£70 budget for a family of 5... Is this doable?

lovesabargain123

Thank you so much everyone for all the tips and ideas
I've spent the evening reading different threads and now know when I go to aldi tomorrow the £30 I have for food shopping till Tuesday will go a long way :-)

ktez

Hello miasnanny

I am completely useless at baking so excuse my stupid question but what is the basic sponge mix? Like, what are the ratios of flour, sugar etc to the eggs? And do you have to mix everything in a certain order or do you just throw it all in? And if you freeze some of your goodies, do you then set it out to defrost or can you defrost in microwave? I'd appreciate any guidance you could give!!!

miasnanny

ktez wrote: »

Hello miasnanny

I am completely useless at baking so excuse my stupid question but what is the basic sponge mix? Like, what are the ratios of flour, sugar etc to the eggs? And do you have to mix everything in a certain order or do you just throw it all in? And if you freeze some of your goodies, do you then set it out to defrost or can you defrost in microwave? I'd appreciate any guidance you could give!!!

1 weigh your eggs in their shells

2 whatever the eggs weigh you need the same each of butter/marg, sr flour, sugar

3 cream sugar and marg together until pale and fluffy

4 beat in your eggs one at a time (to stop the mix curdling you may need to sift in some flour as you go)

5 sift your flour in gradually beating well

6 decide what you are going to make and use mix accordingly, don't be afraid to experiment. Muffin tins are great for this as are loaf tins. I usually separate my mixture up into smaller bowls and add whatever I need to use up. ie apple and cinamon or mash banana and vanila, or mixed dried fruit, or grated lemon zest and some juice. The choice is yours.

If you are a complete novice to baking start off with perhaps a 4 egg mix so that you get the hang of the creaming technique. There are loads of clips on YOUTUBE that will show you what you are aiming for.

With regard to thawing, I tend to take them out the night before and allow to thaw at room teperature. Cakes are frozen plain and iced afterwards. HTH

BitterAndTwisted

quintwins wrote: »

i'm just wondering if the 10 egg sponge could be kept in tubs/jars in the fridge for a few days then cooked with dinner to fill the oven? I've never really thought of making cake mix in bulk before.

No, I would not attempt this unless you want your mixture to come out of the oven baked as flabby biscuits.

The raising-agent would have been exhausted by the time you come to bake. Can't remember what the time-limit is between mixing and baking but there definitely is one.

lovesabargain123

Hello,
Thank you so so much for everyone's advice, I really appreciate it.
Yesterday I went to the co-op to top my electric card up, i had a mooch around as also needed bread and was really pleased, I got a packet of how dog sausages ( the fresh ones in a sleeve) for 35p, 2 packets of fresh chicken pieces for 25p ( these were originally 2 for £5 :eek:) a loaf of bread 89p, 2 packs of sausages for £3 and a half price chicken for £2.40
today was shopping day. I had £30 left till Tuesday so I went to aldi and was really pleased with the amount I got, I had to stop the cashier as it got to £29.40 but there was only a couple of items left and luckily non essentials. I got another chicken for £1 odd as its goes out of date today..I also had a couple of pounds in my bank so went to Iceland and bought 2 loaves for £1.50 and a block of cheddar for £1
So , following everyone's advice I froze the chicken pieces for packed lunches and the hot dogs, cooked and stripped the chicken and froze in sandwich amounts.
Today I have made a huge 10 egg batch of cake mixture, separated it and made an orange cake, a raisin cake, a choc cake and apple cake to slice and freeze.
I also have seen as my oven is on jacket potatoes and the other chicken
My meal plan this week will be
Tonight- salad and jacket pots with chicken and spicey mayo or creamed mushrooms and home made coleslaw

Mon- roast beef (had the beef cooked in the freezer and it's not defrosted in time) mash,roast pots, carrots and swede mash broccoli and cauliflower, yorkshire puds and gravy

Tues- pasta with hot dog sausages chopped up in a bachelors condensed soup

Weds- chicken fried rice with curry sauce

Thurs- red lentil soup and home made bread

Fri- chilli con and rice

Sat - fish/ chicken steaks with chips and beans

Really pleased , looks like my £30 might just stretch the week out coupled with bits I have in the freezer/ store cupboard

I have also sorted out some stuff round the house and put on the online car boot on Facebook, so far I have sold a bundle of ds clothes for £20, some of dds clothes for £38 and a pair of boots for £10, these would normally have been binned or put in a charity bag! Plus I have lots of other things listed on there too

So thank you once again, I've actually enjoyed the shopping and planning this weekend xxx

ginnyknit

Well done, a bit of work and you are sorted for the week and cash coming in too! Thats what MSE is all about/

Jacksmummy-1979

You've had some right bargains! ... A huge well done to you. x

McKneff

You'd save a lot more money going onto DD with your fuel usage.
Do you realise how much extra you pay by using that method.

floss2

McKneff wrote: »

You'd save a lot more money going onto DD with your fuel usage.
Do you realise how much extra you pay by using that method.

Baby steps.....she can't do everything at once.

BitterAndTwisted

Oh, going onto DD isn't just about the better tariff, is it? Doesn't it require a change of meter as well? I've never had to persuade a utility supplier to change one, so I don't know how easy or difficult it might be. Impossible for those unfortunate enough to be paying back a debt, too.

Still, top marks to the OP for the savings. So satisfying