Menu planning

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After three or four dull wet days (total of 17mm of rain recorded in our rain gauge) we had a brilliant start on Friday with clear blue skies and a low clear sun that lit the fields brilliantly. We went to the waste tip with bits of metal for recycling (not exciting but needed to be done) and then to the butchers.

Our meal plan for the week is to have:
Three chicken breast meals of 300g (brought 950g of chicken breast chunks at £8.25 per kg)
one large pork stew that will stretch over 2 days from 526g of diced pork (£6.95 per kg)
one large shepherds pie for 2 days from the 400g of beef mince in the freezer from last week
Meat is bulked out by using mushrooms, beans and lentils and we are still harvesting leeks, sprouts and spinach from the garden. Frozen veg is dispersing fast as are the frozen packs of tomatoes I am using in cooking instead of expensive canned toms.

For lunches we have fresh local eggs from the farm shop (£1 for 6), half a kilo of bacon and half a sausage meat pack left over from Xmas. There are enough potatoes left from the Xmas sack for baked spuds too. With veg soups we should be able to stretch the food till next weekend.
That should be enough for 7 days.  We may call at the fish wholesalers next week and get a kilo of fresh cod or haddock for the freezer - that usually lasts for 3 or 4 meals and is a welcome change to meat.

I am keeping a food diary to see how my plans and the actual food is working out, as I vary meals a lot at the moment as husband still has a strange re-occurring tum ache and is trying to loose weight. He is nearly down to 14 stone from over 15. We are working on reducing wheat and portion control.

Meanwhile in the dull days we are both working on small creative projects to cheer ourselves up as we prepare for Monday morning and the funeral of our neighbour.
My husband spent a day in his shed and made a bird box from wood scraps and half an old shelf bracket which he has put out in the sheltered shrub bed at the side of the house.

I finished experimenting with a new pattern for a sort of "coverall" loose top for next summer, it was suppose to be size 16 which should have been a bit tight on me, but it has turned out very loose and a bit low in the V neck. Ideal for topping over a t-shirt in the garden. I used some slippery but quite firm polyester given to me to make this one with old thread from the sewing box.  I will do some pattern re drawing before making another one in a firmer cotton or cotton jersey. 

My order for jersey fabric arrived today and I am planning to use that for T shirts. It is one of my 50 to do things to learn to sew with jersey fabric.

I have decided on number 10 in my list of 50 things to do.  Two years ago I had my wedding ring cut off as it was far too tight and painful.  I have been struggling down from nearly 14 stone then to 12 and half now and promised myself when I was thinner I would have the ring mended.  So my husband is delighted that I have chosen as number 10 to do in 2016.

10. Have my wedding ring repaired and refitted.