March 2012 Grocery Challenge

bodmin789

hex2 B&M is B&M - its like home and bargains. I like the sound of those chickpea balls, is there a recipe please?

Thanks Hex2, haven't seen that store, live in Scotland now, but don't remember it from my days down south either!

The recipe is:

Herby Chickpea Balls

2 slices white bread, crusts removed and torn into pieces
75g parmesan roughly chopped
400g tin chickpeas, drained
3 garlic cloves chopped
1 tsp dried oregano
Small handful basil leaves roughly torn
1 egg beaten

Heat oven to 200c/ gas 7
Whizz the bread and roughly chopped parmesan in the food processor (this can be done by hand, but just takes longer), add in the chickpeas, garlic, oregano, basil leaves and some seasoning.

Pulse until the mixture starts to come together, then add just enough of the egg while the motor is running to bind together.

Shape into small balls, transfer to an oiled baking sheet and cook in the oven for 15 mins, turning halfway.

Add to a tomato pasta sauce of your choice, and pasta.


Enjoy! It's a firm favourite in our house.

NickJW

Scotmum: sorry to hear about your loss.

1st spend of the month yesterday for me in M+S - £3.99 on their own brand washing liquidtabs, bread and dessert.

Went out yesterday but meals were at home. I used cheese from the fridge needing using, and also defrosted smoked salmon from the freezer. Used them in sandwiches (not together!) for lunch AND dinner. Pretty basic, so needed some dessert to perk it up (hence M+S dessert spend ). Glad to get rid of the Christmas size pack of salmon though...

Staying in today because it's supposed to be miserable. I'm prepared though - I have my Mr W pork joint from the freezer defrosted along with some sweet potatoes and veg for dinner.

I avoided using 'Week 2' of my Mr T £6 off £30 spend this week, but I may use my 'Week 3' voucher next week since I'm starting to run out of a few key essentials.

Hope everybody has a lovely day

debbiedeejay

Morning all

Weekly trudge around (actually twice)Mr M's came to a total of £50.29.

Had to return as I needed petrol and the queue was massive on Friday plus I forgotten the whole toiletries aisle the day before(for the two DD's plus toothpaste) plus picked pizza and bottle of wine as a treat -

Had a extra nice treat as well during day as had my lunch bought for me from M*S (their meal deal £2.95 me thinks??) and I had my all time fav sarnie of theirs- Wensleydale cheese and carrot chutney on malted bread,divine .

I would love to make this for pack up,so has anyone got a carrot chutney recipe out there they recommend? Would love to make some if they have.

Have a fab day all

meg72

4th NSD for me,am determined to use up as much as I can this month.

Bought the Sun for the free AltonTower tickets and notice there is a £5 of£30 spend for Iceland,
I dont think I have ever seen one for Iceland before.

rumblytum

cleggie wrote: »

Me again!
Can someone please point me in the right direction to look for advice re meal planning?:o
I am trying to get to grips with it and have looked for a thread about it, but cant find one?

Dinner is in the SC- spag bol. Nothing exciting, but quick, yummy, easy and cheap!
I need to use up some leftover chicken today, so its chicken salad for lunch.
Breakfast was some free Alpen porridge sachets that i got the other week in morrisons.There was a lady handing them out for free, so i asked for 6 (2 each)! I felt a bit cheeky!

No SMs for me today!

Hiya,

I'm really not the best person for this as I'm so new to this myself, and I'm sure you'll get pointed in the right direction by others, but I've just started doing a basic meal 'idea' plan which I will base my week on as follows:

Mon: cereal/porridge, leftover soup, leftovers
Tue: cereal/porridge, sandwich, vege dish
Wed: cereal/porridge, salad, chicken dish, make snack
Thu: cereal/porridge, salad, pasta dish
Fri: cereal/porridge, sandwich, pork dish, make smoothie
Sat: pancakes/grill, wrap, bean/lentil dish, make cake/flapjack
Sun: toast, make soup, beef/batch dish, make biscuits/dessert

I've only just started doing this, but it made my menu planning so much easier this week. I usually spend ages gazing at yummy recipes and take far too long and lack inspiration to get a meal plan together, so I really like this way.

