Bank holidays always throw me, even in lockdown & the next challenge!

With Steven starting a new job this year, combined with lockdown, I don't know what day of the week it is sometimes.  Every day is organised and planned but I still couldn't tell you the date or the day without looking some weeks!  This Monday was a Bank Holiday and Steven would normally be at home, however the new job doesn't work like that so he took the Friday off with me and then was at work Monday.  Needless to say, with me having time off and Ste not being here, I still didn't know what day it was!  So when I started with a migraine on Monday which lasted all night through to Tuesday morning, it has taken me until today to come round and feel somewhat normal again.  I think today has been Wednesday, right?  We have other things going on with family and health which I won't go in to here, so it's already been a right old week.  

I did manage to go shopping Monday (maybe that's why I got a migraine!) and got our first supermarket shop in 4 weeks, so that's all put away and the menu plan for the week is finally done too.  Better late than never.  It's all a bit backside first right now, I mean when isn't it?  Mostly menu plans "should" be done by looking at what you have in and making meals from there.  Well we have started a different challenge which left me doing things in a round about way this time.

The challenge is not to go back to the supermarket for 6 weeks!  As you may know, we have a monthly grocery budget of £300.  This is regardless of whether it is a 4 or 5 week month.  An average of £75 a week.  Now for us, that's actually way more than we should be spending right now.  Bearing in mind we grow a lot of our own things, so we should see this reduce over the next few months as the garden starts to pay for itself.  

We've also had another curve ball thrown in that we are taking a hit on our income as a result of the virus.  Presently this should be for 4 months, June 1st until the end of September, so it is massively important that we keep our outgoings down.

Having said that we do still have milk delivered and buy a top up veg box weekly.  We will continue to support these local businesses unless something drastically changes, or when we start growing everything we need.  We're not there yet but are working on it.

So straight in to it.  Every week I am making bread, treats, soups, scones, pies and quiches/fritatas.  These are for lunches, main meals, snacks and the freezer.  9 times out of 10 the pies are using left overs as I don't tend to make pie fillings specifically for pies for us (though I do sell some which I made specifically for customers), with the exception of corned beef and potato.  I also hardboil any eggs which are not sold or for incubating.  At the moment this is quail only as ALL of the hens eggs are selling, much to my disappointment ;) sometimes I find a cracked one which I get to use!  The quiches and fritatas are using whatever we have in abundance such as the kale and asparagus.  Scones vary from week to week and bread is something we no longer consider a throw away item as we may have done in the past.  It's amazing how making your own makes you value everything so much more.

I spent £147.62 on Monday and our next veg box is coming on Saturday which will be £11.  I'll let you know once the milk man invoices us as we changed the order this week.

I planned on making bone broth/stock once every 6 weeks when I planned the challenge, however when I made some in my 6 litre slow cooker, it only yielded 2 litres.  Now I used 3 carcasses, so I am wondering if it'll be quite concentrated and maybe I can eek 500ml out to 750 for example.  I can just season more if needed.

A few other points to note - I'll be making ALL of our own bread products, we have NO pork left in the freezer and have made the decision to not buy any joints or chops, only sausages and bacon, until we have our own later this year or early next year.  We have joints of beef which we will dice and mince once we run out of those.  WE have also ran out of whole chickens.  Again, we will not be buying chicken, we will wait until our meat birds are ready in around 8 weeks or so!  We do however have the luxury of thigh/drumstick, carcass and wings of one bird a week.  As you will know if you read our blog, my parents buy an organic whole bird each week as it's not much difference in cost for 2 breasts which is what they started to get (from the farm shop).  They take the breasts and give us the rest which they don't like.  So the only chicken we will have during this challenge is that.

It's really exciting, I think setting challenges keeps you focused and energised.  Well it does for us at least!  I did a bit of a YouTube video on it which would be great if you could watch and subscribe to.  Eventually we hope the channel will be enjoyed by many, you have to start somewhere right?

Stay safe everyone.

The Food Challenge

This title has come from a variety of recent ideas I've had!  I find that happens, a little ideas forms a bigger one which grows and adapts.  It started off as a freezer challenge eating what's in the freezer as the freezer was fit to burst.  Given its bulging sides, apparently that will take months (which is a good thing, as that was and is the point of filling it!) and then it turned in to a pantry challenge of using up the tinned and dried goods that were bought and since sat there with just a partial amount used.  Finally it's turned in to a use up the jars in the fridge challenge.  I think they are breeding in there!  There's 2 shelves full of bits of mustard or pickle or cranberry sauce and other items I am not too sure as to what they even are!  So combined with my weight loss challenge I've set myself for this year, you can see the predicament that we have a bit of a mutation of challenges going on.

