Jarring up!

This is a quick easy way of jarring up your jams, jellies and chutneys. Please note this way will not preserve the contents, you need to make sure what you are putting in the jars will keep for the length of time you require.

First, wash your jars. I wash them on a high dishwasher cycle. I also soak and remove all the labels. 

On the most part you won't need how many jars you will need till you have finished making what ever it is your putting in them. So always have a few extra ready to go! 

Now you will need the contents of the jars to be hot/warm when you fill them. As they cool they will pull down the lid and seal the jar. Keep this in mind, as you will need to time making your jam etc to be ready to jar straight up!

Pre-heat your oven at 100. This is a hot and fast way of jarring up, so have your wits about you ;)

To help me fill my jars, I have cut off the bottom of this plastic funnel. So that the large bits of fruit still flow through to the jar. (It's been suggested that you could do the same with an empty squash bottles. Which I think is a fab idea!! A great frugal money saving idea!)

I use an old pizza tray to pop the jars and lids on. I found a deep tray just led to problems! 

I use a large ladle, to spoon the mixture into the jars.

When you are ready to jar up remove your jars from the oven, they need to have heated right through. A good 15mins to have heated up too 100c. Do not go over this. 

Remember the lids, tray and jar will be very hot. 

Be very careful when ladling in the mixture as the jar or funnel could move. 

Leave about 1-2cm gap between the mixture and lid.

There are two different ways to pop on the lid. Some people leave them half on and tighten later or you can do as I do and go as tight as possible straight away. 

Insure you don't try and tighten without a teatowel or other proctection. As the jar with hot mixer in side will be very, very hot to touch and most likely burn you!

I keep the oven on while am jarring up, in case I have not got the right amount of jars for the job. 

Then I can grab my spare jars and pop them in the oven. It's best to start with more than you think you will need as extra cooking time could mess up your mixture! 

Now leave your jars on a drying rack, to cool, before touching them. Count how many jars you have. You will need to count the **pops** then you know the lid has sealed. (If you had to pop out, you can check that the lids have gone flat.) 

Am quite silly, I love hearing the pops! 

This way insures the jars are sterilised before use, it's my favourite way to jar up! 

Keep an eye out for my blog about label making coming soon.

Click here for my yummy Wild Blackberry Jam!

My Kitchen

Inside a vegan family of five's tiny kitchen!

I have quite a small kitchen, but its in a large family living space. The house used to have a small kitchen and huge sitting room. So we moved the kitchen into the sitting room and split the old kitchen into half. To create a laundry room and big open hallway. A tiny kitchen away from the main living space, is not very sociable. At dinner parties we would all be in the kitchen and the big sitting room would empty! Then when we had children, I would be running between the rooms!

How I use my small kitchen for a family of five.

I use large jars to store things like rice and flour. I can grab them quickly and also see what am low on too. These sit on the counter (on my list is a small shelf to go above the counter to house these.) When am refilling them and have things left over these can be stored at the back of my small cupboard. 

Before a big shop, (I think I've run out of everything!) I give everything a good wash and sort out, moving things am low on to a smaller jar. (Unless it's something I buy in big amounts!) 

It's like a mini spring clean.

I love having things in jars like this, it's easy to grab, saving me time. Also when your on a really tight budget, no one looking at my flour looking pretty in a jar would know its from the basic range.

This is next to the hop/oven. (Still waiting on a shelf!) It's all to hand, quick to grab and see what am low on. I reuse jars, the larger jars are coffee jars, I must drink a lot of coffee...the small ones are IKEA spice jars. Next to these are a bottle of red wine and some vinegar. Making quick meals is a lot easier if everything is to hand.

Inside my fridge!

Small kitchen means small under counter fridge! It's amazing what you can pack into a small fridge. We also have a small freezer, currently in the office. Not to far from the kitchen. I have a fruit bowl on the counter and that's about it!

 

The main used items in my kitchen is-

Slow cooker

Bread maker (though I love mixing my own bread)

Blender (I have a lovely big one which was a wedding gift but mostly I use my cheap supermarket hand one) 

Large bowl and a woodern spoon (every kitchen should have a large mixing bowl and a woodern spoon!)

Even though its a very small kitchen, I love that its the heart of our home, right in the center. The children can easy join in with cooking, or they could snuggle down for a film on a rainy Sunday afternoon while I bake a cake! Don't underestimate a small kitchen, if deigned well, its quick and easy to use allowing you more living space!