HTH

rumbly x

cleggie

Thanks Rumbly.
i think i get so anxious about 'doing it properly' that i dont allow myself any flexibility and then think i have failed.
Maybe what i shoul ddo each week, instead of writing down what i will have each day, is just list 7 days worth of meals. Then i can pick one from the list on a daily basis.

I think thats the way forward for me for the time being. And then i'll build it up from there i think.

Ninno820

cleggie wrote: »

Me again!
Can someone please point me in the right direction to look for advice re meal planning?:o
I am trying to get to grips with it and have looked for a thread about it, but cant find one?

Hi Cleggie. I find that I tend to have the same range of meals over a period of time - and terefore the same foodstuffs in to make them (creature of habit). So I started a spreadsheet to allocate the meals randomly. I then sit with my calendar and look at work / social commitments and make sure that it all fits in. This wednesday, for example, I am on a course all day and do not want to spend time getting a meal ready when I get home. So I have planned a pasta bake for Tuesday which will do wednesday's dinner - as well as a small amount left over for lunch on Thursday. If you can't face having the same thing three days on the trot then freeze the left overs in dinner / lunch size portions - I have a top shelf of the freezer which I am designating my "lunch left overs" shelf.

I try and plan for one month ahead (pay day to payday) and put it up on the cupboard door above the kettle - that way I can quickly check if I need to get anything out of the freezer to defrost.

Having said that - don't beat yourself up if something happens and the plan goes to pot - life is for living after all. If I miss a meal off the plan I will either just miss it out and think - results , food left in the freezer - or mentally shift the plan up a day until a meal can be easily missed - and saved for next month. Hope this makes sense and is of some help.

cleggie

Thanks ninno, thats really helpful. I think i need to get out of my perfectionist mindset!!

blackandwhitebunny

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

Arrrrrggggghhhhhh:mad:

Another rant coming .... be warned

Went to Mr T to get some Whiskas and .... guess what ...... an empty shelf with "out of stock" labels against all the varieties - it's just not good enough!:mad:

Have now submitted a "comments" sheet via their website (not that it'll probably do any good) and I won't be going back again - will be sticking to Mr A.....

Did get a few bits - notably milk which was on offer @ 96p/Litre (still expensive but better than £1.31/L) and a couple of bits at the Co*op (Snick*ers bars which were 4 for £1:o and I'm tucking into one in a minute!).

Total so far = £20.06

On Friday I confess I had the last twelve boxes in jelly from our MrT but it was quite late and I did share with the one other customer buying some.
Yesterday they were trying valiantly to keep up with demand. They had boxes still in packs of four with their wrapping still on in the entrance and there was a huge cage full being unloaded at the shelves, but people were buying loads. The lady on checkout was amazed it was that price.:D

Kittenkirst

Hi all, been lurking on the last few months threads & enjoying the posts! Feeling pleased as yesrerday did a fridge/cupboard check & have used all almost out of date or bendy veg into food for the weekend. So far we have made
Butternut squash ravioli- using a butternut thats been kicking around for ages, 4eggs that go OOD monday, sage leaves that were looking sorry for themselves (bought as a mixed bag whoopsied last week for roast; thyme bejng used tonight for roast pork!)
Lemon drizzle cake: used 4 lemons (bought at market 2 weekends ago- 12 for £1!!!!) and 4 eggs: will be for after sunday lunch & lunches through the week! Also used up the last of the Stork that was a month (!) out of date- it tasted fine so went in!

Roast pork chops tonight with some leftover new potatoes, wrinkly carrotts & parsnips (bought as lidl super 6) with brocolli from last weeks roast.

Supper in homemade bread & strawberry jam from christmas hamper :0)

Previously a lot of this stuff would have been wasted so very pleased today! One question, cananyone tell me the difference between butter, stork & trex? (just bought some trex to try in baking mow the Stork is used up!)