Essentially I find myself in a position where I want to step back and assess what we are trying to achieve before my head becomes too full and I give up on it all.  Do you ever get that feeling?  Sometimes it can manifest itself as feeling overwhelmed?  Life is so busy for us all and personally, I feel that without planning, things don't always happen.

This whole Corona virus thing has got us all thinking too.  I don't want to be in a position where we have eaten everything down to the bare minimum and end up self isolating for a period of time.  It seems there's going to be a bit of scaremongering in the next few days, which naturally may result in people panic buying.  Given we are normally stocked up for 3 months plus with food etc, this is probably the worst time this could have happened.  We still have a good amount of food in though, so I am not worried, it's just typical and shows it's always good to be prepared, or have a plan A and B at least.  Anyway, I'm not spending time worrying about that until we know more.

Generally, even though we are working our way through what is in stock in the said areas, generally there's left overs from those and I will reuse them in something else.  Eg if we roast a (raw) chicken for a Sunday lunch, I will reuse left overs in a pie and eat one for another meal, then freeze one, so the pie goes back in the freezer in a differed "state" (ie cooked chicken, not raw) to how it came out, which is fine.  

That takes me to the title of the post, The Food Challenge.  What are we trying to achieve? An organised, prepared, useable stock of short term and long term food items which are adaptable, healthy and budget friendly.  Easy right?  I will do a separate post on supermarkets and why I believe you should have a menu plan, shopping list and shop efficiently to help you lower your outgoings.  Given everything we have in stock, there's absolutely no reason we should be maxing our grocery budget, or even coming close, for a month or two at least.  For the record, our budget it £300 a month, which is reduced from around £600 from when we first moved in 4 years ago. 

I didn't choose my words without giving this a fair bit of thought.  

Organised:  this is a task that can be fairly quickly achieved and is tangible.  Physically organising the freezer, fridge and pantry which are they key elements in this challenge, is something I can be getting on with.  It doesn't stop there though, once they are organised, how do they stay organised and how do we benefit from them being organised?  Keeping an inventory is key here.  That makes this task a little bit more time consuming and if you can get a helping hand to either write the list as you go through the items, or vice versa then that will save you a bit of time.  I'll set myself aside some time to do this and report back.
Prepared:  this is a reference to a few different things.  I need to be prepared (and organised) with regards to menu planning, writing shopping lists, doing the weekly shop etc.  Also it means preparing ahead, getting up on a morning and taking tea out of the freezer, batch cooking, taking time to prepare meals ahead.
Useable stock:  what is the point of having a tub of quinoia, pearl barley, blue food colouring and eastern spices if I am never going to use them?  Over the years I have been pulled in to advertising, expensive recipes, following the ideal and impulse buying.  Not any more.  Everything we have in stock needs to be useable.  That may mean I have to be inventive with recipes, avoid others, think differently and so on.  That's fine, bring it on.  I like the idea of having almost a capsule wardrobe pantry, does that make sense?
Short term and long term:  to me, there's a obvious need to have fresh and non fresh items.  Dried, frozen, pickled, preserved, whatever it may be.  What is the ideal amount and what benefits can we get from both?  Time will tell.
Adaptable:  Something that will not work for us as a family is restrictions.  We eat at 6:30 on an evening, after we have done the jobs outside and caught up with each other.  Sometimes though, something happens, chickens escape, the wind has blown down a fence, the greenhouse takes longer to water and then everything gets shunted along time wise.  Tea needs to go from a 45 minute Aga time to 15 minutes.  Instead of making lasagne with the ragu, I'm going to heat the ragu and throw it on top of some quick cook spaghetti or penne with a garlic bread.  See what I mean?  I may have some dump bags (idea adapted per The Batch Lady slow cooker) that I can use as a stir fry, or to add to longer cook rice or short cook noodles.  So for my family, adaptability is key.  
Healthy:  I guess this speaks for itself.  One thing that was important to us when we moved here was moving to a more healthy lifestyle, food and drink included, where I cook as much as possible from scratch.  That doesn't mean we won't eat fatty food or drink red wine, far from it!  It about a balance and as long as the scales tip in favour of the healthy, I'm happy with that.
Budget friendly:  2020 is about minimising our outgoings and I can not see that ever changing.  Why would you want to spend more than you needed to?  For us, it's to allow us to pay our mortgage off early, other people will have their reasons.  All to the same goal though. 

