Of course as soon as I took the bread out of the oven and that tempting fresh-baked smell wafted around the kitchen, I had a groundhog 'been here before' moment: Why don't I do this more often? The kids love it - in fact it's how we get through the Challenge week, because my fussy, FUSSY eater would happily munch bread until it comes out of his ears, which is pretty much what I'm letting him do right now. He won't eat spuds, and can be tricky about pasta and rice, and vegetable have to be heavily disguised. So, bread often saves the day. It's not ideal, I know, but I've spent too many years stressing about it. Now I just go with the flow and try to get a bit of goodness into him. Thankfully he seems to like carrots...
The first few days have gone pretty well I think, but I've lulled everyone into a false sense of security by giving them plenty to eat - cheese and ham pizza, garlic pizza, soup, bread, pasta, a roast dinner, more bread - even stodge pudding!
A few extras I swiped: finished off a bag of peas, the end of a tin of golden syrup and some flat cider I've been holding onto for ages. I'll use up the split lentils left in the cupboard too. No point buying another bag.
Just have to keep things ticking along through the week now. A lot more making and baking for me...
SATURDAY
Breakfast homemade bread/coco pops/porridge
Lunch penne arrabiata/baked potato and cheese
Dinner cheese and ham pizza, garlic pizza/chocolate mousse
SUNDAY
Breakfast homemade bread/coco pops/boiled egg
lunch carrot, lentil and cumin soup with cider bread/ peach muffins
Dinner roast chicken, roast potatoes, carrots, peas and gravy/stodge pudding
MONDAY
Breakfast peachy porridge/coco pops/homemade bread
Dinner pesto pasta with grated carrot and cheese/peach muffins
TUESDAY
Breakfast boiled egg and soldiers/coco pops/porridge
Dinner mild chicken curry with rice/ oat cookies
WEDNESDAY
Breakfast pancakes
Dinner homemade gnocchi with pesto and grated cheese/carrot muffins
THURSDAY
Breakfast peachy porridge/ bread/coco pops
Dinner cheese frittata with spicy(ish) potato wedges/chocolate brownies
RED NOSE DAY!
Breakfast possibly pancakes…or bread/porridge/coco pops
Dinner margarita pizza, garlic bread pizza/baked potato/chocolate
The kids have school dinners and are under strict instructions to fill their boots. The first year we did the Challenge I had to make them packed lunches as well - not sure how I managed that on twelve quid. Though to be fair, they didn't eat quite as much as they do now.
I'll be having a lot of soup.