October 2014 Grocery Challenge

craigywv

Flat_Eric wrote: »

I am using my slow cooker today for the first time. I *ahem* have only had it since December 12 .... I'm making my own adaption of the hairy bikers gou lash recipe. i.e the ingredients mentioned in the book but not measured or counted and just thrown in the slow cooker. I'm hopeful that dinner will turn out ok otherwise I will probably sulk and want to order takeaway.

I've not been as organised as I would like with my shopping so I'm hopeful my slow cooker experiment is successful and then I shall probably try to make something every week. I'm not keen on leaving it on while I am at work at the moment (I know that's the idea) but hopefully I will be brave enough soon and can come home to lovely home cooked meals.

try and get over the I shall come home to a smoldering shell if I leave slow cooker on..........I did this afraid to keep it on even came home on my lunch hour to check house wasn't crispy,best thing I ever did theres a thermostat that knocks off so its truly safe, when you do brave it you will be in your element that you did, coming home to hot food ready is the best! I just throw in frozen chicken legs and thighs on low couple of garlic cloves and no liquid come home hours later and voila chickens cooked and just make chips, I don't just do stews etc in it so good luck experimenting I have 2 now I hardly use my oven for anything only baking xxx

Flat_Eric

craigywv wrote: »

try and get over the I shall come home to a smoldering shell if I leave slow cooker on..........I did this afraid to keep it on even came home on my lunch hour to check house wasn't crispy,best thing I ever did theres a thermostat that knocks off so its truly safe, when you do brave it you will be in your element that you did, coming home to hot food ready is the best! I just throw in frozen chicken legs and thighs on low couple of garlic cloves and no liquid come home hours later and voila chickens cooked and just make chips, I don't just do stews etc in it so good luck experimenting I have 2 now I hardly use my oven for anything only baking xxx

Yes I know I must be brave! Its mad when you think what else we leave on during the day when we go out.

I *think* its cooking ok. time will tell later..... is there a way to thicken up the sauce? I haven't touched the lid and having "googled" have read conflicting reports about whether leaving the lid off for the last part of cooking will help the sauce thicken up.

Faete

Shopping yesterday £16.20 in Aldi and £47.21 in Asda. This includes £16.00 for four large jars of decaf coffee on offer for the hoard.

Made a rough meal plan for the week which is:-

• Quorn cottage pie and green veg - will do two meals
• Tomato butter paneer and rice
• Mushroom risotto and salad
• Penne arabiata
• Spinach and pine nut gratin
• Quorn escalopes and green veg

It feels good to be back in control and planning again!

Fae xx

craigywv

Flateric, re thickening.......i remove my lid sometimes to thicken it or add more gravy granules/cream/corn flour whatever it is goes with what im cooking. Some people dont even lift their lids my mum peeks at it as if its going to blow any second! I comfortable slow cooking so it trial and error xxx

Solstice_3

Hello all an NSD for me today


I made my quiche and it was yummy if I do say so myself
Recipe here



Quick question how long can I keep it in the fridge for (2/3 days?) and can I reheat/warm it up?

Thanks x

rosieben

Solstice I've added the quiche recipe blog (in External links) to the recipes list

Smoosh

Lots to add from the week.

£7.17 spent on 2x tomato soup (on offer), 1 lentil soup (on offer), mushrooms, oil spray, cream, 2 raspberry pain au chocolat (YS) & some chicken (YS).

£8.37 spent on 2x bottles of rose & 2 litres of lemonade.

£13.03 spent on marshmallow fluff ( ), 4 pints of milk, 10 eggs (YS), mustard, camembert, lardons, plain chocolate, butter, white chocolate & cookie mix.

£4.93 spent on duck wrap, 2x bag of crisps, a smoothie, 1 ciabatta roll & a ball of fresh mozzarella.

£9.23 spent on 3 ice creams, fresh filled pasta, strawberries (YS), fresh pasta sauce, 2 packets of Oreos & a basil plant (YS).

So I'm adding £42.73 to my total. Need to work on doing weekly shops rather than impulse buying!

dingdongsaving

Small spend today as I found a £6 off p4mp*rs coupon that expired today (run run!:rotfl: )
Popped to the shop to make sure we didn't miss it (it's not like we're planning on stopping using them anytime soon with them being our bottom barrier of choice this time around ).
As that was all we needed (not planning to buy any more groceries until a mini-fruit/milk shop next weekend and then grocery shop on the 25/6th) I also used a £3.99 refund voucher that's been lurking in my wallet and a £1 off £10 or more shop coupon as it expires before next weekend too. This made our transaction for 104 nappies £3.01. Makes me smile . I'll happily pay 17-ish p a day to not have to treat, soak & wash this time around!
Had a lovely roast with friends today...lots of leftover savoury delights and a crumble to work with for Mon/Tues too. Aiming for 5 or 6 NSDs in a row now. Hubby knows and is going for it too :j. COME ON!

malamay

It was our first shop of the month today. We've been away for a week, so not that much of an accomplishment really.

£11.11 spent at T's, and £35.39 at Sainsbob's. Combined a £8 off £40 voucher with one for 12p off per litre of fuel, plus a bonus points voucher, so not too shabby. Hubbs then saved £7 on diesel :j

Expecting £1.70 cashback, which brings my total in at £44.80. We hit reduction time in the meat aisle, and the nicest member of staff was reducing further, and told me to pick what I wanted, and he'd do up new labels!

Caterina

A bit of building materials spend today, so I took advantage to shop on the same day, bread and bagels on offer in As.da then remainder of the shopping in w8rose, where I got another nice bread bonanza. The YSs on veg weren't great but I got a nice offer on cheese, 1 Kg extra mature cheddar for £6, which is my top limit for good cheddar.

Also a couple of YS cakes for DH and DS and a cheddar and onion tartlet for a bargainous 21p, which will be lovely for DH's lunch tomorrow. I know he likes it because I got one before.

2 dozen eggs and bananas completed what I needed. I am quite well stocked now, apart from milk, which I shall only get when I next need to make yogurt in a few days.

Total rounded up to next £ was £13, sig updated.