June 2012 Grocery Challenge

jasmin10

Thanks Craigywv. We did have a largish veg patch at the top of the garden b ut it all got too much and turffed it now and have it as a play area for the DD's.

I have been so sneaky this week with my MSE ways lol. Received a £4 voucher for Coop so bought some v. cheap butter/spread and shoved it in the Fl0ra pot (DH hasnt noticed yet lol) got some other bits to equal the value. Found an old Nectar card that I have always thought was useless and turned out it had £15 on it so got a £10 voucher for someone as a birthday present. (going to look into ways of boosting this now I know I can use it like this) And then used my B00ts points card for another £10 present. I already save my Mr T ones for the Annual Car Breakdown.

My meal plans for the week is:-

Cottage Pie
Bangelloni (old ww's recipe that we all love)
Tefal Chips. Egg and Beans (Tefal Actifry)
MD Pizza and Chips
Pasta Bake and Veggies
Sweet & Sour Quorn
Chicken Teriyaki Baguettes
Sunday Dinner
Lasagna

I know theres more than a weeks worth of meals but I can cook and freeze them and use them up into next week to save that budget.

Some of the meals I will do more of so DH has a 'ready meal' for work.

I'm itching to make the Jam Crumblie that is mentioned on the Fiscal Fast thread. and already make and have done for a while, the Twinks Hob Nobs - never last long in our house lol - got told to stop making them for a while as DH was worried about his waistline lolol.

So thats that. Think my only concern about getting through this week is DH running out of coffee. Will keep producing cups of tea then he wont have a choice and will be none the wiser

happy_chick_3

I've been up since the crack of dawn today. Went away for the weekend but didn't get to enjoy it as was sick with a chest infection and no voice. Thought I would be ok for work today but woke up with a head cold - great!

While waiting for work to open so I could call in I've totalled up my grocery spends so far this month and its £51.53 so very hapy with that! I've got loads of veggies left from my mammoth discount haul at waitrose a few days ago so will be making a huge risotto for lunch today, if I can get off the sofa that is! Right now I'm in that post medicine, energetic period which will no doubt soon wear off!

Anyway, happy monday everyone!

DizzyK_2

Oooh it's been a while. Too long!
Anyway. I've recently handed my notice in for reasons we won't go into and am not thinking about looking for anything else until October. In the meantime, me and the kids are going to have a fab summer holiday and then I'll get the littlest one (4) settled into school in September with all of the half day faff that involves, without worrying about childcare. Bliss!!
That of course means that we're going to be mega short of ££ for any extras. I know other people are struggling harder and I know we're very lucky. For us though, in the situation we are in now, we're going to find it pretty tricky in more than one way.
I just remembered the oldskoooooool board and here I am. I feel an obsessive habit forming again already :j
I won't join the June challenge although I'm already trying to tighten the purse strings and change my habits ready for when I finish work but I wanted to say hi as I'll be lurking about a bit ready for July when I'll join in again!

Mrs_Addicted_to_Spending

Hope you feel better soon Happy chick

Hello and welcome to all Newbies!

We (well, DH) made HM yorkshire pudding yesterday (for the first time lol) and it was delish so we'll be doing that again. I tend to use gravy granules but would like to try and make that myself - does anyone have a good recipe? Thank you .

jumblejack

craigywv wrote: »

:)hi , i will certainly give you my recipe but its not one of the traditional methods of making it , its my way so i expect all you proffessional jam makers to cringe, i ahve been making this since i was 18 every year and my pots get stolen when a friend / family try it so here goes i will jsut give you a basic ammount 1 lb of strawberries 1 lb jam sugar thats it mash s.berries in big pot i use my pressure cooker pot DONT PUT LID ON!!! add sugar mash up with potato masher put on high heat stir constantly it will liquify(is there such a word) keep stirring the bottom of pot DO NOT LEAVE POT FOR A SECOND!!!! it will start to bubble and boil lower it down to medium i would say gas mark 4 hob 4 on the knob. stir for ten mins take off heat . with a spoon take the foam off the top and discard . i dont have fancy jars just ones i collect over the year from sauces and coffee etc i put these into the hottest water in sink and wash and dry thorouly i then por pot contents into a jug CAREFULLY AS ITS SCALDING and then into the jars son aged 8 his job is the stickers on the front of the jars writing labels and colourful pictures:)it may not be the proper way to make jam as it does not set like the glue you buy in the shops but its the taste its lovely we put our jam on with a teaspoon anyway in our house. i was reading delia smiths recipe and she says the same thing her jam does not set its not supposed to!! only shop bought as it has setting agents . also last year got a glut of blackcurrants off our bushes so just used granulated sugar to make this jam as they have a natural pectin (makes the jam set) got loads of apricots 1 night in mr t so made apricot jam and had a handful of raspberries on my buses as it was end of season added these to apricots wow delishhhhhhh!!! hope i get apricots again. so there u go thats how i make jam it lasts over a year as i made mine last year and just finished of the last a week ago no mould or bad smells , no doudt there is a better way of doing it but thats my way hope this helps.:)

