Anyone got a nice spaghetti and meatballs recipe?

MrsBartolozzi

HI there,
been having car trouble the past two weeks so not been getting on to post!!:mad: :mad:

The upshot is that between car and dentist bills money is pretty tight as this month ends. Spent £26.97 in the last few days, about £5 was easter eggs which were on offer so not too bad, I also got a couple M&S chickens, but the offer was not as good as I'd read in a post on MSE so didn't stock up bigtime as I'd planned. (just as well as £90 to replace a punctured tyre was not budgetted for - even more annoying as [EMAIL="bl@@dy"]bl@@dy[/EMAIL] tyre was only 3.5 weeks old:mad: :mad: ).
Car is in for MOT as I type, but I think it will only cost the fee £55 or so and I budgetted £100 for that so this month is doable. It's a pity though as any savings from the GC were to go in the holiday fund, but there is always next month!!
Right, I have £76 left in the budget but I would like to only spend £30 in the next 10 days. This will help with the shortcomings. IT should be easy - I only need milk, ham and bread and fruit, but I am not good at missing out on offers etc. HMMMM Willpower is needed.

Everyone seems to be doing so well, it's the first month I haven't given up halfway through and it is working!
Keep up the good work people,
MrsB.

curly_cabbage

Forgot to add earlier, today has been NSD, did lots of baking to stock up the frezzer with healthy meals to keep us going till the end of the month. Got to get bread from Morrisons tomorrow but that all we require, but i have the bill multipliers coming with me as its half term so i'll have to be strong an not let them fill the trolley.

CC

mummygems

MSHAWX wrote: »

Does amyone know of a useful website where you can put the name of an ingredient in and it gives recipes. I have some most strange tins left in the cupboard and need inspiration. eg jar of pickled walnuts.
Not done too well this month with the challenge. Unfortunately, we have had visitors here quite a few lunchtimes and although I enjoy the company it does add to the budget.

This might help http://www.cookingbynumbers.com/search.html not used it very much so dont know how good it is but it could give you something to work with.

bails

I've blown my 5th NSD in a row to get 4kg of cat food which was only £5.99 - too good to pass! Still in budget for now but Thursday will put paid to that. Oh well, there's always next month!

belfastgirl23

rosieben wrote: »

Queen_B, you've reminded me that I've been meaning to ask that question, what do you all do with the money you've saved - either the difference in spend from your old pre-GC days or money left from your GC budget?

Seems that you're all doing really well (and even those who've gone over by a few pounds will probably find the benefit of that in future months) so there should be a fair bit of extra dosh hanging around. I know MrsMcawber does really well with this, anyone else?

I started cutting back cos I got a huge gas bill and my DD went up from £29 to £175 per month :eek: We're on track to have this paid off by this summer. Also our rates went up by £60 a month last April (phased rates review in NI, will go up by another £60 a month in April :eek: ). I'm hoping that the rates will kick in once the gas DD goes down so there'll not be too much of an impact on the budget. BUT it hasn't all been scrimping, I have also managed to start putting £100 a month towards a mortgage overpayment from our joint account. :j

All of which shows how out of hand it was before

Mortgagefreeforme

I've just updated my sig as Ii spent £10.45 today between Lidl and farmfoods. Ds was moaning about no ham in fridge for sandwiches so I got 2 huge packs for £2. I also got a massive cauli for 49p, can't decide whether to turn it into soup, or cauli-cheese, or a curry, or a vegi pie, oh my mouth is watering at the thought. I get an organic vegi box delivered tommorrow so I may wait to see whats in that before I make up my mind. I'm also popping out for a rubber chicken tommorrow.
At this rate my budget will blow, but as I would usually be between £300-£350 I'm still happy so far.

Moniker

Feeling very pleased with myself as I have managed a NSD today. Have also cooked savoury mince for a cobbler for tomorrow night’s dinner (out of the store cupboard and freezer) and frozen half of the meat mix for another meal. I found the recipe on the web: here it is with my adaptation for 2 people-

Serves 6
15 ml/1tbsp vegetable oil (I used sunflower oil)
1 large onion peeled and chopped (I used about half)
1 clove of garlic peeled and chopped (I left this out as we don’t eat garlic)
550g/1 ¼ lb lean mince (I had about 300gms)
15ml/1tbsp plain flour
15ml/1tbsp tomato puree
5ml/1tsp Worcestershire sauce
200g/7oz can tomatoes (I used a 550gm one)
1 bay leaf
75g/3oz peas (I used frozen)
4oz carrot chopped
To taste – freshly ground black pepper

For the scone topping-(I used half these quantities)
75gm/3 oz margarine
350gm/12 oz plain flour
15ml/1tsp baking powder
2 tbsp chopped chives (I didn’t have any so left these out)
225ml/7 ½ fl oz milk
1 egg beaten

Heat the oil in a pan and saute the onion and garlic for 2-3 minutes until soft. Add the meat and fry stirring until browned all over. Stir in the flour, tomato puree, Worcestershire sauce, tomatoes and juice, bay leaf, peas and carrots. (I added a little extra water) and bring to the boil stirring occasionally, then simmer for 20 minutes. Season and then put into an oven proof dish.

Put the flour and baking powder into a mixing bowl and rub in marg to make breadcrumbs. Add the chives if using, then mix in the milk to make a smooth dough. Knead lightly then roll out to ½” or 12 mm thickness. Cut into rounds and arrange around the edge of the dish on top of the mince. Brush with beaten egg and bake in a pre-heated oven Gas mark 8, 230 C/450 F for 7-10 minutes or until the top is risen and turned light golden brown.

My topping didn’t rise much but I think it was because I rolled it out too thinly. I’lll let you know what it tastes like – I will be re-heating this tomorrow for when I get back from my mid week swim!

This recipe came from www.menumagazine.co.uk

Off to put my feet up now.

Mollymop5

£10 spent today on a takeaway for ds and myself.I don't often have just ds to myself but dd had gone to stay with grandma so I teated him.I will update my sig accordingly.It wasn't quite £10 so change will go in my sealed pot.

TheBees

Hi Rosieben
We are on a tighter than normal budget because OH changed jobs and has been put on emergency tax code. :eek: So we are using the grocery challenge to make sure we don't overspend on silly things.

Each month I am trying to put aside £125 mortgage overpayment money which will sit in a savings account until later in the year before I make a capital repayment.

Also saving for our first summer holiday abroad in a few years so having to save a set amount every month so we can pay for it before August. DD is also going on a residential trip with year 6 which is £200 and OH and I celebrate our 20th anniversary in October and want to go to Paris for a weekend! Also my 40th this year too and OH has a secret plan! :happyhear

So as you can see we have quite a lot to save for!:D

We are interested to hear what everyone else is saving for...

TheBees

Frugaldom

rosieben wrote: »

Queen_B, you've reminded me that I've been meaning to ask that question, what do you all do with the money you've saved - either the difference in spend from your old pre-GC days or money left from your GC budget?

Mine gets banked for my house fund