Store cupboard challenge

Hippeechiq

This week from stock (just a couple of minor cheats) we've had:-

Monday - Egg Chips & Beans

Tuesday - Boiled Gammon, New Potatoes & White Cabbage, Sprouts & Sweetcorn

Wednesday - Cold Gammon, Tuna, Pickled Cabbage, Beetroot, Onions, Stilton, Wensleydale & Cranberry, and a Large Mixed Salad plus Cucumber and Tomatoes and Bread Rolls

Thursday - Potato Bacon Cheese & Onion Hotpot with White Cabbage and Peas

Tonight - Pork Satay Curry made from a couple of loin steaks and other ingredients I already had in (bar mushrooms which were 46p) + Garlic Bread

Tomorrow we will be having these
VEGGIE BURGERS using ingredients already in the fridge and cupboard. With home made potato wedges and sweetcorn which I already have

And Sunday we're having Chicken, Chorizo & Prawn Paella with Naan from ingredients I already have in.

So I'm doing well. I have done some grocery shopping this year, but it' been on things like 5 tins of $limfast for DD and K3nco coffee on offer, Bran$ton Pickle & Beans on offer, milk, and that kind of thing, but apart from the mushrooms (46p) and a bag of mixed salad (80p) I've not had to buy any ingredients in for any meals we've eaten so far this year, so I'm quite pleased with that.

My cupboards and freezer have another weeks plus worth of meals in them - it's having to buy vegetables which will be my downfall. But I can still make the bulk of my meals for the next fortnight from existing stock......I just feel a bit panicky when there's not a lot in the freezer though - don't you?

gizmo111

Spent £4.05 today - got milk and mushrooms from the local tesco so more pricey than normal.
Mushrooms were to go with steak we had tonight and will go in a casserole of some sort in SC on Monday.
Lunch today was turkey and salad wraps (tortillas in freezer and turkey from xmas).
Peeled and chipped loads of potatoes tonight before they went horrible and what we didn't have tonight is enough for a meal for all 3 of us when we next fancy chips, so they are in the freezer as well.
Will have to buy some bacon tomorrow for pasta bake lunches next week and also some salady stuff to go with it, and we ned some fruit.
But on the whole doing well.

salski

gizmo111 wrote: »

Peeled and chipped loads of potatoes tonight before they went horrible and what we didn't have tonight is enough for a meal for all 3 of us when we next fancy chips, so they are in the freezer as well.

Might sound stupid - but can you freeze cut spuds? I never knew that - in water or just bung em in? do they defrost well?

gizmo111

salski wrote: »

Might sound stupid - but can you freeze cut spuds? I never knew that - in water or just bung em in? do they defrost well?

I chip and boil them for about 5 mins - freeze flat on a tray and then have easy oven chips which i just cook from frozen with a spray of oil and sprinkle of salt - so much nicer than anything you buy in the shops and cheaper as well.

MKS

Hippeechiq wrote: »

This week from stock (just a couple of minor cheats) we've had:-

Thursday - Potato Bacon Cheese & Onion Hotpot

I just feel a bit panicky when there's not a lot in the freezer though - don't you?

The hotpot sounds lovely - can you pass the recipe on? I feel the same about the freezer as well!!

Hippeechiq

Certainly

POTATO ONION & BACON HOTPOT

Serves 2-3

3-5 Medium Potatoes, thinly sliced
1 Large Onion, thinly sliced
3 Bacon Rashers, chopped and dry fried for a few mins till crispy

White Sauce
1 Tablespoon Flour
1 Tablespoon Butter
½ Pint Milk
50G Cheese, grated
Cayenne, Paprika & Pepper to taste

Place 1st 3 sauce ingredients into a saucepan and heat over a medium heat whisking continuously until ingredients have melted and combined and you have a thick sauce.
Stir in cheese until incorporated and add Cayenne, Paprika & Pepper to taste

Pre-heat oven to 200C
Grease a casserole dish
Add a layer of Potatoes (season with pepper only as there is salt in the bacon) a layer of Onion and a layer of Bacon
Repeat layers
When you have used ½ your ingredients, pour over half the cheese sauce
Continue with layers making sure you end with a Potato layer
Pour over remaining sauce

Cook covered for 45mins then remove lid and cook for a further 30-45mins @ 180C

The beauty of it is that it uses ingredients most of us have in all the time. You can use as much, or little bacon as you like - or even none at all. It's incredibly tasty for how cheap and easy it is to make.

If I'm honest, when 3 of us have it, I make ¾ pint of sauce (1½ tbs Flour & Butter, ¾ pint of milk and 75g cheese) but the original recipe is adequate....I just love cheese sauce

Although I've posted the recipe before, I can't take credit for it, I stumbled across it on one of the forums ages ago. Thought it would be on the GC thread, but I can't find it, so apologies to whoever originally posted it

Fruball

Like most of us, I have lots in still from Christmas and I am fairly certain that, apart from milk, I can feed myself and my two DDs for 7 days without visiting a supermarket.

Anybody else fancy doing this with me?

I usually spend anything from £40-£70 a week (yayyy it used to be double that!) on groceries but with a little clever planning I am sure I can make what we have in already last a week. So that will be a saving of between £40 and £70 this month!!!

I did go shopping today so I have enough rolls and sandwich things for DDs packed lunches so if anyone needs to get those bits in and then join in that would be cool :cool:. Also, I think we need to allow ourselves to get milk, but nothing else.

I have tinned fruit (which we hardly ever use) and frozen veg etc so won't need to top up on fruit or veg.

There are some very wise and savvy people on this board so even if we run very low on ideas, we will be able to draw on their advice.

So, who is in it with me?

lucy_lemon

I'd like to give it a go! I'm addicted to milk, so will have to buy some of that I think. But I got some veg and fruit today, so think I can definitely last a week. Count me in!

quintwins

yeah i'll do it with you i went shopping last night so have milk and fruit and veg and plenty of bread in the freezer

Fruball

Excellent Thats 3 of us so far I am sure it is easily achieveable as we all usually buy too much, throw stuff out etc so making what we have stretch, and avoiding those trips where we spend over £20 when we just went in for milk, will mean we save lots of money this month

Tomorrow I am going to bake raisin flapjacks with my DDs for lunchboxes, will make some mini quiches as we have a lot of flour, and are having roast turkey, some very old potatoes! with frozen veg and fresh carrots for dinner

I only have 4 eggs so I will save those to make fairy cakes either tomorrow or during the week, muffins maybe as that just uses one egg, and the last egg will maybe do pancakes for the DDs one evening