Weezl and friends Phase 3 - sitting pretty with Kitty

debtfreein5

Hi there

I.ve just jumped over from another thread. Just trying to get head into gear to clear debts and one of the ways is that I now need to keep groceries to £200pm (MAX!!) Obviously anything below this is VERY welcome

Last week I did my 1st shop, but these recipes seem great - certainly as a help with keeping variety in our diet.

I have 2 little ones, and both will be at school in the next few weeks. I plan on being stricter with school lunches but if weather goes really bad I may want them to have a hot meal.

Anyway, just wanted to say hello really!

Allegra

And hello to you too :T

Right, I really must go off now, but I'll be back on tonite with my last evening meal of the Option 2 (Kitty) month - Moroccan rice. Be good and happy cooking !

pinkie_pie

Grocery shopping has arrived, so I'm having a quick sit down before starting some cooking! It cost £45.36, so compared to the shopping list it was £1.11 over (not including the cost of delivery in the total as not relevant to others). There's some variations though - especially in sizes as I bought it from Mr T not Mr A - also didn't buy frozen peas, tea bags, oats or chili powder as I have those in, and none of the nutty/seedy stuff as I'm not making that spread. However.. I did also get a massive chicken (not by choice, it's what they sent and cost £2 more! doh) 2 massive bags bananas, bag apples, bag satsumas, honey, and some squash (I'll be kicking a nasty pepsi max addiction so wanted something to help - it's a new yummy flavour and was on special though).

I'm really pleased! Off to put some bread in the bread maker!!

artybear

Hello all the newbies!!

Snow you sound like your doing really well, getting the shopping is a good first step and probably a good idea you have missed out things you know you want eat...dont want to end up like some people who have boxes of dried peas nearly three months on:o:whistle:

xxxxx

weezl74

Dear all, new posters and vintage ones

Today is a very exciting landmark in CFR

10,000 unique shirleys, and 200,000 page hits

Be very very proud of yourselves :j:j:j:j

Murrell

Greying_Pilgrim wrote: »

Thanks for your reply Murrell. Here's hoping that it is good news all the way with your Dad - Best Wishes to you both.

Actually, I didn't change the yoghurt bit of the recipe - but just didn't use Soya yoghurt, I used Mr A's smart price and it worked fine. The tweaking was more with the flour - I don't use wholemeal as a habit, so just switched to the SR that I had in the house - but in my new frugal phase I am only buying plain flour and adding the necessary amount of baking powder to 'convert' it iyswim. I would also like to know if the cornmeal adds anything other than texture. Cornmeal is something that I have in the store cupboard and is relatively cheap, but I wonder whether all 'conventional' flour would achieve the same result (and simplify it for CFR). What I DID do is halve the recipe - I have a Teracotta dish that I use for TITH and it's dimensions are 23x15x5cm (lxwxd) and as you'll appreciate, the dish is 'fuller' from the start, and doesn't rise as much as a 'conventional' TITH. Any testers (if we get that far) who are expecting an 'oven door busting fluffy sensation' are going to be disappointed I'm afraid, but in terms of a savoury bake, it works well.

In terms of the 'toads', I've done veggie sausages (we're a veggie household) as in Mr T's lincolnshire, I've done homemade nut roast mix 'sausages' (last month on my £50 challenge) and I've done onions - roasted in the pan like you would the sausages, then the mix poured on top and towards the end of cooking, sprinkled a little cheese on top. The only suggestion I would make is that 'proper' sausages cut up make the dish easier to portion out, as the batter covers them up. If they're whole and move under the batter, someone will have all the toads and someone the hole! I have this dish on my menu planner to make on Saturday, but won't be able to post about it for a while - and I suspect not provide pics which is a shame, so if you can fill in the gaps Murrell, that would be brill - IF you think it is good enough that is.

Nuala Buala, I hope expectation is not running too high - I feel honour bound to deliver a fabulous dish now -eek!

Hiah,

Thanks for info. The plan wouldn't be able to afford vegan yogurt though. Could make a veggie version, but not sure if veggie sausages are more expensive than smartprice. I have made another version before, might even be from the vegan thread on here I think. Will have to look at that too and see what I can do. Will have to buy some sausages first though and i'm stuck in!!

Prognosis wasn't good for my dad.

Sandra
x

Murrell

Its zero waste week. This link might be useful:

http://blog.ooffoo.com/blogs/2010/08/29/handy-guide-to-eating-left-overs/

Sandra
x

Gingerjar

Hello everyone

I am very excited to have found this thread and will be looking at the website to get some inspiration with meal planning. We need to really cut our bills as our household income has dropped by several hundred a month since last year. I've also got down my debts of approx £3000 to £300 since last Aug which is great but we now need to go even further. We've been meal planning for the last 2 weeks which has stopped us wasting money and has been a good challenge as we both like cooking. I'm veggie, my husband is a mga-carnivore and DD is great and eats pretty much anything.

So nice to meet you all and I'll enjoy seeing how everyone is going along.

x

aless02

Ooo Murrell, this is a bit OT but do you know if it's possible/how-to make soya yoghurt in a slow cooker? Is there a way to do it cheaply? All I can seem to find is those ultra-expensive fancy "yoghurt starters" but I know with cow's milk yoghurt I think you can do it from just a normal pot bought at the supermarket!

pinkie_pie

Okay, first batch of bread a partial success. Followed the recipe (Morphy Richards breadmaker) and it's very dark on the bottom but quite light on top (medium setting) - it tastes ok but it looks quite stodgy and feels quite heavy and also fell apart when I sliced it - the crusts fell off and the middle fell out! lol

I don't know if it's because I cut it straight away - needed it for superfast dinner lol. Also can't see us getting more than 10 slices out a loaf (2lb one) which doesn't seem a lot!

I'd have a go at the handmade ones but I feel like I need to use my breadmaker! lol. Also don't have any loaf tins to do one in the oven.

Hmm.