Thanks!

I have NEVER made jam:eek: but now I've read this, I REALLY want to!!!!Please could this recipe go in the index as I would love to refer to it when my fruits are in season!

Thanks for sharing:j

jumblejack

Good morning all

A good day for working in the garden today!!! (Well, it is here anyway!)
Got some leftover pizza from last nights supper (we had the kids friends over!). I also pulled out the last of the chilli and rice from the freezer for tea as I needed the freezer space.
Puds are just gonna be leftover Dr Who cake :rotfl: (again, defrosted yesterday to make room) and home made peanut butter cookies and shortbread biscuits which I baked from frozen last night for out guests.

Easy (and cheap) day today in the kitchen for me

fozziebeartoo

All this talk of jam recipes has reminded me of Freezer Jam......anyone else remember it?

When I was 17/18 and doing A level Home Economics (about 150 years ago ) it was very popular.

No cooking required and the taste of the fruit was always very fresh and you could make small portions, rather than needing large preserving pans etc.

I found a few links, this one has a video:-

http://www.rosemaryconley.tv/Recipes/Starters-Sides-Snacks/Strawberry-Freezer-Jam.aspx

And it uses pectic/Certo and there are recipes on their website too:-

http://www.certo.co.uk/Recipes/Freezer/Strawberry%20Freezer%20Jam.htm

http://www.certo.co.uk/Recipes/Freezer/Raspberry%20Freezer%20Jam.htm

I well remember my 1st attempt at making classic jam (the boiled sort).....it set in the jars and was so hard you had to chip bits off and suck it :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Kitchenbunny

Morning all! How's it going? Rainy day here so no getting into the garden today, sadly. I had a sunflower given to me that I want to plant. Last night Mr Kitchenbunny reminded me I was going to make some chocolate cornflake crispie cakes so at 9:30pm last night I made a batch and put them in the fridge. Sadly they weren't quite set when we went to bed, but hey, we can have them today

I've taken a big pot of premade Bolognese sauce out for tea, though we might get two meals out of it. I'm thinking perhaps using 1/2 for Bolognese Toasties for lunch, and the rest for tea with pasta and grated cheese. Another easy tea. Feels like a holiday this week! I must start making a shopping list for next week though and getting the mealplan tweaked to perfection. I daren't start to hope just yet (too early) but today might be another NSD!

Have a lovely day, everyone.

K xx

Florenceem

I remember making jam for the first time back in the 1970s. I was up until 2am trying to get it to set! It was Morello Cherry jam - my neighbour had cherry trees and gave me a load of cherries - she suggested that I make jam. After that I never bought shop jam again.

craigywv

jumblejack wrote: »

Thanks!

I have NEVER made jam:eek: but now I've read this, I REALLY want to!!!!Please could this recipe go in the index as I would love to refer to it when my fruits are in season!

Thanks for sharing:j

:)i CANT believe YOU of all people have never made jam lol:rotfl:you and FLO are 2 of the most rescourcful people i have ever met (in cyber space) i dont mind if it goes in recipe index but PLEASE beware this jam does NOT SET i dont want people ranting at me for wasting their time and money on fruit etc.... its just a way that suits me it IS quite runny but as the tv ad says TASTE IS NOT MEASURED WITH A SPIRIT LEVEL so make and enjoy but if your a shop bought preferring peep DONT make it my way