February 2017 Grocery Challenge

Franalamadingdong

Kkffoo I hope the stressful stuff improves. January was an utter @rse to me.

Suffolk lass suggested everything I was thinking of. That said, my DS goes crazy for stew and dumplings, I don't need to worry about lentils or suet, they soon get used!

No spends today. I'll either go shopping tomorrow after school or Saturday morning. I need ingredients for mum's birthday cake, which is on Saturday.

MissOrganised1972

pinkypig wrote: »

One thing I didn't buy was iceberg lettuce. Has anyone else noticed the huge price rise? 49p to £1.19 in the Aldi near me:eek::eek:
PP x

I haven't been able to get one in Aldi for a couple of weeks and have had to spend 79p in tesco for one. In both Tesco & Aldi they had signs up saying the lack of available salad (they didn't mention the hike in price!) was due to floods in Spain.

Suffolk_lass

Mrs_Cheshire wrote: »

We don't eat minced based dishes as the kids don't eat them, we only have pork meatballs ready made from aldi, although the lentils might work as a thickener to the sauce. I'll give it a go with a handful next time I make it.
I'll look into the suet crust, hubby loves steak and kidney puddings, I wonder if I could use it to make those?

Ooh never made panna cotta, fortunately my budget allows me to buy full priced cream, what sort would I need?

Definite yes to red lentils in any meat or fish dish with lots of fluid that you bubble away for a while. And no problem with adding to the sauce you use with port meatballs. Just think of them as a healthy thickener - not quite as instant as cornflour or plain flour but a lot fewer carbs (says the diet-queen, third day in to her latest effort! :rotfl:)

Re recipe for panna cotta, I would only use double cream. I would make the simple vanilla version with a fruit couli such as raspberry, or a blueberry sauce (simmered with a tiny bit of icing sugar until just soft) - which are in season but not too tasty due to their journey to our shelves. If you want a simple recipe the Simon Rimmer one on the BBC Food site is good but I would not add the alcohol as it has the potential to overpower the simple flavour, whereas the fruit will cut across the richness and sweetness of what is essentially set, sweetened cream with vanilla

HTH
SL

MissOrganised1972

Forgot to say that the other bargain I bought this week was the 'cooking bacon' in Tesco for 60p for 500g. I always examine the pack to make sure I'm not picking up a chunk! This time I managed to split it into a 1 x 200g & 1 x 160g chopped pack each of which will be used to add to pasta or breakfast muffins and the remainder was in 1/2 sized slices which we'll have for brunch tomorrow. Not bad for 60p!
Have a good day all

XSpender

MissOrganised1972 wrote: »

I haven't been able to get one in Aldi for a couple of weeks and have had to spend 79p in tesco for one. In both Tesco & Aldi they had signs up saying the lack of available salad (they didn't mention the hike in price!) was due to floods in Spain.

Lidl had iceberg at half price this morning - 24p!

XSpender

Attempted to do my weekly shop at the big new Lidl but was very disappointed with the range e.g. only 3 types of frozen veg and went to Aldi on the way home to pick up the bits Lidl don't stock. I will be sticking with Aldi from now on.

Spent £34.56 in Lidl and £15.58 in Aldi (including £2 on a small bunch of tulips to prolong the rest of the flowers my DMIL bought me last week which will be out of my miscellaneous budget not food).

My total is now £127.03/£320

No doubt DH will want some beers for his birthday meal tomorrow so will have a few more pounds to end before the end of the week.

purpleybat

Suffolk_lass wrote: »

Red lentils - I always add a handful to any dish with minced beef as the base - so chili, bol, meatballs in sauce, and so on - after they are in with all the other padding (celery and carrots, maybe a bendy leek) I promise nobody will notice - these are excellent for reducing expensive ingredients by simply using less and adding the padding for variety.

You can make a suet crust - it's just an easy pastry to put on top of a stew to make it more "pie-like"

No idea about ready-mix bits

leaf gelatine will keep for ages - just wait until there is a big pot of YS cream and make panna cotta (yum!) - easy but strictly as a treat when the cream is reduced!

HTH
SL

my first thought was lentil and carrot soup that takes 20 mins to cook but then I saw you didn't want soup ideas. so had a bit of a think what I do with them (I seem to go throo loads) and I also use them for stretching mince recipes and to thicken stews etc and make them more filling and thereby using less meat. the only thing I will saw tho is to do this you may want to make the base stock a bit stronger cos they can make things a little bland.
red lentils are also great for quick easy dhal (spelling?) recipes, they also only take 20 mins and help stretch indian type meals. also lots of curry recipes you can add them into, they make the sauces gloriously smooth and thick, you may need to tweak spices again tho to add flavour to them.
I also like using them 'just cooked', drained and mixed with fried (and maybe other veg knocking about) and used as a stuffing for big mushrooms, topped with cheese.


the suet I also thought steamed puds (sweet and savoury), tho these can be expensive cos of the amount of fuel used to steam them for hours, tho maybe more cost effective in individual sizes? I have also made a bacon and onion roly-poly before and steamed in the slow cooker before putting in a hot oven to crisp up.
is it the 'soggy' texture of dumples your family don't like? if making/reheating a casserole in the oven I add dumplings but leave the lid off, they go lovely and crisp, more like a cobbler topping which I personally much prefer.


the other bits I cant help with at all I'm afraid, I've never bought them, sorry.

Islandmaid

Youngest announced his Uni placement at a school would be one close to us, so he will be staying for another 2 weeks and will need lunches.....

Spent £22 in Aldi on packed lunch stuff for him - main meals will have to be padded out - love having him home, but he eats like a horse....

purpleybat

oh what a horrid few days i'm having. managed to give myself a mega black eye and spent 4 hours in Barnet A&E being checked over for concussion and xrays for a possible eye socket fracture (I think they were trying to find my brain) to be told 'we're concerned about your eye health so sending you to the Royal Free for an appt tomorrow''. took 2 hours to get there, another 4 hours there and then another 2 hours to get home. luckily all is okay and all the staff were lovely but it meant I lost 2 days work I now look like if I've been in a fight and everytime I lean forward it feels like my brain is trying to escape throo my eye socket.


but back to groceries a small spend of £6.02 in lidles (noticed when filling in my budget book yesterday they've over-charged me) on the 31st and yesterday afternoon spent £26.25 in morries, tho I think a lot of that was comfort food cos was feeling decidedly sorry for myself.


I too bought a HUGE pack of off-cuts bacon but mine was from morries and a bit more expensive at £1.18, . ive split it into 6 packs to freeze, might have to make the bacon and onion roly-poly I mentioned earlier now

fairy3

Morning all

First reported spend of the month - £6.65/95 needed bread milk and salad bits and free range eggs on offer at 12/£2.00.
A new Aldee opened yesterday within 3 miles so will be trying out when it all calms down.
Have pea and ham soup bubbling and planned cook off at the weekend from the storecupboard.
Have a great day everyone