March 2008 Grocery Challenge

skintscotslass

izoomzoom wrote: »

Meatballs ....

Why is it that when I make them, they fall apart when I cook them ????

I'd like to know this too! When I make with pork mince they fall apart, but when I've used tinned tuna, they keep their shape

skintscotslass

mouche wrote: »

Mrs McCawber...just realised that I'm supposed to shout out my target in red. So here it is: £100 for 2 people + £15 for cleaning products

Ooops!! Didnt realise, sorry!!

fallen_angel_shelley

skintscotslass wrote: »

I'd like to know this too! When I make with pork mince they fall apart, but when I've used tinned tuna, they keep their shape

when you have mixed the raw ingredients together do you put them in the fridge? i put mine in for about 30 min befor cooking

skintscotslass

fallen_angel_shelley wrote: »

when you have mixed the raw ingredients together do you put them in the fridge? i put mine in for about 30 min befor cooking

No Shelley, I havent. I'll try that next time. They taste lovely, just look a bit messy Thanks for that

TheBees

Evening all
Just signing in to confirm that MrsM's Tortilla wraps were a huge success and DD and DS said they were "well nice"! They didn't look as if they were going to be enough for a meal as they were quite small but they were really filling and I will definitely be making them again and freezing a batch of dough.

Here is the SPAGHETTI BAKE which we are having for tea tom. My Mum used to make it when I was a child when we went camping and she used to use tinned minced beef. It's much nicer if you make a mince base just like you use for a cottage/shepherds pie.

For 4 people you will need
approx 1lb minced beef
Large onion
Finely diced carrot, courgette, pepper or any other veg you need to use up
approx 1/2 pint beef stock
dried herbs of your choice
seasoning
two tins of chopped tomatoes
spaghetti for 4 people
grated cheddar cheese

Fry your chopped onion, carrot and veg until soft then brown the mince and stir together. Add the stock, seasoning and herbs then simmer for 20-30 mins until cooked Alternatively next time you make a shepherds/cottage pie make a double batch and keep one batch for this recipe!
Put the meat into a high sided casserole dish.
Pour the chopped tomatoes on top of the mince but don't mix them in. You want the tomatoes to sit on top of the meat. Meanwhile, cook enough spaghetti for 4 people, drain and snip into smaller pieces with scissors to make eating and serving easier. Pile the spaghetti on top of the tomatoes and meat. It will probably be higher than your dish but will normally stay in place as the spaghetti sticks together. sprinkle on plenty of grated cheese all over the cooked spaghetti and cook in the oven at around 200 degrees until golden and crispy, or grill. We normally eat ours with peas and sweetcorn and if we're really hungry we have garlic bread too.
If, like me you decide to assemble this the day before, store it in the fridge and then I usually zap it in the microwave for 5 minutes before I put it in the oven to ensure it gets heated all the way through .

Enjoy - TheBees

mama67

findingmyfeet wrote: »

thanks for that Mrs M, they sound really yummy cant wait to try it. meat out and defrosting , try that tomorrow. love the caramalised onions too love onion anything, could live off them.

I'm sure my lot are eating more, i have been cooking and baking all week but all the time theres nothing left. Still it must be tasting ok or they would be moaning.

mama67 you have my total admiration, i couldnt possibly go in a shop and spend so little... I hope I can quickly learn the discipline extremely quickly...got lots to save up for. the least i spend is on the weekend newspaper but even then the temptation gremlins seem to take a grip and i come out of the shop a couple of quid lighter!! living in awe.

It did help that i knew it wouldn't be more than £1 so that was all I took aprt from the petrol money.

mhe

Work has kept me busy 4 the last few days so not been on - had a quick scan of your posts and im sending you all a big collective THANKS as i really must go to bed before i wake up with my face on the computer keyboard.

MRSM - can you post the recepe for HM tazaki (sp??) please

Im now making my own bread and the family seem to be eating more now than before so all this OS plus a full time job doesnt leave much time to catch up with you all. Can see lots of you are doing really well this month. Will update sig at weekend.

mumzyof2

TheBees wrote: »

Evening all
Just signing in to confirm that MrsM's Tortilla wraps were a huge success and DD and DS said they were "well nice"! They didn't look as if they were going to be enough for a meal as they were quite small but they were really filling and I will definitely be making them again and freezing a batch of dough.

Here is the SPAGHETTI BAKE which we are having for tea tom. My Mum used to make it when I was a child when we went camping and she used to use tinned minced beef. It's much nicer if you make a mince base just like you use for a cottage/shepherds pie.

For 4 people you will need
approx 1lb minced beef
Large onion
Finely diced carrot, courgette, pepper or any other veg you need to use up
approx 1/2 pint beef stock
dried herbs of your choice
seasoning
two tins of chopped tomatoes
spaghetti for 4 people
grated cheddar cheese

Fry your chopped onion, carrot and veg until soft then brown the mince and stir together. Add the stock, seasoning and herbs then simmer for 20-30 mins until cooked Alternatively next time you make a shepherds/cottage pie make a double batch and keep one batch for this recipe!
Put the meat into a high sided casserole dish.
Pour the chopped tomatoes on top of the mince but don't mix them in. You want the tomatoes to sit on top of the meat. Meanwhile, cook enough spaghetti for 4 people, drain and snip into smaller pieces with scissors to make eating and serving easier. Pile the spaghetti on top of the tomatoes and meat. It will probably be higher than your dish but will normally stay in place as the spaghetti sticks together. sprinkle on plenty of grated cheese all over the cooked spaghetti and cook in the oven at around 200 degrees until golden and crispy, or grill. We normally eat ours with peas and sweetcorn and if we're really hungry we have garlic bread too.
If, like me you decide to assemble this the day before, store it in the fridge and then I usually zap it in the microwave for 5 minutes before I put it in the oven to ensure it gets heated all the way through .

Enjoy - TheBees

Im going to try this...maybe tomorrow as was having cottage/sheperds pie and already have mince out. Thanks

SAV3R

Just been reading the thread, I am quite new to MSE and keep flitting about a bit really. Hope you don't mind me just butting in here.

I have been trying to cut down on my grocery spend, started to do menu plans and trying to use up the stock in my cupbaords etc. However, I still managed to spend a total of £373 for Feb, this is for 2 adults, DS1 aged 12, DS2 aged 9. My spend does include all food bought - although we rarely eat out anyway, all cleaning products and toiletries etc.

I daren't commit an amount to reduce to, how do you all budget so well?

kazmeister

Finally added up last weeks spends £84.59 so will go careful rest of month!