Todays Menu
Breakfast
Porridge - 9p
Lunch
Leftover fried rice 25p
3 Custard creams 3p
Dinner
Spagetti Bolognese 50p
Bread Pudding 12p
Total 99p
2x red onions 20p
2x 500g Passata 58p
250g Frozen mixed veg 19p
400g mince 124p
2 garlic cloves 2p
3 Beef stock cubes 5p
Total 248p
Portion 50p
Instructions
1.Dry fry the mince with the crumbled beef stock cubes.
2. Finely chop the red onions and add to the mince once it has browned.
3. Once the onions have softened, mince the garlic and add to the mince and onions.
4. Add the frozen vegetables, passata and 200ml of extra water.
5. Bring to the boil and then simmer for at least 30 minutes.
6. 10 minutes before serving cook the spagetti to your liking and serve together.
Today was interesting. We normally go to a toddler group on a thursday, but they have snack time, where everyone brings along a snack, and inevitably lots of swapping goes on (or in Joeys case he just accepts other peoples food!). Because I didn't think it fair to stop him from swapping, even though its not within the rules, I decided to just avoid the situation and go to the park and library with him instead! I think there is an element of peer pressure. If I had taken him to the group I could have given him a pack of Smart price crisps and asked him not to accept others sweets, and he probably wouldn't have been embarassed by his crisps, as he knows no better. Come school he may feel differently. Children can be cruel, and I can just imagine some kids making comments to those who have 'Smart' or 'Value' things in their lunch box, calling them poor or something. I hate just thinking about it. For those who don't come under the Free School Meals umbrella, feeding children for school can be really expensive. By the time you have a sandwich, crisps, yogurt, fruit, and drink you're probably well over a pound, probably more if you buy named brands.
The other problem I found was that we had to go out this afternoon, and it was over lunch time. My cheap lunch would either be fried rice, or soup. Both of which required heating up, which I was able to do. Instead I had to just wait and have lunch at 3pm when we got home. I made Joey a jam sandwich to take with us, and a drink and some crisps. Being mobile when you have little money is really hard as the temptation to buy stuff when you're out is high. I was also silly and forgot to take a drink for myself, so was so thirsty. I did consider buying a bottle of water and just pretending it didn't count towards my budget, but realised that some people have no choice and just have to wait til they get home, or in some countries till they can go and get their own water.
This week is making me realise how much we take for granted, and I don't just mean in terms of food.
Tonight's dinner was actually much nicer than I was anticipating. Its the only recipe I've muddled together and never cooked before, so I wasn't expecting a great deal. My usual bolognese sauce has much more meat, mushrooms, courgettes and herbs, but this was surprisingly good. Even James commented on it! I also realised we'd have some left over raisins and bread, and one egg, so I made a Bread (no butter) pudding, which went down well (although some cream or icecream would have been nice!)
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