May 2012 Grocery Challenge

franby64

Morning

Managed not to spend any money on food yesterday so total is now £238.27/£400.
We're having curry tonight so I'll need to buy a jar of korma along with milk, bread and some fruit - prob about £6/7.
Then the plan is to try and last until next Thursday before I have another Sa*ns delivery - should be possible (and hopefully without too may trips to the C*-op).

All the bread and cake recipes on here look so lovely but I'm another one who just daren't do too much baking...I know, no self control!

abitofhelp

Morning all nsd for me today. Lovely sunny day here, i had the windows open early but youngest child came down shivering. So dramatic he was to, i think it was a shock to his system.
Spicy duck noodles for tea this evening, i cooked the duck last night whilst the oven was on for the kebabs. Just needs shredding and added to noodles & stirfry mix.

chelseabun_3

Morning all! Not raining here yet

Just popped in to add £5.55 in S*insbugs that DH spent on cereal last week, and didn't tell me! Never mind, that's his fruit & f!bre for the next month or so - he prefers S*ins own brand to K*llogs.

Hoping for a NSD today - but I'm at my patchwork class tonight, and will have to be very disciplined to not spend there!!! So much pretty fabric .....

Have a good day everyone!
CBx

tessie_bear

hi...i make fried rice by boiling the rice the day before draining it well and pouring some boiling water over it....then put in fridge...next day i heat a bit of oil in a pan add rice and move it around...i do this for a while to allow the water to come off....i then add cooked chicken and anyother veg i want to use up...peppers/sweetcorn/peas/mushrooms i then scramble a couple of eggs in a cup and the pour over the rice and mix it...yum i use this as part of a rubber chicken few days

we have steak for tea (ys of course) and either wedges or cous cous also have some teacakes to use up so might have one toasted later

planning a nsd today and might do some baking later

have a nice day tess

jedi82

Morning!

Going to try not to spend anything today! I 'need' shampoo as have bought a cheaper one and my scalp is really suffering (have psoriasis and this has made it flare up) so will have to go to B00ts but can wait til tomorrow cos the weather is horrible today so going to tidy up this state of a house!

Dinner tonight is carbonara with LO gammon from last night and going to try the micro puds after (my resistance lasted all of one day :rotfl:). ThinkI may try the jam sponge version, mmmmmmmm

Have a good day all

Jedi x

nicknack

Morning all

What a gorgeous day it is! The washing is on and I've already taken the dog out for a walk. NSD yesterday and hopefully today too.

So far this month I've spent £96.58 with trips to Ald!, L1dl, HB and Mr T. Hoping to only spend £20ish this week and to eat up what's already in the freezer. My target is £200 for the month but would really like to come in under that if I can, as we had to buy a new washing machine and get work done on the car this month

Hope everyone has a good day. x

Suffolk_lass

Becks81 wrote: »

Morning all!

I managed 2 NSD over the weekend, but had a distaster in the kitchen making my chilli

I used 500g of mince so thought this would need 2 onions to make up my chilli - how wrong was I. All I could taste was onions, so I added another tin off chopped tomatoes, and some more hot chilli powder, but it still had that slightly sour taste.

I've got 6 meals out of it, all put away in the freezer, but I have no urge to eat them. And I love chilli. I'm hoping they will taste better from frozen otherwise what a complete waste of time and money.

If your chilli is too sour, (and already frozen) try a squirt of tomato ketchup as you re-heat it (or a spoonful of sugar sprinkled over if you don't have tomato ketchup). It's an old restaurant trick.

If you hadn't already frozen it I would recommend the classic red lentils - a handful sprinkled over and stirred in will soften it - it absorbs extremes of flavour. Also a tin of baked beans in tomato sauce (I buy the cheapest SM OB ones for this) to add a different texture and a hint of sweetness.

It is usually the use of hot chilli powder that makes the sourness a bit extreme - since working in a restaurant I use fresh chillis that I routinely freeze whole and chop while frozen (which stops the lasting effect of the oil on the skin; rubbing your eye or whatever, burning thing) and a shoosh of tabasco in preference to chilli powder.

You don't want to get rid of the hot and sour, just temper it with salt and sweet for the balance of flavours to work.

HTH
SL

Suffolk_lass

JJ - 2 things. Re your scales, you could use the old fashioned measure that a rounded tablespoon = an ounce of dry ingredients and if you have a measuring jug ml is the same as grams by volume - so 50ml is 50 grams and would be good enough for flour and sugar with a round tablespoon of fat the same as a level tablespoon = 15ml which is 3 teaspoons of 5ml (medicine measured teaspoons)

Thing two (sorry to the waistline conscious) - my Mum has a recipe for sticky toffee pudding. Ignore the original steamed pudding which was a suet crust stuffed with apples (TDF) - the crucial tip is that you smear butter inside the bason and then stick soft brown sugar to that before putting the pudding mix in. on the steamed suet pud it forms a toffee crust. It might be more gooey with a sponge mix but I suspect it would work. Sorry everyone...

I have an unexpected day at home having returned from abroad today with absolutly no voice whatsoever! I never normally go sick but I know it's contageous because DH had it last week and I caught it from him so I am sparing my colleagues (I am so noble!)

All the best
SL

iQueen

Just showing my face.

Went out for milk on Saturday, to the local Sp@r, and found a bargain fresh chicken for £2.75. Only 1 kg, but has done me 3 meals so far, and will do me two more. Not to mention the stock that I've made. £4.30 added to sig.

Got an appointment in town later on, so will go do some sm shopping.

No cigs since Sat midday!

fozziebeartoo

I needed to go out on this horrible day, to collect my repeat prescription and get milk.

No spend in Co-op, best YS was pizza reduced to £2.99.....I wouldnt pay that full price

No spend in Tesco Express, miniscule YS reductions and they didnt have the Nails Inc colour I wanted as a freebie on
a mag

I spent £9.63 in Lidl but that includes milk for the week, tin foil for months, black pepper and garlic that will last ages, Wotsits (which should be from Second Purse but I cant be bothered to fiddle around), Mozzarella, squash and a pasta sauce to try a new recipe tonight (much cheaper than the Co-op and tesco ones I looked at).

I have plenty of yesterdays cottage pie left, but had already defrosted 2 chicken breasts so that will become baked chicken, peppers, onion and mushroom from Good To Know for tonight.

If there are LO's they can be frozen for some other time and the Cottage pie can wait in the fridge and be used up tomorrow