I told you I had given it some thought 😂.

So over the coming days and weeks I will add updates as to where I am in The Food Challenge journey.  I will share my inventories, subsequent menu plans and shopping lists, where I shop to get them and recipes for making the meals.  Please join us on this journey, we would love to hear how these things work for you guys and learn from how you do things too.  I'm planning on doing a YouTube video or two on this for anyone who is interested - I will let you know when it's ready.

In the mean time, I'm off to start the inventory lists, which will inevitably result in a cleaning session too!  I'll grab some pics of before and after.

Budgetting - groceries

As usual, at the beginning of each year I will reassess our budget to include changes.  For example, my daughter is going to senior school and we promised we'd get her a mobile phone for when she does.  She is the only one in her year who doesn't have one and throughout this year has been very mature about that, not giving in to peer pressure.  So there's an extra monthly expense.  Not much, but it all adds up.  The insurances need to be reassessed as I have an additional insurance to take out for Annie, so that needs to come from somewhere.  Also oil has gone up since 12 months ago and I think our budget still covers it, but I will check to be safe.


A big one that can easily spiral out of control is groceries as per my previous post.  Last year, on average I went over our (£250 a month) budget by £15 a month.  Some people spend that on coffee each week so it won't seem a lot to them, but taking into consideration what we are trying to achieve (self sufficiency and 1 dependent wage only) then again it all adds up.  However I am really pleased that we got anywhere near the budget and that I think, is the home raised meat, fruit and veg earning its keep.  So if we do even more this year, we should be able to meet the new budget.


2018's grocery cash budget is £2650 which works out at ~£220 a month.  However I expect to spend more in February-April before we reap rewards of this growing season and then at the end of the year as things tail off.  In the height of summer, I hope to have this down to a minimal amount.  Throughout January we are eating from the freezer for the teas, which I will need to top up with fresh veg etc but for the main expensive part (meat?) will be from the freezer.


The grocery budget also includes household items which I think I said - so shampoo, laundry liquid, bleach, toothpaste etc.


Vouchers and freebies will not come out of the budget - let's call that luck.


Now remember, I have 2 young kids who have packed lunches every day and who I won't see go short for things they like (they aren't demanding, this is my decision).  So sometimes, there's things on the list that are not necessities, but if they fancy having their friends round and eating junk a few times then that's fine with me.  To be fair, they very rarely ask to do this, but I'm just making my point.  I also have a huge husband who eats almost as much as my horse!  Ste and I are taking lunches to work, usually soup, salad or left overs.


I am updating my standard shopping list for each week with items that go into the packed lunches including fruit, wrap/bread/croissant and filling, yoghurts, a treat, pepperoni or equivalent, a drink, cheese (if they feel like it).  This may be the actual item, or the ingredients to make them (like the bread and treat). 


Once January is through and we've made a dent in the freezer, I will then look at batch cooking again and doubling up on what I am cooking to make one for the freezer.


I plan on giving weekly updates with grocery/eating out spends.


As is customary on long text posts, here's a cute photo :)

Onion racks & reduced grocery budget!

It’s a new pay month for us (July’s pay paying for August’s food etc).  I’ve reduced our grocery budget for the month to £250.  That covers the next 4.5 weeks.  I’ve done this as at the moment we’re getting as much food for free as we will this year, so I’m making sure I make the most of it.  Let’s see if I can make it work. 

Therefore in this week’s delivery I’ve ordered milk, cream and cheese, but no veg other than kohl rabi to try.  We’ve never had it nor cooked with it and it’s supposed to be easy to grow and something I can plant now.  That’s arriving Wednesday as usual so more to follow.
This weekend we had my parents over for a BBQ on Saturday afternoon.  It was lovely, the weather was just right for us all.  They helped with some jobs around the place before settling down to homecooked food.  We managed to get quite a lot of weeding done in the veg garden with them and I very much appreciate their help.  The menu I did was on this week’s menu plan and it went down really well.  Homemade coleslaw is amazing, I will never buy shop made again!!  Here’s a picture of the redcurrant and red onion relish I made.  First time making relish too and I’m mightily impressed with how easy it is.

Full of goodness and has a whopping great kick (which you can tone down next time!)

