Frozen Pizza and Mum Guilt: A Love Story
Tonight, I served my daughter a frozen pizza for dinner. Not homemade, not sourdough from scratch with lovingly simmered tomato sauce—just a frozen pizza chucked in the oven, cut with kitchen scissors (because let’s be real, the knives are buried under yesterday’s washing up).
The kitchen is a mess. The house is a mess. I am a mess. And today, getting out of bed felt like climbing Everest in flip-flops. I had big plans to make a nutritious dinner full of colours and hidden veg, but honestly, I just didn’t have it in me.
Cue the creeping feeling of mum guilt. That nagging little voice whispering, “You should be doing more. Other mums are doing more.” But here’s the thing I’m reminding myself (and maybe you need to hear too): we are not meant to run at 110% all the time. We are not machines.
Some days we’ll bake muffins and tidy the toy corner. This day did start with a gorgeous banana bread, yet simmered into tiredness. Other days we’ll survive on snacks and screen time, and dinner will be served in under 12 minutes, courtesy of the freezer aisle at my local supermarket.
But my daughter still ate. She still smiled. She’s still loved—and so am I.
If you’re a fellow tired mum or dad reading this, please know: “good enough” is enough. Frozen pizza counts. Sitting on the floor surrounded by chaos while your kid builds a tower with your never ending recycling boxes counts. You count—even when you feel like you’re barely holding it together.
Here’s to all the messy, beautiful, exhausting days. And here’s to the mums and dads who keep going, even when their energy’s running on crumbs and caffeine.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to ignore the dishes and watch something I’ll fall asleep to in 10 minutes. Or play some world of warcraft. Anything but what I should be doing.
Saving Money on Food Shops - Meal Planning
This post will cover how I lay the foundations to do a cost effective meal plan. But also, how I cut the costs on the food shop itself and prolong my foods life by storing it properly!
The first thing I do is take a stock check.
I focus on what fresh ingredients I have in my fridge the most. This helps me minimise waste. For example, I currently have a pepper and some mushrooms in the fridge, I'm thinking of doing some stuffed mushrooms and pepper for lunch tomorrow!
Then, after jotting down what I have excess in the fridge, I search the cupboards for what tins or general dry store ingredients I have.
I make a note of these and get my thinking cap on.
Some examples I've previously done are -
Stock cubes, sausages, split peas, lentils and pearl barley - I'll make a scotch broth
Lentils, onions, chopped tomatoes and mushrooms - Bolognese
Flour, cheese, mustard, pasta - something resembling Mac cheese
It's okay for these ideas to be missing a couple of ingredients, that's what the food shop is for!
When planning my food shop, I take into account how can I make a variety of food and textures at a cost effective price?
Financially speaking and nutritionally, if you were to eat a grand spag bowl every night. It would be great, but by the end of the week you'd be sick of it.
With this in mind, I really focus on textures. Something with rice, pasta, starchy carbs, maybe a little side salad. Soup, curry, Ragu. This is also so important with my little one weaning, exposing her to a variety of textures!
Also, mix in some vegan and vegetarian dishes! Not only does this significantly reduce the cost of meal, it's delicious! So much goodness is jam packed into veggie and vegan dishes!
When it comes to the food shop itself,
Cut. Out. Brands.
Use supermarket own branded products where available! These are 99% of the time just as good as the labelled products but at a fraction of the cost. Paying for packaging is real. Don't fall for it!
Also, if you want to create a nice freezer stash, if you're able to, double up your dinner/ bulk it with more veg and pulses. You save energy costs cooking it all at once and have a nice amount to freeze down!
Food storage and prep
When comes to storing your food, always follow packet instructions. If you're ever unsure, Google is your friend!
Bit of boring kitchen stuff I learnt as my time as a chef -
Your fridge should be between 1-5⁰c. I aim for between 2⁰c and 4⁰c as this really does ensure freshness.
Freezer, aim for between -18⁰c and -24⁰c. This will keep the produce nicely frozen and prevent bacterial growth.
When cooling food to store in the fridge or freezer, it should fall from +75⁰c (this is the temperature you cook too) to 8⁰c and below within a 2 hour period.
If you're keeping food warm, it must reach 75⁰c and remain above 63⁰c for a maximum of 2 hours before needing to be discarded.
I highly recommend investing in a cheap probe, they come in very handy!
When I store food in the fridge or freezer, I aim for airtight seals. My go too are actually zip lock bags. I fill it with the food, lay it on the side and squeeze the air out before zipping shut! Not only is this not as bulky as containers, it's more airtight!
The beautiful thing with zip lock bags is you can technically re use them or buy reusable ones! Now if I put a pasta sauce in one, that's written off. But, chopping up a red pepper or some onions? Give it a rise out and pop it on your draining board to dry!
I can't recommend enough to label your food! Write the day you made it to keep track of leftovers ect... Those plain white sticky labels work grand! This was drilled into me working in a kitchen, I guess old habits die hard!
As a rule of thumb, I store in 3's in my home,
3 days in the fridge
3 months in the freezer
This is just a guide, always check food before consuming or throwing! Completely depending what it is, it may last longer or spoil quicker!
I visit my local supermarket daily. I am fortunate enough to have supermarkets a walking distance from myself. I buy what I need for the day and it gets me and the little lady out for a nice walk!
I know this isn't always possible, I highly recommend shopping 3 days at a time. If you're doing weekly shops, buy any dry store/ long life ingredients but if you're able too, shop your fresh veg/ fruit and meat every few days.
This really reduces food waste and spoilage significantly! Also, it makes it easier to keep track of everything!
I really hope this helps with future food planning and storage! If you ever have any suggestions, pop a comment down below and I'd love to hear what you think!
