April 2008 Grocery Challenge

Kaz2904

Update on my spends. 72 weetabix, 2kg baking pots, bag apples, 2kg carrots, big tray mushrooms, 1kg plain flour, 2kg SR flour, bin bags, 1kg long grain rice, 6pts milk, 6 marshmallow teacakes (how did they fall in there!), 15 eggs, £10.97.
£4.10 of moc scanned- SA said he could only take 3 and I said all innocent like "Oh well the policy is different and they don't always scan. Can you just see how many scan?"
They all scanned . They were all out of date too !
I forgot my flora coupon:eek: . Came home and made carrot and parsnip cake and chocolate brownies. They went in the oven with the jacket spuds so very ms and now I have a tub hugely full in the freezer and 14 pieces left in the tub in the kitchen.
I'm taking the whole amount spent off my total so it'll go towards paying back DH's pillow among other things.
Off to open a bottle of white now- enjoy your evening all!
PS, I'm watching that Dirty sexy money programme and the chap from 6 feet under is yummy eye candy .....
What I'd like to do to him!!

meanmarie

My visit to Tesco for fruit, veg, flour, milk and spaghetti cost me €32.91, but I will need nothing except a piece of bacon for €6 to see me through at least the next week, maybe even longer. I am determined to empty that freezer and the cupboards this month if it kills me...difficult not to buy bargains but I can't afford money or space to stockpile until I get rid of some of the stuff that has been there for months (years even)

Marie

MrDT

I'd planned on having a cheese and potato bake tonight, but decided that the same ingredients would make a nice filling for a pie instead Another adventure was soon underway - making my own pastry for the first time

I know this is probably like teaching you to suck eggs, but here's my recipe incase it's of interest (and cos I was typing it all up to save myself a copy anyway )

Cheese and onion pies and pasties:
125g lard (£0.13)
125g flora (£0.15)
250g flour (£0.07)
some water (£0.00)
400g onion (£0.20)
350g potato (£0.25)
200g cheddar (£1.00) [I'D DOUBLE THIS NEXT TIME]
some pepper (£0.01)
some mixherb (£0.01)
some paprika (£0.02)
some milk (£0.01)

£1.85 all in (£2.85 doubling the cheese up), could be done a fair bit cheaper if you used value mild cheddar, but I much prefer mature cheddar and good quality stuff is on offer quite often (e.g. I got two large 400g blocks of 'seriously strong cheddar' for £4 from asda last week).


Method:
1) Chop the lard and margarine into little blocks, add to the flour and mix. Add a little water (not too much or it gets too sticky) and keep on mixing. Delia says use your hands, I used a food processor cos I'm lazy Roll the mixture all up into a ball and plonk in the fridge for a bit...
2) Boil up some water, chuck in the chopped onions and potatoes (I used a tin of new potatoes). Simmer for about ten minutes til they're all nice and soft, then drain and rinse with cold water.
3) Sprinkle some flour on your worktop and rollingpin*, take the pastry out the fridge and place it on the floured worktop and get rolling. I rolled my pastry to about half a centimeter thick.
*I've discovered that an unopened can of beer makes for a very manly rollingpin substitute :rotfl:
4) If you want to make a pie in a pie dish drape your pastry over the dish and tuck it into the edges, cut off the excess, re-roll to make the 'lid'. If you want to make pasties just cut circles out of the pastry.
5) Spoon the onion and potato mixture into the pie case, or into the middle of the pastry circles.
6) Top with grated cheese, sprinkle of pepper, pinch of mixed herbs and a sprinkle of paprika.
7) Put the 'lid' on your pies, or fold over your pasty circles. Pinch round all the edges to seal, cut off any excess. Poke a couple holes in the top of the pies/pasties to allow steam to escape, stick on a baking tray, brush a little milk all over to glaze, then chuck them in the oven for a good 30-40 mins at about 200c.

This is enough for two family sized pies, so I suppose it serves maybe eight with some chips and salad on the side? I have a big appetite though, so it'd serve maybe 4 MrDT's

I made one large pie to split half today and maybe half cold for lunch tomorrow, and two rather large pasties for freezing... This home cooking lark is actually quite fun! And now I get to drink the contents of my rollingpin, hurrah! :T

Bobbykins

OMG - I just HAVE to point you all in the direction of this recipe for a bean casserole. I nicked it off another thread and we tried it tonight....it is SOOOooooo yummy. I can heartily recommend it, and it was very economical too.

Enjoy

Bobby

redmel1621

Went out dog walking and DH just 'HAD' to have a drink from the shop, he does this nearly every time. The boys were with us too so of course they had to have one each aswell. Well I made them have one between them and one for Dh as they were on a 2 for £1.50 offer!!! still a bl00dy rip off if you ask me.

I must remember to save the bottles and I will take out some drinks of squash when we go tomorrow, so when they ask for drinks from the shop I can pull some ready made ones out of my bag:D

Off to update sig, again.

Mel x

savingfortravel

Mr DT
Did you use a milk bottle to roll the pastry?
Granny would be sooooooooooooooo proud!!!!!!!!!
SFT

MrDT

savingfortravel wrote: »

Mr DT
Did you use a milk bottle to roll the pastry?
Granny would be sooooooooooooooo proud!!!!!!!!!
SFT

I went a step further and used a can of john smiths extra smooth bitter :rotfl: My milk comes in cardboard cartons or funny shaped 2 pint plastic bottles, neither would be much use as a rolling pin lol

Next time I'd probably make thinner pastry, and add more cheese, but not bad for a first attempt I've also made a giant jaffa cake lol (well, half made, the jelly's setting before I can melt the choc)

Need to go shopping tomorrow, birthday present for gran, bag of rice, sweet pickle, washing up sponges and toothpaste is all I need. Wonder if I can stick to it!?

All this frugality will go out the window by this time tomorrow too, I expect I'll have spent the equivalent of a fortnights grocery allowance on booze by half ten! Oh well, it's not like I do it often

annaangeluk_2

2 quick questions!

What are soapnuts ? Does anyone recomend them for whatever it is they do?!

Secondly, lots of people on here mention money off coupons. Where do they get them from and also do they just have to be used for the items mentioned on the coupon? I sometimes see them in magazines but it's never for stuff I want!! Also, can you use them at the asda self service tills?

Thanks in advance

Anna x

MrDT

erm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sapindus

chimp_choker

JayneC wrote: »

Hi Scotsaver,
thanks, I have only lived in Scarborough for 5 years and do appreciate living by the sea. I want to learn to fish so can catch my own Mackrel (free food yay!!:D ), but don't know how to go about it really

Jayne x

Ask at a local fishing shop but don't be tempted to buy all that "you need" etc. Buy a simple rod and reel. You can go the rod and line with all the bells and wistles etc but mackrel are stupid fish and will chase anything bright andsilvery. I used a line with 6 hooks on and tied bits of tinfoli to the hooks. Cast into water and then reel the line in slowly. The mackrel think the tin foil is sprats and bite easily. For six hooks you can easily get 5 fish at a time.