The Food Shop

How to save on your food bill:

One of the biggest outgoings is the food shop, it's a nightmare. It's so easy to over spend, it's hard when you are working to a tight budget. I've been trying to get it manageable for ages, but am slowly getting some where. First I tried to work out, what our basics are, what things I need to buy each week. Once i started to work out the basics, I started meal planning. Now to really save, it takes time, meal planning. Working out a set meal plan for the week and not buying over what you need for those meals. Will save you lots of money, and save on wasted food. Meal planning takes time, but once you get used to it, and work out which meals work for your family, it does get quicker. 

So the basics, first there is nothing wrong with buying basics, smart price etc. I have big glass jars, so no one would know anyway. 

We have 3 kids 5 and under, and two come home hungry from school. So I work it out that the children eat a meal at 4.30-5 Monday to Thursday. (They go to bed for 6pm.) On a Friday, we all eat together at 6, when my husband is home, and the children go to bed a little later. This means Friday's meal is a meal which works for all of us like toad in the hole, spaghetti Bolognese or Mac&Butternut.

This way, I can plan meals for the children and meals for my husband and I.  

Most of the meals I make for my husband and I, are batched cooked meals. So I cook double and freeze down for later in the week or the next. This saves time and also money. 

Basics:

When you are really struggling or that last week of the month when you have run down pretty much everything, this is the basics. I've always thought, if I have bread and porridge, we will be fed. Making your own bread can be a scary thought but it will save you money and is much better for you. We used to go through loads and it really adds up! Now I bake most days, and I do have a bread maker. But you don't need a bread maker to make yummy bread for your family with ease. 

This is a very, very basic shop:

Loo roll £1

Oil 99p

Bread Flour 95p

Yeast 99p buy the pot not satchels, works out much cheaper.

Potatoes £1.29

Jam 25p (once you have eaten the jam, wash and keep the jar.)

Soya Milk 59p

Porridge Oats 75p 

Vegetable Grills £1 

Baked Beans 24p X2

Bananas (always buy the ones which you need to weigh, not the packaged ones, as cheaper.) Min one per day (it would be per person but depends on how much you have.) 

= £8.29

The loose bananas where £1.19, this very very basic shop was under £10.

(These are the current prices, so they may change. Tesco is my local shop, but you can apply the ideas to any shop. I find that even to much cheaper shops, it works out about the same price. Always compare the size and price, it maybe cheaper else where but a smaller packet. By the time you have worked in the extra petrol/bus costs to get to lots of different shops you may not have saved anything at all.)

When you are trying to make sure you can stretch your money and feed mini people, it can be hard to think about what meals you can make.

This is a mega basic shop, this shop means everyone will have porridge for breakfast (with a banana and a little jam.) Homemade sandwich rolls with jam for lunch. Home made chips, beans and a veg grill for dinner. Like I said basic but still filling. So this should cover 

Breakfast- 

Mon-sat porridge with jam for breakfast. (With a banana sliced up and shared, saving one for Sunday.) For the perfect porrage, half water/half milk, cook till almost at boiling. (Stiring too.) Then turn right down till thicken, make sure you keep stiring. (I love it with golden syrup, bananas and raisins.)

Sunday 'good morning dumplings.' Waiting a little later, around brunch time, can make sure they all eat and feels more like an early lunch. I try and do a roast around 3pm and a brunch is the way to go if a big early dinner is on the cards (this basic shop is not allowing for a roast.)

Lunch-

Mon-sat Jam sandwiches 

(If you can go blackberry picking for an afternoon snack.) 

Lovely Buns  These are mega easy to make, cheap, good for you and great fun to make with the mini people. 

Dinner-

Mon-Friday Homemade chips, a veg grill (there are 6 in a pack, so depending on how many children you have and how much they want to eat. As to how long these will last.) Beans (not throwing away any uneaten and saving in the fridge.) 

This should get you through at least 5 days, with yeast, loo roll and maybe potatoes and porridge oats left over. 

This is a mega basic shop, it's not got all the nutritional and vitamins but if you are really stuck at least you know they will be fed. 

