Rising to the top of the ocean - and staying afloat!

Shortie

Are you a dab hand in the kitchen rising? Would it be cheaper to make your own bread and cakes? You can control the gluten and lactose then? I've made gluten and kactose free cakes for a friends daughter and they come out just fine - not tried dread though... And I know that doesn't help with pasta..

rising_from_the_ashes

Shortie wrote: »

Are you a dab hand in the kitchen rising? Would it be cheaper to make your own bread and cakes? You can control the gluten and lactose then? I've made gluten and kactose free cakes for a friends daughter and they come out just fine - not tried dread though... And I know that doesn't help with pasta..

mmmm kitchen wise, I'm not a bad cook but I'm not the best baker IYKWIM ....

I had a bread maker but ended up selling it as I just didn't use it enough - at that point I really just avoided bread but it's not practical on a long term basis as lunches etc are a nightmare with no bread of some sort! (esp in the winter!)

So ... I guess I'd have to get a new one?

I like soda bread - never tried making my own so will hunt for a recipe for that & give it a bash!:):eek:

Cakes .... are always a disaster - I have no idea where I go wrong and I tend to avoid making these as I'd sit and eat the whole thing (seriously! :o)

I did make things like flapjacks etc a while ago which were fairly cheap & good for a filler at morning cuppa or lunchtimes - must look into that again

beanielou

With you on the cakes~says beanie eating her 3rd bit of iced maderia~ooops :rotfl:

Mrs_Toast

Rising I save a lot of money making my own biscuits and cakes etc and I do try and find gluten free bread reduced at Tesco. Bread and Dove flour are the only things I buy on a regular basis and the only other thing is pasta/spaghetti but as it's just me that eats it, it lasts a while. Also I try and make naturally gluten free dinners almost every night so that saves me pennys. DS has been brought up on homemade food so he is easy.

I have a recipe for orange & almond cake which is absolutely gorgeous. It uses ground almonds instead of gluten free flour so is lovely and moist. I'm also making a gluten free chocolate log to take to family over xmas. It uses egg whites instead of flour. It's just a matter of experimenting really and as I have been diagnosed for about 6 years, I've had lots of practice :rotfl:

rising_from_the_ashes

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

It works out at £140 / month or £420 / quarter - this year I tried doing a quarterly budget of £160 / £130 / £130

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

BUT I was reading the new Grocery Challenge Thread for Jan and someone mentioned they had 5 weekends between Dec - Jan pay (they shop at weekends too) so now wondering if I should split the budget like this?

welshdreamer71 wrote: »

Im in the same predicament as you regarding the 5 week months and this is where I always fail so im thinking £55 a week where its a 5 week month and £60 a week when its a four but use the extra £35 either to do a toiletry butcher or homebargain top up for housy bits maybe

Well ... just to show what an idiot I can be sometimes - I've just sat and worked out that in every 1/4 there are 2 x 4 week months and 1 x 5 week month (based on a Saturday) ... so 13 weeks in all (which I did know!).

BUT when you divide my grocery budget into a weekly figure and multiply it by the 4 and 5 week months .... it comes out at £160 / £130 / £130 - which is what I've used this year:o:rotfl:(although obviously not always with the 1st month for the 1/4 being the big budget)

mmmmm might have to go back to that idea then!

Mrs_Toast wrote: »

Rising I save a lot of money making my own biscuits and cakes etc and I do try and find gluten free bread reduced at Tesco. Bread and Dove flour are the only things I buy on a regular basis and the only other thing is pasta/spaghetti but as it's just me that eats it, it lasts a while. Also I try and make naturally gluten free dinners almost every night so that saves me pennys. DS has been brought up on homemade food so he is easy.

I have a recipe for orange & almond cake which is absolutely gorgeous. It uses ground almonds instead of gluten free flour so is lovely and moist. I'm also making a gluten free chocolate log to take to family over xmas. It uses egg whites instead of flour. It's just a matter of experimenting really and as I have been diagnosed for about 6 years, I've had lots of practice :rotfl:

Ohhhh Mrs Toast I'm just about drooling at the thought of the choc log and Beanielou ... I love iced maderia cake!

My dietary restrictions are ... different - I am lactose intolerant so Lacto*free milk, cheese etc (also expensive)

Wheat's a "funny" one - I can have a small amount of "normal" pasta one night but then wouldn't be able to eat it again for around a week or I'd suffer ..... so I do tend to have wheat free stuff lying around as a back-up (as pasta's quick when you've been at work all day etc)

lurvlyloz

i think ive had too much red wine to go with the grocery calculations Rising x

rising_from_the_ashes

Please chuck a glass this way Shortie!

Shortie

Lol - did you mean Loz? Though with my spelling about 'kactose free dread' I probably sound like I was drunk :rotfl:

I was typing the last message on the train home on my small phone screen so hit wrong keys and couldn't see the spelling mistakes :rotfl:

rising_from_the_ashes

Shortie wrote: »

Lol - did you mean Loz?

Yup ..... sorry:o

rising_from_the_ashes

So .... having just watched the news / weather I'm very glad I don't need to go out today!

It's not looking like it's going to be nice out there at all :eek: - hope there's not too much flooding

Pity anyone who's going shopping :eek: - oh, I really can't imagine anything worse than having to go to the shops the weekend before Christmas

Need to start getting organised to go to M&Ds on Christmas Day and for Maisie coming home :j

Must put the stair gate back across so the cats get used to it being there again ... stop feeding them on the kitchen floor etc!

Also need to have a really good hoover before she comes back - she is terrified of the hoover poor wee mite and hides behind the front door and shakes:( I do try to put her outside but not easy at this time of year

And then there's that HUGE pile of ironing I've been putting off doing for the past couple of days ...

Fun day for me then!:cool: