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

ravylesley

mummysaver you are very welcome.Its amazing how much time these little things save and thanks for the burger variations.I've tried cheeseburgers this time.I'm going to get a bit more adventurous once the BBQ season arrives as I stupidly froze all the pork mince I got with my last pig so cant make them and freeze them again:o .I tell you what else I do that saves me loads of time is that when I have an hour or so not doing much in particular I make up loads of portions of shortcrust and puff pastry for the freezer so that I can just take them out as and when I need them.It means I'm only getting my hands mucky once and the pastry tastes even better after freezing as it allows the flour grains to absorb the moisture and expand

Lesleyxx

iheartjpiven

HI I WAS WONDERING IF ANYONE COULD I WOULD REALLY LIKE THE RECIPE FOR nIGELL'S MINI MEATLOAF. HAVE TRIED TO SEARCH AND GOOGLE IT BUT CANNOT FIND IT.

CAN ANYONE HELP?

SORRY FOR THE CAPS.

CRISTINA

mummysaver

ravylesley wrote: »

mummysaver you are very welcome.Its amazing how much time these little things save and thanks for the burger variations.I've tried cheeseburgers this time.I'm going to get a bit more adventurous once the BBQ season arrives as I stupidly froze all the pork mince I got with my last pig so cant make them and freeze them again:o .I tell you what else I do that saves me loads of time is that when I have an hour or so not doing much in particular I make up loads of portions of shortcrust and puff pastry for the freezer so that I can just take them out as and when I need them.It means I'm only getting my hands mucky once and the pastry tastes even better after freezing as it allows the flour grains to absorb the moisture and expand

Lesleyxx

yet another thing I've never thought of! Doh! Or should that really be dough in this case - sorry I use a fair bit of shortcrust pastry, not so much puff pastry as it always seems a bit of a faff, so I confess that I do buy it most times :eek: Do you have a nice easy and quick puff pastry recipe Lesley - oh, it's like having my own personal guru :T I shall be a work tonight thinking of all the other things I use and don't freeze, but could! I really must get another freezer I think!

mandy_moo_1

iheartjpiven wrote: »

HI I WAS WONDERING IF ANYONE COULD I WOULD REALLY LIKE THE RECIPE FOR nIGELL'S MINI MEATLOAF. HAVE TRIED TO SEARCH AND GOOGLE IT BUT CANNOT FIND IT.

CAN ANYONE HELP?

SORRY FOR THE CAPS.

CRISTINA

i can't remember where i found this recipe originally, but i know i adapted it to suit me!! they come out brilliantly, and taste lovely

1lb sausage meat
1lb mince
1 cup porridge oats
1/3 cup tom puree
2 beaten eggs
2tsp worcester sauce

combine all ingredients
divide into 12 balls and shape into mini loaves
put on baking tray leaving space between them
bake for 30-40 mins at 180
eat hot or cold
freeze really well

mandy_moo_1

sorry, i repeated this post twice!!

mama67

Can't remember if I got the Millies Cookies recipe from here or not but have made them today and they are delish.

Boys both said they are just like the ones sold at Millies.

purpleivy

mummysaver wrote: »

Made burgers yday for lunch, kids all prefer the hm ones, complain that the shop ones don't taste of anything - guess tesco don't use quite so many herbs, garlic and chillis as me! Wrapped the mix around pieces of cheese - instant cheese burgers!

I know it's totally daft, but I always make them when we want them, it has truley never occured to me to make extras to freeze Can't believe how dopey I can be sometimes, so thanks Lesley for the tip! Have told oh that he needs to drop into the farm shop he passes on his way to work, they always have huge packs of mince at a really good price! Shame he's working from home today, he'll have to get it tomorrow then I can get busy on Weds! Must remind him to get pork (with apple - dd1's faves), lamb (with apricot or just lots of mint - oh's fave) and beef (with chilli and lots of onion - ds's fave), don't want to be accused of favouritism :rotfl:

Don't forget your child labour when making burgers, if the children are of a suitable age it keeps them busy! My ds is 14 and I got him weighing and mixing, he commented on how very cold the meat was... my response was something along the lines of "well, why do you think I'm letting you do it!"