You can build on this very minimum shop, add tins of smart price tomatoes. Add some porridge to the tomatoes a little veg and you have a basic pasta sauce. What about a can of chickpeas to make my Mega Cheap Chilli perfect with Rice or a few of the Lovely Buns. Add a can of coconut and a butternut squash (about 95p for coconut and £1 for butternut) and you can make 1-2 meals of Mac&Butternut or a Simple Curry. Veg fingers are £1.50 from Tesco are fun and cheap for the children. I know frozen chips look cheap, but get into making your own, you will save money this way. It really doesn't take much more time at all. Like me, you can mix up a few potatoes with a few parsnips cut the same way, some sweet potatoes and carrots. Great way of getting them eating veg, thinking their just chips! You can add seeds to them when cooking, for extra goodness too! You can make different sort of chips too, one night plain chips, other homemade wedges (just cut as wedge shapes and add over Homemade Breadcrumbs from any left over bread.)

We stopped eating meat about a year ago now and we have saved a lot on our shopping bill. The children have a multivitamin and am very hot on making sure they are getting everything they need. Since changing our diet we are eating much better, healthier food and cheaper. So don't be scared to try different things. 

When you are low on money, and you have managed to get a meal together and you child just pushes it away....it can be heartbreaking. So horrible explaining there are no yogurts today. It can easily make meal times very stressful and put added pressure on them and you. So I try and included them. They love making bread with me (youngest tries to eat the flour, middle son loves throwing it about but my eldest is getting really good!) they are much more likely to eat a meal they have helped to make. 

Basic spices etc to have are - chilli powder, Rosemary, thyme, mint and black pepper. Grow what you can as this will save you money but allow you to make cheap sauces. 

Tips:

Not only making your own bread will save you money, but things like Jams too. Check out how to make my Wild Blackberry Jam. Its great fun to go out with the mini people and pick free food, and nothing tastes better than you have cooked your self! (Make sure you read Blackberry Picking before you head out to pick berries.)

Make your own pastry. It sounds scary if you haven't before, but you can then make pies, pizzas and things like sausage rolls mega cheap. Use left over veg and a veg stock cube and you have a pie! half and onion and some tomato sauce and a pizza! Short Crust Pastry This is my mega easy pastry recipe, without eggs it brings the cost down even more. Today I had run out of butter so used some oil in its place, was still yummy. You can also wrap a nut roast in this to make it extra special. 

If you can, shop later. Most shops mark down things around 7pm, and you can get some bargains.

Don't throw away stale bread, make your own breadcrumbs! 

Porridge in your pasta sources, so good for you and thickens up a source. Also adding a teaspoon of marmite will beef up a pasta source. 

Always go to the reduced sections first when you go shopping. You will be surprised how much you can freeze, from herbs and spinage to onions! 

Check out your local farm shops, some things can be cheaper as you can buy in a bigger bulk. 

Look for bootsales, often the regular ones have a vegetable stall. Which is from a local producer, it's often much cheaper. 

When you go shopping, go to a big shop as many now give free fruit to children while your shopping. This not only makes the shop much easier but it's also a snack you haven't had to pay for.  

For things like loo roll, don't buy the expensive stuff. It's not worth it ;) 

Washing powder, you can spend so much money just on powder! Soap nuts are amazing, they are great for your skin, save you loads and loads and good for our planet! You can use them for assorts of things, from washing your clothes to your hair! Click here for my review on Soap Nuts!

Nappies, after trying almost every nappy out there, I like Tesco smart price nappies £1.41! They are fab but 90% of the time I cloth bum! Cloth nappies, am going to do a blog just about them, as well there are so many. They are well worth it and will save you money. 

You can make your own baby wipes, ladies monthly products and washing items. It's well worth thinking about what you can make or buy which will help you save money but also help the planet by you using. So many people spend a 3rd of their shopping budget on cleaning products. You really don't need too. I clean my kitchen sink with half a lemon, it's amazing! I will getting writing a few blogs about things you can make which will save, so keep an eye out :) 

Save all your jars, so you can make your own jams and chutneys. I will be sharing some Christmas ideas for old jars soon too. 

Don't throw away all your peelings! 

So many plants regrow from peelings! These are spring onions, just chop off the roots, pop them in water and watch them regrow. Once they have found their feet plant them! Same with potatoes peelings, they are fab at braking up hard ground too. I will be sharing soon how I made my veg patch, while your waiting, pop your potato peelings in a brown paper bag in the dark, watch them grow or just throw them on a patch of ground you want to grow beg in or in a big tub.

Make sure you check out my Family Budgeting blog too!

For a family of five, we spend between £60-100 a week on food. If I have meal planned to the letter it's closer to £55-60.  Meal planning is the way forward and the best way to save money. Click here for my blog about meal planning.

