New mummies with wibbly tummies.

[ValiumQueen]

All new mummies welcome. Any exercise and/or weight loss programme acceptable, so long as it is healthy.

Veg is more expensive than processed foods.

It isn't actually. Processed and pre prepared is more expensive.

It is if you buy the packaged ready chopped air freighted stuff but seasonal veg is a matter of pence - much cheaper than processed food (more work thought).

If I spend money on petrol to get to my local market the veg might be cheaper. But I will have used the petrol.

If I buy veg in the supermarket it really isnt cheaper if you think of all the other ingredients needed for a meal.

Eg, cottage pie. Supermarket shit one is 4.95 for a huge tray. Try making that from scratch for the same price.

Processed foods are cheaper than cooking from scratch if you cant batch cook and freeze.

But they're awful for you and not going to help you lose weight? They just get folks addicted to high fat / high salt tastes.

We're limited on batch cooking too as our freezer is piddly so I do sympathise with you - we end up eating the same thing a couple of days in a row or take it to work. I did shepherd's pie last night the veggie components cost me a grand total of £1.60 (onion, tatties, swede, celery stick and two carrots) and bulked it out by using some red lentils, so it only used a teeny bit of mince (half of one of those £4 trays) and that was enough food for two of us for two meals and much lower fat than bulking it out with meat. Most of the meat taste comes from the stock anyhow.

Try recipes without meat, or bulking with pulses and reducing the amount of meat if cooking from scratch is too pricey? You can't get a cheaper meal than say a dhal - literally a huge pot of food for pennies and very good for you. I can cook a pot of dhal to make 10 meals for under £2. www.healthyfood.co.nz/recipes/2011/march/curried-red-lentil-dhal

Yup, batch baking is definitely where the savings lie. When I do a big cooking session, I'll make two different kinds of soup, veggie burgers, pizza bases, curries- just using up whatever I have in the cupboards. If you do it like that you save a fortune. Granted DH is doing all the cooking at the mo because I have velcro babies, and so we are spending a fortune as he cooks, meal by meal and rarely from scratch. However, when I get back to doing the cooking we can realistically expect our food bill to get down to £35 per week. For a family of five (seven if you include the babies) with mahoosive appetites, that is not to be sniffed at. I am, in fact, extremely proud of that. Feels like quite an achievement given yhe cost of food at the moment. The children and I are vegetarian (lifelong for all of us); DH isn't, but doesn't eat a lot of meat generally. The moneysavingexpert.co.uk forums are an excellent place to pick up cheap and delicious recipes and tips.

£35 a week?! Catbag you are a hero! There's 2 of us + baby & our food bill is way more than that - granted having to substitute wheat & dairy does bump it up a bit, but still ....

I have been very poor for most of my adult life and although not impoverished any more, some habits stick

So yesterday was day one...

Breakfast - toast and butter
Lunch - bowl of cereal with raisins
Afternoon snack - handful of dried fruits
Tea - some sort of sausage/chickpea stew that OH made.
Then I ate a Mars Bar Icecream....Other than that, no snacking, and about 4 glasses of water.

Plus I did one 30 minute walk with the buggy and a level one 30 day shred.

Feeling pretty achy, but day two is going well. There is some left-over chicken tikka pies in the fridge calling my name....

I ate the pie.

@ Cat bag! you are a hero.

Is/does anyone grow their own?

With all this lack of sleep, why aren't we thin? Surely our bodies should be using up energy keeping us awake

Going to get back in the Wii later when the k
children are asleep.

I do cook from scratch but if I didnt I know my bill would be less. Lower quality of food but cheaper.

We dont have a freezer. Nowhere to put it.

Wow Lane - your local shops are cheaper than the supermarkets?

OH is the big food spender in this house, and the reason I have put on weight (aside from getting pregnant!) - when I lived by myself I ate a lot less due to no money and no desire. It's hard to feel motivated to make a huge meal if it's just you eating it! I used to live on baked beans/egg on toast, stir-fries with brown rice and porridge. Living with OH means I eat a HUGE meal at the end of the day normally, and I certainly eat a lot more ice-cream and crisps. He loves cooking, and is very very good at it - he's also one of those skinny lads who can eat like a horse and not gain weight. I'm changing my plate for dinner to a small bowl so he can't over-portion me!!

