Grocery Challenge - February 2012

Suffolk_lass

NickJW wrote: »

I need to go searching to find a recipe which uses up half a pack of sage and half a pack of parsley in the same meal for Friday since I refuse to throw them away!

You could make it into a stuffing and use or freeze it by adding breadcrumbs, small chopped onion, add the chopped herbs (zest of a lemon/orange if you've got one) slat & pepper and a beaten egg then make it into balls or flatten it out in a plastic bag in an oven proof dish to freeze it (remove the dish then and remember which one you used for cooking it in) - or instead of freezing you could add it as a crumble herb topping for a piece of meat (chop or chicken portion) and bake it in a foil parcel, opening the top for the last 10 minutes or so to give it a toasted flavour to the breadcrumbs. Or beat out a chicken breast and use it to stuff it, put it back together and bake that in a foil parcel with a little knob of butter, again, opening up at the end.

You could mix the herbs chopped up with some sausage meat and make homemade sausage rolls (ready-made puff or HM short crust) or just freeze the herbs and use them from frozen.

Kylieminoag wrote: »

Signature all updated ... am hoping for a NSD today but BiL has already mentioned twice that the milk is low and he cant possibly manage without meusli even if I have made a fresh HM loaf for toast for breakfast tomorrow. :mad::mad:

Perhaps someone could gently suggest BiL might like to purchase a pint of milk if it is that important to him as the household practice is to make do until shopping day if things are getting short. After all, he is staying with you and not in a hotel... it probably hasn't occurred to him. Just a suggestion

All the best
SL

Ninno820

HI folks - are you ready to take a bow?

It was a NSD yesterday but today I popped out to get the ingredients for the breakfast bars. True to form I made a list and stuck to it but did get distracted by a few Mr M bargains. Anyway this is a roundabout way of saying that my total came to £38.97 - not astounding by most people's standards but brilliant compared to mine! Not only that but the trolley included cheer me up flowers for myself, flwoers to take to a friend tomorrow and some storecupboard items too good to pass - oph and a whoopsied ham hock waiting to go in the slow cooker tomorrow.

so thankyou everyone - I didn't go round with a calculator but did have the "do I need this" mantra echoing in my head.:p

OS_QS

Feeling very pleased with myself - went into M&S on Monday to get the V-day meal deal for £20. As I was putting the items in my basket, I was thinking, I have similar stuff in the freezer, left from christmas and have a nice stash of pink bubbles from before my changed GC days:beer: (which is now for a treat, not every weekend!

So after freezing my hands off trying to find things in the freezer - I managed to rustle up the following for me and my OH:

Baked camembert and cranberry sauce
Pan-fried steak with a dash of whisky and cream
Chunky chips
creme brule cheesecake
Sparkling Rose

ALL FOR FREE :j Happy Valentines day to us! This challenge is certainly making me think!

bupster

NickJW - why do you need to use it up? If it's fresh, why not just dry it? If I've got fresh herbs from the allotment and it's just a few sprigs, I wrap them loosely in a single sheet of kitchen towel and secure with an elastic band (the postie drops them all over the place) and forget about them somewhere dry and warm in the kitchen. A month later I think "ooh, what on earth is that?" and it turns out to be perfectly dried and fragrant sage.

caroline504

Hi...
I would like to join in for the Febraury grocery challenge
I know its half way thought the month but I think I have been doing it to some degree.
Usually I spend between £60 and £80 a week but with better planing and a reduction in available cash, I have on spent £47 and £42 in the last too weeks
Despite my DH's suggestion there would be no food to eat we have managed quite well

mrs-moneypenny

didnt come in yesterday

valentines tea
did mushroom and beef toms with blue cheese or starters
3 veg lasagne with wedges and veg
but did buy millionaires choc tarts for afters

did cheese melts for lunch today
making do tonight as DH is out on a works meal jolly so wont need feeding - me and the kids will probally have a pizza out of the freezer.

have a good day all

elizabunny

Afternoon everyone!

Had to top up today with some milk and possibly I will need a few things later. Still a bit ahead of budget on this challenge but I have cut down considerably on what I was spending, so not all bad:)

Tea tonight is still a bit of a mystery, we have some cold brisket, so I think I will use that up with some HM roasties and Veg. Probably fresh pineapple for after and there is some nice HM fruitcake left in the tin which will be nice with a cuppa. (Not feeling very creative today as you can see:o:) but I have made bread)

I have updated my siggy:)

Have a good day everyone.

NickJW

Suffolk_lass wrote: »

You could make it into a stuffing and use or freeze it by adding breadcrumbs, small chopped onion, add the chopped herbs (zest of a lemon/orange if you've got one) slat & pepper and a beaten egg then make it into balls or flatten it out in a plastic bag in an oven proof dish to freeze it (remove the dish then and remember which one you used for cooking it in) - or instead of freezing you could add it as a crumble herb topping for a piece of meat (chop or chicken portion) and bake it in a foil parcel, opening the top for the last 10 minutes or so to give it a toasted flavour to the breadcrumbs. Or beat out a chicken breast and use it to stuff it, put it back together and bake that in a foil parcel with a little knob of butter, again, opening up at the end.

You could mix the herbs chopped up with some sausage meat and make homemade sausage rolls (ready-made puff or HM short crust) or just freeze the herbs and use them from frozen.

Thanks for that SuffolkLass You're so inventive! I don't get ideas unless I look at a 'specific' recipe! I often end up spending loads more because I have something left so search for a recipe to use it up, but this then requires me to get chicken, some kind of herb, sauce etc, and so the cycle begins again! All because I hate throwing food away! . I'll have a look in my freezer/fridge/cupboard to see what I can do which requires the least extra ingredients!

I've always held off freezing leaf based herbs. I'm okay with rosemary but others I'm afraid of the moisture damaging them since all the recipes I have require them to be sprinked on top fresh.

bupster wrote: »

NickJW - why do you need to use it up? If it's fresh, why not just dry it? If I've got fresh herbs from the allotment and it's just a few sprigs, I wrap them loosely in a single sheet of kitchen towel and secure with an elastic band (the postie drops them all over the place) and forget about them somewhere dry and warm in the kitchen. A month later I think "ooh, what on earth is that?" and it turns out to be perfectly dried and fragrant sage.

Thanks bupster - with drying, does the flavour or taste go at all? Can you just put it in a jar like regular 'bought' dry herbs once it's dried properly?

catznine

A spend of £12.99 today on the abel & c organic box! Got some huge portabello mushrooms in there, 1 would make a meal!:rotfl: also a savoy cabbage, leeks, carrots so a stir fry tomorrow. Blood oranges, apples and bananas make up the fruit selection. Has anyone made up the orange cake recipe on Rhondas (Down to earth) blog? It is from her new book. I need to justify using 3 eggs at a time!

I found a pork joint in the freezer that I had forgotten about, it was the 2nd half of a larger joint I had bought and divided last year! It supplied a sunday dinner, valentines dinner and with a couple of sausages and some stuffing (found a pkt of sage and onion at back of larder) and plenty of veg will sort out tonights dinner as well!:j

I have managed to do some reorganising of the freezers now and can find things at last!

xxlouisexx56

I'm sick

So sick that DF is off work to look after the kids :0

He popped to morrisons for baby milk, lunch and dinner stuff and spent £30!!