Menu planning #2

The first week was a success!  It went really well and prevented me from constantly trying to decide what we should eat at 6:30pm having no idea what we’d got to choose from!

{I made these vegan muffins and they were a major hit!}

{Had a go at making bircher muesli based loosely on this recipe.
William absolutely loved it and I used an old peanut butter jar
to take a serving into work each morning for my breakfast.}

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A few people asked me what Gyros’ are.  Stupidly I didn’t photograph them.
Tho mainly because Mark and I were too busy sticking our faces into them.
They were so good!!!
Here is the recipe we used.

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Something I didn’t really mention last week is that I am particularly interested in monitoring our food waste.  Previously I have felt like we threw away a lot of fresh food that had gone unnoticed and spoiled.  This week we have had to throw away some almond milk {trying, and failing, to get used to it in my coffee}, 2 mini pots of hummus {why are there so many ways to spell this simple chickpea delight!?!} and possibly a packet of fresh coriander but I’m hoping it might last until Tuesday to use in the chicken noodle soup.

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This week

Breakfast

1. bircher muesli
2. wrap
3. porridge
4. green smoothie

Snack

1. protein chocolate
2. crudites and hummus
3. muffin
4. rice crackers, nut butter and fruit

Dinner

1. fish, mash potato, peas and carrots
2. bacon and creamy avocado pasta
3. burgers, chips and salad
4. chicken noodle soup {trying this recipe}
5. poached egg, ham and toast
6. jacket potato with cheese, beans and sausages
7. shepherd’s pie {last night, a freezer meal courtesy of my Gran!}

love Amy x

a whole lotta geeky!

Wondering what all this #projectsparkle stuff is about?  Click here for the details!

14. start menu planning

You might have read my blogpost over the weekend with details of my first week’s menu plan.  I have to admit I really enjoyed the process and am excited to see how this week pans out.  I thought you might like a bit of waffle about how I approached it.

Book a date with yourself

I looked at my schedule and decided when I could do this on a regular basis so it becomes a habit I can keep up.  For me I realised I could have a quick look through the cupboards and freezer on a Thursday {a work from home day} which would give me chance to do some planning that evening and on my commute on Friday morning then pull together an online shop during my lunch break.

Make it an occasion

Ok so hear me out, if you don’t have much ‘free’ time which I guess includes me given I’m working full-time, have William, am trying to get back into running and generally keep the house ticking over, then any time you get to sit down quietly for half an hour is a time to treasure!  So I made myself a hot drink, lit my favourite candle and popped a bit of music on.

What is your style?

Some people plan breakfast, lunch and dinner, others just plan dinner.  A lot of people seem to assign meals to specific days and so I assumed that was how it had to be.  Honestly, I think it is one of the major reasons menu planning hasn’t worked for me in the past.  We often are like ‘oh I really fancy xxx tomorrow’.  Which made me realise that a better plan for us is to choose the dishes and shop for them but assign which day is what on Sunday night/as we go.  As I’m trying to get a bit healthier and back to being dairy free {it just doesn’t agree with me} I decided to focus on breakfast, snack {for the 3pm slump} and dinner.

The nitty gritty what went down during my candlelit quiet time?

First up I opened up a double pager in my new notebook.  The left page was for menu planning and notes, with the right page being for a shopping list.  I thought of a few recipes I had seen recently that I fancied trying or a favourite dish and popped them down on the planner.  Then I made a detailed shopping list, don’t try to skip any of this otherwise you will go wrong in the week.  Go and double check whether you have enough mixed herbs, is your cinnamon still in date and do you have plain or self-raising flour in the cupboard!  I also took a moment to look at the list as a whole and check there was a good balance of quick and easy vs. prep ahead of time options, are there a range of proteins and carbs or is it all pasta?

Don’t forget to add in any non-food items that you need to your shopping list or the everyday bits like butter, milk and bread, washing tablets, toilet rolls and teabags!

For added geeky points…

Then I took it to a whole new level of geeky and decided to do a freezer inventory!  Our freezer is actually in the garage as we have the tiniest galley kitchen ever.  Like ever ever!  The problem with this is that I often forget what is in there but regularly pick-up reduced meat etc and pop it in on the way home {we use the back entrance, infact the frontdoor is rarely opened.  Random but true!}.  So the freezer gets fuller and fuller and is an untapped resource.

It only took a few minutes to go through each drawer and note down what is there and how many portions.  Then I wrote it up neatly in my trusty menu planning notebook!  I popped the items under the categories Meat, Fish, Vegetables and Other.  The plan is that as we use things I can cross them off the list and equally as I buy things pop them down on the list.  Hopefully this will mean next week when I menu plan I can use what we already have in the freezer as a base to work from to help keeps costs down.

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Reading that back it sounds quite long winded but it really wasn’t, I promise!  Having the detailed shopping list was brilliant as I always normally forget things which means I end up wasting time doing multiple trips.  I have planned around 2 weeks worth of breakfasts and snacks so I can make some things up and freeze them in preparation for lazy days or ‘running low’ ends of weeks.

love Amy x

Menu planning #1

Morning everyone!  Happy Saturday!  Hope you’re having a nice weekend and enjoying some time with family and friends despite of the snow.

With going back to work full-time the only way we won’t end up surviving on takeaway or cereal is a little bit of organisation and planning.  I don’t like menu planning to be too prescriptive and I don’t want to be constrained by what the menu plan says we’re meant to eat.  So instead I want to plan ~4 breakfasts and snacks and 5-6 dinners.  Eventually I want to add in lunch but where I work it’s quite easy to get a good lunch.  However, breakfasts are potential danger zones, it is too easy to grab a latte and a pastry!

