Super Savvy Savers Skid towards September Saving Spree

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Thanks! It's going quite well so far. My problem is that in the heat of the moment I get frazzled and can only think of a fried egg or something-with-corned-beef, both of which are fine, but not 21 times a week.

However, thinking about it here calmly I can also make:

Salmon fish cakes
chicken leg
chicken breast with mayonnaise
roast beef slices
sliced ham
sausages
corned beef mash (which is corned beef mashed up with onion and potato)
Boiled egg
steak
tuna mayonnaise
potato salad (which is potato mixed with mayonnaise and boiled egg)

With that list to hand I can at least make sure that I order the bits from tesco, so I have some options, and I can also tell when I am running out of food and need to do an order.

Better than finding I only have eggs and corned beef in the fridge.

Gosh, this meal planning is like an epiphany isn't it? If I carry on with this then I'll actually know what to buy in the supermarket instead of having to guess. How did I survive before?

How's about a homemade fish pie ipsos? Your list made me feel so peckish.

Keep calm and carry on making lists

Oh I soooo know what you mean about the panic stricken fridge raiding!

Thanks collie. Will do! I hadn't thought about pie things. I suppose that's just food with mashed potato on top isn't it?

I'm perilously close to spending money on amazon to alleviate stress here, but I wrote a blog post about an obscure computer issue instead and nearly 50 people clicked on it, which felt pretty good. Blog posts are so great for that even if nobody ever actually reads them.

Yeah that's right! Really simple and yet so tasty.

Here we are! There's a lot of eating in a week isn't there? No wonder our grocery shopping costs so much.

Whats jelly egg? do you tend to eat two meals a day?

That does sound like a lot of food!

A typical day for us is more like;

breakfast - toast or porridge
snack - banana
lunch soup or sandwich or wrap with yogurt, crisps and fruit
snack biscuit or piece of cake
dinner - cooked meal of some description!

dd will quite often have a yogurt or toast before bed of still hungry.

Although if you are wheat free am guessing you have to fill up much more on protein? Which is expensive.

ipos I was frantic about ds going back to school. We made lots of progress last year (in Ireland so classes are different, but it was his 3rd year in primary) and it was the first year I felt like he was safe at school. So, new teacher and having been out of routine for the summer, I was so worried. But, he slot right back in. I have a meeting with his teacher on Monday, just to explain his particular needs and ask about the workload so I can support him at home.
I found what worked for my ds, to help ease the stress, is get the homework done asap when he gets in. There was no way he would do it if he had time to relax first. I know it seems natural to give them time to adjust, but it didn't work for him. But once homework was done, I would fuss over him, just a little bit, things like a warm drink if it was cold, or popping a pillow behind him. It definitely helped calm him and help him unwind.
I think you are so right to have a routine for him. It helps so much. Hope I don't come across as a know it all, but after 2 years of being worked sick about him at school, I felt we found our feet last year! And meal planning is amazing, especially with any dietary restrictions! I'm doing this week's too. When does your ds go back to school?

ipsos I love looking at other people's meal plans! Sounds great, hope it works for you! Will post mine when I've done it!

fuzzpig - you put it beautifully. I spend my life in panic stricken fridge raiding. I think the idea of making lists of options for cooking is a good one.

I've made three lists:

1. protein options

2. salt options to add to a meal that is otherwise entirely made of low salt things (chorizo, potato waffles, coleslaw, mayonnaise).I find these easier than adding actual salt as I always get the amount wrong with actual salt, whereas these are easy to judge.

3. Carbohydrate options.

4. vegetable options.

Having said that, I think an actual meal plan may be good so that I definitely work round the list rather than defaulting to the three current favourites until they become annoying.

Bloody phone just lost my post yet again! Really need a new one.
NSD here, DH and I have both had a sickness bug. Really disappointed as I had a lovely shopping day planned with my mum but she ended up looking after DD all day while we slept/took it in turns to use the bathroom.
Will catch up on the thread now.

Pink thanks so much, that's actually really helpful. I will try that too. I hadn't thought of doing homework right after school. ds always gets really cheesed off about homework but maybe right after school would be good.

I know what you mean about him feeling safe in school. I know ds feels a lot of disorientation and anxiety, but the school are not interested. When I tell them, they imply heavily that he ought to man-up, which is not at all helpful in an anxious child.

