This Christmas sees many families here in the UK facing unprecedented hardship. The effects of Covid combined with rising food and duel prices means that many are struggling with the costs of the festive season and harboring concerns about putting on a decent spread for dinner on the big day. 

Marcus Rashford, the footballer famed for his campaign to tackle food poverty in the UK, has teamed with chef Tom Kerridge to create a Christmas meal plan for struggling families for just £10! 

The meal plan includes a Christmas Day feast of stuffed turkey roll, with tray-baked vegetables and greens, plus potato and carrot hash with eggs for Boxing Day lunch. The meal plan is designed for those using Healthy Start vouchers (which would cover the cost of the vegetables) though states that others would be able to recreate the dishes for just £13-14.

The entire meal plan is detailed in an instructional video on the Full Time Meals Instagram channel, which I've embedded below:

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Of the meal plan, Marcus Rashford has said: 

"Christmas has a great ability to bring family together and I want as many children as possible to wake up on Christmas morning happy and without the stress of wondering where their next meal is coming from... I want families in communities like mine to look forward to creating something special in the kitchen together and making memories."

To learn more, or donate to FareShare to help feed families on a low income, visit the FareShare website.

Image credit: Photo by Travel Photographer on StockSnap

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With summer just around the corner, many of us are considering whether our children have a basic functioning wardrobe for the warmer months, or perhaps for a holiday in the sun.

This year, I've found myself having to buy a complete capsule wardrobe for two of my children as they've outgrown all of their previously purchased summer clothes! In an effort to ensure they can be adequately dressed on a minimal budget, I set about writing down the essential items they would need for the summer, which we can always add to later as necessity or finance see fit.

Here are my suggestions for capsule summer wardrobe items for both girls and boys, which should be suitable for children aged 2-12.

Preparing for the arrival of a new baby is a very exciting time, whether this is your first child or your fifth! Chances are you'll be bombarded with choices for baby products, clothes and toiletries, and can be left wondering what exactly you really need to be prepared for when your little one is born.

As many mothers will attest, it is way too easy to buy more than you need, and if you're working to a tight budget you'll probably want to stick with the essentials rather than spend on niceties you may never get around to using.

Here then is a list of the most essential items you will need to be prepared for the arrival of a new baby, with a few suggestions for additional items you might want. I've also created a printable PDF version of this list as a handy reference guide.

January. The time of year when we begin to dread the snow we know will come sometime before the end of next month.

Personally I dread the thought of running late for the school run, only to find my car is frozen solid and I can't even get the key into the door lock to let us all in out of the cold!

Unfortunately I'm not among the privileged car owners with access to a garage, and often forget to take my cans of de-icer back into the house with me... So I've learned a few thrifty (and fairly speedy) tips to thaw my car in the winter months which I hope Glamumous readers may find useful on icy days.

I originally wrote this post and eBook back in 2009. Since then our food bills have become even more expensive, but the advice offered remains as useful. 

So I've decided to re-publish this post and (hopefully) rekindle a little interest for Glamumous readers who may find it useful in 2013.

As I'm sure we're all aware, the cost of our family food bills has skyrocketed these past few months! According to the price comparison site, MySupermarket, the average weekly spend for a family of four has increased by as much as 25%.
Shocking, isn't it?

While we have little control over the rising cost of fuel, housing and other household bills, we can control just how much of our hard-earned cash we part with to feed the family. Switching over to supermarket own brands is not the only solution: there are many more ways we can choose to save money yet feed our families healthy and satisfying meals.

I've always considered myself a frugal mum. Compared to my friends and family, our food shopping bills are positively miniscule, and yet we always have food on the table, in the cupboards, stored in the freezer... In short, we are never hungry and I often feel smug in my knowledge of thrifty ways which are helping us survive this credit crunch.

So in response to encouragement from my friends (and all the articles in magazines which seem to teach us nothing new about saving on food bills), I decided to write my own ebook: Fabulous Frugal Food Bills.

This ebook offers useful tips, tricks and a scattering of family-friendly recipes to help you save money on your family food bills. From learning how to organize your food stores for maximum efficiency to saving money at the supermarket and even growing your own, I hope you will find something useful to lessen the burden of your weekly shopping trips.