Learning how to make your own bread, Pastry and Pancakes will really bring your spending down. Ok it takes a little longer to make, but before you know it you will be quick. Also the kids love to help, making the batter for pancakes or kneeing the bread. You can make so many meals from one bag of flour (a few other bits and bobs but you get my meaning.) I buy the smart price flour, its fine, its cheap and the pancakes taste just as good.  


Best way to save money in the long term is to meal plan - click here for my blog about how I meal plan

Am adding to this blog, so make sure you save the link :) and if you have any tips please share :)

Cheap Chilli

Here is a mega basic cheap dish for the lean weeks.

Ingredients:

1x tin of chickpeas

1x tin tomatoes (refill tin with water once)

1x small courgette

1x red onion

I had the following in the fridge, they are not needed but a good way of using up a little left over veg. 

1x spring onion 

Half a green pepper

Black pepper and chilli powder (I used about 2 tablespoons but add to your taste.)

A little fresh mint and rosemary from the garden, if you don't have this, don't worry.

Chop up onions and courgette into very small chunks, about 1-2cm. Fry, add the tin of chickpeas (after removing the juice, I have frozen mine in an ive cube tray for cakes.) Add the chill powder, pepper and herbs. Fry till starting to brown.

Add a tin of tomatoes, refill the empty can with water and add. Cook till source thickens.

Perfect with RICE!  

Goodwood Revival 2016

We were very lucky to get last minute tickets to Goodwood! I haven't been back since one of the very first ones, and it's always been on my list to return. Compared to the first one I went to, it's now huge. It's wonderful to see that the people who don't dress up stick out! It must be under 10% who don't dress up. 

We managed to pull off outfits with less than 24hrs notice. (Am lucky that my wardrobe is full, but after having three children and not bothering to shift off the extra weight, I was worried I wouldn't get in anything!) 

The atmosphere is electric, I had to just stand about and soak it up. We walked through the turnstiles straight into a 1966 football match. I think England where playing ;)

Everywhere you looked there was something to see. From guys digging the road, to lady's dusting people. Then St Trinians passed me, complete with drink teacher leading them! From races to dresses it's a wonderful, truly British day out!

We chatted to people who had come all the way from Sweden and had to book their hotel a year in advance! It draws people from all over the world. 

I have watched lots of car racing over the years, and I do feel nothing beats watching these beautiful vintage cars fly round this brilliant track! You never know who you may bump into walking around Goodwood, there are celebs dotted all over the place! My favourite thing is seeing everyone's outfits, the level of detail is amazing. A few people commend on my brooch, it is a war time brooch lent to me by my mother for the day. A few things I was wearing where modern, like my shoes (which I made it too 4pm before I went barefoot!) That's one thing my wardrobe needs is some size 4/5 vintage shoes. Am so lucky I have two of my Great Grandmothers, but they are 1970's onwards and wouldn't have matched my outfit.  

Getting ready to pose for a photo. I lost count of how many people asked for my photo! It was so much fun!

My Great Grandmothers parasol got lots of attention, lots of people came up for a closer look. She was born in 1901, so am sure it must be over 100 years old. Still being loved and used. I was suprised how much it really helped with the sun, not only keeping the sun off me but I was definitely cooler underneath it.  

I was going for 1950's my favourite of all dress styles and the era my dresses was from. This is my all time favourite dress in my wardrobe, it's the most comfortable. I was so worried I would be able to fit into it! (Still baby weight to lose.) With the help of a corset I was in! 

My outfit;

1950's Evening dress (found by my mother in a charity shop, in her teens.)

1950's White petticoat with flower design (my Grannies.)

1950's War time brooch (my mothers collection.) 

Modern sunglasses (current collection) from Tescos.

Fur wrap (now I was sure this was real vintage fur but the furrier thought it was synthetic.) This is one of the family ones. Now, if you have been following my blog you will know, in September we changed our diet to a plant based/vegan. So this maybe a bit odd, but this is my option. I do not believe in buying new fur, I don't buy new animal pruducts, like leather. I avoid all leather products. Yes in my wardrobe are 100 year old furs. They are my families, my Great Grand mothers used to wear them. In a time when that was the norm. I do know that some people feel wearing fur promotes it. I feel that modern synthetics look amazing and there is no need to buy new. 

Vintage Japanese black parasol (my Great Grandmothers, must be over 100 years old and still looks amazing!)

