elantan's diary

ozzyfan_2

Morning!

Lynz, the beef & ale casserole sounds yummy. Did you get the recipe from here? I love my slow cooker as I always cook double or treble the recipe then freeze some. Been freezing lots for the school summer hols & have half of Augusts meals already. If you manage to pick one up elantan I have the recipe book that came with my slow cooker if you need some basic recipes, just let me know
Good luck with finding some samples to use amongst your old Xmas pressies, I'm working through all my old toiletries too, its surprising how many things you can find
Hope you all had a good weekend, my computer decided to go haywire the weekend & I've really missed MSE. Dh was a darling & spent his whole weekend fixing it though I thought he was going to throw it out the window at one point! :eek:

lynzpower

Ozzy, No, its just something Ive done for years, not sure where from

Get some fatty braising steak ( dont cut the fats off it needs tihs to thicken the gravy) few carrots, loads of mushrooms, large chopped onion, couple of peeled pots chopped into small squares. wack in the slow cooker with a small mugfull of boiling water with an oxo cube in and a small bottle of guiness (or some people use value bitter I read on here) Stick this in the SC before work, get home from work and then

If the gravy wants thickening then ladle out some of the sauce and blend with some sauce flour ( plain flour will do- not cornflour it tastes chalky IME) then at that stage sling in a load of frozen peas. When you are ready to scoff it, ladle into big bowls and eat with french stick or bog standard white sliced bread. Lasts forever, freezes well and everyone loves it!!! :T

SnowyOwl_2

elantan wrote:

...was reading os board tonight noticed they were talking about a thing called kefir..i know it's gonna cost in the start up..and if i decide to do it it will come off my budget ..but it looks like it might save me a bit inthe long run..now to source some ...mmm..freecycle ..would they even do it ?

elantan...I just happened to see your post. If you go through the really long Kefir thread some of the Old Style members refer to a Yahoo group for Kefir making - the members send on spare grains to new members on request. You should get some for the price of a couple of stamps at the most. It may be available via ebay but why pay when you can get started for free...

ozzyfan_2

Thats sounds great! Thanks very much Lynz shall give it a go this week, will let you know how it goes

(feeling hungry now!)

xx

lynzpower

heres another tip for you elentan and other challengers

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=221795

elantan

well today i have been tryin to track down kefir it would be easier to track down the mafia i think ..thanks to snowy owl i have looked up the yahoo web site and left a few messages ... i got one person from the u.s offering to give me some for $8 plus p&p ....if i'm stuck then that will be the way for me to go ..i also got 2 statements from mbna and b.o.s credit cards .... i had forgotten that i had these accounts..so i dult wrote to both companies and teold them i wanted my account closed...tonight i am gonna write my first ever meal plan ..i've read a few now and hopefully will manage one ...after i have done it i'll put it on here and you can tell me what you think of it..well i'm away to eat my dinner hubby has made rogan josh can't wait ..oh and he also brought in the sun so i now have a tub with a token in it ...yippeeee

In_Search_Of_Me

Hi all..are we doing from 20th & can someone please clarify what counts/doesent count in the budget so we're all doing the same (ish!!) Currently eating the freezer dregs so will start again Friday when started Rose Conely class - not great planning for the challenge bu never mind, still worth a go!! Looking forward to it as need a kick up the bum as been slipping a bit the last few weeks...is everyone else excited too?!! Cant follow the meal plan as old RC is quite strict on what you can/cannot eat!! Will go & hunt out the book now...

elantan

yup it's the 20th and as for the rules ..lynz, loopy can you help..i'm looking forward to it ....if i can just find kefir ...oh my kingdom for some kefir...lol probably get it and not like it ha ha

elantan

well i've done my first ever meal plan for the week ..only did dinners is that ok? here it is let me know what you think

monday chicken roganjosh with rice ..was lovely
tuesday burgers and macaroni
wednesday mince taco's with salad
thursday chicken and veg with gravy
friday sausage casserole and veg
saturday spicy chicken chowmein stirfry in chilli oil (trying to attempt takeaway at home)
sunday braising steak with yorkshire puds and veg

so how does it sound? any advice much appreciated..

jessicamb

elantan wrote:

well i've done my first ever meal plan for the week ..only did dinners is that ok? here it is let me know what you think

monday chicken roganjosh with rice ..was lovely
tuesday burgers and macaroni
wednesday mince taco's with salad
thursday chicken and veg with gravy
friday sausage casserole and veg
saturday spicy chicken chowmein stirfry in chilli oil (trying to attempt takeaway at home)
sunday braising steak with yorkshire puds and veg

so how does it sound? any advice much appreciated..

Its more exciting than mine... Well done you. Looking forward to the challenge too :j