Breakfast:

1. nut butter and fruit wrap
2. muffin and fruit
3. oats in a jar
4. porridge

Snacks:

1. protein bars
2. brownies
3. rice crackers with nut butter and fruit
4. crudités and hummus

Dinner:

1. chicken noodle soup
2. gyros and wedges
3. avocado pasta with smoked bacon
4. chilli and rice
5. fish fingers and waffles

love Amy x

Wednesday 19th December

I have 4 weeks 3 weeks until I go back to work. Last week I shared with you my to do list and picked a few items to concentrate on over the past week. Here is a quick update and this week’s goals.

Last week’s goals:
– find a cleaner
done, she starts at the beginning of January, really hope this works well.

– get my eyelashes tinted {slight cheat, had them done last night}
done, love them although I must find my eyelash curlers.

– write a Christmas list and do shopping
erm…so about that…though I have done a bit more thinking/research

– visit Woodbridge
ish, we went to that area though and picked up some Peter’s pickles from Lawsons in Aldeburgh, popped into Friday Street farm shop and visited Redfield barn to browse their Christmas decorations and William visited Santa!!

– print 2 photos of William
erm…so about that…

– create a weekly schedule

– birthday cards for Mum, Kim and Richard
done, though posted late which I feel pretty awful about

– anniversary card for Kim and Richard
done

– order a birthday gift
chosen but waiting to be paid

This week’s goals:

– write a Christmas list and do shopping
– print 2 photos of William
– define a work wardrobe
– find out what train ticket I need

There doesn’t seem much on there but given this week also includes packing {half a day}, driving to family and back {4-6 hours} and unpacking again {a day including laundry} as well as Christmas festivities and present wrapping, wine and gossip I’m sure it’ll be jam packed! Oh and Mark has two Christmas nights out and William has a birthday party and a Christmas party.

Wednesday 12th December

I have 4 weeks until I go back to work. Time has gone so quickly recently. Of course now I feel like I have a trillion things to do including Christmas! So I thought I’d share my ‘return to work’ preparations.

Step one – write a to do list!
More than ever my head is constantly flipping between topics…

When is William’s next feed? I need to buy birthday cards and post them. What do I need to prep for going away? Is my towel upstairs or in the bathroom? What are the hair trends for 2013?

Important stuff see!?!! So a list saves me from being epically stressed and unproductive. Some of the things on my list are ‘big ticket’ items that I seriously doubt will be done in time for my return to work but having them on my to do list helps keep them in the forefront of my mind.

Step two – pick some items from the to do list and do them…

This week’s goals:

– find a cleaner
– get my eyelashes tinted {slight cheat, had them done last night}
– write a Christmas list and do shopping
– visit Woodbridge
– print 2 photos of William
– create a weekly schedule
– birthday cards for Mum, Kim and Richard
– anniversary card for Kim and Richard
– order a birthday gift

Tuesday 25th September 2012

In the last week or so I have discovered the secret to me having a good day. It may have taken at least six months of maternity leave but finally I have realised what I can do to help make sure William and I don’t end up hating each other and counting the minutes until Daddy is home!

I get up at by 6:20 at the latest so I can shower while Mark and William hangout. Having 20 minutes to shower, style my hair and pop on some moisturiser babyfree gives me the start I need. This morning I even managed to sneak in a cup of coffee to sup whilst I faffed. Honestly it makes such a difference to how my day goes but it is such a simple thing. Plus Mark loves spending a bit of one on one time with W!

Wednesday 22nd August 2012

Last Friday I mentioned I have caught the organisation bug. So far the new cleaning schedule is working brilliantly!! So brilliantly that for the first time in forever, I had a couple of mum’s from our baby group popin for coffee with their babies without a mad panic about them judging me. It was so nice!!

Incase it’s of interest here is what I’m doing…

Firstly I have a daily checklist;

1. make the baby’s bottles
2. spray the shower cleaner
3. tidy the bathroom
4. tidy the living room
5. vacuum around downstairs
6. bring down any dirty washing
7. washing-up
8. clean the kitchen worktops
9. take rubbish out
10. feed the cats
11. top up the cat’s water

Secondly we have a weekly plan;
each day includes dinner, a laundry category and a couple of household chores. I’ve also colour coded the chores, pink for me, blue for my OH and purple for whoever gets it done.

Monday
Baby clothes
Vacuum upstairs
Food shopping

Tuesday
Towels
Litter tray
Bathroom

Wednesday
Laundry basket
Tidy and dust spareroom

Thursday
Weekend clothes
Litter change
Vacuum and mop downstairs
Bins

Friday
Work clothes
Kitchen
Cupboard inventory

Saturday
Bedding
Tidy and dust bedroom
Strip bed
Make bed
Mow lawn

Sunday
Nappies etc hot wash
Litter tray
Menu planning
Ironing

Friday 17th August 2012

Drink: costa cappuccino
Soundtrack: celebrity big brother

For someone who really isn’t a needy girlfriend I realised today I am a very needy friend!

Four for Friday:

1) costa have started making pods for my tassimo machine. I have to admit the coffee was lovely but barely filled half of the pictured mug and I can assure you that that mug is my smallest mug!

2) I have got the organisation bug, we now have a cleaning schedule and I have done a little menu planning. Fingerscrossed I follow through and keep it up…

3) tomorrow I am having a Swedish massage, my poor achy body is in soooo much need! However, I know it’s not a relaxing massage, more medicinal, and I’ll probably be bruised and a little sore afterwards which I’m a little nervous about. No pain, no gain right!?!

4) last weekend one of the jobs we did was pop these amazing keyrings on the wall. Now we don’t have to scramble for a key when someone comes to the door!