September 2010 Grocery Challenge

14546485051130

Comments

  • welshkaz
    welshkaz Posts: 288 Forumite
    Another NSD for me today the bad weather definetely makes you come straight home from work instead of too the shops unless vital, thas the only benefit of the rain tho huh ...
    may groc challenge £167/£280...
  • majjak wrote: »
    I usually do 1/2 milk and 1/2 water moniker. I've never measured my ingredients in yorkshire (grandma taught me how) so I'm afraid I can't be very precise with ml :o.

    You'll know if you've put too much water in it because you won't be able to get it out of the oven :eek: :rotfl: it'll be a monster (yes, I'm speaking from experience :p).

    Vaguely remember from "Food and Nutrition" at school that the raising agent in Yorkshire Pudding is steam so I assume that's why they rise so much if you replace too much milk with water.

    Hooby
    (as a relative newcomer, can I ask what ETA means, other than estimated time of arrival?)
    MFiT-T2 #49 December 09 £15373, January 12 £0 target £0 by 12/12/12
    TARGET MET 11 months early - YIPPEE
    MFiT-T2 #50 August 11 £111,691.25, December 12 £96,699.20 target £99,999 by 12/12/12
    TARGET MET 3 months early - YIPPEE
    MFiT-T3 #49June 14 £76338.33 target £49999 by 12/12/15
  • cw18
    cw18 Posts: 8,613
    Name Dropper First Anniversary First Post Photogenic
    Forumite
    (as a relative newcomer, can I ask what ETA means, other than estimated time of arrival?)
    Edited To Add :)
    Cheryl
  • ChocClare
    ChocClare Posts: 1,475 Forumite
    wssla00 wrote: »
    Oh.... was going to say... mine were spread much thinner than that. I used the back of a spoon to literally just even coat it everywhere. They seem to dry quicker like that.

    Yes, my ability to measure depth is not exactly legendary. Thin, that's the word.

    If you're doing yours in a fan oven, would you let me know how you get on, temperatures etc? I did mine in a fan oven before but not good - as I say, in retrospect I probably didn't let it dry out enough - but it seemed to be going for AGES and I didn't want to leave the oven on for ever. Ta muchly.
  • wssla00
    wssla00 Posts: 1,875 Forumite
    Hello :) I just thought I would update you :) I took mine out after four hours on 60 with the idea of putting them on the side to dry further. However...... once they were cooled they weren't as tacky anymore so I started to peel some off to taste it (purely for quality control purposes ;)) and I found it all started to come off so i rolled up bits and popped it away. It seems ok and it just needed to be cooled to be ok :) result! I only got round to the blackberry and apple ones today but will do the rhubarb and apple ones tomorrow :)
    Feb GC: £200 Spent: £190.79
  • Hippeechiq
    Hippeechiq Posts: 1,103 Forumite
    ChocClare wrote: »
    Hippeechiq fruit leathers are a scrummy snack! You can buy fruit winders, which are nice but very expensive. Basically, as wssla00 states, you mix fruit puree and sugar/honey/syrup, spread out very thin (about 1/8-1/4 inch) on a tray and allow to dry out. Then you cut them into strips and roll up. They are about the consistency of wine gums when you're done, but obviously rather healthier...

    Well, well, well......you live and learn as they say. Never heard of such a thing - maybe I've led a sheltered life! lol Thanks for explaining :)
    Aug11 £193.29/£240

    Oct10 £266.72 /£275 Nov10 £276.71/£275 Dec10 £311.33 / £275 Jan11 £242.25/ £250 Feb11 £243.14/ £250 Mar11 £221.99/ £230
    Apr11 £237.39 /£240 May11 £237.71/£240 Jun11 £244.03/ £240 July11 £244.89/ £240
    Xmas 2011 Fund £220
  • Hippeechiq wrote: »
    Well, well, well......you live and learn as they say. Never heard of such a thing - maybe I've led a sheltered life! lol Thanks for explaining :)

    Me too - I had never heard of them! NSD today for me. I used up the left over pork from yesterday ina sweet n sour dish tonight & was a bit pleased with myself as I made the sauce myself rather than using a jar and very nice it was too.
    Grocery aim £450pm.Spent £519 August, £584 July, £544 June, £541 May, £549 April, £517 March, £517 Feb,£555 Jan, £573 Dec, £465Nov, £561Oct, £493Sept, £426Aug,£496 Jul, £528Jun, £506May,£498April, £558 March, £500Feb, £500 Jan, £490 Dec, £555 Nov,£566 Oct, £505Sept, £450Aug, £410 July, £437 June, £491 May, £471 April, £440 March, £552Feb, £462Jan
  • Well it's the 6th of the month and all have been no spend days so far I'm really pleased with myself. Tomorrow we are going to need some milk, but i'm planning on sticking to just that even if i have to send one of the kids with the exact money.
    Quite an eventful week for our family this week It's my eldest sons first day at secondary school tomorrow, he's been very calm and collected about it till the last few days but he's starting to get nervous now.
    Also today was my first day back in education for 7 years and a very drastic change hopefully in career ahead. I felt totally out of my depth this morining but as my entry assesments went so well this afternoon i feel alot better about it.
    Completely forgot to add extra to the budget this month for my youngests birthday party food etc which comes from the shopping budget, but hay ho i will have to tighten up in other areas and see how we go.
    Thank you to the person who posted the fruit leathers recipe i have passed this on to my mum who has coeliacs desease, is a very keen gardener and is a good cook too. I'm sure it will help her and the rest of the family with the glut of apples, plums and various other fruits that we are all benifiting, yet scraching our heads over at the moment.
    A quick question if you don't mind.
    I currently make all my own pasta, pizza sauces and soups and have done so for a few years. For the sauces i usually use tinned tomatoes though as i have a glut to put it mildly of fresh tomatoes (I'm provided with, thank you mum and dad, with around a carrier bag full a week at the moment) does anyone have recipes that i can use as a guide for a basic pizza/ pasta sauce?
    Also any suggestions with apples apart from the obvious apple sauce, pies, crumbles as of the end of next week i should have enough of those to fill a very large chest freezer so i'll have to be creative.
    Thank you in advance and sorry for the long post. I'm sure i'll bore you all rigid over the next few weeks with questions and asking for suggestions for bizarre cupboard ingredients.
    Grocery challenge Jan 270.27/200:eek:

    Total debt 04/01/2011 £2671.23:eek:
  • Herbyme
    Herbyme Posts: 720
    Photogenic Name Dropper First Anniversary First Post
    Forumite
    edited 6 September 2010 at 9:35PM
    sistercas, i do sympathise about your frustrating shop but it did make me laugh! The best medicine and all that...

    For the first time in ages I managed a NSD yesterday, yay! But just spsent £23 at MrS on eggs, bread, milk, sarnie fillings etc. Am not sure if school packed lunches are going to be cheaper for us as I won't buy cheap ham or chicken etc cos I worry about what goes into it. Also so far my DS hasn't eaten hardly any of what I've given him except the yoghurts and drinks, and has smashed my precious food flask. . Maybe just a matter of adjusting what I give him til I find the right combination?

    Had a yummy chicken and bacon pie for tea with leftovers from yesterday's roast, with puff pastry on top, dead easy, even better if OH hadn't binned the last bit of gravy which would have made lovely sauce!!!

    loulou, if you make the apple pie with Nigel Slater's pastry from Kitchen Diaries (from your library!) no-one will call it obvious or boring, I promise. I was amazed at how fast it disappeared.

    On another note, have just agreed DS can have 2 more rabbits after our lovely Molly sadly died in May, so we are picking them up on Saturday. They will be a huge distraction!
  • ChocClare
    ChocClare Posts: 1,475 Forumite
    loulou0327 wrote: »
    For the sauces i usually use tinned tomatoes though as i have a glut to put it mildly of fresh tomatoes (I'm provided with, thank you mum and dad, with around a carrier bag full a week at the moment) does anyone have recipes that i can use as a guide for a basic pizza/ pasta sauce?
    Also any suggestions with apples apart from the obvious apple sauce, pies, crumbles as of the end of next week i should have enough of those to fill a very large chest freezer so i'll have to be creative.
    Thank you in advance and sorry for the long post. I'm sure i'll bore you all rigid over the next few weeks with questions and asking for suggestions for bizarre cupboard ingredients.

    I am very impressed with your success!

    You can use fresh tomatoes as you would tinned. One tip is to bung 'em in the freezer (whole) for a day or so, then leave them to defrost. They sort of collapse, and the skins just slide off with no messing about. They are then the consistency of tinned tomatoes, more or less, and need only to be chopped or whizzed up in a food processor.

    My standard recipe for tomato sauce is:

    Chop an onion and grate a carrot. Fry off gently in a little olive oil, with some celery or celery leaves if you have them. Crush a clove of garlic once the onions are softened and bung that in too. Cook for approx one minute, then tip in your tomatoes, a GOOD spoonful of sugar, pepper and salt to taste, a sprinkle of herbes de provence or oregano or basil and a tablespoonful of olive oil. Bring to the boil then turn down the heat and simmer, gently for about twenty minutes. Use as is, or for a smoother, thicker and more consistent sauce, whizz up in a food processor or with one of those wandy things.

    If you are making pizza base sauce, you can intensify the flavour by adding a spoonful of tomato puree before you add the ordinary tomatoes, and by simmering, uncovered, until the sauce has reduced by about half.

    Apples: are nice baked: core the apple, stuff with a mixture of butter, sultanas and cinnamon and bung in oven; cut the apples into rings and dry them; make the famous fruit leather above(!) or make my WONDERFUL No-Cook Date & Apple Chutney - the best chutney in the entire world - presidents and emperors queue to have this with their cheese sandwich:

    1lb each of
    dates
    sultanas (I use Tesco value ones)
    apples
    onions (value again)
    brown sugar
    1pt malt vinegar
    1 rounded tsp salt, pinch cayenne pepper and 1oz pickling spice, tied in a piece of muslin.

    Mince the dates (unless they're already chopped). Put all the ingredients into a LARGE bowl. Leave for 24 hours, stirring occasionally. Remove spice bag. Transfer into sterilised jars. Leave a couple of months before eating.

    Do you want that information again? :rotfl: It is so easy, and very, very delicious. Makes 5 or 6 jars, so you could double up and make the rest into Christmas presents.

    I am just eating the last of the September 2006 batch (it was at the back of the cupboard, and I ate the 2008 batch before it). I only make it every other year, but it definitely improves with age - and once you open it, it can just sit in the larder - I've never put it in the fridge yet and I've been eating it (my mum and grandmother's versions at least) since I was a child which is - gulp - about forty years ago now.

    HTH
This discussion has been closed.
Meet your Ambassadors

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 342.2K Banking & Borrowing
  • 249.8K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 449.3K Spending & Discounts
  • 234.4K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 606.7K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 172.7K Life & Family
  • 247.2K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 15.8K Discuss & Feedback
  • 15.1K Coronavirus Support Boards