August 2010 Grocery Challenge

seductivesmile

Hi All,
I have a super duper amazing auntie!
i havent been to a shop since the 31st July, and today whilst i was decorating my aunt popped in, and helped herself to a cup of tea while i was wallpapering, because i have been eating out of the freezer and cupboards there is literally, milk, butter, cheese, eggs, coke, beer, pickles and what ever is defrosting for dinner that night in the fridge, my auntie bless her said to me ' you're fridge is empty - u need to eat more' and i told her i was eating fine, just using up what was in my freezer, we carried on our catch up and she left, then an hour later she came back with bags of food, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, peppers, courgettes, cauli, broccoli, strawbs, grapes, apples, oranges, bread, ham, turkey, celery, carrots, potatoes, onions, spring onions, cabbage for the fridge and salmon and chicken fillets for the freezer and said to me ' not on my watch is my neice going to be living on frozen veggies with her dinners' and she wouldnt let me pay her back, she said most of it came from the garden so i feel a little less guilty - but now i need some ideas on how to use up so much healthy stuff...
i have a delicate stomach in that i suffer with IBS so spicy food and rich foods are a little painful. but any ideas or help ?? (i have the store cupboard staples such as pasta, rice, couscous, noodles etc)

Thanks
SS x

Hippeechiq

angelatgraceland wrote: »

For the chicken/ chickpea curry:
Soak a mug of chickpeas overnight and rinse as often as you can in between-I soaked mine the previous afternoon.
Boil as per instructions on packet-I boil rapidly for about 10 mins then cook until soft.
I used 2 chicken legs-stripped off the meat and chopped it up into pieces approx 1.5 cm so it goes a long way.
one chicken stock cube
2 or 3 onions chopped
one tin chopped toms
2 teasponns garam masala
one2 teaspoons hot curry powder
half a teaspoon chilli powder
one jar value curry sauce(cos I got it for 5p in Asda/tesco)or an exta tin of toms and an extra spoon of curry powder.
I wash out the tins and jar with about half tin of hot water to get every little bit from them-transfering from one to another(Im just tight)
Lightly fry onion, add the chopped cooked chicken and spices. Lightly fry. Chuck in everything else and cook for about half an hour to develop the flavours-make sure its runny enough-may need a little more water-just add half a can at a time
That is what I used "this" time but it varies as I'm geenrally a "chuck it in" type of cook!

Oh how I wish I was but, I'm not, and I doubt I'll suddenly become confident enough to give it a bash after all these years .......strange how you either are or you aren't, isn't it :huh: I've found and cooked some lovely new recipes this year, but I've also had two or three that have turned out _pale_ and that's after following quantites, method and cooking times to the T! so gawd knows what would have happened if I had dared to "improvise" on a few :rotfl:

Thanks for the above recipe and for all the info on the Butternut Squash - it's very much appreciated

sofababe

Had to go to the corner shop for a couple of things, should have made the effort and walked the mile round trip to A*da:o

Spent £7.23 on cat food, milk, squash and loo paper. Oh and some ginger nuts!:p

greent

seductivesmile wrote: »

Hi All,
I have a super duper amazing auntie!
i havent been to a shop since the 31st July, and today whilst i was decorating my aunt popped in, and helped herself to a cup of tea while i was wallpapering, because i have been eating out of the freezer and cupboards there is literally, milk, butter, cheese, eggs, coke, beer, pickles and what ever is defrosting for dinner that night in the fridge, my auntie bless her said to me ' you're fridge is empty - u need to eat more' and i told her i was eating fine, just using up what was in my freezer, we carried on our catch up and she left, then an hour later she came back with bags of food, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, peppers, courgettes, cauli, broccoli, strawbs, grapes, apples, oranges, bread, ham, turkey, celery, carrots, potatoes, onions, spring onions, cabbage for the fridge and salmon and chicken fillets for the freezer and said to me ' not on my watch is my neice going to be living on frozen veggies with her dinners' and she wouldnt let me pay her back, she said most of it came from the garden so i feel a little less guilty - but now i need some ideas on how to use up so much healthy stuff...
i have a delicate stomach in that i suffer with IBS so spicy food and rich foods are a little painful. but any ideas or help ?? (i have the store cupboard staples such as pasta, rice, couscous, noodles etc)

Thanks
SS x

Wow!! Lucky you!:beer:

I suspect you may need to freeze some of the veggies/ fruit, cos that's an awful lot to get through!:rotfl: You could freeze the tomatoes chopped for pasta sauce/ use in casseroles, ratatouille etc, or roast them and freeze them (yummy pasta sauce) The peppers can also be chopped and frozen or roasted and frozen - add to ratatouille. chilli (although maybe not for you) stirfries, casseroles etc. I have lots of frozen courgette - some grated (lasagne/ bolognaise/ cake), some chunked (chilli, ratatouille, chicken casserole etc) some sliced and griddled off (makes yummy pasta sauce) Frozen strawbs are nice in crumbles... go well with apples (dessert ones still make nice crumbles - I use wrinkly ones from the fruit bowl up in crumbles/ charlottes)