Small bag (from accessorise, it was the one I used for our wedding day so has a very special meaning to me.) 

Am still over the moon to have been short listed for Goodwood Revival Style Icon! Amazingly over the moon! 

We had a gay old time, it was fabulous! 

Am aready planning my outfit for next year! (I better get saving too!)

Wild Blackberry Jam

Please read my blog about Blackberry Picking before you head out to pick blackberries!

  

Ingredients:

1kg Wild Blackberries

1kg Sugar (they always say caster sugar but I find that caster and jam making sugars really expensive, so I use granulated.)

1-2 teaspoons of lemon (The first batch i made with half a lemon and it's set way to hard, like a composite. A bit hard for toast but perfect for porridge.)

First, soak the blackberries for about 2hrs, search through them and remove any bugs/storks/leaves etc. Then put a small china plate in the fridge (I use a side plate.)

I don't always find bugs, but these are the most common ones I've found. After you have soaked them for two hours, pick off any left over stalks, leafs or bugs. 

Mix the sugar, lemon and berries into a large cooking pot.

Stir and bring to a boil.

Once you have brought them to a boil, keep at a rolling boil for 10-15 (while stiring.) 

Now for the plate test! 

Get out your now cold plate from the fridge and pour a small amount (about a tea-table spoon) of the mixure onto the plate. Pop in the fridge for a moment or two. When you tip the plate, does the mixture run? If it runs the jam isn't ready yet. So keep stiring at a rolling boil for another 5-10 mintues and re-run the test. It's ready to jar up, when the mixture doesn't run but stays quite still like jelly. 

(The jam on the right with the two berries in, was my first plate test. You can see how much it moved compared to my second test on the left, note the difference in colour too!)

There are many different ways to jar up your jams. I use a mega simple method, which I will blog about next. This amount of mixture made 3 jars (about the same size as a large jam jar.) Keep in mind the longer you have to boil it for the less mixture you will have. So it's guess work knowing how many jars you will get from a batch of berries! 

Allow to cool, before touching or eating! 

I will blog soon about how I label my jars in the mean time click here for how to jarring up.

One of my favourite things to do as a family.   

Blackberry Picking

First, a cautionary tale:

I was chatting to a guy about how many tv programs were telling people to go picking wild berries, without any warnings! He told me the following, this was not all that long ago too -  hed this warning!!

'A lady wanted to make her family a lovely blackberry pie for pudding. 

While out picking blackberries, she saw some other berries which looked nice so picked them too.

She baked a pie, six members of her family died.'

Do not go picking any berries you are not 100% sure are safe to eat!!

The art of blackberry picking

I love blackberry picking, funnily I don't really like blackberries (I guess that's why am one of the only ones out of my family who end up with any left to make jam from!) 

It's something I did as a child with my mum, it reminds me of my childhood and I love heading out with the kids on the hunt for them! Our three young children love it and we have taught them well on what to look out for. 

Ok first off, don't eat the red ones....I know, this is going to the sort of guide where am going to assume you have never been blackberry picking before. 

You may find some raspberries on your travels but in my whole life of blackberry picking I have only come across them once! Make sure if you have mini people with you that 'don't eat the red ones' is drummed into them. As on the most part red ones are the scary ones. (Not always, like I said, no going trying some your not sure on.) 

Next point to note, as my lovely friend once reminded me. Don't pick below your knee level. Why you ask? Dogs love to wee all over the place, you will most likely be on a path and am sure a dog as been walked along it at some point. So teach your mini people to 'reach up for berries not down.'

The perfect berry? Not green, red or if gently squeezed is hollow and squishes in your fingers. Your looking for a rich glossy black, plumb and ready to be picked. Be careful when picking the perfect berry, as when they are ready to be picked the smallest shake and they will fall (I have lost a few perfect ones by picking others and they have fallen down in to the brambles never to be seen again!) So support or put something under the branch to collect the runaways. (You can cup your hand under while picking.)

Right my next very important point, wild berries are not ours. So don't strip a bush of every berry, remember all the wild life that will need to eat them too. So I always pick a few from each bush, not striping a whole bush. Quite often, as with anything wild or herbs for that matter, the more you pick the more you get. Start picking early, as soon as you see them turning black, you could encourage more to grow. 

Make sure you are on common public ground.

If your picking next to a road, make sure you don't eat straight from the bush and wash the fruit. 

Don't be like me and go blackberry picking in bare feet. Then have a fight with a blackberry bush catching your hair! 

