March 2008 Grocery Challenge

mama67

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?

Had to get some milk today but that's all. Got a 2 Lt bottle which was £1.19, If I had got two 1 Lt bottles like I usually do it would have cost £1.39. I normally get 1 Lt bottles because my DW has difficulty lifting the 2 Lt ones. I will transfer half of the contents into an empty 1 Lt bottle and then things will be alright for her.

Love the FM

MIKE D
I adjusted Nigellas recipe so I used 250g butter and then adjusted everything else accordingly, works great.

Mixture just fits nice into my roasting tin and I get approx 30 brownies.

mama67

jackie_w wrote: »

Well had to go to shopping today, so, went to Morrisons as I was in that area.

Bought:- Easy cook rice £1.49
Medium Free Range Eggs £2.45
Large Free Range Eggs £1.45
Salad Onions £0.59
Whole Cucumber £0.68
3 tomatoes £0.33

So will update sig in a moment.

The rice I bought is a big bag, and im dreading cooking it. Any time ive tried to cook rice myself, it never turns out correctly. Its all sticky and mushy yuck, and Ive always used boil in the bag rice, but, its so expensive.
So, tonight its HM chicken curry for tea, so, Im off to cook the rice. Someone told me, to use 2 cups of water to 1 cup of rice is that right ???

Feeling really really unorganised, still not done a menu plan because I dont actually have lot of meat in the hosue. Loads of fillet steak for DH but, thats about it. Have 3 chicken fillets which have been defrosted which im going to make into chicken & Spiniach lasange.

Will just play pot luck for the rest of March (ive got about 12 days worth of dinners), but, could make the rest up with basic pasta, omlettes, and quiches, and soups.

Jackie xx

I use a Jamie Oliver trick I saw him do on tv once, I rinse the rice twice in cold water to wash ioff some of the starch, then put boiling water from the kettle into the pan with the rice.
Once it is cooked I drain it through a colander and then put this back over the pan with some boiling water in cover the rice and leave it to steam for approx 5 mins.
Doesn't stick and is nice and fluffy.

I do use value basmati, haven't tried it with long grain but I'm sure it should still work.

skintscotslass

I was in Edinburgh tonight, so took the opportunity to pop into the asian shop for herbs. I bought a chunk of fresh ginger (60g) and 200g of parsley for £1. Think it was 35p for the ginger and 65p for the parsley. I'm sure the packets in the supermarkets are 75pish 20g?

TheBees

NSD for me but OH stopped at MrT for much needed cat food and hair gel for DS! £10.68 in total.
I'm off to Lidl tom for some basic supplies and hoping not to spend more than £30. Have worked out the menu list for almost the rest of the month and only need 4 more meals. I'm hoping to fill those gaps with bargains!

Re the rice cooking I used to be hopeless at rice and always bought boil in the bag until we discovered Delia's method. We use a frying pan with a glass lid so we can keep an eye on it (bought from Lidl a few months ago). Using a jug or mug we use double the amount of water to rice, drizzle a tiny amount of oil over the rice and stir it around then add boiling water. Bring to the boil then simmer until the water has been absorved into the rice. Tilt the pan to check. Delia reckons it should take about 15 mins.

Good luck everyone.

FrankieM

Evening All,
I'm not sure I'm going to keep to budget this month but I'm still slogging it out.
I had another Tesco delivery tonight which brings my total spend up to £298.45 from a £375 budget. I've still got 2 weeks to go and one of those is school holidays, but we'll see how it goes.
I'm startin g to feel like things are stocked up, though and I'm getting into the repacing cycle which means weekly shops are becoming a bit cheaper.

JayneC

Hi all,

Thought I'd share my brownie recipe that doesn't use actual chocolate but cocoa powder, so I think is cheaper.

