Menu Plan Week 8 ... and it Just HAD to Be Done

 

It just had to be done didn't it.  😎

A real childhood favourite of mine and a not so secret adult addiction too.  A fishfinger butty along with crisp butties are just a brilliant, simple and oh so tasty snack meal.  There's nothing 'wartime' about it, but as soon as I saw the pack of fishfingers that I bought as my 'meat ration' this week I knew what would be on the menu.

And here is this weeks menu plan, there's a couple of missing days as we have something on, but it's still good to have the other meals down in writing so I don't have to stand and ponder every meal time ... or just be tempted to live off fish finger butties.  😆

As per the menu, Monday was porridge for breakfast.  The fish finger butties for lunch and then I fancied something a bit more substantial for my tea, as I knew I would when I wrote out the plan.  Fish finger butties may be tasty but they are not that filling are they.

So I had a small 'roast dinner', and it was really tasty.  

Just two Linda McCartney sausages, two little sage and onion stuffing patties, boiled potatoes and a handful of mixed vegetables, all topped off with a generous pour of Bisto gravy.

While I was making the boiled potatoes I made sure that there were enough extras to be able to mash them ready for Wednesday and Fridays meals, it's nice to get a little ahead with things.

Sue xx

Week Seven ... and the Final 'Vegetarian' Rations

 

This week is the seventh week of my rationing journey.

It's also the final time I will be using the 'vegetarian rations'.  Yep, it struck me as so complicated when I dropped eggs from my diet again and reintroduced fish into my meal plans but continued to use the vegetarian rations.  And if I'm confused then surely you are!!  😄

Last week I found a picture of an old information leaflet from the Ministry of Food that immediately made me realise what I could do.  Don't you just love it when something that has been preying on your mind suddenly becomes clear ... I know I do. 

Anyway there will be a re-jig of my rations in time for the new month and my new set of 20 points will also become available.  Making last 'months' points stretch out over six weeks has been quite good in some ways, helping me to be able to use up some of things from my pre-rationing cupboard and whittle down the contents of the freezer.

The best meal of the week last week was this Sausage, Mash, Cabbage and Gravy meal.  Gosh that was delicious.  Who knew that I suddenly really love Savoy cabbage, I think cooking it the wartime way is the real gamechanger ... it's lovely.

I also made a real effort last week to use up all my weekly rations of spread and cheese, but even though I thought I had done well I still ended up with lots for a sandwich on Saturday.

I am also really getting ahead with my coffee.  

The two ounces that I top the jar up with each week has now brought me right to the top of my small jar, I will have to revert to my former larger jar on the counter.  I think I am using between an ounce and an ounce and a half each week.  I still have the monthly ration of 4oz untouched in the cupboard as well.

There wasn't any space in my little jars of oil to top them up this week, so I weighed what was in them both and then weighed the oil in my dispenser and there was just under what I needed, so now my oil bottle is back in use and will be topped up each week.

This weeks Menu Plan is designed to use up a few of the things in my freezer and get a couple of my more 'modern' foods out of the way.

I'm looking forward to the re-jig next week, but first there are lots of lovely things to have this week ... and it's the last time I will be having a full four ounces of cheese, so I thought I would take cheese and beetroot sandwiches to Mum's this week for our lunch, Alan has his own cheddar and me and Mum both have Violife.

Sue xx

Do I Follow the Menu Plan? One Days Meals

 

Someone asked me if I followed the menu plan rigidly, most days the answer would be yes.  

I am doing a menu plan to help keep myself on track and to take that 'What can I have for tea?' quandary off the table each day.  There's nothing worse to me than standing in front of the fridge or cupboard, hungry and wanting something quickly and just not knowing what to have.  That's the time when all good intentions can fly out of the window and I risk eating rubbish, which then leaves me unsatisfied and leads to nibbling all evening.

But ... I am very open to switching the meals or the days around.

So I will eat a Tuesday meal for Monday's tea and vice versa.  The main thing for me is to have seven evening meals, seven lunches and seven breakfasts written down and ready for inspiration.  Some weeks, like last week for example, things crop up, time runs away with me or we go out and a meal isn't eaten at all.  That's when I can add the missing meal to the next weeks Menu Plan to make sure that nothing gets wasted and everything gets enjoyed while it is in the best possible condition.

So to me a menu plan isn't written in stone, it is a daily reminder of what I think will be balanced for me over the course of the week, what is ready and waiting to be eaten and what I hope to be eating each day.