I'm just not going to buy anymore junk. There are two ice-creams with my name on in the freezer, but I have no chocolate left otherwise. And no biscuits.

My DH is the main cook too - he seems to feel no meal is complete without lots of butter so I am reeducation him!

Our local free grocer is way cheaper than the supermarket for fruit and veg. The stuff doesn't look as pretty but tastes better as not all drowned in plastic, is fresher, and all bag your own so you only buy what you need. It does go off quicker as not vacuum packed but since the shop is a five minute walk I can go every couple of days. needs to actually start taking advantage of this shop rather than just selling it on here

We have a tiny freezer but we try to cook double and eat the same thing for two nights, or freeze half. I am thinking of designating some nights of the week as pasta night, soup night etc, so I can get a couple of things more or less the same in the weekly shop every time rather than having to spend ages planning every week which generally leads to me buying stuff we don't need as I buy different alternatives "in case we fancy x that night." If we don't fancy the healthy and frugal option we have planned, well tough, it is what we planned for a reason! If we don't have alternatives in the house we are more likely to stick to our planned meals.

Have just got back from the third couch to 5k run, which means I have finished week 1 and have downloaded the podcast for week 2. Feeling really good for sticking to it! I have also come across an unexpected bonus - it is half and hour of guaranteed me-time that DH is delighted to make sure I have (plus shower or bath time afterwards) and not so long to leave baby with him that he can really mess it up need me there. Having said that he becomes the SAHP on 25 Feb so I had better drop that attitude sharpish!

Good luck today everyone.

That should say green grocer, not free grocer!

That's it, just don't buy any . But what about when we get cravings? I'm a terrible binge eater in the afternoon and evenings.

I was super fit and slim before I met dh. He needs to lose about 11 stone. I did gym everyday and ate great. Ha, no-one would ever think now dh was a champion Kick Boxer in his day. I blame him for my downfall even though it was me who ate all the pies.

What does everyone have planned for tea? Ds 1 wants pasta and tuna so that it is!

We've got leftover shepherd's pie, spring greens and corn on the cob on the side. Nom nom. Sadly as I'm dairy free there will be no butter on that corn :(

Salmon and veg here. Just had to wolf down egg on toast as the only quick, healthy thing I could think of. The kids were screeching (both poorly) but I thought if I didn't eat my milk supply might suffer and I'd be more likely to give in and eat crap (would've been easier though!)

I'm having wheat free pasta with homemade tomato sauce & my DH is having leftover veggie shepherds pie (I can't have it as its got wheat in it).

I really fancy doing some baking (did so all the time before dd was born) - does anyone have any healthy baking recipies??

Finally took measurements:
waist 41in
hips 46.5in
thighs 24in

Pretty grim so will keep up the couch to 5k!

Dinner is leftover potato and veg curry and homemade dhal.

Dinner is quiche. Meh.

Cooking a pork joint for tomorrow though.

Another bad day. Cant get appetite until afternoon and then binge.

Left over chickpea curry. Although I have a shop bought shepards pie in fridge which I may have.

candy no breakfast. Because I woke at noon. Felt rubbish this morning so DH took LO n gave me a break. But woke to mil cooking roti. So had two of those. Had a choc mini roll n 2 cups of tea so far.

Went to get some cold medicine so managed a 20 min walk.

I was doing pretty well today. but got back from a long walk through thick mud (very good exercise if a bit rough on my stupid spd ridden pelvis) hungry and tucked into a pot of jam with a spoon that's what happens if there are no snacks in the house and I crave sugar. ah bloody hell...

Mixed day here - pretty healthy except for a glass of coke and a biscuit. The day is still young though, and evenings are the toughest part for me - I need to eat, even if I'm not remotely hungry. What's that about?

We grow our own veg and have our own eggs too. DP does all most of the cooking, and is a bit too keen on butter and oil. I like the idea of swapping a dinner plate for a bowl, I'm going to steal that!

I have done no exercise yet, not a great start really. Must try harder.