April 2008 Grocery Challenge

toniwoty2009

congratulations frankerooney!!

well i did my weekly bit of shopping today. Spent £4.60 at the f&v stall buying some MASSIVE bananas, bag of grapes, baking potatoes and new potatoes. then wandered down to mr t and spent £12 on kitchen roll (bogof), bread, white lasagne sauce (lazy i know, it just always seems to go wrong for me ), free range eggs, salad onions, mango, spnach, cherry toms, an a cake for DS. would have bought all f&v at the stall but his van has broken down so limited stock this week.

i have been talking with OH and we like the idea of supporting local business - buying f&v from stall, meat and eggs from butchers and bread from bakery- does anyone else do this? does it work out much more expensive? i know our local f&v stall is usually cheaper than mr t and the butcher often has some good deals on meat so even if i just bought the on offer stuff and froze for use in next month's meal plan.
its just so much nicer than the mass-produced tasteless CR*P. there will still be some thing i will get from mr t altho costco/makro might be a better idea for loo roll, etc.
opinions people?

toniwoty2009

oh and if i buy bakery bread but get them to slice it, is it suitable to freeze?

faye1978

funkyfunkymonkey wrote: »

Do you have time to post the recipe? My BM bread is 'okay', but I wouldn't describe it as 'great', I'd love to improve it.

FFM

Of course - It's from the MR Fastbake book but I made a few adjustments......I made the 2lb loaf but I expect they will ll taste as good. I put it in the BM in the order the ingrediants are posted in...

1lb 1.5lb 2lb

Water 3/4 Cup 1 cup 1 1/4 cup
Sugar .5 tsp .5tsp tsp
Salt 1tsp 1tsp 1tsp
Oil 1tbsp 1tbsp 1.5tbsp
Strong White Bread Flour 2 cups 3 cups 4 cups
Fast Action Yeast 1tsp 1tsp 1.5tsp

I then put the BM on the dough setting and lt it do it's stuff. I then turned out onto an oiled Baking Tray and covered with cling flim to let it rise again - only took about 15-20 mins in a warm kitchen - and put it on 170degrees fan for about 25 - 30 mins.

NB. I don't know if you have the cup and measuring spoons, if you don't I'll post up approx measurements I got from another thread for you.

The sugar recommended was FAR above what I have put in and I couldn't taste it so I wouldn't advise cutting back on that, also leaving out the Milk Powder was a FAB tip as I read that could make the bread cakey and dense. And the recipe says Sunflower oil but I used Soya Oil and don't see why you couldn't use olive oil or rapeseed. Probably change the texture slightly but I wouldn't have thought by too much.

HTH xx

Am going to make another batch and make into french sticks now :j

SAVVYMUMMY_2

:j CONGRATULATIONS TO FRANKEROONEY ON YOUR NEW ARRIVAL.

Hi everyone,
hoping to have a NSD today(fingers crossed). Just made a broccili and cheese soup, using the brocc stalks(waste not, want not), very tasty. Will have that at lunch with some HM bread rolls and also have a pork casserole in the slow cooker(pork left over from sunday roast) for dinner tonight.
Quick question, do you think that I could freeze the casserole(if there is any left)as the meat was cooked from fresh, for the roast and is being cooked again in the casserole. I think it will be o.k, but thought I might ask as I am still not clued up fully on freezing.
Thanks to all..

Oh by the way, received my soapnuts yesterday and tried these today. These were great for the colours, the whites I used a stain remover as well(as the nuts do not contain any whiteners)and seem fine, but on bad stains I think i`ll have to use my wash powder.

fedupnow

Many, many congrats frankerooney!!!!

Enjoy your new arrival

faye1978

cheerfulness4 wrote: »

faye1978 - Couldn't see if you got an answer regarding freezing bara brith but if not, I've always frozen mine and its come out lovely.

Wicked! Have copied and pasted the recipe into a word doc of GC Tips and recipes I have going on. Can't wait to try it. :drool:

russetred

Just finished week 1 and came under by £9.51 so the milky bars are on me!
Here's hoping I can stick to this.I've made my own loaves, minestrone soup and a bara brith type cake which should keep the hungry hoardes at bay.

faye1978

mrs-moneypenny wrote: »

we went out last night but i didnt count it as GC money because DH paid;) .

need to find somewhere that sells 2lb loaf tins? can anyone recommend anywhere please

NSD for me today as im stuck in waitng for builders

Possibly Lakeland - they do an online store. Sorry if you already knew this! I find that are really good qualit and not TOO expensive.

faye1978

toniwoty2009 wrote: »

oh and if i buy bakery bread but get them to slice it, is it suitable to freeze?

Yes it's fineto freeze

Mollymop5

frankerooney Congratulations