August 2008 Grocery Challenge

Hi All!!
Well I popped into Mr T today and picked up some more of the Alaskan Salmon fillets on offer. Will add them to my long term total. Still have a little room in the freezer. Also had vouchers for a free boost smoothie and tub of extra light philli.
Question:
I also bought a pack of red chillies for the Feed family for a £5 recipe I want to try but I have just noticed they are graded as medium...how hot is that.. I like spicy food but NOT the type that blows my head off..I thought I'd ask you experienced cooks whether that should be ok as a general red chilli and also if I should use less of it??
Thanks for any help.

Everyone seems to have made a good start to the day!!

Oh and Kaz2904 I know you love your sister but I would have been frustrated about that milk too..but what a lovely OH you have.. he certainly appreciates your efforts.

Sian the green-Sad as it may seem I would agree that I couldn't give up my OB for anything..spent a long time looking for him and we are soul mates. So glad we are doing this challenge together. We've just booked our wedding date for next year so it looks like my Costa Rican adventure will double as a honeymoon!!

SFT

Can I join in, started doing a similar thing last month ....I have even found recipes for Naan Breads which I think taste better than shop bought!!!!

:j Another NSD. Declaring £131.19 for July . Haven't done a major shop since 2 July. Hoping to last out until next week, might need milk and tea.

Well done to everyone who hasn't cooked before but is now having a go. It can be scary because you don't want to spoil anything and waste money, but the people on this site are all really helpful. I can remember when I first got married ringing my mum every other day with questions like "Help - the sponge mix has curdled" or "Why has my casserole still not cooked and it's 11.00 p.m. and we haven't eaten yet".

I made chilli yesterday, divided into 3 and ate one lot for dinner. Made herby bread, half in freezer, tasted good but not sure I'll put sugar in next time.

Sosh - hope things improve for you.
Wendy - gives you a sick feeling when you realise what's happened. I had my bank account hacked into twice this year - fortunately they didn't take anything, you can guess why!!
SFT - the peas sound yummy - must try them.
Sian - My luxury would be organic, chemical free cosmetics and toiletries. Don't know why they always have to be more expensive but I won't go back to using products with petrol in them if I can help it.
Mandy_moo_1 - thanks for the website on phone numbers

Had an anxious few days as my dd has been made redundant (though she does have a job interview next week thank goodness) and her dd1, who is expecting her second babe, is in hospital with an infection. Hoping she'll be out today.

Congratulations SFT

Got my signature all ready for the challenge, will make a store cupboard list tonight so I know exactly what I've got in and so don't waste anything

I've read of few posts with people mentioning freezing cakes and biscuits. I've never frozen anything like this, what freezes best? Do you freeze the biscuit dough or when they are baked? I'm having a c-sec next week so it would be good to do some extra baking with the children and freeze it.

Need to update my sig as I bought 6pts of milk from Tesco Express. I looked in there to see if any of the Supercook items mentioned on another thread were reduced but they didnt have any nor the Hovis breadmix that is on offer.

I never make bread, the breadmaker we have was given to us, it was a cheap one and is rubbish. I only ever use it to make dough for pizza whirls. The loaf it makes is tiny and isn't a great shape. I was thinking that I might use it nore to preapre dough but then bake it in the oven.

I must check out some of these other dough recipes, I've seen Naan, tortilla, etc mentioned. Which recipes do you recommend?

One last question, how much vinegar do I put in my washing machine and do I put it in the softner section? I think I need to buy a new machine as it doesn't seem to work on many of the programmes so is costing me more in the long run eg a quick wash leaves the clothes looking unwashed and I can't use the low temp. When my bbay is born next week I will be using real nappies so I need a reliable machine.

Edit: sorry, another question! Dh brough home a pile of various chillis that were given to him by a customer. Not many will be used as I can't eat them while breastfeeding and the children only have a tiny amount. How do I dry them so they aren't wasted?