Family of 5 'shop from home'food storage challenge...

Yategirl

What do you think you did wrong with the chicken pie? Can you tell us how you made it so we can see if we can help for next time?

Yes I am worried about pricing spiralling.... trying hard to not think too much about it...... :S

morwenna

kethry wrote: »

morwenna:

saw some raspberries going cheap(ish) and thought i would buy some to make microwaveable raspberry jam.. do you happen to have a handydandy recipe to go with the microwaveable marmalade and lemoncurd? oh, and will the same recipe work with strawberries? (saw some strawberries too. heh.) thought i'd make a jar or two to make up for the disaster that was the strawberry preserve.

[also gonna do Nigella's Spiced Peaches and possibly her chocolate with pistachio fudge. If i can find some pistachios already shelled that don't cost the earth. I have a feeling these hampers are gonna be so full the boxes might break.. keep thinking of things i can put in them. Thought about making mom some butter. Yeah, i know. but i know she'd absolutely.. well.. go ga-ga over it. home made butter. maybe. maybe not.]

thanks!

keth
xx

What Bella said really!! My recipe is on here though, posted just before the others. (Not sure how to do a link, sorry.) I want to try thespiced peaches too, so if you beat me to it, please let me have your feedback

lil_me

Evening everyone. Hope you are all well. Change of plan this evening, colds here too and DP decided he fancied spag bol instead with lots of cheese (his comfort food) which of course I don't mind as had both in.

I've just made a quick list of what we have in the freezer, just stuff for main meals, I have written down what I know is in there and can remember, there is more I think, erm, think I'll be reducing the shopping order..........ok here goes, time for the list of shame, my overbuying is so out of hand it's embarrassing as after using up we have all this left, remember I haven't bought anything to put in there for weeks apart from things like chilli etc made from meat that was in the freezer. Some stuff there is several portions of like 4 of chilli, 6 of pizza, 4 stew, stewing steak will do 2-3 meals for me and DP at a guess...

Steak stew
Chilli
Bolognese
Lasagne
Pizzas
Turkey fillets
Beef burgers
Lamb and something burgers (butcher had them on special)
Quorn sausages and burgers
Sausages
Sausage meat sliced
Chicken breat fillets
Prawns
Cooked sliced up chicken
Diced steak
Meatballs
Chicken korma, think I froze that with rice
Cod fillet
Minced beef
Minced lamb
Corned beef stew
Gammon joint

:rolleyes:That is just from memory, what I know is in there, doesn't include bits of veg, frozen varieties of spuds, breads etc that is there of course. See if I haddn't made myself do this challenge and promised myself some Mermaid bakeware if I manage to save money from my GC challenge by using up, I'd still be buying, I'd have not stopped all month. I have the delivery booked for the 20th December, which was the latest I could get, I'm trying to work out what I have ordered at the butchers (collect Xmas eve) what I need to go with that lot to make meals etc, see if I can reduce the order as realistically speaking we don't really need anything for main meals for.......3 weeks? I am so terrible at hording, I can't believe a big part of me wants to go shopping when it's so full.

rosieben

Dont beat yourself up lil_me. I think you are one of the people (me included) who have a real thing about empty cupboards because of past events?

You're doing so well!!

I do find it comforting to be able to check my list of store cupboard and freezer stock; its definitely a security thing for me.

johanne

Lil_me im still trying to work my way through my freezer and i started doing in AUGUST!!! (ok so theres only me and i have eaten out least once a week with takeaway/at OHs/at mums) but still its madness!!! I was getting panicy as the "stocks" in it were lowering so was buying more stuff to replace what i was using even though i didnt need it!:o

I finally had enough at beginning of Nov and wrote a list of EVERY meal i could make using what was in my freezer... i got to about 28 main meals (since reached 38 main meals as been freezing leftovers of things ive made like curries and spag bol!:rolleyes: ) ... thats 4 weeks of evening meals for me!! Sat in my freezer whilst i spent money buying MORE things to add to it!

I am now down to about 8 or 9 meals i think (must check on the list stuck on side of fridge)... would be less but even now ive been buying odd bits... like a frozen chicken cos i fancied a roast one sunday which then rubber chickened 3 nights - and a pack of burgers to save
money on a takeaway one night, frozen chips for same reason - a pack of veggie fingers for "easy meal" after long day at work.. etc etc :rolleyes:


Its an addiction i tell you.... like last week I felt TONS better coming back from sainsburys with loads of bits to restock my storecupboard (it would have been rude not to maximise my "save £3 on a £30 spend" vouchers!" valid for this month only ) I even took photos last sunday to show you all.... *must get them off the camera and post them* :rotfl: :rotfl:

kethry

bellaquidsin and morwenna: did the raspberry jam tonight. It really will teach me to pop to the loo, even for a minute, while its in the microwave. (toilet is next to kitchen, i really was gone.. max.. 30 seconds). when i came back i looked in the microwave and it'd boiled over..