Saving Money on Food Shops - Kitchen Staples
On this post, I will be covering what I always ensure I have in my kitchen cupboards and fridge. For example, I often bulk buy dried lentils, chickpeas and split peas from Grape Tree. You can use other stores local to you or even supermarkets do great selections now! Always check the world food isles for these items too.
These are ingredients I use all the time and really help me whip something out of nothing! Or bulk out meals.
A family member recently made a joke of "Shannon cooked it, of course it has lentils in it!"
This made me giggle more than it should have!
Now, I'm not saying go out and buy all of this immediately. That would be absurd. It took me a little while to build this up. Make notes of what you use often and then build from that!
This is what I find myself regularly grabbing for:
General dry store ~
Chopped tomatoes - I always ensure I have 2 tins in my cupboard. Especially for when poop hits the fan and I have £5 to my name so I can focus on other ingredients. Plum tomatoes also work well! I opt for own brand/ savers lines.
Mushy peas - staple ingredient for a pea and ham soup which I make regularly. Delicious and cheap!
Coconut milk - I always have 1 tin in my cupboard for emergency curries and dhals
Low salt/ salt free stock cubes - cooking for little ones, I found half my time stressing about salt. Buying salt free or low salt stock cubes like Kallo or Knorr ensures you get beautiful flavour for your dishes. I always ensure I have beef, chicken and a surplus of veg
Gravy granules (low salt) - believe it or not, I actually use gravy granules in a lot of my cooking. For example, my lasagne I normally put a spoonful of vegetable gravy in the mix. Always have chicken and vegetable gravy in your cupboard. They come in handy
Tinned veg - likes of sweetcorn especially, these come in very handy! Tinned potatoes make a quick and easy budget mash also!
Tuna - not a necessity as such, but always handy to have 1 or 2 tins for quick and easy dish. Opt for tuna in spring water if feeding to little ones. Brine is very high in salt content!
Vegetables - I always have potatoes, garlic bulbs, onions and sometimes carrots in my cupboard. Stored in tubs below my mugs! This ensures they're kept in a nice dark cool place and prolongs their shelf life
Coconut oil
Pasta and rice - I opt for wild rice (personal preference) and wholegrain pasta. Long grain rice is also a staple to make rice puddings and jambalayas.
100% peanut butter - opt for one with no added sugar
Baking ~
Plain flour
Self raising flour
Dried mixed fruit - savers brands work fine!
Bicarbonate soda
Baking powder
Veg/ sunflower oil - you'll be surprised how much you can make with oil! I've found when I've not had butter in the house I've substituted with oil, works perfectly!
Oats
Maple syrup - make sure to opt for a Canadian maple syrup and not maple flavoured syrup, they are sneaky!
Vanilla extract
Chia seeds
Fridge/ fresh ~
Lemon juice
Greek yoghurt (full fat)
Full fat milk (blue)
Tomato puree
Fruit - Bananas, apples and oranges. Nice and cheap, delicious and healthy snacks! I also used bananas a lot in my baking
Nuts and beans and pulses ~
Dried chickpeas
Dried lentils - I have a variety of red, green and organic
Dried split yellow peas
Popping corn - cook in a little coconut oil in a lidded saucepan for a delicious snack for a movie night!
Ground almonds
Pearl barley
Herbs ~
Mixed herbs
Smoked paprika
Cumin
Tumeric
Ground ginger
Pepper grinder
I believe that's everything... I guess I'll update the post if I think of more! Ha!
These are items I use almost daily, they allow me to make flatbreads/ pizza bases, curries, spag bowl sauces, sweet treats and so much more!
Saving Money on Food Shops - Meat and Fish
I'm begining a new money saving series. Here are my top tips and tricks when it comes to saving money on the pesky food shop. From what to have stocked up in your food cupboard and what to look for when buying food.
I'll be covering Meat and Fish in this post!
Chicken
I opt for chicken drumsticks, my local supermarket sells them for 1kg for £1.99
I cook them in the oven or air fryer, then simply shred the chicken and keep it in the fridge. Adding it to meals where I want to incorporate meat
Chicken is a versatile meat and pretty much works in 90% of meals.
Alternatively, if I'm doing a roast chicken, I will shred the remaining chicken from the carcass and use that for another meal. Also perfect for making stock!
Mince (beef)
Opt for roughly 10-15% fat mince. 9 time out of 10, these are price matched to Aldi at major retailers making it affordable.
5% mince can dry out easily and be harder for little ones to eat, whilst the highest fat content mince (around 20-25%) has a habit of changing consistency and flavour of your food and making it very greasy and oily.
Butchers sections
At my local supermarket, we are fortunate enough to have a butchers attached. They do 2 very large turkey legs for around £5.
Often, I will buy these and blitz it in the food processor, making something resembling turkey mince. They also sell the likes of offcuts and pork ribs. These are brilliant more affordable options.
If you have a butchers local to you, I highly recommend utilizing it!
Fish
I often opt for frozen fish fillets. For example, frozen salmon fillets normally only contain the fillet themselves and water as a protective ice glaze. Meaning there are no added nasties.
These are perfect options if you are incorporating the fish into something like pinwheels or a pie. Granted, if you want a pan fried salmon with a salt crust, these won't be as nice as the ones you find in the fresh section. But almost double the produce for the same price, you can't complain.
For littles, be sure to always check the ingredients on the likes of sausages ect to ensure there's as minimal ingredients as possible.
Savers sections
Always scout the savers lines and also reduced items. These are godsend in my meal plans.
By saving money on these little bits, I'm able to afford nicer meals more often. For example a pork joint or a lamb curry one night in a week.
Next I'll be covering what I keep in my dry store. Tins of stuff and my kitchen staples.