Be careful of thorns, bugs, spiders, bees and wasps! All sorts of things could be hiding in the branches, so go careful. I try not to brake spiders webs too, they take so long to make and knocking on a spiders web sends them running too! 

A large plastic tub with lid, is the best thing to pick with. I often use a plastic bag, easy to use but can squished them all -ok if your making jam. (My big plastic tubs all some how disappear in a house!)

It's a great way to entertain mini people and also save some pennies too! From pies to jams or just a free snack! 

Keep an eye out for blogs on jams, click here for wild blackberry jam!

Review: Wow with WunderBrow

I was sent the WunderBrow 1-Step Brow Gel to try and I must say am impressed!

Above was the first time I tried it, my top tip is to neaten up your brows before applying the WunderBrow.

Here's me at Goodwood Revival, I really put this stuff to the test! A hot summers day and it stayed in place, perfect all day (in fact it's still perfect with no touch-ups two days later!) 

It's only taken me two goes, (with busy loud children pulling on me, no idea, they are happy playing and they see me putting on make-up and I become very popular!) to be happy with the finished look! 

It's easy to use, though I did use a smaller brush to keep the outside lines a little crisper. It did fill the little gap I have in my brow, and love that you can draw with it so easily. You can create different shapes or just follow your natural lines. 

Normally my eye brows would be lost in photos, but you can see that they look fab even from a distance. (Without looking to dark and fake.) The first time I applied it, I put on way to many layers and it was far to dark and wide. But a little less and a little thinner, was perfect. 

For me anything which saves me time, is a winner. With three busy children, 5 and under, who like to get up early....leaves me with very little time to be ready for the day. My make-up has become an after thought, often applied in a few moments. 

This stuff is perfect to fit around my busy day, only took me a few minutes and lasts days. Yes if your going to be scrubbing your face every day, then most likely won't last that long but still it doesn't run or smudge! 

I would like to see more colours available but that's my only thought. 

Am very impressed and this little brow creater will be staying in my make-up bag! 

Keep an eye out (see what I did there!) for my video, showing how I apply it coming soon!

Help support my blog with the above aaffiliated link! :)

Camping and Caravanning with Children

We have three children who are 5yrs, 4yrs and 2yrs.
The two oldest boys, have a speech delay and our youngest has hypermobility. So we have a few extra challenges when we are away in our 1969 Caravan Daisy. 

Here are a few tips for camping/caravanning and some tips for trips away with young children!

Packing, before your trip:

There are a few different ways you can pack, it really depends what works for you. Here are a few ideas!

I always used to pack for camping into a bag, in limited light, rifling though a bag - is not fun! So last year, before we brought Daisy, our 1969 Bluebird caravan, I came up with using boxes!

I got the idea from using our car to sleep in, you can read about that here: Renovating a Vintage Caravan I needed the boxes to hold up the bed in the car and they became the perfect thing to pack into! They where from Wilko, being plastic, you can see through them. So you know where things like the socks where. With a lid on, it didn't matter about the rain. Perfect for storing food in and easy to pack into the car. I pack all our camping stuff into them and all our Christmas stuff. Then I can put away the camping things easy over the winter!

Here's my blog about using plastic boxes for home storage: Storage Tips

So you can pack per person or per day. I find it much easier to pack per day. Each morning I can grab out that days outfit for everyone (I have packed so there is a few warmer or cooler outfits ready as back up.) Before I fixed Daisy's bed I needed to use the plastic boxes to hold up the bed, so I used them to pack into as well. Now I have fixed the bed am using the wardrobe much more, so much better! I put a whole outfit on one hanger, so I can just grab them out. Some people pack an outfit into a zip up lunch bag, for the mini people. This can work really well, as you can label them and reuse them. Perfect to save lots of space when packing. Also easy to take a spare pare of clothes for days out. 

Doubling up, its taken us a while to build up a second set of things just for the caravan. Its worth it thought! The amount of times I have forgotten the peeler or can opener!! Its worth doubling up on things, its great fun finding things for the caravan. Am trying to match to the 1960's but a few new things have slipped in :) Having bedding just for camping, makes it so much easier.

Nothing is worse than mini people getting cold, so take lots of blankets. Great for if its a little cold in at night to add an extra layer, snuggling while sitting around the campfire or to use as a picnic blanket.     

