April 2008 Grocery Challenge

ifonlyitwaseasier

hey all, managed a nsd,

made mince with lentils and oats and OH said it was the best mince he'd ever had!!

woohooo

victory

if0nly HOW much oats do you add to the mince? Iwant to try it as I have never cooked mince that way before do not know what to do, thanks:D

ifonlyitwaseasier

well i had about 200gr of mince and added a largeish handfull of oats when i added some stock mix, i added carrots, green peppers and onions as well.

so i browned the onions, added the mince and browned that, added the carrots and peppers, stirred thro and added some beef stock (oxo), stirred it all together, added a little ketchup and worcestershire sauce then two handfuls of red split lentils and a handful of oats, i left it on low for an hour and served with jacket spuds :-)

hth

lainz

I've been doing really well and trying to break my hoarding compulsion. I'm buying much less - although can't resist a good whoopsie . Got some whoopsies in Waitrose today - diced vension and free range turkey breast escalopes (champagne tastes, beer budget )

Just need to sort out the blooming cat - talk about turn her nose up at everything! We're having a bit of a stand off at the moment - and as she can't open the pouches herself I'm winning :rotfl: . At the mo her food is nearly as much as mine - that has to change!

Thanks for all the great tips - but I'm v cross with MrsM - I'm addicted to breadsticks now!:rotfl:

Sunnyday

Lainz - will your cat eat cheapie tuna?

Mine has it once or twice a week mixed with a lot of tiny biscuits or iams.
I drain it and mix well and she loves it. I don`t give it more often though as the salt it holds after draining the brine is too much for her, she won`t eat it in water or oil either but i`m sure the oil would give her the runs.

I started buying whiskas tins when on offer and stockpiling them as you get a lot more in than the pouches and every now and again i`ll give her Mycat which is Morrisons own brand and she will eat it for a change, she`s so fussy though that i can`t give her the same flavour tin twice in a row as she gets fed up with it, i think i`d get fed up with the same stuff for every meal though lol
HTH
SD

TheBees

I GIVE UP WITH BREADMAKING ! I CAN'T DO IT!:mad:
I haven't been very successful with breadmaking in my BM lately so tonight i set it on the Dough setting and decided to cook it in the oven to see if it would be any better. It was a disaster. It stuck rigidly to the tin and as I struggled to get it out the insided fell out and the crust around the edge is cemented to the sides!! I think it's time to look for a new BM when the car boot sales start again.

Did make a nice banana and chocolate loaf which has turned out lovely plus toad in the hole for tea. Yum.

Thanks everyone for the gardening ideas. I bought a packet of tomato seeds today which I will be planting indoors tomorrow, then they'll be going in growbags if they survive. I don't want to plant too much for the summer as we are away for 10 days in August and I'll have to rely on a neighbour to keep things watered. I have the Delia Smith kitchen garden book somewhere which has a small section on growing in containers so I must dig that out and have a look.

Spent just over a fiver on some fruit and veg from the greengrocers which should last to the end of the week. Got a £2 coin in the change :j .

Thanks Mrs McC. I have pasted your instructions for a meat pie into my recipe file for future reference.
Forgot to say, I made some savoury mince and added a handful of oats. Nobody noticed and so next time I'll be adding two handfuls!

Thanks everyone for all the good money saving ideas.
TheBees

JayneC

I wasn't very organised today - forgot to get something out of the freezer - so had baked spuds for tea. DS2 and DD3 had tuna on theirs and DD2 and boyf had bacon cheese and beans with theirs ( I had bacon and egg on toast, very healthy:rotfl: ).

My fridge is looking very bare and I'm getting a bit low on stuff, but made lemon drizzle cake, put some fruit to soak for fruit cake and put stuff into breadmaker for bread in the morning.

may have to go to the shops tomorrow tho...

angelavdavis

TheBees wrote: »

I GIVE UP WITH BREADMAKING ! I CAN'T DO IT!:mad:
I haven't been very successful with breadmaking in my BM lately so tonight i set it on the Dough setting and decided to cook it in the oven to see if it would be any better. It was a disaster. It stuck rigidly to the tin and as I struggled to get it out the insided fell out and the crust around the edge is cemented to the sides!! I think it's time to look for a new BM when the car boot sales start again.

I also haven't been successful with loaves full stop!

I make dough in BM, then shape into rolls. Which I bake in the oven on a tray covered with a silicon tray liner. I brush the top with milk and sprinkle a seed mix over the top then let rise a final time before cooking.

One success I did have was to add some grated leftover cheddar, chopped garlic and herbs into the dough at the start of the cycle, then shape into small rolls and put six into a round cake tin (one with a pushout base). Once put into the tin, I placed some grated cheese on top and baked it in the oven. It was great - a tear and share loaf! Very popular too and went great with bolognaise.

angelatgraceland

Well I managed a NSD yesterday and today! Yesterday because I found my tubs in back of cupboard for freezing and now I must run into my garage to the freezer and bag up all that stock so that I can use my tubs again on the next chicken(half eaten in the fridge at the mo)
We all had the meals Id frozen earlier for todays, apart from hubby who had some chicken I cooked yesterday with some frozen chips. DD aged 14 made some nice easter biscuits while I was out helping a friend clean up their house a bit so as I was too busy for shops it was another NSD. Wll I need that after the extra shop on Sunday.
Tomorrow may well be NSD too as Im back off to help my friend again so unless I just buy the lemons I need I will stay away from the shops.

angelnikki

Hi everyone :hello:

I had my MrT delivery tonight. It came to £77.79 so my total is now £244.68, leaving £105.32 for the rest of the month - two more weekly shops.

My mealplan is completed for the rest of the month based on what food I have in the cupboards/freezer so I shouldn't need to buy anything else for main meals and I should only need stuff like milk and F&V Fingers crossed if I try really really really hard I can stop buying stuff just to go in my cupboards but it's gonna be a real struggle

I'm doing loads better at stretching stuff now :shhh: as this week I managed to make:
- 3 meals of bolognaise (2 for the freezer) by bulking with oats, grated carrots, and other veg
- 3 meals of pork meatballs (2 for the freezer) by using breadcrumbs to bulk
- 3 meals from the roast instead of 2 (roast chicken Sunday, chicken pasta bake Monday and chicken noodles tonight)
- I'm doing chilli tomorrow night so will get another 2 meals for the freezer from that
So theres lots of yummy HM stuff in the freezer.:D

I made a batch of Twink's Hobnobs today. They didnt turn out quite as planned because I added choc chips to the mix but obviously as I added the hot melted butter the choc melted too :doh: still yummy though.

I better go and update my sig.

Nikki
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