to sleep in field seems cruel rather than adventurous.  E needs me next to her when we camp or she wakes up screaming and scared.

So no more babies.  I feel all cried out.  There is a fundamental yearning for another.  That quiet moment in the middle of the night when me and my baby are warm and cosy, curled up together as she nurses.  That moment when she is crying, and spies me, and immediately stops.  When she first says "Mama" and means me.  Those first steps, and hugs and words and actions...all gone.  Our little Angus or Elizabeth-Jane will never exist, and I feel devastated and in mourning for what could have been, what should have been.  In one fell swoop I have lost my youth, my fertility, my hopes for what might have been.

I have to remember that I am already a Mum, and I have responsibilities to the two children I already have, and I am blessed.  The life style we have chosen means I can be there for every moment of their lives.  If I worked and we had more money we could have baby number 3, but I would miss so much.
So I will wipe my eyes, take a deep breath and plan.  I will plan our camping trips for next year, I will book the just so festival tickets that I was holding out on incase I was unable to go, I will book O's music lessons and I will get him on the waiting list for Beavers.  And I will breath.  I am blessed.

A very allotmenty Sunday

My husband has been rather absent lately.  Work stuff and a course etc..  means that I have been on sole parenting duty for weeks.  So today I went on Mummy strike and left the children with husband.  A lovely wander around the garden centre for some  new gardening gloves and some garlic and onions.  I then (after a cheeky McD's) went to the allotment.  The strawberries have gone mad, so I pulled out the courgettes, pulled out a few runners, and had to compost the rest.  I dug over that bed, then dug over the next bed where the carrots and peas were,  I then picked the remainder of of the runner beans, and pulled all the bean plants out, sorted the canes, and then dug over the bean bed.  Finally I dug over the salad bed, then planted the garlic and onion in that bed.  

Upon returning home, I planted as many of the strawberries as I had pots, podded the dried out beans, and sorted the rest for drying, and made a roast dinner.  I am exhausted.  Tomorrows jobs include pickling the beetroot.  I need a nice cold beer and an early night.  

Socialisation

One of the many complaints and concerns that people have over home education is the idea that "socialisation" is an issue, and it is a constant source of irritation to home educators that is constantly brought up.  But is socialisation an issue?

My little boy is 5 and a half now, and is constant saying "I'm bored, it's boring" over thing that he generally loves doing.  This is not new, many parents deal with their children coming home from school with that particular phrase.  The problem I have is that I know exactly where it comes from.  O's friend, that we saw this morning.  We were at soft play, having a wonderful time, and all you here from this friend is "I'm bored, it's boring"  and all too soon my 2 come out with "I'm bored, can we leave yet".  Now my issue is this...How do I deal with it?  I have the opportunity to prevent my children playing with this child, but O likes him!!!  And it is good that he has friends.  But he plays with random children at the park, at soft play, at swimming, at singing, at church!!!  So is it important he maintain this particular friendship.  If O were in school I would just have to deal with it.  How much do I "control" the situation.  I don't want my child coming out with bad habits.  At the moment everything is "boring" and that is not okay.  He is getting moaned at for it.  I suspect there is no answer that is the correct one!!!

So all in all our lovely trip to the expensive soft play was ruined and cut short because apparently having unlimited access to a huge play frame, loads of slides, a foot ball cage and friends to play with leads to 4 bored children who wanted to go home!!!  

Insanely busy

So today consisted of a trip to soft play to run off some  energy (and I didn't fancy a rainy trip to the park AGAIN), followed by nap time.  O and I watched the final instalment of Our Zoo (we are members to Chester Zoo so enjoyed watching it's history), and made soup and hummus.  When E woke up the chicklets ate lunch, and then the great learning catch up began.  We have been hopeless this week.  I had planned loads to do, and the children have learnt so much, but none of it was off the learning plan.  And so I felt behind.  That is the joy of home education.  But the teacher in me still rebels against such spontaneity.

So today O has done some subtraction practice, number bonds to 10, a thank you letter based on Handa's surprise, labelled a map of the world with a selection of flag stickers, and drawn, coloured and label the flags for Egypt, Uganda and Botswana (because they were the 3 African countries visited by Top Gear, and most of O's interest in Geography is based around the Top Gear Specials).

Then we sat for literally 6 and half minutes, before we had to rush out to singing class.  Husband has parent's evening tonight so E had to come too, and we had a rare mother/daughter trip to the park.
The children insisted on soup for tea instead of the curry in the slow cooker, so I am umming and ahing about putting the curry in the fridge for tomorrow, and getting a takeaway when Husband comes in.