Roasted veg goes really well with couscous - tomatoes, peppers, bit of onion (red is best, but normal works too) and chunked courgettes roasted in a drizzle of olive oil. Peppers, carrots, (spring/normal) onions, broccoli in noodle strifry. Courgette and tomatoes in pasta sauce (with celery if you must - yick!!)

ooh - lots of things spring to mind - lots of choices with lots of food!!:D:D

Milly-Ann-Molly

aarrggghhh mr T got me! I went in for milk but there were loads of great offers on and I wasted about £60... Still I have enough cereal and treats for a few months though Hmmm Must try harder. I did get alot of whoops stuff for the freezer too so meals are fine for at least another 2 weeks now

greent

Evening all! I hadn't been shopping since last SUnday until today - possibly a first for me! Made possible by DH working away and having 4 children at home at not wanting to take them to teh supermarket and not needing enough for an online shop!

Didn't need as much today as I bought, but stocked up on some bits. Spent about £80 (put receipts somewhere safe earlier..... - will update sig when found!) but got masses of stuff. My mum then visited with some veg for guinea pigs, about 4kg of plums(!!) and a cucumber (had just bought one - hmph!) I literally have no room in my freezer, fridge or cupboards - stuff is now piled on top of the fridge (which I hate - it's untidy!!) and I still have 2 loaves of bread, 2 packs of bottled drinks, 3 packs of canned drinks and the plums on my kitchen side - grrrr!!!!

Dh is working away and is home for less than 48 hours at the weekend - so we're not eating much from the freezer, nor getting through anywhere near as much bread and milk as if he were here - but my shopping hasn't really adjusted to take account of this yet (other than with milk) I really don't know what I'm going to do with some of this stuff. I might see if I can put a bit in m-i-l's freezer - but am worried she'll use it (really!!) May send her off with some strange things and hope.... I also have about 4kg of runner beans in my fridge and 3kg of apples to prep and freeze.... and the courgette plants look like another 6 or so will be ready later this week.....

4kids4cats

Did a small shop today. Being car-less and having to carry it all definitely helped me cut down on what I bought! Spent £14.79. OH did 2 small shops while I was away and got quite a few BOGOFs so we are quite well stocked up. Had a lovely free joint of beef, courtesy of my mum tonight - it tasted even better cos I didn't have to buy it!!:)
Got given a marrow today too - I always say yes, then wonder what on earth to do with it, that my family will actually eat. Does anyone have any good marrow recipes?

Hippeechiq

wssla00 - Cant remember whether or not I thanked you for the quantities that I ask for when making Rumbledythumps, but in case I didn't - thank you Hope the fridge "recovered"

Bought some milk and a couple of bits in Icel@nd today - £6.20 total spend so far £154.59 out of £275.

Wish there was a F@rm Foods near me - we get through a 4 pinter of Semi Skimed a day + a 4 pinter of Skimmed every 2-3 days (for daughters Slimfast) *sigh*

angelatgraceland

Well Greent maybe what you need is an extra freezer! You'd only fill it up though! Just as I would:rotfl:
I made the veggy chilli today, cooked the chicken late afternoon and have just taken it apart and put it in a bowl where it will sit overnight in out 2nd fridge(in the garage) away from DH.
Just need to decide what we will do with it tomorrow. Ive got some rather old potatoes that I may make wedges with. Don't want to do anything with pastry so may even serve it on its lonesome with some gravy yet. Thawed out a pack of very nice sausages also for those who want them and will prob cook brocolli and carrots with it. I know-its Sunday today not tomorrow but I had to cook my beans up which were in the fridge so I had to do the chilli and not really enough room in the freezer for storage now.
Also mad a "quick cheesy herby loaf" today which is a recipe I got from here some time ago-no yeast needed. I made it in a silicone loaf tin today and its the best one yet. I had some rather old cheese to use up so that went in it also. Had that with our chilli and rice. I actually weighed the rice today as I always seem to either cook too much or too little. Brown rice-80g per peson-served 5 but I found the 320 g I cooked was in fact enough for 6-as was the chilli. Cost under £2 for 6 servings inc the rice but not the bread.

angelatgraceland

ASC wrote: »

Someone may have already suggested this, but it may be worth contacting customer services? I had the same problem with some Mr T vouchers and a very helpful chap said although he couldn't re issue the vouchers, he could put the points back on my account.


A x

Thanks for the reminder!
Well it had crossed my mind but Ive a horrid feeling I chucked them away with some other paperwork! If not I will give it a try-nothing to lose!