Is there a market for it? (good housekeeping guide for hopeless people)

[The Nappy Lady]

Dully, your story fills me with sadness for a lost childhood & huge respect & awe for all you did & clearly achieved.

[pebbles]

littleEDfamily - i didn't have anything else to shine and i'd seen people shine kettles, hobs etc before with baby oil so i thought i'd give it a go and it looks great. cos it's then so greasy any dirt that gets onto the sink does get easily wiped away - give it a go!!!

felt really really rushed this morning so have just done nursery drop off and came back and just made my bed which i'm happy with :) no gotta switch off edf and do some work!

fushia - have u always planned meals - i don't but am thinking that could be quite useful for my organisation cos i'm normally being nagged by the kids that they're hungry and i've got nothing up my sleeve. can you or anyone help with how i start if i have never done it before for us or kids - we annoyingly quite often have just meat or something cos i haven't looked in fridge to makesure that there's veg or salad!!! (i don't know how my husband doesn't tell me to get a grip!!!) - any advice seriously welcome

thanks

[littleEDfamily]

Now, cooking I can do. I am naturally greedy so prioritise food above all else. Part of the reason my kitchen was such a disaster as always making something to stuff my face with.

I do, one day a week fish, one day chicken and another red meat - the rest of the time, vege stuff. I plan all meals for the week on a Sunday night or while watching 'Something for the weekend' in the morning. We always have jacket potatoes (various toppings) once a week, as so cheap and everyone likes and I tend to check cupboards for what we already have before planning meals.

Emergency meals for the evening:

fish fingers (gross, I know, but you know it's an emergency)

scrambled eggs on toast with peas

beans on toast

pesto and pasta

meals you've frozen (spag bol, any stews) - you can make toasted sandwiches out of stews as well

kids antipasti with carrots, hummus, bit of ham, cheese, cherry toms, followed by a nice dessert

I do like a stew though.... one pot, easy to do, keeps well in fridge, can freeze.

my daughter will actually eat plain pasta with grated cheese if I am really stuck.

or mini pizzas made on wholemeal pitta bases - you just put a bit of tomato pesto on the bottom, grate some courgette, carrot on, chuck some cheese on top and grill in oven.

Fresh fish is super fast to sort - I fry in a pan with a little bit of oil and butter and some jerk spices with lemon.

Will have to get some babyoil this week.....

[pebbles]

thank you littleEDfamily, sunday night planning is the way to go then!!!

i think i'm going to invest in one of Fushia's meal organisers

[Fuschia]

I am not very on top of meal planning atm, rather too much stuff just from the freezer since i got pregnant.

But in theory what works I think for us is to plan a couple of family meals for the weekend, plus lunches. We usually have wraps with our dinner on Sat night (meze sort of meal) so also have toasted wraps for Sat lunch. If you are doing something like making mashed potato, you can note to make extra and then recycle the next day. left over dinners also makes good lunches for the next day (Spare pasta with sauce, add in soem veg and grate cheese on top then reheat)

I look at days we have things like swimming, days I'm working, plan sensible meals for those days (omelette very quick for after swimming) and consider what days I will eat early with the children and what days I will eat after them.

It works well to rotate a series of meals, bit boring but easy to plan around and children like familiarity anyway. At least you don't end up with eggs 3 days on the trot, say.

If you cook something like a bol saUCE, chilli, stew, do 2x and freeze some for emergencies.

Once you have a plan, do the shopping list to go with it.

If you do 3 or 4 weekly plans and they work for you, then use them as the basis for the next 3/4 weeks.

[Fuschia]

littleEDfamily Wrote:

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>> kids antipasti with carrots, hummus, bit of ham,

> cheese, cherry toms

Yes, we do this a lot, also with cucumber, cold omelette, hard boiled eggs, breadsticks, philly, left over chicken... or chicken goujons, cocktail sausages. I have one veggy child and 2 none, plus they all like different things best so this is easy. Esp if you buy pregrated cheese.