i reckon i lost about half the raspberry juice - it had properly boiled over, not just onto the microwave plate, but onto the bottom of the microwave as well.. LOL. when i do a disaster i do it properly! anyway. I cleaned it up, popped a little boiled water into the remaining liquid, some extra sugar, and put it onto MEDIUM and did it in 4 minute bursts. It boiled up this time but not over, so that's obviously what i did wrong. Its proper jam now, and tastes gorgeous.

moral: next time, use a bigger bowl, put it on medium, and watch like a flamin hawk.

on the plus side, it looks very purty with all the pips, so i'm gonna get some more raspberries and some strawberries and make some more to give as a present (and we're keeping this jar. Might spread some on home made bread when it gets baked tonight.. mmmmm.. heaven on earth.. home made raspberry jam on home made fresh bread and butter, still warm from the oven..)

about the spiced peaches: in comparison, they were a doddle. i made 4 tins worth. Looks gorgeous, tastes fabulous. not sweet though. that tablespoon of rice vinegar takes away the sweetness, you really do need it. Oh, i used peach slices instead of halves. I have ex-olive jars which are quite tall and small (the ones from aldi) and i've done all my other jams/chutneys/pickles in them for gifts for people, so i want mine to match, and i thought the peach halves might struggle to fit in there. they worked fine as peach slices. cheap too. 39p a tin from aldi. i think it was that anyway.

DEFINETLY do it as a gift for someone this christmas.

keth
xx

p.s. i spread it on home made bread and ate it just now. man. its gorgeous. people. go make some!!!

Kaz2904

Yategirl wrote: »

What do you think you did wrong with the chicken pie? Can you tell us how you made it so we can see if we can help for next time?

Yes I am worried about pricing spiralling.... trying hard to not think too much about it...... :S

Well, lets just say that I didn't entirely follow the recipe and the mash wasn't all that mashed- the mushrooms weren't there so were replaced by carrot and parsnip. The parsnip tasted really strong too. Oh and for good measure I over chopped the chicken.:o .
Much like eating a parsnip coleslaw made with potato~ bleurgh!
I made it a couple of weeks ago and it was lovely~ when I followed the recipe!:rotfl: TTFN, Kaz.

Yategirl

lol! I see.... When I do chicken pie.. I ususally have chicken and some left over veg (not potato - I use this in bubble and squeak) from a roast.. I chop and onion and soften in butter, I then add about 2-3 tblsp flour, take off the heat and gently mix the flour in.. add the milk and put back on heat and bring gently to simmer stirring ALL the time.. this gives a thickened white sauce. Then add the leftover veg (chopped small) plus any other veg I have - leeks are nice, carrots, I do add parsnip but again chopped small, sometimes mushrooms and mix well... season to taste. I put this in my pie dish and put pastry on top but mash would be ok (use a spudnik from Lakeland to get superduper mash!).

Lil-me and Johanne... I'm sorry.... I have to laugh! My freezer used to be heaving (and is slowly getting back that way )..... want to know how I used my stocks up???? Dh instead of switching his garage radio off.. switched my freezer off :mad: we didn't find out for about 2 days... everything was defrosted (this was during the only hot spell we had this year :rolleyes: ).... I managed to give away any bread and milk we couldn't use but everything else I had to bin am so thankful I didn't have much meat in there but it was awful You will be pleased to know that the freezer is now on it's own special socket out of easy reach and... I am building stocks up again! :rotfl:

Kethry - spiced peaches sounds wonderful! I might be trying that! I also found a recipe for Banana chutney that sounds good too!

Yategirl

btw... where do you get chilli flakes from? I have searched in our local tesco and never been able to find them....

kethry

Yategirl wrote: »

btw... where do you get chilli flakes from? I have searched in our local tesco and never been able to find them....

banana chutney: i-know-where-you-found-that-oneeee!! (the cottage smallholder!) :rotfl:

Chilli flakes. Tescos do em. I know this cos i buy them from there. They're in the herbs and spices section, in with the spices. Red fronted square jar. they're called crushed chillis in tescos, and they're 88p a jar. It amounts to the same thing. Be sparing though. a little goes a long way! Do you like thai food, and prawns? i have a recipe for a *killer* soup that is fantastic for punching a hole through a blocked nose, and that uses crushed/flaked chillis. yell if you want the recipe. anyway. if you still can't find them, if you want, i will buy you a jar and post it to you.

HTH

keth
xx