Black Saturn's evening meal planner

Greenwellies_2

polkadot wrote: »

Hi BS
Im curious, how do you do you your meal planning?Do you use a software package.My OH bought me a package for my birthday called bigoven (Am I allowed to post the link?) We paid £15 for the deluxe and it's stunning. It akready has thousands of recipes saved but then you can import from any site and create as many recipe boxes as you wish. It has a calander that generates a shopping list and a leftover wizard.It's fantastic. I plan our meals for each week and then I log onto Asda and have the shopping delivered.

That sounds interesting, I've Googled it and I'm going to look at the free trial tonight when I'm home.

Are the recipies 'cheap' to make?

GW

polkadot

I would advise you to pay the £15 and buy the package.If you take the trial you get the standatd recipe box which is huge mind,but you really have no way of organising like you do with the full package.In this case you can name your own boxes and store recipes there. EG. I have one for my sons activities(playdough fingerpaint etc-all found on big oven)and one for hubbys fave meals etc. Absolutely limitless. As for the cost: i do my planner for evening meals, then breakfasts we buy mueslis and yoghurt (or we have fruit smoothies) and lunch is generally just panninis or omlettes. I do my shopping with Asda online.I spend about £40 a week (includes my sons formula) and then once a month I add in toiletries and cleaning which pushes to a maximum of £60.So on average we spend about £220 a month for the three of us.
HTH

Queenie

polkadot wrote: »

Hi BS
Im curious, how do you do you your meal planning?Do you use a software package.My OH bought me a package for my birthday called bigoven (Am I allowed to post the link?) We paid £15 for the deluxe and it's stunning. It akready has thousands of recipes saved but then you can import from any site and create as many recipe boxes as you wish. It has a calander that generates a shopping list and a leftover wizard.It's fantastic. I plan our meals for each week and then I log onto Asda and have the shopping delivered.

I've got BigOven and it really is a very, very useful program.

I ended up deleting the recipes/recipe boxes that came with it and simply created my own.

A few weeks ago, I downloaded a free shopping list program (I posted it here in OS) so that I can use that to print off a shopping list with prices which helps to keep track of what I'm spending. By using the BO shopping list and then tagging the bits in the shopping list program it really doesn't take much time at all.

Greenwellies - the recipes which come with the BigOven recipe boxes are US recipes and like many things, you would need to go through them to see if they would be considered "cheap". The recipes boxes which come with it include stuff (if I remember rightly) like Crockpot (slow cooker) recipes, WeightWatcher recipes - plus many others. Do enjoy your free trial, but, like polkadot has said, you will probably find that you'll invest £15.

emilyt

I love this thread and love all the different recipe ideas.
Just wondered if anyone knew what has happened to Black Saturn the OP.
I have noticed she hasn't logged on since december.
Unusual for her.
Hope she is ok.
Emily

Elaine_Wilson

emilyt wrote: »

I love this thread and love all the different recipe ideas.
Just wondered if anyone knew what has happened to Black Saturn the OP.
I have noticed she hasn't logged on since december.
Unusual for her.
Hope she is ok.
Emily

I'll second that. Although I've never needed to economise to the same degree I've always found her postings extremely inspirational.

Thanks, Black Saturn, and I too hope you are well. I think you were one of the main posters to convince me that old style is best.

polkadot

Queenie wrote: »

I've got BigOven and it really is a very, very useful program.

I ended up deleting the recipes/recipe boxes that came with it and simply created my own.

A few weeks ago, I downloaded a free shopping list program (I posted it here in OS) so that I can use that to print off a shopping list with prices which helps to keep track of what I'm spending. By using the BO shopping list and then tagging the bits in the shopping list program it really doesn't take much time at all.

Greenwellies - the recipes which come with the BigOven recipe boxes are US recipes and like many things, you would need to go through them to see if they would be considered "cheap". The recipes boxes which come with it include stuff (if I remember rightly) like Crockpot (slow cooker) recipes, WeightWatcher recipes - plus many others. Do enjoy your free trial, but, like polkadot has said, you will probably find that you'll invest £15.

I do the crockpot recipes in a casserole dish, and sometimes only do them for an hour and a half, te other great thing about the programme is that you can import recipes from anywhere, I even had my mum email me some of her recipes that I really missed (shes in South Africa), and now they are in a recipe called "I want my mummy" .Yes alot of the stuff that gets submitted is American, but that's coz not enough of us are getting on there.

tranquil_2

I made this with 2yr DD last week and it was delicious, and she really enjoyed making it.

Really I'm posting so I can find it again- it's taken me ages of searching to refind this recipe! :doh:

black-saturn wrote: »

Easy Basic Fruit cake

This is very easy and costs pennies to make.

You will need a round cake tin and a set of scales.

Preheat oven to Gas mark 5.

2oz butter/margarine (I use Stork)
2oz sugar (I use granulated)
4oz self raising flour (I use Tesco value)
2 eggs (I use Tesco value),
2oz raisins (I use Tesco value),
2 tablespoons milk.
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Cream together the butter and sugar. Add 2 eggs and mix in. Add the flour and mix in. Add the raisins and cinnamon and mix in. If the mixture is too stiff add some milk.

Transfer it to a cake tin and bake for about 45 minutes.

Trow

moanymoany wrote: »

Mock Goose is from the wartime recipe book.

1 and 1/2 lbs potatoes sliced thinly. If the skins are ok I don't peel them.
2 large cooking apples - or green eating apples - peeled and sliced
4 ox grated cheese
half teaspoon dried sage or chopped fresh sage
3/4 pint of stock
1 tablespoon of flour

It sounds really interesting - but I'm not sure where to get 4 ox (oxen?) from...... would cows suffice?

emp501

black-saturn wrote: »

Another 2 OS recipes for you to try today:

Steak Pudding

For this you will need a slow cooker and a pudding basin.

1lb stewing steak,
2 oxo cubes,
2oz suet,
2oz plain flour,
pinch salt,
1 onion

Just before you go to bed the night before you want to eat this put the stewing steak, oxo cubes and the onion in the slow cooker with some water on a low setting. Leave it to cook slowly overnight.

In the morning when you get up drain the 'gravy' off the meat and set it aside. Wash the slow cooker out.

Make a dumpling type mixture from the flour, suet, salt and water.

Line the pudding basin with half the dumpling mixture and then put the cooked stewing steak into it. Then put the other half of the dumpling mix on the top. Cover the whole dish with clingfilm and make a small hole in the top.

Place it in the slow cooker and add boiling water around the edge but not going over the top. Leave it in the slow cooker all day on a low heat.

The water will not evaporate as long as the lid is kept on.

Reheat the 'gravy' and serve this up with mash and peas. It's a real comfort food.

This sounds great - and I know this is a reaaaaaallllly old thread - but does anyone know if a Pyrex bowl would work as well as a pudding basin? Or a way of cooking it outside a slow cooker? Got a slow cooker but would another way be easier????

emp501

One of my fave cheap meals is beef stroganoff. It was my signature dish at uni, and it's great cos it's really filling, great comfort food and you can just chuck in whatever amounts of stuff you've got or vary it to taste.

Basically it's onion and mushrooms, fried together in a bit of oil, then add mince and brown off. I chuck in whatever herbs I've got, and some nutmeg (my rule: if you can SEE the green dried herbs and SMELL the nutmeg it's about right). Leave on a low heat with the lid on for about 20-25 minutes, then at the last minute add some creme fraiche or soured cream and warm through. I usually have it with rice, but it's also nice with broccolli (or both!).

Yum yum.