November 2012 - Babies going trick or treating

[StuntNun]

Previous thread: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/postnatal_clubs/1870430-November-2012-Babies-are-getting-busy-busy-busy

Just did a huge post sharing all my frugal tips and it sodding got lost. Fuck it!!!

YW could you please message me details of where to get those hideous puds? ;-)

Dinner tonight will be lentil and sausage casserole. It's already in the slow cooker and smells luffly.

I am exceptionally chuffed with myself. I normally wrap, but it was pissing down this morning and i didn't fancy tying a wriggly boy on while we were both wearing slippery waterproofs. So i worked out how to get him on my back in dp's r+r and off we went the 2 mile walk to play group :o i shall reward myself with tonight and undo all my good work. Can't remember if i mentioned I've lost the last 12lb and am back to pre-pregnancy weight. Another stone and I'll be at my target!

Please talk to me about thrush. He has it both ends. I have cream for both ends, but the bottles - did I dream that you must cold sterilise in Milton? We usually steam sterilise. The teats are due replacing so I will do that after he has been on the treatment for a week. He still has 4 bottles a day. Fucking antibiotics. He did not get this last time but he has already been poorly for two weeks so is on a really low ebb.

PP I have never had any success with lentils and sausages. Always turn out slimy.

VQ I was advised by doc to put everything in Milton when L had thrush badly and just get rid of it once and for all.

When DD1 got thrush in her mouth I was advised to boil sterilise all teats and pacifiers

Cold water sterilise vq. It was circumstantial evidence from the HV but seemed to help shift P's.

We spend a fortune on shopping but we don't make great efforts to do otherwise. Now the PhD is done we will be back on meal planning and budgeting.

Looking at your meals det I wonder if the issue is that every meal requires new stuff if that makes sense? It doesn't look as if any ingredient goes more than one meal. We tend to pick meals which use the same ingredients - feta and mint stuffed peppers for example with the remainder of the feta and mint used in an omelette with peas later in the week

Our cooking tends to go in big batches - we will buy mince reduced for example then make an enormous cottage pie or spag Bol or something then that gets frozen.

When I was weight watching I used to have a calculator which I could use to work out points and such like of items. It saved us a fortune because so many of the items on the ww diet were expensive and actually higher in points than ones I found myself.

vq Yes you cold sterilise with Milton

pidj Well done on the weight loss I did get back to my pre-pregnancy weight but have been a bit naughty the last few weeks so I'm scared to weigh myself now. Must get back into a routine of eating healthily.

yw C has tried that too so the toilet seats have to stay down but he knows how to lift them up now.

Bleaurgh to toilet seat! Ours are always down after years of pussy paranoia. We have a friend whose cat fell in the toilet and drowned so despite ageing pussy being the least likely cat ever to launch herself into the toilet bowl we have kept the seats down for 10 years. P is a fan of going into the loo to fiddle with the seat. She would like a look in but can't yet lift the lid.

And congrats on the weight loss pp! That is good work. I am very impressed with all you ladies losing so many pounds.

Pussy paranoia. I will not say a word.

I agree with Pass about the fact that all your meals need new ingredients Det. Do you cook in bulk? Like the big shep pie Pass mentions? I still batch cook for J so he has a variety of meals I can just pluck from the freezer. Plus value ranges are your friend. I also agree with Pass that buying special stuff for the diet is more expensive. I would ditch the muller lights and spend a few syns on either value plain yog and add fruit, or try the cheaper yogs. When you cook a chicken dish, how many breasts would you use? We make two feed all five. Also have a cheapie meal once a week like a really hearty soup and lovely bread. We have two cheapie quick meals when both of us are in at 6. I also cook enough for two meals and freeze some when I can.

And if you have not got a slow cooker, get one. You could put a boot in it and it would taste fab. Indeed the more boot-like the better IMO. You can also do breakfasts overnight. Look on Pinterest for inspiration.

And thank you for the advice on the bottles. After a google, the main advice is to boil for at least 10 mins, so I shall do both boiling and Milton to be sure I kill it all.

I do batch cooking too, especially things like casseroles, curries and mince dishes. And soups and ratatouille. I spend far too much on food but have cut down quite a lot recently. Need to cut down a little more though.

I don't think they have slow cookers in France. I don't even know what they are called, are they really good? I have only ever seen them mentioned on here and on facebook by Canadian family.