As you can see from these photos and this weeks Menu Plan Monday went very well.  😁

Sue xx

First Thing on a Monday Morning

 

First thing on a Monday morning I am trying to get into the habit of checking through the previous week's menu plan, ticking off what I did eat and noting what I didn't use up.  Then I try and make those missed off items the first thing that I use on the following week's plan, especially anything that has been in the fridge for a few days.

Then I look in the fridge to double check that yes they are actually there and see what else I have that needs using.  I still have lots of vegetables that I want to use up this week if possible, but luckily everything seems to be in good condition at the moment.

Then using the freezer inventory I did a couple of weeks ago I start to plan out the meals, just roughly on a piece of paper.

Then I give myself a break from that and weigh out the new weeks rations.

I have found ... much to my surprise ... that I use only about one and a half ounces of instant coffee each week, I honestly thought I drank a lot more than that.  Maybe that amount will go up a bit now that the cooler weather seems to be here to stay, we'll see.  But even if it does I have my 2oz a week and the build up of all the extra half ounces that I haven't used, and I have not touched the first month's extra monthly ration of 4oz.

I'm going to have to switch to a bigger jar soon if I carry on having a backlog!!

Now that I have used a good proportion of my sugar for the Compost Heap Jelly I made last week, this weeks ration fitted into the jar easily.

One good thing came out of my search of the kitchen for the jelly bag for straining the fruit ... I found a stash of Love Hearts in one of my enamel containers.  It seems that I can have five packets for my 2oz sweetie ration.  😁

Week Six - Weekly Food Rations

Once everything is weighed I take a photo for the records and then get everything put away.

This is the first week that I am not taking an egg as part of my ration and I have instead chosen to take fish for the next few weeks.  So two veggie sausages instead of one egg, as has been the norm for the first five weeks, and a fish portion instead of the other.  The idea of this is that it will give  me a nice protein rich simple meal.  

This may be re-evaluated in the coming weeks as if I am trying to keep my food spend down this isn't really helping.  Fish is pretty expensive ... and quite rightly so ... and it would make up a large percentage of my £10 per week budget.   I will have to have a look through my cupboard and see what tinned fish I have in.  Although in reality tinned fish was only available through the points system during the war years, however, I may be lenient with myself to use up any reserves that I already have in as wartime housewives would have done ... we'll see.

Some things take a bit of thinking about!  🤔

Anyway after all the menu planning and weighing out it was time for my breakfast, and as per this weeks menu plan this was porridge ... and a well earned cup of coffee.

My Menu Plan for Week Six

Sue xx

The Results of a Day in the Kitchen

 

I spent most of Thursday on and off in the kitchen and then just an hour on Friday to cook and pot up the jam.  Time well spent if you look at the results.

I ended up with two and a half pounds of Compost Heap Jelly*.  There are no labels on the jars in this photo as they are still piping hot, but I will label them as soon as they are cold.

*If you want to see how to make this look at yesterday's post which includes a YouTube video from Pam the Jam. 

They are definitely going to be a sweet treat as it took a kilo of sugar for the liquid I had to make the jelly.  It's a good job I only have a thin covering on my toast.  😄

I had decided to turn the roll of puff pastry that I had instead of my fats and oils this on weeks rations into as many things as I could.  In the end I managed to get four meals from it.

Two quiche bases part cooked and now in the fridge ready to turn into quick lunches over the weekend, one breakfast jam turnover that I had yesterday, very sweet but also very delicious.  What a wartime treat that would have been.

And a Sausage Plait that I had for my tea when it was hot straight out of the oven.  Served with just some salad from the garden and a drizzle of mayo, it was tasty and very filling.

This is what it looked like inside it's pastry overcoat.

I thawed two Linda McCartney sausages out and made up a couple of tablespoons of dried stuffing mix, then stirred the two together before forming into this patty shape.  I was aiming to have something that looked like the old Linda McCartney Sausage Plaits that were sadly discontinued many years ago and that a lot of people miss.  Then I decided a little smear of the garlic Jam that I still have left over from last Christmas would be good on top.

 I cut slits either side of the patty and criss-crossed them over until everything was covered.  I brushed it with milk and cooked it for about 30 minutes alongside everything else to make full use of the oven space.  I pulled the quiche bases out first, then the turnover and finally the sausage plait.

Inside the turnover was just a big dollop of this months jam, not quite as big as it looks in this photo!!  

I'm think that I'm doing really well as I haven't touched the other half of my bi-monthly jam ration so it's all going to plan ... up to now, and of course I have my new jars of jam which will be available to me at any time as they have been made from scraps and my ration of sugar.  Either for me to eat or to give as gifts.

So I think that was a good day in the kitchen, three things made off this weeks menu and a bonus breakfast to replace my porridge yesterday.  And using this pastry made me realise that homemade shortcrust pastry is definitely better, which is a good thing because during the war years there was definitely no shop bought, ready rolled pastry available.  In future making my own will be so much cheaper, mere pennies instead of the current Aldi price for a roll which is £1.19, so much kinder to my budget.

Sue xx

This Week's Menu Plan ... and Christmas Wish List Plans

 

This is my menu plan for this week.

As you can see it doesn't appear very 'wartime', as in I am not trying out any recipes from my books this week, but I am using my rations for all the foods that they are needed for, and not just helping myself willy-nilly from the food cupboard.  There is nothing that I need to shop for to be able to make any of these meals and that is my main criteria at the moment.

The Smoothie that appears twice for breakfast is going to be made from two homemade smoothie mixes that I have in the freezer, simply chopped apple, spinach and chunks of banana all ready to go ... it's been four weeks since I've tasted banana.  🍌

This is Monday nights evening meal as shown on the menu plan, a simple Jacket Potato with a little sprinkle of cheese and salad from the garden.

And this is Tuesday's breakfast.  

I have decided that I am not a fan of apple in porridge any more.

As I mentioned on yesterday's post I have already started to make a Christmas present wish list, every year without fail my sons, my Mum and Alan ask me what I would like and every year I say 'I don't know'.  With this year being completely different I will be asking for things that I really need to keep me stocked up on specific items for the following year.  

For example I have already completely run out of hand-cream, so a twelve months supply of that from someone would be lovely, and much more useful to me than the myriad of bottles of wine I received last year, not that I didn't enjoy them .... hic!!

Sue xx

Now THAT'S a Different Week's Rations!!

 

As mentioned on yesterday's post here will be no shopping this week, indeed for the rest of this month.  I will just be taking food taken from The Victory Garden, this weeks rations, if I have them in stock and the freezer.  I have added £10 for each week left in September to the Royal Cash Pot and hopefully there it will stay.

 This weeks rations look very different too, you might be surprised at how different ... it took a bit of thinking about.  😮

The Weekly Rations for week five.

Two ounces each of the cheeses with the shortest dates from the fridge.

An 8oz top up of the sugar jar.

Now it's gone quite a bit cooler I think this will be the week that I will make my Compost Heap Jelly and use some of this up at last.

My sweet ration is being taken in candy canes.  

These are over from last Christmas and I think it's time I made some space for this Christmas' wish list. 

One thing completely missing from the photo of this weeks rations is a carton of dairy-free milk.  I don't have any in the cupboard and I don't want to spend any money on some so it's not there.  If I decide that I do need some milk for something specific I can make it from either oats from the ration or from the almonds that I had in my pre-ration times cupboard.

Now I'll talk you through the swaps.

The roll of puff pastry from the freezer is in place of my usual 6oz dairy-free spread and 2oz oil, I should be able to manage with what I have left for this week from the butter dish if I have porridge for breakfast, or jam on toast instead of spread.  

The two sausages I have instead of one of my eggs that I would get as a vegetarian on 1942 rations, are in the box along with last weeks two, that I have yet to eat.  Mix the pastry and a couple of the sausage rolls and I see Sausage Rolls being on the menu.  

The single 'No Chicken' garlic Kyiv is in place of the other egg.  I have decided that after this month I am not eating any more eggs.  I have two left in the fridge from the Monthly Ration and that is it.  I will instead pick something with a higher protein content to replace them both weekly and monthly.

The other swap is this.

Alan needed some coffee and I didn't need my coffee this week ... as I have rather surprisingly found that my weekly allowed 2oz is more than enough and my jar still has lots in it for this week ... so I played the swapsies game as I am sure many people did with their neighbours.  

I 'bought' my coffee and gave it to Alan and then I swapped it for something out of my bottom food cupboard.  I'm not sure why I chose this, but I did.  It was right at the front maybe that was the only reason.  I definitely do not have a menu plan for this week yet but now I will incorporate this somehow. when I write it out.

So week five on rations  has thrown up a completely different game plan for me and one that I am actually quite looking forward to going with.  I'll share this week's menu plan with you tomorrow if you would like that.

Sue xx