Anyone got a nice spaghetti and meatballs recipe?

LouiseJ

Quick update on my target

I have lowered my target to £200 for February as I really need to cut back this month. I did say in an earlier post that my target is £230 but I'm going for £200 instead.

Mortgagefreeforme

shelovestobuystuff wrote: »

Loads of people on here making their own bread.How does the cost of making your own bread compare to buying say a tesco value loaf at 47p?I can also buy a pack of 2 part baked white baguettes for 44p,can I make them cheaper?

I make all my own bread, it does work out a wee bit cheaper, but you do have to be very organised. While my loaves are in (3 at a time) I have scones in too, I usually manage 4-5 batches of scones and freeze them when cool. Or if we're haveing pizza for supper I time the bread so I can bake the pizza at the same time.
I once heard that there's more yeast added to the value bread and that can make thrush a recurrant problem (which it was):o . Since hearing that I make my own, but only add 2 sachets of yeast for 3 loaves (500g flour each) and to make it even better for the kids I substitute a few spoonfulls white flour for stoneground, they've never noticed. I also use honey instead of sugar, and less than half the reccomended salt per loaf. And yes the thrush is no more;) . Apologies to anyone who is gagging on thier tea right now!

caity_2

Hi all,

Can I join please and be counted in for £200 for Feb. Thats for two adults and two little ones (inc nappies/formula etc).

I'm not up to the breadmaking/slow cooker stage yet (by any means!) but I'm just going to be really careful, meal plan and only get essentials as much as I can.

I do keep all receipts but never add them up! I did do for Jan and it was £275! :rolleyes:. I've finally realised that cutting the cost of my groceries is the only way I am going to save a decent bit of money.

when I look how others make things stretch I am truly amazed, heres hoping I can do it too.

Jacks_xxx

mikeD wrote: »

Jacks - You have let me off very lightly, for which I am truly grateful (grovels magnificently ). There were certain individuals who were expecting a public flogging at the very least, and were prepared to buy tickets for the event :eek:.

quote]

I know honey, but reluctant as I am to deprive my fellow GC-ers of any opportunity for entertainment (Whether it be free OR ticket only ) I've just been feeling far too warm and fluffy lately to let anything ripple my pond.

I think Hubby might be putting something in my tea!

Love Jacks xxx

mk_wotsit

Another newbie here!!

I've been following your threads for a couple of weeks and have decided to join. Our eldest is off to uni this year and will be syphoning off lots of our cash. :eek:
If the rest of us still want treats, we will need serious cutbacks.

We usually spend about £400 per month at the supermarket....so I'm going to try £300
Fortunately I've been on a big Aldishop today and stocked up on the staples.
I'm doing my menu plan weekly and basing it around stuff that need using up .... hence the parsnip and caramelised onion tart tonight from a FREE magazine I picked up from the Waitrose checkout......I was only in there buying canadian breadflour BTW - I can't afford to go there for anything else!!!

Desperate_Housewife_2-2

Making broccoli cheese tonight as I have 4 bunches of it!!! I've got a rasher of bacon kicking around too so I'll chuck that in with the butter before I make the sauce to make it tastier. Can't believe I've spent £65 already this month and it hasn't technically started yet!!!

belfastgirl23

Just to add to the bread discussion, the great thing about the breadmaker is that it also can make different types of bread - teabread (with fruit), pizza dough, but more crucially for me you can do really nice italian type breads (ciabatta and focaccia) for a fraction of what you pay in the shops. If you only eat value bread and are happy enough with the taste etc then it might well not be worthwhile having a bm. But I was spending probably about £2-£3 a week on 'nice' breads and that does mount up over a period of time. BTW I believe you can also do french bread and this will be my next tryout

My GC has got a bit muddled. When my tesco shop arrived last night she didn't have a receipt for me (apparently accidentally gave it to the delivery before) - at least I had a printed copy but veg prices etc are of course guide prices so I'm not sure of my total yet. I was going to be cross cos it does mess up my system but she was so nice and didn't complain at all about the weight of all my milk and OJ packs that I didn't have the heart

Anyway my best guess is around £60. I'm going to drop into sainsburys tonight since I have to be out and about anyway and I want to see if they still have mispriced the organic weetabix and indeed if they have any of their fantastic reductions...

Hope everyone is doing well...

Bobbykins

mikeD wrote: »

There were certain individuals who were expecting a public flogging at the very least, and were prepared to buy tickets for the event :eek:.

....and this is a bad thing?? Mr Frogmaster SIR! tsk tsk, surely as an accountant, you can see the merit in free/almost free entertainment? PLUS ,of course, there would have been an educational element involved as well (how to slap a frog? )....so training too AND, rosieben would have been able to turn a quick profit for little effort, (being forced to charge a nominal fee for the cost of printing the tickets) now how OS is that? :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: .

(not that we're a bloodthirsty lot or anything)


oh, and Jacks - if you manage to find out what your DH is putting in your tea, would you let me know? I need my world to be a bit more fluffy at the moment....the car was in the garage today for it's MOT and the bill came to just over £300 (OMG!)

jackie_w

Im just catching up on the January GC posts (ive been away for a while, and Ilike to see if there are any tips I can get), and I was reading that some of you freeze bananas, eggs, mushrooms, cheese etc.

Do they taste okay when you freeze them. Im always throwing away things, like mushrooms, eggs, cheese, cold meat, is there anything in particular you need to do to freeze them?
Also, could you freeze salad stuff ie, tomatos, cucumber, salad onions, lettuce etc.


P.S Is there a way where you can catch up on a thread without having to go back to the beginning, and trawl all through the pages to find out which one you last read? Im finding that if I cant come back onto the forums for a couple of days, I forget which page was the last one I read, and I end up having to read through alot of the pages again.

Jackie

Bobbykins

Hi Jackie, welcome back

I didn't freeze mushrooms until I saw that someone on here recommend it, and it works fine, you don't need to do any preparation, just chop them and bag them and throw them in the freezer.

Cooked meats I regularly freeze - either ready sliced and packaged from the shops or, sometimes, I roast a chicken or a joint of meat specifically for lunches. I just slice it, portion it up and freeze it and it's no problem. I also, sometimes, actually make up sandwiches with the meat and freeze them as they are - then we take them out on the morning we need them, stick any extras on, like tomatoes etc, and pop them in our lunchboxes. They are defrosted by lunchtime and ready to eat.

I don't think you can freeze much salad stuff though, as the water content is very high in lettuce and the like, so it goes all mushy when it's been frozen and defrosted. I've never actually tried it though, so maybe one of the other OS-ers might know a bit more about it?

HTH

Bobby