May 2012 Grocery Challenge

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Comments

  • valerie57
    valerie57 Posts: 140 Forumite
    JJ I love courgettes sliced long ways and griddled so that you get the stripey marks along them. If you have any mint in the garden it is lovely chopped up and served on them with a bit of lemon juice. Serve with almost anything. Or if they are big enough you could slice longways, scoop out the middle, stuff them and bake them using the middles in the mix. Mince mixture would be nice or you could do a completely veggie version with lentils etc
  • fozziebeartoo
    fozziebeartoo Posts: 1,582 Forumite
    jumblejack wrote: »
    Just an afterthought....

    I bet you could use tortillas or flat breads too instead of pancakes in a lasagne!!!!
    Hmmm, *scratches chin thoughtfully*. I am sure I have some in the freezer.

    I have 4 big courgettes to use up in the salad box so I am now open to suggestions on thrifty recipes or else I am banging em into a curry. ;)


    How about cakes?

    Lemon Courgette http://allrecipes.co.uk/recipe/5959/lemon-courgette-cake.aspx

    Chocolate Courgette http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/633634/chocolate-courgette-cake
  • jumblejack
    jumblejack Posts: 6,599 Forumite
    edited 14 May 2012 at 5:58PM

    I have actually thought of that as I had some courgette muffins once!

    I am now cooking up a storm as I feel inspired today by the thread and posts.

    I have saved a courgette for a sweet concoction and am griddling the other whoppers lengthways to use as layers in a baked dish.

    I have cut a few potatoes into discs and parboiled them. These are draining and will be used in layers too with a tomato pasta sauce(on offer from Lidl at the weekend) to which I have added loads of fried off onions (i currently am the proud owner of 15k!) garlic and chilli.

    Will top with cheese and sesame seeds.

    Haven't a clue what it wil be like but will report on success later.

    Edit:

    It seems to work a treat:j

    I prepped my veggies:
    photo-72.jpg?t=1337015413

    I made a layered courgette n potato bake with tomato sauce for tomorrow and another for the freezer.

    I had loads of potato n courgette left though so I made a quick cheese sauce and used it up to make another cheesy version for the freezer!!

    photo-74.jpg?t=1337017212

    I topped em with cheese and a sprinkling of sesame seeds and they are now ready for whamming in the oven:T

    photo-73.jpg?t=1337017148

    Cost per portion must be tiny.
    I used one big jar of pasta sauce (39p) and filled it up with water again.
    The courgettes were 33p but I have one left for a sponge thingy.
    Half a block of cheese (50p)
    Onions (about 11p)
    Cornflour (5p?)
    Teaspoon of value mustard (2p?)
    Half a dozen potatoes (YS so around 15p.)

    Around 40p for each family sized dish. 10p a portion ain't half bad!! :j
    :A Every moment is a gift. That's why we call it the present.!:A
    Grocery Spend Weekly Challenge (Sat-Fri):£30.50/£40
  • happy_chick_3
    happy_chick_3 Posts: 246 Forumite
    Thanks for the kind welcome everyone. I did some batch cooking yesterday and made an amazing thai sweet potato soup - used up the sweet potato that had been languishing in my fridge for a bit too long and the rest were all cupboard ingredients. Couldn't have cost more than £1.50 for the whole thing and it made 4 good portions, well probably more if I hadn't kept tasting along the way!
    http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/5898/speedy-sweet-potato-soup-with-coconut

    Enjoy!
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  • chelseabun_3
    chelseabun_3 Posts: 699 Forumite
    Possession wrote: »
    I hope you don't mind me butting in here.:)
    I am rather allergic to bites and my legs always swell badly. Other than antihistamine, the other thing that relieves them quickly is ice - rub some ice/frozen peas etc wrapped in a teatowel over them for a while. It definitely helps me.
    Had a NSD today and did a freezer inventory (we have 3 freezers) - we have enough 'main meal' bits and pieces to last a couple of months I think.

    Thanks, Possession, that's good advice. I hadn't thought of ice!:o They're still swollen, but becoming less itchy today. Nice big blisters forming, though! Lovely!:eek:

    JJ, that lasagne looks fantastic!:T I'll have to have a go at that!

    Had a NSD today. Bought lots of YS mushrooms yesterday in Mr M, 25p a punnet, so I have mushroom soup in the sc for dinner tonight and several lunches in the week. I'm using up some hm chicken stock I found in the freezer marked August 07!:rotfl: It smells gorgeous, the cat has become very hungry and is asking pleadingly for chicken. Sorry hun, not today!!:D

    Congrats to hiddenidentity!:j

    Have a good evening all :)
    CBx
  • elizabunny
    elizabunny Posts: 1,030 Forumite
    Well my new oven door should arrive tomorrow, fingers crossed. I have managed with the smaller top oven today. Baked another 12 sourdough rolls and a Walnut and date traybake (from M*ry Be*ry's Ult*mate Cake Book) It all turned out ok.