[Fuschia]

pebbles Wrote:

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>we annoyingly quite often have just meat or

> something cos i haven't looked in fridge to

> makesure that there's veg or salad!!!

Frozen carrot, mashed potato, peas/sweetcorn and the little steampacks are all useful for when the fridge is bare. Also frozen blueberries or summerfruits (nice with greek yog or mine eat them frozen!) and natures choice pear or mango slices handy for when there is no fresh fruit.

[Pickle]

I always plans my meals in advance and then order my shopping online using the list I've made - makes life much easier.

I tend to be a "recipe book" kind of cook, so each week I choose a couple of my books and find recipes from them to suit. I only cook one meal a night, we all eat the same thing (although if occasionally I fancy making something really spicy or not suitable for the kids I fall back on fish fingers, pasta and peas).

So, an example, this week I chose my Jamie Oliver book and a random "plan ahead" one I was given, so we're having:

italian meatballs with tagliatelle

herb & chicken risotto

chicken & leek pie with mash

slow cooked shoulder of lamb with veg

shepherd's pie (using leftovers from lamb shoulder)

courgette & chorizo pasta (will give kids fish fingers that night)

Last week

parmesan pork steaks

prawn & tomato pasta bake

ham & courgette pasta

salmon, couscous & roasted veg

"Nana's mince" (don't ask!)

chicken & lime spaghetti

I always make extra bolognaise sauce and use it as emergency supplies. Similarly if I have a glut of milk I will make a big batch of cheese sauce and freeze it.

Planning meals comes naturally due to years of either doing Weightwatchers or being a WW leader!

P x

[Fuschia]

I'm afraid my menus are much more mundane, Pickle. It's a bit awkward as well having two omnivorous toddlers, a fussy veggy 7yo, me being a veggy and MrF being continually on the Atkins diet plus all he really likes his curry!!

But I do like to do family meals at the weekend where we all eat much the same (MrF usually has chicken or salmon and i force him teat the veg/salad, lol)

[pebbles]

unfortunately i've got a fussy son who wouldn't eat any of what we eat so he lives on fishfingers, frozen veg, pasta & tom sauce, etc etc and then my daughter eats what we've eaten the night before. i always make too much veg cos i can then hide it in pasta sauces and stuff for son. i DREAM of the day that he eats what we do.

i'm actually loving the idea of shopping on line. i use sainsburys as a bit of an hours entertainment so if we're at a loss and bored at home we'll go shopping but then i end up buying bad stuff for me so at least with online shopping i can only buy what is on the list - what online shopping site d'you recommend? is ocado much more expensive?

i never do things by halves - have just made banana muffins!!! I NEVER BAKE

instead of just doing one ny resolution i seem to keep adding to them!!!

ps - sink still shiny :)

[Fuschia]

I use tescos, because the vouchers for days out you get with the points are good... used to be x4 voucher value, is now 3x

still enough for trips to legoland, hope farm and paradise wi;d;ofe park each year

[Pickle]

I use Tesco mainly, Ocado sometimes. Ocado price match, but I do generally think that Tesco is cheaper, and the clubcard points are great - this week's shop was quite expensive due to pending arrival on in-laws (*quick swig of wine*), so I used some of my money off vouchers which seem to add up quite quickly.

Theoretically it stops me buying naughty stuff, in practice chocolate magically appears in my online basket.

[pebbles]

thanks, will go and join tesco's now

[Fuschia]

i dp find online shopping is a great help for events like xmas meal, childrens parties, half term requiring packed lunches. makes me feel prepared

[Smiler]

Wow pickle! Can we have tea at yours, sounds fab!

Dully and fuschia, wow, that must've been tough, it is a disgrace that there still isn't support for kids with heavy caring responsibilities, services being cut etc.

Should we resurrect the recipes thread? And rename this one the good housekeeping thread!

[Fuschia]

Smiler Wrote:

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>>

> Dully and fuschia, wow, that must've been tough,

> it is a disgrace that there still isn't support

> for kids with heavy caring responsibilities,

> services being cut etc.

