My Raisin Family

Hey Everyone! We have had a pretty rough start to the year so now here I am, getting back into everything including meal planning! This week I am doing things a little differently and planning out my kiddo's lunches as well. This just helps me know what it is they want to eat (I get them to give me some hints as to what they want and include them as well) as well as what I will be making (I much rather make snacks than buy them). So we will start off with dinners for the week of  Monday 16th until Sunday 22nd of March. And here is this weeks school lunches! Keep in mind that I do pack fresh fruit and some other kind of snack (what snack it is depends on the kids choice that morning) in their lunch boxes as well.  I am always looking for suggestions for lunch box fillers so if you have any, please leave it in the comments! Thanks for reading! Jacqui xxx

Hey Guys! Wow! Have we had a massive December or what?! This December for us as a family has been huge! Early December saw us taking a fantastic and much needed holiday to visit family for a couple of weeks, so that is our number 1 favourite of December! The kids and us had a blast going to theme parks, taking a ride on my brother's boat on the river, the beach was amazing and generally just hanging out and spending time with family we don't get to see very often. December favourite number 2 was our doTerra Touch rollers. We took the kids kit on holidays with us and I just put some others in with it that we use regularly. Here are the rollers we took: Lavender touch (great for mozzie bites and sleeping babes) Peppermint touch (headaches don't stand a chance) Tea Tree touch (in case of sickness) Adaptiv touch (anxiety sucks, this makes me feel better) Tamer (kids line - helps with tummy issues) Calmer (my niece loved putting this on her feet at be

Hey Guys! So Christmas is the day after tomorrow (as I am writing this), so this post is all about what we got the kids for Christmas! Our kids are 14, 13, 11 and 9 so they are not interested in toys as such. We also just came back from a 2 week holiday so that was the main family present. So we only got the kids 2 gifts each from us. They do get more from grandparents and friends so I don't feel bad for not getting them a lot of things. I'll start with a family gift. We wanted to get something that will get not only the kids outside playing, but us parents as well. So this set was perfect! 8 in 1 sports set Lyss's gifts include a new phone and a bullet journal with a couple of pens that were recommended. She has not been having a great time with her current phone (her Dad's old one) so we decided to spend up and get her a decent new phone. This Oppo AX5S is the one we chose because it ticked all the boxes and the price was pretty good. It is a

Hey Everyone! As a busy mum with kiddos who have after school activities most of the week, planning and prepping meals is a big part of my week.  At this point, my son has futsal games on Monday and Tuesday late afternoon, and futsal training on Monday and Wednesday straight after school. Speech therapy is also straight after school on Tuesdays.  My youngest daughter also has gymnastics straight after school on Wednesday and Friday. So making sure I have meals prepped (for the most part at least) is really important for us to keep to our routines. Here are some tips I have picked up in my journey of feeding my family on a budget! Tip #1: Pre-cook your mince, chicken breast etc. We eat a few meals that use mince as the base (tacos, spag bol, savoury mince etc) and in order to make the most of my time in the kitchen, throwing a couple of kilos of mince in the pan or putting some chicken breast in the slow cooker takes little effort. Freeze in ziplock freezer bags in 1k

Hey Everyone! Welcome back to Meal Plan Monday! Most of these meals I have tips on saving time in the kitchen on another post, so keep an eye out for that in the next couple of weeks! Snacks for the week include: Popcorn Yoghurt Fresh Fruit Muffins (with sneaky fruit and veg) Homemade muesli bars Lunches have been a bit different lately because we have not really been having sandwiches. The kids are really not liking them at the moment so we have moved to having things like mac and cheese, ham and cheese scrolls and leftover dinners. Having lunch boxes like  these  make it easy to have a variety of things in the lunch boxes. My kiddos tend to not eat a lot during the hot months, instead drinking a lot of water. This is why they only have one small portion of a main meal for lunch, a snack (usually home baked) and a piece of fresh fruit.  Afternoon tea items are usually something protein packed due to the fact that after school sports have increased th

Hey Everyone! A couple of months ago, my thermomix started to not work very well (so not happy about this). I talked to the Thermomix Customer Service who said to send it in for a service and to get checked. I use my thermomix all the time, so if I was without one for so many days or weeks, I would definately feel it.  So we talked about it, prayed about it, and decided it was time for a new TM6! And.... I am still getting used to the new format in the TM6, but so far it has been AMAZING! As of Sunday night, I have made a couple of things apart from the delicious veggie stock paste the lovely consultant made with me at the time of delivery. As always, the thermomix custard is the easiest and most delicious custard recipe ever, as well as the basic muffin recipe on the guided cooking platform Cookidoo. The muffins were choc chip (having a special needs child in the house, foods can feel repetitive but neccessary at times), and the recipe said it would make 1