lollyred1

Hi all well i have not been on here for quite some time probably since my son was tiny and he's nearly 1 now so lots of catching up to do. I have just reduced my hours at work as dont want to miss out on all important changes my son is having like 1st steps etc but it has meant a drop in wages by about £400 a month what i get now covers all my bills and leaves me with approx £55 a month to get all food and nappies any advise or tips would be great.
I am going to sit down now and do a meal plan so i can see what we are eating and when i need to buy little extra for ds to have with us as well. I am also going to dust off bread maker tomorrow as i intend on making bread rolls for pack lunches any tips on how to make these would also be great (i have a morphy richards fast bake)

Its nice to have some time in the evening to come and catch up again xx

OddjobKIA

Hello peeps

I stumbled across this thread and

WOW

This is what ive been looking for....

cut a VERY long story short

In AUG last year I gave up work ANd Mrs Oddjob went out to work after No4 was born..all in all we dropped from well over £2k a month income to just around £1k a month..

No cooking phases me ( been doing it since i was 7)

I have made my own pickle form the left over toms last year and this year I have planted so many more veggies. ( we are lucky enough to have a very wel established Cooking apple tree in the garden) that produces so much fruit we were giving it away ( I reckon we had in total 100 tesco carrier bags of fruit )..anyway..

only read 1st page of this thread and im loving it...

as you can imagine with 4 kids under 9 ( DD1-9, DS1-6, DD2-2, DD3-1)..

food shopping can easily top £100 a week ( that includes £20 down local trade only groceres)...

I have started making my own bread again ( not in bread maker loafs are way to small)..

Also 90% of meals are from scratch..

we dont buy loads of brand names..




the tesco near us is 5 min walk away so around 9-10 every night I walk down and see the girl i know who reduces things and she then puts the meat down by 90% when she sees me..( not always much there but last year we had a total of 24 sirlion steaks for £2.50)


any other tips......

rainmac

OddjobKIA wrote: »

Hello peeps

I stumbled across this thread and

WOW

This is what ive been looking for....

cut a VERY long story short

In AUG last year I gave up work ANd Mrs Oddjob went out to work after No4 was born..all in all we dropped from well over £2k a month income to just around £1k a month..

No cooking phases me ( been doing it since i was 7)

I have made my own pickle form the left over toms last year and this year I have planted so many more veggies. ( we are lucky enough to have a very wel established Cooking apple tree in the garden) that produces so much fruit we were giving it away ( I reckon we had in total 100 tesco carrier bags of fruit )..anyway..

only read 1st page of this thread and im loving it...

as you can imagine with 4 kids under 9 ( DD1-9, DS1-6, DD2-2, DD3-1)..

food shopping can easily top £100 a week ( that includes £20 down local trade only groceres)...

I have started making my own bread again ( not in bread maker loafs are way to small)..

Also 90% of meals are from scratch..

we dont buy loads of brand names..

the tesco near us is 5 min walk away so around 9-10 every night I walk down and see the girl i know who reduces things and she then puts the meat down by 90% when she sees me..( not always much there but last year we had a total of 24 sirlion steaks for £2.50)

any other tips......

Hi, this may sound obvious but stock up when things you eat/use are on offer (getting 24 steaks for £2.50 I would say you're already very good at this!). I am in a similar position to you and want to get my supermarket bill down. I've read lots of threads on MSE and feel I've learnt a huge amount.

Make meat 's-t-r-e-t-c-h' by bulking out with veggies.

If having chicken, use all the bird and cook the carcass to make soup or stock. I don't currently do this but plan to!

Don't let anything go to waste - freeze food if you aren't going to be able to eat by use by dates. I'm buying my food differently this month and instead of getting it delivered every week I did a huge shop last week (after roughly working out meal plans for the month). I'm then going to buy what we need as we run low/run out and only going to buy it if we 'need' it rather than just 'want' it.

What about cleaning products, do you use lots of different products? Bicarb of Soda works wonders for most jobs. Using Soda Crystals in your washing machine cuts down on the amount of powder/liquid you need to use and I've read on MSE about using white vinegar in place of fabric conditioner.

Hope that's of some help :rolleyes: