April 2008 Grocery Challenge

chimp_choker

mama67 wrote: »

I'm more than happy with this, the website says this size box would do one person but there is no way I would eat this amount in one week and I like my veggies.
The only thing I buy extra is a sack of potatoes from the farm shop once a month at £5 and sometimes a bit extra salad, but then once the warmer weather gets here they do a salald box which I have instead of so many veggies.

We have a gravy dinner with veg 3 times a week, and I also hide alot of veg in things like tomato base for chilli etc.
I do use frozen green beans.

Forgot to say that this price includes the delivery charge as well.

I guess we are just pigs then, lol... food glorious food, egg jelly and mustard......

mandy_moo_1

Sunnyday wrote: »

Yesterday afternoon i put a bottle of long life milk in my wilco food flask and microwaved it, added some greek yogurt and put the lid on, this morning i opened the flask and now have a big tub of gorgeous tasting greek yog YUM!
I though it would need straining or something but it`s great just as it is. This will save me a fortune and i`ve also read that if i strain it through muslin in the fridge i can make soft cheese and add things like chives to it so i`m well impressed - just need to find somewhere now that sells muslin squares so that i can have a go.

SD

how warm did you make the milk? did you boil it or just warm it up a bit? ooh and just another quickie, whats a wilco food flask?

by the way, if you have a fabric shop, or market stall near where you live, they usually sell muslin, if thats any help to you x just thought of something else!! if you strain to make soft cheese, does it taste like plain Philly, or do you need to add anything? Fanx!!

mandy_moo_1

popped into tesco just to get a couple of bags of flour to stock up on, as well as some dried milk and vegetables. i had £4 worth of coupons so as i was gonna use that towards my shopping, 2 chocolate yule loggy things fell into my basket ( they WERE bogof!!)
bill should have come to £6.70, but with coupons i only spent £2.70 :j

my grocery week finishes on Sunday, so if i'm careful, i should come in under budget. mind you i had absolutely TONS in the freezers when i started this challenge, so i don't think i'll do as well next month cos i'll have to re-stock them!

A big :T WELL DONE :T tho to all those who managed to keep to their budgets this month, and those who didn't, don't be too disappointed, cos if you're like me, you'll have picked up so many good tips and ideas of how to make food go further

Am off to update my siggy now, catch up with you all later xx

MRSMCAWBER

Afternoon all

Well hubby has knocked of work early as he is driving the mini bus to pick up the seniors from some bash..has to pick them up about 1am tomorrow :eek: ... although by the time they have all got in i bet it will be much later ..but its not bad as he gets to finish early today and has all day tomorrow of in lieu :T so we may have a toddle round the golf course.. him playing...me admiring the wildlife and trying not to chuckle when he hits a duff shot :rotfl:
Which may mean a drop of at the NAFFI on the way back .... only to see if they have any whoopsies of course.... milk is the main one im after..and probably all i have room for in the freezer

He has just wandered in weilding the housekeeping money :j ..his pay went in early bet it wouldn't happen if we were short of cash ...
so he has handed me €470.... €450 HK and €20 as he owed me €100 but i told him to keep €80 for a part we want for the car so we can get that put right - so i think im going to shove €400 in the savings account and splash out and have an extra €20 to play with in May :rotfl: so my budget will be €70 ....heck i will be spoilt

Oh Ifonlyitwaseasier.... guess what i have had for lunch? I made a quinoa salad concoction :A and it tastes better than i remember..manage half before i was stuffed..so will have the other half for lunch tomorrow
I just rinsed 1/2 cup and added 1tsp buillion powder and boiling water, cooked it and cooled it then added chopped onion, a handfull of frozen peas just defrosted, chopped onion, half a ball of mozarella chopped, plenty of fresh mint and seasoning oh and lemon juice..... want to do it with feta next time so its stronger in taste..but its going to be a great way for using up odds n sods in the fridge :T plus its good for my weight loss efforts and its one more thing in the cupboard that won't defeat me :rotfl: ..just need to seee what other conctions i can come up with..feel lots of dried bean salads coming up will shove those in hubbies lunch box too

Have been out in the garden this morning and more of my pots are springing into life :j im so excited its silly.... mind i have to find room for eveything thats growing indoors at the moment.... including 14 cucumber plants and 10 squash plants... guess someone got carried away :rotfl: but i didn't expect everything to make it..oops

Right i had better get off and get something done... hang on in there everyone..nearly time for a shiney new budget

juliejim

Just cooking tea - stew - and put oats in it for the first time so we'll see if anyone notices!

ifonlyitwaseasier

hmmmm MrsM that sounds lush!

i failed on my nsd, was tempted into lidl at lunchtime, but i now need nothing else (doesn't mean i'll buy nothing else),
tho i might be back there for lenor, 99p for 2ltrs, tho ours had aubergines at 44p so not happy, decided i have enough veg so didn't buy any,
got a few multipacks of choc biccies for OH tho, and may have to get some crisps for him too but if we can last til monday then our new GC will start from then.

turbo5019

Can anyone help I have in my freezer some white fish and salmon they were fresh they were going very cheep 30p so I bought loads and froze then had them for 3 months now. Not sure what to do with them.
I was thinking about making fish cakes but do I have to defrost first and if I make a batch can I refreeze them?
I'm new at all this but I am getting better I bought 10 bags of flour so I can make my own bread.
I would like to join the may challenge how do I do that?

Bargain_Rzl

turbo, I dunno about fish cakes but the combo of white fish and salmon always says FISH PIE to me I make loads of mash with the spuds still in their skins, steam the fish, do a slightly cheesy white sauce, combine fish with sauce, top with the mash and crisp up under the grill.

As for the freezing question, I don't know how you would do fish cakes WITHOUT defrosting the fish first so yes, defrost it. They will be fine to freeze once made, because you can safely freeze any item once when raw and once when cooked. So, assuming the fish you have is currently raw, it will be fine to freeze once cooked.

Edited to say: and about the May challenge - a thread will be opened on that soon (think it's the 28th of the month?)

SAVVYMUMMY_2

turbo5019 wrote: »

Can anyone help I have in my freezer some white fish and salmon they were fresh they were going very cheep 30p so I bought loads and froze then had them for 3 months now. Not sure what to do with them.
I was thinking about making fish cakes but do I have to defrost first and if I make a batch can I refreeze them?
I'm new at all this but I am getting better I bought 10 bags of flour so I can make my own bread.
I would like to join the may challenge how do I do that?

Hi Turbo, welcome aboard,

I`m not sure about the fishcakes, as I haven`t got around to trying these myself, but I make a fish pie with mine. I cook the fish from frozen, by just covering the fish with milk and cover with foil, put into the oven until cooked. When cooked I take the fish out of the milk and mash/flake the fish, make a white sauce with the `fish`milk and mix some of the sauce with the fish and some into the mash and pop back into the oven for 15-20 mins. ( I also add peas to the fish when this is mashed) HTH.

Tried the breadmaker that good old mum gave me:A and made rolls. They turned out lovely, will now see how long they last before they dry out. I`ve been having problems with my handmade bread/rolls as they seemed to dry out too quickly.

turbo5019

Thanks Bargin Rzl
The fish is raw. I just saw it and thought that's cheep then put it in the freezer and just keep moving it around but now I have found MSE I don't wnat to waste it. I have really got the bug thanks to everyone.