January 2011 Grocery Challenge

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  • PurpleJay
    PurpleJay Posts: 526
    First Post Name Dropper First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    Forumite
    Hi all, I spent £6.80 yesterday on bread, magazines, newspaper and chocolate. Off to update my sig now.

    Just mushrooms to get today - I am making pasta sauce as I have a friend coming for lunch. The sauce will consist of tomatoes, onion, garlic, mushrooms, pesto and olive oil and I have the other ingredients :-)
    'Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain'
  • Mothership
    Mothership Posts: 823 Forumite
    edited 9 January 2011 at 4:00AM
    Lamb shoulder cubed cut as much fat off as possible, & bung in slow cooker (no water).
    Beef cubed (add about 1 cup of water.)
    Chicken thighs or breast meat (skinned) bung in slow cooker (add 1/2 cup of water).
    (Choose 1 of the above)
    VEGGIE OPTION (scroll Down)
    Put meat in sieve once cooked and let the juices drip back into pan. Skim fat off when cooled and pour juices over meat, store in fridge if your doing it the day before.

    2 large onions (Finely chopped)
    Tin of tomatoes ( if whole get a sharp knife & break up in tin).

    Spices for sauce
    8 BLACK Cardomon Pods
    1 Teaspoon Cloves
    2 Teaspoon Cumin Seeds
    1 Teaspoon Turmeric
    1 Piece cinnamon Stick
    1/2 Teaspoon chilli Powder
    1 inch piece of Fresh ginger Grated or chopped fine or (2 teaspoons dried or paste)
    4 large Cloves of Fresh Garlic Grated or chopped fine or (2 teaspoons dried or paste).
    1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
    Fry the above for a few minutes, if it begins to stick add a little drop of water and work loose.
    Now add
    Onions, fry till translucent. Then...
    Tinned tomatoes
    2 teaspoons Tomato Puree
    1 Teaspoon Salt
    1 Teaspoon Sugar

    *
    The sauce must be partly cooked on the stove ( to here *) then added to the meat if your using the slow cooker. If the meat is uncooked it will take about 4 hrs. There is no need to simmer the sauce for this method.

    The above is the base of the curry, it can all be made on top of the stove or entirely in the slow cooker.

    If you are using the cooked meat method simmer sauce for 15-20 Min, the sauce should be fairly dry at this stage if not simmer and stir till it is, add meat, and heat througly.



    To finish ( whatever method you use, this is stirred in at END of cooking when pan is off the heat.)
    3 tomatoes cut into 6 pieces each
    1 Tablespoon Garam Masala
    2-4 Tablespoons Chopped Corriander
    1-2 Tablespoons Lemon Juice

    Take all the whole spices out count the cardamon pods make sure you get them all, it doesn't matter if you don't get the cloves.

    Serve with boiled rice (basmati is best) nan bread/chapati. Salad/ Pineapple and sliced bananas dressed with lemon juice.

    VEGGIE OPTION

    The above recipe can be used for a vegetable curry with quartered potatoes, carrots, turnip, parsnips, butternut squash, any veg you have, (though some potatoes are good) and a cup of washed red lentils, if using lentils you will need to add a pint of water.

    I've made it without the lentils, with potatoes and large chunks of green peppers and Stoned Green Olives, sluuurrrrph! Olives in a curry? try it, its incredible.

    The meat cooked first in the slow cooker just melts in your mouth and is on the table in 20 minutes.

    If your new to curry making the best place to get the whole spices is an Asian foodstore, start with the Black Cardomon Pods , cloves, cumin seeds, chilli powder , cinamon sticks & turmeric and Garam masala.
    Buy a bunch of fresh Corriander Fresh Garlic and Ginger, (chop and freeze any surplus). This should cost around £5-6 for the lot. But it will make dozens of curries.
    If you buy these in the supermarket you will get much smaller quantities and it will cost double.

    This recipe is the closest you'll get to a takeaway, I've been making this for about 30 yrs, it is incredibly tasty and not at all hot. Its mild enough to give to kids. If you want it hotter add more chilli, after you've fed the kids.

    Keep your eyes open for whoopsied lamb or beef , bung in slow cooker de fat and freeze till you want a curry.
    I keep bags of cooked chicken in the freezer for speedy curries.
    1st Purse £114.19 Monthly GB
    2nd Purse ££100
    :rotfl::j:wave::j:rotfl:
    Fridge Freezer £300 3rd Purse /£290.94
  • NoAngel
    NoAngel Posts: 774
    Name Dropper First Post First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    Forumite
    Hi :-)

    I'd like to join in please. Have recently moved away for a new job and now living separately from OH for a while whilst I do my training. Therefore I need to shop for one instead of two! Have found this difficult at first- so used to cooking for two and have found it fairly expensive to look after just myself. However have also found that i'm not as fussed about having a big meal every day, and realised that I was cooking mostly for him! Therefore I expect to save some pennies.

    My monthly budget is going to be £200, which I expect to be more than enough for all of my food/cleaning products, including making lunch for work each day.
  • Morning all, spent another £38.31 in the supermarket yesterday......
    Although I have only been subscribed to this thread a week or so, it is having an effect-I am thinking about what I put in the basket, there has been more meal planning than normal (still a work in progress!) and there has definitely been more cooking from scratch!
    Hope I can keep it up!
  • kez12
    kez12 Posts: 32 Forumite
    Hi Everyone, Happy Sunday and what a beautiful sunny morning it seems to be, I am on my second coffee and catching up with the Thread:)

    Everyone seems to be doing really well and I am very grateful for the receipes, I had hand written down the Welsh Cakes and then the Egg Free Lemon Sponge ( brilliant for our house as eggs go the moment I buy them:D) by the time I got to Motherships Bhoona receipe, it struck me why dont I copy and paste onto a word doc and print .........:think:

    that's when I woke myself up with my second coffee.
    So now three great receipes for me to try in the week.


    I did my shop for the week in MrM yesterday went over my £40.00 budget by £3.00 due to new can opener £1.99 mine brok in the week and new value dp and brush for cleaning out bunny. I can live with that as Mum kindly gave me a joint for todays dinner saying her and dad wouldnt eat it, hope she doesn't think I am starving the family:o I have updated signature accordingly.

    Hope you all have a lovely relaxing Sunday, off to catch up on some other threads.....
    Kez12 intends to have a frugal 2012 and bust that debt:j there's certainly plenty of it!
  • fizzypops
    fizzypops Posts: 248 Forumite
    morning all

    done my weekly shop yesterday and spent £44.03 so i have updatedd my signature :D
    Total debt- 2982.00 Now- £2890.00
  • buddiebabe
    buddiebabe Posts: 1,408 Forumite
    Well i couldn't resist the lure of 50% off in Farmfoods so i went down at 7.45 this morning and there were cars abandonded everywhere and a queue outside the shop :eek: They weren't letting anyone else in until the queues had went down... only had to wait about 25 mins before being let loose!!!

    I didn't go mad... only 3 overflowing baskets of stuff most of which is for the cupboard like oxo cubes, gravy granules and some bottles of juice. Got the things i need to get today anyway like bread, milk and eggs and it was cheap then 50% off... will really need to start doing my weekly shop there when it reopens. I spent a grand total of £37.87 and got 8 bags of shopping that would normally have cost me £75.74 so January's budget may be broken this month as i wouldn't normally buy 11 packs of oxo cubes in one go but i definately won't need to buy any for the next year now.... and i made sure i checked the dates on everything i bought 2!

    Need to update my signature

    Buddiebabe x
    DEBT OUTSTANDING 23.04.17 £16802.97
  • Change for Life discount vouchers avilable today in the News of the World

    Vouchers can only be used in ASDA


    £1.00 off ASDA leaner cut pork escalopes or leaner cut beef escalpoes
    £1.00 off 200g ASDA Fantail King Prawns
    50p off 800g bag golden delicious apples
    30p off clementines net
    50p off 170g snack pack grapes
    75p off ASDA baking potatoes
    50p off 1kg bumper root vegetables
    50p off 750g packs of Birds Eye Field fresh sweetcorn, country mix, select mix of green beans
    50p off 500g, 750g or 1kg Kellogs Cornflakes
    25p off 4 pack of low fat ski yoghurts
    40p off 500g Flora Light
    30p off 800g Warburtons Wholemeal medium laof
    50p off 400g Hellmans Mayonaise
    25p off 12* 50cl Nestle pure life water bottles
    70p off Robinsons 2L no added sugar squash
    30p off 4*200ml Robinsons my-5 fruit shoot, selected flavours only.
    50p off 4 pack zero alcohol free smooth premium larger
    50p off uncle bens wholegrain boil in the bag rice

    There are other offers not related to food.
  • fedupandskint
    fedupandskint Posts: 10,358
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    Forumite
    Have done my weekly shop at Mr S and got seduced by a por joint for £6 and bag of scampi (for easy teas after work) that weren't on my list

    Spent £26.07 leaving £110.05 for the rest of the month

    Next weekend will need a box of eggs and some fruit and a jar of honey, butter and ground almonds and almonds natural and blanched - will update my shopping list for then now

    Will have a look at these recipes that sound nice on here

    I made nigella's seed cake this morning after finding some caraway seeds in the cupboard. Was easy as I had everything in. Slightly unusual aromatic taste that I'm not used to but it is nice and good to use up these seeds. Wonder what others I could use in place of these in future
    final unsecured debt to repay currently £8333
    Proud to be Dealing With my Debt
    DFW Nerd 1154 Long Haul 155
  • monicaj
    monicaj Posts: 216 Forumite
    Just updated my signature as I realised this morning that Tesco online had charged me 10.51 for Surf Small & Mighty which should have been on special offer for £5.00 - a quick phone call and I have been refunded - I will definately be checking my receipts in future !!! if anyone has purchased this, worth checking your receipt.
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