May 2012 Grocery Challenge

Florenceem

abitofhelp wrote: »

I bought mine from play.com with free delivery. I bought The takeaway secret & more Take away secrets. They were well worth the money spent approx £7 for both.
Floreneceem, i too am a great collector of cookbooks & gardening books. I have books of both from the 50's also and it is very interesting to read how times & ingredients have changed.
On holiday last year i was the only one by the pool with a cookbook.:)

I love reading cookery books. When I stay with any of my 6 children - reading their cookery books is how I spend some relaxation time. ( When they don't have me chained to the sewing machine! ) They tend to buy each other the latest Gordon or Jamie as Christmas presents.
I am disappointed with the vintage/war time cookery books I found at Mil's flat. The one I thought looked the most interesting is pages of nutrition advice - good reading though - healthier to have less sugar/fat - more veggies/raw foods. Just like now.
I was hoping for lots of good recipes.

Florenceem

Mrs_Cookie wrote: »

Ordered a copy, thanks ladies Now does this cookbook come out of my new food budget or my personal spends budget? Less than £4 including P&P though so not bad if it saves us a fortune in the long run!

I would say - not out of your GC money. I save a small amount each week when I get my pension - for cooking bits - then if I decide to buy a new piece of bakeware - the money is there. I also put a bit aside for clothes/hair appointments plus rail pass etc - get my jist - I am a little pots saver! Just potty really! :rotfl:

Florenceem

cleggie wrote: »

QUOTE=Florenceem;53337219]Still not convinced - it is not better to have the oven on once a day.

:rotfl:

Well i wont be putting it on again as the kids are both out for dinner at friends houses this evening, so i'm just having a salad sandwich. [/QUOTE]
Ah that's okay then - no detention or lines to be written by you! :rotfl:

Bonglecat

Mrs_Cookie wrote: »

My first post, so be gentle good people, our pay day is the 28th so it's a bit late for this month, so will join in the June GC if that's okay with everyone? There's just me and Mr Cookie and 2 kitties, this month we've spent about £425 on food which for two of us is blinking ridiculous and that's just from the receipts I've found :eek:

I'm ashamed at the amount of food in the freezer and cupboards and yet I still go out and buy more It has to stop, so yesterday after reading some of the inspirational stuff on the Grocery Challenge thread, I went and did a list of all the contents of the cupboards, fridge & freezer and created a spreadsheet which is to be turned into a 4 week meal plan (I hope) later today. Looking at what is in the cupboards it's becoming apparent that I stock pile special offers and BOGOF's with no real idea of what to do with them and we seem to stick to the same menu week after week which includes takeaway and convenience meals

I have a breadmaker which has been dusted off and in now on using up some of the flour mountain (why was I buying it when I wasn't using it?) Making apple and cinnamon bread to accompany a coronation chicken filling for Mr C's pack up tomorrow after reading on another thread where the chap said he used cinnamon & sultana bread with chicken for sarnies, so thought I'd give it a try and some can be toasted for my breakie tomorrow

I have to work out what our food budget should be, will assess it after I've meal planned with what's in. What I do know is this silly spending on stuff I can make myself has to stop and we need to start saving money so that we can use to do the things we want to do. Looking forward to reading more of everyone's posts and learning to eat and live within my new budget.

Mrs Cookie

Wow Mrs Cookie, we are two peas in a pod right down to the breadmaker :rotfl:

It's my first month too, good luck to us both then. :beer:

jumblejack

Hehe. I have just put out the chilli n potatoes. The kids wanted more but I told them that the rest has been put in portions in the freezer. It will make 2 more family meals and I have made 2 ready meals (with the last of the cooked rice!). I know it's early but the kids didn't want dinner (I told you the rice was filling;)) so they are having a very early tea. We can have the crumble later on now it's cooked. Will leave in the warm oven until its wanted.

. The chives are from my garden. By the way, is there a way to use chive flowers and rosemary flowers? I must find a way to use em up. I have loads. I know they are edible!

Just groaned when I realised something...

Tomorrow the kids are going to the home ed club. We are doing about health n nutrition. Each family is to take something nutritional for the lunch buffet. I am making.....
Vegetable biriani in my thermal cooker!

MORE rice!!!!!! :eek:

Bonglecat

Oh with all this going on I'm inspired to batch cook and try new recipes. But damn I'm not at home, well perhaps I'll get a chance at the weekend.

I've also got 4 tubs of stewed apples in the freezer I did from our tree last year, but I'm not sure what to do with them. Any suggestions?

jumblejack

Oh wow:j


I have just had the most AMAZING BRAINWAVE!!!

I am going to make JJs herby cheese bread with the rosemary flowers and also with the chive flowers as my herb of choice!!!! Yippee!
They are gonna look AWESOME!!!!!

Why not try it yourself if you have herbs, etc that have gone to flower. Maybe use elderflowers etc, in your cooking too?

I am determined to forage more and use as much of my own produce that I can this year!!

Don't we get excited by the simplest things:D:T

Barbeduk

Just popping by to say I have just made my first batch of Twinks hobnobs. Oh my, they are amazing!

Right, will try and read the last couple of days worth of posts. Could be here some time!

Hope everyone is enjoying this gorgeous weather. :cool:

cleggie

The baking continues...this is an epic baking day, as my 8 year old would say!

He has just helped me to make the Bounty balls. We have made the mixture and put it in the fridge to set overnight, just got to wait until tomorrow to cover in melted chocolate...yumm!!! evenn the mixture tastes lovely!

The hobnobs have gone down a treat, the kids love them! Thats a relief! They havent tried the almond millies cookies yet- fingers crossed!

Possession

Thanks to Mrs CD as I've just made her banana & chocolate muffins while dinner was cooking and they are delish!