I think the other thing I need to do it become super-organised myself so the cooking is done before he gets home, as much as possible and I am available for him and not flapping around like a wet hen. There was a lot of wet hen stuff this year especially getting out in the morning and while cooking and I don't think it is helpful.

The special diet for him is actually helpful as it means I've been able to insist on taking him home at lunchtime. I realised how much it helps when we were coming back after lunch and watching through the fence as the lunchtime supervisor roared at tiny children for touching the soil. ds recoiled at it and I was so glad he was on my side of the fence until the bell went.

Sorry to hear that Pointless. Not a fun day then. Hope it gets better.

Girlie yes some of these would just be tiny amounts. ds would have one tiny meal a day but still proper food as the cereal and milk option and the sandwich option are out for us. I did try giving him just porridge the other day but he didn't last more than half an hour before he needed something more solid.

Jelly egg is a fried egg.

Thanks. I'm starting to feel better now, just seems like a massive waste of a precious Saturday.

Oh no pointless hope it's easing off now sick bugs are the worst, last time I had one I ended up in HDU for a week I wanted to die.

Girlie - just thinking about it, I suppose ds could have a slice of cheese and some oat cakes as a small meal if he didn't want a lot. I do sometimes give him things like that, but then I always offer more protein as cheese is never quite enough. Would you really do one small meal every day then? That would certainly be easier.

ipsos just saw that you have a poorly tummy too - hope you are ok.
All this talk of Xmas is making me feel highly disorganised. I actually enjoy Xmas shopping in December with all the lights and music and at least, for once, I have been saving up all year.

Thanks pointless. Glad to hear that you're on the mend.

Ipsos lunch for me is always something lighter or pack lunchy iykwim. Will cook in the evening when I get in from work, now my hours are going up (from tomos - eek) will probably need to get a bit more organised thinking about it as well!

Ive never heard of fried egg being called jelly egg will remember that! Dd will only eat scrambled egg, annoying as would like her to eat things like omelette and boiled egg and soldiers.

Will your son eat much fruit? Sorry being nosy but am always interested in what other people eat!

Hope you don't mind me saying but your dss' school sounds a bit erm unhelpful? If he is really struggling there and the school is not helping is there an option to move him?

ipsos with the homework, it was like he was still in the "school" frame of mind so was easier to just dive straight in. Would tell him just get the head down and get through it and he would have the whole afternoon to do whatever he wanted, he could forget all about it, instead of me interrupting him later. It really appealed to him. He gets anxious too, so can definitely empathise with trying to keep things as stress free as possible. I'm appalled that the attitude has been for him to man up. He's so little. At least he has some time with you during the day.

pointless hope you feel better quickly!

Not too spendy today, €5 for bus trip to town. The boys absolutely loved it. €10 in cafe in town. Going to cut this out now the summer is over, I'm spending a fortune in cafes. €1.50 on the newspaper for the €10 lidl voucher that I can use with my tesco delivery and €3 on milk.

Hi girlie - yes I really hadn't though of light meals. ds is off wheat and was off dairy, and he can't have anything with added vitamins including things like cornflakes. He's also almost entirely off sucrose and chocolate. Because of the restrictions, I've got into a habit of trying to shove square, highly nutritious, meals into him at every opportunity. I think I may be going overboard. I'm going to give some serious thought to a few light options just as you suggest.

I totally agree about the school. Unfortunately it seems to be the good one around here. It has a reputation for being gentle in the local area. I've gone over and over it in my head and I can't think of a better option than to stay there just now. At least I've figured out how to get him home for lunch now, though the school insist that his life will be left in tatters as a consequence. I think they maybe just have never seen a child go home for lunch, or else they'd know that it's fine. I plan to develop a very thick skin as soon as possible.

Hi Pink that homework scheme sounds great. I'll give it a go.

I agree that the school's attitude is very negative. I wish I could move there are so many constraints keeping us here. I've considered trying an independent school as we only have one dc so could almost sort of stretch to it, but I'm not sure whether that is an over-reaction. My neighbour is very cheesed off as she considered moving her kid this year then didn't and regretted it when the head and deputy head both left at the same time.

Thanks so much to all of you for listening to my wittering today. It's such a huge help to be able to mull over ideas with helpful listening ears like this.