    Had to buy milk, tin foil and cling film today, so I'll need to update my signature asap.

    Hope everyone else is doing ok.
    Sealed Pot Challenge 7 Member 022 :staradmin:staradmin:staradmin
    5:2 Diet started 28/1/2013 only 13lbs lost due to Xmas 2013 blip.
  • PennyGrabber
    PennyGrabber Posts: 1,288 Forumite
    edited 14 May 2012 at 7:54PM
    elizabunny wrote: »
    Well my new oven door should arrive tomorrow, fingers crossed. I have managed with the smaller top oven today.

    I really felt for you, having that break after you'd been so frugal for the previous days!

    I actually only ever use my top oven. I used to use my big oven, but then realised I was paying to heat a massive space, and I could just use the little one! So now, my big oven is a storage cupboard (storage is an issue in my kitchen / I have way too much stuff), and I use the little one to cook with. This Christmas just gone, I did a roast dinner with all the trimmings for 5 people in my little oven!!

    NSD today, as day one of my fiscal fast. Go me!! Dinner today was poorly dinner for the children, and the last of the steak for me - fried off, with fried onions and mushrooms, and hm wedges. Nomnomnom!

    Hope all are doing well on the run-up to halfway through the month.

    PG x
    Grocery challenge for family of three - me, dd(12) and ds(11), feeding dp 2 or 3 x a week too. Only food, not toiletries. Jan £87.97/£100 Feb £0/£100
    Frugal 2018 needed! Saving and NOT spending
  • Suffolk_lass
    Suffolk_lass Posts: 9,289
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    A bit late for this time but this looked really nice when Hugh Fearlessly-eats-it-all made it last year. Yummy for a party bite:

    Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s Courgette Polpette Recipe

    Ingredients
    · 2 tbsp rapeseed or olive oil
    · 3 medium courgette, finely diced
    · 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
    · Finely grated zest of half a lemon
    · 1 egg, lightly beaten
    · 2 tbsp grated hard Cheddar
    · ½ ball buffalo mozzarella, diced
    · 50g breadcrumbs
    · 1 tbsp chopped parsley
    · Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
    METHOD
    How to make courgette polpette
    1. Preheat the oven to 200ºC and oil a baking tray or line with baking paper.
    2. Heat oil in a large frying pan over a medium-high heat and fry the courgettes and garlic for about 10 minutes, until tender and golden. Set aside to cool a little, and then combine with all the other ingredients to make a thick, sticky mixture. Season if you like with black pepper.
    3. Take walnut-sized blobs of the mixture and roll into balls. Place on the baking sheet and bake for about 15 minutes, until golden. Serve warm or cold, on their own, or with pitta bread and a tomato salad or sauce.
    Save £12k in 2024 - #2 target is £5000
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  • PennyGrabber
    PennyGrabber Posts: 1,288 Forumite
    The super six look good this week:

    Spring onions, 125g, 39p
    Baking pots, 4, 39p
    Mangoes, 39p
    Toms, 6, 39p
    Cucumber, 39p
    Beetroot, 500g, 39p

    HTH someone. The offer is from 13th to the 26th May. I'll def be getting some of those. Quite excited that our new aldi (third one in town!) is opening on 7th June, this one will be closer than the others, and it's on the same road as a walmart, so can use those two as my regulars from now on. In theory!!

    PG x
    Grocery challenge for family of three - me, dd(12) and ds(11), feeding dp 2 or 3 x a week too. Only food, not toiletries. Jan £87.97/£100 Feb £0/£100
    Frugal 2018 needed! Saving and NOT spending
  • craigywv
    craigywv Posts: 2,342 Forumite
    I really felt for you, having that break after you'd been so frugal for the previous days!

    I actually only ever use my top oven. I used to use my big oven, but then realised I was paying to heat a massive space, and I could just use the little one! So now, my big oven is a storage cupboard (storage is an issue in my kitchen / I have way to much stuff), and I use the little one to cook with. This Christmas just gone, I did a roast dinner with all the trimmings for 5 people in my little oven!!

    NSD today, as day one of my fiscal fast. Go me!! Dinner today was poorly dinner for the children, and the last of the steak for me - fried off, with fried onions and mushrooms, and hm wedges. Nomnomnom!

    Hope all are doing well on the run-up to halfway through the month.

    PG x
    :) hello, may i ask you a few questions about your small oven.? i have a fan oven at the bottom and the top oven is a grill is this the same as yours? its just my knob for the top oven has the same degrees as knob for big oven so i take it this IS actually a REAL oven not just a grill? if this is the case how do i use it i know that sounds daft,do i take the shelf out and use a roasting dish? does the GRILL not burn the top of the food, sorry for so mant questions but just had a light bulb moment reading your post,i would love to use top bit as an oven as it does sometimes seem a wast turning big oven on for small dishes , sorry for melting your brain:)
    C.R.A.P.R.O.L.L.Z #7 member N.I splinter-group co-ordinater :p I dont suffer from insanity....I enjoy every minute of it!!.:)
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