Sounds like both our families tried to keep below the radar... Made me quite independent, but put me off having children and being a "grownup" for a looooong time. My mum died when I was just 22... so my children missed out on having grandparents .... sad

>

> Should we resurrect the recipes thread? And rename

> this one the good housekeeping thread!

good idea

[Mellors]

I was most disappointed when my cleaner (male, Brazilian) asked me to get some baby oil for him. And then used it on the stainless steel.

I like the FlyLady thing though. I got quite excited about it last night.

As a result of which I have just swept the leaves, filth and mud from my front path. Yes, thats me, 1950's housewife.....

[pebbles]

Oh my god Mellors you had a Brazilian man clean for you - ooooooerrrrr - wish i'd known you then cos i might have invited myself over :) - doesn't baby oil just rock :0

[snowboarder]

Have now got disturbing (or otherwise) image of brazilian man (baby oil shiny, no top, dressed only in apron) doing cleaning whilst mellors sweeps the path outside, hair wrapped in scarf hilda ogden style.....

Do you think bio oil would work too? It doesn't seem to be helping the stretch marks much....

He he generally I have to say I'm a fairly happy 'lick and polish' person. My house is way better than my mums (thank you, lovely cleaning lady) - she admits she's terrible and everything was fairly haphazard. It's the clothes/washing/ironing/putting away thing that really bugs me. And the kitchen floor. But no-one advised that shiny black rubber floor and food flinging toddlers were a bad combo. Admittedly the floor precedes the toddler, but still.

[Gussy]

Have to say I got excited looking at those meal planners, shopping list & finery. However, its a credit crunch so like a bit of a saddo I devised my own meal planner for the two kids and us using good old fashioned microsoft WORD - husband prints copies at work, bluetack up inside a kitchen cupboard (for my eyes only, naturally). Sorted.

Baby oil has me fascinated now, and I will have to try it! I have to say though I am a CIF addict. The dreaded MIL recommended it and tbh I've never looked back. The sink and cooker always come up a treat. Another one I got into recently was a big old bag of SODA CRYSTALS (can get it from Sainsburys). I was internet researching how to de-limescale/freshen up the washing machine as its seen better days and is a bit mouldy/gunky around the rubber seal. Someone said to put a load of soda crystals in the soap drawer and run the machine on a hot wash (60 or 90 degrees) on empty. Do this once a week and it keeps it smelling fresh and sparkly. Love it. You can also do the same with bleach. Run the machine on empty on a hot wash and throw a slug of bleach in the powder drawer. Feels lovely knowing you are putting the clothes into a nice clean washer instead of a slim pit. Oh also, soda crystals are fab to soak oven dishes and even stains on clothes.

[Fuschia]

Gussy Wrote:

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However, its a

> credit crunch so like a bit of a saddo I devised

> my own meal planner for the two kids and us using

> good old fashioned microsoft WORD

I did mine in excel before I found the nifty commercial version... benefit to that is you can use one week as the basis of the next, if you regularly have the same things!

[littleEDfamily]

pebbles - I'm worried about you... make sure you don't crash and burn! But actually I have loads of overripe bananas so may be following you into baking land.

pickle - love your menu plans. am stealing some of those for this week.

must get baby oil (and potentially a male Brazilian cleaner...)

Loving the soda crystals advice. My friend got a great natural housekeeping book for Chrimbo - must ask her the name of it - one fact I learned from the book is that wooden chopping boards are naturally anti-bacterial whereas plastic ones actually cause bacteria to multiply. Tell your friends, girls, this may change their lives....

[Gussy]

eek all my chopping boards are plastic! In conflicting advice, I also was told that you should regularly soak your wooden spoons in a diluted bleach solution, especially if they are old or with staining. My god we are rolling now. Come on we know what we are doing right? :)

[Smiler]

Pickle, just seen that you were the one who set up the meal ideas thread in 2009, you could be the next Nigella (but slimmee, with the WW and all!)

[littleEDfamily]

Updated thread name!