Feeding the family is a bit like laundry; never ending and always something else needing to be done ready for the next loading. School holidays bring such a relief from the every evening packed lunch ritual but also provide a huge potential to double our food bill, all the extra bottles of wine me and relaxing teacher man consume don't help either!
We had a few extra for lunch yesterday and as I prepared the food I had to think really carefully about it to avoid the need to pop to the supermarket. We were running pretty low on supplies but I was determined not to pop to the shops and use what we had in the house, a little bit of creative cutting with a sharp knife certainly saved the day.
Apart from my littlest lady who I gave a plate too, the rest all loved helping themselves buffet style and eating it picnic style. This was really because our big table has broken and they didn't all fit around the other one but they thought it was great fun. It was a pretty basic lunch, we always make great use out of the Sainsbury's basic range. Their peanut butter is the favourite of all brands with my children.
A few nights ago I bought several loaves of bakery bread reduced and cut it using the slicing machine next to the bakery, this is really worth doing as it stretches the loaf much further. It also makes it a lot quicker to defrost. They all love choosing their own toppings and making their own sandwiches, adding to the fun kitchen picnic event!
I creatively sliced up the carrots to make four stretch between ten of us, used my fabulous apple cutter to make the apples go further as well. As ever I cut the one packet of biscuits I had into smaller pieces so there were enough for everyone, great skill is needed here to avoid arguments about biscuit size!
Unearthing the egg cutter, I used it to stretch the two remaining eggs around us all. As it is the holidays I gave them the last few crisps in a bowl, I am not sure that the last to the table actually got many but there were no loud complaints.
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| Basic: Carrots, dip, lemon curd & tortilla crisps! |
The lovely mummy of the visiting girls had baked us a yummy cake which was wolfed down by the gang. As it is Easter week we have been eating lots of hot cross buns and there were enough to be shared between us for lunch.
After the 'picnic' the gils played happily and I managed to spend time crafting with the boys:
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| The mask was meant to be his sisters! |
As ever Mr funny guy made us all laugh!
Where are you eating your lunch today?
Try & make it somewhere fun!
Well done you. It's amazing what can be done with a bit of imagination. Suzy x
ReplyDeleteIt makes mealtimes so much fun when they're like this. Eleanor loves 'picky' food so I often do indoor picnics. Mr.Funny Guy made me laugh too.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds as if you are having a great holiday. My family love getting together for buffet-style meals. It's so much easier when a few people have allergies! Jx
ReplyDeleteWhen we have large groups indoors for lunch I let them make their own sandwiches. So put a selection of fillings out, bread, butter, sauces, salad etc and then call it "life skills lunch". If I am feeling particularly like my halo might choke me I get biscuits, sweets and bowls of icing out for pudding and let them ice their own biscutis.
ReplyDeleteYesterday, we had an outdoors picnic, fourteen children and six adults, at Alnwick Castle. The children all pottered backwards and forwards between activities and the picnic table. It was a lovely day.
Your picnic sounds fun! Amazing how far we can make food stretch sometimes. My kids have been "camping" in the sitting room and plan to sleep there for Easter. No doubt there will be a picnic at the camp :)
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