September 2008 Grocery Challenge. Please read first two posts.

Money_saving_Diva_2

Popped in to change my siggy and to grab some recipes from the board. Updated my store cupboard and freezers lists today so am cooking from there.

Hope you are all having a great sunday

Hugs

Diva.x

SmileyS_2

:T I am so very very pleased with myself :j So far this month I have had 2 x £7 spends on bits during the week,today I did my Big shop.I spent £39 :j :j :j at Tesco, I normally spend over £100.I then went to Asda and spent a further £16 (normally do about £40 there) and put £5 on an xmas saving card! We buy our dog food from Asda and I would have got just that but they had alot of offers on frozen food reducing it right down to 50p for lots of stuff so I stocked both my freezers up :beer: )

I normally spend more than this in a week but have enough to last about 2 weeks:T :T

So I set myself a £400 budget for the month and really didn't think I would cope but you know,I may just :money: :beer: :j :rotfl: :T

KAAT_LADY

Money_saving_Diva wrote: »

Popped in to change my siggy and to grab some recipes from the board. Updated my store cupboard and freezers lists today so am cooking from there.

Hope you are all having a great sunday

Hugs

Diva.x

hi there MS Diva

how are things with treacle... I have made some cream of vegetable soop,, gosh it is nice with e base that I got from you

oops still havent updated my siggie
will do later

KAAT xx

SmileyS_2

KAAT_LADY wrote: »

hi there MS Diva

how are things with treacle... I have made some cream of vegetable soop,, gosh it is nice with e base that I got from you

oops still havent updated my siggie
will do later

KAAT xx

May I ask,how do you make it cream of veg? I made veg soup yesterday but its not crem of which i prefer :-)

Money_saving_Diva_2

KAAT_LADY wrote: »

hi there MS Diva

how are things with treacle... I have made some cream of vegetable soop,, gosh it is nice with e base that I got from you



KAAT xx

Glad you are still enjoying the soup recipe, and yes Treacle seems fine, but then she always did in between fits. Just watching her and hoping it was just a blip. Fingers crossed.

We are having sausage and baked bean casserole for dinner... am getting hungry so going to enjoy it!

Diva.x

Mrs_Toast

I'm so proud of me and DH. We've made brownies, vanilla fudge, shortbread, HM bread and a victoria sponge this weekend. Hopefully it should last the week. I'm not doing to well keeping up with my spends but I don't think I've over spent yet!

We should have plenty in the freezer for at least another week and we're away for the next two weekends so we may last for another 2 weeks. I'm going to attempt to freeze my bolgnese sauce. Does anybody have any tips???

angelatgraceland

Pour it into individual tubs if you can-the size of one portion each so that you can defrost it one meal at a time if you wish. Sometimes I freeze mine as a complete meal with the pasta in one tub-just like a readymeal. Just make sure its cold to freeze it. Any container will do if you don't have the right ones-you can always loosen it from the tub to cook it in something else or to transfer it to a bag.

annelouise_2

Been on my fist UK whoopsie hunt for a year and v pleased with myself.

Mr T had -

Richmond sausages for 8p a packet
Mini scotch eggs 12 for 8p
Ready prepped chicken fillet for sandwich fillings 9p
Tikka chicken kebabs 1/2 price


So got 5 x uht milk,4 x fromage frais,3 x pkts sausage,1 x chicken filler,2 x scotch eggs packs for £5.40.

Staff were very helpful and I asked politely what were the best times for whoopsies and were they always in the same fridge etc.

Lovin it,have modified menu plan to include the sausages next week and cooked the rest to have in sausage sandwiches tomorrow for breakfast.

annelouise

Moniker

Hi, thought I would let you know that the stuffed pancakes looked great and I am just waiting for the tomato sauce to cool to pour over before putting in the freezer. In case you would like to try them here is my recipe :

Stuffing mix
4oz rice cooked and drained
8 ozs mince (I only had 4oz so used that)
1 med onion finely chopped
3oz grated cheddar cheese
1tsp Worcester sauce
Freshly ground black pepper
1 med egg beaten

(The original recipe had bacon in – 2 rashers, rind removed and chopped – but I didn’t have any)

Gently fry the onion (and bacon if using) in about 1oz butter until transparent. Add the mince and fry until browned all over, stirring to break up the meat. Add all the remaining ingredients, stir well and season.

I used half of this to fill my marrow: I peeled it and cut it in half round the middle and then in half again lengthways. I scooped out the core and used the stuffing to fill. I then wrapped the marrow in well greased foil and baked in the oven for about 40 mins at 180c. The other half I have used for the pancakes:

Savoury Pancakes

1 large egg, beaten with a pinch of salt
Approx 4tbsp of plain flour
Approx 1/2pt of milk

Gradually add the flour to the egg mix until it won’t hold any more. Then add the milk a little at a time beating till it’s smooth and about the consistency of thick single cream. Make the pancakes in the pan and lay each one on a piece of greaseproof paper to cool. (I used an omelette pan so I got four quite small ones from this quantity). When the pancakes have cooled, fill with the stuffing mixture and roll carefully, placing in a greased oven proof dish. Cover with tomato sauce (see below). I am gong to freeze when cool, but you could eat straightaway – pop into a mod oven (Mrs M says 20 mins at180C).

Tomato Sauce
3 large cans of tomatoes, or 3lbs of fresh ones, skinned and chopped
1 med onion
2tsp dried thyme
2tsp sugar
2tblesp tomato puree
½ pt stock (recipe said beef but I used veg)
2 bay leaves
4tblesp olive oil
Salt and pepper

Soften the onion in the olive oil until transparent. Drain the tinned tomatoes if using. Add all the rest of the ingredients to the pan and bring to the boil, stirring. Turn down the heat and simmer for about 30 mins, stirring occasionally. Add extra tomato puree if you think it isn’t thick enough or just cook for a bit longer to reduce down. Pass through a sieve, or use a blender to make it smooth. This can be frozen in useful quantities for pouring over pasta etc. You could also use red wine to give it more oomph! Oh, and the original recipe had garlic in (one clove in the sauce), but as I hate garlic I never use it.

So, I have got two meals and about 1 and ½ pints of tomato sauce ready for the freezer – and all because a friend gave me a marrow from her allotment! The cost was negligible as I had everything in except for a couple of extra tins of tomatoes. I have amended my signature to reflect this.

Sorry for the long post. Have a good evening everyone.

Moniker

egon

Have to add another £11.99 to our total. Yes, we bought more then the cough med, but I still have forgotten the milk! grrrr