The Simple Bare Necessities feat. Gratitude & Recipes

Greying_Pilgrim

Mmmm, according to meesupermercado, MrA have the tinned chicken in white sauce (branded) version on offer for only 6p more than their smArtypr1ce version. The tins sizes are the same, and the (whole) meat content the same...... mmmm.



Summat to think on


Greying X

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning :hello:


So I just checked, and there are actually 5 recipes in JM's 'Tin Can Cook' for the chicken in white sauce tins. In addition to just being able to heat up with some mash or rice, as has been mentioned - makes it a pretty versatile item to include in the donation I'm going to make sure I grab some tins. Thanks chums


So a day of chores today, alongside having to walk hither and yon. So I'll be a lean, mean, spent-up machine by the end of the day :rotfl:Never mind, weather permitting, I shall be in yomping distance of a mrS, so if I can, I want to grab a tin of basiks fruit cocktail, so I can try out JM's fruit cocktail cake outta TCC.


Not too sure what is for tea. I was going to cook up a vat of bolognese, but we'd have to have pasta with it, and I dunna want to start the month as July kinda ended.........At least the weather possibly won't be too hot, so I can contemplate something like a chilli or somesuch. I did purchase (out of August budget) some bags of (frozen) mixed beans from H3r0n yesterday. They are b1rDz ey3 brand - 400g pack size iirc and at 2 for a £1, represent 'reasonable' value for money. There are red kidney, black beans and chickpeas in the mix I have - so they lend themselves to a variety of dishes. They are convenient on CBA's days too



Right, can't think of owt else :money:to witter on about, and BG's 'Flumps' episode is coming to an end, so I best vamoose and greet the day. We've done brekkie


Ta for popping in and contributing to the discussion - appreciated


Greying X

Suffolk_lass

You could use veg instead of pasta - we often have leek lasagne or baked aubergines layered with bol sauce

rtandon27

OH has made one-layer lasagne several times now and it is really good - uses up the courgette glut and provides six generous servings so good for freezer meals too. Courgette slices instead of pasta!

Link below - mobile posting has its limits! - no fancy linky thing!

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/one-layer_lasagne_53097/amp

Im sure it can be adapted to be veggie/vegan!

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Evening :hello:


Thank you for all your lovely suggestions - I do have some lasagne sheets to use, but initially thought I wouldn't use the oven. And in terms of courgettes, they are currently out of my price bracket - and despite walking past the house twice today, where someone sometimes puts out 'free please take them' courgettes, they hadn't done so today


Anyhoo, today


BG went to a check-up at the docs and all is well :j:D:T However, they are growing and getting heavy, and the pushchair journey there gave mumma a thorough work-out. I bet the Doc just assumed I was menopausal and having a hot-flush, when I was just trying desparately to cover the fact I had run the last bit as I thought we were gonna be late.... We weren't.


We ambled across to mrS. And had a good auld nosey around at things. And left alot of stuff on t'shelf..........


However, I am DELIGHTED to report that our mrS has FINALLY, finally! got around to selling cartons of 15 'mixed weight' FR eggs for £2. I don't know if you recall our chat several weeks ago - when someone very kindly suggested the mrS offering. But our mrS has NEVER stocked those eggs. However, wot a difference the discounters are making....... I think mrS is under pressure, and today there was a complete 'aisle end' counter display given over to these eggs and their barn raised equivalents................. Dear reader, in the interests of money-saving and trying tack out, I bought some The one thing I DID appreciate on these eggs was that they had a 3 week 'use by' date. So 21st August. The mrM offering was just 7 days (but to be fair they were also £1,85 for 15). Now whilst many, many families on MSE will say that they use 15 eggs in one sitting - 15 for us, at the particular time of the month (toward the end of..... May?) was pushing it a bit to use them all, due to a dearth of other stuff to put with them! However, I have already used up 9 of those eggs today (more in a mo....) and I have to say, so far, so good So thank you to the person who mentioned them - you can't believe the surprise on my face when my eyes fell upon them! :rotfl:


Also, I don't know how 'bargainacious' the pasta is, but I see our mrS is making a big thing of selling 'BIG' packs - just (quite frankly) think catering packs which are de rigeur down the cash & carry........ Anyway, my eyes especially fell on the pasta - 5kg bag for £4 for no other reason than the pasta was penne (quite large quills). 80p a kilo ain't bad - they did spaghetti too. Now that supermercados have reined in their valoo ranges, I wasn't sure if this offered a good deal (different shape as much as anything) for cash-strapped families. There was other stuff - i can't recall the prices, but 1100 PG t1ps t-bags, p3r$1l washing powder (100 wash non-bio I think, dark blue box????), Acres of foil...... um.......Don't make a special trip, but it may help someone.


I actually remembered to pick up a tin of fruit cocktail - which was kinda the only reason I went to mrS..... :rotfl: But as my receipt came to ^ £17, you can see I got some other stuff But most things were only a penny or 2 dearer than I could get elsewhere - 55p for a cucumber beats my usual 60p from m&$ - or were on a par with what I usually pay. I think my carrots were 1p dearer (60p kilo) and lemons might even have been 9p cheaper (80p for 5). I did also buy an item of clothing for BG in the sale



MrA was in the general vicinity, so we dun called in and hoovered up the shelves for chicken in white sauce They actually had both the branded (on offer) version and their own smarty-priced version. Because the meat content and tin weight was the same, I went with the smarty-price offering, in the hope that I can make the 24p difference (I bought 4 tins) 'sing'. I also bought some hotdogs (tinned) as another FB asks for them regularly, and they had a brand on special offer for 31p less than I'd seen them a few minutes earlier in mrS.............




So, tea this evening ended up being vegetable/brown rice bake - using some of the eggs bought today, and I also had a go at Jack Monroe's Fruit Cocktail Cake



The veg bake was actually tasty, to think it was a bit of this and a bit of that with l/o rice and a few sunflower and pumpkin seeds scattered on top - no real 'recipe' I'm afraid. I make a potato salad (tinned tatties) with mayo, gherkins, lemon rind, mint, parsley and salt & pepper, and a Cucumber Salad with most of my kentish cucumber bought today Served with a splodge of 'pizza topping' (room temp) it almost filled a plate and was actually a 'fair enough' tea. There are 2 pieces of bake left for another day


Now, Jack's cake..... I have to admit, Dear reader, that I didn't follow Jack's recipe verbatim. I've been around the planet for yonks, and whilst there is plenty i don't know yet, I do recognise that baking is actually a science, and balance, and accuracy is key. I read the ingredients list, and couldn't work out why the fat ratio was out of kilter with the sugar and flour ratio. Now, I am probably WRONG - and freely admit it. But I couldn't find another sponge or fruit cake recipe that had that ratio in it. To all intents and purposes, the rest of the recipe is much like the standard 4:4:4:2 recipe (denoting the quantities in ounces) - but because the recipe is in effect doubled, you have an 8:8:8:4 scenario - but instead of 4 eggs, you use 3 because of the 'wettness' of the fruit cocktail (even drained). Now, I'm not saying that Jack's recipe is wrong, or doesn't work - because it obviously does - she's tested it! But I couldn't bring myself to make it any other way than 4:4:4:2 - doubling it, but taking off one egg. I didn't want an overly oily cake, so only used 200g of fat And because I don't like sweet cakes - I only use 150g of sugar most times anyway. I drained the fruit cocktail, but didn't rinse it. And I was delighted that there were about 5 cherries in my tin :j I DID add in a bit of spice - I think the recipe was a perfect vehicle. And taka - I think weezl's garam masala was a PERFECT fit here especially if you have a cinnamon loaded one - rather than a black cardamon loaded as I have



Now, bear in mind, BG likes fruit, but is a bit of a fussy-wot-not about 'certain' fruits......... they begged for a bit of cake for dessert, and....... polished the slice off! not a crumb remained! Gorn! So a BIG hit with BG I think the idea of using tinned fruit cocktail is B.R.I.L.L.I.A.N.T, i will use Jack's idea again, but stick to my tried and trusted BeRo sponge recipe to deliver it in remembering of course to deduct 1 egg to allow for the 'wet' fruit - makes a wonderful sponge It is a good 'tin' cake - you know, the sort of cake you make of a week for snap boxes and to go with a cuppa. It would also easily impress at the bowling club social Thank You Jack Monroe


