January 2009 Grocery Challenge

sharronej

fallen_angel_shelley wrote: »

I fancy making a quiche, the recipe I have seen says it needs cream, can it be done with out the cream? sorry for such a short post :beer:

Yes, I add a slightly smaller amount of milk just make sure that the middle is firm before you serve.

sharronej

kunekune wrote: »

Joining the quiche club!

I had a bought pastry case that I was going to use to make a quiche lorraine tonight - got gruyere, cream and bacon ready. First up, once it was defrosted, it was tiny. It would definitely not hold the size filling I was planning. So I looked at the instructions, and found I could cook blind from frozen. Got other one out as well. Tried to !!!!! bottom. Bottom cracked. Put it in oven anyway. Crack got better. Sides on both of them toppled over. They looked pale and uninteresting. After 10 minutes, I took them out ... and ...

put them straight in the bin.

Got my book out, looked up recipe for pastry using half white and half wholemeal, made pastry, rolled it out, blind baked it, poured the big filling on top of the bacon bits (5 eggs, one yolk, cream, milk, gruyere ... not a frugal meal, mind) and it was still on the table at the normal time. Served it with an interesting mix of sliced beans and flageolet beans in garlic butter.

Went down brilliantly. I'm not sure why I didn't do it that way before - my cheesy pastry that I use for broccoli quiche is always a success too. So why do I bother trying to use frozen pastry? In New Zealand there was good frozen pastry, it was in rolled out squares, frozen flat, so you didn't have to do anything except take it out of the freezer and let it defrost for about 10 minutes. Now, that was time saving if not money saving. But the Jus-Rol stuff I've had here is appalling. The rolled sheets crack. They take ages to defrost BEFORE they crack and go wrong - the only way to use them (as happened with my mince pies at xmas) was to squidge it up again and re-roll them. What's the time saving in that?

No, home-made from now on unless I need puff. And perhaps I should try very hard not to need puff.

Edited to say: the rude bit was to do with putting holes in the bottom of the pastry with a fork.

If you have a food processor you can whizz up pastry in less than a minute (literally) just put in your flour, slightly less fat than the recipe and whizz, then add a bit of water again you probably won't need as much. I usually then place the pastry in a bag a refridgerate for half an hour before using..you can also freeze pastry so you could make a couple of batches,put them in bags and just bring them out when you need them.

Cat_Addict

Sharron while you're on about pastry may I pick your brains and be really dumb??

Can you tell me the quantities/proportions for pastry? It is many moons since I made any but want to start.

SavvyStudent_2

Pastry is half fat to flour (e.g. 100g of flour to 50g marg) with a little water to bring it together xx

sharronej

justpeyton4now wrote: »

Actual spend is already over my £100 budget. I think I was being very unrealistic considering it is a 6 week month for us. Add to that I had used nearly everything in my cupboards right down to no beans, tomatoes or veg left. And our poor freezer was depressingly bare. Oh well, lesson learned.

This will still give me a good clue as to what I need to budget for in February. Keeping my receipts for all spends and will be looking for ways to cut back. The good part is that I think other than some fresh fruit and veg for the rest of the month, we're set grocery wise.

I should also have a lot of the basic pantry foods for next month. So I'll keep watching and learning.

Peyton xxx

hopefully next month you'll be under!

angelatgraceland

Just spent £1.98 on 2 batteries for smoke alarms and £3.29 at McDonalds as I was meeting a friend their while she was on her lunchbreak and we wanted to get away from work! Yukk-just not keen on their food at all-too used to homecooking these days.

sharronej

Cat_Addict wrote: »

Sharron while you're on about pastry may I pick your brains and be really dumb??

Can you tell me the quantities/proportions for pastry? It is many moons since I made any but want to start.

Hi,
as savvystudent said it's half fat to flour but if I was doind it in the food processer I would probably do 8oz flour with 3 to 3.5ozs fat. You can use all butter/marg or all lard or a mix of both for savoury, I use all butter/marg with a little sugar for sweet pastry.

hth

mummy2mygirls

hello, went to local market and to the co-op today and prob spent far to much again!!
total £39.08,

from co-op i got: (12.68)
Bananas
Grapes
Two tins of beans
baby wipes (half price pampers!)
Fruit juice - as really fancied - dont know if i can call it a craving

From market i got: (26.40!!!!)
Red leister cheese
pots
oinions
brocilli
Carrots
melon
apples
satsumers
Big joint of gammon - which ill do in slow cooker yum yum, (5.99)
chicken wings in chinese style
two packs of 16 big beef sausages (these and chicken were on 3 for £10)
Some cooked ham


so did get a bit and the meat will last 7-8 meals so not to bad i guess......


did a chicken yesterday and was happy with the 4 meals for family and one extra just kiddies meal we got out of it!! normally we would of just had a roast and then might of got a curry the next day or just some lunch next day!!! Next i will have to try the making stock for some soup etc with the carcus as well.....

Have got a few meals in the freezer and hope to not have to go to the shops again to soon and when i do not to get to much............

jtb2412

Been and done a 'lil shop in Mr Ts (also popped into S,bury on the way back). Spent £26.47 in Ts and £4.42 in S so not too bad ! Picked up a few bits that were on offer that I use anyway so will save me money in the long run.

Will have to get a few more bits on Sunday for pack-ups (yoghurts and drinks that I forgot tonight :rolleyes: ) but will walk into town for them (get some exercise and save petrol ).

Have had a tidy up in the chest freezer (now 1/2 full) and have enough meals for 5 more days so my next 'big' shop will probably be Weds evening which gives me plenty of time to meal plan and make a list :T (just have to remember to stick to it ).

Have a good evening everyone ..... off to watch H.F. Whittingstall

kalojac

Went shopping again last night in Tesco still working within the budget and am totalling around £131 at present will need to spend around £7-8 on the butchers for mince and vegetables from the local farm shop but got the rest of the ingredients to keep us fed and watered until at least next Thursday! Got reduced yum yums from MR T last night for 20p for 4, the boys enjoyed them, also got Tesco Value pancakes (mini) ones 6 for 29p and they've been scoffed so if anyone else is like me and tends to buy mid-high range brands definitely give these a go, they taste great and they do the job.