3oz marg
1.5oz cocoa powder
8 oz caster sugar (I've used granulated and it's been fine)
3 med eggs or 2 large
2oz plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch salt
(nuts if you like -4oz recommended, but i never add these)

melt marg, stir in cocoa powder and sugar, stir in eggs. Then sift flour, baking powder n salt and mix thoroughly. Pour into 8 inch square cake tin (or similar) and bake at 180 for approx 30 mins. Says it makes 16 but i get 12 (we're greedy, lol).

Been to Tesco and forgot the catfood:doh: but got 7 loaves that were reduced to 28p-35p. now they're in the freezer and there's no room for anything else!! Got 5xtesco finest bloomer types(white bread:eek: i haven't bought white bread for so long, have told the kids it's evil and then i buy5 loaves), 2xseeded bloomers + 1x uncut wholemeal. It will make nice toast too so don't have to buy crumpets and hot x buns.

Spent £18.96 so I think I've only really got enough now to buy top-up milk. I'll have to be very careful.

icandream

That brownies recipe sounds good. Funnily enough, dd1 baked brownies a couple of days ago with cocoa not choc. I thought it would be awful compared to the chocolate ones, but they were delicious. Our only prob with baking things like brownies is they disappear fast. :rotfl:

Has somebody posted a millionaire's shortbread recipe? I've bought the lidl ones - about 69 pence for 4 I think, and they are absolutely delicious, but it would be good to try making. But I can't find the recipe?

Budgetaddict: mine did love rice salad, but I've been well and truly put off that, so pasta salad is a good alternative, and it's cheap. Once a week I also send them in with soup and hm bread, and they love that - I've had to think a bit about pked lunches as one of mine hates sandwiches! :rolleyes: ...

Casperthefriendlyghost

Hi everyone

Had such a busy month, this is only my second time posting here, but I've been keeping up with the challenge. Have spent £39.08 of my £40 so far, but it's ok because I get paid in eleven days and have got all my meals cooked in the freezer.
I have been doing loads of baking also, twinks hobnobs, they're delicious, I added some cinnamon and raisins and they're devine! Thanx for that. I put them in the freezer and just take two out every day, had to do that or they'd all be gone by now lol.
Am going to try MrsM's Bagels and not sure who posted the Iced Buns Recipe, but will be doing them both this weekend, am really looking forward to trying them, how sad am I lol!
Congrats to everyone for doing so well on this challenge, you're all an inspiration. Have finally caught up with this thread, boy does it move fast!
Goodnight everyone.
Cheers
Casper
x x x

rosieben

jackie_w wrote: »

... Im off to cook the rice. Someone told me, to use 2 cups of water to 1 cup of rice is that right ???
...

Yes, that's right; I've always understood that you shouldn't stir boiling rice as that makes it sticky; I bring it to the boil, turn the heat off and put the lid on the saucepan and let stand for about 20 minutes - don't be tempted to take the lid off for a peek! Uses less power and no worries about the pan boiling over/boiling dry. I've been cooking rice this way since the early 80's

edited to say - if the lid of your pan doesn't fit tight, drape a folded tea towel over the lid to stop the steam escaping - and please be sure to remove the pan from the cooker top so tea towel doesn't catch fire

mumzyof2

Casperthefriendlyghost wrote: »

Hi everyone

Had such a busy month, this is only my second time posting here, but I've been keeping up with the challenge. Have spent £39.08 of my £40 so far, but it's ok because I get paid in eleven days and have got all my meals cooked in the freezer.
I have been doing loads of baking also, twinks hobnobs, they're delicious, I added some cinnamon and raisins and they're devine! Thanx for that. I put them in the freezer and just take two out every day, had to do that or they'd all be gone by now lol.
Am going to try MrsM's Bagels and not sure who posted the Iced Buns Recipe, but will be doing them both this weekend, am really looking forward to trying them, how sad am I lol!
Congrats to everyone for doing so well on this challenge, you're all an inspiration. Have finally caught up with this thread, boy does it move fast!
Goodnight everyone.
Cheers
Casper
x x x

Heya, it was me who posted the recipe. They are so loverly and soft...3days on and taste loverly too. Good luck