Our costco card has well and truly saved us a fortune! I bulk buy mince/chicken/stores and then make and freeze loads of meals. When I go back to work I will be prepping and freezing ingredients in a freezer bag to stick in my slow cooker during the week. Our downfall is naice meat from the farmshop for weekend roasts

BJCM fits my 500! And got it for a bargain price thanks to price match and an Amazon glitch

YY to sharing ingredients. A big tray of mince here, for example, makes chilli, shep pie, mince for tacos, lasagne and bologneise.

Chicken is split between curries, chicken pie, and then just breasts frozen to make other meals.

etc.

Ha they are called mijoteuses and are the new in thing apparently.

Det I'm with you on this - we spend between £100-130 each week on food/cleaning products/toiletries/baby stuff/cat food.
To be fair our cat food is ridiculously expensive as 1 of my cats refuses to eat anything cheaper - so their food alone costs £15 a week. Then we also have to buy in Ellas kitchen fruit pouches at the mo as its the only thing F will reliably eat when all else fails. He has 1 every day, sometimes one at every meal if its a particularly bad day - at least I know he is getting some fruit and veg then along side the carbs he will eat.
Loving all the food ideas. F's lunches tend to be quite dinner like as he doesn't like much bread - but I found some part bake baguettes which are DF and SF and he had half a one with hummus for lunch today and he loved it! I was so happy as its simple and I didn't have to offer him 10 different foods just to get something into him! he ate some cucumber and some watermelon too - so I felt that was quite a well rounded lunch.

Ooh which part baked are SF and DF?

Interesting food chat. I manage to shop for about £50 a week for me and O including formula. But I have the healthy start vouchers which are £6 a week plus I am only cooking for one adult. For instance, tonight we are having pork chop, potatoes and veg and me and O will share one pork chop. As he gets bigger and is eating more I will cook two per meal and my bills will increase. I also love Costco for bulk buying meat and fish.

I'm quite fussy about giving O sugar. He has never had any 'adult' junk food but I do give him the Organix biscuits a few times a week.

QQ. What's the etiquette for going to baby groups with a snotty baby? Oscar is at the tail end of a cold and seems ok in himself. We are supposed to be going to a group tomorrow which only runs twice a month so I would hate to miss it but would I be making myself very unpopular if he is still snotty? There are babies from 3-12 months at the group.

VQ most part bake baguettes and petit pans are DF and SF. Certainly Tesco and Sainsbos ones are. Asda is tricksy and generally shit for allergies.

Just in from a soggy dog walk. We're doing a min of 3 miles a day and usually 5 but meh it would be nice for it to stop raining. Its pissed down since the day she was allowed to go for walks! So apologies all we appear to have cursed the weather.

MM that freezer bag slow cooker idea is a stroke of genius glad you got a good deal on the BJCM.

Oooo you lot are inspiring me to get organised again. Was already thinking I should go back to being fly now I am not working.

I charity shopped and recycled 15 bin bags of clothes and junk today :)

vq you could try daktarin gold for thrush. I found it worked much better than the ordinary stuff.

Was it stunt with the almost broken cheekbone after a headbutt? Sending sympathies from afar. I have received several from F and may be putting down 2 cracked front teeth to him. One has had root canal and now seems fine but the other is still jn danger from me losing it completely. I am not old enough to lose teeth!! That will be an expensive repair job even with dental cover from DH's work. I think babies should come with health warnings!

Oh and we're going on one of those wooden horse race nights in aid of ds1's preschool. Am v intrigued as to what it involves...

We don't have a slow cooker but quite often put the oven on a timer with a casserole/lasagne etc in a couple of hours in advance. I do love coming back to the smell of tea already made

Flippin Chicken
My food bill is....
Nope I cant write it down
It is cheeper when I go to Lidl or Aldi
But they are both quite a trek from mine
So when its Morrisons, Asda or Tescos....
Nope still not writing it down
It does include DHs Guiness though

We just had our first tear free bath in about 6 weeks! I'm not sure if it was the fact I let him watch me run it, the extra bubbles or my rendition of 3 Blind Mice which quickly descended into Land of Hope and Glory ... But either way, it seems that we may be coming out of the bath fearing stage. Just a shame he vommed his bedtime bottle over himself...