We take our hot water bottles too! I take about one per person. I pop them in the beds while the children are getting ready for bed, so they are lovely and warm when they get in. Also if like us you love to sit out around the campfire, I take a blanket and a hot water bottle. (We go away a lot with lots of people and you can end up quite far away from the campfire!)

**UPDATE**

I made these simple bags which have been great in the van. 

Three each for the kids, largest is warm clothes, jeans jumpers etc, middle size is cooler clothes like t-shirts and smallest is for things like pants and socks. Or if three days, I pack what they need per bag per day. 

So simple to make with just a draw string at the top. 

They each have their name on, so quick to grab out, I can keep them tucked away in a locker or in the wardrobe. I also use the wardrobe more now too, hanging up whole outfits ready to go :)

Am going to make a few more as they are so handy for packing things away or keeping things together in the van.

Mini Backpacks:

Each of our children has their own backpack. This gives them ownership over their things (our mini people are 'collectors' and like to hoard-I have no idea where they get this from, honestly!) It means they can pick what they want to play with and get things out when they want too. 

What to put in their backpack:

- Favorite toy.

- Bug hunt things

- Note pad

- Pencils

- Place where going to colouring book (You can print off pencil drawings of places or sights your going to see on your trip away, for them to colour in. I will blog about how to do this soon.) 

- Mini lego pack, our 5 & 4 yr old, love lego! We have a box of lego to keep in Daisy but a new mini build is perfect for quiet points on a trip out for the day. 

- A few glow sticks are fun.
- A magazine. It can get quite expensive for three new magazines, so they don't get one for every trip. They are wonderful though, a toy, stickers, colouring in etc. We keep them in the Caravan so they get a lot of use out of them!

I try and think of their backpack as a Christmas stocking or party bag. This also works perfectly if you are heading off on a train or plane. I quite often look through the party bag toys at the supermarket, its a cheap way of putting some different and fun into their backpack! For my youngest a few nappies would go in there and maybe a spare pare of tights or baby-grow (she always gets tights muddy!) Also raincoats can fold up really small and fit into the backpack too - you never know what the day will be like in the UK!

Check out my top Top 10 Toys to take camping/Caravanning - from kites to glow sticks!

My top cost saving tips -

When we are heading out for the day I pack their lunch into their backpacks (removing things if needed, to make space) I keep the heavy things like water bottles in our main bag. This is a great way of keeping costs down for day trips away from the caravan/tent. If if you do end up buying some food, you don't have to buy loads, as you already have food with you. So you can spend that money on treats, not a huge lunch for 5 people. On our last trip, we brought packets of ice-lollies from a supermarket on our way back to the campsite - I know it may sound a bit penny pitching but it was lots of fun having an ice-lolly around the campfire! Each child has a sandwich, packet of crisps, fruit, a yogurt and a water bottle. I've always kicked my self when I have forgotten their water bottles, three bottles of water, really adds up. If you are away from a supermarket, you can spend so much money just on a few bottles of water. Then in the main bag we have our lunch, extra of everything and maybe a treat like some croissants. This makes a day out a lot less stressful, nothing worse than trying to find somewhere to eat, with hungry mini people, then getting court out buying something expensive but not all that nice. (Trying to stick to a vegan/plant based diet can limit you on a day out, but being prepared makes it easy.) I love packing the lunches in the morning too, its a real mummy thing to do. Its quite easy to get them ready and packed while making breakfast. Also before you head out for the day, have a good breakfast at the caravan/tent, if you have a slow cooker you can pop that on for when you get back or check out my campfire dish - Simple Bolognese Style Sauce Another tip I was given, was to take your own face paints. Camping at festivals, then paying up to 5 pounds per child to have their face painted.... It will save you money, and be lots of fun to have your own mini face painting kit! (Am working on mine at the moment, once I have it sorted I will share.)

Tips for arriving onsite: We try and do as much as possible before we get all the children out of the car, if their not sleeping we quite often give them a snack while they wait in their seats. (We are talking about minutes while we are moving the car around. They are not left on their own.)
Moving cars on site is hard work without three children running about! (I keep a few toys in easy reach or their backpacks at the ready. Then they can sit down with their magazine while we run about getting a few jobs done.)

We get the caravan into place, unhooked and steadies down. Sometimes one of us will then take them off with the kite (depending on the weather or time we arrive on site.) 

The plastic boxes really help, with food and clothes in. I can grab them out of the boot and pop them in the caravan quickly. I don't have to put away all the food etc straight away, I can just dump the boxes into the caravan to deal with after the children have settled down.


Husband and a few of the children go to collect the water, and that gives me a moment or two with just one child in the caravan to pack away the food, and connect up the gas. 

What I love about having a caravan, is we can almost just dump her on site and have to do very little to be set up. At first we weren't using the under bed storage but now I have a set of quilts which stay in the caravan - this makes washing so much easier! (Less to pack into the car and put into the caravan too.) It didn't take long for us to get really quick at arriving and packing away. I try and pack the raincoats and a big umbrella close to the top of the boot. As arriving on site and it pouring down with rain, the last thing you want to be doing is standing in the rain trying to find your rain coat.

Campfires: It doesn't get much better than sitting around the campfire, having a good old natter with everyone. First check the site you are staying at, allows campfires. Most will be fine with 'off ground' fires. We love our little Tesco BBQ, it was only about 15 and its been well used. It was a little like this one Portable BBQ. This style are perfect to cook on, then we removed the grill and add a few logs of wood. I like that they have a lid, so fire ash doesn't go everywhere if you don't get time to clean it before bring it home! (Make sure its cold before you move it) We use about 2-3 small esh logs a night, when away. Our mini people are getting really good at being safe around the fire now, they love toasting things on it like bread or Jaffa Cakes (no joke, its amazing, forget marshmallows, Jaffa Cakes are the way forward!!)

Days Out:

You don't have to plan lots of expensive day trips out. Make use of the area you are staying in, a beach, a wood?

A big walk through a wood is a full day out, bug hunting then a picnic, maybe poo sticks too! A beach, shell collecting, swimming, rock pool hunting! (I find bring buckets and spades, nets etc with you can work out cheaper.)

A kite in the caravan field or a game of cards, can keep you busy. Our boys played for hours in the big rallie field, with a pull-along and pretend spaceships.
We hunt for bugs, lay on the ground and look up to the clouds, read books and relax. You can save money by limiting the trips out, making a packed lunch and just going for a wonder. We found an amazing play park with a huge pirate ship, the kids thought it was wonderful. We do the odd trip out somewhere, but on the most part it's just the camping and walking we love. If your not sure on somewhere look up the review on trip adviser. I have an app for my phone, and can quickly check out a possible campsite or day trip. 

When traveling, have wiped, nappies, snacks all to hand. We haven't had to hand the kids an iPad very often as kept them busy with snacks and games. We lost count of how many times we played 'I spie' on our last trip. For in car snacks I made up a mini lunch bag for everyone, with crisps, sandwiches, fruit (things like oranges are great as you can hand them out. I peeled them all and put them in a lunch bag, I didn't want to be peeling oranges the whole way there.) and a drink. This worked really well, and everyone was well fed and watered while we traveled up. I try and do some knitting in the car, as its a great use of my time, when am not map guiding.


We mostly use a paper map, and just turn on the satnav for the last part. She's amazing at getting us around traffic but likes to pick the quickest route, which isn't always the best for the caravan. Also it's good to know where you are, in case you run out of 3g. 

I asked my followers and friends if they had any tips;

Don't use wax crayons in a caravan. They could melt and will never come out. Coloured pencil doesn't tend to stain seats or carpets, and just wiped off woodwork. Pens can often be left without lids on....

Campsite treasure hunts! Around the site, take a prize for the end clue and they will love it. (I think I will wait till ours are a little older for this, sounds so much fun.)

When we camp, we have a small tub of holiday toys that only get used whilst we're away. A section of road map oilcloths with a few cars, card games, little mini figures which keeps my 5 occupied in the mornings. (I made little roll up race tracks for our two boys, they are kept in Daisy and the boys love them. I will share how I made them in a future blog. Oilcloth maps are such a great idea, our mini people love playing with the map - so much so I have had to buy a second one!)

I've printed out scavenger lists and laminated them. Our two will go searching around the tents whilst we put the tent up. (That's such a great idea!) 

Camping and Caravanning, has made real proper childhood memories for our little brood. Its so much fun, flying a kite in a field is something they will remember. 

Its real freedom, we have such beautiful places in the UK, we are really lucky. For the price of one weeks holiday, you can holiday all through the summer, checking out all the amazing places which really are not far from our door step. 

My advice is, just go for it. Keep an eye out for my blogs about the places we have visited like Gower or Peak District and the best food for camping!

Thank you so much for sharing your tips! 

If I have missed off anything, please let me know!