January 2012 - Will any of us deliver before Father Christmas? The race is on!

[MakesXmasCakesWhenStressed]

Hope you don't mind the slight tweaking of the thread title :) I was feeling creative! Not that it matters, at this rate it won't last more than a week...!

I'm veggie and not v experienced with freezer meals! Roast veggie lasagne works well

Yey for cakes's MA increase!

I need this work day to end now - am super zzzzzz and it's raining but I forgot my umbrella so it will be a soggy walk home

OK, well pasta bake is easy, pies are good - they all use leftover chicken in my world!
Chilli can be made with chunks of meat instead of mince and stews are great in winter, although they are stodgy...

Curries will be your winner there - I have several easy recipes if you want them?

I have a veggie curry recipe... :) Made with lentils and chickpeas... though I always add chicken too - too much of a carnivore!

Our freezer is full of curries; chicken, lamb and various dahls. i might make some shepherd pies and fish pies as well. Tagine type dishes work well too.

Ooh I have some lentil curry recipes, I'd not thought of freezing them. Good plan! I like tagine too, I'll explore that option as well.

Shepherdess pie freezes ok and yum , veggie curry! We haven't done much cooking yet as all our extra cooking time/energy goes on providing SIL with meals to help with her eating disorder issues. Have told DH that this may have to stop soon, but I'd like SIL to suggest that on her own if possible.

Oh stop talking about food! I'm stuck at work and won't be able to eat until I get back from yoga at 9.30pm!!!!

What's shepherdess pie???

Not good that it's going to be so long before you eat ghostie - think I'd go all wibbly if I tried that.

And are you all going to hate me if I tell you that my mum is doing a whole load of things for our freezer? I keep meaning to make stuff for it, but I can barely muster the energy to do the day to day meals, never mind bonus meals.

Oh well, luckily DH is an excellent cook, he just doesn;t like doing it, so hopefully he and I can figure something out :)

My freezer is bursting at the seams now that I have the turkey and Christmas desserts are in there. I'm thinking of asking the neighbours if they have any room. So far I have currys Chilli spag bol and Mexican chicken ready. Mind you the turkey will be coming out on Thursday night.

You're all so organised! My freezer currently has a box of fish fingers and some small pots of food for DD (who will turn her nose up at them, so I might as well eat them, I guess!) Ah well, they've just opened a Tesco at the end of the road - they'll have to provide my sustenance.

oiesha talking of food cooking in unconventional places, our music teacher at school always used to do her salmon in the dishwasher! Always tasted good too - not a hint of Finish about it.

15 pages in 5 days...

fryn Knowing what I know about bacterial growth, especially poisoning bacteria, the whole salmon in the dishwasher thing makes me feel very uneasy...but yes, I have heard of this before! Got a customer that swears by it...

Thanks for the soap flakes intel fish and for the recipe. It turns out DH and BIL both had really bad nappy rash - probably because then they insisted you pre-soaked terri nappies in steraliser. MIL had to give up with terri nappies on BIL because he got blisters...yet drs insisted she had to soak. Odd.

I don't have any freezer meals left, weve eaten them all to make room for Christmas food, but as its only going to be me dd and dh here on Christmas day and i will cook enough for a football team (I grew up cooking christmas dinner with my mum for at least 14 and find it really difficult to do any less and i love all the diffrent foods ) I'm planning on making some turkey stew, gammon casterole, parsnip and carrott soup, cottage pie, chicken and bacon hot pot and a couple of pizzas with the left overs (and a few other ingredients but not many!) I will also freeze some roast potatos, cheesy mash, roasted carrots and parsnips (eaten instead of chips in our house). I'll also chop extra veg (eg carrots, onions, pepers) and freeze that so I can throw it in the slow cooker with some meat. But I can't do any of it till after Christmas as there is no room in the freezer!

My freezer is too full to make meals for after baby is here. I'm going to use my slow cooker a lot. Can bung everything in when I get a spare ten minutes then that's that. A tip from the HV was to make up lunch in advance (or get DH to do it when he does his for work). You can guarantee baby will want changing/feeding/to scream just as you are about to make something to eat. The amount of cold cups of tea you go through is unbelievable, in fact I may invest in a thermos cup. Lots of snacks like cereal bars and bananas are handy to have in too.

Humm, how many bouts of hiccpus are too many hiccups? If there is such a thing. Abi's already on bout no. 5 today.

i have discovered cooking a joint of Ham (but any meat would do) slicing into portions and freezing. Ham was 50% off in tesco, and i cooked in nigellas cola recipe. It takes minutes to reheat in microwave or oven, slap an egg on and serve with whatever you like. Feels like a proper homemade dinner without the hassle and makes a change from mince.......

What's the nigella cola recipe? I'm doing ham for Xmas dinner for the 3 of us and I'm stuck with how to do it.

Ooooh girls...I'm so not sure whats going on. I have just been sick again, only just finished my dinner about 5 minutes previously also pooed copiously this afternoon-can labour start with sickness?

I am having very regular spasms coming from in the middle of my back which them emanate round the sides. Every 10 minutes. They don't feel nothing like the contractions I had once I was induced but bump is tight while they happen. It's quite gentle at mo.

Baby is still for the most part but rolling a little toward top of bump.
DH is putting dd to bed now so we can sit quiet for a bit and get a better idea of what the fuck.

Oh gooodness-could this be it-I hope so (kind of) but i also secretly hope that it is isn't and I will look a fool for posting this tmrw.

Shit should i call triage-they will want me in which will be upheaval all round? If this is labour I don't actually want to go in until much closer to the end because i'm vbac they will want me in straight away.

I can't bloody tell, which is probably a sign it isn't the real thing.

fish ooohhhh indeed! I read somewhere that the 'pooing' and even being sick can be a sign of things starting to move....keep us posted! Gosh, I must pack my bag, so many of you talking about movements, HBs...exciting stuff!!!

Will keep an eye on the thread for the rest of the night

Hugssssss

Sickness and poops can be signs of early labour BUT if you have a tummy bug and have let yourself get dehydrated, it could cause false labour. Can you give your midwife a ring?

I dunno could just be a bloody tummy bug-theres enough of it about-but i don't feel ill, tired yes but not shivery or fevery or anything like that. I just cant keep food down.

Just had another spasm thats 5 in a row now approx 10-12 minutes apart

I'd be ringing them. It could just be the stomach upset causing mild contractions. OR it could be the real thing...
From what I've been told, nausea and sickness is more than a possibility with labor...
FXfor you.

fish that sounds promising. My labour with DD started with a massive clear out and I completely lost my appetite. I also lost more of my plug and it was more bloody. Could we have our first baby today?

I think you're 37wks now fish I always imagine you being the week before me at some point.
I'm trying not to get too excited here!

i'm 36+5 so 2 days off full term.

OOOH!!!!

My SIL still wasn't allowed a water birth at this point, she HAD to be 37+ but EEEEK!!!!

You're gonna have to ring them before we all give birth in sympathy!!!

Milly - I have a nice recipe where you coat the ham in mustard and demerara sugar and bake it - it makes a delicious spicy sweet crust It's what we're having on Christmas Eve :)

The Nigella thing is boiling the whole thing in coca cola

Fish - I'd say stay at home in the warm until you're sure what's going on. Stress and going out in the cold could stall or even stop labour in the early stages, so just wait a while and see what's what. Last thing you want is a wasted journey when you're feeling queasy. Good luck though and keep us updated! You could always start a live 'is this labour' thread - they seem popular atm! :D