The kids were invited to the neighbours to play with their kids giving Steven and I some time to potter and do jobs.  We started with topping the field (taking the nettles and docks down) and to do this we used the unconventional method of the ride on lawnmower that is more suited to Wimbledon style lawns!  It rose to the occasion marvellously and we now have a topped field which is ready to tidy up and rest for a few weeks before the horses go back on it.  He was a brave man going through those nettles in shorts!

 

Jack is loving life!

A troublesome set of nettles

Took care of them!

As you can see, Jack had a lovely time just playing in the field and been had a go at driving the lawnmower (or tractor as he refers to it).  He took to it with surprising ease and no doubt will be doing it himself in years to come.

Onions ready for rain to wash them off before being stored indoors.

Steven also made some onion racks/holders for the ones he planted not long after we moved in.  These are outside to hang them on whilst they wash off and dry out for a day or two.  Then they will be transferred to the barn for plaiting and storage.  I’m really pleased with them, they’re actually huge but mild.

I also made some soup with tortellini and used up more broad beans and peas, this time including purple podded peas too.  Don’t they look so pretty?  They almost remind me of a caterpillar in their perfect pod.  I’ll be growing more of these in 2017.





Perfectly formed

Gorgeous colour



The puppies enjoying their breakfast together followed by a play on the lawn.  I call them puppies but they’re just turned 1 now so moving on rapidly!!  Rodney is the rougher haired and Buster the tan smooth hair.  Gorgeous boys.  

Buster (bottom) and Rodney (top)


Buster

We also discovered we have a grape vine.  How I didn’t know is beyond me.  I guess I don’t come to this end of the garden very often.  The grapes are miniscule so whether we’ll get a crop I don’t know, but something to look in to all the same.

Grape vine

I found a wild apple tree which looks as fit and healthy as they come, so I’ve added that to the list of items I plan to use up once they’re ready.  It’s right opposite a bramble (blackberry) bush, so it’s almost nature shouting at me to make bramble and apple pie!  An Autumnal joy.  I think that’s enough of my ramblings for today.  PS what happened to the beginning of the week?

Menu Plan 3

Seen as though I am listing out everything we’ve grown from scratch on tomorrow's blog, today I thought I would post the menu plan for Wednesday to Tuesday.  It’s looking like this:

Wednesday - Spinach and feta stuffed chicken with jacket potato, broad bean mint and barley salad

Thursday - Chorizo & broad bean risotto as didn’t have last week

Friday - Hearty Pasta Soup with homemade crusty bread followed by broad bean and herb potato cakes with salad if any space left!

Saturday - Lunch - Broad bean and pea soup.

Afternoon - BBQ @ ours for family.  Thoughts are:

Sausages with homemade redcurrant relish.

Marinated chicken pieces with homemade coleslaw.

Roasted pepper and chorizo orzo salad

New potatoes and sundried tomato salad.

Salad using radishes and tomatoes.

Homemade lemonade.

Homemade sun dried tomato bread.

Mam’s bringing the desert and the wine!

Sunday - Cauliflower soup with left overs from BBQ.

To do:  Make loaf of bread for Mon/Tues, make quiche/flapjacks/cake & soup.

Monday – Ham & Broad bean quiche with salad and new potatoes

Tuesday – Omelette or jacket potato (kids eat out on Tues)

Time to print this off and stick it on the fridge!

I do have the usual Friday delivery coming from Tesco as I had no milk with not having a veg box delivery so I needed that plus the other usual items including ingredients to make the above.  The Friday delivery is working out great.  The time is perfect (in between 4 and 5), so I’ve just got home, get the shopping away before I start thinking about any other jobs, then plenty of time to make tea and enjoy the evening.  This is the last delivery of the month as it is a new budget from Monday. 

Looking forward to the weekend

This weekend is going to be a busy one, so tonight I am going to relax with the family after spending some time grooming my horse.  I don’t get to spend a long time with her since we’ve moved in, which sounds silly now she is at home.  My plan is to do some housework whilst waiting for the shopping to arrive, sometime between 4 & 5pm.  I need to get the washing on, dry a load on the Aga and sweep the kitchen, utility and boot room floors.  Tea will be simple for the kids, they get to pick what they want on a Friday.  They never want anything difficult so this isn’t a problem.  It’ll most likely be fish fingers for Jack and beans on toast with cheese grated over it for Grace.  I have Thai Green curry to make for Steven and I.  This will be out of a packet that you throw other ingredients in with and I’m not ashamed! J

Then once we’ve had tea, I’ll put the ponies in the field for the night and spend an hour with Lydia (my horse) and I might even take a glass of wine in there!  Once all the animal feeders are topped up and their waters checked, we can think about relaxing in front of the TV.  I’ll get a shower first as tomorrow morning we’re heading out to Thirsk Farmers Market Auction and I won’t have time to wash my hair before we go and it’s in dire need.  I can nip back outside at 10pm and lock up in my PJ’s and just hope nothing’s happened meaning that I need to get dirty.  If we get peckish later on I have a fried cauliflower recipe to try.

We plan on leaving around 7.30am tomorrow however before this I need to nip out and get some Elderflower heads from the bridle path outside the house.  We’ve found a tree that we pass daily so hopefully I can take a nice harvest from that.  According to research you need to pick the flowers before noon and when they’re not we.  Then I can get that started and hopefully we will be testing Elderflower cordial on Sunday with our Sunday roast.  I’ve read it’s good for hayfever and fever in general, so that will be interesting to see as it seems a bad year for hay fever.

The auctions we’re going to are new to us and I have no idea what to expect though I hope to come home with something new and untried before.  Maybe just hatching eggs rather than livestock at present though!  Then back home for the Saturday bacon and egg bun ritual we seem to have developed and on to do some cooking and baking for the coming week.  Ideally I really need to organise the pantry at some point, but we shall see.  Saturday evening we’re out at a friend’s house as she is throwing a fund raising party for Macmillan (summer lights) so we are heading along to support her in that and enjoy a drink or 2.

Sunday my friend and I are going on an extended hack out.  This means going onto roads, only for a short period, but it gives us the chance to enjoy hacking out further and longer.  We will be setting off at 8am to keep the risk of traffic down.  The road isn’t a busy one, but it’s one that boy racers like to see how fast they can drive along on occasion.  Hopefully they will all be in bed when we go on our little adventure.

Then Sunday afternoon will be a Sunday dinner using as much veg as we can from our veg plot and lots of jobs that need doing around the farm.  We’ve had nothing but rain for a few days, so here’s hoping we have a break from it for the weekend to give us time to do things.  It’s due from 1pm tomorrow afternoon for a few hours but supposedly the rest of the weekend will be dry.

In grocery news (how un-thrilling you may think, but it’s becoming a big deal in this household!) I have found a veg box scheme supplier who are delivering to us on Wednesday.  Now if their produce is nice and fresh, it provides an excellent top up to what we have produced, means we can support local businesses and focuses the mind on using those items that week in the menu plan.  It also, importantly, means we can eat seasonally which is a big deal for me and hopefully in time Steven and the kids.  The sell milk from a local dairy so we are trying that along with some of their raw milk which I hope we like. 

In between that I have Tesco delivering the items that they don’t sell, to keep up in stock and by doing this is focusses the mind on sticking to our already low budget, only buying what we need and reducing waste.  All things I need to practice at and really want to achieve.

Finally, as I’ve rambled on long enough, I have started to create lists and checklists meaning we all know what’s to do that day in the house.  The kids have to pick 2 a day to do and Steven and I can share the remaining jobs between us.  One of the checklists is for the meal plan to be written up for the coming week so that’s on me to do.  I’m on it!

Have a lovely weekend everyone.  I’m pleased to be back blogging as normal as I hate it when I am disrupted!  Inevitable at times.  Hopefully I will be back with picture to report on the auctions and Sunday’s cooking session.  On Monday we’re due our next batch of chicks which will hopefully become table birds for the most part.  If not, layers are fine too!  All large fowl so should hopefully be a good size.

The big shop

Thank you for the well wishes. Im feeling a bit better than I did.
Tesco have delivered my big shop. It's huge as per pics. These items should last us 2 weeks and some 4 weeks. Sadly,  I'm super excited about this challenge!
In truly sad news, we lost a chick today. She was the last one hatched and was struggling for over 24 hours so my husband, Steven, did the right thing by her. We are down to 8 chicks and our fingers are all crossed that they remain fit and healthy.
Also we have swapped a geese for another one. The lady we got them off was brilliant about it. We think we had 2 boys and a girl and now we hope we have girls and a boy!
Weekend plans are to gather lots of kindling, make lots of lovely food for family as per menu plan, catch up on boring jobs and get lots of seeds planted. Bliss!

1 week and 2 sleeps!

Time is flying round now and thankful we are for that too!  I normally hate wishing my life away but Friday 15^th January cannot come quick enough!

I have made a couple of little splurges cash wise.  We are lucky enough (some would not agree it was lucky!) to have inherited an Aga with the farmhouse.  It is a 2 oven, special edition one which I posted about here.  Therefore in anticipation of this, I have treat myself to an Aga gauntlet and some bake-o-glide.  The research I have done shows that both of these items are must have, lifelong companions when you have an Aga. 

Also my husband has bought an Aga toaster for the kitchen which is like a wire tennis racket that the toast goes inside and you ‘grill’ it on the hot plates.  According to Agaliving, there is no cooked breakfast or toast quite like an Aga one.  I shall keep you posted on whther or not I agree!

 

This week we have been moving items from my vacant Uncle’s house where we are currently staying, to my parents’ house.  We are going to make the final move from there as it makes more sense to have everything in one place.  They have kindly let us store lots and lots of things at their house whilst we’ve been waiting. 

The van is booked for moving day and we’re waiting to hear where we will collect the keys from.  No doubt we will be sat ready to go from 9am and the reality is it will be nearer 3pm before we get the keys!

I’ve also been in touch with the company who are delivering our stables and they are on track for delivery the Tuesday after we move in, as is the bedding for the horses.  The hay and straw has been requested for delivery but I am waiting to hear back from the farmer to see if he can deliver that week.  Once we move in and get to know the neighbours, we intend to see if there is a supplier from the immediate area but for now I have found someone who is recommended but slightly out of the area.

My brain is full of ideas that I can’t wait to put in to practice.  One idea that I’ve tried with intermittent success is menu planning, which I am in the process of doing.  I need to stock our new pantry up, over time, and this will begin with the first food shop.  I am getting it delivered to help myself but weekly shops after the initial one, will be done at Aldi.  All menu plans and shopping, including prices will be recorded. 

For the remainder of the ideas, I hope we don’t fall in to the trap of trying too much at once, but we’re just so excited!

Supermarket thoughts

During this time of not actually having a home to call our own, it's got me thinking about where to shop once we move.  Of course the whole point about moving is so we can start to live a more thoughtful, self sufficient and healthier lifestyle.  It will take us a while to get that established and in the mean time I will be reliant on the shops as per the majority of the population.

I've shopped at Aldi almost exclusively for the last 5+ years and I love it.  I don't love it in the sense that I rave about it, but I love it in the sense that I know where I stand.  It had the basic foods every week that we use and doesn't flash 20 of the same food in my face to make me choose.  I can be in and out in 20 minutes with a weekly shop in toe.  However I've often wondered if I would like to try Tesco and co, but on those few occasions that I have ventured in there, it's left me feeling stressed and skint!  2 's' that I don't like putting together.

However yesterday I nipped in to Sainsbury's to pick some flowers up for my Mum on my way to hers as it was her birthday and I took the opportunity to be very naughty and pick something easy up for tea.  The shop was well laid out and didn't leave me feeling seriously stressed. 

Weighing everything up, I will continue to shop at Aldi but every couple of months I might have a wander around Sainsbury's if I have the time.

The shopping budget per month on the farmhouse (starting end Jan) will be £300 per month, regardless of how many weeks.

A frosty start to March

There was a coating of frost everywhere this morning, with some local reports of snow but I didn't see any.  Now I do love snow at Christmas time but once January and February are done, I'm looking forward to Spring.  New shoot, new grass and a healthier glow.

Today my son is off school poorly so I'm working from home in between looking after him.  We are going to have the home made bread rolls for lunch which I must say look fabulous.  The test will be in the taste later today so I shall report back.  For now this is what they looked like when being made then after baking.

Not bad for a first attempt?

The cookies are going a bit too quickly so I've stashed them away - if they are not on display then they should last the expected 3 days.  Flapjacks are the same too.

Shopping came to £35 on Saturday from Aldi and that should last us for the week.  Tonight is chicken and pasta and tomorrow chicken in the slow cooker.  I have a budget of £150 for the month which allows me to make overpayments to the loan and keep the date planned to make the last payment.

I have decided to do a huge Spring clean when I am off work over Easter.  This is going to be a mini project and will be update regularly on the blog.  There are two reasons for this Spring clean, one because it's desperately needed as the house is grubby from the winter and two to de-clutter in preparation for the big move.  There will be another round of de-cluttering too but this is the big push.  So plans are a foot for the great spring clean.

GH has been partaking in a project at the bottom of the garden too, for the same reason of being ready to sell.  We have chickens and their shed has seen better days so we are getting rid of it and moving them into the other shed we have.  We'll have a little move around and get it looking better for when the time comes.  We need to turf and things so I shall post before and after shots in the coming days/weeks.

Happy Monday :)