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! It's Back to School time here in Australia! Can I hear a hallelujah from all the parents?!  Today I thought I would share my tips for making school lunches. My oldest is now in Year 9, so I have made A LOT of school lunches. Some days are a lot easier than others, some days you just want to send your kids with some $$$ to buy lunch because you really can't be bothered (usually happens during the last 2 weeks of each term...). However, these tips will make it a lot easier on you every day! First off, before school starts, help your child learn how to make a sandwich. Teaching independence in this area from an early age will make your life easier! Keep spreads, bread, sandwich bags, etc, in a place where they can reach easily to ensure independence and watch them go! I have found that when kids get the choice in what they eat, particularly on a sandwich, they are more likely to eat it. Which is why I get the kids to fill their lunch boxes with things TH...

Hey Everyone! So y'all know there are a lot of people in my house at the moment, what you don't know is that my food budget has not really changed too much. Yes, we buy more fruit, eggs, milk etc. But really that's about it. The key is to make your meals go further. And there a couple of ways I have found to make this work. #1: Add more veggies. We love to have meals like Baked Ravioli, Sticky Sausages, etc. So instead of making so much more of everything, I had (more) veggies to that meal. When I make the Baked Ravioli (also a great freezer meal), we have peas, carrots and maybe a fruit with it.  #2: Put stew type meals over rice. Meals like sausage curry, stir fry and beef stew can go a lot further if you serve it over rice. Rice is a great way to fill up little (or big) bellies and a little goes a long way.  #3: Give the kiddos a snack plate of veggies just before dinner. My kids love eating frozen peas straight from the bag, along with carrot sticks and...

Hey guys!  It's been a while so I thought I would give Meal Plan Monday another go! This time I will go through breakfasts, snacks and lunches and why we meal plan this way now. So here it is! Here is this week's meal plan (check out  Large Family Table  to find the meal planner). I don't have Morning Tea on there because it is ALWAYS fruit and everyone knows to choose a piece of fruit.  I also have for most lunches Make Your Own Sandwich. I don't make the kid's lunches, they do. There is always a variety of fillings/spreads available and quite frankly, I am not a slave. I have a LOT of other things to be doing at that time so they (with supervision) make it themselves. It also works better for them to make it, so that they take ownership and eat what they put in their lunch boxes.  It is not quite summer here (where I am we have about 3 weeks of "winter" and the rest of the year is just hot and muggy), so afternoon tea consists ...

Hey Guys! So we have had a few behaviour issues around here lately so I thought I would jump on here and share my go-to behaviour management strategies.  So when my children (or the children in my care) are misbehaving I ask them 3 things. These things are bible based because we all strive to live a life as close to the Word as possible.  So first thing: I say "Do unto others as you would have them do to you". My kids know that verse VERY well as they teach them this at school and at their Friday night activity. This is mainly said when whatever they are doing is impacting others around them, for example, say my son was saying harmful words to others. This can also come in handy when they are being picked on at school and they feel they want to retaliate. Most of the time all I have to say is the first part. Then they stop and think about what they are doing. At the moment with our little extra kiddos, they are still learning what this means, so letting them know...

Hey Guys! One of my favourite things to watch on YouTube is (obviously) meal planning and freezer cooking videos. I love these videos because they give me inspiration in the kitchen... and without it, I tend to do the same set of meals over and over. I'm not sure why I have not been able to get into the routine of doing freezer meals on a regular basis, however this time around, it has been relatively simple and no pressure. One of my favourite YouTubers to watch on the topic of freezer cooking is Jamerill's Large Family Table . She has put together a few packs with a bunch of large family style freezer cooking meals and they are amazing! Check it out by following the link to her YouTube channel and she has the link on her page. Some of the recipes I have been able to make for the freezer meals include: Banana Bread (3 loaves) Slow Cooker Chicken Parmesan (can't wait to try this on the weekend) Slow Cooker Broccoli and Beef (this was a big winner with the kids -...

Hey guys! So I finally got my act together enough to meal plan for this week! We have had a crazy few weeks here and yes I have been really bad with meal planning. School holidays have been and gone and now it is time to get back into the routines we all thrive on here! Here we go! Monday: Savoury mince Tuesday: Chicken meatball bake with veg  Wednesday: Sticky sausages and veg Thursday: Crumbed fish with mac and cheese Friday: Noodles/Pasta Saturday: Party pies and hot chips Sunday: Meatloaf and veg I am going to do most of these meals in the Thermomix wherever I can as well as make a lot of the snacks for the week in there as well. So for snacks this week I am making: Yoghurt Popcorn Banana muffins Choc chip muffins Honey loaf Thanks for reading! Jacqui xxx

Hey Guys! I have heard of a lot of vloggers that do this Monthly Favourites video, so I thought I would do a bloggers version! I will show you my favourite items in the areas of: Organisation, Kids, Books, YouTube creators, In the Kitchen, and more! Let's get right into it, shall we? I have been loving cooking in my Thermomix this month and one website I have been loving is  The Road To Loving My Thermo Mixer . I have gotten so many recipes for lunch box snacks, dinners, soaps and more from this website for a long time. The recipes are quick and easy and are a simple and healthier version of the store-brought varieties. The kids love most of the recipes I have made and even help out with them! The winner in the Organisation category are these pantry containers! I LOVE these! I keep this one filled with snacks for school lunches and it is so easy for the kids to pull out of the pantry to grab one snack from the front two bins when they make their lunches (We ...

Hi Everyone! And welcome to our blog!  Today I am going to share about our large family laundry system. Doing laundry is one of those evil necessities that I have had a love/hate relationship with for a long time. I have never really been able to stick to any sort of schedule so it always built up until there was a huge pile of washing to be done. Then one day something changed. I was able to get to the bottom of Mount Washmore and after that I was actually able to do one or two loads every day. I really don't like going outside to put the washing on the line, however the clothes turn out nicer when they have had time out in the sun. I do have a dryer and I was one of those people that said they would only use it when it was raining, etc. but yeah... I use it most of the time.  So here are the catagories I sort my washing into. School Uniforms Towels, kitchen cloths and face washers Sheets Regular Clothes Just a note: I never sort clothes into lights...

Hey Guys! So sorry for the post being sooo late.... but here it is! My next tip for grocery shopping is to try, try, try to not take kids with you. I know this may be next to impossible for a lot of people, but there are other options. Whenever I take my kiddos shopping with me, I always end up with a stack of things I don't need, there are always temper tantrums because I said no to something. If I have the option to not take the kids into the grocery store, I don't. There is no use putting yourself through the stress of having to deal with kids tantrums and trying to stick to your list especially when you have a small budget. Tip Number 8 is to make use of the in-store points cards. Here in Australia, Coles have the FlyBuys cards and Woolworths have rewards cards (We don't really have any other ones where we are which is why i have only mentioned these two). The thing to remember when using these cards is to not let the bonus points affect your list too much....

Hey Guys! Today we are going to talk about saving time and money while grocery shopping! Having a family of 9 now (long story, sorry can't really go into it, but we now have a Mr3 and a Mr1!), I have had to really cut down my grocery budget and be a little more wise with every cent. After reading through a bunch of great books, I have managed to cut my weekly grocery budget down to around $100 for our large family, but still eat healthy food with the occasional sweet treat.  My number one tip would be to... Meal plan!  Meal planning may take some time, however if done consistently, you end up with an organised system that you can pull meals from when you don't have a lot of time. I keep my menu plan in my Kikki K planner so I always have access to my calendar so I know what I have on that week. Even when we do have planned nights out, I always plan and shop for a meal for that night anyway just in case. Some nights we have had a plan to go out for a meal with fr...