Today I am grateful for;

An NHS surgery that actually works for it's patients :j

Gathering bits for our FB donation - thanks to kindly advice from MSE'rs


Finding a new cake recipe that works and doesn't break the bank :j


Ta for popping in. And if you've got to the end of this - bravo! :rotfl:


Greying X

rtandon27

Greying_Pilgrim wrote: »

...But wot flavour crisps did you have?????????????? :rotfl:...

My least favorite kind GP...ready salted...

...but to be fair they were FREE, so on the day were my very favorite kind...

...also paired with some sour cream and chive dip...

Greying_Pilgrim wrote: »

...Now, Jack's cake...
Finding a new cake recipe that works and doesn't break the bank :j...

I see we are talking CAKE again!:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

---

On a seperate note - but again in the vein of weird eating - I was sent, with my groceries, a FREE sample of a posh toddler spag & balls, which I wolfed down for bf this morning - quite nice if a bit bland...

...out of curiosity, I looked up the eyewatering price of 2.30 per tiny little convenience...

...then as I was having a good ol' think after looking at your JM cake link & having read the introcduction to her book, I made a discovery...

...a tin of meatballs in sauce at 80p teamed with some basics spag at 20p would make 4-6 of the same size servings as the freebie!:eek:...

...and all could be made in the microwave, as I remember from my (way back when) student days that pasta can successfully be cooked using water, a large bowl and the micro!:D

taka

Good news on another cakey use for Garam masala! Not sure about the fruit cocktail part though. That just gives me flash backs to semolina with tinned fruit cocktail as a kid. I like both separately but put them together and it is so wrong... something about the textures together and then sloshing juice too = Nope...

rtandon27 wrote: »

...and all could be made in the microwave, as I remember from my (way back when) student days that pasta can successfully be cooked using water, a large bowl and the micro!:D

You can cook pasta with a kettle and a thermos too (also from way back when student days!) & pesto doesn't need heated through so much as a tomato pasta sauce does.

Greying_Pilgrim

rtandon27 wrote: »

I see we are talking CAKE again!:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

---

My thread, my roolz :rotfl:


I'm not conversant with toddler pre-packaged, as I could never bring myself to pay (as you say) the eye-watering amounts for them - especially if BG would have taken one-bite, spat it out and say 'no-likey'. We would have been bankrupt quick smart with a hungry howling child on our hip


Noticed today in HB - PR1nc3s brand chicken in white sauce for £1.19 - branded product for the same price as the smarty-priced one


I bought some kentish strawberries from the over-priced on somethings grocers. 400g for £1. At the height of the summer season, that is the sort of price homegrown produce ought to be. Had I not got a long list of other (heavy) stuff to purchase, I would have bought 2 punnets They look good - here's hoping the taste matches



BG wanted to go into a little park area and I promised we could once we'd got the shopping. I regretted this because the shopping was so heavy, but honoured my promise. I let them run ahead of me on a car-free road bit, and they promptly fell over and bashed their face into the ground - which of course was gravel laid into tarmac - very hard, sharp and scratchy. I picked them up and there was blood _pale_...... mercifully little of it, but they did manage to split their lip slightly But at least their teeth look intact............. Ho hum They seem OK, and the bleeding stopped quickly, but what it will look like when the bruising starts coming out........ And they managed to scuff their clothing on the sharp stones



Pizza and wedges for tea.



Not alot else :money:to report.


Greying X

Silver_Queen

Ahem, I believe it was me who mentioned the eggs... :A:A:A:A:A;);););)

Greying_Pilgrim

Silver_Queen wrote: »

Ahem, I believe it was me who mentioned the eggs... :A:A:A:A:A;);););)

Thanks Silver Queen - the tip was much appreciated at the time, and being able to act on it was just fab . As I mentioned, the 9 I have used thus far have been tip-top!


Greying X