Basically I am run ragged, and tomorrow we have 2 museum workshops in Liverpool, which will exhaust us all again.  I do love being at home with my babies.  My best bit of today was waking E up from her nap, curling up next to her, and having her throw her arm and around me and sleepily snuggle in.  There is no amount of money in the world could entice me back to work and away from my children.  I just hope that circumstances allow us to continue on this path for a long time to come.

Spiced blackberry and apple jam

I have a freezer full of beautiful blackberries picked at the height of ripeness from the allotment.  They are so delicious, but I struggle eating them.  They are nicest warm from the sun straight from the blackberry plant, or cooked in baked goods.  I am "supposed" to be doing slimming world.  It is not working at the moment, but I have been resisting making baked goods recently, so all of the blackberries ended up in the freezer.  Last year I made some yummy blackberry gin for Christmas presents, but this year I am sewing gifts.  It is, however, my niece's first birthday on Sunday, and we are having a tea party at my sister's house.  Mum has made 6 dozen scones, and so I offered to make a couple of trifles and some jam.  There is something special about homemade jam.  It is always so much nicer than shop bought.

500g blackberries
500g chopped peeled apple (reserve peel and cores)
1000g of caster sugar
a good amount of cinnamon.
A tiny drop of water

Pop blackberries and apple in a big old pan (I use my pressure cooker pan) with a tiny dribble of water just to stop the fruit burning before the juice is released.  Stir every now and again and cook out for about 40 minutes of so.  Whilst this is going put reserved apple peel and cores in a pan with a pint of water (approx).  Boil and boil and boil, then sieve the remaining liquid that has not cooked off, and put in the jam.  This is basically apple pectin and will help the jam to set.  Add sugar and stir repeatedly.  Add cinnamon.  I always put loads in because I am a cinnamon fiend, and I find it cuts the sweetness slightly.  Leave to cook for another 15/20 minutes of so  whilst sterilising the jars.  I tend to wash in soapy water, and then put them in the oven for 20 minutes of so on 150c, and have never had a problem.  Decant jam into jam jars and put lids on.  Leave to cool.  It made 4 full jam jars, and 1 half jam jar that was sampled for breakfast this morning - delicious.

So that is 17 remaining jars of jam in the shed for the winter.  Most of which were made with homegrown produce.  Happy.

Now I need to contemplate trifle recipes.  I am going to make a "normal" one with cake, jelly, fruit, custard and cream on top, and an "alternative" on.  I found a black forest trifle on pinterest, which will use up a few more blackberries.  But I also saw a caramel apple trifle as well which I think sounds nice too.  That one is a spice cake of some kind, a load of stewed apple, a tin of caramel (or condensed milk turned into caramel), custard, cream and decorated with cinder toffee.  I rather thought that one would be very seasonal and a bit different!!!,  We shall see.  The diet isn't going well though!!!

Parsnip thinnings

My new most favourite smell in the entire world is the smell of a parsnip being pulled out of the ground.  I was at the allotment for the first time in ages today, and I dug up some carrots that had been well munched, a cabbage, 4 parsnips and a bucket of green beans.  The parsnips have just been scrubbed and are going with our roast chicken for tea.  They were just big enough for us all, and have left us with a bit more space in the parsnip corner.  To be fair, I should have pulled up a load more parsnips, but a combination of nettles and wet soil meant that I couldn't manage to to a decent job.

I have a plan for the remainder of the beans.  They are all a bit tough and bitter now really, so I have podded as many as I can, and am drying out the beans inside in the trusty dehydrator for storage.  I am imagining a hearty spicy Moroccan bean soup with homemade bread in about February actually!!!.  Sounds yummy.

I actually cleared and dug over the pea bed, and harvested today.  Next year I definitely need to do some weed control around the pumpkins.  They were so promising, but have just been strangled and I have very little coming off them really.  Never mind.  Live and learn.

The Christmas new potatoes are coming on a treat.  Loads of growth on them, but I need to think about getting some fleece or some bubble wrap to pop around the tub to protect them from frost.  The tomatoes in the garden are coming to the end.  There are still a fair few tomatoes that are ripening, but the plants look quite sad now.  One looks nearly completely dead actually!!!.

My challenge for next weekend is to plant the garlic.  I am determined to plant some this autumn.  The spring planted ones did alright, but were a bit on the small side.  I am hoping for better things for next year.

I have avoided the allotment for the last few weeks.  First we had illness, then we were away, then it rained a lot, then we were ill again, and then I was just to scared to go in case I didn't recognise it because of the weeds.  I do get over faced by these things.  However I feel much more positive after going today.  And I know what I am asking Santa for this year - a strawberry planter.  We have loads of runners coming off the strawberries and no space to plant out any  more at the allotment, so  a planter in the back garden sounds promising.