January 2008 Grocery Challenge

MRSMCAWBER

Hi there Moonflower

My fave recipe for salmon is THAI STEAMED SALMON

finely slice 1 red onion
drop in a small sauce pan with 1 clove garlic(finely sliced) 1" fresh ginger (peeled and cut into fine matchsticks) 2tbsp soft dark brown sugar and
2 tbsp fish sauce -cook gently until sugar has dissolved.

Place a piece of salmon on a sheet of foil and pull up the sides, spoon on the onion mix and roll the foil up tightly. Place in a med oven for about 10-15 mins... depending on size of fillet
It is addictive -i usually serve it on noodles or stir fry..

It sounds a bit odd but the heat, sweet and salty taste works really well with the creamy salmon.

And if you let the sauce go cold, you can make the parcels up and leave them in the fridge over night ready to whack in the oven when you get home from work

dawnylou

Well week 2 - I went to Asda yesterday with a friend and they had some decent stuff in the reduced section so I spent £12.15. Not bad considering it includes 2 multipacks of crisps for fiances bait (2 for £1), 2 pots weightwatchers roasted pepper pasta sauce (reduced to 50p each), chicken breasts stuffed with bacon and stuffing and steaks with peppercorn sauce (reduced to £1.50 each) AND to be honest I got 2 bottles of wine and 2 facemasks o put in our Mothers Day hampers which is where £5 went!!

Gryfon

Quick question...should I put meals out under groceries? Going to try and work backwards over the past week to add up everything I've spent so far but one night we went out for fish and chips!

Mollymop5

Popped into aldi and bought some jars of sweet and sour sauce.Spent £2.87 in total.If only Ihas a sweet and sour recipe then I might have saved more.Mission for today is find a recipe

orchid-96

My new slow cooker arrived yesterday (I havn't had one before) so need to get together some nice recipes for that ready for my mealplan next week..

Anyone have any favourites they do in their sc for a rushed off their feet mum!

My Mum used to do sausage casserole all the time with a packet mix, might try that one in the slow cooker (does anyone do theirs in the sc?)

Trying for another nsd today, need to see dh at Lunch time and plan on getting free lunch from him (he runs a staff canteen!!)

izoomzoom

Gryfon wrote: »

Quick question...should I put meals out under groceries? Going to try and work backwards over the past week to add up everything I've spent so far but one night we went out for fish and chips!

It is entirely up to you. Some people do and some do it under different budgets. Thing is just to be consistent, so that you can see if you are making progress in getting / sticking to your budget.

izoomzoom

orchid-96 wrote: »

My new slow cooker arrived yesterday (I havn't had one before) so need to get together some nice recipes for that ready for my mealplan next week..

Anyone have any favourites they do in their sc for a rushed off their feet mum!

My Mum used to do sausage casserole all the time with a packet mix, might try that one in the slow cooker (does anyone do theirs in the sc?)

Trying for another nsd today, need to see dh at Lunch time and plan on getting free lunch from him (he runs a staff canteen!!)

did you get a little recipe book (perhaps at the back of instruction) book that could give you a recipe or two. Thats were I got my first few attempts from, but now I can just bung things in.

As a mum of 3, I find that it takes quite a while to do all the prep (about an hour, to chop all the veggies etc for a 6.5L sc) but then it cooks all day long, and I invaribly get 3 meals out of it, so really only 20 mins a day.

If you are busy with your children, you can always start off by putting in the meat, liquid and herbs / spices, and then as you get a chance in the day just add all your different veggies one by one (start off with harder veggies first)
.

HTHs

orchid-96

Thanks izoomzoom, I have put some mince and onions in today which I will turn into shepherds pie tonight, I will just need to practice with it...great idea about adding veg during the day I hadn't thought of that...

I find tea time is really stressful with my twins and ds, I usually end up cooking 3 different meals (girls often get the meal I cook for me and dh the following day as they eat at around 4.30) but I thought this way if I get something started in the morning, I can take some out for the kids first..well thats the idea anyway....also I will freeze some as casseroles/chillis etc. usually feeds us all 2 meals...

belfastgirl23

mrs-moneypenny wrote: »

waging war on the bathroom and am refusing to buy any more toiletries till the little bottles and 1/2 used jars bottles and tubes have been used up. clearing clutter and saving money all in one:T

I vowed to do this last January. I bought bubble bath again for the first time on sunday :eek: and I still have a load of bath oils in the house. It was astonishing how much I had in. No wonder I was broke!!

Seriously though I have found one of my biggest savings in terms of GC has been on cleaning stuff. Nowadays I use stardrops diluted in a spray bottle instead of antibacterial spray in the kitchen, a tiny bit of bleach in loos (prev used loads) and to take tea stains off kitchen sink, and own brand cream cleaner for almost everything else. oh and Lidl DW tabs cut in half in the DW. I've gone to tesco value washing powder and use less per wash (huge box for about £2 lasted me best part of a year), own brand fabric conditioner which I use about every other wash, bicarb of soda and vinegar. I reckon I was spending about £10 a month on cleaning stuff, now it's prob more like £1.50. And more environmentally friendly too. And nothing is significantly dirtier (notice I did not say it was clean )

mumzyof2

orchid-96 wrote: »

Thanks izoomzoom, I have put some mince and onions in today which I will turn into shepherds pie tonight, I will just need to practice with it...great idea about adding veg during the day I hadn't thought of that...

I find tea time is really stressful with my twins and ds, I usually end up cooking 3 different meals (girls often get the meal I cook for me and dh the following day as they eat at around 4.30) but I thought this way if I get something started in the morning, I can take some out for the kids first..well thats the idea anyway....also I will freeze some as casseroles/chillis etc. usually feeds us all 2 meals...

This is what i do with my kids..cook something in s/c and then give it to kids around 4.30pm as me and oh eat around 7-9pm