Staying at home for the next few weeks to try and sort boy child 2's sleep its shocking. Never had this prob with boy 1. Also money wise we are a bit tight, not from Christmas I might add! Stops me spending. So today is another lazy day today, bit of batch cooking this am.  Shepherds pie, boys never say no to hot shepherds pie. Want to do fish pie too, but out of milk again!

I couldn't cook before I had boy 1, too tight to spend 99p on a pouch of food, or 69p on a 190g jar. Pudding jars are 76p for 120g!! Tight arse me! By my calculations (approx) box of cereal (£2.00), 14 meals jars (£9.66), 7 pudding jars(£5.32)  and a packet of yogurts (£1.50) which totals £18.48 a week! not including snacks. So I guess by the time you've brought snacks that's £20 a week easy. Figured I have to cook for me and I couldn't feed him on jars forever! So armed with this info of spending £80 a month on baby food and the awful thought of all those glass jars (I do re-cycle by the way) off to WHS I went. That's how Annabel Karmel became my best friend. I love her I really do. She has taught me everything I know. I did babyled weaning and so skipped all the mush stuff she does and went straight the meals and if needed used a hand grinder on big pieces of food. Boy was a lazy chewer at times.Which I know is against the babyled weaning rules but hey I wanted him to eat!
http://www.whsmith.co.uk/CatalogAndSearch/ProductDetails.aspx?productID=9780091900311

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Baby-Dan-Food-Serving-Spoon/dp/B000F48ZUS

Had to think outside of the box, if we were going out and I wasn't sure if I could heat his food or store it appropriately I would give him scambled eggs/omelette toast and rice pudding. Then I would take weetabix or readybrek and just get hot milk- sorted. He never cared what way round his meal times were.Banana in a banana box (thanks pound land!) sorted.

Nearly 4.5 years on and another baby later I am obsessed and love batch cooking. Takes the stress out of the evening for me!