March 2008 Grocery Challenge

saver03

JoJoB wrote: »

£12 in tesco today - only went in for a butternut squash!

Think I will stay away from butternut squash didn't know they were so expensive! :rotfl:

mouche

Still holding steady though am sorely tempted to get some baking things from the local shop and try out some more recipes from my book (the biscuits are all gone!) I think I'll hold out till the weekend though and pop into Asda or something for them. Though 'popping into Asda' is usally not a very wise idea in this house...

galacticgreen

Went to Lidl today with my mum, but I only spent £3.80. Have updated my sig. HM quiche and rice salad for tea tonight....... Already thinking about April's budget and wondering if I need to budget a bit more so I can get some herbs, spices etc in to make our cooking more interesting. Will give it some more thought.

skintscotslass

mikeD wrote: »

Hi Folks. Thanks for the Brownie and Mushroom Stroganoff links. I remember watching Nigella make these and thought at the time that they looked tasty but a bit exotic for me to make. Also 48 brownies seem a lot as there are only three of us. I dont like tampering with ingredient quantities as the originals have been tried and tested, but looking at it, it may be OK to cut everything in half. What do you experts think?

Hi Mike

For smaller quantities I use:

125g dark chocolate
125g butter
2 large eggs
200g castor sugar
75g plain flour
pinch of salt

Use a 23cm square tin, 4 cm deep. Bake for 20 mins 180 C/Gas mark 4. This is from Nigella again, her cream cheese brownies. I didnt fancy the cream cheese, but only wanted to make a small batch and the quantities worked fine. I also chuck in nuts if DD isnt around and dried fruit. Just what ever is lying around.

I think brownies are a good place to start if anyone is not confident about baking

skintscotslass

Nothing to do with the GC, but I just wanted to boast about my Mum. Her simnel cake and hot cross buns won prizes at the Rural (Scottish equiv of WI) last night. So through to a bigger competition this weekend. She's so shy and she's not going to go to the comp, just hand the things in. Might go and pretend I'm her :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

getting-sorted-sarah

saver03 wrote: »

This is probably a really stupid question and there will be a lot of tutting when read I imagine but Does making your own cakes eg brownies or flapjacks really save that much money and is it worth it for the time it takes?
I haven't done baking since school and I am a bit wary, more to do with my lack of patience really!! I know the OH is partial to a nice bit of cake and he would love brownies as long as he could add squirty cream!

I think this really depends (no tutting, by the way!) on what you usually buy, and what you'd bake - Nigella's brownies aren't going to save me money (although I love to make them.... er, and eat them) because they use so much high quality chocolate and eggs, and they'd get eaten in 5 minutes flat.

Flapjack however, is cheaper, and so are biscuits, bread too. I bake, really, because I feel smug satisfaction(!) from making my own stuff, and because the ingredients list on a lot of packaged cake etc horrifies me, but that's just me! It is about getting good quality for cheaper, rather than getting super cheap, for me. As I've got more confident with baking, I also really like the freedom of knowing that I can knock something up from stuff in the cupboards.

I'd say have a go - but if you don't enjoy it you can probably find cheap alternatives - it isn't worth slaving at if it makes you unhappy.

curly_cabbage

Afternoon

Well to day is my 3rd NSD, pretty good, hoping to keep that up until saturday when i'll need to get fresh veg ect. Did a spot of baking today, fresh hot doughnuts with choclate spread in the middle yum yum :drool: :drool: and i also made
MRS Mc bagals, i changed the butter for veg oil (Didn't have any butter) and i also didn't add the onions and poppy seeds didn't have them either, but they turned out really well :T put some in the frezzer and we're having the remainder for breakfast tomorrow.

CC

JayJay14

nykmedia - Asda will be closed on Easter Sunday but they will open on the Monday bank hol, not sure of the hours but probably 9ish to 6ish.

Plodding along with the challenge. I have been keeping up with the posts but haven't done anything exciting on the food front.

Someone a few pages back mentioned bath stuff/shower gel - I am a Sanex girl but only by on bogof, about 6 bottles in the wardrobe, but the shower gel is only a 500ml bottle but the bath foam is 750ml. I have always used the bath foam in the shower with a bath puff thingy and can't see what the difference is (except you get more for your money as they are always the same price)

I have just finished a huge meatball pasta bake for tea and found out that DS will not be home - great, leftovers for the freezer:rotfl:

Kaz2904

So far it's a NSD for me. I have to go up to the school in a mo for DD's parents evening and will be going to bed for a couiple of hours straight after. Then I'm off to work.
I won't be doing tea tonight because we're out at tea time so DH has to do it. I just rang him and he said he'd go off to Asda afterwards and get jacket potatoes and some salad (Sounds expensive already). I've warned him that we're on a budget and he doesn't have much left of it. We also need (want) tobacco as we're onto the fluff at the end of the packet.
Just going to go and shove some bread on before I go out and I'll update from work tonight if I get a chance.

bails

Hi all, so I was looking at Mumzy's iced bun recipe and it says 10g milk powder which I don't have - can I leave it out or use milk or is that a no no?

I made my first lot of BM bread last night - and it's lovely! :T It's not that much cheaper as we used bread mix (rye) for our first go but will have a go at DIY soon. Anyone got a GL flapjack recipe please? These would cheer my OH up no end! Thanks a lot, loving all the posts, great inspiration to get back into my kitchen!