August 2008 Grocery Challenge

Well my car goes in tomorrow for its MOT, not sure it is going to survive and tbh I'd be glad to see the back of it, never buy a S*xo if you have the chance. I've had a pretty cheap summer all in all so could get a new (to me at least) car, but would mean tightening the purse strings for a while though with this challenge the thought of budgeting somehow becomes much more exciting.
(Non grocery question-Anyone know anything about Daweoo Matisses want to PM me, positive or negative!)

princess_leia wrote: »

Morning all,

Kymbogs - the hovis mix is a promo price as when i first saw it, it was over £1 not sure how long it will stay cheap for tho, so I am tempted to do an Asda shop to get more and stock up!!
I need cereal as kids eat so much, does anyone know if you can make 'ready brek' byt whizzing value oats up or is it a bit more technical than that?

Hi again

DAMN about the hovis mix. I've already got 16 bags on order that's just for next month lol! Then we'll be moving on to flour/yeast.

When I was weaning Molly I used to make various types of porridge (one was an Annabel Karmel Pear + apricot Porridge) and that was whizzed in the blender, but now she'll eat normal porridge anyway, might be worth seeing if yours will? When we start weaning Megan I'm going to try her with non-whizzed porridge and see how she goes, hoping to avoid the blender if at all possible this time.

My two children both eat porridge too. I had a veggie baby cook book when DS was weaning, it suggested topping the porridge with dessicated coconut as it adds sweetness but is also nutricious. My children still eat it like this altough DH has introduced them to jam. They are using up my homemade jam that was runny by drizzling it on their porridge. They have hot porridge with some cold milk round the edge, topped with coconut and jam.

They also like raisins or sultanas mixed into porrodge. Meanwhile Mummy sneaks sugar on hers and they think it is plain, LOL.

Morning all

Well tha gammon is on the cooker top merrily bubbling away.... and the banana n ginger parkin/cake is in the oven...pinkies crossed as i have done my usual.... "use 100g of A....hmmmm ok i have 100g of B...that will do" :rotfl:

Hubby has taken a flask full of soup from the freezer with some wedges of HM bread for lunch.... i have another problem... im trying to make room in the freezer.. but i won't be able to make myself through away the gammon stock ..so im going to reduce it right down to so it will almost be jelly like once cold...then freeze it -using less space and dilute it down again when i use it;) .

Thankfully MeggyMoo passed her BFG test this week..so no repairs required :j ... and no road tax to pay whilst we are here .. so thats a relief..and one less thing to pay:D so the savings account is safe for a bit longer :T

Fluffysox.. my hubby is the oppsite of yours... wears something for an hour or two..hangs it back in the wardrobe..wears it a few days later and goes to put it back because"i only had it on for a few hours" :rolleyes: YES but that could be going on for weeks at that rate ....and i refuse to do the "sniff test" :rotfl: i just recognise his fave clothes and retrieve them when im washing;)

Bails.... oh go on then... if he came back from that i will bow to his determination..but he still does my head in ..i like nice sensible ray mears

Hopefully hubby will be coming back with some apples from his ex-boss today ..if he remembers -apparently his boss has the memory of a gnat..so fingers crossed:T

Yesterday we both ended up with the shepherds pie and cauli/broc cheese for dinner -and you couldn't tell either had come out of the freezer:T so thats a few more tubs of HM portions out of the way

Tonight is hm tortillas with gammon, hm coleslaw and salad mmmmm ..possibly followed by a bit of cake..its smelling lovely -i WILL resist fetching a tub of jersey cream out of the freezer... honest -i will:p

Right i will get ouside and collect more tomatoes ..im averaging 12oz -1lb a day at the moment :T ..mainly the smaller ones at the moment.. but it won't be long before the biggies are ready

right..have a great day everyone.. will pop back later and share the cake recipe (if it comes out ok)

Woo Hoooo I'm back

Its done... and its a bruiser :rotfl: but best of all it didn't sink :T My parkins always used to sink ....



Right i will post the recipe..and add my alterations along side just incase anyone wants to use it -(i doubled it up to use the nanas n eggs -so mine is a bit bigger than it should be):D but the quantities below are for the "proper sized one"

BANANA GINGER PARKIN
pre-heat oven to 160c/325f/gas3
grease and line a 7" x 11" tin

Just want to add - that this recipe does not last for 2 months as stated in the recipe..they are telling fibbs

1. 200g plain flour -i used SR flour but still used 1/2 the bicarb -just in case;)
2. 2tsp bicarb
3. 2tsp ground ginger
4. 150g medium oatmeal -I used porridge oats
5. 4tbs dark muscavado sugar -I used molasses
6. 75g sunflower marge
7. 150g golden syrup - I added a bit of the syrup from the stem ginger jar
8. 1 beaten egg
9. 3 ripe bananas -mashed

• sift flour, bicarb and ginger
• stir in oatmeal
• melt syrup, marge and sugar in a pan over a low heat -then stir into flour mix well
• beat in egg and banana
• spoon into tin and bake for about 1hr until firm to the touch, allow to cool then remove from tin

Strangely enough mine only took 1hr -even though the recipe was doubled and my tin was 10 1/2" x 8 1/2"..and it came out about 2 1/2" deep

They drizzle icing over and pieces of stem ginger.. i have just brushed over some of the syrup from the stem ginger.. If we like it and i make it again im adding pieces of stem ginger.. just didn't want to add anymore weight to it incase it made it sink :rotfl:

Now then -how long can i leave it for before testing ... i reckon this will get much better with keeping..hopefully all sticky mmmmm

With it keeping so well it would be great for those who have to pack up kiddies lunches... you could miss the ginger out and add a few choc drops, sultanas etc...:T