Changing The Way We 'Do' Food!

I have always shopped weekly with a meal plan sketched out and a shopping list - and I shop on a fairly contained budget and we eat well! Over the years my cooking has changed and improved (I think) from mainly using processed foods when Dewi and I had our first flat, to mainly cooking from scratch now with fresh and healthy ingredients. The exception to this is when I am ill or life goes crazy and then I buy a few processed things like breaded fish, frozen pizza, pre-made fresh pasta bags etc and make use of them until I feel better again!! I have gradually evolved from eating meat every day to eating it about three days out of the week. This has happened as I have discovered delicious meals to make from lentils, beans, rice and my current favourite ingredient...... pearl barley!!

Shopping weekly has become a tiresome chore so I am attempting to change our main shop to monthly and eventually quarterly, with a weekly shop for fresh veg and fruit as well as dairy products. Pictured here is my first such order - this should be three months worth of supplies of this part of my shopping but as this is my first order I'm sure that I will tweak the quantities and types of foods as we go! This was from the company Suma Wholefoods and consisted of rice, beans, lentils, tinned tomatoes, pearl barley, pumpkin seeds, nuts, porridge oats (10kg of!!), brown rice, whole wheat pasta (fusilli, spaghetti, shells and lasagna sheets), apple juice concentrate (for the girls), ginger cordial (for me!), flour, sugar......erm, oh yes, tomato paste! Dewi's face was a picture when it arrived but he will see the sense of it I'm sure!! I also did a months shop of things like cereal, bread, the meat that we will eat, mayonnaise, and some frozen veg. I still have some work to do to find sources for the part-bake rolls that Dewi loves to take to work with him. I think that will have to wait until we can have a chest freezer though as buying in bulk requires serious storage capacity!!

Before I did any of the shopping I wrote a list of a month's meals by day, then it was easy to write a shopping list for the weekly veg and dairy shop. I simply scanned down the list and jotted the ingredients for that week or ten days. I mainly planned main meals but also thought about what yummy hearty soups I would make for lunch, and what baking we might do for snacks. I dabbled with the idea of making each night of the week a certain 'food' night such as Monday - pasta, Tuesday - sausage, Wednesday - beans etc. It helped me focus and get meals down as there were so many recipes in my head (I surprised myself with how many I knew actually - way too many for a month!!). I think that this will change over time as well as we find out what we like to eat when and what I have time to cook on which day!

Now, this is a work in progress as I have strayed from the list already - chips for tea tonight anyone??!! But I am pleased that I have just jumped in because in the past I have had a tendency to over think and over plan and then never actually get anything done! It was hard to fit in the time to plan and order and organise this but I am convinced that it will be good for us (and me as main chef and shopper!!). I am keeping receipts and lists, and keeping notes on what is working and what isn't - I will update some time with how it's going and any yummy recipes I find!



Am I Making Myself Too Busy?

I am writing this with one hand, Idris is feeding and I have a porridge spoon in the other hand....... erm, yes, quite probably I am 'doing too much'. Or more accurately I am trying to, and failing, then feeling bad for not doing those things!!

Two friends, and my husband have suggested that I might be trying to do this in the last week, and I think my mum permanently thinks that I try to take too much on!!

The thing is, that I have so many great ideas..... life just gets in the way of doing them all! So some I am pushing on with, regardless, and some I am shelving!

I have another sore throat and Idris is snuffly and has gone back to feeding very regularly in the night, so I have less sleep which I find hard! He also has thrush (again) which I haven't managed to clear up since I had to have strong antibiotics for a breast abscess when he was 2 weeks old. It is really frustrating me and must be horrible for my sweet boy. I am back to the doctors this afternoon with a stroppy attitude and a leaflet from the BFN which will hopefully get me listened to this time and get it treated effectively!!

We are also in the midst of our 'seasonal shift' which for us, means that the girls shift to spending less time in the garden playing, and more time indoors. It takes them time to adjust and we have bickering and grumps whilst it happens. It is loud and wearing and whilst I know I need to be more pro-active in getting them outdoors and busy, I don't have the energy....... energy which is sapped even more by the very loud and grumpy behaviours..... hmmmmm...... spot the vicious cycle anyone??!! I know it will all pass but I'm not enjoying it!!

I am only writing this because Dewi has taken the girls out for breakfast and peace reigns supreme! Time to sign off and go prioritise my to-do list now!

Simplicity Parenting Part One

 I have read many parenting books over the last six years. I use them as a tool every so often to re-ground myself when I feel that I am losing or have already lost my way a little (or a lot) with my parenting. I rarely read them all the way through, just until I find my way through whatever is happening within our family! That is until recently when I started to read a book that resonates with my long-held values about being a mother. I am reading 'Simplicity Parenting' by Kim John Payne and it just hit me between the eyes! I don't think that I will read any of the others again now that I have found this one!

The first thing that this book jogged my thoughts about was the amount of toys that are available to the girls. Until recently they didn't have toys in their room, I preferred that they played downstairs and that their rooms were restful and simple and just for sleeping. They do now play upstairs and it works as they began to need their own space sometimes for a quiet play and that is hard to facilitate with one downstairs room for all of us and having the girls home all day. It had got out of hand though and there were so many things that the girls couldn't keep them tidy and weren't really playing with them properly as they were pretty mixed up. I had a huge clear-out and took lots to the charity shop, some was thrown out and some put by in the garage to swap when a refresher is needed!

The girls haven't noticed that anything has gone, they noticed the space, the tidiness and the toys that remained. Each has a space all of their own so easy to find and easy to put back. It re-invigorated their play and removed the stress of getting them to tidy up! They can find all of their favourite things and having less hasn't dented their amazing imaginations one iota - it has given them space to fly instead of stifling them.

I always did believe that open-ended toys were best and that less was more, just somewhere along the way I allowed more and more to creep in. Why? Partly due to being a childminder and feeling pressure to have 'resources' to satisfy Ofsted, and partly due to me needing 'things' to occupy the girls with sometimes whilst life was happening! I am hoping when I'm back to childminding in January that I can keep hold of the streamlined version of resources and build the level of creative play in other children that my girls have!

Time to digest the next part of the book!