Days twenty one and twenty two - 21st and 22nd Feb

The more observant of you may have noticed that when I posted the weekly meal plan last Sunday, there was no detail for tea on Saturday. Instead there was only mention of a mysterious birthday party. That birthday party went off last night and I was in a bit of a spot; clearly Mrs P had it in mind that birthday party meant 'meal out'. I, on the other hand, had my eyes on the prize. Another week to go and I was not about to sneak in a dinner out. So, after we had lunch (of nostalgia filled banana sandwiches) & packed The Child off to a sleepover we travelled up to a Derby hotel.  The only polite word I can use to describe Mrs P's reaction, when I pulled out the tupperware box with the remains of the chicken pie from Friday night along with two forks is 'surprised'. It didn't go down well so it's probably best to leave that there...

So, today is the day after the birthday party and having indulged in our fair share of alcohol, food was not enormously high on our agenda. We picked The Child up from our friends and came back so Mrs P could have 'a rest' back at home. I then managed to scrape together a sandwich for The Child before having  'a rest' myself and it wasn't until a couple of hours later that I managed to get back out of the house to go shopping. I was happy though because I had my secret weapon up my sleeve. Over the last three weeks I have been making large family meals and quite aside from the social benefits of eating together, this has allowed me to save up large portions of leftovers for future meals (this is where the freezer has been our friend!). Yes, I can reveal right here that my mission for this week is to re-use / finish off as many of our previous meals as possible. We've got:


Sunday
Breakfast - ummm, not ready for food (the local services were used to obtain necessary juice + water, plenty of water!)
Lunch - still not going to happen
Dinner - Roast chicken, bread and vinegar

Monday
Breakfast - porridge/toast/cereal
Lunch - Sandwiches 
Dinner - Left over chicken

Tuesday
Breakfast - porridge/toast/cereal
Lunch - Wrap
Dinner - Carbonara Pasta

Wednesday
Breakfast - porridge/toast/cereal
Lunch - Sandwiches
Dinner - Lasagne

Thursday
Breakfast - porridge/toast/cereal
Lunch - Wrap
Dinner - Chicken noodle soup

Friday
Breakfast - porridge/toast/cereal
Lunch - salad/sandwich
Dinner - Cottage Pie

Saturday
Breakfast - porridge/toast/cereal
Lunch - salad/sandwich
Dinner - Mussels

After a quick count up and bearing in mind that we came in under the budget last week  (by £7), one thing has become obvious. Unlike our normal beginning of the monthly shop when as we get closer to the end of the month the more stretched we feel and the tighter the purse strings are pulled, here, we are getting more available cash every week. To such an extent that all of a sudden we find ourselves with considerable choices. And we all know that more choice makes for more interesting meals and therefore a happier family. To be £30 under budget this week is a massive benefit for the household and absolutely gets me thinking about the conclusions I'm going to have at the end of this week.

We've just finished dinner for tonight and you may have noticed that our usual Roast Lunch had to be postponed for many very justifiable reasons! We needed those planned left overs for tomorrow and the chicken noodle soup later in the week, so it had to go into the oven but I had a brainwave. Budgeting in some comparative luxuries of balsamic vinegar and Mrs P's favourite fresh white loaf, I tried to win her over & make up for last nights cold pie in the hotel room incident, with a flash back to our courting days. Eating a straight from oven roast chicken, fresh bread with oil and vinegar as well as much salad as you can balance on top is something that in my opinion, is very hard to beat and I know is one of Mrs P's favourites.

Mrs P is happy.  I am happy.  Happy days!